Redtail Rise they left a swimming pool of salted crimes, crimes

River's first mistake was being overly self-confident. It made her turn her back to him. Her second mistake was whirling to meet him in kind when she heard the terrible clack of his jaws. It fixed her into the line of fire, and she remembered too late that he had a visible accomplice who could be there in seconds, not minutes. Not to mention however many others lingered just out of sight.

Their teeth clashed viciously as she lashed out in defense of her tender hip, recently scoured by a wolverine's claws, and she felt an unbearable pinch on the side of her mouth that drew blood to a spill down her chin. Snarling, River fought back, buffeted by his size, but far from daunted. A dark, simmering part of her enjoyed the skirmish, and she would have put up more of a fight if her primal brain wasn't blaring an alarm -- warning her of being outnumbered.

Now she fought only to tear herself away from him, to preserve the rest of her hide and flee across the plains.