Ohhhkay, no, Buckstar definitely saw the two little sneaks trying to weasel their way out of camp. They're weren't that stealthy, with their tiny baby paws - he easily caught sight of them, even from all the way across the clearing. They couldn't have gotten far on their stubby little legs. He rose to his paws to hurry after them, passed through the camp's entrance, walked a couple more steps and pushed past a clump of bushes -

- and stopped dead in his tracks at the sight that greeted him.

He watched - frozen, wide-eyed, horror-stricken - as a huge, hulking beast of a coyote burst from the undergrowth in an explosion of leaves and snow and hurtled, jaws gaping, saliva flying from its teeth, toward the two kits.

With a howl of rage, Buckstar leaped over the kids to meet the beast in the air. He delivered a powerful smack to the side of its face, ripping five long, scarlet lines into its cheek. It tumbled to the side and caught itself with a snarl, snapped its teeth at him as if it was prepared to attack again.

"Stay BACK!" Buckstar shouted. A low growl rumbled in its throat, a sound that send a blood-curdling shiver up Buckstar's spine. And then it turned and vanished back into the underbrush. Buckstar's chest had begun to hurt, and he let out a breath he hadn't even realized he was holding.

He rounded on the pair, eyes ablaze with piercing terror. "What the hell were you two thinking?! You could have gotten yourselves killed! If I hadn't seen you- if no one had seen you- I don't know what I would have done-" He cut himself off with a frightened gasp of breath and jabbed a forepaw in the direction of camp. "Home. Now. I want to speak with the both of you somewhere safe."