Blacktail Deer Plateau Ullaaq

"what have you found,  bearberry?"
merrick poured from the shadowed underbrush, a column of rippled greys and redcream hackles, the immense scarring of his face tipped into a malevolent grin that crinkled the single eye;
"you will forgive my protectiveness," he told the stranger in a purr, "kids being kids, and all."
though he felt they both knew asperas was more than a mere babe, more than wolf or spirit or even the dark pelt that bound her.