It began with a sudden surge of pain. The Frenchwoman woke up from her afternoon nap, surprised by the strange feeling. She was quiet for a moment, waiting for the return of the feeling. Minutes passed, then the ripple of pain came again. It was time.
Her instincts were telling her to lay down and let nature take its course. To be silent, so as to not attract predators. But she wanted to inform Ferdie, her pups' surrogate father and her protector, that it was time. They were "his" pups after all. And besides, it wasn't like he was leagues away. For the most part, the alpha lingered outside her den, protecting her. She whined, loud enough to get his attention, before feeling another wave of pain, forcing her into silence again.
She writhed, the pain becoming more frequent and stronger. Unbeknownest to her, the day was slowly turning towards night, from high noon to dusk. All she was focused on was the rippling pain inside her as her body began pushing her children out. Occasionally she whined, but it was low in her throat. Silence was a necessity.
Erika was a naturally skinny wolf. Her frame was not very good for producing children; her hips were not wide enough. As her first child came closer to being born, she felt the size of him/her. The first pup was big, a bit larger than average, enough to give her some challenge. As she squeezed the pup out, straining in effort, a sudden, frightening thought came to mind. What if it gets stuck? The marred woman whined as it became harder to push, but the thought dissapaited once she could feel it slipping out into the world.
With her first child out of her womb, she paused for a moment, catching her breath before turning towards the still creature. She lapped the birthing sack off of her son, revealing the black fur he gained from his mother. He squealed then, lungs filling with air, proudly proclaiming his arrival. Erika's heart swelled with pride and she guided her little boy to her stomach where he started to feed.
As soon as her son latched onto one of her teats, another ripple of pain made her shudder. The second child was impatient to be born it seemed. This one was a lot easier than the first. Erika could already feel that it was smaller. A lot smaller. The Frenchwoman easily pushed her smallest out without any trouble and lapped the birthing fluids off of her fur. She had Majesty's fur, a thick chocolate brown color reminisent of her biological father.
Erika's ears pressed back when her daughter made no squeal like her brother had. The frightened mother licked her runt harder, trying to bring some life into her smallest. To her relief, she was rewarded with an ear-piercing scream, her daughter outmatching her brother by a longshot. Satisfied, she brought her to her babe's first meal. This one seemed to be the more vigourous of the pair, suckling strongly and battering her paws onto her mother's stomach and her brother's body.
The pain did not return this time. There were only two pups in this litter, but she loved them all the same. While she was desperate for sleep, her first one tiring her immensely, she simply laid her head down, curling around her feeding children. She murmured softly in French, towards her missing mate. "Majesté, si seulement vous pourriez les voir."