A/N: A filler chapter for you before the days of getting back to Jasper begin.
Humphrey's POV
"Remind again me why we are doing this now?" I asked Kate as we walked away from the Willmore Pack. "Because since we got nothing better to do I decided we can begin your hunting training" She replied stopping on the river bank. "Yeah I understand that but why do we have to be out here so early?" I asked "If you're going to be an alpha then you got to start getting used to getting up early" She replied "Besides the morning is a good time to hunt, you can hear and smell the prey better." "Alright, you're the teacher" I said following her across the log that linked the two sides of the river.
It's been two days since we got accepted into this little pack. Things remained the same as they were before but Kate did go out and help the pack with hunting a few times. I told her she didn't have to do things for the pack but she insisted, saying it's a way of showing our gratitude. During the times she was gone hunting I kept myself occupied by walking around or just laying out in the sun. I didn't talk to many of the wolves in the pack since we got here and it didn't bother me either. Making new friends here might not be a good idea considering we were leaving tomorrow. Because if Kate and I got that law abolished then we wouldn't come back here meaning possibly losing a new friend as quick as you met them. Cyrus and the leaders were the only ones who I talked to besides Kate since we got here, however I'm sure Kate talked to more since she went out with the hunting groups. Another thing we did was just yesterday, we went out for a night walk in the moonlight. Just the two of us spending time together, the way I liked it. We ended up finding a nice tall hill in a clearing where we howled for the second time. It was just as amazing as it was on the train and had no hint of getting old ever. It was late when we got back which is why I wasn't too excited about getting up and training early today. But I knew in the long run it will be very much worth it, I'll be able to hunt and even protect Kate if the time came necessary.
I came out of my thoughts to see that we were already on the other side of the river and at the end of the meadow. This was where the pack did there hunting from what I heard so it made since to train here. Kate spotted a rock just on the edge of the forest and walked towards it. She jumped on top of it turned to face me as I sat down on the grass below the rock. "I'm no teacher but I'll do my best, today I'm going to teach you the basic moves you need to know and put them in practice." She said looking down at me. Her voice had become much serious as I listened to her talk "Were going to start with stalking first as I'm sure you've seen plenty of times." She continued, I nodded my head before she jumped down to where I was.
"Follow my lead" She said as she squatted her body down a bit to the ground making a stalking stance. I mirrored what she did and found that my legs wobbled a bit from the strain I could feel being in this posture. "You got it, after some time the wobbling will go away as you get better at it. For now just do the best you can" She said. I was expecting her to keep a serious 'do as I say' tone to her voice but now it sounded soothing. I continued to hold the pose standing still, the shaking of my legs hadn't gone away like she said. A minute had past as we both stayed still until she began to walk circles around me in the stalking form. I watched her go around a few times until she spoke "Now try walking around while holding the stalking position like I am" She said stopping next to me. "Okay" I said beginning to walk a large circle around the rock, I could already feel my legs burning from being in this pose but as I walked around it went away surprisingly.
Kate was walking normally by my side as we went "It's key to be as light on your paws as possible, at the same time you also want to stay firm like a rock. The quieter you are the less likely you are going to be heard by the prey. If done right the prey won't hear you until it's too late which is what you want." She said. There was a lot more to hunting then what meets the eye, stalking looked simple enough to do however it requires a good concentration. Right now we were walking on dirt and grass which didn't make much sound to walk on in general. I did my best to and stay light on my paws which at first didn't my stalking any quieter. "Let's do a few laps around this rock before we move on." She said stalking now as well next to me. After five laps Kate stopped got back on top of the rock, and I again sat below her waiting for what I would learn next.
"Next I'll tell you about how using the wind and camouflage can help you be undetected even further. Most prey relies on their sense of smell as much as they do on their eyes. So tricking both of their senses can help you get up to your target. One easy way to hunt is to stay down wind of your target at all times, this will keep them from smelling you and running off." She said. The more she told me the more and more complex it became to be, I felt I was in for a long couple months of training. "That's not all you can do to cover your scent, rolling in the dirt or mud will cover your scent as well. As for staying unseen, tall grass like this works great, moving slowly around also helps. If you're in a forest then find bushes or hide behind tree's to maintain cover." She finished. "This is a lot more complex than it looks" I commented looking up at her "Not many realize it is when they come into alpha school, luckily you don't have to go through such a thing." She said.
"Yeah I'm lucky to have my own mate as my teacher" I said smiling. She smiled back, time was flying by because the sun was already straight above us. "Alright last lesson, I'll teach you how to pounce and go for the kill. There's still a lot more to cover but I figured we'll just take it slow." She said coming down to where I sat in the grass. "Obviously every wolf knows how to kill an animal by going for the throat, but getting there is the part to learn. When you pounce you need to watch for things that can bring harm to you, such as legs and antlers. Get on the wrong side of one of those and you'll be lucky to be alive afterword. Since it's just you and me I will be your target for this lesson and the ones to come." She said. "Are you sure?" I asked, honestly I didn't want to hurt her over learning how to hunt. "Of course, I'm an alpha I can take a few good hard hits" She said confidently.
"Alright" I said, she began to circle me and I got the idea that she wanted to get into a fighting circle. We went in a circle following one another looking at each other. "How about you just do your best pounce on me and we'll start from that. Remember surprise is key to any successful hunt." She said. "I don't want to hurt you though" I said, she gave me a confused glance "I told you Humph-" She didn't get to finish her sentence because little did she know I said that to distract her so I could pounce onto her. She yelled out in surprise as I landed onto her pinning her down "Remember surprise is key to any successful hunt" I said on top of her saying the same thing as she just said. "Well you are a good listener, you tricked me that time" She said before I got off her letting her get back up on her paws.
"Now let's practice trying to pounce while the target, being me, will counter your attack." She said "I'll stand here and you go when you're ready" She stood a few feet away from me as I paced back and forth in front of her. All that she's told me was going through my head, with her being a trained alpha I would still have rely on surprise if I was going to get her again. She stayed facing me as I paced, after about a minute of this I decided to go for a jump. I quickly turned and pounced at her, however she swiftly stepped to the side. This made me fly past her and land on to the grass were she once stood. "You're going to need to be more creative with your surprise than that" She said hinting that I needed to try harder. I continued my pounces at her but they all ended up the same with me landing on the grass. I was now on my sixth attempt but I began to think about approaching at her differently. Every time I jumped she just side stepped over to either side of where I struck, this gave me a new idea. If all she was doing was this then I could jump at her from an angle and plan ahead for her dodge.
I tried to get on her side before she was able to turn and face me again, eventually I saw my moment to strike again. I jumped at her side and found myself landing on top of her pinning her finally. "There you go, now do it again." She said as I got off of her. This pounce practice went on for another hour until I managed to pin her a total of sixteen times. It got me to think about what the target might do when I jumped at it, compensating your jump for this helped you greatly. Kate decided to call it quits for the day training wise and suggested we go for a walk in the woods. I of course wouldn't turn down an offer like that and followed by her side. I reflected on what she taught me today and surprisingly it was a lot more than I expected we do in one day. It also wasn't anything that wore me out too badly, I was enjoying training so far.
We had been walking silently together for the past fifteen minutes just enjoying each other's presence. I decided though that I had enough of the silence between us. "Thank you for training me Kate, I'm actually enjoying it so far" I said looking at her as we walked. "I'm glad but there's no need to thank me, training you just gives me an excuse to spend alone time with you." She replied smiling at me. I smiled back "You can get alone time with me anytime you want you know?" I said. "I know" She said, we continued walking but were now heading back to the den grounds which wasn't too far away. A few moments passed before I thought of something to talk about "So I'm curious what was alpha school like anyway?" I asked since she earlier said I was lucky to not have to go to that. "Well it's very strict and it was very tiring from having to train and learn all day about not only hunting, but fighting and leading as well. Sure there were fun times but it's nothing you'd think about in a happy mood. In the end you think back and just be happy that it's over and you're now an alpha for your pack." She replied. "Now I'm really glad I have you teaching me" I said, she laughed "Yeah, and how was Jasper while I was gone." She then asked.
"At first I missed having you around to play games with but I soon found myself passing the time during your absence with my three friends Salty, Shakey and Mooch. Your sister also joined us in playing games and hanging out, but all in all that winter passed by pretty slow." I responded "Yeah it was slow for me as well, I didn't get to make many friends while at school and that was mostly because I was focused on learning. Since I'm sure you know that I would lead the pack eventually so I trained a bit harder for when that day comes." She said. This reminded me about that, if we ended up not going back to Jasper for good then Kate's family would have no one to lead. I didn't think Lilly would take up that spot since she was an omega. "Does that mean if we live back in Jasper you and I will eventually become the leaders?" I asked, it was funny to me that I had forgotten about that. Come on! Me a pack leader? Never... "Yes it would but I would be the main leader and you would be secondary just like my parents." She replied, I laughed "Woo me as a leader, that just sounds like a bad dream. But I would be up for it after some time of learning how to lead" I said. She smiled "I'm sure you would be great once you're trained to be an alpha and get some experience leading." She said.
By now Kate and I had just arrived in the den grounds of the pack, it was midafternoon now and a few wolves were here. I figured the rest were out doing pack duty's for the day. I suggested we get some food since we hadn't had any today, she gladly agreed. The rest of the day after we ate consisted of us sitting in our den before attending the pack dinner that was held every night. Many wolves shared stories about the travels and experiences they had during their lives and I got to say that some of their stories are pretty interesting. After the dinner we retired for our final night in this pack, tomorrow we will be Jasper bound to see for ourselves what we had missed in the week since we got relocated. I had no idea what to expect but I just hoped that nothing too bad happened in our absence.
