I am alone. It is how he had felt, in that moment. The faint hope of family disappearing through the door of the filthy inn, leaving him with the most painful words he had ever heard.
She interrupted his thoughts. "I'm here, Fenris."
It was as if she had clamped her hand around his heart. He pressed his fingers to her cheek, wishing that he had never left her, that he could love her again. He felt the brief caress of her lips against his wrist, and knew that she was all he had ever needed.
She was his family now.