"Yeah, I have seen a lot of shit, but that was crazy. The worst part is nobody knew what to do except to just let them do their thing. This wasn't exactly something we practiced or planned for. I mean, it all worked out in the end…right?" - Sam

[Order Raid - Outer Perimeter]

"Head up, we might have a runner." Teid'Sa said as she slid in beside Calum, taking a prone position to his left. He was one of her better troops, prepared for everything along with being calm and collected, despite his nature. She even relied on him as a second when she had to split her squad.

"I heard." The werewolf murmured to his Nalk'To team lead. "Think he will come this way or try to bounce over the north wall?" He asked a moment later, after the radio chatter died off.

"Hell if I know." Teid'Sa said under a groan as she got back to her feet. "Just be ready, I am going to he-." She stopped, halfway back to standing as a loud, low howl echoed out across the hills. "What the fu-" She was cut off again as Calum suddenly lurched upright and began tearing off his clothes, growling the entire time.

She watched in stunned silence as the man somehow dropped all his equipment and began shifting, almost like it was practiced. Well, knowing him, it was practiced. She heard it then, another howl, this time coming from the south and from quite a way off.

Calum finished his transformation and had his own turn baying at the sky before loping off toward the compound. "Hey wait!" She called after him, but it was too late. "Shit-fuck." She swore and grabbed at her radio to call in that something was going on.

She wasn't the only one either as the channel was suddenly bombarded by voices saying people had begun shifting. Between the confused chatter and the half dozen wolves now on the loose, she didn't know what to do. Finally, she changed to the command channel.

"Eyes, this is Support Three Lead. Something is going on with the werewolves." She said, starting to run down the line to the rest of her squad.

A moment later a voice came over the radio, one she recognized instantly as Jay's. "Understood Support Three. Break." A moment of silence before he came back on. "All units be advised. Do not interfere with the werewolves. Stay on task until further notice."

Then the line was silent once more. That is to say, the command line was silent because the squad channels were a wash of voices until the squad leaders could shout over the chatter to reinstate radio etiquette. Teid'Sa grumbled to herself and returned to her position, keeping an eye on the forest around the compound as all hell was breaking loose inside its walls.

*****

[Olivan – Near Private Villas]

Lord Olivan was running for his life. Not to say he wasn't before, but now he had some extra incentive to run fast. One big pile of incentive that was now howling as he fled. What kind of demon was it that he had tried to mentally dominate?

He rounded the corner of the garden and laid his sights on the small villas that were on that side of the property. These small buildings were reserved for their married members who wanted some privacy from the main coven house during enclave. He was just hoping that they were still there and hadn't been ambushed yet. His hopes seemed to bear fruit as a pale face poked out of one of the doorways.

"Lord Olivan?" The man questioned dumbly as he ran toward him.

"SHHHHH!" Olivan hissed in reply. He frantically waved his arms to get back inside as he saw a couple more of the doors open and people stepped out to see what was going on. "Get inside!" He tried to shout in a whisper as he barged into the first open door he saw, taking the man inside with him.

"Lord Oli-MFHR" Olivan stifled the man with a hand and kicked the door shut.

"Shut up. Get down and stay away from the windows." He hissed while ducking behind a bookshelf to peer out the window. This part of the estate still had power, and the streetlights still illuminated the path outside the villas despite the thick fog.

The sound of howling was still echoing off the walls as the man joined him, thankfully whispering this time. "What is going on out there? Are those wolves?"

Olivan risked a glance back at the half-dressed man, recognizing him now that he wasn't running. "Greg, we are being attacked, they swarmed the coven house, and I barely managed to escape."

"How? Who would attack us and be able to get past everyone in the house?"

"I don't know." Olivan admitted. "I was in a meeting with the rest of council heads planning a defense while some of the junior members were trying to alert everyone. Suddenly the door was kicked in and I was forced to retreat. Next thing I know I am being chased by some demon through the gardens."

"A demon? But I thought there was a pact?" Greg seemed to be slightly more awake now that he heard the news. "I have to get Sasha up." He said and started to turn to the back of the house.

Both men were frozen in their tracks at the sound of paws drumming on the pavement which suddenly turned into a loud hissing scrape as something slid to a stop. A moment later, the biggest monster either of them had seen slid into the middle of the small street.

They could barely make it out through the heavy fog, and it being back lit by the lamp posts. They did see the horns atop its' head when it turned to begin sniffing and was backlit by the lights. Both of them watched in horror as one of their number stepped out from a doorway and cast a spell at it.

The ice spear hit the monster in its leg but didn't do so much as hobble it before the woman was engulfed by its massive frame and she was carried into the fog. They listened intently as her screaming grew quieter before being suddenly silenced.

Plan! A plan is what they needed. Olivan was thinking hard on what to do when Greg made a suggestion out of desperation.

"C-c-can we send it b-back?" he said through a couple shuddering breaths.

That gave Olivan an idea. "I know a banishment spell, but it takes time to cast." He sighed heavily. "I know it would send it back to its home realm, but I would need something to distract it."

Greg pulled out his cell phone. "Hang on, let me call some of the others and we can try to set up an attack." He seemed to have gained some confidence after hearing that Olivan could banish it.

"Good thinking. Now hurry, I don't kno-." He fell silent as they heard a deep sniffing noise and glimpsed a long arm and leg moving near the corner of the house.

Both of them stopped and watched in horror as another of their number foolishly stepped out of their abode. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO KATE!" The man shouted and cast fireball. The monster ducked the spell and lunged forward, snapping up the man in its jaws and carrying him away into the darkness.

"Better get dialing." Olivan said after swallowing heavily past the sudden lump in his throat.

*****

[Kurt – Looking for Olivan]

Kurt was getting frustrated. He had chased their target into this little… Village? Hamlet? Eh, it didn't matter what the cluster of houses was called, he was still upset. While he had followed the scent into the group of houses, he had lost the trail a moment later. It was like he crossed a threshold and something washed it away. He suspected a barrier ward of some kind but wasn't in the mood to dig further.

He had been excited to catch his prey on two occasions but was disappointed when they turned out to be normal mages. Both had been dispatched with a bite after he realized the weren't who he was after.

He saw the other wolves who had answered the call to hunt. They circled around the perimeter of the houses, spaced out with half moving clockwise and the other half going opposite. When they passed by, each of them would briefly slow their strange loping gait, looking at him with wide eyed expressions of recognition before moving on. They had instinctually formed a perimeter, acting as a slowly closing net around their prey.

Kurt returned to the shadows around the villas. He watched and waited, no longer poking out into the light after the last man had attacked him. While waiting, he considered his situation. For the first time he wasn't completely suppressing his wolf and seemed to have merged with it partly. To him it felt like he was just guiding the wolf on what to do while it decided how to interpret the directions given. It was quite the shock to see that he instinctually tried to death shake one mage he caught like he was a labrador with a duck.

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If he was being honest with himself, Kurt thought he rather liked the blended mentality of his werewolf form. He was picking up on so much more, even getting feedback and little instinctual nudges to act in certain ways. He was still in control, but he was now aware of a certain savagery that he was capable of.

His ears perked slightly as he heard a phone ring. He had heard it multiple times in the few minutes that he had been waiting but now the one in the cabin closest to him was going off. He strained his ears and dared to creep a little closer when he heard a woman answer.

"…What is it?...No I don't know where, to the east, I think… A distraction? That sounds a lot like bait…. Oh a banishment spell. Ok, ok…. In ten more minutes? Ok…. Ok. Got it." Then the line went silent, and he heard a more whispered conversation. It was beyond him why the people inside whispered to each other but talked at full volume on the phone. Still, he crept forward and listened to their schemes. While he eavesdropped, he wondered what the others were up to.

*****

[Val - North Lawn]

For the dozenth time in the last five minutes, Val wondered what Kurt was doing. She and Kristi had set up on the north side of the mansion with clear lines of sight in both directions, at least clear for them with the thermal setting on their glasses.

She had then seen the other werewolves go streaking past with a few of the support team trying desperately to keep up. While the agents had divided their teams to form a skirmish line, a few of them gathered to get an update on the situation. That was what led them to their current issue and the argument that was brewing.

"I don't see why we can't go in there and support them. Kurt seems to have it under control." Sif said. She had been wanting to go in guns blazing after following a werewolf that she said was Jade out the window. Oddly enough it was the window right next to the one Kurt had gone out, leaving two broken windows right next to each other.

"Because I told you, it's not safe and he has it covered." Val said, hoping both parts of her statement were true. "Besides, you don't want to get in a tangle with a bunch of wolves when you are…um, squishy."

"What if we send Sam?" Rupert asked.

"Hey!" Sam said indignantly.

The halfling just stared flatly at her. "You can turn into mist that can't be harmed by mundane means. You have the best chance of surviving."

"You are talking like it's wading into shark infested waters." Kristi commented dryly. "Sam, you go, find a nice tree or something to set up in and radio back to us."

Val tried to object but just couldn't find anything to object about, no matter how hard she tried. "Fine but be careful and if you get spotted by the wolves just don't run."

Sam looked at Val strangely, cocking her eyebrow. "Why not run?"

"Wolves are pursuit predators. If you run, they are hard wired to chase."

"…You have got to be kidding."

Rupert, Kristi and Sif all stared at the vampire like she was a child having a hard time understanding something very commonly known. Eventually Sam got the point. "Fine, fine. I'll be careful. Ok, BRB." And with that she dissolved into a cloud of grey mist and vanished into the garden.

"I love her, but I swear she has a switch that flips from genius to moron with no in between." Sif sighed heavily. "Alright, Rupert, let's spread out and make sure we don't have any runners."

*****

[Kurt – Near Villas]

Waiting in the shadows in rapidly lifting fog were Kurt and the other werewolves. They had established that nobody was going to be creeping around and that all their targets were now in the villas. Communicating with the other shifted wolves had been an interesting experience for him, one that gave him some ideas for him to experiment with later.

When he heard the mages' plan, he had gone back to the border that the other werewolves had established and rounded them all up. He didn't have to actually say anything or even do anything, he just went and stood there while they all formed up in front of him. If Kurt didn't know better, he would say it was a form of telepathy but guessed it was more a latent ability to sense the intent of the pack leader.

Once he rounded them up, he formed them into two lines, one on each side of the little street that the buildings were on. They were actually staggered a little apart to get an even spread for when the show began, and they were called to action.

Just as Kurt was beginning to wonder if he missed a memo and the counterattack was delayed, all the doors opened one after another. A moment later nearly twenty mages all surged out into the little street and began making a hell of a racket, shouting obscenities into the night. He listened for a moment, waiting for them to organize before he ripped the cable out of the junction box he was standing next to.

Oddly enough, the mages didn't really react to the sudden darkness that the street was plunged into. He assumed it was because some light still came from the little houses, which seemed to be on a different circuit to the lamp posts. Their bravado quickly faded as he stepped forward just into the farthest limit of the few remaining porch lights.

"There it is!" One man shouted and his cohort all turned to begin casting at him. He noted the looks of shock and fear on some of their faces along with their quavering voices.

A second later, before any of them could cast anything, Kurt stepped back and his pack stepped in, or rather leapt in. From one side of the street three werewolves dashed forward, each of them ripping into the mages from the flanks and carrying several off into the darkness.

Screams of fear and surprise were built upon as the next set did the same thing from the other side. Rushing in and grabbing who they could, lashing out with clawed hands at those who they couldn't. With six of the mages missing and another three bleeding on the ground, they began to circle up, closing ranks in a desperate attempt to gain security.

It was in vain as his pack seemed to find every opportunity to take out more mages. Sometimes they leapt from the shadows like before, carrying them off in a snatch and grab tackle. Other times they feinted, acting like they were attacking to draw attention while another crept up from behind. One enterprising wolf even struck from under a porch at a mage who wandered too close, dragging the screaming man under the villa and out of sight.

"Where is he?" One woman asked, rage in her voice.

"How should I know where the demon is, I can't see anything." Another answered.

"Not the demon." The first hissed. "Olivan, he was sup-" She never said what their coven leader was supposed to do as Kurt stepped out into the light from behind a building, not a dozen feet from the gathered mages.

The woman who had been talking screamed as he grabbed her around the knees, then swung her into her massed comrades like a club. Kurt felt the popping and thumping as her body collided with the others, the feedback telling him that, if she was still alive, she would likely never walk again from a broken spine.

With his other hand, Kurt lashed out and eviscerated one man, opening him from hip to shoulder as his claws swiped up and through his clothes like they were nothing. He then turned the upward swipe into a horizontal one and batted a few more to the ground. In half a second, there were only three remaining mages who he was forced to turn his back on as he scented his prey on the wind. He didn't worry much since the rest of his pack quickly dealt with them.

Olivan had appeared from behind him at some point and was franticly making hand gestures while muttering under his breath. Kurt rushed forward but couldn't quite cross the several dozen yards before the man got his spell off.

A beam of white light flew out from Olivan's hands. Kurt tried to dodge it, ducking and rolling to one side but the beam seemed to track him in a lazy arc. He braced for the impact of the spell while rolling upright once again but before he could even begin to think of a countermeasure, the spell hit.

That lazily floating white ball of light hit Kurt's chest and sank into him. Both he and Olivan froze as the light disappeared. Kurt looked himself over, trying to find any hint of damage but seeing nothing while the coven leader just stared dumbly. That is to say he stared dumbly until Kurt realized the spell didn't affect him and Olivan realized that he wasn't a summoned demon.

"Oh, shiiiiiiiaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh" Olivan started to turn away to run but was quickly halted in his tracks. His cursing turned into a cry of fear as he felt the clawed fingers wrap around his waist. He was then pulled face to face with Kurt, who glared at him.

Kurt ignored the half-hearted attempt to cast a spell at him as he flicked his finger forward. He struck the squirming man in the throat, causing him to gag, abandoning the spell he was trying to cast. A moment later, Kurt turned and pitched him into the ground, hitting the soft grass rather than the hard pavement. The impact still knocked the mage out, likely breaking a few bones in the process.

Two wolves raced over then, sniffing at the crumpled mage and nipping at his hands. Kurt growled at them, startling all of them. The other werewolves startled because he gave them the wolf version of 'buzz off' and he startled because he growled with meaning for the first time in his life.

Kurt looked down at the magic user for a moment before throwing his head back, once more howling into the night sky, signaling his victory and the end of the hunt. His howl was joined by half a dozen more as the pack joined with their higher pitched voices and they all began to shift back to their human forms after circling around him.

*****

[Sam – Thirty yards west and twenty feet up from Kurt.]

Sam winced as Kurt pitched the man face first into the ground. "Oof that had to hurt." She commented into the radio. She had been giving a play-by-play retelling of the events, even adapting a sports caster persona despite being asked not to… multiple times.

"What?" Val replied. "What hurt?"

"Kurt just spiked the guy into the ground like a football." She said, rounding out her commentary. She had found a nice tree to perch in and managed to get a good view of the fight through what little was left of the fog.

The wolves that Kurt growled at came loping her way after he chased them off and one of them stopped in its tracks. It took a couple deep sniffs before looking around. Sam held her breath a moment until the wolf suddenly looked up and locked eyes with her. They stayed like that for several moments until it nodded at her and lopped off again.

A few moments later Kurt howled, and all the other wolves joined him. Sam could see that they had once more congregated around him and began reverting to their human forms. "I think we are good to move in." She said after they shifted but didn't take her eyes off the scene that was playing out before her.

All the werewolves had returned to their human bodies, mostly naked except for one man who somehow had his uniform on. One by one they shifted back and knelt before Kurt, heads bowed in… in Sam wasn't sure what.

She was so entranced by the sight that she almost fell out of the tree when Kurt's glowing golden eyes locked on her. She felt his gaze like it had a physical weight was holding her in place. She stared back and for the briefest of moments felt a tidal wave of emotion and intent wash over her.

The feeling spoke of rage and love, duty and freedom, even excitement and fear at the unknown. Sam experienced that sensation for the briefest of moments, a mere heartbeat of time amidst countless centuries before it vanished. That sensation was gone and replaced by Kurt's normal… well not normal but regular, intense focus.

Kurt looked away, returning his attention to the still prostrated wolves before him. One by one, he touched each of them with one of his claws, marking their shoulders. After that he shifted back to his human form and summoned clothes out of his ring, quickly dressing.

Sam wasn't sure what she just saw but knew for a fact that she wasn't going to tell a soul about it. There wasn't any doubt in her mind that she was the intruder in this moment, and it wasn't her story to tell. She dropped to the ground and waited for the others to arrive before she moved closer to detain the survivors. A slight shiver ran up her spine and she vowed to herself then and there that she wouldn't do anything to make an enemy out of Kurt.

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