I could make you want me

Zephyr wasn't trying to think about this, but what if avoiding what they needed to talk about was a bad thing? There was so much to discuss - so much left unsaid. There were a dozen things he could apologize for. He'd blamed her for all those deaths, had called her weak, had said he was better off without her. He often found himself retracing his words lately, back to that day, and trying to figure out where it had all come from and what he wished he hadn't said. Maybe they really ought to deal with the hard things first. To sit and scream, to cry, to blame. But that was also the difficult part, and the part that threatened to ruin them both every time it seemed to come. Avoidance was not the best coping mechanism, but it was better than nothing, and it seemed ignoring their pain was the easiest for them to do right now.

His own smile widened, a genuine expression that seemed more effortless than he expected. She asked what his name meant and the nostalgia hit him, sudden and unmistakable. Hadn't she asked him that the day they'd met? "It means.. west wind,"  Zephyr explained, his voice soft as he watched her. He'd named their pack after himself, a fact that not everyone had known. It had been a sign of his pride, there was no doubt about that, but  no other name had felt right.

He watched with plain interest as she moved away from him, a smile teasing his own lips, fighting to overtake his features. Zephyr didn't remember a time when he'd felt so enraptured by anyone, so weak to his own whims. "If you're so insistent about it, I suppose I'll follow you," he offered, feigning an exasperated sigh as she bounded away from him. After a moment he started after her, his pace slow and considerably more relaxed than it had been just moments ago when he'd been navigating through the woods. "What's in it for me, hmm?"  Zephyr called after her as her pace increased, amusement in his voice, as he bounded after her.