Shiloh was not used to letting her weaknesses slip free as they had; she desperately wanted to create a powerful image for herself, and it was hard to abandon it. This being the case, it wasn’t difficult to put the mask back on and coo calmly to the skinny, mud-covered creature to keep it calm. Whether due to her efforts or because it was in shock or for some other reason, though, the feline remained silent and only pressed itself against her fur, trembling and staring at their shaky surroundings with wide yellow eyes.
The wolf wanted to let herself sob again in relief when she heard Niernan’s return howl, and she found the strength to keep standing where she was, unpinning her ears to listen for his approach. When his dark form finally materialized from the blowing rain, she adjusted the cat in her grip and ran toward him, stopping just short of collision and resisting the urge to throw herself at him. Her fingers curled through the muck and into the shaking cat’s fur as he gave his orders, and she nodded; the feline, meanwhile, leaned its head out to stare back at Ciaran intently though it didn’t return the mew.
“My place is close,” Shiloh managed, and for once managed to overlook the thought that they’d be tracking all kinds of mud and debris into the house. She nodded her head afterward, as if to reaffirm her understanding of the plan, and then looked around before heading briskly toward her home. She held the cat tight with one hand and tried to wrench open the door, jerking back on it desperately and baring her teeth before managing to squeeze inside, where she exhaled loudly and plopped on the floor, rubbing at the skinny stray and wiping away the excess muck.
“You poor thing, you’re so muddy,” she murmured over and over. She flicked her hand to get some of the mud off it, biting her lip, then went back to rubbing, though it seemed that she was only unveiling more mud and a weird blackish mottled color. It took her a few more rubs to realize that it was only the tortoiseshell coloration of the feline’s coat, a black speckled and patched with ginger, at which point she smiled and shook her head, continuing her work.
Word Count → 389
Advancing this a bit! Hope it's okay. 
.muddy2 {background-image:url(http://i.imgur.com/nrEcX.png); background-repeat:no-repeat; background-position:top center; background-color:#beac93; width:500px; margin:0px auto; padding:300px 0px 5px 0px; color:#3f3931; text-align:justify; font-family:georgia, serif; font-size:12px; line-height:16px; border:1px solid #3f3931;}
.muddy2 b {color:#fff; text-shadow:#3f3931 1px 1px 2px;}
.muddy2 p { text-indent:0px; padding:7px 15px; margin:0px; }
.muddy2 p.ooc {font-style:italic; font-size:11px; border-top:1px dotted #fff; margin:15px 15px 0px;}
.muddy2 .wordcount {letter-spacing:0px;font-weight:bold; font-size:11px; text-align:right; padding:0px 5px; text-transform:uppercase; float:right; margin:20px;}</style>[/html]