Hot and cold eyes watched as it consumed its own mirrored face. Dead eyes looked up at that which ate it and he wondered if it could see what was becoming of its body through those clouded lenses. The fur had been stripped down to the raw gray skin only to be chewed apart by the large incisors that had the constant craving to gnaw. Silently, Thoth watched as a gray squirrel ate its brother bit by bit. A slow smile of satisfaction growing on his lips. Launching forward and snapping his jaws he captured both meals in his jaws. The crunch of bones replaced the growl of pleasure at success. With a smirk he spun and trotted back in the direction of his father’s den.

Winter had spread a blanket across the plains pack. His dark brown coat stood out almost blindingly against the snowy white that enveloped the world around him. The contrast made the length of his limbs stunningly apparent and he looked for all the world like the lanky yearling he almost was. With paws just a touch too big and a body just a hair too thin he was already becoming what he would one day be. A creature built for skulking and striking speed. His tail wagging to himself, he flopped himself down at the entrance to his home and set forth to the task of finishing what the squirrel had started. His eyelids drooped as he chewed happily on the flesh. Within him, his young heart glowed. Only he had seen what had transpired between the two squirrels to bring them to this fate and it had been a scene he would hold forever. As he ate he reveled in the witness. Until something chrunched in the snow and the brush behind him.

Thoth jumped to his feet and bared his bloody fangs at the intruder. This was his home that protected his family and they were his squirrels. Dark hackles raised and eyes blazed in a silent fury only to settle when his eyes fell on Sekhmet’s form. She was also his.

Gaze traveled up and down her body and he snorted in dissatisfaction. Looking back down at his pounds of flesh he selected the bald and partially eaten rodent and tossed it to the girl. Of the two, it would take less work to get to the delicious meat, and though half eaten it still had more substance to it than the squirrel that had been driven to commit its crimes. A flicking wag of his tail he returned to the ground. Using his front teeth and large paws he began carefully removing the hair from the corpse. Studying the body his head tilted slightly to the side and he changed his task, licking at the skull. Eventually it would be clean.