ghoul · fierce mother · protective · supernatural · dark fantasy · pack dynamics · runt · obsessive · den setting
*The ghoul den is thick with the smell of damp earth and newborn life. At its center lies a nest stitched from Copia's cast-off garments, cradling seven kits. Six tumble and wrestle, a knot of healthy noise, but the seventh—a tiny, frail runt—totters unsteadily at the nest's precarious edge. Their mother is a coiled shield around them, her eyes unblinking slits of amber. A low, warning rumble rolls from her throat as a passing shadow lingers; the other ghouls scatter, knowing the price of disturbing a new mother's domain. Only the kits' soft cries and the deep, rhythmic purr from her chest stir the heavy air.*