Meadowlark Prairie Oh Lord, Heaven Knows We Belong Way Down Below [Pack Hunt]

merrick did not volunteer his skills. he had led a great hunt once; the memory of it thrummed in his blood. but even with that victory, the boy was not so vain as to assume he would be able to do the same here. a far larger beast, a far fiercer quarry.
therefore, he would do as directed, but the huntmaster's direction would come second to the boy's insistence that he stay alongside astara, protect her from the snapping teeth of their fellows, the heavy hooves of the hunted.
she was his, and he was hers.