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Set for the 21st! Suburban boneyard 525 words
She left a few days after meeting Dierdre on the borders. She would be in HER den for the birthing. It was where all her other pups had been born. It was very important to her. Instead of trying to make it down the stairs to where she usually birthed, she moved into the bedroom off the kitchen. She was huge now, and she knew it. The pups were active though. She'd eaten well and behaved. She didn't want to lose these pups like she did her others. She just couldn't do it.
Laying on the bed, she felt a sharp spasm. This whole birthing thing was old hat for her. Easy now. It still hurt like hell, but it was easy. She laid there, breathing calmly, waiting for the process to begin. And then she could feel it. the mounting pressure that signaled the approach of birth. And then, in what seemed like minutes it was over. They were out. Two small boys, both looking very healthy.
Drained of energy, she allowed her tired body to resume the 'normal' shape, the form she was born in. She nudged the boys to her teats, which were full of milk. She let out a relieved sigh as they both began nursing excitedly. Two boys. both were healthy. Both were normal. She studied them through half-lidded eyes, feeling both tired and elated.
She laid her head back and let out a call. Come, come see. They were born, they are healthy. Come see my pups. The two tiny males nursing were not affected by their mother's call at all. Both made snuffling whimpering noises and pushed closer to their mother. She nuzzled them tenderly, watching them. There was no fighting like there had been with Shadow and Killane at first. That was good.
She had come to realize that Killane's death had nothing to do with Shadow and everything to do with his health. Killane had been the runt of the litter, the smallest of the pups. By all rights, he should have been born dead. But through some sick twisted fate, he hadn't. Deuce had mourned him, had mourned all the pups stillborn. She was lucky this litter had been born fully healthy. It was a small litter, granted. Just two. But both were alive and healthy. That was what counted.
She glanced out the wndow. Night had fallen. The moon was full now. The boys had been born, not just on her birthday, but on the spring equinox. And on a full moon too. She was well pleased. She was five now, and a mother once more. She nuzzled the two boys gently, who made whimpering protesting noises. I will not fail you two. Not now, not ever. I swear on my life, I will not fail you two.
Outside, the snow had begun to fall again. Soft, swift, gentle flakes. The kind of flakes that muffled the world, amde everything seem subdued. Inside the house with the white picket fence and the porch swing, the pale mother was warm, as were her pups. Her two beautiful sons.
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