Natalya fervently stalked around her den, waiting for her mother and brothers to come back. She had managed to hide her pregnancy quite well; but sooner or later she was going to become mother to several pups and she would have to admit what she'd done. Natalya gave up waiting and exited the den, heading for the woods. 

She was just in the cover of the trees when her stomach began to contract. D a m n it! thought the ess as she frantically looked for cover. Her time had come. She slid beneath a couple of low-to-the-ground raspberry bushes and gritted her teeth against the pain. 


fade in, fade out 


Natalya breathed heavily, letting her daughter suckle. The firstborn had come out dead. Of the two, one had survived. The tiny runt who'd died was a beautiful thing, as was her sister. But Natalya had no intention of letting others find out that Rue-the survivor-was hers. No, she'd have to figure something out. 

The pup finished eating, curling up against her mother. When the pup was asleep, Natalya stood, on shaking legs, and picked up the deceased in her maw. Careful to keep an eye on tiny Rue, she scratched out a hole beneath the berry bushes, then placed her child in it and covered it up. Just in time, for Themis' call to a pack meeting rang out. Natalya cleaned herself off, then picked up the sleeping Rue and started off, a plan already forming in her head.