"I hope you guys didn't think this was going to be all arts and crafts this summer," Marshall called from the front of the crowd.

Connor scrunched his brow. Marshall ran Wolf Camp and he ran it like a drill sergeant, but even for him this was an over the top introduction. Arthur Sage stood to one side, watching the group with a sharp eye.

Wolf camp was not an arts and crafts camp, but it didn't usually ramp up like this until later in the summer and Connor and his pack would be long gone before then. Heck, he'd expected to spend more time the first couple weeks meeting the elders, talking about the upcoming council with the Fleischer's then at the camp itself.

"I won't beat around the bush," Marshall said. "You all know what's going on. In a couple of weeks Connor and his pack will be leaving us. They'll be headed to a big treaty council with every werewolf tribe in the central US in attendance. It will held on grounds found and maintained by the Fleischer tribe. You may have heard the name whispered by your adult packs. But I assure you, they are worse than anything you've heard whispered. And we have two weeks to get Connor and his pack prepared."

"Are we going to war?" A voice asked from the crowd.

"Not if we can help it," Connor answered before Marshall could.

"Be that as it may," Arthur said as he stepped up beside Marshall. "Last summer you saw a challenge, Leidulf style." He spared Connor a single glance but didn't elaborate. "Fleischer territory means Fleischer rules. War or no, expect challenges.

"But we're going under truce," Tanner protested.

"And they won't kill you, not outright," Arthur said. "But that doesn't mean they won't challenge. Here we do things by tradition. There, the tradition is challenge. Even if we come to a peace, it won't be achieved by losing challenges." He pointed an angry finger at Connor. "Your entire pack has to understand this. If you are going to have any hope of succeeding, it will be by convincing them any challenge to our tribe will meet with failure. You will have to prove that, over and over, before you can persuade them to accept any sort of peace."

"So for the next two weeks," Marshall said, taking over again. "We will put all other activities on hold and focus on single and group sparring. Personal challenges. Luckily we have our tribes best single fighter here to help us train. A man only beaten once...."

"By Connor."

Connor's head spun but he couldn't see who had made the comments. Arthur's mouth was a single tight line. Connor swallowed heavily. He'd beaten Arthur last summer out of a combination of luck and desperation. He didn't need the tribe's youth to antagonize the man before he started drilling them in personal combat. Connor had no desire to face Arthur again.

Luckily Tanner was, well, in full omega form. "Youth sometimes beats age," he declared loudly. "But the smart wolf still listens to the wisdom age brings. That's what my dad always said."

"Then come," Arthur barked, gesturing Tanner forward. "Marshall?"

Marshall nodded his approval. "Human form sparring first. When you are both ready."

Tanner gave Connor a sheepish look but went willing. It was over quickly, Arthur took Tanner down hard but when Tanner rose he seemed unhurt.

"Too quick to move in," Arthur scolded him. "Watch, wait for your opening." They fought a half dozen rounds before Arthur dismissed him back to the crowd. Tanner had landed a hit or two, enough to save face, but Arthur had demonstrated clearly why he was considered one of the tribes top fighters.

He gestured Tricia forward and demonstrated another takedown technique. Then he sent them to practicing.

"No," he called as Connor paired off with Amanda to practice the takedown. "None of you," he gestured around the pack. "Find other partners. You'll be too kind on each other. Besides you know each other's style. Train with new people."

Connor started to bark out a protest and then bit it back. "Arthur's right guys," he admitted reluctantly. "Find other partners, not pack."

Connor found him facing Tyler, one of Tricia's wolves. He was a slight boy, at least compared to Connor, and hesitant. Connor spent more time walking him through the takedown then practicing.

He saw that Amanda had ended up working with Marshall himself, with Arthur watching them closely. Connor positioned himself where he could watch and listen, in case Arthur was being too rough with his mate.

Marshall got Amanda half pinned in a counter move. 

"Bear strength is good. But you can't always rely on it, not when your opponent is twice your size," Arthur told her.

Several nearby pairs had stopped and were watching the exchange with curiosity.

Amanda gave Arthur an indignant look. She concentrated, dropped into a crouch and hoisted Marshall bodily up over her head, sending him sailing. She gave Arthur a triumphant look. There was a ripple through the crowd.

Marshall came back, unperturbed at having been thrown several feet through the air. "Fenrir is bigger than me," he reminded Amanda. "And if you let yourself get caught in a joint lock, strength won't save you."

Amanda gave him a murderous look.

"Amanda," Connor called.

She shot him a look that said, she knew, they were only doing this for her own good. That didn't mean she had to be happy about it.

Arthur gestured her to come at him, and as Marshall had warned, Arthur got her in a counter move that was an elbow lock. Try as she might, she couldn't get out, not without breaking her own arm. She gave a groan of frustration as he finally let her up.

"Focus that anger," Arthur command and gestured her forward again. He lunged and this time she got the takedown right. "Better," Arthur said. He strode off, leaving her and Marshall to continue to work.

And so the day went. Marshall and Arthur jointly drove them at a grinding pace. Knowing Connor and his pack would be the ones facing the stiffest challenge, they were stuck front and center on almost every drill, every sparring round and exercise. Knowing if they failed it could mean war for the tribe, the other packs worked at an intensity that would have seemed ridiculous the year before. By the time they were released for the night, Connor was exhausted and sore.