expected.

            Kiona did not want to be inside the cave doing this. She was hot and in agonizing pain, even though Olathe, who was beside her, comforting her, insisted that it was cooler inside the cave than outside. It was true because the ground inside was always cooled by the shading and the only thing that made it warm was when many bodies dwelled inside (but luckily it wasn't too cold for the pups whenever they'd come out.) The soon-to-be mother whimpered loudly and the young silver wolf caregiver licked her head, trying to ease the pain, although there was little she could do. Kiona was in so much pain, Olathe often questioned if it was best that she had sought the help of her human to assist her with this birth, but it was too late for that now. The only help she had was her own.

            When the hybrid cried out loud, Olathe knew it was time for the first cub to be born. She looked under Kiona's tail and saw a tiny body trying to emerge. Olathe talked Kiona through this, giving her words of encouragement to keep going, because the hybrid was getting headaches from the stress aside from her entire body was experiencing. She pushed again, and finally, out came the tiny lump that would be cleaned into the form of a newborn pup. Olathe sighed in relief when she saw Kiona reach her head back abruptly to clean her first born. She had made it through the first pup, and there were surely more to come.

            Kiona gasped in horror in the middle of licking the sticky substance from the red-colored pup. Ayashi went to her side again and asked what was wrong as she realized what it was. Kiona was crying, close to hysterics, licking the pup more and more vigorously, trying to coax it to move, whimper, something, anything, but to no avail. Olathe breathed as she watched Kiona painfully cry out again, both mentally and physically, as the second pup was being born, and she sadly had Aya take the first born pup away, to try her best to get a reaction from the firstborn. It was no use. The first pup was dead.