stay with me

The way he looked at her, the way he held her paw against his chest and then averted his eyes, Indigo almost seemed ashamed of the answer she sought. Her brows creased with confusion, though it wouldn't last long as Indigo began to speak the pain that was on his mind and in his heart and soul. He confessed the incestuous love he held for his sister, a wolf named Aslatiel. She was his soulmate, the only wolf who would ever hold his heart. She saw the way his eyes filled with liquid crystals, nor did she miss the quiver his jaw made when he spoke. He explained how their father forbade their relationship, and suddenly it was becoming more clear why Indigo was living in this pack without any of his family. Had he been exiled, or simply left on his own accord to put space between him and his problem?

Emersyn's heart broke for the giant soft-hearted brute. She had never known love, incestuous or otherwise, never felt those soft first touches of the greatest evil in life, so her empathy could only go so far in that regard. But she was intimately familiar with pain and longing. It was what she recognized in his eyes and on his face right now. Whether she understood his sentiments or not was irrelevant. Who was she to judge anyway? Their acts and emotions hurt nobody and should matter to no one besides them. What mattered was that Indigo was hurt and broken, just like she was—and just like he had told her weeks ago when he'd been healing. At first, Em hadn't believed him. Now she understood; now she knew what he had meant.

He still hadn't looked back at her yet even though he had finished speaking. Em was a little taken aback by Indigo's sudden timidity. This had been the wolf that had hurled himself almost to his death to defend her and now he couldn't even look her in the eye? A frown pulled at her lips while she scratched gentle claws against his chest to try and get his attention. She would have physically taken his face in her paws and moved his head til he was looking at her, but with the way he was holding her paw still, that was an impossibility. Once he did finally look back, Em leaned up to close the gap between them and gently pressed her nose to his. It was a simple show of affection, but for the wolf that had been starved of it all her life and had trauma of physical affection, it was a powerful gesture. Trust, comfort, love—all things Emersyn did not give out freely or easily, they all belonged to him now.

"I don't need you to give me your heart or your soul, Indigo. Aslatiel can keep them," she said, her voice calm yet resolute. "You've already given me more than anyone else has. I could never ask for more from you. All that you've given me, and whatever you continue to give, know that it's more than I deserve, and more than enough for me." A gentle smile curled Em's lips upward while she brought her free paw up to carefully and gingerly touch Indigo's cheek, feeling his soft royal fur between her paw pads. "She'd better not ever hurt you though, or she's gonna have a very mad pack of purple wolves after her." Now it was her turn to try and return some of that comedic relief back to soothe his soul and ease his tensions.

"Emersyn"