ta for the comments Lamp! Here's the next installment.
Chapter 2
Tilla woke up the next morning and saw that her mate still hasn't returned. She whined as the reality of him returning at all was now very slim. Along with it the realization that her own chances of survival has now dropped greatly...and that of her unborn pup to practically zero. All she could do now is hope that she could find adequate prey on her own and no bachelor males try to take her burrow away from her. She decided to wait awhile before going to try to hunt, for she knew it was still too cold outside.
As she waited for it to warm up she groomed, using her tongue, teeth, and claws to straighten and clean her fur. She did the best she could with her back; normally her mate would have groomed her back for her...but he was gone now. As Tilla carefully added the fallen fur she found to the lining of her nest, she caught an old scent, that of her now absent mate. She whined and felt tears well up in her eyes; oh how she wished he hadn't gone overboard and chased that male. But this particular male was very persistent and her mate had to rearrange his face a little before he got the hint and took off, her mate right on his tail. Now she felt a predator had gotten him...and that he will never return.
Tilla froze at a sudden sound at the entrance of her burrow. She perked up her ears, listening intently, trying to determine who or what it was. She heard the sounds of something scrapping dirt and she relaxed a little.
Good... she thought, it's not a bachelor male.
She knew that single males would never dig at the ground at the entrance to a burrow, lest they attract the attention of an angry Drakkic pair. Tilla quietly crept down to the entrance and looked out; there close to the entrance of her burrow, was an Arctic Rat. Unlike their southern cousins, these rats were a foot tall and had a pair of front legs tipped with a pair of large claws used for digging into the dirt and snow in the search of grass and other plant life. This one was just under a foot tall, meaning it was born just last spring and obviously didn't know not to hang around a Drakkic burrow!
Tilla wasn't going to let this opportunely pass her by; she crotched and slinked forward carefully and quietly, like a cat stalking its prey. She paused a moment, the tip of her tail twitching, then pounced. The Rat was only able to let out a short loud 'squeak' before Tilla bit down on its neck, killing it. Tilla then quickly carried the body back into her burrow; where she carefully yanked out the Rat's fur before settling down to eat.
When she was done she carefully went out and buried the remains, then went back inside and groomed herself again.
She was lucky, this meal will hold her until the next day and the fewer times she has to go out and hunt the better. For a female hunting at this time of year was like a bright beacon to the males that she was mateless and possibly had a burrow they could steal from her....
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