Imogen is her pack's runt. She was a surprise to her family, and a disgrace. Her father is the gamma of her pack so her existence as the runt is a disappointment and disgusting.
Her family wait for the moment when she can find her mate, leave the pa...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
~Tobias~
As my exhausted mate sleeps in our bed, the traces of labour still written across her face, I stand over our pup and watch her breathe. I have held her once, I was the first person to hold my pup and it broke my heart and reformed it in one tiny wriggle of new life.
Because Imogen's labour was difficult and long they had to give her a pill, in truth I hardly heard the name over Imogen's screams, which made both my mate and our pup a little bit out of it. The pack doctor explained that it would take a few hours for it to leave my daughter's system and all she needs to do is sleep.
When the doctor left, I didn't know what to do. I still don't. Even though the doctor told us that our baby girl is completely healthy, I can't take my eyes off her.
She's tiny, so tiny that the terror in my chest is overwhelming. I'm frightened that if I take my eyes off her for even a second she'll stop breathing.
This whole parenting thing is already overwhelmingly stressful. I take my eyes off my daughter for a moment to check on my mate, she's still sleeping deeply.
When my eyes turn back to the crib, I jump back in surprise when I see a pair of emerald green eyes staring back at me. This is the first time my pup has opened her eyes to the world, and I am blessed to see them.
"Hello angel," I whisper as I lean over the crib and carefully lift my daughter into my arms. I gently lay her in the crook of my arm, her neck supported and safe.
In my arms, my daughter blinks unseeingly up at me as I slowly rock her.
I'm a father.
She's finally here, with me.
"Hello little one," I murmur as I gently kiss her downy forehead, "we've been waiting for you."
For minutes or maybe even hours, I hold my little girl against my chest as I sit in the rocking chair. I decided that I wanted to help my daughter bond with me more, so I threw my T-shirt away and undid the first few buttons on her babygrow so her chest is on mine.
As she wriggles happily and dozes, I once again find myself caught in the sight of her.
This feeling, nothing could describe it.
Not only am I at a loss for words, I'm at a loss for emotions as well.
Eventually, my baby girl appears to have had enough of just sitting with me. She begins to grizzle and whine. Because I don't want Imogen to wake up, unless it's absolutely necessary, I quickly get to my feet and wander across the hall to the nursery.
