Spotted Eagle Mountain groundlight

The cat drew ever-closer and the wolfdog's heart soared again, this time pushing so desperately against his chest it hurt. The cougar was painfully magnificent, and bigger than he had ever imagined. Terrifying too, of course, but Ishi had it in his head that he could change him.

This really was the type of cougar Spring feared, though this world seemed a thousand worlds away from the one he shared with his Phoenix friend. I understand that you're evil, he persisted, his voice as steady as he could make it, gazing back into the cougar's vast eyes, but you're still a mountain lion, and that means we're fated to run in the same pack. Our world doesn't have to be one of agonies and blood and things! It can be one of adventure and cooperation. He smiled defiantly.