est-elle le diable incarnte?

the pallid lupine paced the cage, her swollen abdomen proof of the impending birth. She'd been moved indoors, to an even smaller enclosure than the cage she'd been confined to before. Why? A snarl curled her features, her ears perpetually pinned against her skull. Pissy, though vulgar, would be a good word to describe the mood that the she-wolf was in. Her long legs felt cramped in the small space she had to wander, and she'd taken to pacing, hardly ever still. Aleu was ready to be done with this, have the nasty little pups out of her, be able to escape. It's much easier to be sneaky when you aren't huge and heavy.

is she the devil incarnate?

With renovations going on at Ethan's place, the decision was made to move the mother to Danny's, who had another mother at his place as it was. For as crafty as the white wolfess showed herself to be, Ben didn't want to risk loosing her and her valuable 'cargo' during the hectic remodeling and cleaning at the cabin-house.

Across from Aleu's cage was a second little enclosure, just as dingy but escape-proof as her's. Inside lay a dark-brindle pitbull, covered nose to tail in fighting scars. Born into fighting, she had been rescued and led into freedom. But when her adoptive mother disappeared and her pack splintered, Neva found herself back in the human lands, and captured just as quickly. She had been here for a few years now, and she was on her fifth litter.

"I haven't seen you before. What name have the humans given you?" Neva questioned, shifted onto her side as the press of the puppies in her own abdomen grew uncomfortable. The pitpull had not shown herself to be the best of fighters, but she had at least produced enough 'good' offspring to prove herself useful to the humans.

Just as Neva had given her question, the door of the basement swung open, and none other than the hated Danny came threw it. Being sure to secure the door behind him, he strode down the stair with resounding foot steps as he made his way to Aleu's cage. "Well, well. You still haven't had those little mutts yet?" He exclaimed, peering into the cage as he rest his hands against the bars.

Neva refrained from snarling, though she couldn't help but bristle at the sight of the man.

The wolf had noticed the small enclosure, but until now hadn't seen the darkly-colored dog. Who was this? She halted her pacing momentarily, ears pricked, curiousity piqued. This other mutt was obviously pregnant as well, a fact that slightly embarassed Aleu. As Neva spoke, the lupine felt a wry smile distort her features. "I'm new. And as far as the name the humans have given me, I'm afraid I haven't the slightest clue." She said smoothly, giving a faint wag of her tail in friendship. However, as she was about to inquire as to the title of her new 'friend,' the sound of thumping footsteps could be heard coming down the basement stairs. The wolf instantly tensed herself, hackles raised, upper lip pulled back in a wicked snarl. Dan. She'd learned to loathe him as well, and enjoyed harassing him in any way she could.

As he rested his hands on the bars of her cage, his ugly face leaning in close, Aleu suddenly lunged at the side. Her weight was enough to slam to bars into his hands, and perhaps to smash into his face if he brought it close enough. Snarling, she attempted to catch his fingers as they were in the cage as well, to cause him as much pain as she possibly could... heh.

Cropped ears stood perked and attentive as Aleu replied, and she was quiet relieved that it wasn't a snarl or crude remark that came her way. Most canines responded to her that way, although she could hardly blame most of them. Still, it was nice to be able to chat with someone, even if for just a brief moment.

The menacing show of fangs that accompanied her gnarled face was lifted in a half-grin when she saw what Aleu was up to. Why Ben and the others left Dan on his own like this was beyond her, but it seemed to be a running joke among human and canine alike to pester this poor man. On the other side, it gave the 'poor' man more than enough fuel to pester the canines back, when his superiors weren't around.

Guard down, the younger man misjudged the speed of the pregnant wolf. Despite being weighed down and sluggish with her pups, she was still faster in her leap than Danny was in his reflexes. With yelping cry, he lurched back, just after getting his hands and face a good blow. Yanking back his digits, he was startled to see furrows of crimson swell up on the top side of his fingers where Aleu had snagged the flesh with her teeth. "You damned-"

"Hey, what's goin' on down there?" A loud voice boomed from upstairs, muffled but still audible through the closed door.

Clenching his bloodied hand, Danny glared hatefully at Aleu, "Nothin'. I just tripped, is all." After a moment's pause to be sure the other person wasn't coming down to check on things, Danny leaned in towards the cage again, but not so close as last time, "You think that was funny, do you? I'll bet you won't think it's so funny when it's my turn..." He hissed venomously at the wolf before heading over to a nearby sink to wash his hand.

"Nice one." The pitbull commented wryly, her snarling face now transformed fully into a grin, "You've got more courage than I do. I use to do the same things..." Neva looked to Danny for a moment, mentally shuddering at past thoughts. She could almost feel old wounds burning from what he had done to her. "Luckily one of the others is up stairs, so he can't retaliate too bad on you..."

Indeed, Aleu was a bit more sluggish than usual, and it irked her to no end. But a rather delighted look lit her features as she moved back from the kennel side, surveying the damage she'd acheived. Not too shabby, considering she was caged and pregnant. Her tail wagged slightly as he lowered his face, hissing threats in her direction. She did notice the fact that he stayed back a bit, and it amused her. The lupine contemplated him for a moment, before glancing at Neva. "Thanks. And as far as he goes..." She said, gesturing towards him with a turn of her head, "I look forward to being the one to kill him." Aleu's words were smooth, a delicious smirk twisting her features.

Sighing, the wolf flopped down on the ground rather unceremoniously, feeling some odd pains in her abdomen. Stupid puppies- probably kicking or something. With a slight moan, she lay her head on her paws, still watching Dan with a malicious glint in her dark eyes. He'd better pray he was never alone if she got loose... heh.

While the man mumbled and cursed over at the sink, Neva couldn't stop her stumpy tail from wagging, "You would be admired by us all for such a feat." Feeling worn down and tired, the pit bull nestled down as comfortably as she could against the cement floor, head on paws. "My name is Neva, by the way. The name my mother gave to me, anyway."

When Danny finished cleaning and wrapping up his hand, he returned to Aleu's cage. Normally, he enjoyed tossing firecrackers into the cages, since they had no way of evading the stinging little explosions. But with one of his superiors upstairs, the young man couldn't afford to get caught 'abusing' such a valuable wolf as La Refugia while she was pregnant. Afterall, her pups would be sold for quite a bit of money. "As soon as you have those pups, you're gonna be one sorry wolf."

The wolf let a slight wag of her own tail be seen, though it was a rare gesture. She had decided that she liked this 'Neva,' and perhaps she'd even come to regard her as a friend. I'm Aleu. At least, that's what my mother called me." She said smoothly, dark eyes narrowing slightly as she glanced over her shoulder, in time to see Dan approaching the cage again. He just never got enough, did he? The lupine, however, decided to completely ignore him. Turning her back to him, in a wolf-ish respone of pure arrogance and disrespect, she walked towards the back of the cage and sat on her haunches, wrapping her tail about herself tightly. The pains in her abdoment suddenly came again, and she lowered her head slightly, ears pinned against her skull now. Usually the pups weren't nearly so rough... ouch! With a sigh, she shifted her position, as though to appease the infants within. Little demons.

As the man hissed his little threats, the wolf turned her head to watch him, canine amusement written in her features. Silly boy. With a slight sniff, she turned away from him again, clearly dismissing him. "He just won't leave, will he?" she yipped at Neva, mocking Dan.

Being able to chat with another was something Neva didn't normally have the opportunity to do, so she took great delight in Aleu's words. And more than that, it was fun seeing the daring wolf pull a fast one on Danny, although she cringed to think about the consiquences for the bold move. "It's good you don't use the name the humans have given you. Some fighters take pride in it... I don't." She had her human name, but she didn't like it. The pit bull would have went on talking, but she could see that Aleu was not having an easy time right now with the pups. Neva herself felt her own young within, but it was not so bad as the wolf mother.

Danny hovered by the cage a moment, rattling off another threat to no avail. He was peeved that the wolf dared ignore him, like he were no more than a fly. Vengence built up in the young man before an idea came to him. With a huff, he turned and walked into a second room in the basement.

In a few minutes, he came out again with a tray piled with meat. "Alright, time to eat." Danny said, walking by Neva's cage first to toss in a few scraps of meat. He came to Aleu next and tossed a few into her cage before backing away and sitting down on the stairway to watch her. Unable to punish her with beatings in fear of his superiors hearing, Danny resorted to silent measures, though they were just as sinister. Crammed inside the meat were pieces of a tiny, exceptionally hot pepper.

Aleu glanced over at Neva, not wanting to appear rude to her new companion, but in too much pain to say much. She gave a nod, acknowledging that she'd heard what Neva said. The wolf stood up, then sat again, then stood up and began to pace, unable to get any relief. The pains were sharp, and came at intervals. What was happening? Her pacing became quicker, for Aleu had always had a rather low pain-tolerance, unless blinded by adrenaline. A soft whine left her vocals as she came to a halt, dark eyes narrowed, watching as Danny tossed the pieces of meat. She really wasn't hungry, considering how much pain she'd discovered she was in, but she padded over to the meat anyway. Why, she really wasn't sure. Aleu sniffed at it for a moment, noting that it did smell different than usual, but she decided to ignore that fact. The wolf nibbled on one of the small pieces, the pepper suddenly causing her mouth to 'ignite,' full of a burning heat.

In great pain in both her abdomen and mouth, the wolf stumbled back a few steps, pawing at her mouth, one yelp escaping her. She shook her head, trying to rid herself of the burning, when suddenly another contraction ripped through her. Aleu simply collapsed, panting heavily, dark eyes full of pain and panic. She didn't know what to do, what was going on...

A wicked, cruel grin grew on the man's face as he watched her take of bite of the baited meat. "Now it's my turn to laugh!" He sneered as the wolfess showed her great discomfort at the fire in her mouth. When any creatured acted against him, Danny took it very personally. It wasn't until Aleu's condition seemed to deteriorate that the man grew alarmed. Had he put too much pepper in the meat? Uh oh... what if he had pushed things too far this time? Now it was Danny's turn to look panicked as he thought of the trouble he could get into.

Neva gave a slight whimper, frustrated that she could do nothing to help out Aleu. At first, she began to worry as Danny did, thinking that the man had poisoned the wolf. But then her trained eyes caught onto what was really going on; she was going to have her pups soon.

Cursing and mumbling under his breath, Danny hurried over to the cage, and snatched the meat out while Aleu was on the ground. If anything, he'd at least get rid of the evidence. With one last glance to the downed wolfess, the man hurried out of the room. He wasn't going to be the one to find her 'dead'.

Had the wolf been in less pain and a bit less confused, she would have taken advantage of him coming opening the cage. But poor Aleu, she was in quite a bit of pain, and quite unsure how to handle it. And so, she ignored him, allowing only a weak snarl to leave her parched lips as Danny slammed the kennel gate shut, leaving her alone. As his footsteps disappeared up the stairs, Aleu let her head fall to the ground. "N-Neva?" She inquired, once the latest contraction had subsided slightly, "I-I don't know what on earth to do." The wolf whispered, dark eyes focused on the pitbull, willing her to offer some advice, any.

At that point, another contraction hit Aleu, and her eyes squeezed shut, her body tensing...

Breathing a sigh of relief when Dan left, the terrier looked to her friend, ears laid back in sympathy. "I'm afraid there isn't much I can do for you. Just... just ride it out." She offered, though it wasn't much.

Upstairs, the sound of human voices broke out, though their tones were not very clear. Soon, heavier footsteps sounded and light flooded the basement as the door was opened. Down came Tom, his injuries mostly healed from his first encounters with Aleu. Behind him sulked a very apprehensive Danny, doing his best not to look guilty of anything.

"You idiot, she's whelping! Why didn't you say anything?" Tom demanded after taking a quick look at the wolf mother.

"I just thought... well, I didn't realize..." Dan replied, trying to cover himself. A whack to the head stopped the younger man, but a light of indignant fury lit in his eyes; how dare Tom cuff him like some child! Yet he didn't rebel or protest; Dan knew better than that.

"You ought to know a whelping dog when you see one. It's part of your job, isn't it?" Tom accused, shaking his head and turning away from Dan to dismiss him. The older man crouched down in front of Aleu's cage, watching her movements and trying to time her contractions. If she showed any signs of trouble, he was ready to intervene. Those pups were too precious to lose.

Danny fumed in the background, glaring at Aleu with boiling hatred. Whelping! She had made him look like a complete bafoon!

Neva glanced from Dan to Tom, relaxing a little bit. While Tom was here, Aleu would be safe. But judging by the furious gaze the younger man was sending the wolf mother... it wasn't good.

Aleu cringed slightly when she heard the heavy footsteps, afraid it would only be Dan back to harass her. Not that she was afraid of him, but simply didn't feel like dealing with the bafoon at this point in time.

As Tom approached, the wolf gave a weak snarl, then stretched herself out sideways on the ground, trying desperately to ease the pain as another contraction hit. They seemed to be getting a bit worse... did that mean the pups were coming soon? Oh, how she hoped so! Little brats. The pain didn't ease up this time, and she began to push, instinct telling her it was the right thing to do. There she lay, straining in the dirt, desperate. Aleu continued to push, paws scrabbling, her dark eyes squeezed shut.

With her eyes closed, she missed the furious glare that Dan was aiming at her. Ha ha, if looks could kill...

Experienced eyes continued to take in every movement of Aleu, and he knew the pups would be here very soon indeed. By the size of her belly, he could imagine there weren't all too many, but there was no real way of telling without X-rays. Taking the snarl without a flinch of emotion, the older man spoke without looking back to Dan, "Call Ben, tell him the pups will be here soon."

A distraction; something he needed. Taking a cellphone from his pocket, Danny dailed up some numbers and waited.

Neva was growing restless herself, though it was more in anxiety over Aleu's situtation rather then her own pups. She had gone through this experience more than once before, and knew how frightening it was to be a new mother. She only hoped that Aleu wouldn't get too attached to her offspring, for they wouldn't be with her long at all.

Aleu tuned out the men, focusing only on herself and the need she felt to alleviate the great pain that coursed through her slender form. With a soft whine, she continued to push and thrash slightly, panting and pink tongue lolling. How could someone do this more than once? Aleu never wanted to relive this experience, that was for sure.

She felt the first pup coming and she pushed harder, groaning softly...

Continuing to watch the struggling mother, Tom felt that everything was going alright for now. In a few more mintues, hopefully, all of the puppies would be here. The older man spoke in a whispered voice, as if saying something to himself. What ever it was, his words were lost on an anxious Danny, pacing in the background while he spoke with Ben.

",B>...dunno, maybe five? It's... yeah, well it..." Without the other there to catch him, Danny rolled his eyes back in frustration and sarcasm; something he wouldn't do if Ben were there to see it. "...it's hard to tell, is all. Yes, I understand. Ok, I will. It...No more than a few minutes, an hour at the most. Uh-hu, yeah... ok." Snapping the cellphone shut, the younger man strode less than quietly over to the cage again. Just in time to see the first pup come...

Neva paced in her cage, pausing every now and then to stick her muzzle through the bars, though she didn't have a clear view of Aleu. She would have offered words of encouragement to the mother, but thought that Alue was past hearing anything right now.

Finally, finally, here it was. The first pup was born. It was a little male, dark grey in color. Aleu felt a slight respite in the pain for the moment, and nudged the tiny little body with her muzzle, rather relieved to hear it sigh. It was alive! She licked it gently, afraid she was going to hurt it or something... but the pup knew exactly what to do. It squirmed up close to her, and began to nurse.

Then another wave of those nauseating contractions began again, and the wolf knew another little one was on it's way. Straining and pushing, this one was born a bit quicker, which was a relief. It was pitch black, and a little female. Aleu began to lick the pup gently, watching the girl open her mouth in silent protest. The lupine nudged the pup up against her, to rest beside the other.

Twice more she went through this ordeal, the entire thing taking about 45 minutes, give or take. Two more pups were born - right after the female, a little white male, who appeared to resemble his mother the most. He seemed to be a cocky little thing, even at birth. He pushed the other two away and latched on to nurse right where the first male had been. Little bugger. The very last one was a pale grey pup, another little male. None of them knew it yet, but he was actually deaf in his right ear.

Aleu lay quietly in her enclosure, exhausted from the birth. The four pups nursed contentedly, eyes shut, tiny and helpless.

By the time all of the pups were born, Ben had arrived. As a humbling Danny scooted off to the side, the middle-aged man stepped in close to the cage. With ands clasped behind his back, he leaned in and took his time to inspect each pup with keen eyes. After a long time of deliberation, Ben spoke, "Take her back to Ethan's. I want the two lighter colored pups with the serogate." Turning back towards the stairs, Ben paused as he looked back to the other men, "And tell Ethan to stop by Tidus's. After that, we'll all meet back at the cabin. We need more wild stock."

As Ben left, Tom and Danny got on either side of Aleu's cage. Grasping handles at the sides, safely out of reach of the mother's devilish fangs, they strained to lift the entire contraption up. "Easy, easy!" Tom huffed out as Dan's grasp began to slip at first, but the words were too little too late. Danny lost his grasp and the cage shifted violently to the side before slamming against the ground. Wolf mother and pups would all be flung harshly against the side of the cage.

"Ah, dammit Pickett!" Tom raged, his eyes wide and furious, "You better hope none of Ben's pups are damaged! C'mon, lets try this again..."

If Dan's hands hadn't been so sweaty, he wouldn't have dropped the cage. But he couldn't help but be anxious around Ben, and nervous as hell. Cursing again under his breath, he hoisted up his end of the cage and together they carried it out to Tom's truck. From there, they drove it to Ethan's Cabin.