Neverwinter Forest Entered by the back door

It was probably a bad thing for him to put what remnants of happiness he had on her shoulders. It shouldn't rely on one wolf. But with so much still wrong, what choices did he have? Not a lot. But she was still here, at least -- a single little ember, okay, three once you added in the pups. He leaned into her greeting. I love you too, he said quietly, tiredly, and for a moment tried to forget all that had happened. Futile, really. 

There was a beat before exasperation at the world creeped back, a sigh, What do we do? More people are going to leave and--- everything's gone so wrong. He pressed his face into her fur, keeping close -- and that was probably one thing with Mal that hadn't changed, he was still a pretty touchy-feely person. He knew there were some answers that he didn't want to hear, but this was reality. It was harsh.