Logan stood silently, watching long after Victor was out of sight. Part of him worried about what would happen after Victor caught up with the pair, part of him was angry that he wasn't going to be there, but mostly, he was worried about his older brother. He had already thought he'd lost Victor once - he didn't want to go through that again. Sure, they both seemed to heal up from anything that happened, but who knew if that was something that would last? What if it wore off as fast as it had started?
Needing to burn off some of his anxiety, Logan told Wolver to get things ready to put meat on a spit before heading off to hunt. Since he wasn't having to work around Victor's dislike of rabbit, he was back fairly quickly with three plump ones that the two men skinned and cleaned together. The silence started to bother Wolver Tom and he began talking, as much to himself as Logan.
"I wouldn't fret too much. If they don't start no foolishness, your brother won't neither. Katie wouldn't listen to sense though. Not like she wants the kid, so why should she have a problem with him taking it? Women-folk never have made a heap of sense to me though, so guess I'm the wrong fellow to try'n be figuring Katie out."
Giving the spit a turn and pulling his hand back as the fat from the roasting rabbits made the fire flare for a moment, Wolver shrugged.
"Sounds like you won't be staying here to wait on him. Feel free to come back and visit whenever you please. Gets awful quiet here this time of year and the folks that just dig and don't hunt for furs left out in late fall before the snows started. Only me and two others wintering here this year and they stay gone most of the time checking their trap lines. They don't bring much back, so they're either caching their stuff someplace until spring or they ain't much good at trapping."
Logan nodded. He wasn't used to so much talking any more. He and Victor spoke, of course, but it was pretty rare that either of them talked just to talk. In fact, Logan had learned pretty quick that they could communicate back and forth with hardly a word.
Wolver Tom, on the other hand, was a talker. It didn't really matter if Logan contributed or not, he had plenty of things to talk about - everything from how it looked like a snow might be blowing in to how much he enjoyed roasted rabbit. Since he wasn't saying anything of any importance, Logan soon wasn't paying any more attention to the talking than he paid to squirrels chattering in the trees.
Still, Logan found himself relieved when the rabbits were done and Wolver's mouth had other things to do besides talk. The other two prospectors came back from checking their traps while they were still eating, taking a long look at the unknown male who had stopped eating and was looking at them like he was a wolf and they were deer. They had both taken a step back before Wolver called out a greeting and introduced them to an old friend of his.
Logan shook hands, but didn't offer to share any of the rabbit. He hadn't hunted for a group, just for the two of them. It didn't seem to bother the pair, they just asked to use the spit for what they'd brought back. The rabbits they'd caught were pretty skinny in comparison to Logan's catch. The talk started up again as Wolver finished eating, but this time, he had two others that joined in. Logan kept mainly to himself, still giving occasional glance in the direction Victor had gone, until it was time to head back to tend the horses. He had no doubt that Victor would dump him in the nearest icy river if Logan didn't tend the horses well while he was gone.
Already a couple of miles away, Victor was hunched over his own kill. He hadn't gone out of his way, but the unfortunate rabbit had picked a bad time and place to bolt from his warren. Normally, Victor would have been more careful with the skin, but he wasn't going to be carrying anything extra with him. This was simply fuel for his bigger hunt.
Leaving what little remained of his kill behind for the smaller predators to clean up, Victor started on the trail again. The scent was already considerably stronger, so they weren't that far ahead of him. He figured if he was able to keep his pace up, he would reach them about midnight if they stopped at dark to camp for the night. If they kept going, it might take him until dawn, but he'd noticed most humans tended not to roam much at night.
It was twilight when he began scenting blood - not the blood of a fresh kill, but an older blood smell mixed with other sharp scents. Frowning, he followed the scent as he heard the soft noises that told him that other predators were being drawn to it as well.
Another soft noise - something between a cough and a hiccup - caught his attention and Victor sped up, only to come to a sudden stop at what had been abandoned at the base of a tree. A fox was nearby, but the scent and noises of the small wriggling thing had it confused and hesitant to approach. The growl from Victor settled everything in the fox's mind as it turned and fled to find prey that it understood.
Going closer, Victor had no doubt in his mind that he was looking at his daughter, even though her appearance was far more cat that he could ever remember looking. The fine golden hair that covered her body was sticky with the birth fluids and pieces of the birth sac were stuck to her. She was tiny and he immediately wondered if she was too small to survive. That didn't stop him from picking her up and giving out a warning rumble to all other animals thinking his kid was an easy target. The sounds of rapidly departing paws told him he'd gotten his message across.
She needed to be cleaned and she needed to be fed, but how to accomplish either of those was a problem that made his brain hurt. He leaned in closer to take in her scent. His cub. Feeling as protective of her as he did over Logan, he knew he needed to get her back to their home. He'd figure out a way to take care of her somehow. Milk. He needed to find milk, that much he knew about infants. The wild sheep and goats he hunted sometimes - normally he didn't bother the ewes and nannies with young, but they had milk. He'd simply have to catch one. He snorted at his own thoughts. Catching one of those wild things without killing it was going to be easier said than done.
Any thoughts he'd had of tracking down Katie to punish her for just dumping the cub on the ground and leaving it were pushed back by his drive to feed the hungry cub. She made a mewling noise and he looked down to find a pair of amber gold eyes looking back at him. Time to get the cub to Logan so his little brother could protect her while he went hunting for a milk producer.