The Heartwood monsters of smoke and mirror

I keep loose timelines so theoretically he has met Jinx, but I don't know if he'd retain any hint of their encounter this far in. That thread's still in progress so dunno. I'm OK with passing it off as Cara being territorial like she is right now though!

Just when he thought the tension of the day was beginning to wear off, his solitude was firmly and sharply interrupted. She came out from his periphery, nothing more than a peppered piece of granite bristling with pride. Startled, he rose to his feet quickly, bristling in response more out of irritation than defense. A growl rumbled low in his throat as he sized her up, drawing whatever scent he could to identify her. The wind, however, was not in his favor, and Mordecai would later ponder whether or not that was how she had came after him in the first place.

That said, she was small, but unquestionably feisty to bother him. “Not at all,” he said lowly, gold eyes fixed firmly to her being. “Are you?” She seemed younger than he was, but how much so he couldn't have been too sure. Maybe a yearling, maybe a touch older, or maybe her size lent her the youth that would eventually fade from others. Still, he met her pose point for point, down to the aggressive note of curling his own tail skyward. It was for show mostly, but Mordecai was willing to see how far his half-pint aggressor was willing to go against a larger canine.