Bearclaw Valley the black cat

A cruel trickster was Avicus! Aventus found no answers to his silent query in his sibling's face, so he averted his gaze to the leafy shadows dancing against the den's wall, and the moment he did, she struck.

It was an ancient knowledge older than time that told him to fold back his ears and flatten himself when her needling teeth found purchase in his scruff, but it was good, old-fashioned sensibility that told him not to fight against her assertion that between them, she was top dog. Aventus was no dominant beast. Not yet, anyway. Only time would tell whether this dynamic between them would change.

Aventus was ordinarily a silent pup save for the occasional grumble, but when he'd had about enough of being pressed to the dirt to remind him of her dominance, his thin lips lifted to issue a whisper of a growl.