Sawtooth Spire himmelssturz

She snorted with laughter at his response, and shot him a mischievous wide-eyed glance. "Just as tiring as making them," the tawny she-wolf teased, keen to pull the wool over Mahler's eyes to mask the very real fear she harboured for the future.

Nyx so longed for her litter, felt what she assumed to be a strong maternal instinct before her season arrived - one that intensified as her flanks began to swell. She loved them long before she and Mahler had come together, but she worried that those feelings would turn in a far darker direction as the weeks went by. What if she turned on them, like she had her first brood? The anxiety remained, and her refusal to discuss it meant that it would continue to fester.

"Absolutely," she answered brightly, "you'll be there with me, right? To make sure everything goes fine?"