Blacktail Deer Plateau Atlas hands

aww <3 I'm gonna say this happens after that blue/lasher thread if that's ok, so he will know.  If you rather she tell him though I can set it before

Dante sat staring at the ground near the base of the tree, but seeing none of it.  His conversation with his Beta(s?) had done little to ease his mind, though they had made him pause and think. He still felt as though he did not belong where he was, and as though he was holding a position he no longer deserved. But hearing what had happened to Osprey, he no longer felt his own problems held precedence. They paled in comparison to what she must be feeling, and he wasnt about to throw more on that fire by stepping down. Not right now.

It felt as though his life were on pause, his heart telling him that perhaps he could still turn this around and rise to the challenge once more, become the better for it, and his head telling him it was a battle he'd already lost. So often he did not know which voice to follow, and this was no different. Was there any point in trying when he felt they would all be better off if he didn't?

When he heard someone approach, he found himself hoping that it was Mordecai. He had led, and could maybe offer wisdom. He'd even been tempted to go seek out that loner he had met not long ago, though unloading his worries on a non-packmate may not be wise. He was not looking for Osprey, mainly because she was one of the last he expected to see.

Turning he stared, surprise quickly softening to sorrow. Rising slowly, and with an intake of breath on the stretching of his injured side, he made his way over to her. Pausing only to be sure his proximity was welcome, he moved to press his head against her shoulder. Because what was there to say that hadn't likely already been said? And being completely honest, he could use the contact too.