She had often yearned for a solid hunting partner, typically forced to settle for her brother who only conceded to help in taking down larger prey after much forcing on her part and was even less often helpful in such situations. It was an almost welcome surprise to stumble upon someone so well suited to the entire endeavor over a raccoon’s carcass in the woods. She cast a sidelong glance at her dark companion within the shadow of the brush, working not to get distracted from the target before but she couldn’t avoid the way his golden eyes almost seemed to glow within the darkness. She shook herself mentally, now not the time for any form of distracting and surprised that she even had such thoughts. The idea of the fresh kill looming just within grasp grabbed hold of her, consuming her mind and body. Their conversation before would flow effortlessly into their hunting styles she knew, for when you hunted with another you knew them on the basest of levels. There are no secrets hidden when running with a wolf on your shoulder and aiming for the throat of prey.

He is wise not to test her patience and knock into her before she departs, the opportunity before them was a rare stroke of good luck and though she enjoyed his company she wouldn’t back down from giving him a good lesson in not wasting a meal. She could almost imagine grappling with him, their black and white forms moving in and around one another, teeth knocking together and guttural growls filling the air. Her pink tongue flicked out and ran across the white-stained lining of her muzzle. Perhaps one day, she mused.

She watches him as she moves off, the way his body rocks with preparation for the lunge and the all-important first moments of the hunt, surprise the best ally a wolf can have. She loses sight of him and her world shrinks as her whole being focuses on the expectant doe, saliva pooling in her mouth at just the thought of yellowed fangs sinking into supple skin. Executioners silence surrounds her as she first exits the underbrush, soft pads and claws grabbing the ground with practiced grace and poise despite her bulks size. She can’t spare a glance to see if Zaphkiel has followed her, but as the other deer scatter she knows somehow he will undoubtedly be there.

As she releases the leg of the doe and falls back for only a moment to gather herself together once more she sees his dark form flicker on the corner of her vision. He is opposite the deer and for a moment she wonders what exactly he is planning, if he were going for the kill he should be angling more towards her shoulders and throat, but no he angled for the prey’s rear legs. As he veers toward them she realizes his plan with sudden clarity, putting on a burst of speed as he uses his full body weight to topple the deer and she goes down as he planned. Suddenly he is behind her having escaped the falling weight of the doe, but she doesn’t give him a second thought.

Already she has veered hard to the left as the deer falls, watching almost in slow motion as his sizeable mass hits the ground and its legs immediately start thrashing to right itself. If it manages to stand no doubt they would lose it, Astrid’s speed all but used up in the initial sprint, but it won’t get that chance. Gathering her thick limbs beneath her muscular body she leaps, veritably flying across the grassy field before landing with front paws squarely on her brown, slender shoulders. Without a second thought her wide two-toned head lowers, black lips peeled back over yellowed teeth before they sink with honed precision around the slender base of her once-graceful neck. Her teeth move slowly, grinding until the satisfactory pop of her main artery floods her mouth with the warm, coppery taste of blood. She growls deeply with a primal satisfaction at the feeling as it pools around them, not letting go though the life has died in the deer’s large, black gaze. She gives the neck a solid shake, as if to confirm no life is left within the hulking frame of her kill. Only then does she step back, her maw no doubt stained red for the time being as her golden and ice blue gaze watched Zaphkiel approach.

For the briefest moment a voice in the back of her head says to drive him off, she brought down the target it is her kill and she has no loyalty to this dark stranger, but she shoves it down. If only because he has intrigued her this day and allowed her to partake in her favorite past time she would share this meal with him. She growls quietly as he approaches, the adrenaline from the hunt still coursing through her veins as her pink tongue flicks out to run over her lips. “Well you’re not the worst teammate I’ve ever had,” she said with a light joking tone that was fairly rare in such cases, but the fresh kill had her in an oddly good mood.