Eli leans against the doorframe, watching as Alex, kneeling with his back to the hallway, smooths his thumbs over Hawk’s brow bone, fingers curled in the thick fur beneath her jaw. “—and I’m working on it. It’s just— You do a really good job, you know that?” Alex is murmuring. “You take such good care of Eli, and I probably would have been freaking out a lot more if you hadn’t been with him. So. Thank you. For that.” He presses a kiss between her little furry eyebrows, sitting back on his heels. “You’re such a good girl.” The fondness Eli feels for Alex in that moment—rumpled, barefooted Alex,
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