Snow had fallen, meaning the temperatures too dropped below a certain point.

And what was worse. There was barely any prey anymore.
Thankfully, they were humans after all, and they could eat vegetables and berries or whatever - but their wolf forms wouldn't be as strong due to the lack of meat.

Yonghoon had agreed for Harin to be able to sleep on the couch, and he even managed to persuade him to stay for another while longer.
Truth being told, they didn't want the alpha leaving. It was nice to have some new company and even if it sounds rude, his presence has kept away lonesome wolves and aggressive predators, such as the coyotes. So that was another bonus.

Currently, they were all sitting inside, practically reading books or working out some new attacking techniques.
Harin was the only one not doing anything in particular.

He had began to distance himself a little from Kanghyun. See, this is the problem.
He liked the omega.
But he was taken.

And although Yonghoon didn't notice, Harin had a bad feeling if he continued being like this, it wouldn't end up good.
He needn't fight a delta.

Harin stared out of the window, bored out of his mind.
"What are you up to?"
He turned around and saw Yonghoon there, wearing glasses and writing on a tattered journal.

The alpha shook his head and turned away again.
"Nothing. What are you doing?"

"Attack strategies, obviously. They're done each month. Hunters are coming around, so we need to get rid of them.."

Harin's head snapped up to look at him.
"Hunters?"
"Yeah, unfortunately.. - why do you-"

He stopped talking when he heard low growls coming from the other.
They were quiet, but oh boy did they scare him.
"How do you think I got the scar on my face? It was them. I fucking hate them" He grumbled.

Yonghoon opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out, so he closed it again and nodded.
"I'm sorry I— look, uhm.. do you want to learn the tactics? Maybe if you knew the defense mechanism we're working on, you'd be able to take down the Hunters? It's up to you, of course.. "

Harin pondered the thought as his growls ceased.
"Ok"

The delta smiled.
"Okay! We'll start training soon, so make sure your wolf form is fit for the coldness"

With that, Yonghoon was back to sitting at the table, continuing to write.
Harin turned to look at the others.

Cya was working on the sheet with Yonghoon, while Dongmyeong and Kanghyun mixed herbs and chatted.

He frowned a little, and looked back outside.
The snowflakes fell down gently, a thin layer of it coating the window.

A few more minutes passed, and there was rustling from the table.
"Okay, so we have everything sorted. Let's go out"
There was several huffs of wind, and now everyone in the room was in their wolf form.
They all padded outside, hit with the harsh cold.

Cya and Kanghyun were probably the only ones not affected that much by the cold, since they were a species of Arctic wolf.

"Okay, here. I've lied out targets all around, they're in the shape of a hunter. Cya made fake guns, and there's pressure plates placed down. If you step on it, the gun will be triggered and acorns will fly out of it. The Hunters have special markings all over their bodies, the best spot to hit them would be their legs or arms - that way you can immobilise them" Yonghoon began,

"But anyway. We'll have our distraction go first, so Kanghyun. You go on as many pressure plates and trigger the Hunters. You'll want to waste their ammo. The other Hunters will try to aim at you too, and we can take them down when they aren't aware. Is that okay?"

Kanghyun nodded slowly, and got up from his sitting position.
Acorns were nothing. But what would happen when it came to real bullets?

"Okay"

They all got into place, Kanghyun left alone in the middle of the snowy training field.

The omega heard the training siren go off, and he sprinted in - the targets all turning their focus on him.
He felt one of his paws sink, and the hunter closest to him was alerted, the fake gun coming out and pointing at him.

The first acorn shot out, and he quickly dodged it, barely dodging the second one that came flying.
His paw sunk again, and another two Hunters were triggered again.

'Okay, this is a little difficult'  He thought to himself, and continued dodging the 'bullets'.

"Trigger all 5, Kanghyun!"

'All 5?!'

He felt around for more pressure plates, meanwhile still avoiding the acorns.
His two front legs sunk, and the remaining Hunters were triggered- scary.

So many acorns flew out at him, he could barely avoid all - but because of his size and speed, he was able to.
"Now, us. Quick!"

The others jumped out on the field, and started biting into the Hunters.
Dongmyeong snuck up on one and bit into their neck, taking it down. 1 gun down.

The rest too, took down the other Hunters.

Yonghoon immobilised the Hunters and ripped off their nape, Cya destroyed the gun and slashed their neck.

Harin simply bit into their hip, and pulled them down.
All of them were 'dead'.

Kanghyun huffed and flopped onto the ground.
"That was scary"

"It was acorns-"
"Now imagine bullets"
"He has a point"

"Anyway- now, let's move onto the next field"

They did so.

Harin glanced back at the hunter figures lying on the ground, uneasy before moving on with them.

"This time, it's a little more hard. If you press the pressure plates, instead of acorns flying out. There's nets. So if the net gets you, you will be restrained. This is where you use your teeth to cut through the rope. You can use your claws too, but they might not be as effective. You have a time limit on this too. I believe we installed arrows that paralyse for around 10 seconds. You won't die, don't worry. You'll just feel numb in the place hit"

"Okay, distraction. Go"

Kanghyun stared at them, bewildered.
Paralysing arrows?

The siren went off again, and he went in, a little weary.
His back paw sunk, and he snapped up, to see which hunter was triggered.
He couldn't find it - his heart started thumping, and his eyes widened when he saw the net flying in his direction.

The omega shook his head of the thought and ran out of the way, a rock being covered with the net.

Another 2 pressure plates sunk, and he whipped around to see where the Hunters were.
Again, he couldn't find them.

He didn't even see the net flying at him, in fact. The two nets.
Kanghyun yelped when the first one wrapped around his body, and the second one hit the rock beside him.

In pure panic, he started ripping up the rope, even though it was hard.

He managed to squeeze out through the opening he made, but unfortunately, he was too slow. Something sharp lodged into his hip, and he dropped, a loud whimper of pain sounding.
The omega quickly dragged himself behind a rock.

"Trigger just 3 more!"

He panted, waiting for the feeling to come back. And soon enough, it was back.
He came back out, and started activating pressure plates again.

"Okay, let's go!"

The others rushed out of their spots and started attacking - however, more pressure plates were activated when they ran out.

Cya lunged at one of the Hunters, but a net from the side caught him and he fell to the ground.
He started biting through the rope, managing to escape and avoid the arrows.

They took down another two Hunters, Harin attacking one from behind.
However, what he didn't expect was that the gun would twist and point in his direction.
The net came right at him, and he was restrained.

He snapped his jaws over the rope and ripped it, getting out within seconds.
A small arrow came flying at him, and hit him right where his spine would be.

The alpha immediately fell limp, whining at the immense pain shooting through his back.
He couldn't get up, it seemed to have travelled to the other parts of his body.

He regained feeling quickly, taking the arrow out and fleeing that hunter, moving onto the next one.

Soon enough they managed to take them all down.

Kanghyun heaved himself to a rock, and lied down, wincing mentally at the stinging in his hip.
"Hyunnie, are you okay?"
"Yeah I'm fine"
"Harin hyung, are you okay?"
"Yep"

"Alright, last stage for today"

They moved on again, and now there was way. Way more Hunters around.

"Here, last stage. We've combined all the things that happened in those last two stages. Also, we've installed sound sensitivity. Try keep quiet for this one. Just careful around here, there's an open road there. Deer could come at any moment, even lone wolves might be a little too interested in this" Yonghoon said,

"Hyunnie?"
Kamghyun nodded and lifted himself up from his position, watching them leave.

The siren went off, and he padded out into the grounds.

He kept quiet, ears flat against his head, eyes narrowed as he looked around.
His paw sunk, but he quickly hid behind a rock, hearing the steering of the hunter as it looked for the plate activated.

He snuck out from behind the rock, and accidentally activated another plate, and another.
And another.
The panic set in when he was surrounded, but he took the time and ran, tripping up when two nets at once caught him.

He slid right across the ice and tipped dangerously over the edge of a pond.
He panted and started biting through the ropes.

"Okay, go!"

The others ran out onto the field and started taking down the Hunters.
Kanghyun cut through the rope and got out, but another one was sent flying towards him.

He jumped and it fell right into the pond, a sigh of relief leaving his snout before he got back on track with the others.

Yonghoon felt an arrow Lodge into his leg, and he fell down due to the unbalance.
He managed to get up, and limp away quickly, biting off the arm of the armed hunter.

Dongmyeong ripped off an arm of the hunter, dodging an arrow that came flying at him.
Soon, every hunter was gone, and all of them were tired. And cold.

"There! That's all stages done" Yonghoon said, sitting down.

"Thank god" Kanghyun mumbled, dropping down, tired.
The delta went over to him and nudged him gently, lying down next to him.
Dongmyeong went to tend to the cuts that Cya got, and Harin just sat down, alone again.

His paws were freezing up, and he wanted nothing but seek warmth.

"Aw, look! Training day, huh?"