Arrow Lake fall down a rabbit hole

She watched as the man attempted to purify her son. The dark boys chest would rise and fall as gentle sleep would take over him, and she released a sigh—the breath she did not realize that she had held in her breast. 

The gargoyle rumbled his response to her, the question something she did not need long to mull over. “Home is where my children are,” she agreed, her nose stretching out to seek the dark mans throat as she sought solace in the scent and warmth of his ruff—the first touch from one of her pack mates before she had become pregnant. She had only ever wanted companionship. A pack that was family and home.

“But that home is not where they are unwelcome. Not under the ire of Takiyok and the guilty presence of Stigmata.” She blew out a breath once more, nosing down as the gentle tawny female pup whimpered in her sleep. “I will not tolerate them outcasted from an act of love.”

He he had said he loved her. Had promised himself to her. And only now was the pale dove realizing that as much as he would wish to, he would never be able to fully commit to those words and stay true to himself.