she'll lie and steal and cheat and beg you from her knees
make you thinks she means it this time
The pain this time is not surprising—not confusing.
She expects it, in a way. Her belly has once more grown swollen and round, her body becoming heavy instead of the natural, light thing that it usually is. It has kept her grounded and more still—remaining tethered to the Tephran home of her pack although she has not had the itch to wander in months. Perhaps it is bleeding from her, replacing itself with her ever-growing love of her family. Perhaps she has simply been so occupied with the changes within her, the shifts and the kicks, to truly pay attention to it.
Regardless, her ocean-blue eyes have not wandered to the horizon and have instead turned inward. They have busied themselves watching Daemron with their twins, watching the boy fly off into the sunset, watching the girl come back with heavy feet. She has become a matriarch of their family and although the role has been ill-suited, and she wildly unfit for the job, it has become a second nature to her.
She does not shift or bend beneath the weight any longer.
She does not resent it.
And she is prepared when the rhythms of her body begin to change—when the muscles begin to clench and the pain begins to flow in, slower at first and then faster. She calls for Daemron, but she manages to keep it soft and quiet—throaty but not panicked. She finds a safe place to bend her knees, a quiet grove of the kingdom to make her bed, and she turns her attention to it. Turns her mind to the task at hand.
It is faster this time, easier, and she is grateful for it.
Her body is still slick with the effort, but when her daughter arrives, she is not spent. She is stronger, and she recovers faster, but her heart still wrenches in her chest as it had the first time. She gets to her feet and moves toward their daughter—moving through the natural rhythms and processes of those first few moments. When she is cleaned, when Pyxis is certain that her lungs are clear, her mouth open, she turns her gaze to her wolfish husband and there is something brilliant in the clarity of her gaze.
“She is beautiful,” she says. “Will you bring the twins? We should be together.”
she'll tear a hole in you, the one you can't repair
but I still love her, I don't really care
@[Lydia], @[Kristin] & @[Jenger]
family time. <3