Redhawk Caldera Houston, we have a problem

His fangs told quite a cautionary tale as they sank into the stranger's face, slicing the thin flesh of his muzzle. He went down quickly after that, scrunching into a ball on the ground. It was this absolute submission that prevented the enraged Peregrine from executing him on the spot. Responding instinctively to the proverbial white flag, the Alpha stood over the other wolf, teeth bared and a growl still churning in his breast.

"Get out." The words grated out of him. He would give his daughter's helper exactly five seconds to make himself scarce. He blinked over his shoulder, his body language commanding his subordinates to stand down, not that such a message was needed. He then faced forward to watch the homely trespasser scurry away from the caldera.

Before he could get very far, Peregrine snatched up one of the slain ducks at his feet, then turned his head and snapped his neck, hurling it at the stranger's back (where it hopefully smacked him right in the ass because that would be funny). It was a somewhat twisted and sarcastic way of thanking him. Whatever true appreciation the father might have felt had been almost completely evaporated by the man's totally unnecessary trash talk.

"Are you all right, baby girl?" the Alpha asked, turning his back on the situation. He exchanged quick, grateful glances with Elwood and Tiger, though his eyes quickly fixed on Wildfire's still teary face.