"Of course," Ursalo agreed, even as he imagined pulling Jera behind a few trees and having his wicked way with him, planning be damned. How would he look in the light, Ursalo wondered, would his freckles sparkle in the dappled sun? Would his hair flash like bushfire? Could they ignite the forest with their lust?<br/><br/>He desperately wanted to know, but before he could act Ranuk had returned to their little group and Ursalo placed himself a firm three feet away from Jera, hands at his sides as if he had no intention of misbehaving.<br/><br/>Ranuk could practically smell the arousal simmering between them but his mind was too occupied on the hunt to comment on it. Perhaps it would be better to let the children wander off so that they might get it out of their systems. Ranuk had better things to do, like track down the herd he had caught wind of.<br/><br/>The white demon barked at Tamlin between his pants, his purple-blue tongue rolling from his mouth. His tails were too numerous to wag about but they twitched and curled and swayed, restless with excited energy.<br/><br/>"He says he found fresh tracks," Ursalo translated, as apparently Ranuk was too stimulated to attempt elvish or sign, "a herd of ten perhaps, three leagues north."<br/><br/>After Ursalo had shared the news he was gone again, bounding through the forest, hot on the trail. If Tamlin was as talented a hunter as he was rumored to be, then he would catch up eventually. If not, that was no concern of Ranuk's.<br/><br/>He had smelled a herd of elk cows with their suckling calfs, but what he wanted was a bull with a full rack. To find one, one had to follow the other, as there were always hopeful bachelors waiting at the edges of a herd for a female to go into season early.<br/><br/>Ranuk dutifully followed the signs, finding the droppings and eaten vegetation as the elks grazed through the forest. It took little time to find the right path but Ranuk had to be careful not to give his presence away. He did better in the winter months when his pelt blended into the snow. Here amidst all the green he was as startling as a ghost, and had to be as stealthy as one if he was to succeed.<br/><br/>The demon slowed as he came closer to the herd, slinking around the peripherals as he tried to find a vantage point. He found one high in an ancient oak, its branches thick enough to support his weight.<br/><br/>Ranuk was born from a fox and a goat and was often mistaken for a wolf, but he learned to hunt from a cougar. Neither of his parents could teach him, demoness do not hunt and Unak had been a vegetarian. They did not have the skills to pass onto Ranuk so they entrusted that to Oleer, a mean old mountain cat as crass as he was dangerous.<br/><br/>Everything Ranuk knew of survival had come from him, the lessons so ingrained it was now instinct, written into his very bones. Ranuk settled himself in the branches and waited, blue eyes wide and ears perked, scanning for the elk bull to reveal himself.