Rain Song closed her eyes and raised her keen nose to the sky. The air was permeated with
the scent of plants growing, flowers budding, dew held in the loamy soil. Nothing else. Yet. A
cheerful burbling beckoned her, and she pushed aside a swath of ferns to lap at a tiny stream, no
more than a pace wide and a paw-step deep. Thickly shielded by greedy undergrowth, it wound gracefully across the leaf litter. Huge tulip-trees,
amazingly straight, towered over Rain Song. Every time the breeze wafted between the trunks, spindly magnolias showered the forest
floor with creamy blossoms. Mist hovered in the forest at shoulder height. Suddenly Rain
Song detected a smell more delightful than even the forest and magnolia blooms. White-tailed
deer! She raced in the direction of the prey, paws flying and plumy tail streaming after her.
Rain Song crouched at the edge of the clearing, her dappled gray-and-black coat blending in
with the sun-spotted ferns. In front of her was a herd of white-tailed deer anxiously jerking their
heads back and forth. They knew they were being watched, scrutinized, but not by whom. The
she-wolf suddenly tensed, flattening herself in the ferns, creamy gray ears slammed forward, moist
nose thrust into the clearing, green-amber eyes straining to make out every detail. One of the deer
was clearly sick. It couldn't stop sneezing, sticky tears streamed down its face, and its legs
trembled with fatigue. Rain Song sprang forward, striking the deer's haunches. The rest of the
herd leaped off, white tails waving in victory, while the sick one simply stood there, staggering
from the blow, knowing death was inevitable. Rain Song lunged.
Rain Song stood protectively over her kill. As a lone wolf, she would have to gorge and leave her kill, lest she be attacked by a hungry pack. Not
that she wanted to abandon a hard-earned kill. Just as she took her first satisfying bite, a pair of gleaming amber eyes appeared in the
undergrowth. She stood her ground.
The other wolf stepped out of the foliage. He was a huge, slate-colored individual with long legs.
Rain Song was well-muscled, if a little on the small side, but this specimen could have
picked her up by the scruff and shaken her as she could have shaken a rabbit. But she snarled and
bared her teeth, warning the intruder that if he didn't back off he was going to have a REALLY
bad day if he tried anything funny.