(no subject)
Leaving Molly behind for three days should be no problem. He'd gone three months without seeing her, after all. And she was in good hands. Jody had her, and was likely spoiling the dickens out of the poor little thing.
And yet he felt strange without her familiar presence. Her scent, a blend of Chelsea's and his own with a touch of something that was uniquely her. The sound of her tiny snores as she slept, her fluttering heartbeat.
There was plenty to listen to instead. A stream nearby was crashing over stones, laughing at itself as it went. Birds zipped overhead through the morning sky, their wings and tiny hearts beating in his sensitive ears. One of his favorite sounds, wind through pine trees, was the loudest, crashing like waves overhead.
He sat on a rock, one knee drawn up to his chest, listening. His hands felt empty, and that familiar tug was pulling on the back of his brain. The need for a smoke was strong, but he pushed through it. Smell other things. The ashes of the campfire, the dampness to the morning air, animals, plants, his mate. He could smell her strongly, hear her breathing in the tent behind him, still asleep. For the moment.
This had been what he'd needed. Getting away from the others, away from the stress, back into his natural element. He was a creature of solitude, a lover of the wilderness. Steel and concrete felt alien to him. Solitude and the wild were where he belonged.
A shaft of light pierced over the top of the mountain, filling the small space with the first direct sunlight of the day. He closed his eyes and tilted his head back, smiling at the awakening of the world.
He heard a rustle behind him but did not turn nor open his eyes. "Can we stay up here forever?"
And yet he felt strange without her familiar presence. Her scent, a blend of Chelsea's and his own with a touch of something that was uniquely her. The sound of her tiny snores as she slept, her fluttering heartbeat.
There was plenty to listen to instead. A stream nearby was crashing over stones, laughing at itself as it went. Birds zipped overhead through the morning sky, their wings and tiny hearts beating in his sensitive ears. One of his favorite sounds, wind through pine trees, was the loudest, crashing like waves overhead.
He sat on a rock, one knee drawn up to his chest, listening. His hands felt empty, and that familiar tug was pulling on the back of his brain. The need for a smoke was strong, but he pushed through it. Smell other things. The ashes of the campfire, the dampness to the morning air, animals, plants, his mate. He could smell her strongly, hear her breathing in the tent behind him, still asleep. For the moment.
This had been what he'd needed. Getting away from the others, away from the stress, back into his natural element. He was a creature of solitude, a lover of the wilderness. Steel and concrete felt alien to him. Solitude and the wild were where he belonged.
A shaft of light pierced over the top of the mountain, filling the small space with the first direct sunlight of the day. He closed his eyes and tilted his head back, smiling at the awakening of the world.
He heard a rustle behind him but did not turn nor open his eyes. "Can we stay up here forever?"