He’d caught their movement when he hadn’t at all intended to be on the hunt, and presently his eyes pierced his prey, holding unwaveringly to the opportunity he wouldn’t dream of passing up. Two rabbits had been frolicking right out in the open and now grazed tentatively, separated a good distance from each other. There was only one avenue in the hunter’s mind.

He slowly and quietly prowled close, hidden in the brush which both helped and hindered him. Only when they both had their heads down did he spring, and like a dart he was after the one in closest proximity which leaped frantically in the opposite direction of the other. When his hind paws connected with the earth he turned his body in a racket of speed, threw the weight of his physique in a hairpin turn and lunged with his neck outstretched and deadly fangs at the ready. He barely grabbed hold of skin and fur and he crashed to the floor of the clearing while the rabbit resorted to kicking out in attempt to free itself in its terrified state. A crushing paw lashed out to pin the wily little thing and his gleaming grasp found better purchase on its tiny neck to cleave its life away. It certainly wasn’t his most elegant kill, but it had an element of style and ended in being effective.

For a moment he lay there with his head propped by nothing but sinuous muscle, unmoving aside from his heaving ribcage. The dead rabbit hung feebly from his mouth and he was quite content to bask in the surge of adrenaline that still coursed through him as he let it subside.

Under ordinary circumstances it was rare for anyone to approach and go unnoticed by the cunning hunter, so when he heard spirited barking not far from where he lay sprawled across the ground, he widened his eyes and slowly turned his head to get a look at her without bothering to keep the fact that he was clearly startled under wraps. He took his time to look her over as his surprise faded and a cheeky grin spread across his roguish face. The elfin-featured girl was predominately cloaked in striking, fiery red, not unlike a certain spitfire leader he knew, but she looked absolutely nothing like Fox otherwise. Her vibrant green eyes shone.

Such fanfare, he drawled easily. Tell you what—come help me fill the caches. We’re taking this to Tuwawi first, but afterwards you can show me something to rave over, he said, and certainly not without a gleam of challenge in his sharp yellow eyes. If she could out-stealth him so easily, circumstances aside, he felt sure he could use her.