The Heartwood Did you hear the one about the dead wolf?

Thanks for joining, Stevie!

Snowl was prepared to keep rambling (to himself, he thought) but a feminine voice from somewhere behind him ceased all his obscenities and brought his wriggling body to a brief stand-still. "Well, hot damn! I can't believe it actually worked!" he said, louder than necessary. If there had been any prey in a five-mile radius, there wasn't any now.

He shuffled a little, attempting to free himself one last time before resigning again to his wedged state. "A little help, gorgeous?" he said a little quieter this time, trying not to induce a booming echo for once. "I mean, you must be gorgeous—I can hear it in your voice—but if you're not too busy being gorgeous, I'd be super grateful if you could, y'know... give my tail a li'l tug?"