Dawnlark Plains me and julio down by the schoolyard

He smiled down at Pema, the very image of beauty incarnate, nestled into the den with their pups at her belly. "Just some pup wrestling," Shale assured her, his voice pitched just above a whisper. "Nothing they won't get over." Already they were beginning to settle, Padma latching onto a teat. Radcliffe had no such luck, and began to wail again.

With an inward sigh, Shale leaned over and nosed him closer to the cream belly of his mother. "C'mon, kid," he murmured, a chuckle in his voice. "Can't do everything for'ya." There, now they seemed to be more or less in an orderly line, and his eyes creased as he grinned, gazing upon them. He glanced back at Pema, head cocked in inquiry.

"How are you?" Shale asked, unable to keep the worried note from his tone. He'd been hunting nearly nonstop, but it didn't seem like enough; the pups were literally sucking the life from his mate, and it was his job to give that life back to her in spades, through prey.