Stone Circle primal instinct

unbeknownst to the younger cougar, shardul watched the same herd with calculating yellow eyes. regipre he had secreted behind a clump of nearby bushes -- he would catch her if she ran, and dispatch her in less time than it would take the pup to hobble away -- and slunk down to the edge of the meadow to scan the herd for injured outliers. his gaze alit upon a half-grown fawn, grazing desperately upon the sparse grasses, and with belly to the ground, shardul crept closer, the great muscles of his haunches buoying him noiselessly in the hapless animal's direction.

in a moment he would lunge -- the movement was swift and merciless. shardul darted in a gunmetal blur toward the young deer, claws gripping the earth, but at the last and most crucial moment, the scent of another cat slashed him heavily across the senses, and he dropped to the earth with a loud and warning shriek.