8. You Give Love A Bad Name.

Her voice was noticeably crispy, she was not sure what to feel, and she was very surprised that this had been done to them secretly. Somehow, she had assumed that Damon would tell her if they were gonna end up pregnant. "Damon Salvatore. Do you have something to tell me?"

Mariella went to Damon. She went to stand before him, her emerald green eyes sparkling in the summer sun, her red hair shining in the sun like a pool of blood. Damon looked at his wife and felt so much love for her.

Damon looked and asked, " So, what is there to tell?"

Mariella put his hand on her side. Cub moved under his palm. It was always amazing to feel.

Damon smiled happily. "Oh, you noticed. I would have told you at home; the wolves are pregnant, too. You have less than three weeks left. We're teleporting out of here to Montreal. There, we'll make cubs. Everything will be fine, you'll see." His voice was calm, and loving, like there would not really be any problem at all. Mariella could think of several problems at once. 

Mariella looked at Damon for a moment and said, " Are you sure this is what you want? I am not sure myself what to feel. I thought you were gonna tell us when we would end up pregnant and we have missed half of this already. "

Damon nodded. "Everything gonna be just fine, you see, I must admit, this was a surprise for me too. I did not plan this, but I guess I gave my blessing to this. That kiss, the end of the heat, it was permission to be pregnant, you see, Mimi had embryos in her womb still she was waiting for her alpha male to say yes or no and I guess I said yes, even though I had no idea about that. "

Mariella was quiet. Mimi was one of those problems and normally in the shifter pack, the alpha couple has a powerful bond. They are the strongest bonded couple in the breeding pack, and now that was not the case. Meaning Damon would be with her. Not with Mimi, and Mimi would do this to herself. As she was also a jaguar in her base species, that would be her way of doing it, too.

But she would have to tell this to Damon, to make him understand Mimi would most likely withdraw to hide somewhere in the secret nest, caring for her cubs alone and not letting anyone near her. And what they had done with wolves, that kind of behavior was not something that Damon would swallow.

He said, "Let's walk a bit, and I'll tell you what's going to happen here. Also, Darling, a damn powerful telepath is next to you, and thank you for bringing this to my attention. You are right, that will be the most likely scenario and even my instincts are screaming to do that the other way. I know realities and myself too. I can not be an alpha male for Mimi, not with this first litter, at least."

Damon prepared to tell Mariella about the breeding cycle, the wombs, and how Mimi's breeding womb would control how many litters she could make.

Damon said, "Mimi is Mimi. I now have to teach these alpha male things, and one of the alpha male's primary jobs is to decide how to breed, whether Mimi has a womb or not. But let's take this easy. I am just warning and telling you because you might be a handful too."

Mariella frowned slightly. She looked at Mimi, who was now looking at cherries alone while Adam and Charles were selecting apples. Mimi had taken a lot of raspberries for herself, too.

Damon spoke, kept his voice low and steady, his arm around Mariella, feeling cubs moving, " Usually, the alpha male breeds the alpha female several times a day immediately after giving birth, as long as the cubs are in the nest. This is called PPB, postpartum Bonding, meaning, the male has accepted the litter, and he is happy with the female and wants to do more. This also releases certain pheromones for cubs to smell in their first days, so they bond equally with their parents. They can smell mother and father. These pair bonding pheromones must be given to cubs in their first three days, so they would bond equally. If they do not get them, means that they are more likely to obey mom than dad, but that is not permanent, these cubs are magic and they will become as intelligent as humans, and grow twice as fast, meaning in one-year-old, they are fully grown, capable of changing forms. So you can think how fast they grow in just a few months if you think of them as children, so they can be taught to obey dad too, but as they are curious, they will ask questions about everything, and it is up to pack and parents to teach them."

Mariella was silent and said, "Well, wolf cubs were intelligent and curious, and talkative too, but you mean that you most likely are not gonna be with Mimi on those three days and there will be questions and teaching later on." 

Damon nodded, and he continued still.

"Then, when the cubs leave the nest, the alpha female has a week-long breeding/feeding period, during which the alpha male breeds the female as long as she is properly pregnant. This is after the first litter. When the second litter is born, the same thing happens, except now there is no week, but as soon as the puppies leave, the male again inseminates the female as long as the alpha female has a reproductive uterus. The rest of you will probably get the same treatment. "

Mariella frowned. "So we're going to be puppy mills. Multiple litters for us as long as Mimi's fertility says otherwise."

Damon replied, "Usually breeding season involves multiple litters but a word of warning. My alpha male side won't tolerate any resistance. It's breeding right away if you rebel. I can leave you off from breeding if you behave perfectly, but that is not likely. "

Mariella sighed. This was going to be fun. She knew Mimi's and her wolf's attitudes, and Mariella wasn't sure how hormonal she would be.

Mariella said, "What about Mimi? She is not gonna be perfect, and she wants to be alone. Are you sure you won't want just to leave this in one litter?"

Damon shook his head.

Damon said gently, "We're going to be the parents. Mimi will be dealt with when the time comes and we see then if she has a uterus left. I wish this would be as perfect for her as it would be for me, but she has to do this alone as Mimosa and Shadow will need the help of men when I gonna be stuck with you. I have no idea how many days it will be. I am truly sorry for Mimi, but she is a tough, jaguar and wants to do this alone. At least part of her wants to do this alone. "

Mariella saw Damon was mostly happy. Of course, he was sad because he could not make this perfect for Mimi, but it was a small thing for him right now. He was genuinely happy about having cubs with Mariella.

Damon said, " The kittens are in the nest, so we have them for eight weeks, two weeks as babies, then another two weeks, probably still inside but much more active, and four weeks outside. "

Mariella asked, " How do you know all this?"

Damon said, "I read it in a book. There are quite many books in certain lady's mind, easy to pick there all the knowledge and get a plan based on that. "

Mariella said, "But if Mimi has been reading this, then she would know this too. And she might protest." 

He continued, "She might, but I have made up my plan according to the knowledge. There are no set rules on how to tend your cubs. This takes time. One litter always takes two months, and if there are four litters, then... You always have a rest in between to recover. But this will be living as a pack, functioning, and raising cubs. Whole new time for us all. There is time to fuck, too. "

Mariella thought for a moment. " Could you condense the schedule? So that the new litter starts when the previous ones go out. So when the last ones leave, the new ones are born, saving many weeks."

Damon said, "I'll have to see. I'm not guaranteeing after this litter, but the next one. Depends on how fertile Mimi is."

Mariella asked, " How does it depend on Mimi?"

Damon said, "I always breed my alpha female first now, at least initially. Miss not being so overly cooperative makes that just so much more fun. You might have a gap, so your babies will be born at different times, but it doesn't matter. One thing though, this will require a lot out of your body, you and wolves are energy creatures meaning you can compensate, but that one skinny one, she should be kept an eye on, and for some reason, I will know that is just not gonna happen, so she might end up in sedation, feeding too. And it is just a learning curve to us all."

The thought of Damon taking and getting Mimi pregnant repeatedly was very arousing to Mariella. She shared this with her husband. She knew too that Mimi would probably take a hit on her body with feeding and they tried to come up with solutions on how to prevent it, getting much meat available.

According to Damon, it would be likely that they would want to be in the feline form the first few days at least. One thing was getting the same kind of magical feeding cup full of meat as there was for wolves, in Mimi's nest but because she was an alpha female, her instincts would be all over the place and she would be so dangerous to approach that would not be possible probably either. They would just have to go with the flow and see where this is getting.

Damon looked at Mariella and said, "'Do you always want to watch then, breeding, I mean?"

She nodded. Her hormones had risen as cubs' magic had ended and the actual state of her body was getting to her. She could feel her libido rise, her love for Damon to deepen, and she loved to be pregnant. Mariella was all wet. Luckily, they packed up the car and teleported to Montreal.

Mimi had been quiet as Mariella and Damon had informed her, too. Montreal had been one place she had bought — no wing, but a big castle. Damon did not say much of anything, just informed her about what would happen.

Damon knew he'd bloody well known for weeks. Less than three weeks to go. We arrived in Montréal and entered the house. Damon and Mariella walked side by side to Damon's hand now, feeling and stroking Mariella's side sometimes. He stopped and stroked either of the wolves and those were very close to Adam and Charles, pushing their pregnancy pheromones into them, tying them into themselves. I was alone, and I knew this, accepted it and I was also ready for this too. Let the pride of lions have their cubs in their peace, while this jaguar will tend to her cubs alone.

My big castle stood grand in its huge plot of land and lake, too. I saw the magic house in the distance too and the safety bubble shimmered faintly in the air as we teleported into the yard. Of course, Damon had the key, and he rubbed behind his ears, taking his pheromones. After opening the doors and wiping his fingers on the doorjamb, marking his territory, we walked inside.

I had done quite a lot of work on here, but the upper floors through five to seven were more of an original decoration than mine. So, of course, as one might guess, they went to the sixth floor looking for a birthing or den room.

I stayed on the first floor. I went to the end of the hallway, opened the door, turned on the lights, and continued down this hallway until I came to the double doors. I had fixed this room up a couple of years ago, and for some reason, I felt the need to hide and hide the cubs. I let my instincts take over, as they were my best bet.

I was alone. This was my first ever pregnancy that would make living cubs, at least I hoped so, and if I had kept my instincts too under control, this would not have been an enjoyable time for me. To see how everyone else has someone to support them and I am alone. I was hormonal as hell. My instincts helped me deal with things, too.

It was just my alpha female's reproductive instinct and a little bit of the other cats. For some reason, I wanted a dim, quiet, sheltered place. It was partly my feeling of security and much of it was my instincts, too. I changed the room to heavy black velvet curtains that blocked out too much light. I replaced lights for soft spotlights, only four. In cat form, I could easily see in the dim light.

I collected cushions, mattresses, and blankets and built them into a spacious but sheltered den. I had been making a nest for well over a week. I had marked my nest very well as well, leaving little subtle warning scents along the corridor so no one would come even near my den. My instincts took over more and more every day, and I saw no reason to fight them. I would do this I liked, let the rest of the pack do their thing. Let's just see how many times Damon will want me to breed after this.

No one disturbed me when I went to eat. I ate what I wanted and there was nothing ready-made for me so I just grabbed some meat, and fried that, ate what I wanted. Every man had their own female to be fed and I could see that those females were looked after. I just glimpsed Mariella and Damon always side by side, with Damon stroking and kissing, the wolves not far from Damon. Adam and Charles were nearby.

My ribs were now protruding, and the cubs were very active. After I had eaten, I went to the shower and thought about how tender my breasts were. When I washed them, they were already coming out with a few drops of milk. I sighed. But my body wanted to best possible feeder and carer for the cubs, at least with my hormones, and somehow, my cats went to sleep. Even my jaguar, who was the biological parent of this litter, went to sleep, leaving me to care for them.

We were co-parenting, and every cat inside me was very disappointed with Damon. They were magic cats, meaning not mere cats but pack animals more or less, at least knowing males' responsibilities, so him leaving me in the lurch more or less was not getting any points in their eyes. I was not sure if this was the same as others, but it was for me.

There could have been an option of giving Charles to me, let him be with me, but that was out of question and they had been made of cub carers for the wolves. Even they could do most of the jobs for themselves. But Damon just did not want Charles to be with me. That much I knew, and now it was too late. I was way too committed to do this alone.

Day by day, I was feeling fuller. My instincts were getting stronger. I got the nest in perfect shape, and with only a week to go, milk was flowing from my breasts. I had soft antic, silk rugs on the floor and designed peeing and pooing areas too, for later once they would be strong enough to move. My nest was huge. It was at least three meters by three meters, and I had made a roof over it too. Air-condition had been set on high but this was the old castle and not so renovated so it then to be sometimes drafty in some places too.

I was good at making milk, which I noticed when I set out to empty my breasts. They weren't much bigger, but so tender and tight as hell. I was already making colostrum, the first and most important milk for cubs and I just had to pump my breasts, but my milk would stay fresh. 

I found a breast pump and emptied 10 liters of milk, wondering where it had gone to hide. I had a fridge in my room and put the milk in the bottles, ready to go. I had estimated my puppies at about 25. More milk would probably be needed. I had a bottle rack from the zoo and a bottle warmer. Even though I was making too much milk, I had no way to ensure that the same fashion would continue and everyone would get enough milk, so better safe than sorry. 

I was much in my jaguar form. I went into my den, curled up as comfortably as I could, alone, suppressing my instincts, my alpha side, for just a few moments to see what I felt. Nothing so good. I was scared as hell. A nervous wreck, lonely, and desperately needed someone with me, to be with me, so I let my alpha side come out, wash those feelings away so I could do this somehow.