24 Ace Pt.2🐾 Retribution

Ace flung his front paws out, thrusting them against the male's shoulders as he opened his mouth wide, teeth flashing. Bronx turned his head at exactly the right moment to catch the blow on his jaw instead, and Ace snarled with delight as he heard something snap off of it.

The bite hadn't sunk in, but it had thrusted his teeth against Bronx's face with the force of a rocket.

Probably lost a tooth. Good! That's what you deserve, vile theif.

Bronx's immediate impulse was to bite back. He'd been taken by surprise, but still had quite a quick response. The huge dog's mouth flicked open as he snapped his teeth right over Ace's muzzle.

And yet, they didn't sink in. They merely grazed him. Even Ace was confused, and stepped back in defense of himself- wondering how he'd missed the bite.

"I'I'm-mungung. Hom dif con do fat-..." Bronx trailed off into silence as he heard his own words.

Ace just stared, alarmed.

I broke his jaw...?

Bronx could no longer speak audibly. For a moment, he felt bad- and nervous waves of guilt pulsated throughout him, all the way to his paws and ears- causing them to grow uncomfortably hot.

Then Ace shook himself. His eyes hardened, black neck-fur growing spiky and tufted. Dropping his head, the male stepped forward and glared down Bronx's muzzle.

"That's just what you deserve."

Ace thrust his chest against the guardian dog's, somehow forcing the huge male to the ground. Bronx kicked him off, though, sending the husky flying several feet away. Ace almost yelped as his hip landed on a sharp rock.

Then the lighter cream-and-black dog got up and came flying back, much to his adversaries amazement.

With a snarl, he knocked the brawny male back to the ground. Bronx lay there, his legs splayed and his eyes wild as he panted with his mouth hung open uselessly.

"Keep fighting then, Bronx!" Ace growled deep in the pit of his stomach, eyes wild with the glint of revenge.

"See where it gets you," he spat with ragged breaths, locking eyes with the fearful and recoiling Bronx. "You want to die, I suppose? Is that it? You want pity?

Just like your precious Gypsy did." Then, Ace laughed in his face. Laughed right at his own joke. Bronx's eyes widened, and he looked appalled, then despondent. But Ace was carrying on.

"Oh right, Gypsy was never anything special to you." The husky's gaze was hard as flint. It widened as he showed his teeth and further condemned the damned male dog.

"She was a pawn in your game. So was North, wasn't she? A tool, something to use." After that, Ace wiped the crossness off his face. He let his gaze slide cooly to the side, off of Bronx's.

Then he jerked forward in an explosion of contained energy, seizing the male's furry throat with his parted jaws. Ace tore and ripped at the male's scruff until fur and flesh ripped out. His head jerked violently to and fro in the attempt to do more damage, as Bronx squealed and cringed away.

Ace ripped at his muzzle and tore the soft leathery flesh of his floppy ears. The whites of his eyes were showing as he snarled from the pit of his throat.

His chest was heaving after he stopped. He felt his shoulders fall loose, and took a step back, realizing that-... Oddly enough, the male hadn't bitten him back.

Oh, right. He can't. Ace twitched the thought away like a fly off of his ear.

Serves him right. Maybe he won't be killing any more puppies from here on out.

The male-dog curled his fluffy tail over his back, hackles risen and causing him to look twice his size. With bloody jaws, Ace still looked minacious. But Bronx only cowered on the ground, paws pulled into himself in submission.

"Get out of here. Don't ever come back to the camp, or I'll kill you. Seeing as you can't bite anymore, and kill others dogs... If I were you, I'd take one last patrol up there."

Ace nodded towatds the human houses Bronx had originally been aiming for.

"I'm sure they'll do something for your wounds, even the jaw one. If you grovel, of course." He gave a smug grin that was nothing unlike Bronx's previous own ones.

And Ace kept on smiling as Bronx climbed shakily to his feet, stumbled once, and then turned to lope away. His ears and tail were flattened and whooshed out behind him, a satisfying sight to behold.

The bloodied guardian dog didn't look back, not once. He left a trail of blood behind from his bleeding, ripped eartips.

The husky recalled the jealousy he'd felt at seeing Gypsy so close to that THEIVING, untrustworthy male dog. He'd privately despaired, not even sharing his feelings with Ghost.

Where is Ghost now? Ace wondered as he made his way back towards the camped side of the lake, fur tufty and sticking out in clumps from the scuffle. Thankfully, though, his only woulds were a scraped muzzle and bruised hind leg.

There's no point wondering about it. After all, Ghost couldn't be summoned. He appeared when he needed to, and wasn't there when he didn't.

Besides, the husky-mix had something else left to do. He had to feed Obelisk and himself. His belly was rumbling from all the energy spent stalking. The day was half-gone already, with an afternoon sun drawing shadows into themselves.

After he found a secluded house without signs of humans anywhere, Ace dug into one of their trash cans on the way back. He found a tub that was half-filled with rice, and decided to bring it for Obelisk after eating the other foods for himself.

Ace lifted it with his teeth, preparing to carry the token item home. However, he suddenly smelled a musky dog-scent on the wind.

His hackles rose with suspicion as he realized it was definitely male. However, it smelled nothing like the dirt-filled, pine forest scents of Bronx. The dog instead smelled like sawdust and trash. Ace wrinkled his nose.

Not a good combo.

The dog appeared between two trash cans farther down the street, upwind as its scent carried straight towards him.

At first, it's short figure didn't seem to notice him. So the black-and-white husky picked up his bin to leave.

However, as Ace did so, the stranger turned its head.

Cautiously, but with it's nose stretched forward to testily sniff, the male dog approached Ace's trash can. His eyes lit up, and his tail swung to and fro as he bounced on excited paws.

"Oh, hey! What's your name? I've never met another trash-dog before. WOW. Nice to meet'cha."

The dog wiggled it's tailless bum with pizzazz, as Ace nearly cracked a grin down at this wholesome pitbull.

"I'm Ace. And... Trash-dog?" He lifted his snout and fake-cringed. "I'd never touch trash!"

"Uh-huh!" The dog smiled back. "Sure, buddy. So where you taking that?"

Aghast, Ace looked defensively down at his food. All traces of amusement dissipated from his tone. "Why, you want it?" The male said with robust coldness, hunching his body over the food for Obelisk.

Taking a step back, the Pitbull gave a pitying look. "No! I'm sorry. I just saw you pick it up and start taking it somewhere, so I wondered if you had pups or something." The dog lifted a white-socked paw uncertainly, as if he would turn and leave.

"Um...No." Ace looked down at the younger male dog, befuddled.

"Sorry. I just never see any other dogs out here," the male sighed longingly. "This side of the lake only has pets, not wild dogs. And I don't want to be tied up all night anymore." He frowned with dismay.

As Ace contemplated this, the male dog sat down on his haunches patiently. His short black-and-white fur was stark against the curb.

"Okay... What's your name, then, kid?" Ace asked, knowing the male dog couldn't have been older than one or two.

"Killer." He cracked a grin. The male's face and white fur were stained orange on the dying sun. The wind swirled through their pelts, and the golden sky above was broken up by thin-streaked cloud.

"Hah! Who named you that?" Ace barked out a laugh, letting his guard down. He expected that Killer had been unlucky enough to get a cruel mother, but instead the male disproved this.

"It was my owners. I haven't seen them in awhile, nor do I want to." Killer shuddered, then looked back at his scarred pelt as if remembering something.

Ace didn't press it for now. Instead, he shook out his fur and turned towards the lake with a content sigh.

"Well, Killer. Want to help bring this food back to an old dog with me? He needs help... He can't tend to himself very well."

The male's reaction told Ace all he needed to know. Without even letting the husky finish, Killer threw out his paws in a play-bow and ran one eager circle around his tensed stature.

"Yes, yes YES! I want to meet him. What's his name? Is he nice or like a grumpy old man? My grand-maw was super grumpy! She used to snap at my muzzle or smack me with a paw-" he carried on as he fell into step beside Ace.

The dogs walked across the Lakeshore, sand sticking to their toes. Ace couldn't say much, but listening to Killer was more than enough. He let his shoulders fall loose, and sighed. Suddenly, things felt much easier.

Then he felt his throat swell shut, as he thought of those butter-scotch brown eyes and that angelic white coat. He nearly stopped, and Killer asked him what was wrong... But Ace couldn't answer, couldn't hear him. His eyes were blurred. A profound pressure was growing inside of his head.

I can't bear the thought of never seeing you again.

And so, he wondered if would wait for death as impatiently as he waited for Gypsy.

________
Killer

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