impossible to find. She lay there for nearly an hour before she relaxed enough to drift off into sleep.

Mist had decided to turn in as soon as the sky began to get dark. Being pregnant and all, she didn't want to overexert herself. Just to be on the safe side. When she would awake, she'd begin her journey onward. Heading for the Lylrite Pack territory. It was her goal to get there and, with every day, she drew closer to the day she'd give birth to the pups. She feared she wouldn't make it. It was still a long way off. Maybe if she had been running, she might be a bit closer. She continued on, trying to ignore her sore paw pads. She found that food wasn't too hard to track out here. Back in The Inca Pack territory, it had been near impossible. Not because none of them were good trackers or hunters, but because of the famine. There just wasn't alot of food left there.
A week passed by and she still hadn't reached her destination. She was finally out of time.

It had come unexpected. Mist had been padding along, praying that The Lylrite Pack territory wasn't far off. She was in a fertile plain. The grass was very green and there were quite a few trees around. It was practically a forest. The ground, she knew, could support lots of life because of the nutrition it carried. Food wasn't hard at all to come by. Within a few minutes, though she wasn't hungry at the moment, she caught a vore between her paws. It had foolishly darted across her path but she had slammed a paw down upon it before it could get away.
Hearing it's cries of fear and anguish, she lifted the paw and let it go. If she wasn't hungry, there was no point in tormenting the creature. She watched it dart away from her. Then, out of nowhere, she felt it. A yelp escaped her, not just because of the shock, but because she knew what it was and what it meant. Exactly how far the Lylrite pack was, she didn't know. And knew she probably wouldn't be making it there now.

Two hours later, Mist had found a suitable den to make her and the pups home and had given birth to her and Hiro's pups. They were beautiful. Their pelts a variety of combinations that generally stuck to four colors. Brown, white, black, or gray. The black, she had no idea where came from. But she knew her father had been black so. . . maybe she had been carrying the trait and it had just turned up in her pup. There was only one black pup out of the six she had. Two were gray, and one was white, and one other was brown. But the sixth, and last pup, had two colors. He had brown fur fur for the most part, but his chest, underside, forearms, and paws were all white. So, he had picked up the whiteness, seemingly from her. And the brown, no doubt, from Hiro. He resembled them both in many ways. But there was one thing about him that she had no idea where he might have gotten. On his back, amongst his brown fur, a perfectly shaped white Z lay. After a few licks, she was convinced it was fur and not something left on his back. Unsure what it could mean, she tried not to worry about it. Instead, she began to look at her other pups. Wondering what color their eyes would be. Maybe green like Hiro's. He looked like he took after his father. So, it was possible. But she also was curious to know how many of her pups had inherited her golden eyes. It would have to wait as none of them could open their eyes yet. Not for at least another week. They wouldn't grow their teeth for three weeks, they wouldn't be able to hear her or anything for two weeks. At three weeks old, they would bark for their first time and finally begin walking on their own.

However, as soon as she was able to rest from her ordeal, she knew something was wrong with them. They weren't whimpering or moving around much. None of them fought to feed from her. Actually, only a few began to even feed. The others just lay there, whimpering occasionally, but not moving much. Fearing what this might mean, she curled her body around them and licked at each of them. A few whimpering as her tongue brushed against their small bodies. Continually she'd whisper to herself, praying there was something she could do. She had no idea what was wrong with them, but she knew there was something wrong. Without knowing what was wrong, she had no idea what to do to help them out. All she could do was there with her pups and hope they would be alright. She felt an unbearable desire to have Hiro with her. She almost began to cry, but she fought back the urge. Knowing that, once she started, it'd be harder to stop. But, a few hours later, her urge, almost a need, to cry was only intensified as all but one of her pups had died. It was the male pup with the Z on his back. No names came to mind and, frankly, she was afraid that once she named him, he'd begin to weaken and die as well. What had caused them to die? What went wrong? Nothing came to mind, she was at a loss.

She lay there, body curled around all six of her pups (even though five of them were dead) and breathing hard. Trying not to cry. She had every reason to cry now. Who wouldn't cry after their pups dieing just mere hours after birth? A few tears leaked down her cheeks but that was it. After that, she found herself suddenly asleep. When she awoke the next morning, the pup was still whimpering and whining in her arms. It was hard for her to do it, but she moved away from the bodies of her pups. They were dead and this last one was still alive. He'd survived the night, perhaps she still had a chance at being a mother. If only to one pup. Allowing him to feed, she prayed he'd be okay.

While Mist lay there, she decided on something. If he survived one more night, she would name him. What do you think he did? He lived. The next morning, fearing she'd find his body motionless, she looked down at him. He was still alive. Moving around for small periods of time before resting. Breathing a sigh of relief, she kept her promise to herself and watched him. For a brief moment, she thought about naming him something that started with the Z. Thus giving it some significance of a kind. It would be his initial. But that sounded stupid. Racking her brain for something she felt Hiro would be proud to refer to his son by, she came up with something. Where she'd heard it before, she didn't know. Maybe she'd created it. It mattered not. He would be named: Kalgorn.

 *  *  *

A week later, Kalgorn was beginning to explore the den she, Mist, had chosen quickly as her home to birth Kalgorn in. It wasn't that bad, but she wished she could go hunt some food. As a wolf, she was able to go weeks without eating. But that didn't mean she could go weeks without feeling hungry. Her eyes never left the brown and white pelt of Kalgorn. Watching him wander around before coming back to her every now and then. For the most part, he looked healthy. Well, acctually, he hadn't shown any signs at all of some kind of disease or if anything of any kind was wrong with him. This relieved her. After a week passed from when he had come into this world, for the first time in his life, his eyes opened. The lids came back and allowed him to look upon his mother. Mist had been watching him the whole time as he squinted at first before opening them completely. Or, at least, as much as he could manage. Looking into his eyes, she smiled. He definitely favored his father in looks. His eyes were the same glorious green as Hiro's. It surprised her how much he looked like his father. In some ways, like the ears, he looked like her. But in several ways he looked like Hiro. It was almost like looking at him again.

"Hiro. . ." she sighed before licking Kalgorn. It had just occurred to her that it had been two weeks since she had last seen her mate. Closing her eyes, she pictured him. Wishing he could be there. One thing was for sure, even with her natural ability to go long periods of time without food, she had to get some water. And she would die of hunger if she had to wait until her pups, Kalgorn, was able to walk. Besides, if she didn't get any food or water in her, she wouldn't be able to make the milk for Kalgorn to feed on.
Looking down at Kalgorn, she saw he had worn himself out and was resting; curled up against her stomach. Mist decided she should try and sleep as well. So, curling up around Kalgorn, she rested her head down and drifted off.

As Mist lay sleeping in her den with Kalgorn, someone approached her location. Following her scent. It was a male brown wolf with green eyes. Why he was out here and not with his pack, he had no idea. He had simply acted on impulse and left the pack in the paws of his beta while he was absent. He trusted she could run the pack well. For, she was to be the alpha one day. However, that was only if something happened to him and Mist. This wolf was Hiro. He wanted to find Mist, he wanted to be there for her when she gave birth. But as it had taken him all of twelve days to decide he had to find her, he doubted she'd still be pregnant. Now she was probably taking care of the pups on her own. But. . . what if she hadn't reached The Lylrite Pack territory? What if she had gone into labor before she could reach them? Mist would be laying there with several pups, and no way of getting food. There was no doubt in his mind that she needed him. Why hadn't he just gone with her? Fira, his beta female, would have been more than happy to lead the pack in his absence.
Cursing himself for his stupidity, he ran on. Legs kicking in long strides. Carrying him at the max speed a wolf can achieve. At twenty-five miles an hour pace, he was becoming exhausted. It was clear to him that he shouldn't wear himself out like this, but he couldn't help it when he thought about Mist and the possibility that she was alone somewhere. After ten minutes of non-stop sprinting later, he was tired. His tongue hung out of his jaws as he panted like mad. Breaths coming in short quick hitches as he struggled to slow his furiously beating heart. He