Lost Creek Hollow we'll be counting stars

She spoke of those she clearly loved—and there before him was the smallest opening to the she-wolf’s heart—the insight to what remained the most important to her and how deeply she cared for those that had earned it.

Content was not happiness—and he would have pointed it out, but she pulled herself together and the moment passed—the carefully placed shield coming before her once more as she determined to get back to nursing the children. He nodded quietly, his eyes trailing over her features as she walked back to the den—resolved—and, he worried, doomed to heartache if she gave her children to call upon another mother.

This was not his to mend, as much as he wished to. And so he shifted his attention back to his own dumpster fire—his mind drifting to Jakoul and whether she missed her own children.