I have been stood on Knight's Cliff (the cliff that I'd found and named only a couple of months after turning) for nearly an hour. To think that I had been human almost half a year ago was boggling to the mind. The fact that I had spent my previous nineteen summers in a human body didn't seem to compute. I could hardly remember what it was like.

Apart from opposable thumbs, I remember those quite clearly. Less useful then a mouthful of sharp teeth, they were not.

As for why I'm at Knight's Cliff is another thing. Flare, because he's impatient, had asked me to meet him and Sam out here at dawn. Dawn, because Flare knew that it would take him at least half an hour to wake the heaviest sleeper among us.

That was two hours ago. It was past sunrise.

It's not like I have anything better to do, but still. I try not to fidget as I wait and debate with myself whether or not I should go looking for my wayward pack-mates. I end up talking myself out of it every time, though. In the end, it would probably not even be worth it.

A rustle of leaves, the familiar scent of wolves on the wind. They were close.

"Took you long enough!" I shout as the pair of wolves come into view.

"Sorry, it took me a while to wake him up," Flare says. As if I hadn't figured that out already. Sam, who was ridiculously scruffy on a normal day, looked like he might have mange, given the wild way his fur stuck up in all directions.

"Bite me," Sam grumbles at him.

"That's the idea," I say with an ironic smirk.

Sam nods and strides closer to me. "Let's do this, then," Sam says, seeming bored.

Then he's launching himself at me. I dodge out of the way before he makes contact. I quickly turn to face him, surprised.

He twists around and charges at me. I leap to the side and grab his tail between my teeth, stopping him short with a yelp. He wheels around and I quickly draw myself onto my hind legs, Sam does the same, our paws pushing at each other's chests and shoulders as we try to topple one another. We snap at each other, twin snarls filling the air. Sam pushes hard at my chest and I drop back to all fours to avoid falling. Thinking fast, I headbutt his stomach.

He grunts and the hit combined with my sudden lack of something to lean on causes him to fall back onto his haunches, then onto his side.

I use three of my paws to pin him from his hips to his temple before abruptly biting down on the side of his neck. Sam yelps, flinching slightly before he stills. I hold the position for a few more moments

"How's that feel?" I ask and release him from my pin. I move closer to Flare, who appears to have been watching the fight attentively.

Sam stands on shaky legs. He seems to think for a few moments before answering. "Good, I think,"

"Good? How so?" Flare asks eagerly.

Sam scrunches up his muzzle.

I laugh and send Sam an amused look. "Have fun with that," I say before walking away.

###

The Next Day

I grunt as I drag the deer carcass into camp. The large animals had gotten more and more scarce over the months. Feeding five massive wolves was no easy feat, after all. Foxes, however, seem to increase by two for every one that we kill.

I drop the animal in front of the boulder before leaping onto the rock.

Dean is the first to show up, followed swiftly by the other three.

"Aww, you brought us lunch? That's so sweet," The grey-furred wolf says.

"I spit in it," I deadpan.

"I'm sure," Dean says, eyeing the neck of the animal, where I had delivered a killing bite.

"Has Flare caught you two up yet?" I ask.

"Yes," Says Alarra from where she's inspecting my killing bite. Taking note of where it is so she can replicate it, no doubt. "You want to sabotage the elven trading caravan that once kept Sam as merchandise,"

I nod. "I have a plan,"

"Of course yeh do," Sam mutters under his breath. Flare nips his ear in warning.

"As I was saying," I continue, ignoring the dusty-furred wolf. "The caravan comes around four days after the full moon, which means we have three and a half days to refine our plans,"

"What did you want to do?" Asks Alarra. She eyes Sam and Dean with distaste from where they've half-buried their faces in the belly of the carcass.

"At the moment, I think we'll do a drive-by, so to speak," I say, standing straighter. "We lie in wait for the Caravan to cross our path and then, we dash across the road and break their horses' legs as we go by,"

Alarra cocks her head, ears twitching. Dean licks his muzzle before speaking. "How's the terrain near the road?"

"That's for you to figure out," I say. "You used to be a hunter, surely you have experience with traps?"

"Traps? Yes. Ambushes? No,"

"Same thing, really," I say with a shrug. Dean bows his head at that, conceding.

"Do you actually have a plan or are you just brainstorming?" Alarra asks.

"Yes to both," I say. "I have a plan, but I need more information to make sure it'll actually work,"

Flare rips a strip of meat from the carcass and talks around it. "So what do you need us to do?"

I take a breath, arranging all of their tasks in my mind before speaking. "Dean is going to be scouting the location. I've marked the route on my map, so you should be able to find it without any issue. Find the best place for us to lie in wait as well as an escape route and report back. You can start whenever you finish eating,"

"Yes Alpha," Dean says before stuffing his muzzle back inside the carcass.

"Alarra," I begin. The white-furred wolf sits up straighter and gives me her undivided attention. "You're going to be with me on the assault. Sam, you're going to be there too. We'll have Dean lead us though the route once he's made it. Try to memorize it as best you can,"

"Yes Alpha," Alarra says before she too begins eating. It occurs to me that she had been waiting until I'd given her her orders. Interesting.

"Flare, I want you to scout the caravan before we attack it, see if there's anyone like us riding with them. If there is, try to get in there and get them out,"

Flare nods. "Yes Alpha,"

"Good. I think that's everything. Any questions?" No one speaks. "Alright, let's get to work, "

###

Three Days Later

The plan was beautiful in its simplicity. One to scout, three to stage the assault, and one to check the caravan for lupine cargo. Flare had devised the clever signal of howling to warn the assault group of the caravan's approach. This was clever because if there were any wolves in the carts, they would probably howl back.

It is, however, incredibly boring to wait for the signal.

We had been laying in the underbrush for a little over an hour. A few carts had passed us on the road, though none of them belonged to a caravan.

I could tell Sam and Alarra were starting to get restless. They were terrible at sitting still.

I myself was beginning to get antsy. The stifling warmth of the summer night wasn't helping. The lack of a breeze was making me anxious, making me feel like I was stuck in place.

"Maybe they're not coming," Alarra whispered.

Dean's howl echoed through the silence. The sound of a dozen huge hoofs pounding on packed earth reached my ears moments later.

"Steady," I whisper, standing slowly in time with my packmates. Alarra is practically vibrating out of her skin, while Sam is restlessly shifting from paw to paw.

The first horses come into view. The first cart. More horses, the second cart. More horses.

"Now!" I bark, launching myself out of the underbrush. I sprint towards the nearest horse and snap my jaws at its legs, latching on and shaking my head. I hear the bone snap and dash out of the way moments before the whinnying beast falls to the ground. I slash my claws at the belly of the second horse, blood and gore fall to the ground.

I sprint the rest of the way across the road, back into the woods.

My paws pound heavily on the forest floor, adrenaline pounding heavily in my veins. I dash through the trees with quick, graceful movements, putting more and more distance between myself and the shocked shouts of the caravaners.

My ears flick as the sound of many more pounding paws meets my ears. Alarra's gleeful yip alerting me to her moments before I catch sight of her off-white pelt.

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Sam yips right back, dashing closer to her to nip her ear before dashing away again.

I laugh and pump my legs harder, seeing a break in the trees. I burst out of the forest, leaping onto the river bank with a grin.

Heart pounding, I throw my head back and howl.

Another howl joins me. And another, and another. Before I know it, all five of us are howling, singing our victory to the sky. Our howls taper off and Dean nips my ear playfully, I try to nip him back but he dashes out of the way. I give chase.

Soon we're all barking and chasing each other all around the riverbank, wrestling and nipping at tails and ears. We must look like absolute idiots, but I can't find it within myself to care.

I barrel into Flare and we roll across the rocky river bed. He springs up and I yip, giving chase and snapping at his heels.

Alarra chases Dean into the river, and Sam follows them into the water. I join them, followed closely by Flare. We're all panting heavily, laughing.

I duck my head beneath the water, taking two big gulps of the cold, refreshing liquid before coming back up for air.

I see Alarra copy me, she shakes her head wildly when she comes back up and sneezes.

I laugh and the other four join me, Alarra sneezes again and I laugh harder.

We swim to the opposite bank and crawl onto dry land with water streaking off our pelts by the gallon. I shake the water off, and the other four follow my example.

We look more like a group of drowned rats than a pack of wolves. I snort at the thought. The guys start lapping at the water, not having taken advantage of the water while they were in it.

Alarra huffs and collapses onto her side, a wide grin stretches across her muzzle. "Ohh, that was fun,"

I grin. "It was! Good lord, who knew heavily inconveniencing someone was that thrilling?"

Flare flops down onto his side, wheezing. "I thought I was going to pass out with how fast my heart was racing,"

I sit down before laying on my stomach and resting my head on my forelegs. "Did you find any wolves?"

Flare sighs. "Nope. There was a few rabbits, a squirrel or two, a bear I think and an honest to God lion, along with a bunch of other exotic animals, but not a single wolf,"

I shrug, not really bothered. It was a long shot anyway, the real reason we targeted the caravan was revenge.

"Did any of you see the aftermath?"

Dean sits up, licking his muzzle clean of water. "Yeah, there was a lot of screaming and confusion. I didn't stick around long after the guys with guns started waving them around,"

I hum, pleased.

"Serves the bastards righ'," Sam says with a sadistic grin.

I smile, happy that Sam's happy.

"We should head home," Alarra says, stretching. "After all that excitement, I'm ready to sleep for an entire week,"

Sam nods in agreement.

###

The Next Day

"You wanted to speak with me, Alpha?"

I blink, turning to face Dean. I hadn't heard him come in, which wasn't surprising, Dean could be very sneaky when he wanted to be.

"Yes, I need you to do something for me," I say before turning back to my map.

"What kind of something?" Dean asks curiously, padding over to join me at the map-wall.

"I need you to tail someone for me. You can do that, right?"

Dean nods slowly. I can see a debate in his eyes between his curiosity and the instinctual response of 'Yes, Alpha,'. I decide to settle his debate.

"Your target is a man named Damon Baron, he's the eldest son of Lord Baron. He also happens to be my brother. Find him, tail him, gather intel about him, and report back to me,"

Dean blinks, processing that. Then, he nods. "What does he look like,"

I frown, thinking. "Dark hair, green eyes. He's taller than average with an athletic build," I pause, turning over his image in my head. The last time I saw him springs to mind. "He looked stressed, the last time I saw him,"

Dean nods firmly. "I'll find him, Alpha,"

"Be careful, Grey. He was travelling with a group of hunters the last time I saw him,"

Dean nods again and I dismiss him with a flick of my ear.

I turn over my plans in my head, going over timelines and deadlines. The woman has ten days to bring Wulfric to me. Which means that I have nine days to turn Damon. It's going to be tricky to navigate the timing of it. If I get Wulfric first and Damon hears about it, Damon will be out for blood. If I get Damon first and Wulfric hears about it, it will be harder for the woman to convince him to follow her into the woods.

I think I can pull it off, though, with some help. I want to bite Damon first so that Wulfric has someone he recognizes. Wulfric was young, all of sixteen as of a couple of months ago if my math is correct, I want to make sure that when he comes to he's not going to freak out too badly. The bite seems to make people feverish, and they spend much of their transformation asleep.

We'd need to leave as soon as their transformation was complete to avoid the wave of hunters that would no doubt flood the area as soon as my brothers were discovered missing.

I'd gone over some of this with Flare, and he had said that he'd think up something. In the meantime, I'm left to worry.

###

Four Days Later

"We could follow the river," Flare says contemplatively. He's sat in front of the map-wall, staring at it as though it would reveal the secrets of the universe if he only looked hard enough.

"Do you know how many people go to the river in the summer? It's a lot, and it's mostly teenagers," I counter as I fiddle with the rope tied to the now-empty basket that had once held a hunter's lunch.

"Right, shit," Flare says. "Fucking teenagers,"

"I'd imagine, yes,"

Flare hums thoughtfully, scanning the map for a moment before his attention drifts to the canvas bag we had stolen from Saint Augustus'. If memory serves, we had managed to steal a length of rope a well as a ratty blanket, both of which we'd stuffed in the bag.

"We should give that to Dean," Flare says, nodding at the bag. "He'll want to take his trinkets with him, I'm sure,"

"Yeah? Well, he can carry them the whole way, too," I say, thinking of all of the swords and arrows and clothing items and knives and jewellery and the singular teacup that Dean has collected over these last months.

"We can probably use that basket to carry anything else we might need," Flare says as though he hadn't heard me, although I'm sure he had.

"We could use it to keep food in," I suggest. "We're not going to have a lot of time to hunt in between all of the walking and sleeping. It's going to take us a while to reach the mountains,"

Flare nods firmly. "Good idea, we'll fill it up before we leave and hunt while we walk,"

"Will that be enough for seven wolves?" I ask worriedly.

"It's going to have to be," Flare says, shrugging. "Will your brothers be strong enough to make the journey? You know how much the transformation drains someone,"

"They're going to have to be," I say, taking a page out of Flare's book. "This place is going to be crawling with hunters as soon as word gets out that they're missing,"

Flare sighs, hooking a paw over his muzzle. "Yeah, alright," he says before shaking himself. "How about watch shifts? We're going to be sleeping out in the open, so we'll need someone to keep an eye on everything,"

I frown, thinking. "We'll see about the order, but how about shifts that last an hour and a half? That should be plenty of time to get enough sleep for the day,"

"Sounds good, if it doesn't work we can always just change it," the red-furred wolf says before standing. "How would we know when the time is up?"

"Dean has a solar-powered watch,"

"Of course he does," Flare says, shaking his head. "That's enough planning for now, we'll have a better idea of what we'll need to do after your brothers are here. Has Dean found anything interesting?"

I nod. "Damon is still in the forest but he's with three others. I'm thinking of having Dean lead then into an ambush, we'll kill the others and I'll bite Damon,"

Flare flicks his tail, looking unsure.

"Or maybe not, we'll see,"

"Just be careful, Darra,"

"Aren't I always?"