Chapter 1 - Chapter One

Lime
        Dark pricked her ears towards the den entrance. The newly-born pup's had begun to whine, calling for milk. Dark shifted on the rock floor, putting her cream-colored head on her paws. Her mate, a cream-furred female named Lyf, had just finished giving birth. How many pups, Dark didn't know, but judging from the noise coming from the den, it wasn't a small litter. Dark groaned and buried her head under her black aws. Pups, she thought to herself. She sighed and lifted her head, listening to another pup whimpering for milk. Hearing pawsteps behind her, she turned her head towards the entrance of the cave, snarling quietly. A white wolf, with pupil-less, blue eyes stared past her in a blind gaze. Dark sighed and lifted herself up from the cool cave floor. Flicking her dark brown ear, she approached the white male. He nodded his head, putting a large peice of meat on the floor, and squeezed out of the cave. Dark sighed, picked up the meat, and turned towards the tunnels leading to the dens.
        She had found this cave for her pack shortly after entering the territory. It was a large cave, and the main cave was about the 30ft each way. In the middle of the main cave was a pile of the prey they had caught that day. The coolness in the cave kept the meat from spoiling, and they could leave it in the pile for days at a time. There were also seven tunnels, leading to smaller caves, about 15ft all around in each cave, which they used as dens. The tunnels, from left to right, were the nursery, alpha's den, beta's den, warriors den, elders den, gammas den, and students den. The nursery was a comfortable, warm cave. The beds that the mothers took care of their young and slept on were made of Dark's two raven's (Huginn and Muninn) feathers, moss, and underfur. The alpha's den was a cooler cave, with the same bed of feathers, moss, and fur in the middle of the cave. Scattered about the den was different sentimental items, such as Lyf's muzzle and collar, and Dark's arm warmers. The beta's den was a smaller cave, about 12ft all around, and it was warm and comfortable as well. It had a bed, same as the other dens, and sentimental items that belonged to the beta's. The warriors den was a dank, dark cave and had scattered beds that were once occupied by different warriors. It had bones scattered around, showing the bravery of the warriors that once slept there. The elders den was cool and comfortable, relaxing the elders that slept in the den. It smelled of old fur and seemed to shimmer with the souls of the wolves that died there. The gammas den was larger then the main cave, about 40ft each way, and was chosen as the gammas den due to the large population of gammas. It had scattered beds, each with a sentimental item or two that marked which bed was whos. The students den was also a large den, about 30 feet, allowing the paws of the pup's feet space to wrestle and play. Outside the caves was a small field, only 15ft around, and covered in grass and flowers. Right after the field, about 10 feet away, was two fallen pines, on a boulder. They made up two dens. The healer's den and the seer's den. To the right of the dens (if you were looking at it) was a large lake. The lake had no name, and was calm and cool. It had plenty of fish, small and large, and provided the wolves with a snack if they could catch any. Surrounding the dens, apart from the field, was the forest and a mountain range. The mountains had no name, and made up the mountaneous caves the wolves denned in. they surrounded the dens, but there was an opening or two where the wolves would go out to hunt in the deep forest. The western forests, otherwise known as the forests after the surrounding mountains, were deep and wild. The forest south and north of the dens, trapped by the mountains and the lakes, were light and scattered by meadows of grassland and flowers. Those meadows were full of rabbits and deer, and the wolves would take their students out to hunt in some of the various meadows. One of the meadows, just south of the healer and seer dens, was the place where Dark trained her ravens, and the mentors trained their students. To the very edge of their eastern territory was another territory of wolves, the Featherpaw Pack. And to the very edge of their southern territory was a pack of stray dogs, the Stray Pack. To the north was the Arctic Pack, and to the west was the Paws Pack.
        Dark trotted toward the nursery, dodging the food pile, and stepped into the tunnel leading to the cave. Dark entered the den slowly, not quite ready to see her offspring. She looked up, gazing around the other mothers, and found her mate towards the left corner. Lyf was lying on her side, with nine wiggling shapes next to her. Two of the nine were Dark's own pups, a week older than the newborns. She had left them with Lyf when she had went out hunting. On her way back from hunting, Dark just fell asleep in the main cave, not having enough energy to look in on Lyf and the new pups. When she had awoken, she had heard the pups, and here she was. Lyf raised her head, motioning for Dark to come closer. Dark lay down, facing her, but close enough to where the pups were squeezed beetween both stomachs. She lay the meat beetween them both and licked Lyf's ears. Lyf smiled and sighed, nodding towards the pups,"Think we'll have enough milk?" Dark flicked her tail and counted the pups once more. She faced her mate, and, seeing the concern in her eyes, nodded,"Of course Lyf. Even if we don't we have the rest of the pack. Lyf sighed, relaxing, and nibbled at the meat. Dark gazed at her for a moment more, then pushed her two pups gently to her own stomach. The two began to feed and Dark relaxed as well, watching the pups squirm.
        She thought about the night they decided to have pups together. In this world, same-sex couples could have pups together. It wasn't that difficult to preform the ritual to create the pups, but there was the issue of picking which one was to be pregnant. With male couples this was harder, because they couldn't normally give birth, but for Lyf and Dark it was easy. Dark was the first to become pregnant, and a week later Lyf joined her in the pregnancy. They did the ritual each time, and picked the desired pups. There was another couple like them that performed the ritual, around the same time as Lyf and Dark. They were both males, and they had asked the alpha's first before going ahead. There was a dark grey male with a black mane named Geri, and a blonde and black male named Freki. Both loved each other, and performed the ritual. Geri was now laying in the den with his two new pups. Another couple had also had pups, but they had had them naturally. They were a straight couple, and they were both black wolves. Their names were Cresent and Anubis, and Cresent was sitting in another corner of the den, nursing her two pups as well.
        Dark sighed and flicked her ears, her eyes fluttering in exaustion. She glanced at her stomach, and blinked slightly, seeing two more pups from Lyf's litter nursing. Dark snorted in amusement and lay her head back down on her paws. Lyf licked her lips and nuzzled Dark's neck. Dark returned the nuzzle with a lick on Lyf's cheek, and curled her tail around her pups. Lyf nodded and snuggled her head next to Dark's. The family of wolves closed their eyes and drifted into a silent sleep.
        

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