Duke's shoulder jerked, half-flinch, half-barely contained urge to shrug him off. He wanted them to hold him. To make him feel safe. He didn't know why he was resisting so hard.

(Because he needed his walls. His walls had been all he'd had for so long.)

He ended up frozen again, holding so carefully still, bottle halfway to his mouth.

"Can take care of myself."

He said it as much to himself as to them.