"Go!"

At his call, I ran towards him. Isaac was on my left. He jumped over his first obstacle, front flipping, while I twirled around a support beam. Keeping my body close to it without hindering my progress. Next Isaac vaulted over his second obstacle. He then landed, crouching down and allowing me to use him as springboard. I lunched myself up into the air, kicking off another support beam and sending myself towards Derek, roaring as I reached out with my claws. He was completely still, until suddenly I was on the ground, his foot stomping down on my back and pinning me.

Thinking he had an opening, Isaac leapt towards another support beam on Derek's right, then shot off it towards him. But Derek saw it coming and caught him in mid flight, forcing him down on the ground next to me. "Again," he said simply. We reset, and started our attack again.

Isaac followed the same path as before. I mixed it up. Instead of jumping off Isaac again, I bypassed him, sliding underneath a closed road sign that was being used as one of our obstacles. I got up on all fours after stopping, locking eyes with Derek and growled. He merely stared back, unfazed.

Then Isaac shot by, jumping towards the same support beam as before and leapt towards Derek. It was the same result as last time. Only this time, I wasn't on the floor. As Derek forced Isaac down, I ran in, finding the perfect opening before Isaac hit the ground. I jumped, claws coming out as I went to slash Derek's exposed neck. Only suddenly he rolled underneath me and over Isaac, twisting Isaac's arm into an awkward position while grabbing my ankle from behind. My momentum ceased, and then gravity pulled me down, as Derek twisted my ankle.

I joint in Isaac's howls of pain, before Derek released us, making his way back to where he'd been before our attack. "Again," he said, exactly like before. Unimpressed and waiting for us to show some progress. We'd been going for a few hours now. He'd been teaching us more about fighting, using the environment to assist us. Now we were supposed to use what we learnt against him.

It wasn't going so well.

Isaac helped me up, and I thanked him before limping back over to my mark. Derek gave us an extra second to heal, Isaac flexing his arm and me rolling my ankle. As if knowing once we were both ready, Derek yelled, "Go," once more.

Yet again, we ran in. Isaac stupidly running the same route again. I could feel the irritation coming of Derek. Attacking the exact same way over and over would accomplish nothing. He needed to get out of his comfort zone and try something new. But I could hardly tell him that now, in mid-run. So I used my Pack brother's distraction to my advantage, slowing as I motioned to Erica who was watching next to Boyd. She caught my message and began to quietly move.

As she did, I picked up pace once more, keeping Derek's attention on me once he took out Isaac. As my Pack brother skidded across the floor, I flipped over him, landing on my feet and one hand, the other raised behind me. Then as I lifted my head, I roared, eyes flashing and canines forming. But I didn't fully shift, even though I was trying. And I knew that Derek knew I was trying. It was hard not take the look of annoyance personally then, because I was trying. Trying to get angry and control the shift, but it just wasn't working.

Regardless, I still needed to buy time. So I darted from side to side, all while Derek's eyes followed me, waiting for me to make my move. Then I did, faking a left swing before instead twirling towards my left, turning Derek's back to the subway carriage as he followed me. I swung with my claws, and he caught my arm. I smirked, spotting Erica above and ready to leap. She did, but then Derek used me like a fly swatter, lifting me up and throwing me around as I collided with Erica. He continued the swing before letting go, sending both of us to the ground next to Isaac, all of us groaning in pain.

"Does anyone wanna try not being completely predictable?" Derek asked rhetorically as he approached his defeated Betas. I was tempted to try something, just to prove myself, but Erica beat me to it. She ran at him before jumping, wrapping her legs around his waist as she took his lips with hers. My eyes widen, shocked by my sister's forwardness as she made out with our Alpha. It even seemed to be working for a moment, before he threw her back down on the ground, glaring at her.

Then something inside of me snapped and I was in front of him, roaring at him – my Alpha – for shoving Erica. The wolf part of me was shouting at me for being so stupid as to challenge the Alpha, but the sister in me couldn't let him get away with hurting Erica, even if it was just by rejecting her. I was done letting people do that.

I swung both my claws at him, and he caught both my wrists, before I slammed my knee against his crotch. He wavered, but remained standing, and although his face didn't change, I could see in his eyes I'd gotten him.

I smiled widely, proud, until my cockiness got the better off me, when Derek slammed his head against mine, sending me back down. My hands instantly went to my face as I felt Erica move to my side, helping me sit up. I was bleeding, blood running down my face, leaving a trail from my forehead, down the side of my noise and towards my mouth. I could only imagine how I looked, but judging by Erica's upset features, it must not have been good. I'd heal, eventually. As I'd learnt from a couple of training sessions with Derek and the Pack, an Alpha's attacks take longer to heal however.

"Jeez, why'd you have to hurt her so badly?" Erica snapped, glaring up at Derek before he began to glare back at her.

"I hit her as hard as she hit me," Derek simply growled, making Erica inch closer towards me as her arms tightened around my body. She was scared, I think we all were a little. But at the same time I was proud. My head was hurting like hell from his headbutt, but that meant I must have gotten him pretty good to with my knee to the groin. However, by impressing him with my cliché attack, I'd also managed to piss him off. "That's the purpose of this, all of this. You need to learn to hit harder and smarter, because compared to the Hunters, I'm going easy on you all."

His gaze then swung back towards me. "And don't get cocky. That cheap shot will give you a momentary advantage that will quickly pass if you let it. Like you did." I shrank towards Erica, feeling shameful because of my Alpha's disapproval. He was right though, I had mucked up. I was trying though, but that didn't seem good enough tonight for some reason.

"And you," Derek said, turning to Isaac. "Would it kill you mix it up. You might be coming far in control, but in everything else you are a slow learner."

Isaac let out a breath, sighing as he shook his head. He was used to never being good enough. Even so, his ignorant reaction to Derek had the Alpha's nostrils flaring, and me and Erica tensing. "Are we done? 'Cause I got about a hundred bones that need a few hours to heal," Isaac stated as he sat up, examining his sore arm.

Derek mocked a look of sympathy, before kneeling down, holding out his hand to see Isaac's arm. Foolishly, Isaac handed it over, but even when I knew what was coming, I still jumped when Isaac started screaming, as Derek broke his arm. "A hundred and one," Derek corrected, glaring down at Isaac, still holding his arm as the boy grimaced in pain. "You think I'm teaching you how to fight? Huh?" Isaac then made another mistake by looking away, at which Derek snapped, "Look at me!" Again me and Erica jumped, moving away from Derek and Isaac as the Beta looked back up at his Alpha.

"I'm teaching you how to survive!" He roared at Isaac, but it was intended for them all.

Releasing Isaac, Derek then stood back up and made his way back over towards the subway carriage. "Yeah, well, if they wanted us dead why aren't they coming for us now? What are they waiting for?" It was brave of Isaac to say, but he had a point. Still, I'm glad he said it instead of me - and I was curious to hear what Derek had to say.

"I don't know," he answered, before stepping back towards us. "But they're planning something. And you, especially, know that's not our only problem," Derek said pointing towards as Isaac. "Whatever that thing is that killed Isaac's father, I think it killed someone else last night."

He'd mentioned this creature to me when Isaac first joined the Pack, right before our first full moon. It hadn't been seen since, but obviously Derek hadn't forgotten about it. Like I had. "And until I find out what it is, you all need to learn everything that I know. As fast as I can teach you," Derek declared as he retreated towards the train carriage.

We rested for a while, until Derek returned. By which point Isaac and I were fully healed and I'd cleaned myself up. After that he went back to teaching the basics for Boyd in a privet session, while leaving me and Isaac to get Erica up to our level before the end of the night. It was never going to happen, not with the time we had before morning - and more importantly - school the next day. Still, none of us were about to argue.

A couple hours later, Erica had a much better control over her claws and eyes. She was still struggling to hold of the shift when provoked but that would be fixed with practise. It was something me and Isaac were still learning to this day. We also taught her the remaining basics of fighting that Derek hadn't. Again it would take a while to commit them to memory, but she'd been shown them and that's what matter.

When Derek finally declared they were done for the night, Boyd limped his way over, several bruises on his arms and face. Who said learning with Derek wasn't fun?

I offered him a lift, which he was grateful for as I took his weight. However, then Derek declared that I wasn't done, and that he had something else for me. I frowned, passing Boyd over to Erica and handing her the keys. She seemed unsure about this, not just her driving alone, but leaving me behind. I assured her both were fine. I'd been helping her learn how to drive anyway, and all she really had to do was pass her test.

I made sure to let her know this was a onetime thing though, just so she could Boyd and herself home. And reminded her to be careful. When she still didn't go, I promised her I'd be fine and then ushered her towards the exit. She went with Boyd willingly, but the look of worry never left her.

Once Derek dismissed Isaac, sending him off towards his corner of the room where he slept, he motioned me to follow him. To my surprise, he began leading me after Erica, as we climbed the iron staircase up towards the exit. We walked in silence until we got outside and he unlocked his car, opening the door. That was when I spoke up, "I'm sorry, but what is this exactly?"

He just stared at me, face still as a rock. He hadn't been like this before. He'd been nice, friendly. Yes, I understood that part of that was just to charm me so that I wouldn't freak when he offered me the bite. But even after I'd taken the bite and become a werewolf, he hadn't changed this much. The whole time before he bit Boyd he'd been relatively nice while still stern and eager to train us all up fast. Now he was like a no-shit gym teacher, and while we were on his time, there would be no wasting it.

Finally he broke his glare towards me as he got into the car. With a sigh under my breath I followed, climbing into the passenger seat where he presumably wanted me. One silent car ride later and we were are preserve, climbing out of Derek's car which provided the only light in the otherwise black forest.

Once Derek killed the lights, my eyes began to adjust to the blackness, making out the trees, the ground and how it shifted up ahead. I was stood by the car's passenger door, looking around the woods when Derek walked around. Now stood in front of me, I turned and looked up at him, knowing he was now about to give me instructions. "Here's what's going to happen," Derek began, which somehow made me straighten up at his voice. "You're going to wait here for five minutes, and I'm going to leave. You are then going to find me."

"Seriously," I let slip with a giggle. "Hide and seek?" I couldn't stop smiling at this turn of events. "You should have brought the rest of the Pack, made it more interesting."

"This isn't a game," Derek said lowly, wiping the smile off my face as the tidal wave of seriousness came crashing down on me. "This is important training, specifically for you."

I frowned. "For me?"

"Remember when I told you, you might make a good tracker?"

Under the pressure of his gaze I was struggling to recall such a memory. And with each second that passed, a felt another beed of sweat form on my brow. Eventually the silence was to much and I found myself answering with, "No…"

Derek was not impressed. As indicated by his flared nostrils. I winced, feeling the need to apologise to my Alpha, but somehow I felt like opening my mouth would only make things worse. So I stayed quiet, even when the silence made me want to scream, and did the best to hold his gaze.

"Well," Derek growled, before he collected himself, now speaking like a normal human being. "I did, and like I told you, your senses are sharp, indicating you have promise as a tracker. But you'll need to work on those senses in order to reach the level I'm looking for. In order to do that, I'm going to be giving you specific training on top of the training you and the others are already getting."

Great. More training.

As if hearing my thoughts – or possibly just catching my roll of the eyes – Derek growled, "This is serious Dylan." I quickly looked back up to him, meeting his seriously ticked off green eyes. "I'm teaching you to survey, remember."

"I know," I whispered, though he heard it easily enough. "And I appreciate it, along with everything else you've done for me and Erica. So if this is what you want me to do, I'll do it. I'm sorry for disrespecting you," I said in a more diplomatic tone than I'd imagined it coming out as. I assumed it was just because I was talking to my Alpha.

He stared at me for a moment, then nodded, accepting my apology. "All right then. Let's get started. And remember, this is about using your senses," he instructed me, backing away before he turned and marched off into the woods.

As per my instructions, I waited five minutes then began trekking after him.

Knowing this was about my senses, I began by using my noise, the most obvious tracking tool at my disposal. It was easy enough to pick up the scent of my Alpha. It was still fresh after all so I began to follow it into the woods. However, quickly I discovered, my Alpha obviously had a few tricks for combating other Werewolves. He'd managed to mask part of his scent, making it harder for me to pick out. I had to kneel down several times to make sure I was still on the right path. He'd picked up speed as well, and was getting further away while I was barely keeping up with his fading scent.

Realising I was going to have to make some gut decisions, I locked onto his scent and then broke out into a sprint after him. Whenever I felt the scent disappear, I didn't stop – I changed direction, until I felt his scent return. I ended up chasing him, or rather his scent, around the woods for a good hour. I figured I was gaining on him, until I reached a stream and lost his scent completely. From there I tried my other scenes, to work out whether he'd gone up or down. From what I could sense, he'd gone up, so I followed. I'd turned out to be right, picking up his trail again with some near invisible wet footprints. Going in that direction, I picked up his scent again and proceeded on, until I was attacked.

From out of nowhere something collided with my chest, winding me in an instant as I collapsed onto the forest floor. My heart leapt into my throat and I thought briefly it might be Hunters. Ready to kill me then and there, like they'd done with that Omega. Slicing me in two.

It wasn't them, but I still got one hell of a fright when Derek landed on top of me. He'd shifted, and his Alpha red eyes were glaring down at me in annoyance…disappointment. "Now the hunter becomes the prey," Derek growled raising his hand above his head, claws extended and ready to slash. It took me a spilt second to figure out what he was talking about. Then it clicked. I'd been hunting him. Now he was switching the roles.

I was too late to react though, and his claws grazed my chest. They cut clean through my top, but only just broke through my skin. It was enough to draw blood though, trickling out the five scratches and seeping into my ruined t-shirt. I winced from the initial shock of pain, and to my shame I'd yelped. But then I met Derek's red eyes, having stepped off me, and he roared, "Run!"

Whether it was an order, or a mere suggestion, I had no idea. All I know is that I did run and he chased me.

This was not going my way. I'd exhausted myself without realising in tracking Derek, getting lost in the hunt and was now too tired to think clearly. All I could think was run from the threat, from the Alpha baring down on me. Then he caught my foot with his claw and I went down, but not without a fight. Tapping into my senses once again, I could tell what he was going to do next, from the way everything was moving around me. From the hint of his adrenaline in the air, to the sound of his muscles moving. He leapt towards me. And knowing that was what he was about to do, I rolled over in mid-fall, extending my foot and catching his jaw.

I'd got him! And it was all I'd needed to get him off me and give myself some room. I hit the ground, holding onto the breath inside me, refusing to let this be the end of me. I followed the momentum, rolling and sprung back up to my feet. I chanced a look back and saw Derek dazed, on the ground and distracted. I took my chance and dove for cover behind a tree. Taking quiet and deep breaths as he rose back up.

"Not bad," Derek admitted and I was filled with pride. "But you got lost in the hunt didn't you. Didn't realise how exhausted you were until you fell into my trap. That's the weakness of a tracker. You need to be able to focus on the job and yourself, otherwise that will happen." Pride left me as I exhaled sharply.

I wondered briefly how he knew all that, but then remember he was the Alpha. It was his job to know all this and to teach me. "But at the same time you weren't focused enough. You were only focusing on your sense of smell. A tracker needs more than that. Yes, that is your primary tool, but you need your other senses too, otherwise you'll fall into traps. Like you did.

"If you'd been paying attention to your other senses. You would have heard me breathing, realised I'd doubled back. You did good at the river, and again when I caught up to you just there, that was you using all your senses. But that's not enough. And while you can track me, I can also track you. And I smell your blood…"

My eyes widened, shooting down to the cuts on my chest. They'd healed over already but the blood was still there and had most likely been dripping across the forest as I fled. "And that's how I know you're behind that tree!" An arm swung around and I ducked, tree bark splintering above as Derek's fist collided with the trunk I was against.

I darted away as Derek came around to find me. I turned back to face him, deciding fighting was my best option. And possibly the best way to redeem myself in the eyes of my Alpha. I felt the shift take over and again I wished it had been deliberate but I hadn't been trying to shift. In any case, I had, and I was grateful for it.

Now it was my turn to attack. I charged forward and swung. He easily dodged. I followed through with a few more punches and then a kick. He dodged all those too and caught my foot. I tried to pull it away but he had to good a hold an easily pulled me off my feet. Next thing I knew I was on the ground and he had his foot on my chest, pinning me down. It was over.

He shifted back. It took me a little longer to do the same, being as worked up as I was. In the end I just gave up, needing to get something off my chest, and not just Derek's foot. "Why the hell are you doing this to me?!"

"You know why," Derek replied, leaning down and pressing his foot on my chest as he did. "I'm teaching you to survive."

"Stop saying that! I get it! And yes, I need to know how to survive, but so does everyone else! Why are you dragging me out into the woods for extra training? Why are you being harder on me? And why aren't using this time to train Erica and Boyd up to speed?" I shouted out as I felt my eyes burst with a bright glow. It did nothing to deter Derek, who continued to glare down at me.

"All right, you want to know why? Because you were the first," Derek answered, momentarily shocking me. "You were the first one I turned, the first one I ever bit – and you have so much potential, especially for a bitten Werewolf." In that moment I felt my anger leave me, my body shifting back to normal as I lay there, Derek's foot still pressed against me and him staring down at me with those complex green eyes.

"That's why I'm giving you your extra training, so that you can be the best you can be. And if I can train you up fast enough, then you can help me train the others," Derek explained. "Because you see, Dylan. I don't just see you as another of my Betas. I see you possibly being my right-hand, my Second, and the most important of my Betas. But in order for you to reach that level and be what I need you to be, I have to focus more on your training then the others, push you harder than them."

I stared up at him, in shock at the praise he was giving me, and at what he was suggesting. That I could be his most important Beta. I'd never been the most important anything, except for Erica. But here was Derek, thinking I was so good as a Werewolf, and with so much potential that he was willing to call me his right-hand, his second in command. It was the highest praise I'd ever received from anyone, other than Erica. And it made me want to live up to his expectation, to prove myself worth and be just that. His right hand. His Second.

"And for the record, I'm not being harder on you," Derek added, giving me a glimpse at the man he'd been before we'd added Boyd to the Pack. The man who was a serious Alpha and trainer, but still knew how to smile and express happiness. That was my Alpha there. "I'm equally hard on all of you," he corrected, holding out his hand for me to take, as he removed his foot from my chest.

With a grateful smile I took it, and he hauled me back up to my feet.

"All right, let's go again," Derek ordered, and we went back to my tracker training.