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Southern Shadow froze in the bush.

Her kill wasn’t her own. She had sweet talked another wolf into letting a poor, starving pup have a morsel for elk, and the plot had been successful: she had gained enough of a meal to let her sit and rest for the afternoon, small as her stomach was. She’d need to think of something with Ominous Wind later when they met up at their hiding spot again, but for now she had been concentrated on scarfing down meat. That is, until she heard another animal and caught his scent on the wind. An adult male.

One moment. Two moments. Three moments. And then he called her out.

Several options: One, ignore him. That was stupid. He could just as easily nose his way into the bush, following the smell of her food. Two, run for it. That was less risky—most didn’t bother chasing a random runt around. But she was loathe to leave her meal half-finished. So she went with the third option.

Southern Shadow slid out from the bush with as much composure as she thought possible, fresh blood on her muzzle, chest, and forelimbs. Red and blue eyes narrowed as she looked up at him, seemingly unaffordable, though her stiff tail belied that. “Need something?” the pup asked with an edge to her voice. She didn’t kid herself by thinking she was in any way menacing, but maybe she could spin her looks some other way.

“Frost” didn’t feel right to her. Not the lacking of a whole name, but the disconnect between someone that looked stern and cold and someone that was also apparently kind. Southern Shadow was wary for a number of reasons on principle, and part of that survival kit had involved breaking down other creatures into bite sized traits. This one was sweet and airheaded, way too easy. That one was aggressive and glory-seeking, play into the hero complex. Rare was it that she encountered someone who showed two different fronts that quickly, and it made her suspicious.

“You can call me Shadow,” she offered, piece for piece. But she wouldn’t reveal her sister’s whereabouts. Who knew if the stranger was involved with undesirables?

Southern Shadow regarded Frost and his strange eyes (shiny, multicolored—had they been jewels, she would have wanted to take one if it couldn’t be bartered for) and thought quickly. She was already half gorged on the morsel, but the chance at more food...Maybe she could bring her portion back to her sister, or hide it away and lead her there later. Maybe she could pick up a hunting trick. It all just seemed a little too...nice, though.

The pup also sat on her haunches and licked her bloody lips. “I ate a little,” she replied, since it wasn’t like she could hide it now. “Why do you care?” It wasn’t quite accusatory, though Southern Shadow always had an edge to her voice these days, but she was curious.

Her ears flattened briefly before she restored a modicum of calm. “Elk, actually,” she said, chin up. That a single puppy could take one of those down was inconceivable, but he could fit whatever details he wanted to justify it. It wasn’t a lie.

Frost seemed to have trouble being nice, flipping between being tart and being generous. Southern Shadow continued to eye him warily. He didn’t seem like he was faking it, more like he didn’t know what to do and how quite to react. Awkward and stiff, but not exactly hostile. It’d be a different sort of play altogether if she accepted, not the meek little loner or the adoring young girl. Maybe she ought to flex her chops with a different persona. And at the first sign of trouble, she could dip right out; the forest here was familiar territory.

Slowly, Southern Shadow relaxed. “I’m just supposed to take your word for it?” She asked dryly, though after a moment she did start to tail Frost, her steps so quiet that her scent was more a mark of her presence when she wasn’t talking. “‘I promise I won’t eat you if you come follow me into this secluded place alone!’ Great sales pitch, Mr. I Don’t Care No Really I Don’t.”

She chose the third option again: sassy and staying. “Ooo, spooky,” Southern Shadow muttered. Everything in a half mile radius could kill her. He could get in line.

Of course, the few things that couldn’t (or at least would have a harder time trying) weren’t going to be so easily tracked. It didn’t really matter that she knew how to keep light on her paws if she was going to mouth off every other second, but whatever. She hadn’t banked on them being successful that easily anyway. Easy rule, that: never put everything in one basket, because then everything can go wrong.

Frost was weird. She kept glancing at him as she double checked his assessment, half to make sure her back was never wholly turned to him and half because he was just weird, and the pup couldn’t quite peg why. Was he being honest when he said he had left a similar life, or was he lying to get sympathy? Considering how standoffish he was, Southern Shadow could believe that he had been abandoned. Parents were stupid picky and unreliable like that; it was probably more common than she’d thought. Too bad he didn’t have a cool sister like she did.

“No pack,” she confirmed, turning to him. “Don’t really need them.” Which was a bold statement given how skinny she looked, even half full of meat, but her posture dared him to argue. “So you just give up because it’s gone? Some hunter you are. What about my lesson?”

Southern Shadow rolled her eyes when she thought he wouldn’t notice. As far as she was concerned, she didn’t need anyone but Ominous Wind. What was a pack going to do except force them to play nice and share and pretend to care about them? No, this puppy was intent on staying a loner with her sister, using that status to get targets closer until she got too big to run the con anymore. And then she’d just come up with another one. Nothing else had to change.

“Did your old pack kick you out?” Southern Shadow asked. She was pointedly dogging him, so that was her answer to that as well. “S’that why you’re preaching?”