Blacktail Deer Plateau This dream of going upstream.

Was the creature seeing through her fib? Oh, she wished she were bigger and stronger in that moment — she did not like the feeling of the cat's eyes upon her, or the feeling twisting in her gut as it spoke in such a cavalier manner. The creature could easily destroy her if it wanted to and Ibis would be left a bloody carcass for her daughters to find. Her blood ran cold at the thought.

Not me, she managed to say. But I can call for help. I may be small but I have a husband, and he a brother, and -- there are many wolves here to take you down if you so much as breathe a threat to me. Oh, she hoped the cat would leave — just go, as if this never happened.