Greatwater Lake libellula

there is a shadow upon her lake. it is not khaba; the man has hardly left her side recently, and while zharille is heavily pregnant she suspects it is some paternal instinct within the darkwoods man that keeps them close together. she doesn't mind - it is lonely without her collection of men, and she is glad at least he had returned to her. however, this sharp-bodied stranger is not her's, and they seem intent upon the lake water.

with a rumble of warning in her chest she advances through the trees. it doesn't occur to zharille to be careful; only that her home is threatened. as she gets closer she does not take notice of the game trail leading in to the water (the beaver drags); but she does smell the effeminate scent of the other wolf and determines it is a woman.

the mother-to-be bristles and brandishes her teeth. all she wants is to drive this stranger away from the water's edge, and she is tense as if ready to do so - but she is weighted by her swaying belly and an instinctual resistance at the same time; inside her is fresh life, and she cannot put them in to harm's way.