Swiftcurrent Creek bleak

She expected him to lunge after her, though he seemed too weak to do so. All she was given was a reprimand, which floated over her shoulders like water off a duck's back. She felt accomplished, having bothered the alpha male twice, but she found herself losing the impulse to torture him now that it was clear that she would suffer no consequences. He couldn't fight back. Cygnet withdrew- not because the fight would be unfair, but because it simply wouldn't be fun. 

She chattered her teeth together, as if to laugh at his suggestion and continued to circle him, though she began to scent along, taking more interest in the area around them than in the ill man himself.