Winter Coats

Antons Perspective

I watched her chest grow larger and larger, and then collapse repeatedly as she slept. She was so beautiful. She was mine.

I strode over to where she slept, her white ears flickering every now and then. Her nose twitched. It was one of Lexia's habits, to do that. I dug outwardly to her, to bury her in the warmth of the dead grass beneath us. The feeling of soil beneath the toes of my paws felt cool.

The fogginess of the night almost came to an end as I rested my head upon the bulge of her stomach. I kissed it lightly, dreaming about the future ahead of me. How one day I will rejoice in the care of three beautiful pups of my own. Lexia mumbled a low growl in her sleep. I chortled how wolves chortle. Motherly instincts...

I heard a familiar tapping noise, and my ears pricked up. It seemed outside of our den. I lapped my lips defensively and peeked outside the cave...

The moment I looked out, something tackled me. "AGHH!" I barked unexpectedly. As I saw Heather, she smiling widely. "I'm glad you're here, Anton," Heather giggled out of her razor teeth. Her red-orange coloring glazed over her ice white fur gorgeously. But no one could compare to my Lexia.

Heather just was an old friend from years back. She crushed on me, but it soon ended when she met Micah. He died in a hunting incident, and she lived alone in her den, pregnant with his pups.

Heather's deep brown eyes respectfully stared into mine. It took me moment before I realized what she meant. "No, I'm with Lex," I stepped back on all fours, swallowing. "I know, I know," she smiled. "It's something else, though. Notice anything different?"

I stepped around her slim figure, trying to figure out what was different. But as my ice blue eyes rested on her stomach, they widened. She was as thin as Lexia's mother! She must of had her pups, I thought neatly.

"Cyd! Celeste!" she called quietly. One red and white wolf, like her, bounced out playfully. Another cowarded behind the first, this time black and white. I looked down at the two pups that were now eye-ing me from below. I laughed how wolves laugh, and she giggled as before. They seemed only weeks old.

"That one look like--" I started to say before I stopped unexpectedly. She kept laughing, and I was glad she didn't know I was about to mention Micah. The pups tangled in a large canine hug with their mother, teething on her paws.

"I have to head inside," I said suddenly. She straightened herself up. The corners of her mouth almost came to a deep frown, but they rose into a smile very quickly. "That's okay. I'll see you--" a rustle came through the bushes. Whispering in a foreign language sounded audibly. It couldn't be... could it?

It was man-speak. It was something I didn't understand.

"Into the den!" I half-barked. She nodded and gestured her head towards Cyd, the red and white pup. Funny how he looked like his mother, and Celeste resembled her father as well.

I grabbed the scruff of Cyd's neck as she grabbed Celeste's. We hurried silently inside the cave. We listened for any sounds of man-speak, but nothing came. This was how Micah left, I thought. I'll be here for my pups and I know it. I won't give up.

Heather quickly nestled herself into the dead grass of our den, and her pups crawled up to snuggle. I nodded innocently and strode over to Lexia. I collapsed on the ground and lay my head against her belly.

"Go to sleep," I mouthed to Heather. Her eyes drooped to a close, and her soft breathing began. Cyd and Celeste were already hidden behind her.

I decided it was nothing, and fell into a relaxing sleep.