Phoenix Maplewood Laika Meets The Pack

A quick plume of steamy breath burst forth from Reek's nostrils, obscuring his face in a fleeting cloud as he snorted with displeasure. Winter was now in full effect, the Maplewood was swept with a layer of snow and the temperature had taken a freezing plunge. The cold affected his joints in a way he hadn't noticed in years past. Movement was labored and painful; he felt the scraping of bone on bone and it taxed him in ways he had previously thought impossible.  

He didn't want to be here— not walking the border of this snowy hellscape in a painful lockstep. Reek wanted to be back where it was warm and dry; to be back in his den along side his healing mate. The feeling of her body heat against his side as she pressed against him taunted him like a ghost in his mind. He missed her embrace, the closeness they shared. Oh, how he wanted to let himself intertwine with her again like they used to when their love was new, to sleep the day away together without a care. Of course, he knew he could return to the den and have all of this... but there was still a pack to run, and border patrol was still high on the list on important duties.  

The cold affected his senses as well as his movements. His sense of smell was greatly dulled, but even still, he caught the faint scent of a stranger near the northern border. He trudged his way through the snow and toward the smell's source. Upon passing the tree-line Reek was met with a wolf scrambling to reach the top of a boulder.  It was peculiar sight and Reek looked on with a hint of confusion. "Like the view?" he asked, hoping to grab the stranger's attention.