The massive trees would make any wolf seem small but they made a lone wolf seem, and feel all the more so as she walked though them. Isabella liked this place, it reminded her of the forest outside of the pack she had joined who had been kind to her. That was until they left her without a trace. For a moment, the fox like wolf's ears fell at the thought of it bu they rose again as she realized showing any signs of her emotions were foolish. Walking on, she stuck close to the trees. In a way they helped her blend in, she fit in with them better than she did with the snow anyway.

"Perhaps I can make a den here, at least to overwinter in. Maybe an old tree can hold me." The thought ran though her mind as she took long graceful strides holing her head up high and her body confident with each step. Her blue optics took in tracks in the snow as she walked, looking up every now and then to make sure there was no obstacle or stranger in her way. This day she was not in the mood to hunt, but rather track. "Learn, track, stalk, pounce, kill."The five steps of hunting she had long since learned ran though her head.

Learn. She had learned all the tracks of tings that lived in forests, deer, rabbit, squirrel, raccoon. There were many tracks in the snow, some of those creatures but she had not come across any tracks that looked recent until now. Pausing she looked at some tracks in front of her. "Five toes in front, long skinny, sign of long nails. Five in back, a larger paw. Raccoon." She thought almost smiling. They were one of her favorite creatures, odd paws, little masks, and they had that habit of washing their food.

Track. Isabella did just that. Lowering her leathery nose to the tracks she took in a faint but clear scent of the creature. Lifting her head she looked at the direction of the tracks, clear by both the paw prints and the snow that was drug forward with each step. The prints were not too far apart, the creature was walking, not running so there was no danger around it. The tracks were also deep so the creature was fat. Already in a hunters stance she moved on, her head low to the ground and her ears back a bit. She moved swift and silently with soft steps that made little noise in the snow.

Stalk. That one was easy. It wasn't long until Isabella found the raccoon, its back to her as it walked though the snow indeed it was fat, so fat it walked with a waddle its ringed tail moving back and forth as it walked. Isabella was fast on its heals, staying far enough away not to be seen and smelled but close enough to watch it. A small smile crept to her face, no doubt if she knew she was smiling she would have let it fade but she did not. For her this was the best part of hunting, following the creature to get to know how it lived, what it was like. This was not a real hunt though by any means. She had no wish to kill the creature, she was not hungry. There wasn't even need to pounce, for now she wanted to follow it, see where it went, what it ate, maybe even if it had a den she could claim. Though Isabella would never admit it to herself, she was having fun by following a raccoon around on this snowy day.

The icy she wolf was hidden under a tree, the ground hollowed out beneath it. Her pelt was hidden only by the dark the tree provided her. When she looked outside the opening of the space, the snow hid all but her nose which she would burry in a small drift.

The original intention of the old and long abandoned coyote den was to provide a place for her to rest for a few hours. Now she was hungry, and it provided a hiding place. A few scents drew near, a wolf a raccoon and a squirrel that hid within the branches high above her. The squirrel was too small and out of reach, so she would wait. The creature to draw too close to the entrance of her dark hiding place would become her dinner, be it wolf or raccoon.

She lay in the opening, as flat as she could make herself. Her thick fur hid the gold on the back of her neck and to assure it wouldn't show through she moved some snow over her back and neck. This not only hid her, but it masked her scent as well. Her ears lay flush with her head and her nose was buried in the snow. The only thing showing would have been her icy blue eyes, and even they were hidden as they were only slits.

Being a spy May knew this would work unless the wolf was a tracker, and even then the wolf would only have a twenty percent chance of finding her. She had a sense of pride in that as, she had never been caught and this was her seventh birth season.

An hour at the most passed before the masked fuzz ball came into view. Shortly after the wolf she had smelled appeared as well. It was only the small movement the lass made that May had spotted her. She was small, blended almost perfectly with the bark of the trees, and young...maybe three years old..maybe. Both would have been an easy kill, but the ring tail was closer.

The raccoon wondered within three feet of her. That's all she had needed yet she waited for it to walk by, leaving its back facing the tree. In the blink of an eye she shot out of her hiding place. In one leap she was on the fat thing, but he wouldn't go down without biting her right front paw after she had landed on him. With one snap of her jaws and jerk of her head she broke its back, with another its neck.

Blood stained the snowy fur on her front right paw and her face. Lifting her head with her kill crushed in her large jaws she tuned her body and her gaze on the small girl. Not only letting lass know that she had been found but that she was merely lucky that she hadn't become dinner instead.

Isabella paused just a moment. She thought there was a scent on the wind but perhaps it was just something form an old den a fox or coyote had used. Eyes still on the raccoon she moved on hoping at some point if would get hungry, find some water and do that silly habit of washing its food off. But she did not get that opportunity as death found the fat creature.

Pounce. A wolf as white as snow bounded out making Isabella stop in her tracks. It was clear that it was the end for the raccoon but she had to admire its spirit as it bit the paw of the large white wolf. Though the wolf was large, it was faster than she would have expected of such a size.

Kill. The death came within two bites, one to the back one to the neck. Isabella would not have killed the thing in such a way but she was glad it at least wouldn't have felt as much pain to the neck with a broken back that perhaps lead to palatalization.

Though she couldn't help but feel a large amount of useless emotions at the things death she did not show it. Her eyes were unblinking,her ears stayed high on her head and her tail stayed with her back. She did rise up though, out of a hunter's crouch into into a stance that would make it easy for her to move at a moment's notice. She felt so odd, sad that the creature that gave her fun had came to an end, angry that it had been another who had killed it even though it was her meal, and though she would not admit it, afraid of the look the larger wolf gave her.

Now that the wolf was standing still she could look it over and take in it, no, her scent. The wolf was larger than she would have expected for a female and looked to be much older than her. Any other time she would have dipped her head and closed her eyes at a loss of life but the look the wolf gave her told her she would not mind killing her so she did not take her icy optics of the snowy wolf. "Little one, thank you for your life, though you are not my kill and you were not a meal taken from me, may you live on in the energy you give this wolf." Her voice was empty, emotionless as it always was. Already she had sent her emotions to the back of her mind, this was not the time for them.

That done she turned her attention to the stranger. Her head lifted as she spoke and she held herself with pride. Her ears were still up but she lowered her tail down at a relaxed position mostly due to the fact the female seemed older than her and she had respect for her elders. "You are quite skilled for me not being able to detect you. You do not have to look at me so, you have your meal that was never mine to begin with. I have no quarrel with you, you do not need one with me." As empty as her voice was it was clear she spoke it in the logic of her own mind.