Heron Lake Plateau machines just got workings, and they talk to me

Were she a cat, she might have purred at his returned affection. As it was, a soft, barely-audible hum vibrated in her chest as she savored his touch. This was still such a foreign thing to her, this attention, and she just couldn't imagine anyone ever taking it for granted. She was still getting to know Quixote -- they certainly had done things backward from how it seemed was traditionally expected -- but she couldn't deny that there were already strong feelings in her for the stoic wolf. What others saw of him was nothing like what she saw, and she found she really adored this different side of him. Perhaps they couldn't keep their relationship private, as they both might have liked, but this she could keep to herself. Nobody else had to know what a cuddly teddy bear the Redhawks' new alpha male was.

She couldn't argue with his comments about trying to chase things that could disappear vertically. She wasn't the greatest hunter in the world herself, and that was just when she was trying to catch things that were restricted to the ground. Her most recent hunt with Jagwyr had boosted her confidence in herself, though, but she wasn't about to start trying to take down birds on the lake anytime soon. That sounded like a great way to end up soaking wet and disappointed. She leaned down to dig into the soft carcass when, suddenly, a thought struck her. "Hey, now that we're the bosses around here, you should see if you can find Colt and bring him back." She'd known how much Towhee's decision to expel him from the pack had bothered Quixote, with Colt being one of the few wolves Qui considered a friend.