Shadewood on the altar of a sunrise

He didn't get the point, and didn't run away- leaving them both facing the cougar who recoiled slightly, and faced them with as much uncertainty as they faced it. She willed for Screech to bolt, and for the cougar to go after him so that she could feel fairly assured that both she'd be alright, and he wouldn't. Instead, though, he minded her harmless snap, and simply moved a bit further out of her reach, which she thought was pathetic. What did he think she was going to do? Turn her back on a cougar and attack him? It'd be the death of both of them. She saw him turn his head toward her, slightly, just enough to look her way with her peripheral vision- before he steadied himself and unexpectedly, lunged at the cougar. 

Niamh stiffened as she saw him shoot past her and toward the cougar, and without having a moment to consider the possibility that she'd be best off simply leaving him to it, she lunged forward as well. It was simply instinct to do so- some buried instinct which was reminiscent of the day she and Screech had faced off against Towhee, and of the day that she and Caiaphas had fended off a cougar together. Fending off a cougar wasn't a one-wolf job, and she knew it, regardless of who it was that chose to get tangled up with it in the first place. 

She felt more offended by the cougar's presence than by Screech's, in the long run. A cougar had killed her brother, Bruges, and had nearly killed Ambrose. It'd left him with no memory of her, and that pained her almost as much as it had to think he was dead. Cougars were no good creatures, just the same as coyotes and foxes; unfortunately, they were a great deal larger and more powerful than a coyote or fox, and they could fight with both teeth and claws. They were powerful without losing an ounce of speed as well. 

It side-stepped Screech's lunge, swiping out with a paw as though to simply get him away from it. It yowled, baring its yellowed fangs, flattening its rounded ears to its head. It stepped into Niamh's path, though, perhaps not expecting both wolves to attack, and she snapped at the cat's shoulder before springing back, knowing and accurately predicting that that cougar would then retaliate, lunging in her direction with open jaws. She backpedaled, bounding backwards and away from the cougar, still snapping at it to keep it from coming too close- but the damn cat moved wickedly fast, and closed in on her as it had the advantage, with forward momentum. 

It was able to hook one forelimb around her shoulders and grab onto her scruff before she could pull away, but she did her best to remain on her feet- if she exposed her belly, it could bring its hind feet forward and gore her. She screeched with rage and grabbed the cougar's other foreleg, doing her best to shake her head this way and that, but lost a lot of movement due to the hold the cougar had on her scruff.