Two years later. . .
March 23rd, 2012
Things were happening now. Stormfast and Terra were making their own pack. One big aspect of an early pack was none other than... pups. Terra was pregnant, ready to have pups at any moment. They had found a den south of Sparks's cave, a medium-sized den on the slope of a hill. Inside, the den split into two tunnels. Terra was in the left one and Stormfast in the right one. He was walking in circles. He was waiting for the pups to come. He wasn't all that worried. He knew from his Alpha training how to take care of them. Terra would know from her Omega training. Omegas were trained to give dating advice. What he did worry about was the pups themselves. Would they have defects? About ten percent of wolf pups had a defect like a missing eye, paw, or even tail. How many pups would there be? According to Terra's belly, there must be more than three. The average for Easterns was two. And most of all, would they like him? At the Eastern Pack, some pups hated their mothers and sometimes their fathers. Rules overwhelmed them, and it seemed to turn them from cute to vicious. Also, what would be their names? In the East and West, it was forbidden to name a pup after another living wolf, so there would be no confusion about who's who.
After hours of labor, Terra shouted to let Stormfast know.
"Stormfast! I think it's time." His heart started pounding fast.
"Okay. Just take big breaths," he replied, "and when the time comes... push! Really hard." It sounded painful to her, but that was what had to be done.
It wasn't long before the first pup came. She did what Stormfast said. Then, the next thing she knew, he or she was out. She took a few breaths before continuing.
This went on four more times. They had a total of five pups.
"Stormfast, you can come in now." He went to the other tunnel. All the pups were nursing. "We're a family now."
"Yes. We are a pack now."
"Should we name them now?" she asked.
"Sure. Let's start with the oldest." The oldest, or firstborn, was a light brown pup.
"It's a boy," Terra told him.
"Hmm... David."
"David?" Terra never heard of such a name.
"He was a wolf legend my father had told me about. I wish I remembered the stories."
"Okay. David it is." They moved on to the next pup. "This one's a girl." Stormfast picked her up. Her eyes and ears were closed. They wouldn't open for weeks. "I was thinking Martini," Terra suggested. "It's what my mom wanted to call me before my dad thought of something better."
"We can use that. Sounds pretty." He put Martini down. Then she continued nursing. She was light grey just like Terra's father. In fact, she even had the two black spots on her flank just like him.
Soon they named another, Arthur, another boy who was brown. Then there was another girl.
"Oh, I've always wanted to name one of my daughters Hannah." Stormfast looked at her. She was a white pup like Terra.
"I think this beautiful pup deserves a beautiful name. Hannah." Stormfast smiled at his mate. Then there was the last pup, which was the smallest and also a boy. His fur was black like Stormfast's.
"It's Stormfast Junior," said Terra.
"I'm gonna say... Henry."
"Sounds handsome."
Luckily, none of the pups had defects. There were three boys and two girls. Not too little. Not too much.
How could the perfect family happen if Stormfast was cursed?