Haunted Wood Trails of Fire

The yelp sent his heart racing and he whipped his head around, expression one of genuine panic as he half expected something to be seriously wrong. Instead he saw Clay latched onto Santiago's fur and with a stricken expression he just held his breath waiting for the man to attack before Clay limply let go and draped across his back. His legs shook for a moment before he quickly adjusted to hide the fact that he was still not big enough to easily help carry another, shifting until he felt Clay wouldn't shift around too much. The ashen cloaked boy's muzzle pressed deeply into Valour's shoulder blades as it was nuzzled into him, the cold sharp wetness of Clay's nose sending shivers down his spine in an entirely different way and he cringed due to the situationally bad timing for what he only knew by instinct and a fleeting, despicable discussion about it with Vengeance. Time seemed to slow and Santiago's voice was more a quickly rattled off murmuring in the background as his ears pricked up, catching his name murmured by a much sweeter voice. Before much else of a reaction could happen he forced himself to stiffly walk forward, eyes staring ahead of him as he took slow and deep breaths ignoring the way Clay was making him feel and focusing instead on the more important scent of his blood. "I'm sorry Santiago, are you wounded?" he finally paid the man the respect and attention due to him, casting a glance over his shoulder to meet the man's eyes as he walked though that too proved difficult as he could see the curl of a smile on Clay's face and it made him want nothing more than to hurry back to his den so he could tend to the boy alone and maybe, just maybe get a good night's sleep for once.