Alpha

.A/N: I’m
sorry…months late, but here it is…Chapter 20 of Alpha…we’ve only got about 4-5
left…bear with me and we WILL get there! :-*

.Chapter 20: Born
This Day…

class=GramE>“She needs to shift,” Ookami whimpers,
giving your pack-leader a pleading look.
“You can help her, Kami-sama, can’t you?style='mso-spacerun:yes'> If she doesn’t she could be badly hurt.”

“She’ll
have to risk it,” Kami grunts.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> Her focus is on you now, and no further
explanation or excuse is given.

The room is
swelling with heat, or perhaps its just you, and a
fine sheen of sweat breaks out across your brow plastering thin clumps of
silver hair to your skin. Each
contraction jerks painfully through your spine, wrenching soft grunts of
discomfort from your lips. For a moment,
part of you wishes that you could sink back into the song and your
subconscious, even with the strange voices and their words which are already
slipping away as the contractions jerk at your muscles like a child wanting
attention.

class=GramE>Though you suppose this time that very well is the case.

But despite
your discomfort, the truth is that you want to be here, here
in this pain and this heat and confusion.
You want to savor every single moment of the birthing of the pups class=GramE>your carried all this time.
That instinct that is all motherly within you relishes the idea of being
sentient as you bring new lives into this world.

You had no
idea what you were in for.

The pain
was unbelievable. Several hours later
and you were only just dilated enough to begin pushing.

“Oh gods
above!” you wail, claws digging fiercely into the blanket on either side of
you, shredding the delicate cloth to tiny bits, hand shaking from the
effort. “It cannot truly hurt this
much!?”

class=SpellE>Kami sighs, wringing the water out of the damp cloths that
they are using to wipe your brow. “In
our wolf form the birthing is naturally less painful.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> As a humanoid, the pain is far greater.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> I would not have wanted to deliver my own
pups in human form, I’m sorry that you will have to.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> However, it will make you stronger, and you
need to be strong for your pack now.”

The tone in
her voice had gone from cool reserve to almost demanding.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> Something was changing within the pack
leader. She had never shown you anything
but the cool distant regard a pack leader always showed their class=SpellE>submissives. But your
mind is rapidly clouding with the need to push, and the pain in your groin as
you body seems to begin without you.

class=SpellE>Kami settles herself between your legs.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> “Push” she commands.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> And so you do.

***

Your body
is spent, your head a fuzzy mess of near-delirium, and your eyes are nearly too
heavy to hold open. But it’s only a few
minutes longer. You smile weakly as class=SpellE>Ookami and Yukina prop you up
with pillows. You can hear them now,
keening softly the way newborns do, until at last, Kami-sama
places them in your arms, one by one.

The first
is a fine silver pup, his fur sleek and matted, but healthy.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> His eyes aren’t open yet, but they will in a
week or so, and as you hold him he sniffs at you.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> Leaning in close you sniff him back, drawing
the scent into your head and storing it, memorizing it.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> He smells like wildfire and curiosity.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> Your tongue flicks out to catch him across
the head. “Rekka,”
you say.

class=SpellE>Kami takes him and holds him out from her body.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> “I, Kami of the class=SpellE>Silverclaw clan, hereby recognize you, Rekka,
as a member of our pack.”

class=SpellE>Ookami takes the cub and carries it over to the bed made up
for them in the next room.

class=SpellE>Kami places another cub in your arms.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> She is black as pitch, the color of class=SpellE>Hiei’s dark flame, and her little body squirms impatiently
in your arms. Her scent fills you,
bittersweet and fresh like morning mist on the planes.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> Licking her just as tenderly as the other,
you announce, “Mitsu.”

class=SpellE>Kami repeats the recognition of the pack, and class=SpellE>Ookami takes her to her brother.

“Here is the
last,” she says coolly, “You son.”

Vaguely you
remember your first born being different from the rest, and as he is laid in
your arms, you look down on his mottled pinkness, the strange hairless look of
him. It’s the first human-looking
newborn you’ve ever seen. Then he looks
up at you, and through your growing exhaustion you see that his eyes are
already open, though strangely pale blue.
The slightest fuzz of silver hair scatters across his mostly bald head,
but it’s the eyes the keep you. You have
never looked into the eyes of an infant, but there he is, and he can see you.

You bring
him to your lips, and press them gently to his pudgy cheek.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> “Ryou,” you sigh, and slide blissfully
into unconsciousness.

***

You
awake…who knows how many hours later.
The room is dark, but the sound of voices in the room
immediately trigger your attention.
Gently you sniff the air to see who it is.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> It smells like burning hair and fear.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> Your body goes rigidly still, but your ears
twitch towards the noise to hear.

“She is
safely delivered, the children are here and acknowledged, what do you want me
to do? You should have killed them,” a
male voice hisses.

“Listen, class=SpellE>lupe,
you will not disrespect me. I am still class=SpellE>packmaster. The
children will live, because they are born of Alpha blood, true Alpha, unlike
you, and to kill them will be to bring her rage and the rage of our ancestors
down on us,” Kami-sama replies, voice equally as
fierce.

“Then there
is nothing for me to do!” the male voice growls.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> With a shock you recognize it as class=SpellE>Rai.

The sharp
sound of a slap echoes in the darkness, and you cringe.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> “Idiot!style='mso-spacerun:yes'> Kill the husband.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> He is not one of us…the ancestor’s will not
care if he is dead. And then you will
take her as your mate. Then, son, and style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>only then, will you be class=SpellE>packmaster.”

Panic
seizes you by the chest. Kill class=SpellE>Hiei? And class=SpellE>Rai is Kami-sama’s son?style='mso-spacerun:yes'> No!
You must warn him! You must stop
them! But your body is too weak, your
energy too low, and a strange soft tingling begins all over your body, drawing
you rapidly away from consciousness. You
struggle against it, but there is nothing to be done.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> You slide away from the darkness of the room
into the darkness of a different kind.

But you
aren’t alone.

***

.A/N: There you go…a
touch of a cliffhanger and hopefully now I’m back in the swing of things…Expect
another chapter in…oh lets say the next two weeks some time to allow for your
poor frazzled authoress to get it together.
Thanks for those of you who return, and any new folk who stumble across
me! :-*