Ouroboros Spine If you were a Transformer… you’d be Optimus Fine.

He did keep going for a few paces, at first.  He didn't really care that her home was destroyed - look, he'd had a shit ton of homes, and wasn't like any of those worked out any better for him.  Nah, what made him pause was when she brought up her daughter, because as her voice softened, he was reminded of his own mum.

Not enough to make him entirely sympathetic, but enough to bend him.  The only woman Zane had ever loved was his mother, in a pretty typical and extremely spoiled way, and he'd have moved heaven and earth for her if she'd ever asked.  But she didn't because she was a fuckin stand up woman.  (Where was this respect for other women? None of us know)

He froze, but the fur along his back lifted up, more against the cold than anything else.  All I want is to find one place that lets me do things on my terms without immediately punting me to the curb for opening my fucking mouth.  He answered, tail giving a lash.  If you can't give me that, I might as well move on.  Winters got a ways to go and I ain't starving here.  

He wasn't putting any time into a place who didn't want him, and who wouldn't appreciate what they had when they had him.  He wasn't about to make her promise that if she didn't want to (though hell, he thought the joke had been funny).  He could find his own chicks later, long as he could be promised he wouldn't be kicked out for flirting with the wrong wolf, or taking a nap when he shoulda been hunting, or not throwing himself headlong into a fight where he was outnumbered two to one.