Kova hadn't been back from his visit to Black Thorn Downs for long. A day or two had passed since his return, and luckily for him the youth had arrived just in time for his younger siblings births. Kova had spent the remainder of his time as close to Minka as she would allow.

Sometimes she pushed him away, and Kova figured that perhaps carrying his siblings inside her belly might be hurting her. That might have been why she was so irritable. Still, he accepted her irritable self without complaint and kept as close to the den as possible. Only when he needed a drink or food would he move from his place. It was just as she begun birthing that Kova had left to fill his aching belly. A couple of hours later he'd caught himself a rabbit and a few fish from the creek that wound its way around their mountain home. Kova only ate one of the two fish he'd caught; deciding to keep the other one to give it to Minka or to help fill the nonexistent caches. Then after a drink at the creek Kova had started climbing up the mountain again. He was headed straight for Minka's birthing den.

Upon reaching the scene, Kova spies Gent's rear end sticking out of the den's entrance. He watched it disappear into the den where Minka should be. A low growl escaped from between Kova's jaws, though it was muffled by the fish clenched in his teeth. The gray wolf forced himself to be silent as he approached the den. He knew that he should be totally fine with his pack mates being around Minka, however knowing that his little siblings might be born any day had Kova's protecting instincts going haywire. He felt the need to keep pretty much everybody spare for Lugh away from his mother.

Kova dropped his fish then as calmly as he could walked up to the entrance of the den. The smell of blood and birthing fluids hit his nose making the young wolf bristle. It was hard for him to keep from growling at the big black wolf who was now laying beside his mother.  “Gent, move away from the den...” The words came out of his mouth as a soft but assertive command at first. Something that was totally opposite from what Kova would normally do or say. “Please...” He added gritting his teeth and trying very much so to be a good boy. His body was in a neutral position, with his silver tail parallel to the ground. His dark blue orbs avoided Gent's lighter ones while his muzzle lowered. Any other time, whether it be at a meeting, hunting, guarding, or just hanging out Kova would have been fully submissive. It was only now, as he desperately longed to see his siblings for the first time to make sure that they were okay, that Kova ignored the regular rules. In order to protect his mother and his little siblings. The bad thing was that Kova knew that he was going to get in trouble for it. He just hoped that it was something that he could later make up to Gent and the rest of the pack.

Kova continued to try and look past Gent as the male began to get up and pad out of the den. The silver boys head swung lower in submission to the male as he swept passed then Kova tentatively took a step closer to his mother. His hackles lay smoothly now while a short whine echoed out from his maw. His eyes traced the curve of her body around the pups while the sweet milky scent enveloped the area calming the youth further. He softly whimpered in apology while occasionally mixing whines of longing to get closer. That gray tail banged back and forth against the den wall as Kova finally looked over the little forms of his younger siblings. “Was I that small?” He asked mostly to himself while looking over Ari, Kino, and Draven's worm-like bodies.

The gray form stuck out just as equally as the black form did. However the little rusty ream pup seemed to melt into his mothers belly fur. Kova very gently touched his nose to her only to hear a little squeak come from her rounded mouth. Kova yanked backwards not knowing what to do in this situation. He thought he hurt her, but in reality his wet nose had only bothered the hungry girl. Then Kova looked over Kino and Draven wondering if they had looked a lot like how he and Noble did when he was little. His eyes scoured the dark pups coat wishing so much that Noble could be here with him.

Kova gulped as tears began to gather in his eyes. “Father... He's watching us now isn't he?” The words tumbled out his mouth as his tears began to fall on Minka's paws and upon Kino's little frame. The gray pup began to squirm as Kova sniffled then licked the tears off of Kino. “I'm sorry I didn't mean to make you cry...” How ironic that he say this to the deaf pup when he himself was the one crying. Kova wanted to lean into Minka and bask in her motherly love but he was ever so aware of how he had to share her now. He'd try to suck it up and just deal with it. The knowledge that he wasn't a pup anymore hit him like a train as Kova forced himself to calm down and dry his tears. Still he didn't feel like leaving Minka's den while the others were outside. He didn't want them to see that he was crying. (Fade for Kova?)