Vengeance

Justice had been out on the border as Regulus came in bearing a rather gruesome burden. She had watched from a distance a moment, thinking he was bringing a half-eaten rabbit back, before she realized that the corpse belonged not to a rabbit or hare, but a cat. The yearling shadowed her alpha as he buried the cat beside his own recently deceased parents, and it was the location that finally made it click for her. When she was young, before she had tried to follow him to the nomads, Regulus had a companion - a cat. She winced sympathetically.

She remained concealed at a respectful distance while he buried his friend, then continued to shadow him back to the family den. She was pretty experienced in stalking, for a yearling, but he had quite a few years more experience than she did at it so he was probably aware of her presence despite her efforts. Still, she didn't want to intrude, so she stayed back and silent.

But as he started back out of the territory with clear purpose, Justice came trotting up out of the brush to fall in beside him. She had to really stretch her much-shorter legs to keep up with his long stride. She wouldn't complain though, just set her own dark face into an expression to mimic his own grim countenance, though she cast a questioning sidelong glance up at him as she trotted at his shoulder.