Herbalists' Cache baby, since i've been loving you

He felt like such an asshole. Here was this beautiful girl, standing before him, who wanted him--wanted him--and he'd treated her so poorly. The look in her eyes made his knees watery, and he ducked his head, unable to meet her gaze.

"I don't," he responded softly, rolling his shoulders in a shrug. "I don't expect you to believe me. How could I? I've not done right by you, and for that, I am sorry." Here, he finally summoned the courage to look once more at her, his body almost trembling with the effort not to blink, to flinch. "It's your choice. I'm here, now. . .I want you, now. Not just in your heat. Now."

Shale cleared his throat, feeling choked. "I won't run away again," he promised gravely. "But I'll go, I'll leave you be, if you want me to." He dug one paw idly through the dirt and leaves, looking down again. As if awaiting a death sentence.