ooc:
The steps were light upon the ground, barely audible but tangible enough for the wolf in hiding to pick up on. They were the hesitant steps of youth taken for perhaps the first few seasons of life. Brave...but cautious. Warned no doubt by the experience of loss but still, the young quarry needed to eat. The female's ears came forward at the snap of the twig beneath hoofed feet then silence... She could spot the speckled hide of the innocent standing still with head aloft and ears swiveling, straining for the hints of its inevitable demise.
...and it came swiftly from the brush. A charging body primed with adrenaline leapt for the startled youth with teeth bared and claws extended for its throat. The kill was quick with hardly a wasted spurt of blood in the air but with a scent stark enough to alert other predators of the success. The youth wailed in agony but its fragile neck was snapped before it could breathe in for a second. But that single cry had been enough to call forth a retaliation in raging horns and sharply tapered toes.
The female had hardly a moment to revel in her kill before the twelve points of an enraged buck charged for her side in revenge of the stolen youth. The Nomad was dragged down by the weight of her kill hindering her movements to only a narrow miss of her vulnerable belly. But the deer's vengeance was exacted by the tears to her flank. Golden fur was marred red and torn from muzzle. The female yelped in pain but refused to let go of her prize. Instead she swung her body over it as the enraged bulk paused in his charge. Only then did she release it to stand firmly over the lifeless body. Her head lowered and tail erect, ears pinned down and lips unfurled she bore into the creature's eyes daring him to charge her again even as she felt her precious life draining with every droplet staining the spotted pelt between her powerful legs...