Yes. The scent of prey in the air, the beat of its heart, the racing of its blood. She wanted it, needed it. This was a true hunt, the sort of hunt that lowly humans prepared their whole lives to avoid. The savage Intoner kept her chase until the surface of the lake came into clear view, its shimmering waves reflecting the pale yellow light of the moon.

Another beast lay there, too, one she only recognized in the thing that had become her subconscious. It wasn't something that she could fight, at least from the unimaginable power differential between the two of them that she could simply sense by being somewhere nearby it, but the prey was getting closer to it all the same. Her eye narrowed; the flower quaked. And pouring every last bit of energy she could into her legs, drawing on the blood spilled from her rampage and as much ambient blood within the air as she could channel, she pushed ever forward, ever closer.

If only she'd been able to keep up that speed with her claws, she might have caught her prey here. But something—her forebrain had not told her what, but something was slowing her attacks.