An enslaved pack ruled by a merciless dictator. A pack of assassins out for blood and revenge.
A lone wolf who can't find his place among any of it.
Through betrayal, binding pacts, and revolutionary acts, with more shadows looming between the tree...
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With the area between the wolf's building and the Compound near empty with Hunters, Jake circled Erica in the square and spoke to her softly. She had a blindfold tied around her head and Jake pushed snow around as he moved to distract her. "You're getting better," he praised and paused a bit away from her. "The snow makes it easier to hear footsteps, but an intelligent opponent can use it to trick you just as well."
Erica's cheeks were red from the cold and she sniffled a bit at her winter-bit nose. "I guess that means the same for leaves, too," she said.
"Anything that makes excessive noise," Jake agreed. He fell silent and there was a light crunch in the snow before a sharp jab came to her side and his footsteps retreated.
Erica squeaked and slapped a hand over her mouth to muffle even her own breathing. She listened for Jake, any footfalls or false crunches of snow. When she decided on one, she lashed blindly out with one hand.
A low grunt followed when she made contact, but a hand closed around her wrist and he quickly whipped her around to throw her off balance. His blow came to her side again with the same force, never hard enough to seriously hurt her.
Now she knew where he was. Erica retaliated immediately and threw herself into him as she swiped for his head. Jake made another soft noise but grabbed for her arm and drew her close to him. Instead of hitting her again, he used the momentum to throw her to the side.
Erica tried to keep her footing, but slipped and went into the snow with a squeak. She didn't bother trying to stand and simply laid with her limbs splayed out as she puffed a sigh that billowed like a cloud at her lips.
The blindfold was pushed from her eyes and Jake grinned at her from her side. "That was good," he told her.
"What is this?" A pair of Hunters stood off to the side of them, the man that spoke glaring down while his partner smirked at them.
"It's training," Jake said. His voice was calm but the grin fell from his face.
The other Hunter raised her eyebrows. "In our courtyard?"
Erica pushed herself up from the snow, brushing some from her clothes. She looked up at the Hunters, but didn't say anything, keeping her arms close. The Beta stood close to her, his stance tense but his voice still calm. "We have permission to train here."
The first Hunter scoffed and took a step forward. "It's still our courtyard," he retorted, "and we can tell you to leave whenever we like."
A low growl slipped through from Jake, and he took a step to match the Hunter. "Try me."
"Jake, don't," Erica mumbled and reached a tentative hand out to him, though eyed the Hunters still.
His eyes flashed gold at the Hunters and he snarled once before turning back to Erica, the partial shift gone. "Let's go," he muttered.
