(Thomas POV)
It was Friday night, three days since the Council meeting and the night of the first training I would be doing with the Pack.
Edythe was with Alice, Bella, and Jessica at Angela's for a girl's night. Helping Angela hand-address her graduation invitations while they talked about boys I assumed. Perfect timing as far as I was concerned.
The full moon shone from above, and that irony wasn't lost on me as I ran through the forest to the meeting place with my backpack in my mouth.
{"Almost there Sam, who all am I training with tonight?"}
{"You will have Me, Paul, Jacob, and Seth for this first go. Sue and Terry will be watching as well."}
I felt a little disappointment that Leah wouldn't be there but shoved it aside. {"I am just minutes away, but I will stop and get my clothes on before I get there. Everyone know what's happening I assume?"}
{"Sounds good, but how are we going to communicate?"}
{"Best I can figure is a lot of charades or I stick to yes or no questions. At worst, you have to shift to ask a complicated question."}
Sam just went quiet in thought I assumed.
{"Okay, I am close. I will get dressed and see you in just a minute"}
I found a pocket of shadow where the ferns grew thick and the ground dipped, hidden from any line of sight. Muscle memory did the rest.
The world snapped into human shape with a familiar jolt, bones rearranging, lungs remembering their smaller limits, the forest suddenly too loud and too quiet at the same time. I reached for the backpack beside my feet and exhaled through my nose. My skin prickled in the night air, as I quickly dressed.
"Okay," I muttered to myself, like saying it out loud could settle my nerves into something useful. "Let's not fuck this up."
I zipped up the now empty backpack, slung it over my shoulder, then headed toward where I could hear activity.
The clearing opened up ahead and I paused to take it all in. Not big, just a break in the trees where the ground leveled out and the moonlight could reach. Damp grass glinted silver. A few fallen logs formed natural benches around the edge.
Sue Clearwater and Terry Yindi stood together near one of the logs, both of them bundled against the chill. Sue's arms were crossed, posture steady, face unreadable in that way that made it clear she didn't waste emotion on displays. Terry was still, hands folded, watching the woods like he was listening with more than just ears.
And then there were the wolves.
Four shapes moved in the shadow-line at the far end of the clearing, too large, too smooth, too quiet for anything natural. Sam was unmistakable even without the pack mind: the way the others oriented around him gave him away. Paul paced a small circle like he had energy he didn't know what to do with. Jacob stood slightly apart, he wasn't pacing, he was waiting.
That alone told me he'd decided this was important.
The final wolf, I could tell was still mostly a puppy. His legs looked too long, and his body was still developing. The paws looked comically large. I knew at a glance that this was Seth. He hovered a little closer to the elders than the others, a golden-brown blur that kept glancing between Sue and Sam like he was making sure everyone was okay. Or that he was really okay being there. Half afraid he was there by mistake and soon he would be told to go home.
I walked out into the moonlight with my hands empty and visible.
"Evening," I said, keeping it simple. I nodded once to Sue and Terry. "Sue. Terry."
Then I angled my voice toward Sam, toward all of them, really, because even if they couldn't answer in words right now, they could hear me.
"Sam. Jacob. Paul. Seth." I let my gaze land on each wolf in turn, no challenge in it, just acknowledgment. "Thanks for showing up."
Paul's pacing didn't stop, but it tightened like he was circling the idea of me more than the clearing. Jacob didn't move. Seth's ears flicked forward.
I hooked my backpack strap off my shoulder and set it by the logs, out of the way. No fuss.
"Before we start," I said, raising my voice slightly so it carried cleanly, "I assume Jared and Leah are on patrol tonight."
Sam's head nodded a fraction, confirmation without words.
"And I know they'll be hearing pieces of this through the pack mind while they're out there," I continued. "That's fine. That's good. The point isn't secrecy. The point is consistency."
Sue's posture stayed steady, but her attention sharpened at Leah's name, small, controlled, present.
I shifted my stance, so I was facing the wolves more than the observers. "Alright. Here's what we're doing tonight, and why."
I held up one finger. "First: we set rules. Safety rules. Not pride rules."
Second finger. "Second: we get a baseline. I need to see how you move when you're not trying to win, just trying to stay alive."
Third finger. "Third: we do two short blocks. Sam and Seth first. Jacob and Paul second. Same drills, same expectations. No improvising. No freelancing."
I let my hand drop and looked straight at Sam, because he was the anchor whether anyone liked it or not.
"Everything we do tonight runs under your authority," I said. "If you call stop, we stop. If Sue or Terry call stop, we stop. If someone gets stupid, you handle it, because discipline isn't my job. Training is."
Paul's tail lashed once. As if he was frustrated he couldn't make and comment that I could hear.
I turned my head slightly, so my voice hit him specifically. "And before you decide you want to make this personal…don't."
Paul's pacing paused. His ears angled forward, hostile curiosity.
"This isn't a dominance contest," I said evenly. "If you try to turn it into one, you'll waste everyone's time, and you'll prove to your leader that you can't be trusted with training meant to keep you alive."
Jacob's ears twitched, approval, maybe. Or just agreement that Paul needed hearing it.
Seth's tail flicked like he was relieved someone else was taking the heat.
"I see no need for convoluted signals, as you all can understand me just fine and I will stay in human form the whole time."
Then I looked to Sam again. "You good with that?"
Sam's wolf head dipped once. Sharp. Decisive.
"Good," I said. "Then we begin."
I stepped back into the center of the clearing and rolled my shoulders, letting the familiar strength settle into my muscles, not a full shift, not anything dramatic, just enough that this body could take a hit and give one back without breaking.
"Sam. Seth." I pointed to the open space in front of me. "You're up first. Just go with your instinct and we will see how that works out."
Seth hesitated for half a heartbeat, then moved, quick and light, like he was trying to be brave without being loud about it.
Sam followed, steady as a shadow. Both Wolves started to circle me, looking for openings. So, I showed Sam one by stepping toward Seth.
Seth responded to my step by backing up and centering his gravity so he could move in whatever direction I wasn't approaching in.
Sam however took advantage of my attention being on Seth and leapt at me without hesitation.
I quickly spun and moved my right palm to meet Sam who was in the air, unable to react to my fast movement. I struck his shoulder, and he fell on his side and slid a couple of feet.
I relaxed my posture and stepped back. "First thing, never go for the obvious kill. Sam, you jumped at me as if you would go through me with all your force. That may work for a hunt, but for someone who can set up false openings its suicide. If I had been a normal vampire I wouldn't have hit you with my palm, but my stiffened fingers and shoved my whole arm through your body."
Sam stood up from where he fell, and a growl of frustration escaped from his maw.
I continued, "In a fight, it would have been better if you timed your jump to land just before you would attack me so if I moved, you still had options to follow up on the attack or leap back and provide a possible distraction for Seth to attack."
I moved my eyes to Seth. "You reacted quickly Seth, but you only thought about moving right or left and that caused you to be unable to capitalize when I turned my back towards you while I attacked Sam. You have four legs in this form, your balance will change with whatever paw you shift first. Practice changing direction from a standstill."
I moved back to the starting point. "Okay, reset and let's go again."
They again started pacing around me and again I stepped toward Seth.
Seth reacted exactly like I had expected the young wolf to react, he shifted his weight forward, ready to lunge, ready to prove he belonged in the same clearing as everyone else. Sam shifted too, not in panic, but in leadership reflex: protect the youngest, close the angle, keep the pack shape tight.
Which was the point.
"Good," I said, voice calm even as my body moved. "You both saw the same thing and answered it."
Seth sprang.
He was fast, faster than any normal animal had a right to be, but fast wasn't the same as clean. He committed his whole body to the attack, front-heavy, jaw aimed like that would solve the problem by itself. Just like Sam had done previously.
I didn't meet him head-on.
I slid a half-step to the side and let my left forearm catch the line of his shoulder, not a strike, a redirect, guiding his momentum past me instead of letting it crash into me. My right hand pressed lightly into the thick fur at the base of his neck, just enough to turn his head with his own movement.
Seth skidded in the damp grass, claws tearing divots as he tried to recover.
Sam was already there, intent on stopping me from following up on Seth.
He came in low, not like Seth, not thrown by enthusiasm. Sam's movement was controlled, angled, smart, like he was trying to set his teeth where it would end the exchange fast.
A vampire would've eaten that up.
I pivoted, planted my feet, and met Sam's charge with my hands open and my elbows tight, letting the strength in my frame do the work. When his shoulder hit my forearm, I gave him just enough resistance to stop the forward drive…then shifted my weight and turned him, using leverage more than force, like redirecting a barbell rather than fighting it.
Sam's paws dug in. He didn't go down, but he lost the straight line.
"That," I said, breath steady, "is what you don't want to give them."
Seth recovered and came again, this time not as clean as he thought, because he'd already decided he needed to hit faster and harder to make up for missing the first time.
I stepped back one pace, drew him toward me, then angled away at the last second so he had to adjust mid-lunge. He did, barely, his body twisting to follow.
"Don't chase the bait," I told him, and this time it wasn't a lecture. It was a warning. "If I can make you chase it, so can they."
Sam took the opening Seth created without meaning to. He moved to my blind side, trying to make me split attention. For a heartbeat it worked, my gaze tracked him, and Seth surged in again, eager to be the one who landed something.
I let my shoulders turn toward Sam.
Then I snapped back toward Seth instead, because Seth was the one acting on impulse. Still sloppy.
He hit my chest…not full force, because I'd already shifted the angle, but enough that I felt the impact through my ribs. I absorbed it, then slid my hands under his chest and along his shoulder line and lifted just enough to rob him of traction.
Seth's front paws left the ground for a second.
He froze in surprise, just long enough.
I set him down immediately, controlled, careful, and stepped away so it didn't turn into humiliation.
"Reset," I said. "Back up. Same start."
They backed off, circling again.
Sue's eyes stayed locked on the exchange, unreadable, but not anxious. Terry watched like he was counting patterns.
Sam's tail flicked once, irritation…at me, at himself, at the fact that he was being made to play defense in front of observers.
I didn't let him sit in that.
"Sam," I said, holding his gaze as best I could in a wolf face, "that was good leadership instinct. Protect the youngest. But a smart opponent will use that instinct against you."
Sam stilled, listening.
"And Seth," I added, "you're fast. But you're loud with it. You announce what you want to do with your whole body."
Seth's ears dipped a fraction, embarrassment, maybe.
I kept it neutral. "That's normal. That's fixable. Nothing to be ashamed of."
We went again.
This time I didn't step toward Seth. I stepped toward space, the empty line between them…like I wasn't committing to either target. It forced both wolves to decide what I was doing without the comfort of certainty.
Sam moved first, because leaders do. Seth followed half a beat later.
Half a beat was enough.
I darted left, fast, and stopped short, just short, so Seth's momentum carried him into the space he thought I'd occupy.
Sam snapped at the same time Seth moved, trying to catch me on the shift.
I could have hit Seth hard right then. I didn't.
Instead, I angled my shoulder into his flank, not enough to hurt, enough to spin him, then used that spin to put Seth between Sam and me.
Sam checked himself instantly. He didn't crash into Seth. He didn't take the reckless bite. He pulled the strike, because he had control.
That was a win.
"Good," I said immediately. "That. That's what control looks like."
Sam's ears twitched…accepting it.
Seth's tail wagged once, involuntary. He was proud he hadn't gotten in the way. Or proud Sam hadn't steamrolled him. Either way, it was useful.
I backed up and lifted my hands again, palms out. "Alright. That's enough for you two to work on."
I turned my head toward Sue and Terry for a second, not asking permission, just acknowledging the observation. "Sam died three times in that exchange and Seth five. This is what we are here to prevent."
Then back to the wolves. "Sam, Seth, hold. Catch your breath."
I walked to the log edge, picked up a small branch, nothing heavy, and drew a simple line in the damp grass with the tip.
"Line," I said. "This is what most of you do when you're excited."
I drew a straight arrow forward.
"You charge. Straight. Fast. Heavy. It works when you have pack pressure and numbers." I drew three more arrows converging. "It worked on Laurent."
Then I drew a curved line that hooked around the arrows.
"This is what an older vampire does. They don't meet the charge. They bend it. They make you overshoot. They make you separate."
I looked up at Sam. "You kept the group shape better than most would. Seth didn't panic when he missed. That's good."
Seth's ears perked.
"But," I added, "you both still react to the youngest being threatened like it's the only priority. That's not wrong. It's just predictable."
Paul's pacing slowed at that, attention catching whether he wanted it to or not.
Jacob's posture shifted…listening.
"Goal for Sam and Seth," I said, loud enough for the whole clearing. "Sam learns to keep leadership without overcommitting to protection. Seth learns to commit without telegraphing and without chasing."
I pointed the stick toward the open space. "Now…swap."