Heron Lake Plateau To waste away the waking hours

That she could handle herself, but that he didn't like the idea of her fighting with at least him there to take flank.  "I doubt there's a thing you could do would make you look bad, but I think I prefer the scars on the other ones."  

He'd never been one to say what he meant, since speaking in feelings was definitely not the Blackthorn way.  Least not his and Finley's.  They'd screamed, yelled, thrown themselves into fights, but only with age had they started coming to realize the hardest thing to do was say what you felt.  She had come farther in that than he had, in a lot of aspects.  Kids and a mate could do that to you.  

So he'd skirt until he was forced into it.  "Have you seen Raven's kids yet?"