Myranda breathed heavily from fatigue as she lay on her side and beheld three, beautiful male pups she had just birthed. Each of them identical, save for their eyes - a pair of blue, a pair of gold, and a pair of white.
Each had a healthy head of black and white hair - and all three were rather large for an average litter.
"You did great, honey," Lara insisted as she moved some hair from Myranda's sweaty face. "They're all alive and healthy....and they're boys."
"Aha," Myranda sobbed in joy and squeezed her eyes shut. "Metas will be thrilled - is he worried? Did he suffer as badly as I did? He took a lot of my pain..."
"He's fine - don't worry. You are the one who needs to be looked after. Rest your head and be with your babies. I'll come back in just a minute to help you nurse. It was very hard for me, but I have a feeling you'll be a natural."
"...How can I feel three babies at once?"
"Myri....we're wolves..." Lara pointed out.
"Oh yeah," the Luna said lightly as endorphins began to flood her system and ease the pain and panic her body was feeling.
"I'll come back with a nursing rag and some supplies." Lara ensured, and then turned to one of the chamber maids to say, "don't let Metas in. He'll bother her - trust me."
"Of course, ma'am."
Without another word, Lara left with the maid to follow and wait outside the door.
The new mother looked down to her three boys with affection and stroked their tiny hairs behind their small ears as the rested against her bare skin. "I will love you forever, my sweet sons. You will have the life that all children deserve, and both your father and myself will stop at nothing to keep you safe, happy, and well adjusted."
It was a nice tender, private moment that was shattered by the muffled sounds of a brief conversation, and the door opening to let Metas into the chambers he was not supposed to be in.
-and for good reason.
The Alpha crept up behind his wife and snuggled her into him possessively. The combined scent of her natural sweat, milk, and pheromones mixed together and made him desire her like he never had before.
He kissed her neck, and nipped at her ear - even though she swatted at him lazily.
"Are you going to deny me?" Metas pouted.
"Yes. I'm tired, hot, and I want to hold my babies."
"Aww..come on, Mandy..." he teased and licked the back of her ear.
"Metas!" Lara hissed in anger and marched towards the bed with towel in hand to swat at him. "Get out - out out out," she demanded and pulled him up from the bed forcefully.
"Goddesses, you're as bad as Ajax. Leave her be. You can see her tomorrow when you come to your senses. Sheesh."
"I wasn't doing anything..." the Alpha insisted as he resisted Lara's pushing.
"Yes you were. Get out you horn dog. Think of names for your sons instead of laying with your wife who just gave birth." Again, his pack sister shoved him forward and out the door so she could shut it and lock it.
"...Thanks for that..." Myranda muttered from the bed.
"Yeah, no problem - you did it for me when Ajax was being annoying after our daughter was born, how could I not return the favor? Plus, you were very pregnant at the time. I'm not. Now come here and lets get your boys fed. Shift if you can."
Metas could barely hear what the two females were saying, but he pressed his ear to the door in desperation to find out. His natural instinct was to get into that room, hold his wife, mark her again, and protect his litter. To be left out in the hallway felt like a punishment more than a support barrier for Myranda.
Ajax came down the hallway with Jyriah and Joss who were holding gifts and smiles. "You look pathetic," he teased.
"Ha ha. You waited to throw own words back in my face didn't you?" The Alpha replied flatly to his brother.
"Hey - now you know how it feels. Pretty annoying, am I right?" The elder sibling shot back.
"Yeah, yeah - fine. You win. It is." Metas gave in.
"Come on, we came to distract you while you're being shunned. Don't worry, she'll be over it tomorrow. Lara was. We just have to respect the process. How bad did it hurt?" Ajax reassured.
"You cried, didn't you?" Jyriah teased.
"No!" Metas denied and turned his eyes away.
"Aw, you did! It's alright, buddy. I did too." Ajax comforted and pat his brother on the back with sympathy.
"Ha-ha" Jyriah said very playfully - which earned him a pinch from Joss. "Ow!"
"Stop being an antagonist." Joss stated flatly.
"Heeey, am I late for the party?" Veltar could be heard.
"How is Myranda?" Jess asked with concern as she clutched a very soft hand-made blanket in her arms. She, too was now quite far along herself.
"She's fine, but I'm being shunned." Metas pouted.
"Good - then leave so I can go inside and see those babies," Jess insisted and made her way past the gang of males and knocked on the door with a special rhythm.
"You'll have to change that now," Veltar pointed out.
"Pish posh. Get him out of here already - you're supposed to be distracting him while Lara and I take care of our Luna." His wife replied in good nature and shooed them all away with her hands.
"Yeah, yeah - we're going" Her husband answered and helped the other males in escorting the large King down the hallway.
"Can I just stay for one more minute?" Metas asked pathetically.
"No." Came a chorus of replies.
The Alpha grunted, but conceded and finally went along with the male part of his family pack to saunter off to another location as Jess slipped inside the recovery room very quickly for a pregnant female.
"So, names? What have you got?" Jyriah asked.
"Nothing. I didn't think would be so hard..." Metas admitted.
"You have time. Lara and I took forever to decide Andromeda's name, but we also were planning it before her birth. We had two names picked out." Ajax chimed in.
"I must meet them first, but I have feeling they will be good, strong names when they finally manifest."
"At least I know one name I won't be using, so we have that." Metas pointed out.
"Haha! Right?" Jyriah laughed.
"Alright - stop pressuring the King. Let's get drunk and think of as many names as possible, no matter how bad they are," Joss instructed and waved a bottle from the basket he had in the air.
The gaggle of boys cheered like they were teenagers again, and made their way towards the main entrance making jokes, and looking forward to the brand new adventure that awaited their family and Lycan pack.
Whatever that adventure was going to be - one thing was certain: it would be a good one.
The end!
Thank you thank you thank you for reading this novel to completion! Thank you for the support, the kindness, the stones, and the collections! Thank you for being here. Thank you for taking this journey with me.
Thank you for being apart of the first complete story I have ever written in all of my years of writing. I plan on editing the absolute heck out of this and publishing it on Amazon or through an interested party if I can get one! If not, knowing just one person read this in its entirety is an honor in itself.
May peace, luck, joy, and light follow you wherever you go, and may my effort help inspire whoever needs it to complete their own dream.
You can do it. I believe in you.