Nocturne Summit New Bohemia

The sound of leathery paw pads on shale shattered Wildfire's moment of peace. She immediately tensed and whirled, every nerve on edge as her chestnut eyes clapped upon an unfamiliar figure. She drew in a breath, catching his scent, and grew even stiffer. She would have backed away, except that there was nothing but open air and a dead fall behind her. Wildfire swallowed anxiously and, like any desperate, cornered wild animal, her fear response began to manifest in aggression. Her lips drew back from her teeth.

Then she saw the wet tracks on his two-toned face and smelled the salt of his tears. She looked into his (also two-toned) eyes, which were definitely shiny and moist. It gave her pause and she took a moment to study his body language. He appeared to be neutral. But then again, Goober had appeared downright friendly, up until he'd transformed into a hideous sexual predator. The recollection made Wildfire shudder and she did not sheathe her fangs.

"What do you want?" she eventually said, her voice pitched strangely, with an undercurrent of anger that paired well with her lifted lip. Wildfire didn't think she would ever trust strange males easily again and she would learn to mourn that. "Get away from me," the yearling added. Just as she had with Floki, she was telling this unfamiliar wolf all the things she should have said to Goober. Hindsight was painfully twenty/twenty.