so we can stand and face the fire
burning higher and higher
Word Count → 382 :: Jerk cowboy. :C
He was gathering tinder when he heard the howl.
Wayne dropped all the wood he’d painstakingly collected into an untidy heap. His ears perked up so quickly his hat was set off balance, and he quickly placed a hand on it as he scrambled toward the borders at a breakneck pace. Dixie was back—Dixie, who he’d missed sorely these past days. He’d been disgustingly miserable even as he told himself to use common sense and get past this roadblock, but now thoughts of her drove lightning through his body as he ran.
He might have run to get a horse, or shifted into a speedier form, but the minutes required to change form were minutes his heart insisted he couldn’t waste. And so he ran, perhaps clumsily, definitely looking like a fool to any other pack members who happened to be out and about this wait. As the horizon bled fire, the cowboy raced to meet his friend again.
It was during the last leg of his journey that he remembered: the girl had left him without a word, with nothing more than some food and water so he wouldn’t have the need to leave the room while he was injured. The scar running across his abdomen ached at the memory, and he had to slow down, his breath rolling in vapor clouds around his square-shaped muzzle. She’d left without telling him, leaving him to find out from the others that she’d gone—and not on a simple walk or a hunt, no. Something selfish and indignant burned in his chest along with the air rushing in and out of his lungs as he finally came toward the borders.
Trying to control his breathing, Wayne took slow steps toward her and Duke. He suppressed the fluttering in his heart at the sight of her, suppressed the urge to run and lift her small body from the horse and wrap her up in his strong arms and never let her go. Instead, he exhaled and lightly crossed his arms, his expression slightly detached as he said:
“So you’re back.”
His posture was one of disapproval, the bitterness at her sudden departure welling up in him again. Only his tightly controlled, erratic breathing was evidence of his frantic race to see her again.
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