Broken Boulder the slow approach of the sun

She was so busy trying to pluck up her kills (a good problem to have, I guess, Bat thought), she didn't notice the coyote's approach. When a sharp bark rang through the air, she startled and the three small corpses she'd managed to wrangle tumbled from her mouth, rolling to rest beside the fourth. Her head snapped to the side, pewter eyes scouring the tall grasses. It took her a minute, yet finally she pinpointed the smaller canine's location.

Unlike some wolves, she knew, Bat didn't hate coyotes by default. If anything, they intrigued her. "Hey," she called out, glancing down at the meat at her paws, "wanna bite?" Sometimes you just had to admit defeat; she knew it'd be easier to transport three then four and Tristan would never even know the difference. "I have an extra," she added, pointing a dark gray toe at a large dead rat.