A pain that runs deep

He hated the vulnerability he felt the moment the words left his lips. The silence that followed was painful, and a part of him wanted to snatch the words out of the air. Take them back, and go back to yelling at her. If he yelled enough, she'd probably forget he'd ever said them. 


The silence stretched on a little longer, and he shuffled his paws. His cheeks burned. A fool, that's what he was. A fool. He'd exposed a huge vulnerability to her, and he couldn't take it back. She started to speak, and his eyes made their way back to her. Wondering what was going on behind her eyes. 


He knew her family was important to her, that Vidarr came first. He wasn't expecting that to change, but he wanted something from her in exchange for the words, the vulnerability. Hearing she was scared as well was actually a relief. She stepped closer to him, and he took a step too. Closing the last bit of distance. He looked down at her. At the annoying, exasperating, foolish, wonderful wolf in front of him. "It's enough." He'd take it. She might be foolish, but he was an even bigger idiot.