The kiss to his hand soothed his anger, but it still thrummed under his skin. He was angry...but it wasn't his husband he wanted to aim that anger at. Turning his hand against Joe's face, he cupped the man's cheek for the first time in far too long.

"I've never said that I'd forgiven him, zawj. Only that I can acknowledge my part in what happened. He still has a long way to go before I completely forgive him for the pain that woman put you through. But for him to take that path, we have to first get him back.

He is to be punished for what he did, but he is ours to punish. No one else's."

And then he was stepping forward to give his husband a kiss that was just as much teeth as it was desperate love. When it broke, he went right back to packing his gear.