Cedar Sweep All Mother's gifts

I'm invading older threads, hope this is OK!

Cedarwood burned down the wanderer's throat and up his nose, which was exceptionally unpleasant. More important to Mesa was his growing hunger; this was why he persisted in roaming the woods while the rest of his body fought against an evident allergy. He was not as quiet as he liked to believe himself to be: rapacious with his frenzied steps, writhing from point to point rather than a proper stalking of the paths. He couldn't smell anything except the heavy bark-scent.

As he rounded a corner, the sound of something clawing at the dirt broke the stillness. Mesa paused and tried to taste the air; his lip lifted briefly to draw air back across his palate, a flehmen response. It did not help. He soon gagged and spat a wad of phlegm in to the detritus along the forest floor — quite near where the other wolf was digging.