These first weeks had been exhausting. Laurel felt a lot happier than she remembered ever feeling before in her life after her pups had come but it was also tiring to be a single mother -- even if she had Indra to stand by her side -- and Laurel caught z's where she could. She had actually intended to stay awake while Indra was out doing something else but her eyes had gotten the better of her and Laurel'd fallen asleep by the den's entrance, just inside, while the sunlight trickled onto her face and the pups waddled around or slept by her side.
She didn't wake until the sunlight was blocked. With a murmur that could only really be interpreted as I don't wanna get up yet the tired mother smacked her lips. She didn't instantly connect that Indra wasn't back yet, nor that one of her pups was beyond her immediate reach; for all she knew they were still safely asleep while their aunt watched over.
When she heard Xan's voice her hackled raised and Laurel instantly leaped up. She bumped her head on the ceiling of the den -- which hurt quite a bit -- but the pain was easily forgotten as she pushed herself beside the pup at the den's mouth and a ferocious snarl ripped from her throat. With eyes narrowed she warned Xan not to get closer. If he didn't want her, then he didn't deserve to see his pups, as far as she was concerned, and she would make sure he knew. Staring into his eyes she hoped to see some of the pain there that she had felt, some of it dealt by his own hand, for he deserved it.
Luckily instinct told her child to be careful and hide with her as she moved up to him. Xan caught her warning but did not seem intimidated at all. Laurel looked -- and was -- ready for a fight then. If not for Lucas between her legs she might have dove for him then, fought it out right then and there; his right to see his children, her place in the pack. The tiny growl Lucas let out distracted them both and seemed to bring Xan back from his high-and-mighty I-have-a-right-to-see-my-pups disposition... at least a little bit.
Laurel knew she had him pinched there. She had great plans for the future of her pups and they would not grow up with their mother being second to their father's whims. He had had a choice and he had chosen poorly... and he would pay for that.
Now, the worst thing one could probably do to a new mother who was upset and hovering over her young baby was to tell her to calm down. Laurel had never been good with being told to calm down but now, as a mother, she especially did not like it one bit. "Calm down?" she hissed, a warning, a chance for him to rescind the words being reminded of how dumb they were to utter. An are you sure, really? "Ha. You made your bed, now better fucking lay in it." Her eyes coldly sought his, hoping to see some of that pride melt into pain at some point or another. She wanted to have him pinned, to have him realise that she was the only way to get to these pups right now. Different roads lay ahead for however he'd handle this situation, but none of them were all too good for him at present.
She remained hovering defensively over her pup, only breaking eye contact with Xan once to gently touch Lucas' head in a silent gesture of it's okay, but stay there while her body language still showed that there was a threat in this situation. Not a physical one, perhaps, but there were more than one way to get hurt.
Too much was happening for the marshmallow of a wolf pup to keep up with. The longer Xan and Laurel exchanged heated words, the more Lucas' ears and tail drooped downward. Even at his young age he could sense the hostility here, and he didn't like it, not one bit. His curiosity was quashed by it so that he crept backward, further under Laurel's belly and further from the wolf that his mother was indicating as a threat. In this, his socialization period, if Laurel didn't like something, then Lucas quickly learned not to like it either.
Who could say whether Laurel identifying Xan as a threatening, dangerous presence to Lucas would have far-reaching effects? It certainly would shape his interactions with his father in the future, happy-go-lucky though he may be, but that was all very far from his mind as he slid back down into the dark of the den and sought his siblings for reassurance.
Feel free to skip Lucas from now on unless it's important to him, then just tag him!