Clara walked into the kitchen and let out a long sigh as her dogs met her at the top of the stairs, on the other side of the hidden panelled door. She dropped to her knees and buried her face in their fur and inhaled the comforting scent of dog. Both dogs licked her face and she just embraced it all, laughing a little as they welcomed her home. She’d been gone two days, she’d been gone since Saturday, and while she had been away from home hundreds of times before, tonight she was drained mentally and physically, and she needed the consolation these beasts gave her.
“I hope you’ve saved some of those hugs for me,” Elian’s voice broke into the silence of the kitchen.
She sat back on her heels and stared in amazement at the sight of him, too stunned to move. He stood in the entrance of the
