Blackfeather Woods Inside my home I wait and bleed [m]

The newborn prince's first breath comes in the form of a wheezy cough as the birthing sac is cleansed away from him. He is examined, turned over by the mother wolf, before at last he is placed alongside her. It takes him some time to adjust to this change in atmosphere. He senses the change and responds to it the only way he knows how: he gapes and cries out a series of whistled whimpers.

In the time it takes him to calm down, his sister is born, cleaned, and placed alongside him. Pietro knows her, though he lacks awareness of his situation. He recognizes her deep down in his heart of hearts, where no conscious thought lives, only subconscious. He cuddles nearer to her even as Meldresi leads both newborns to her ample teats. He latches on and drinks eagerly, but even distracted as he is, the minutes-old puppy's leg drifts toward his sister and remains there long after he has his fill and drifts off to fitful sleep.