Imagine an arrow. Imagine a perfect line, no curvature, a spine stretched to the limit, the fluid movement of a nail the second after it cracks seamlessly into the yielding wall. Do. Not. Deviate.

All four feet were gathered, hind toes gripping the smooth ice, coiling and then- explosion forward. He opened his jaw wide, not thinking about what that meant only what he had to do and do it right.

He felt hair and skin slip but still a bright pop and tang of copper. Chris went skidding past. He kicked out a leg to slow the spin. He was panting and smacked his tongue against the roof of his mouth, starting to drool. In this form he couldn't spit the blood and flecks of hair from his lips and gums.

"You made a mark." Mariah examined the freshly severed cow's head held casually in one palm. The tongue lolled with a grotesque length and Chris wished he didn't need to Hold and could slip peacefully into the dimmer mind of a wolf. But training would never allow that.

She tapped the small scratch his teeth had left. "But I feel like you can do better. So do better. Do I teach play time or do I teach you to kill?"

Oh. Thanks for the help. If he knew how to position his unwieldly jaw or just when to leap from the extra feet already he wouldn't be training.

Almost as though she were reading his mind Mariah narrowed her eyes. "You flinched. Stop flinching and you'll tear out the trachea easily."

He licked away the drool, trying to keep the wobbling from his legs. He had no idea how long they'd been out there and he'd only managed to catch the moving target a footful of times.

"Sugar, I drained it the best I could. By the way, what kind of wolf doesn't enjoy blood?"

He flattened his ears. Then, one ear went forward.

"No- you can't quit. You need this cani. I want to be impressed. Bite?"

He grumbled and sat down.

"My ass if freezing too. One more time. Keep in mind, you will have to prove you can kill with teeth in the future and if you keep flinching it's only going to prolong 'ole Bessie's suffering. Do it right." Her voice went sickeningly high. "Tink of da poor aminal."

Chris dropped his head. He'd been thinking about how much he hated this, not of why it was important to do well. Once again Mariah held the dead thing at chest level, swinging it gently in a frighteningly poor imitation of a cow grazing.

For some reason, soccer practice came to mind. His coach telling him to visualize what needed to be done. You've done the work, now let your body do what its prepared for. The problem was it made black spots appear before his eyes to think about what he was doing right now in detail. Part of the reason Mariah had him do this as a wolf. It was harder to faint with your heart so close your brain. Think of the poor animal. In fact, don't think of anything else. Put it down.

Chris bolted forward, as always amazed at how it felt to run at this speed. His legs coiled again, eyes on the throat, pictured the spurt of blood and- missed. This time he didn't land on his feet and ended up rolling until the frost-dried bushes caught him.

"HALLOW." Mariah cursed loudly, throwing down the cow head. She crouched down next to him where he had a paw over his aching head. "One day you're going to wish you'd made an effort. Socing whelp- its time to go inside." She snapped her fingers. "Bren time."

He gave her a reproachful look, panting hard and lifted a shaking paw. Give me a second to recover.

"No. No time. Let's go. Can't even bite a dead..." she was leaving.

He stumbled after her, tail tucked and picked up the abandoned clothes he had the good sense to fold before he changes. His ears flattened as she glared down at him.

"If only the rest of you worked as well as your nose so apparently you're too lazy to put in effort."

The lodge was a bustle of activity as they entered, mentors with apprentices going over the test later that afternoon, lower committee members sharing a plate of dried meat and leaning over a large binder. A pair of betern sitting in True form were having a conversation in half ear flicks and head tilts and half rumbling English.

As usual most of the betern darted out of Mariah's way as she walked through the leather scented lobby. This was good since she wasn't bothering to look where she was going while she was berating him. She only paused stare at a pair of strangers sitting at the obsolete bar before growling at him again. Chris kept his tail tucked and clenched the clothes tighter in his fangs and realized he may have bitten completely though chapstick in his pocket. Fake strawberry was better than blood.

"-I mean really you barely put any effort in and you still don't have enough energy to turn back. With this half-dogging attitude, I don't know what I bother to train you."

As they walked past a group of chairs Chris heard a snort of laughter and glanced over to see Sanjay sitting with his mentor, Louise who was reading a book. He was smirking. Of course he would be here. He- Chris couldn't even finish his thought. There was a small burst of heat and Mariah was looming as well as a 5' 2" beterna could over the chair. Her lips were completely drawn back showing terribly sharp teeth.

"You have a comment you want to share?"

Sanjay had turned a vaguely gray color and slumped down.

Louise put her book down, annoyed. She still turned her head to avoid eye contact. "He apologizes, Mariah."

Her yellow eyes turned to the older mentor. "Next time that roller wants to say something, I expect him to Stand for it. I'm curious how funny you will find things then." She stepped away from the shivering apprentice. There was a loud laugh from the bar and she turned with a frown, then glanced at Chris' perked ears. "Humping dog... lets go. And who said you could smile, Sugar? Knock it off. You failed today. Failures don't get to smile."

He wagged his tail a few times, nonetheless when she told him to make them both pancakes. He'd need thumbs for that.

----

"Nervous?"

Annette's plate was untouched. Her leg bounced up and caught the table, making it rock. She grabbed it with both hands, apologizing over and over when Santiago's water fell into his lap.

"Don't worry about it." He reassured. "Angela can help me get cleaned up, right?"

Angela looked him up and down when he winked at her. "No bite, probably not. I haven't changed a diaper in years."

Santiago put his hand over his chest. "Ouch."

Chris watched the predictable exchange from the end of the table silently. For an entire week he'd been invited to eat with them which he found infinitely better than sitting in the back of the kitchen or in Henry's office. Matt and Santiago were fine with Annie's inclusion. Today when he sat down Angela even nodded to him instead of her usual disgusted expression. His only goal right now was not to mess it up. Luckily lunch had been easy even when Steph complained about Mariah getting whatever she wanted when she caught him making pancakes. She left right after, leaving him and Paul alone. He'd worried he wasn't going to have time to join them.

Annette was giggling now, expression less strained. He understood where she was coming from. The first time he'd had to preform one in front of the other apprentices he didn't sleep the entire night. On top of that, part of group training wasn't just assessing their skills but also their mentors. The council beterni repeatedly said it wasn't a competition but it was a monthly show of how much they improved. No one believed that. Just like the classes and everything else, rankings mattered. Everyone was plying her with advice now.

Don't go first, or last. Make sure not to look anyone in the eye, in fact, keep your eyes closed. Go slow. But not too slow. Don't overthink it.

"Hey- Puppy-"

Chris refused to look up at first but realized the whole table was waiting. "Can you use my name, please?"

"Nope." Matt said simply. "Santi had a question."

"You have any advice? He is cani at it, annoyingly good actually."

Chris waited to see if someone would laugh at that. Angela snapped her fingers for his response.

"I guess... eat. Even a little. You'll regret it when you run out of energy halfway through and, freeze and blackout."

Annette pulled the plate back towards her. "Well, if what they say about you is true, I better do it."

Chris wanted very much to ask just what they were saying. He chuckled awkwardly with the group instead.

----

He couldn't get used to being naked. Or mostly naked. Chris refused to remove his boxers while the rest of the apprentices tossed their clothes off as if they were stepping into their own showers instead of a drafty stone room underneath the lodge. Clothes rarely made it through a full bren unscathed. In certain areas of the den it was required to remove all clothing- a sign of the remnants of a human expectation- but in general it was merely frowned up. He doubted he'd ever understand some of the other betern's ability to wander around the common areas without clothes. Santi had his pants off before they even got in the room. Annette took everything off as well and stood with her hands wrapped around herself.

"Everyone ready?" The judge, wrapped in a thick sweater herself, stood in the middle of the shivering circle, hands on her hips. Annette got a good judge for her first assessment. Samantha was Angela's mentor and had once been a working mother to three humans. He was pretty sure she used to go out running every morning in her caged-life, stroller included, and helped coach a tennis team. She would be fair even with her own apprentice in the running.

"Excellent." She clapped her hands together. "For your assessment today, you will preform a double bren, Holds only I don't expect your senses to change. Second, to third and back. There will be a break in between. If you are greater than three years from roaming, you keep the vents open. For anyone under that, I expect closed vents. Afterwards each of you will be expected to handle this simple obstacle course." She motioned to the center of room where a balance beam and several markers where on the ground. "Jump, walk, jump, jump, done. Easy? Easy. Who's first?"

The twelve apprentices eyed each other.

Those with less than 3 years included Santi, Angela, Chris, Matt and Sanjay as well as two wolves in their 40s, Jessica and Michael. Annette was the newest, right behind Esther, Jo, Lui and Mercy who was just about nearing her 3rd year. Rank was required to just get through their days. Who were they to defer to if there was an argument about resources. A specific chair, a chance for a practice room, a book or game was settled pretty easily.

It limited Nipping and Fluffs, apparently. Unless of course you wanted to try and outrank someone. Chris had seen a fight over a preferred seat by the fireplace in the lobby area turn bloody. That's why he avoided Sanjay. They were too closely matched. Usually this made for friendly competition. Angela and Matt were constantly switching between 1st and 2nd among the apprentices. But it infuriated Sanjay. Chris had made the unavoidable mistake of continually assessing just in front of him which seemed to drive the other betern crazy, especially because Chris refused to fight outside of required sparring. Mariah told him repeatedly not to. He should only fight if he planned to kill. Status squabbles and Nipping were off the table. He couldn't officially outrank him no matter how many times he shoved him or rolled him if he couldn't also beat him during assessments. The way Sanjay was staring him down now, smirking at his boxers, suggested he was feeling confident today.

"I'll go." Matt stretched his arms high above his head and Chris watched half of the female eyes in the room flick his way, per usual. Matt yanked the chain connecting to the vent, sending a sheet of slush down the shoot. His roommate walked casually to the center, standing next to the large drain in the floor. Just in case his bren ended up particularly gory. The next moment Chris felt the tell-tale tug of air as the bren sucked in energy from around them. The skin on Matt's feet and hands started to glow, only slightly and then there was a burst of heat. Chris watched the skin rolling back and under, a swirling wave of flesh and bone, lengthening, rearranging his body burned from the limbs inward until with a final shudder instead of a young man, a giant gray wolf stood panting. He'd done well. Chris only saw a small pool of blood under him. Matt tested his legs, and then hopped onto the balance beam, trotting across with the ease being a quadruped afforded him. The wolf paused, gave an exaggerated bow to the judge, and returned to his spot and laid down with a yawn. The room was stifling now.

"Excellent job, Matthew! Jeremy will be very pleased. NEXT!"

Annette went second. Even with the vents open to outside energy her bren was nowhere near as quick or clean as Matt. A considerable amount of skin was wasted, sloughed off onto the floor along with a large puddle of blood. To her credit though she never stopped or cried out. She didn't even fall of the balance beam even though her gait was awkward and she trembled with each step. Her tongue was trapped between her teeth in concentration. Chris found this very human expression quite comical when she had a snout.

The judge congratulated her enthusiastically for her first assessment and dumped a bucket of foul pungent smelling fluid over the lost tissue, liquefying it further until the drain could slurp it down.

Esther went next, followed by one of the older wolves. A few missed the marks, a few tried to go to quickly and ended up blacking out for a few moments but overall it was a good presentation. At Sanjay's turn he stared Chris dead in the eyes until they became inhuman- much faster than Chris expected. In fact, his timing was only just behind Santiago now. Not as quick as Angela and Matt but fast enough that the judge clapped her hands when he completed the obstacle course without a mistake. If a wolf could sneer Chris would have sworn he was. That would be hard to beat.

"Christopher. Your turn."

Chris tried not to think about it. What did it matter if Sanjay outdid him? It would probably make his life a lot easier. He had nothing to prove. Only last week he'd passed Mariah's scent tests that he knew Sanjay would never be able to do. Still... he didn't like losing.

He opened and shut the vent and took his position, eyes closed.

The usual memory he recalled served him well for a third bren. Simple. Primitive. The fear he'd felt falling from a tree and the pain of the broken arm it had caused. His nervous mind went through the memory too quickly. No spark. No sensation of burning started. He tried again to recreate the sensation of falling just as he had so many times. He could hear shuffling around him. He tried again. This time the memory extended into something he'd forgotten as he tried to concentrate, past the terror he felt when his fingers slipped off the pealing bark, past the feeling of falling. He was lying flat on his back, too stunned to cry just thinking over and over; They won't come, not for you.

The heat boiled out of his chest and engulfed him all at once. Chris felt the dizzying sensation of not quite being able to tell where he began and air ended. He blinked his eyes open, breathing rapidly and wondering how much further he needed to go when he realized it was over. Even if time was hard to calculate as he fought to Hold human thoughts instead of a wolf's, he could tell by the judge's expression he'd been fast. Faster than he'd shown them before at least. His ears rotated by instinct towards the sound of her voice as he stretched out the short toes and came to terms, once again, with the odd sensation of having a tail. Compared to the others he was still lanky, awkward. Being a teenager as a wolf wasn't much better than doing it as a human.

His showing on the balance beam wasn't quite as impressive. Despite him jumping around in this skin all morning, the sudden change always caused coordination issues and recalibration. Like being told to throw a five-pound weight after using a ten pound one all morning. For the actual bren he'd done amazing. He'd left almost no trace behind but a few drops of blood. Chris glanced over to see Sanjay with the fur along his neck bristling. Expected me to be tired? Chris lifted his chin a little as he walked past him back towards Matt who had his ears flicking back and forth in excitement. Even Angela let one ear turn in his direction.

While Samantha reviewed with the mentors how everyone had done the apprentices sat in a conference room. It had a set up similar to when he first arrived, lots of food and drinks but with the necessary bathroom on the end. Most everyone was in a good mood- it was an impressive showing. Chris wondered what Mariah would say about him winning fastest bren today. And a clean one. Most of the brens apprentices did at that speed tended to be wasteful. She hadn't needed to use any cleaning solution. And he'd done it after a morning of work too. He happily waited on one the leather couches stuck between Annie who now seemed tired after the relief of finishing her first test and Santiago who was regaling most of the other apprentices with one of his tails from being a park ranger. Chris was pretty sure this was the fifth time he had needed to outrun a bear.

The door clicked and the group turned as one and went silent as one. A slight woman had short silver hair and intense green eyes stood in the doorway. Her hands were clasped together in a polite gesture and where wore a broad smile and yet her presence took up the whole room.

Alpha Sheira.

Everyone's chin immediately went to their shoulders, showing their full neck. Santiago broke the silence with a cough. He'd had a piece of chicken in his mouth and didn't seem sure whether to spit it out or chew when he turned to put his chin on his shoulder.

She released them from the position of respect and joined a very surprised Esther on a leather couch. It wasn't that they never saw Sheira. She was not the type of leader who hid from her pack, but it was unusual for her to sit so formally, in such an informal location. Behind her Scott, her tall, serious second in command and Samantha entered.

"Sam is impressed with your progress." Her gaze swept the room, meeting each eye for a moment. "She gave me the details of each of your work, and as such I believe it is time for everyone to start considering their positions in the pack. Bite?"

"Bite." The group agreed quickly.

Chris felt the flicker of excitement tempered with confusion. Matt was the closest to roaming and he still had a little over a year left.

"Don't worry-" she read the room easily. "We aren't speeding up your training however, we recently came to the conclusion that we need to start preparing everyone earlier for their roles in our Pack. So, everyone will sit down with representatives from the group your mentors best think you would fit, whether it be Educators, Protectors, Scholars, Occupationalist or of course Directors." She pretended to fluff her non-exist hair.

"We are trying to expand the pack's perspectives options in the world! On that note as you know, our Solstice nights have begun and-" she leaned forward, bright as a child with a gift behind her back, "The council has ruled it safe enough for a Reunion for the end of the celebration!"

"Seriously?" Matt's thought came out before any manners.

"Seriously, Matthew. We just finished the agreements now." she pretended to dust her hands. "Everyone is thrilled."

Although Sam's ear-to-ear grin backed her up, Scott's simply open his lips a few centimeters.

"You all seem anxious." Sheira laughed. "I'd say I don't bite but that would be lie. Are there any questions, family of mine?"

"When will this happen?" Angela kept glancing over to her mentor.

"This will be in two weeks."

"So soon?"

"Plans are safer on short notice." Scott explain flatly. "We don't need to give the enemy time to prepare."

Chris squinted at his choice of words. He made it sound like they were going into battle.

"More questions!" Sheira insisted.

"Why are you just telling us?"

"Oh that's simple. I got excited about the decision and told what I thought was the entire den- but then was informed a few of you were in the middle of an assessment in the dungeon area-"

"-basement-" Scott grumbled.

"-so I came down when I found out. Apologies."

"What sort of things do we do at a Reunion?" Annie was leaning forward a little.

"I forget." Sam touched her forehead. "We haven't had one, in what- almost 5 years? None of your were here. We used to have them so often."

"That's a good question! To name a few, there will be some general games- the canine's do like being frivolous- obviously food, retelling of histories, music of sorts, Henry apparently has a surprise us in his books, some light-hearted competition-" she tapped her nose and squinted. "-that leads me to my second reason for being here." She removed her finger and pointed.

Matt touched his chest, head tilted.

"You, you, you..."

Angela and Sanjay looked around.

"-aaaand-"

To Chris' surprise she was looking at him. She smiled. "You. I'll need you four to stay here. Everyone else is dismissed for now!"

Sheira gazed around with an earnest excitement. "I heard you four's brens were remarkable for apprentices. You must be training hard."

"We've been here longer than most."

"Yes yes, Three and a half years, three years, four years and..." Sheira cocked her head at Chris. "Two. So-" she continued. "We have three hunts during the reunion-"

Chris tried to keep his face neutral. No. Nonononono.

Sheira clapped her hands. "-and you four will be a part of it."

Everyone but him sat up straighter, grinning. No!

Scott cleared his throat. "We have notified your mentors to prepare you for this, you'll be working with the other apprentices and a few mentors to avoid you botching anything... You better beat the other den's in removing the deer's throat or we will look weak." He paused. "Its not a competition."

Chris felt nauseous as he stumbled out of the room behind a smiling roommate. Even Sanjay was excited and hadn't given him any trouble. Maybe Mariah could get him out of it. He... he could make up something about how it would effect the other training. If he got her upset about it, he was sure she could. Mariah got everything she wanted.

They reached the top of the stairs to see only three mentors. His nausea gave way to frustration as he watched Jeremy, Louise and Sam meet their apprentices just like they were supposed to.

He went to bed without dinner, chewing on the angry conversations he would never have with Mariah instead. How was berating him for being terrible at something he didn't even want to do mentoring. He didn't understand how he got stuck with an Educator who was both a mentor and a examiner. Was she as bad with the university den wolves as she was with him? Weren't there other options than have her do two jobs? He knew there were other mentors- heck Henry had said before he'd mentored. Maybe Henry would take him- or anyone. He fell asleep thinking of ways he might be able to convince her to let him be taught by someone else. She'd probably be happier.

----

Can't ignore it. Who- who wants me? Who is demanding-? Chris startled himself upright, blinking in the darkness until it irritated him enough to switched to more low-light conducive sight. Matt was tossing around in his bed as well, grimacing. Chris put a hand to his chest, sick with need. Like when Mariah called him from the trees. Low and melancholy the sound filled his ears, but more importantly his body. His throat spasmed and he made an involuntary grunt.

"A following Howl?" Matt was sitting up now a hand over his similarly clammy chest.

Chris nodded, not trusting his mouth to form human speech as they both shook themselves and followed the irresistible call. Once he started moving towards it, Chris felt distinctly better. Other pack mates were shuffling down the hall like the sleepy undead, giving each other wary glances. Howls were powerful, challenging, and exhausting to preform. One pulling everyone from bed before dawn could mean nothing good. A sandy silver beterna with golden eyes stood at the base of the stairs, lifted her jaw and howled again. It made him shiver but no longer sick.

Chris and Matt joined their packmates in the lobby, facing the massive TV hung up to the wall. It was rarely on. A fire. There was murmuring, whispers and then one betern was crying quietly. Dead. Confirmed Dead. Yes- Roamers lived there. Dead. Dead. He watched the heat shatter glass on a window with a wave of orange and black swirls. The University den.

****

Howdy to anyone still reading!

I am going to attempt to keep up with weekly updates however there are two things that may interfere starting next week I'm adding what humans call 'school' in addition to 'work'.

If I fall behind I hope you will still check in the week after.

On a more fun note I just remembered that a group of flamingos is called a 'flamboyance' which is just fun for the whole family.

We don't seem to have a specific one for humans though. Suspicious...