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

Shale let out a ragged breath as she embraced him, his body, so tense a moment before, slumping with relief. He buried his nose in the thick fur of her neck, the two of them intertwined, fitting perfectly--as if it had been meant to be all along.

Well, and it had been. He'd just been too stubborn to admit it to himself.

"I won't go. I promise," he murmured into her neck, tail swaying slowly back and forth behind him. "I want you with me. I have for a long time." From the moment she'd come up to him, thinking he was Day, to right now. Those kind, soft eyes, that open face. The feelings she'd sparked within him, emotions he hadn't felt since Lucy had died.

For better or for worse, he had tethered himself to her--and he didn't want to release himself anytime soon.