Merikh prowled ahead of the mare as they crossed the meadow. It had only been a few days to a week, maybe, since she had successfully bonded to the cougar and already his form was changing. Rather than looking gaunt and weak the cougar was building lean muscle. It helped that he had finally left the desert that everyone liked to call the Dragon's Throat in favor of her. She could take him where prey was plentiful. Dried blood caked her hooves and scarred forelegs from the animals she had slain to help feed the cougar to build his strength. She would not be bonded to something weak and if the cougar proved to be weak even with her aid she would kill him herself.

She watched as the cougar dropped down to his belly, nearly disappearing in the tall grass before stalking forward, his tail twitching as he moved. Histe stopped, her ears tilted forward and her eyes scanning the meadow until she spotted the deer that had caught the cougar's attention. The mare cocked her right hip so that her hoof rested on its tip as she watched the scene unfold just as she had since bonding with Merikh.

The wind was in Merikh's favor as he approached the deer and, unsuspecting, it lowered its head to graze. The cougar's tanned body had since disappeared in the swaying grass that was beginning to brown with the anticipation of Frostfall. Suddenly the deer's head jerked up, its eyes wide as it looked around, but it was already too late. Merikh exploded from the grass in front of the deer and with a frightened bleat it tried to turn. Tried to escape.

Strong jaws closed on the deer's throat, crushing its windpipe. Claws slashed at its shoulders and legs, making blood spurt from a severed artery. The sheer amount of blood pouring from the deer made Histe's heart race, not with fear or disgust, but with the desire to cause as much pain as Merikh was.

"Do it."

The voices had been surprisingly quiet for the past few days, much to Histe's surprise. Her mother's voice was welcome now, however. The mare strode forward easily, passing the bloodied grass and Merikh who began to pull the deer in the direction she was walking. Rather abruptly the tall grass disappeared and was replaced by a river bank. "Eat now." Merikh said in her head, to which Histe nodded subtly before lowering her head to drink. There was nothing quite like the sound of ripping flesh and cracking bones to make a morning anymore peaceful.

"Someone's coming." Huinne's voice echoed quietly in the mare's head.

"I know. I hear them." She could smell him, too. Pegasus. Her tail slapped against her flanks as she lifted her head and glared at the stallion as he swooped down to land in the grass. Merikh's enthusiastic feeding stopped as he looked at the pegasus stud. A warning growl rumbled in his chest before he went back to ripping chunks of flesh from the deer's carcass.

Histe turned to face the stallion when he finally spoke, he pale eyes sweeping over his frame before she dawned a very unimpressed expression. Merikh stood and abandoned the deer as he stalked toward his bonded. In one quick leap he landed on her back and stood facing Leander, his amber eyes narrowed and his face bloody.

"He is no sidekick." She corrected harshly, to which Merikh growled his agreement. "He is my partner and it will do you well to remember that."

"He is frightened." Her mother's voice sounded gleeful that it had taken so very little to put the sky rat on edge. I would be the only time she ever heard her mother's voice sound the way it did. Too bad it was echoing in her head and was a far cry from being real.

The stallion backtracked rather quickly, saying that he didn't mean offense and that her companion was very capable. "You have no idea." She purred in response. On her back Merikh's lips pulled back, his teeth flashing, in what she would equate to nothing more than a grin. Through their shared mental link Merikh shared with her the images of a horse he'd felled with his clan before they had bonded. The amount of blood and the carnivorous way they had devoured what had been their only meal in nearly a month sent shivers down the mare's back. The big cat chuffed then jumped down into the grass and began to circle around the pegasus.

My name is Leander.

"Histe and Merikh." she said even though she wasn't one for formalities. She honestly didn't care one way or another if he knew her name or not. "Big ass." Merikh suddenly said. "Lots of meat. Eat for week." Histe barked out a laugh in response to Merikh's observation then wondered how the stallion would feel if he knew that the big cat was interested in making a meal out of him. Not thrilled, she knew, but his escape would be a fun game, wouldn't it?

The striped mare then began to circle around the stallion in the opposite direction the cat had gone. "I wonder." She began. "How far a bird can fly when you rip out a few feathers."