Redtail Rise High Risk, High Reward

Mid-sniff, Wanderer's head and ears popped up to heed Masquerade's summons. She was naturally drawn to obey, but offered Riley a sidelong glance before heeding both her elder sibling and her patrol partner's gesture. Her gait was a little stiffer than his, her body taut with anticipation from the moment the bull's shrieking bugle rose above the dissipating fog.

The bull was enormous, easily the largest creature Wanderer had seen with her own eyes thus far. It towered over even the tallest wolf in attendance, the indomitable Augur, who drove it back with a resonating snarl. The elk's head dipped with a menacing swing of its antlers toward the gathered wolves on the opposite side. Wanderer, unlike her kin, did not snarl; her face was the picture of concentration as she paced side-to-side, held at bay as much by her effort to find a weak point that wouldn't send the elk charging for the others as by Riley's command.

An exploitable weakness would make itself known soon enough. Until then, watchful Wanderer would bide her time at the elk's rear, thrumming with excitement on the inside but carefully composed on the outside.