All part of the plan I just made up

For quite a few strides there was no sign of Dominus, and for a moment she assumed the dire had gotten distracted by a hare. The coyote's tongue lolled from the side of her mouth as she pounded through the woodland, hardly able to hear anything over her own panting. She could tell the ram was after her still, his heavy hoof falls gave tremors to the ground, though the first rule to fleeing was to never look back. But noticing a change, she broke this rule. The sheep was beginning to wane, falling farther behind. Where was he? Her own lungs were just beginning to burn, though she was sure she could keep this pace for another hour at least. Luckily, there was no need, as the great wolf's entrance was impeccable. Seeming to appear from nowhere he had subdued the ram with relative ease. Pivoting on a dime, the stub-tailed coyote swung around immediately to assist the wolf, snapping at its snout in a attempt to keep it from battering the darker male with rock hard hooves. But he didn't seem to need her help, impressing her with his ability to take each kick in stride.

The ram's struggles were weakening drastically, blood soaking the ground beneath his hindquarters as it struggled in futility to stand. The pair sat back to wait for the pitiable creature's end, no use in risking injury to finish off already dying prey. It was a somewhat nostalgic feeling, one she hadn't felt since hunting a doe with her siblings, though they hadn't waited for it do die before digging in. After leaving her birthlands it had been impossible to hunt large prey on her own, the rogue female mostly stole to keep herself fed. Excitement bubbled up within her and Exxon wasn't the sort to hide her emotions. Her stubby black tail wiggled as she stared at weakening ram. She yearned for a bite, but as the one who brought it down, the choice of muscle and organs certainly belonged to Dominus'. She noticed in passing that his serpentine little buddy was no long wrapped around his neck.

A chill suddenly ran down her spine, the messy fur along her shoulders beginning to rise as her wide eyed gaze swiveled about the piney forest. Something was up, it had become eerily quiet other than the dying breaths of the bighorn. With the sun now on the other side of the mountain for the night, katydids and night fowl calls should be ringing out all around them, yet she could only hear them from behind. A trembling grin appeared along her muzzle and she took a few cautious steps forward. A low growl rumbled from her throat before the beast made its way over to the kill with ambling steps. It was a bear, the biggest bear Exxon had ever seen in fact. A solid wall of fur and muscle with a huge hump between his shoulder blades, the boar was clearly of many season cycles. Drawn in by the scent of blood, any canine would recognize this as a beast not to be trifled with.

Any canine, except Exxon apparently. Without paying mind to the reaction of Dominus, the coyote charged forward, snapping her teeth with audible clicks just before the the bear's muzzle. It backed away quickly as expected, more due to surprise rather than fear, in case the strange coyote was mad with disease. The black bears back home would run farther...but she had to make due, the was no time to waste. With the grizzly a good distance away, she sank her teeth into the ram's haunch, lashing her head to tear off a chunk of meat. There was no way she'd actually attempt to rumble with a bear, instead she planned to steal a quick bite to eat and make her escape with or without the wolf.

Mistakes were made. The first of which was assuming Black bears and Grizzly bears shared the same temperament. The ram let out a pained scream, snapping the bear from its stupor and causing it to move at her with speed she hadn't predicted. In her greed, she didn't let go in time. Mind numbing pain spread through her left haunch as the boar tore through flesh and muscle to drag her towards him. Her own cry forced her to release her hold on the prey's tissues, her claws digging into the ground to prevent it from picking her up. Her efforts were quickly proven fruitless, as she was plucked from the ground by her ass, with the ease of a mother carrying a newborn pup. Blood had already began pouring from her limb, dripping from her knee to form dark splatters on the ground.

It placed a heavy paw on one side of her face to stop her struggles, digging in its own claws as her squirming only intensified. Exxon tore her face from its grasp, the boar's claws scoring deep gashes from her forehead, through her eye and all the way down to her chin. Twisting her neck, she bit down onto one of its paw digits, taking the chance to escape when it was forced to release her leg. The coyote moved with surprising speed despite her injuries, leaving a blood trail in her wake, adrenaline forcing her onward. A red spray was left behind where she'd collided. . She smashed blindly into the first first pine that came into her path, her depth perception thoroughly ruined. Exxon writhed on the ground for but a moment, rubbing dirt into her facial wound to stop the bleed. In a state of panic, she couldn't tell whether it had worked. The bear hadn't given chase, uninterested in the bitter meat of a predator, he was alright with letting the scrawny coyote off with a warning.

Exxon crouched for a moment, her nub of a tail against her belly in fear with her rump pressed against the tree bark. She felt cornered, as though the were a wall behind her instead of a single, easily passible pine. One unfocused golden eye stared wildly straight ahead, the other was buried within dripping, shredded flesh, her teeth bared in her typical fear responsive smile. Visibly frenzied, she charged into the bear's haunches, tearing into the back of its leg with her own fangs.