Heron Lake Plateau It's almost like a Hallmark movie, but with tentacles.

As it turned out, X wasn't that far away, considering he dropped on Colt's head like some sort of feathered bomb right before he reached Towhee. He managed to latch onto the attacker's skull with his talons, though he didn't grasp hard enough to break the skin and released quickly. He let out an unearthly screech and beat his wings in Colt's face even as he bounced to the slope of Towhee's back.

The startled Alpha whirled with a peculiar, guttural cry, nearly unseating the bird. Her eyes widened and she made another strange noise when she sat Colt just feet away, looking for all the world as if he'd been in some sort of rush to reach her. A cold feeling speared through her as Towhee quickly put the pieces together, her ears falling back and disappearing against her skull as she snapped, "What the fuck?"