Blackfoot Forest spit out your pride and lay yourself bare

Gjalla crouched low behind a curtain of frost-covered branches, her breath escaping in white puffs that vanished quickly in the crisp winter air. Her piercing gaze was fixed intently on the caribou ahead.

She was downwind, her form blending into the gloom. The taut line of her body told of hunger, focus, and patience, a predator born of the North’s unforgiving hand. Her every instinct screamed to close the distance, to feel the snap of her jaws around the life she sought. She was close now. Close enough to see the twitch of the animal’s ears, the subtle shift of its hooves in the snow. Her muscles coiled.

The sound of a body tearing through the underbrush shattered the stillness. A blur of black surged from the mist, barreling into her with crushing force. Gjalla was yanked from her focus, the weight slamming her into the frozen ground with a guttural snarl, limbs tangled with her assailants. Claws scraped across ice-bitten dirt as she writhed against the hold, her anger flaring as sharp and wild as a storm. Instinct took hold; she twisted mid-fall, claws outstretched, ready to tear into the beast.

Before she could lash out, a heavier weight pressed her down, forcing the air from her lungs. A muzzle snapped near her face, too close, too fast for her to counter. Her vision narrowed on the figure pinning her—a wolf, massive and black as pitch, with burning fern eyes that sliced through the fog like embers in the dark.

Fangs bared, she lunged upward, only for him to press her harder into the earth, a growl rumbling from his throat, low and guttural. Her paws braced against his chest to keep him back, ears flattening against her neck.

And then she caught it—the scent. Familiar, impossible to mistake—too much like them. Her struggles faltered, her snarl tapering into confusion, periwinkle eyes locking onto his with something between fury and recognition.

“You—” she snarled, her voice half a growl as her limbs twisted beneath him. “Get—get off!”

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@Blackfell