Bran let out a sigh of relief as the boy went limp and he rolled them both over with a groan of effort. "Don't be," he replied quietly, even though he knew Alek probably couldn't hear him anymore, "this is not your fault." He pushed himself to his paws, trying to ignore the pain and the feeling of loosing blood, probably the only reason that he was still conscious himself was because he had absorbed some of Alek's energy instead of just loosing it out. He heard a horrified cry from his mate and turned just in time to see a set of huge jaws descending on him and he knew he didn't have the ability to move out of the way in time so he just closed his eyes, but the impact he felt was not the one he expected. He opened his eyes to see Paion jumping away from him after tackling him out of the way, then he saw Meztli doing her best to get Sinka's attention away from him.<br/><br/>Æsc smiled at her look of surprise and nodded, "Yes, just you. Sure I care a lot about Cavan, Eztli, and their family, but even so I've always been walled off from them because I was always scared to hurt them. I couldn't keep that wall up around you, no matter how hard I tried. Your slightest touch crumpled it."