Midnight Clear

He listened to her words, as attentive as ever, though part of him wondered what she must fear in the future. Sure, there were many unknowns, and he himself had a lot to think about regarding the future, namely about bringing down Marina’s aggressor. But he viewed it without fear or reluctance. It was something that he, as the pack’s leader and protector, was meant to do.

He smiled at her next words, deciding, for the moment not to bring up what all he had found out on his trip. She was already unsettled from a nightmare; the reality of the dangers could wait until daylight. It wouldn’t do to give her mind more fodder to add to those nightmares.

It filled him with a warm contentment to hear that she cared for him, and the smile on his features mirrored that internal glow, his tail tapping softly against the mossy floor as he pressed his nose to her crown. Admittedly, she’d been on his mind the whole time he was gone, though he’d had to set it to a sideline to focus on everything. The thought that she could have been in Marina’s place was something that make his stomach churn. But she wasn’t. She was here, she was safe.

She was speaking again, and he tipped his head to study her as she spoke, listening, before he smiled, a glimmer of understanding lighting in those sapphires. “They were very wise. Grandmother thought she’d found love with my grandfather. But he disappeared and never came back, and took Uncle Castiel with him. Apparently, he got trampled by a bison herd. But it was Cairo who made her feel truly safe. He was always there to protect her, even from his own mate’s fury at her telling him that Guinevere was very ill. She didn’t realize it was love until the day before his death, when he told her how he felt. She never did stop loving him.”

There was a dawning comprehension on his features, and a growing smile as he looked at her. “I think… that being in love feels… like the mere sight of your beloved fills you with peace and excitement., all around and inside you. They say it’s different for everyone. You feel great pride at their smallest achievements, and their largest achievements, and you do all you can to encourage and hold them up. When they’re not around, you feel them in your heart, and you wish they were there.”

He grinned, touching his nose to her cheek. “And no one else has given me those feelings.”