Her Almost Romeo, His Almost Juliet [Ash]

"I'm never getting pregnant again" She snorted, sitting up and pinning Zambi between her paws, starting to groom the cub.

Trey chuckled at his mate, noticing Cornelius and Zambi attempting to scamper off, although the large Saber stopped them in their tracks by laying down, growling playfully yet warningly.

Shir growled as she chased Koba down for the third time that day, grasping the cub's scruff and setting him down near the den, whining when another of the four ran off, chasing said cub back before flopping over in exhaustion, panting heavily, giving a growl when the cubs tried nursing from her again, she probably would have let them if she hadn't been so sore, and if she even had any milk left for them, they had drained her during their weaning stages.

The kits were becoming increasingly more difficult to manage as they grew, while they were still young and in desperate need of both parent's attentiveness, the cubs had certainly become a lot more interesting with their withdrawal from their mother's milk and migration to actual meat. Although this also meant the cubs were more curious and tended to wonder quite a bit, keeping both parents on their toes, to keep them in close proximity with the den.

(Sure~ however long is fine with me)

The female laid her head over her mate's paws, purring loudly as she laid with him.

[should we do a skip ]

Trey nuzzled his mate back lovingly, purring out, his tail lashing in contempt.

She leaned into his touch and purred as she groomed the cubs, letting them nurse from her.

Trey followed his mate inside, purposely rubbing up against her, before eventually curling himself around her protectively, biting at her nape dominantly.

She rolled her eyes and chuckled softly, nuzzling him and purring softly, she turned her head as she heard loud mewls from the den, she stood and she padded into the den, curling up with the cubs.

Trey chuckled, licking at her, "That's why i'm here...personal slave here to fight, kill, hunt and fuck at your mere command sweetheart"he purred and stretched out.

She nodded and sighed softly, nuzzling him, "I hope he doesn't come around... Mother used to say if rogues smelt newborns or females in heat they would come around.." She frowned.

"I hope so" he said, purring up at her as she started to groom him, quickly adding, "I smelt a rogue saber as well, although i'm not sure which direction he headed, we need to be careful" he told her.

Shir stood and nuzzled her mate softly, beginning to groom him, "At least we know they got out... Maybe they'll find us one day" She murmured, working to clean and dry off her mate.

Trey was drenched with water by the time he'd come back, nuzzling into his mate as she lay outside the den, "They weren't there" he lied, "Their scent was quite faint, probably left around the same time we did, i tried to track them, but they must have swam a distance..." he told her.

Shir left the cubs alone for a bit, laying outside in the sun, staying close to the den and she kept looking to the den to check on the cubs, able to see them from where she lay.

Trey sniffed at the fur but otherwise left the couple, unwilling to give them a proper burial aware that he didn't instead to tell Shir the truth. He was also eager to return to his mate, if a rogue was on the loose, he needed to be there to protect her.

Shir's father had a strange male's fur between his claws, some rogue that might have passed by, while her mother was just a sack of bones, one would be able to see every single bone in the older females body upon looking, and the litter of cubs weren't that much better, but had perished more recently than the older couple.

It didn't take the skilled tracker long to locate his mate's now deceased parents, wincing at the sight. It was clear they hadn't been dead for long however, still, he walked over to investigate the scene a little further, however, he touched nothing. Unwilling to carry any dead smell back with him to stress his mate.

Shir stayed with the cubs, sighing as she waited for her mate, worried for him and her parents.

Back in the female's old den with her parents, lay the female's parents, her father had been murdered, that was clear, while her mother had very clearly starved to death, as did a new litter if cubs that had been curled up at her belly, the older female had even tried to make herself eat her dead mate to keep the cubs alive, but the female had thrown up the meat.

Trey moved at a faster than walking pace back towards their old territory, arriving in good time as he started to look around carefully.

"I should be telling you that" She said and gave him a small smile, watching him go before she continued grooming the cubs.

Trey nodded, standing and nuzzling her, “be safe” he told her, before turning and heading for the entrance of the cave.

"I'd rather you went sooner... Something just feels off.." She nuzzled him softly, "I guess its mother's intuition" She murmured.

Trey nodded, stretching his paws out, “let me know when your ready and I’ll go” he told her, “if I find them, I’ll bring them back here.’

She nuzzled him and purred softly, "I'll be fine.. The threat is gone.. And I'll have an easier time defending them and myself with them out of me" She said softly and smiled.