Eros was livid. Not just with the timing, not just that @Vayko had practically ran the second he'd realized @Vanadis and her truth had returned, confirming to the young leader that he had always been guilty; he had also abandoned Clover and their children, Eros' mother and his siblings, without so much as goodbye. At least @Archer'd had his excuses for what he'd done, had thought himself in love. Vayko had run from the easiest life a wolf could know simply because he was a coward.

He didn't know how anyone could make that better for Ma and the kids. Eros wanted to think they were better off, but who could end up happy about their husband or father running out on them? Regardless of what good the future might hold, this wound would scar, permanently aching.

Eros found Clover along the bank and settled in next to her, fitting around the curve of her huddled form and draping his head and throat overtop her shoulders. He wanted to talk, but what was there to say? 'I'm sorry' was nothing compared to what she'd just lost.

His heart hurt deeply for her, and he had to fight back a whimper of his own. Eros still didn't understand how she'd ever come to grow so fond of Vayko, where she'd even found the time through all of his fickleness, but that didn't change it. Questioning his importance now would just be salt in the wound.

"You don't have to do anything," he answered softly, picking up his head to begin grooming her crown in the same comforting way she had his many times in his life.

"You aren't the one who broke things, it's not your job to fix them."

As much as she might want to, it was no longer her responsibility to keep cleaning up after Vayko. Even when it came to the kids, there was nothing she could do to fill the hole he'd created. She could only keep her own relationship with them strong, be the parent that didn't give up.

"Just... don't you leave too, okay?"

He almost murmured the words as he lowered his face into the fur of her nape again, feeling maybe they were too selfish.

'Who else will?'

Eros frowned a moment, temporarily lost, before he realized what the divergence here was. He was compartmentalizing, while this was the shattering of Clover's entire world. Vayko hadn't just been a piece of it, he'd interwoven himself through every single part. When he'd ripped himself away, it had all come apart. A new surge of anger and vitriol for the man was felt boiling in his gut, but he didn't let it out, wouldn't even allow a breath of steam to escape him. He walked a tightrope out of respect for what was left of his mom's heart.

"Yes," he answered her secondary question, hesitance to his voice. It wasn't a fun thing to remember, and he wasn't sure he'd done the job well at all. Still, as soon as he himself had been informed, he'd sought out Clove and the children all. It had been @Euna, @Khalon, @Torriana and Tuwile that'd run into first, and when he realized they hadn't a clue, he'd dropped the news. There was not a single piece of him that had entertained the notion of keeping it from them, even for a second. To do so would have felt like a deep betrayal.

"They still have their family," he tried to comfort her again, tried to lessen the weight even just a touch, "they have you, and each other, and me and Ollie. Their Grandpa, and Dad, and the rest of the pack..."

Losing @Vanadis had cut him deeply when it happened, but it hadn't been the end of his world. He felt confident it would be the same for his younger siblings, for they had all the same supports in place to get through it as he'd had.