Swiftcurrent Creek pack activity · fight or flight

Her route had begun in the north, far out of range of the mountain lion's trespass. It was no wonder, then, that Jinx, despite priding herself in being a very capable Warrior, hadn't noticed the cat cross into their territory. Even if she had, she wouldn't have gone after it, not because she feared cougars (being large herself) and not because she cared about the lives of her unborn offspring. No, Jinx would have left the cat alone because it was likely the cat would leave them alone. It would be an uncommon and desperate thing for a mountain lion to threaten wolves in a pack.

However, it was very different when the cat was involved with one of her pack mates. From where she was, heading south along the pack's western border, she could hear the yowling of the enraged mountain lion. That wasn't unusual in a mountainous area, but accompanying the cat's screams were the sharp, panicked sounds of a wolf in trouble. Her speed picked up instantly, her hackles rising in a sharp ridge as she came upon the pair, at approximately the same instant Haunter did and mere moments after his howl boomed out over the territory.

She had to infer what happened. Having some knowledge of mountain lions, and knowing they were unlikely to attack similarly powerful predators unprovoked, she correctly assumed the small Alpha had hit first. She would have torn a strip off the yearling for being so stupid if the cat hadn't already been doing it, but reprimanding Fox for disturbing the otherwise non-threatening mountain lion would have to wait, for she was already rushing in with her jaws widened to catch the cougar on its shoulder and shove it away from her Alpha. A cougar's odds were much higher when it fought one-on-one, so the more wolves that arrived, the better, for their foolish Alpha's sake.