Phoenix Maplewood The Verdict

Spring's optimism was always a breath of fresh air, one Saena would remember most fondly in days to come, though she had no idea of it presently. The compliment paid to Saena by the Gamma brought a light smile to her lips, a genuine one that sparked in her eyes and spread warmth through her chest. "Thank you," she said, just above a whisper. "I hope you're right." For if there was anything Saena feared more than losing her title and her pack, it was being as hated by her children as she hated her own parents.

Part of her wondered if the absence of a father would cause them to resent her eventually. She didn't know how soon they would understand what a "proper" family looked like, or how young they would still be when they asked. Her experience with cubs was limited to Blue Willow's brood, and she hadn't been there for them as much as she ought to have, either.

A tense ripple of pain across her abdomen made the Alpha's face contort and she muttered a quiet, "oof," in the space between Spring and she. She didn't know it yet, but it was the beginning of the longest evening of her life, and this the first sign that her two months of pregnancy were drawing to a swift end. "I think I need to go lie down for a bit," the Alpha female shared with a heavy brow to suggest her confusion. "My apologies, Spring," she said as she turned and excused herself. She would only just make it back to the den in time for her labour to truly begin.