"I'm all yours."

Her statement affirmed what, by heart, he already knew. Before either of them had fessed up, he'd known. It was like...the bond they shared had existed before he even knew she existed; like time had brought them back together, instead of together for the first time. Kite was the piece that completed Mirren.

With this thought on the forefront of his mind, the boy reveled in the feeling of weightlessness that accompanied knowing that Kite would be a permanent fixture in his life. The intensity of their moment began to fall away, not entirely replaced by his desire to show her more of the creek and surrounding forest─but not before he caught another whiff. The deer! Hell, the place reeked of them. He could have sworn they were all holed up right there in the den, or surrounding the two of them like the trees did. The scent was absolutely mouth watering and baffling at the same time. All winter long he hadn't seen a single one of them─had they all been hiding out right here in Copper Rock Creek, right under his nose? "Do...do you smell that?" He looked at her, his brows furrowed in thought.

But he couldn't let his eyes fall upon that pretty face without being completely distracted. "Nevermind," he added softly, dismissing the scent altogether, his pride for her glimmering in his eyes. The night was still young, and it would be a tragedy to spend it doing anything other than giving Kite his undivided attention. "...Since you're all mine,” he lulled unabashed, ”there's something else I’d like you to see."

Through the hills and deep into the forest was the only place that could make this night any more special. As secluded as it was, surely disguised now by a veil of winter white, Mirren knew exactly where to find his mother’s old den. It was where he’d been born and where he’d lived out the first weeks of his life, and he could think of no better place to spend the first night of a new life with his Kite.

On the way, the pair came across a moose carcass. Only when Kite had eaten her fill was Mirren was quick to feed his hungry belly, tearing the frozen flesh in sinewy ribbons and gulping them down, all the while silently considering where in the hell all the deer were.