Took rolled over and grumbled internally. She was still sore from a couple of days ago, when she'd been blindsided by one of those murder birds. What did Ashlani call them…? She didn't care enough to recall, but she did remember Oncli's dead body, and that one of them was responsible. That was all she needed to know to hate them, and hate them she did.

Her pack stirred around her as she began to rise. She was currently rotating with the leader's pack, since he was occupied with dealing with the squealing whelps. Took was not about to willingly roll herself up with that, and between the Alpha and Gamma, they'd be fine. Plus, Shemira needed to be kept away from all the little ones for now. Speaking of...

Took immediately began her daily search for Shemira. Like every day, Shemira had tried to make some sort of escape, but it wasn't too hard to find her. She always went for the males, so this time, Took found her cozying up to Brutus.

Brutus, for his part, simply gawked at Shemira. It was obvious that he didn't really understand what she wanted from him... but he obviously understood what he wanted from her. Shemira was looking frustrated, so Took let her continue speaking for a moment.

"Look, I'll do whatever you want if you help me become the alpha."

"But... we have alpha."

"I can be another alpha! And you can be my beta. What do you say?"

Took could see Brutus trying to process. "So... if I help... then you be mine."

Shemira smiled sunnily, "Exactly!"

Brutus grinned back, "Ok! I help on hunt today, and you be mine."

Shemira's smile froze. "That's... not what I meant."

Brutus's face shifted back to confused. "Then what mean?"

Took laughed out loud, unable to contain it any longer.

Shemira whirled to look over, and, with a sigh, stalked over to Took. She said nothing, and Took didn't much mind. Shemira was too tricky and sly in how she spoke--her actions and words never matched up. Words were cheap, but actions proved who you are. Shemira's words and actions were all over the place, so Took constantly kept her at heel.

The three large keelish walked to go eat, and Took could see the confusion play out over Brutus's face as they went. He kept trying to get close enough to touch Shemira, but she'd obviously gotten sick of trying to reason with him, so she kept her distance, confusing Brutus further. Took wasn't going to insert herself into this, and instead just kept her literal and emotional distance.

...

Breakfast was quick, and, before too long, the pack made their way out of the den and to the surrounding forest. Ashlani sometimes spoke about how pretty the forest was in the weird vision, but the rest of the pack simply nodded along and never used those eyes. They weren't anywhere near as effective as the ones that could detect warmth, so they were left on the wayside.

Quickly, Took tasked Foire, her tracker, with following a scent he had picked up on the day before--one he had never smelled before. New prey, and a new hunt began.

This was her pack, those she had chosen. Two had died since the beginning, but Foire, Illne, Brutus and Shemira were still present, and an additional 4 had been allocated to her as Sybil's education was completed. Those 4 were maniacally dedicated and powerful, and were good to have on the hunt. Foire and Brutus's place in the pack were long since proven, and Shemira was more than competent when she was put to the test. Illne, however, was an interesting sort. She followed Took around wherever she went, and Illne tried her best to imitate Took's every mannerism and action. Illne did struggle with Took's taciturn nature, though, and often had to hold herself back from piping up with some tidbit of knowledge or... anything, really.

The pack continued forward, and followed the trail far, much further than ever before. As they passed the wreckage of their foes' home, Took was briefly taken in thought--more than anything, she wanted to practice with the Alqat. They were impressive to the extreme in their approach, and their melding of magic with might. That said, Took wanted to practice with Rulac most of all, given his strict adherence to physical power and prowess.

However, Took was never one to be taken by daydreams, and quickly gathered her thoughts. The pack began to slow as Foire pointed forward and Illne rushed to stay by Took's side as she began to sign commands.

This is where a keelish proved themself. The Gamma was a different sort, but generally speaking, a keelish that didn't hunt wasn't much of a keelish in Took's eyes.

As the pack slowed and began to take in the sight ahead, they saw their new prey--a strange... thing. It looked a little like the "wolfhounds" that they had hunted previously, but this was much larger. It stood on four legs, just like the wolfhounds, and had horns like them, but that was where the similarities ended.

It was covered in dense scales that radiated a heat of some kind, and its horns were very different from the curling ones of the wolfhounds. Instead, its horns jutted sideways and upwards from its head, and had cruel looking sharp edges pointing in every direction. Its massive rack of horns looked particularly dangerous, but it was distracted at the moment. It ate several bites from the greenery in front of it, lifted its head to look around, then lowered its head once more to partake of its meal. After it repeated the action a second time, Took jumped into action.

She rushed forward, and as she did so, she felt free. The hunt was glorious, and as her blood began rushing in her ears, she screamed a challenge to her prey. It startled up, then immediately began lowering its horns to begin a counterattack. Took preferred it this way--to challenge her foes directly. This thing was many times her own size, at least twice as tall as her at its shoulder. However, Took grinned--the pack was one with her.

With a roar, she and Brutus began the work of tying down the things horns. They both jumped and latched onto the horns as best as they could, but Brutus was quickly dislodged and thrown away. Took contemplated staying and trying to hold its head down alone, but was quickly relieved of that idea as she felt her feet begin to be lifted off the ground. Instead, she chose to let go and as the thing's head was pulled up by the sudden absence of weight, she darted in.

With a loud clang, Took latched onto the front leg of the creature, and began to wrench her head back and forth in an attempt to fell it while her hands both scrabbled for a good point to latch onto. Fortunately, the rest of the pack was right behind her, and they rushed in quickly. Unfortunately for her, the creature quickly realized that it was at a disadvantage and chose to try to escape.

Since Took was latched onto the thing's leg, she was repeatedly and forcefully introduced to the ground as it ran, but she doggedly held on, and slowed it as best as she could. She heard the snarls of the pack closing in, then a squeal of pain from the massive creature. Took grinned excitedly and knew it was time.

She immediately shifted position to leverage her whole strength against the other leg of her prey, and, bones creaking in protest, began to twist her body forcefully, before knocking one of the creature's supporting legs out from beneath it. It fell heavily.

At that point, the prey's death was certain, and Took quickly tried to leverage it onto its back. She struggled briefly, as its horns got in the way, but as more and more of the pack's fangs tore into it, its struggles weakened beneath them, until, finally, it stilled.

Took screamed victory to the skies and was quickly joined by the rest of the pack in jubilation.

...

It was not much longer after that that Took began leading the pack back to the den, personally doing all that she could so that she could carry the entire body herself, but quickly giving up as she realized the impossibility of the task.

She, Brutus and Shemira began dragging the thing back to the den, and, as they passed the den of their previously slaughtered foes, Took heard Foire call out that something smelled... off, but nothing stood out in their vision, so after a brief moment's discussion, the pack returned to the den. Took, for her part, couldn't wait until the next time she could hunt one of these scaly things, and thought about how she was going on another hunt after lunch today... and she grinned.