Stavanger Bay [m] the sparrows drag me down

He held his breath when she stepped closer to him, resisting the kneejerk urging to turn away, to protect himself. If she touched him, if she was real, if he lost her again —

A long, juddering breath clouded the air between them. His head dipped, ears flying back in a show of brief apology. Her tone, her confession... He knew he'd always loved her more than he ought to, at least from a certain point of view.

It was her loss that had broken him. He ought to have stayed, for their children if not for the pack itself. He'd welcomed them all along, but no seal hunters had elected to leave the sea behind. To leave the last place they'd seen their mothers and their father. Dutch had not been enough for them, then — but perhaps he might have been, if he'd stayed.

"I thought you were dead," he told her. It was a hollow excuse. "If I'd known, I would have stayed. I would have — "

He swallowed down on old heartaches.

"I poured myself into you," he told her, his voice growing so hoarse it was almost a whisper. "That night. Under the stars. We were one. The rest of us have gone — but we are still one."

It was what his seal hunter would have wanted, he knew. Dutch had failed Marina, and Chakliux through her. Now that he knew better, he would honor those scared ties.

And...

A ragged breath escaped him.

"You're alive," he murmured, still drinking her in with scorching, hungry eyes. He took the final step toward her.