For TheMacUnleashed, here's Zach and the mistwolves.
Title: Barrier
Characters: Zach, Silver Eyes, the mistwolf pack, and mentions of Adriane
Genre: Angst, family
Pairings: Implied Adriane/Zach
Warnings: None
Word count: 305
He felt most alone when they ran.
Their paws barely touched the forest dirt of well-worn paths through the undergrowth. Each wolf leapt with impossible grace, its four lean legs bounding out and drawing back harmoniously as they carried it deeper into the dense green.
He loped after them on clunking and pounding shoes that caught on roots and made him stumble. His lungs and muscles burned as the wolves still ran strong, slowing him to a walk that widened the gap between them.
The pack passed him one-by-one: first the wolves in their prime, then the healthy young, and finally the aged and sick, who glanced at him with a touch of triumph before leaving him behind. Only Silver Eyes kept pace with him. Though far from her intention, he felt guilty for dragging her back, and many times he fought the urge to ridiculously apologize for not being a wolf—for not being fast and strong and beautiful like the rest.
When they ran, that barrier became the most painfully clear. They were a family in name and in his fantasies, but they could never truly run together; they did not look or act or think the same. He had abandoned the pack and they had abandoned him, and though they tried to forget, that rift could never be healed.
He had wondered if, by magic, he could become a wolf—if he could become like them and run with them and have a true family. But since he met her, humanity didn't seem so terrible. When he and she ran with the pack, he was not so alone beside someone who shared that strange in-between place. She with her bonded wolves gave him hope that maybe the barrier wasn't impossible, that maybe he could cross it—that they could cross it together.
Next week, school will be less crazy and I can write more requests! So send 'em in.
