Swiftcurrent Creek loyalty, got royalty inside my dna

A ruddy shape materialized suddenly above him, and before he could make sense of it, there was that all-too-familiar feeling of jaws wrapped gently around his scruff and tugging him away from the stream. It made him feel as if Mommy or Daddy had come to save him, and for a moment, contentment bloomed up within him, despite the fact that he was soaked from head to toe.

A glance at the woman, and the foreign territory that surrounded him, was all it took to dispel this temporary comfort.

Timberlake curled up into a sodden ball of dark fur and began to cry, sniffling and coughing at intervals. How far from home had he ran? Would someone go out looking for him, soon? He didn't even know what had happened; all he knew was that it was hot and scary and he had needed to get as far from it as possible. But now he was in another predicament, cold and wet.

And alone. So terribly alone.