Stavanger Bay Life happened.

Verrine was hunting when his children were born.

For days now, they had waited; the puppies were due any moment, and every time Julooke winced with discomfort, they waited with anticipation to see if that moment was the moment. Verrine's nerves were frayed. He found the waiting game to be nothing short of absolutely maddening, and his restlessness and fidgeting were probably irritating to Julooke. Finally, he had decided to hunt. Channeling some of his anxiety into something physical and challenging would help give him an outlet for all the energy that buzzed inside him with nowhere to go, and besides, Julooke would need food anyway. Her pregnancy and looming labor prevented her from hunting for herself now.

So he hunted, with little success. He managed to catch a sleek, summer-fattened groundhog, at least, which would make a good snack. He was approaching the den he shared with Julooke, the warm, limp groundhog clutched in his jaws, when the smell hit him.

It wasn't an unpleasant smell, but it was different. In it was a combination of blood, warm earth, wet fur, and something else he couldn't identify. That something, however, made his heart leap into his throat and begin to flutter and race like a hummingbird. At last, the puppies were here! For the briefest of moments he was disappointed that he had missed their birth, but it was only a fleeting thought, for he knew that it was the natural way of things for the father not to witness the birth of his young. The most ancient instincts of the wolf forbade it.

He dropped the groundhog several yards from the entrance to their den, his prize forgotten as he quickly ducked into the dimness. In the seconds it took for his eyes to adjust to the low light, the smell of puppies and birth overwhelmed him, and he couldn't contain the giddy delight that set his heart afire. He saw Julooke, his sweet, beautiful companion, exhausted and bedraggled, and nestled against the soft white curve of her belly were four tiny, fuzzy lumps. Their children. He approached Julooke, kissing her tenderly on the head. His heart swelled with so much love for her that he thought it might burst. "Oh, Jules," he whispered, his voice full of tenderness. "They're so beautiful. I love you so much." He settled beside her, watching his babies nurse and fumble about with a mixture of shock and awe on his face.