Hideaway Strath nothing in comparison to that one minute

Hemlock regarded the pair for a moment, watching the way that Arturo considered her question and his own response. She might have smoothed her tongue across his brow were he not her Alpha; even though she is fond of him endlessly her respect runs deeper than that. She gives a grim smile to the response - understanding what he meant but still wishing there were more that she could do. She would take as much as she could, relieve him of his burdens, just as she knows Lotte does. Perhaps that is part of why she was so fond of the woman, perhaps it was only a piece of the larger puzzle that was Lotte. "You admit it, though, and that is freeing in a way." Denial was so strong it became a prison in some - thinking of Olive and Dakarai, who feigned their innocence until the very end. "It goes without saying anything I can do to ease those burdens I will." Hemlock still was compelled to state it all the same, wanting to provide for her pack as she had been provided for. 

Her brows furrow for a moment as he says he has something to ask of her; normally their conversations had been full of the children and all about them. There was time for little else, it seemed, considering the ways that things had gone recently. This though - it is important enough to near knock the wind from her lungs and Hemlock blinked back her shock to let her eyes drift across the litter. She may never have her own young, but these; were these not her own children, in a sense, knowing nothing but her love? She smiled and reached across Eirlys, nuzzling tenderly against Arturo and ending it with a lick to his chin, submissive and grateful. "I will do all I can to not fail you or them."