Wolf of War

A Patricia Briggs werewolf fanfiction

Chapter Fourteen:

The Hunt

The first matter that got his attention, after he'd finished Changing for the second time that day, was his stomach; he realized that he'd forgotten to grab a quick bite of something to eat— like the Marrok had advised— while he'd had the chance. Now his body craved, demanded, that he eat something, and soon.

It didn't help that his body was protesting so many Changes so relatively quickly. On top of his hunger— his stomach feeling like it was twisting itself up in knots— his muscles and tendons felt like he'd been tossed inside of a burlap bag and beaten with a baseball bat. A plastic, waffle-ball bat, but a bat nonetheless.

It took a little longer for next matter to filter through his senses; in the last few occasions he'd been wolf, he hadn't paid much attention to his senses, simply letting his wolf have the lions' share of control while he simply basked in the moment of being. Now, however, he was going to have to use those senses he hadn't paid any real attention to, in order to not only have a good hunt, but to find something to actually eat, as well.

His wolf knew how to find food, prey to hunt and eat, and knew that different scents meant different prey, but the wolf couldn't explain to him how to identify what that prey was; the wolf knew what it knew through instincts, which Ares didn't have. Wolves lived a lot more 'in the moment' than humans did, according to his wolf; that wasn't to say that wolves didn't have long-term thinking abilities, nor that they had long-term memory issues that kept them from being able to make those identifications. But some things were 'enduring', and some were 'fleeting'— it was the best translation for how the concepts of the Wolf came to him.

We know this is ground-leaves, Wolf told him, as he and Wolf together took a moment to process what his senses were telling him while they waited for the others to finish Changing; Wolf had taken a bit more control, but just enough to actually teach him, this time. Ground-leaves always look like this, always smell like this…unless another animal walks through them.

"Grass," he'd blurted out across the mental/spiritual connection between them, "What wolves call 'ground-leaves', humans call 'grass'."

Hm. He got the feeling that Wolf thought the word was…less than ideal.

He took another look around from his ruminating, and found that everyone else was just completing the last vestiges of their Change; the wolf that was now where Penelope had been was the last, as she was just finishing whimpering and writhing in pain; where Tamara and Darius were, were two wolves who were still panting from exertion, and where Diana had been, her wolf was panting, but seemed more ready to act than the others.

'So how do I speak to them?' He wondered to himself; he didn't 'know' how to—

You will think; I will speak, Wolf answered, despite that he hadn't actually asked. Their wolves will tell them, just like I tell you, and just like I will tell you, when they speak.

"Oh", he mentally grunted. It hadn't occurred to him that it would be that simple.

He— through his Wolf— told the others to take a few moments and get in touch with their senses— and hoped that that would mean that they were also getting in touch with their wolves, as well— and watched then as they sniffed at the grass, the air, nearby bushes, and each other, in turn, before they all approached him and sat down within lunging distance, looking back at him.

"We hunt," he conveyed to the others, and stood, taking the lead to begin the hunt.

They didn't cover much distance in the first few minutes, spending time becoming used to walking about on all fours— not so troubling- at least for him- when he let Wolf be in control of his body— and using their noses to become familiar with…well, everything. At least for Ares, while he knew some of the smells of nature and of the forest, he didn't know them all, and he didn't know them like a wolf did, so that made everything new to him again. Smells and scents carried a richness and fullness that his human nose didn't know and couldn't understand, and he needed his Wolf to translate for him.

The wind blowing through the trees told him of other animals about, some nearby— like the other wolves; he could smell them, faintly, and knew that they were close enough to help if needed, but far enough to give his Pack their space to hunt— and some far, likely driven to hide away from the predators roaming about. The ground beneath his paws told him of the cold, but also of determined life, and when he paid attention, there were moments when he could hear the digging and scampering down below. Wolf had thoughts and mental images of them, mice and moles and other small rodents; dirty crunchy snacks, were his Wolf's words.

But not all of the animals he could smell in the wind and in the ground— and he knew that they were animal smells; he just didn't know yet which animals they were— were just faintly wolf and even more faintly 'not-wolf'; some were strong enough that he was certain that some were caught between his pack and the other wolves, trying to hide and avoid being hunted. Occasionally, a scent was strong enough for Wolf to explain what he knew, and he found that his brain was shifting to also know what was being told to him, to know the scent for future references.

A squirrel— that by all rights should have been hibernating by now, instead of scampering up a tree and chittering angrily at the Pack— was a 'noisy nut-gatherer'. The overpoweringly musky scent of a skunk summoned up an image that the Wolf called 'strong-smelling but not noisy and like the nut-gatherer but bigger and eats grubs'. It was a mouthful to remember. 'Big lumbering fish eater' was Wolf's explanation for a bear, while a feline predator- no matter the actual species- was 'fast pouncer with sharp claws'.

It wasn't until Wolf told him about the 'long-eared hopper' that he mentally perked up, realizing that they'd stumbled across the scent of rabbit, and through Wolf he told the others, who also stopped and took a few moments to memorize the scent. He and Wolf gave the others a low 'chuff'- like sound, indicating that they were all to be quiet on the hunt.

The five of them began stalking through the grass and brush, the scent shifting about, but slowly growing stronger, until suddenly bloomed sharply in his nose. Ares came to a halt, and the others did the same. He turned towards Diana's wolf, and conveyed her to find her rabbit. Diana gave a response that eventually translated to "I got this, boss," and she took the lead, following her nose. Ares indicated that he wanted Penelope and Tamara to take up positions behind her and help, and to Darius that he and Ares would try to come around from the sides.

With his wolf's help, Ares managed to get ahead of where he suspected the rabbit of being, and he settled in to wait for Darius to find his hiding spot. After a few minutes, he gave a gentle 'chuff' sound in the general direction of where his wolf told him that Darius might be hiding; he heard a response a few moments later, and the hunt was on.

Ares burst from his hiding space towards where the scent of the rabbit was strongest; his ears picked up the sounds of Darius moving towards him, barely a second behind him.

The rabbit burst up from the ground a few yards ahead of him— ahead of them, Darius and he— and the two of them gave chase, a chase that was over almost as soon as it had begun; Diana had hidden herself so well that she surprised them, the rabbit included, when she sprung out of the underbrush right in front of the leaping animal and practically caught it in midair. Everyone scrambled to a stop, not quite crowding around Diana as she gave a quick shake of her head, snapping the neck of the unfortunate creature; the lapine lunch gave a few twitches, but was almost immediately still. Ares gave another 'chuff'ing sound, and Diana tore into her snack, taking only a few moments to finish everything, leaving her muzzle streaked with a few spots of blood that the wolf she was seemed to take delight in licking.

Ares gave another sound, less a 'chuff' and closer to something more like a bark or a snapped growl, letting everyone know that it was time to get back to the hunt. Ares let Tamara have the lead on this one, wanting to see how she would handle herself and her wolf, after having had to put her in her place just a few hours before. To be honest with himself, he wasn't betting that Tamara had really learned her lesson just yet… but he told himself to look for the better in her, rather than the worst; his wolf was just waiting for Tamara to try and challenge him again— or someone else in the pack— to try and prove that she was as dominant as she thought she was. Unfortunately, it didn't take long for Tamara to prove his wolf right.

Ares made gestures and sounds to tell the others to take up positions to help Tamara catch her own rabbit, but Tamara raced off ahead of everyone before they could all get ready. Ares rolled his eyes and with a quick gesture and an aborted yipping sound, he drew the rest of the wolves with him, following behind Tamara as she scented a rabbit and tried to run it down. Ares gave commands, such as it could be said, to both Tamara and the others to give Tamara the best chance to catch the bunny, but it felt that Tamara was doing her best to try and not only ignore commands, ignore the help, but to actively thwart any help, giving sharp yips that were just short of trying to give counter-commands, for all intents and purposes telling the others to keep back, that it was her hunt, that she needed to do this in her own way.

Ares let her.

The others seemed to almost instinctively follow his lead as he pulled back just a bit, far enough to not actually help Tamara, but still close enough to help her if she managed to get into some actual trouble. Ares almost laughed— and he had to silence his own wolf who would have laughed— when at the very last moment, just when Tamara seemed to have the rabbit cornered, the bunny dove for a almost too-tiny crevice at the base of a tree, frantically wriggled its body and digging its paws into the ground to squeeze through, and disappeared barely ahead of her snapping jaws.

Ares had to restrain himself even further when he watched Tamara first try to jam her muzzle into the almost too tiny space, and then as she pulled back and began a thankfully very short burst of frantic digging, ending with a growling snort that he understood even without his Wolf translating for him. It was nearly comical, that Tamara had tried so hard to show how independent she was, that she didn't need help from anyone unless it was by her terms, and then had shown just how much she needed the help she'd spurned.

More seriously, though, Ares knew that Tamara was a problem; he'd known it pretty much from when he'd first met her, and being Changed had only made that worse, for her and for everyone around her. She was a furry explosive just waiting to go off, running from her fears. He'd seen her type enough to know that it was going to take a very bad and rude awakening to get her to see that she was the problem, not everyone else, that she was standing in her own way and only she could fix what was wrong. And he was pretty sure that he was going to have to start her on the path to that rude awakening.

Tamara turned and snapped growled at everyone she seemed to feel was laughing at her or judging her…which, to be honest, they were. Penelope was the only wolf who wasn't, and she shrank back at Tamara's growl. Ares rolled his own eyes, and trotted up towards Tamara, who only seemed to notice him at the last moment, and swatted her. He didn't think he'd hit her very hard, but apparently it was hard enough to take her off her feet, felling her almost as a tiny tree. He gave her a bit of a growl of his own, a 'that's enough of that' to her, and almost turned his back on her, only feeling at the last second that doing so might end up with her thinking she could sneak attack him from behind and him being forced to kill her for it. He wasn't against doing it, exactly, but he wasn't especially looking forward to it, and he wasn't looking for an excuse to do it, either. He waited for her to look at him, before growling at her once more, and then, after taking a few steps back, turned and began walking away; the others also turned and fell into step with him.

Ares could sense when Tamara fell into step as well, and could feel that she was a bit reluctant and a bit ashamed, though what the source of her shame was, he was pretty sure that it wasn't from shunning the help of her packmates, and wasn't from having to be smacked down for growling at them either.

Ares indicated for Penelope to take a turn at finding something to snack on, and her wolf seemed to brighten at that idea. She made a few sounds that basically asked, "should I do what Diana did?" and after getting a positive answer gave suggestions as to where she wanted each member of the pack to be. She was tentative at first, but when she startled her snack rabbit her wolf seemed to take control and the hunt took on a much smoother pace. By her wolf, Penelope let everyone in the pack know that she was enjoying the hunt and that she wanted her pack mates to simply prevent her snack from being able to hide; she wanted to run it down and wear it out.

It took a little longer than it had with Diana or Tamara, but finally the rabbit zigged when it should have zagged; Penelope managed to snag it out of the air and gave a quick jerk, snapping its neck. She dropped the rabbit, watching it twitch and shudder as it died, panting, an almost happy 'grin' on her face. Ares could almost hear her saying, "I did it!"

Ares could see it in the face of Tamara's wolf when she made the decision she made; he wasn't sure that anyone else saw it, but to him it was as clear as day that she intended to steal Penelope's catch. That, was too far, and both he and his wolf were in agreement about that.

Ares reached Tamara about a second after Tamara reached Penelope and shoulder-checked her aside so that Tamara could take what she'd caught; Ares bull-rushed Tamara, bowling her over and away from the rabbit she was about to lean down and snatch up, Penelope managing to leap up and over the suddenly tumbling Tamara. He stormed towards the she wolf as she came to a rest against a nearby tree and leaned down and took her throat in his jaws before she could figure out what had happened. Tamara began to growl, but the almost murderous growl that came from Ares in return shut her up. His jaws tightened almost to the point of drawing blood, making Tamara whimper; a sharp, acrid scent suddenly filled the air, and he could hear the clear sounds of liquid hitting the ground.

Rip her throat out! his wolf growled at him. That level of disrespect shows she can't be trusted; she shouldn't be a part of the pack!

"Agreed," I thought back, "but we'll handle this without killing her. Yet."

Why do you hesitate? The wolf growled back, but Ares could hear the confusion in that growl.

"I have a plan," he answered back. It took a moment or two, but the wolf gave the lupine equivalent of a chuckle.

Interesting, the wolf remarked, now I want to see if this will work as you envision.

Ares held her there, jaws clamped down on her throat, for a few moments longer, growling menacingly, before he released her, and then, without any other warning, he cuffed her, hard. Without looking around, without looking away from Tamara who was gazing back at him with a mixture of fear and anger, he gave as gentle a snarl as he could to the others signaling for Penelope to eat, quickly, and then for the three of them to hunt for Darius. He felt more than heard them depart, and he shifted to sit back on his haunches, glaring back at Tamara, keeping her in place, growling at her every time she even twitched. He sat there with her for what felt like an hour, until the other three returned; again without looking away from Tamara he growled for everyone to fall in with him before he turned and finally strode away from her, leading the pack, his pack, back towards the Marrok's home.