OOC

BACKDATED to just after Tiberii finds out she's pregonte.
For Shiloh <3

Finally, paws heavy with exhaustion, she would cross the threshold of their den. Her frame was dark as it hovered in the mouth of the cavern, her movements slowing as she worried at her lower lip with her teeth. As a silhouette, she hoped that he wouldn't notice her concern.

Her mind spun, nearly choking on the emotions that boiled from her core. She had been trying to figure out the right way to tell him all day, but she worried. But he loved her, right? So what was there to worry about?

Him dying (again)? Him leaving (intentionally or not)?
Or worse?

Was she worried that she was not enough?
Was she worried that they were not enough?

They. Children. Unborn. In her belly.

Nausea surged, and Tiberii would swallow purposefully, steeling herself. Shiloh, are ya up? Her voice tested the air, breaking the silence with that familiar rumble of her vocals. Her gaze was bright, but there was hesitation in her movements as she reluctantly took another step into the den.

Anxiety rattled her, and she would finally break the silence. Shiloh, I ... I gotta talk ta ya. Her ears would flick forward, noting his stilled form in the den. Part of her had almost hoped he wouldn't be here — but where else would he be? He would wait for her, awake and alert and ever observant. So fucking observant. So how ... did he ... not see? Tiberii would put on an awkward smile, forcing niceties for a few moments as she drew herself nearer to him.

She was not okay.

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OOC

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Why, of all the things she had done, was this the hardest? Why, of all the things she had done, did this bring her the most guilt? There was a heavy fear of rejection sitting in the pit of her gut, a thought that perhaps if she were pregnant, he would love her less. He would want her less. He would want all of them less. For she was just not her own being now, but one who carried many more souls. Lives.

Things to be responsible for.

Things to love.

Shiloh roused with her words, his familiar frame shifting in the dimly lit den. Half asleep, he would turn his gentle attentions toward her. The familiar stir of her heart fluttered, an unintentional and yet practiced smile forming on her lips as the love she felt for him warmed her core. She bit back words, the familiar sassy flirtations that wanted to dance across her tongue — she held them close this time, her smile faltering for a moment.

The bull would pull herself nearer, her heavy paws pressing with certainty in the snow-laden earth.

He would seem to process the difference in her motions and expression, his own frame stiffening with a heavy worry. He would mirror her, as he often would. They would challenge one another, over and over again. But this time ... Tiberii did not want a challenge. She wanted only to crawl into his embrace, to hear his soft whispers that it was fine. This was fine. They were fine.

"Tiberii? What's wrong?" It was enough to break her glass facade. The lion would pull himself upward, his cool blue eyes cornering her with his own worry, but leaving her a comfortable space. A space she did not want. The bull would close the gap, moving toward him and pressing her chest against his own. His familiar warmth flooded over her, and she would rest her neck against his own as she struggled in the silence for the words. The simple, but oh-so difficult, words.

Shiloh, I— she steeled herself for whatever his reaction would be. Her voice, normally booming, would soften just for his own ears as the comfort of their shared den encompassed them. M'pregnant. She didn't move her body, keeping it strategically placed against his own, closing her eyes as the words (the impossible words) seemed to echo damply in her mind.

The bull had yet even to have time to process how she felt about everything going on ... for she worried so much about everyone else. Shiloh. Her sisters. The whole of Dawnbreak. Her teeth pressed against each other, her tongue straining against the roof of her mouth as she battled the floodgate of hormones.

Oh, and the nausea.

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