Lukina raced through the woods, fog twisting around her ankles as she ran. Behind her she could hear the hyenas closing in on her position. Crap, crap, crap… where the heck was her cousin? Spying the river up ahead she leapt into it, legs working as she crossed over to the other side. Her thought was that perhaps the hyenas would give up and go away rather than risking crossing the river. However, much to her dismay, the hyena's instead began to ford the river. She scowled. "Leave me alone, you beasts!" Were they really so hungry? She took off again but didn't get far before she realized she was near a pack border. She skidded to a halt. Well shit, this was just perfect.

Rœkia had started the night in a good mood. She'd found a wounded fawn and had managed to make quick work of it. She'd swiftly dragged the kill back to their den site in the soulless forest and went in search of Lukina. Grumbling she followed the scent of her annoying little cousin to figure out where the squirt was. Her irritation turned to concern when she caught the scent of hyena. Aw, hell. Rœkia picked up the pace as she raced to the rivers edge in time to see a pack of six hyena's crossing the river toward where Lukina was standing. Ugh, what she had to do to take care of this brat. Lukina dove into the river, swiftly following after the hyena's as they swam up to the shore.

The Empress patrolled as often as she could, with the extended winter their already strained relationship with other predators had Venom on high alert. Poison leapt from branch to branch above in the trees as she padded across the well worn paths. Her senses were on high alert, but it was her squirrel who gave the first alarm. Anko, the white and silver akita, jumped to attention beside her master as Venom rounded the bend round the rive to see the pack of hyenas after the young girl. She didn’t see the other adult wolf, but there wasn’t much time before she needed to act. She raced towards the pale she wolf, Empress and dog both hoping to bolster their numbers. Anything to make the hyenas stand down. She lifted her quills and bore her teeth as Anko barked unforgivingly beside her. The dog’s fur stood on its end. Venom had a feeling a show of force would not be enough.

Lukina whirled around to stare at her options, debating what the best course of action would be. If she stayed and fought she'd surely be killed but if she crossed into another packs border she could be kidnapped or worse. Perhaps she could try running around the pack? She debated what to do until she saw Rœkia leap into the water. Yes! Maybe between the two of them they had a shot… maybe. She frowned. The first hyena left the river. They were badly outnumbered. Suddenly a large woman appeared with a show of force. The hyenas halted their advance for a moment but then the pack burst forward.

Lukina leapt to the side, narrowly avoiding a rust colored hyena only for another one to crash into her, sending her sprawling across the snow. It charged but she had enough time to get to her feet, her claws raking red, bloody gashes across her enemies face.

Rœkia worked hard against the cold water as she saw the hyenas moving toward her cousin. Stupid kid! How the heck had she gotten into this mess and why wasn't she running? She had her answer a moment later as a stranger arrived and she caught the scent of pack. Crap, where had this pack come from? The hyena's charged just as Rœkia pulled herself out of the water. Wasting no time she came up on the hyena that Lukina had just clawed. Her fangs latching onto its balls and castrating it with a swift bite and twist of her head. The hyena yowled and spun suddenly desperate to get away from the wolves. It was then the rust colored hyena charged for her.

Venom really tried not to get her paws dirty but such was life. She couldn’t second guess herself either, She didn’t know this wolf but the hyenas were right on her doorstep. Venom couldn’t stand for that. Anko was small but mighty and faced off with one of the smaller of the pack while Venom shifted to back up the albino girl’s back. The akita backed up slightly to venom’s left with Lukina was on her right so the hyenas wouldn’t be as likely to flank them. Venom lasted out with cat-like claws and retaliated expertly with her sharp teeth. The hyenas were persistent though and they worked as a team to harass the wolves. At least until one of their members was sent off howling by the other wolf, that Venom was just now noticing as her claws dug deeply through another’s face. Anko began to bark again as she became more bold with the dent in their opponent’s numbers. The dog started to grab and shake instead of nip.

Lukina grinned as the hyena she clawed, yelped painfully and as the stranger showed her own claws, viciously ripping the hyena's hide. It sputtered and yowled, spinning and flailing away from the. A sienna brown hyena hesitated, it looked between her and the older woman, clearly uncertain what to do. On one had Lukina was a pup and her young age made her vulnerable even if she was growing swiftly. The adult however was another matter. The sienna brown hyena darted forward trying to get at Lukina. She frizzed up when suddenly the hyena yelped and spun around. Her companion, Magnolia, darted from behind the hyena with the tips of her horns stained red with blood.

Rœkia spun out of the way of the rust-colored hyena, just narrowly avoiding those powerful jaws. She didn't have any claws sharp enough to warrant using as weapons but she still had her fangs. The hyena aimed to bite her face but being the faster of the two she was just able to duck underneath the hyena's fangs and catch it by the throat. It twisted and flailed and as much as she tried to hang on she was unable to. The hyena ripped itself from her jaws but by that point the hyena had had enough of the fight and went shambling off into the brush. Panting she looked to see Lukina was still ok.