Heron Lake Plateau Sooner rather than later

She grinned at his observation, glad that it was becoming noticeable. Something about pregnancy filled her with pride, a sense of purpose and accomplishment. Perhaps this was part of being alpha, perhaps it was just part of who she was. Perhaps both. She nodded and replied cheerily, "Yep! Looks like I'm the clown car carrying around another batch of hellions." She almost mentioned that she hoped they all stuck around for the ride, thinking darkly back to the stillbirths of her previous season, but fortunately she remembered Phox's situation had been far worse -- she was, after all, at least still alive -- and she let that comment die before it had a chance to come out and bring to the surface wounds that had only just begun to heal for her poor brother.

"So what's going on?" she asked him, cutting straight to the chase. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy small talk, she'd just never been one to beat around the bush when someone, particularly family, needed her for something.