WIP

Therese had been getting larger and larger as the months went by. She was surprised by how large her girth had gotten. Toward the end, the lioness had to admit she couldn’t care for her master anymore. Her mate beautifully stepped up without complaint; he cared for both their masters and her. She tried to remember this in her moodier moments.

Then the long and much anticipated day came. Her labor started. She sent her anxious mate for the midwife as she started the breathing she’d been practicing. It thankfully didn’t take long for him to return. The midwife took swift control, sending Ashta to wait outside on pins and needles.
~
Since the pale lioness of fire had claimed him, he’d been happy. They were together and had kind masters. Therese had then told him she was expecting cubs. At first the male wasn’t sure how to react. He’d never considered the possibilities of cubs or what he’d do with them. It hadn’t seemed real in a way. Ashta went about life as normal. Not much changed at first, except Therese was maybe more hungry than normal.

As time went by though, he noticed her belly slowly swell. He was surprised how large it got, but wisely didn’t tell his mate this. When she became too unwieldy to do her normal chores, he gamely took them up. Seeing that both masters were well taken care of and that Therese had everything she needed. He gracefully pardoned her more waspish moments.

The moment he was both anticipating and dreading arrived. Therese sent him for the midwife. Shortly after he got back though, he was booted out of the den again. Anxiously he paced back and forth outside.
~
The lioness was glad when her ordeal was over. She was exhausted. It had taken much longer than she’d expected due to the fact that there were more cubs than she’d expected. With the last cub delivered, cleaned, and nestled against her side she called the worrying father in. “Ashta,” Therese called lovingly, knowing the male would hear.

She flicked her tail over the litter of squirming cubs. Her mate was going to definitely be surprised. She hoped he’d be able to handle the cubs. While neither parents had pink, one cub definitely did. The cub reminded her sadly of her brothers. About half the litter could be considered dark, and she knew from his past that he had some issues with dark cubs. Then, surprisingly, there was two twin sets. She hadn’t seen that coming!
~
The new father burst into the den as the midwife finished and departed. Ashta jerked to a stop when he didn’t immediately see any cubs. He gave a concerned looked to his mate. Had she lost all the cubs? “How are you feeling?”



She smiled to relieve his worry.