"What do we bet?" Keith gave the strange sound that happened when a human laugh came through a panthermorph's throat. "That's simple." He opened his mouth wide, and licked his pointed teeth with his feline tongue. "I'm a carnivore, you're a carnivore. Winner gets the other guy's next kill."
"Uh" Harrison was intrigued, but hesitant. "I really mostly kill rabbits and ground squirrels, not big game like you guys."
"Doesn't matter." Keith replied. "It's just for the fun of the thing."
"This probably goes against my journalistic ethics, but OK. Who do you want to bet on?"
"I'll take Jeremy in this match."
"OK" Harrison answered, with an uneasy feeling he had been maneuvered into the wrong position.
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Hannah felt a bit alienated from her fellow does. She agreed that Jeremy was a better person than Drake, and all other things being equal she would have joined Lateisha in rooting for him. However, she couldn't help feeling that if Drake won, it would be a good sign for Sam. She couldn't quite bring herself to cheer for Drake, either, though. Something about the whole thing seemed very wrong, particularly with the involvement of Spike. She couldn't quite put her finger on why, but he was just plain scary, and she wondered how much the other bucks or even park management understood his agenda.
The sight of Spike disturbed Leticia as well, but in a different way. It was hard for her to take her eyes off the powerful, muscular buck. She couldn't get her mind off the fantasy of feeling him on top of her, driving into her, making her submit to his masculine power. What am I turning into, she thought. Am I really a doe now? She began to slowly, hesitantly, edge towards the group of bucks, munching the while on the contraceptive berries.
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Katie and the others filed out of their underground headquarters into the access tunnel. It was strange, but when the huskies were acting as a group Katie always felt less human. It was easier to simply follow the pack leader, in this case a bitch (It's OK to call her that, Katie thought, it's what she is) named Naomi, than to think as an individual. Katie loved dogs on the outside, and she thought this experience would help her understand them a lot better. Practicing the concealment techniques they had learned while training for their new jobs, the huskies arranged themselves in position to intervene as soon as Naomi felt they were needed.
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Drake and Jeremy eyed each other, ready for the next round. The last clash had knocked thoughts of strategy out of their heads. They lowered and charged.