@Adelina
This week the hunt had been bad. In his opinion it was a reflection of the internal disputes that were poisoning the pack. He hoped that those would settle, because this pack was starting to feel dysfunctional, and it was not healthy for either of them. Since he was in a better shape, and rested, he wanted to try to catch something, at least to sustain Meldresi and the 2 pups, they needed to build strength to get through the winter. Most wolves feared it, he actually liked the Winter months, call him a masochist.
In his new found mission of hunting game, he invited one of the new members. Burke had notified him that Adelina, such was her name, was willing to prove herself as a gamekeeper. He could not deny that he needed some of the help. Working alone or sometimes with Burke was exhausting and an extra set of paws and teeth was a welcome opportunity. He had introduced himself to her, and showed her the current cache they had , now he was howling for her to join him at the borders in order to hunt with him. A way for him to assess her in the process.
Adelina was slowly adjusting to working with a pack again. She did what was expected of her while making time to work on her trades. The female was still determining which trade to go for first but had ultimately decided to let it play out and hopefully one would soon arise to become her favorite. In the short time she had occupied the dark woods she had managed to meet Akela, and occasionally bumped into a few wolves here and there though never fully had a conversation with many of them.
The wolfess had been stashing the few herbs she had been able to find in a hollow log near the place known as Redgrove when a howl called for her. She quickly finished shoving the herbs into an unorganized lump before trotting off to find the male. Once she spotted him, her pace slowed and she approached him until a few feet stood between the two wolves. "Akela" she greeted the delta with a bow and wondered what they were hunting.
"Miss Adelina" Akela greeted the wolferess back. For once someone who respected ranks and had manners, he was delighted. The older male smiled at the female. "I hope I have not disturb you in any task, I wished to hunt and thought you might want to join me , explore and show your skills , all that jazz" he explained.
Blackfeather woods was not the best hunting grounds, too dense and dark for bigger prey, that was the main flaw of it. The pack had to go slightly outside their lands to hunt. "I think we might be more lucky to get some boar , I caught a strong path"
Adelina had always thought herself to be a respectable wolfess. Her time as a leader had taught her that she absolutely loathed wolves who never showed respect, especially her former subordinates. Now at the bottom of the ranks, the female refused to become a hypocrite and would remain her honorable self. Treat others how you want to be treated was her motto with pack-mates. However she didn't really gave a damn about the wolves outside Blackfeather, and could honestly care less about their lives.
The delta soon explain how he thought this would be a good time to hunt and show what skills she had. Adelina would be a bit clumsy after not hunting with a pack for some time, but was sure she could quickly readjust to working with others. Herb organizing was not the most interesting thing in the world, and it seemed Akela had given the female an excuse to push the tedious task to a later date. "You interrupted nothing important. I'd much rather hunt at the moment and put these rusty bones to good use."
She listened on as the male explained how they would hunt a boar. She had come across a few of them back at the marsh. Tough creatures they were, difficult to catch even with a few experienced wolves working together. "Lead the way" she said once he finished telling her of a good scent trail he had found. With that she watched which direction the male would go, and would follow closely behind while keeping an eye out for any of the boars they could potentially hunt.
"Good. " Akela smiled at the woman. "Actually, you are going to lead this hunt. I'm going to assist you. " he spoke. "Only one thing, keep all time to my right , I can only work the left side because of my eye" he admitted without shame. They needed to be complementary in hunts, and besides lst week, this had worked out pretty well. He started to follow the trail he had picked, it lead them not far from the borders. With the humid seasons, boars liked the underwood better, easier to find their food in the fresh earth, but it was making running trickier, because you slipped easily. This was not a challenge to Akela. In his years he had mastered his hunting techniques, and being a loner for so long, he survived only because he was able to hunt without any help.
He approached an area and stopped. Making himself small, he looked at Adelina and gave her a nod. This was where his job became the one of a follower. He would do as she says just to see how she would go about with this boar hunting.
It came as a surprise to Adelina when the male revealed that she would be leading the hunt, but naturally she accepted the task. She agreed to stay on his right side, though she couldn't help but wonder how he would hunt. What if the boar went on his left side? Was he blind in the scarred eye? Many questions raced in the woman's mind but none were spoken. She followed behind until it came to a point were she too could pick up the scent of their prey and she began slowly splitting from the male, though still remaining within eyesight and making sure to keep to his right side only.
Her time as a long wolf both as a yearling and just a few days ago, had forced her to hunt differently than others. While traveling, Adelina had studied her prey to watch how they attempt to flee and even observed other predators, such as mountain lions. She learned to sneak as close to her prey as possible rather than just running out and praying that you caught a meal. Sometimes her technique would last half an hour if she was far away and her prey was extra vigilant that day, however if she was lucky it took no more than a few minutes to have a successful hunt.
She looked at Akela to receive a nod and a moment later she was sneaking forward towards a possible boar they could hunt. The two wolves come upon an old male hog, one that probably had experience in escaping wolves. This is wehre her technique came in most handy. She graceful moved to the right of the hog who was busy chewing up some leaves. Still being able to see her hunting partner, Adelina sunk low to the ground and began her approach towards the boar, freezing anytime the prey looked towards her. Whenever she would freeze the woman hoped Akela would move closer and together they could both sneak up on their prey and prevent the boar from escaping. However, it all came down to the grace of the wind because one little breeze could ruin the wolves entire mission.
Akela did not move at first, just observing Adelina. He wanted to see what she was going to do. Laying low on his paws, hidden from view and scent, he saw her choose the target and move in. There was a reason for him to want her to take the right side. When moving on the right side, while your body was right, your left eye had to cover everything on your left side. He could not calculate space properly to jump the prey from right to left. Being left allowed him to use his right eye , to catch it from left to right. He moved in unisson with the female, an eye on the prey and on her to wait for her signal. He would not escape on the left. Like herding dogs, they would lead him exactly where they wanted, if not snapping him right on the spot from both direction.
As soon as the animal moved, he stopped, perfectly still and focused on his target. He had experience, was not letting his instinct of the eager hunt take over. He controlled himself perfectly, then moved again , then stopped. He hoped the wind would stay like it was, hiding them from scent.
After a bit, Adelina had finally positioned herself to be in spot where she was as close to her prey as she was going to get. She sucked in a deep breath before springing to life and bolting into action. She had almost forgotten the thrill of hunting with full strength again, the rush she got when she pushed herself to the limit and felt her muscles growing in strength. Her legs pushed her closer to the boar with ever stride and she was soon able to nip the rear of the wild hog, sending the prey into a frenzy.
The woman kept to right side of the boar and continued to nip at it's hind legs and lower back, revealing tiny trickles of blood that spilled from within. She finally was able to swat a paw at the boar's hind legs sending the creature tumbling into the dirt. She kept one eye on the prey and the other on the lookout for her hunting partner. It wouldn't be fair if she had all the fun, and so she waited allowing just enough time for Akela to come in and finish the prey off if he wished.
Akela dd his support job, and waited for Adelina's signal to attack. He did , not allowing the boar to flee on the left. Much like her he bit down on the weakspots of the animal's body, to make him slow down. IF you were careful around larger prey, smaller once could also make some damage. The tender flesh of the scratch mark was still vulnerable , and while he would not have even felt a kick or a slamming into his side , now he did, and fuck that that hurt. Whining, he pushed it down, and continued to be the support Adelina needed.
When Adelina finally got a grip on it, he too got the hind leg and caused deep wounds, he then used his weight to pin the animal down. It squealed still, like a frightened animal it was. It was not him who would kill it, this, after all, was Adelina's hunt as he promised, and this would be a great meat supply for the pack. He gave her a nod to go ahead and give the killing bite. Once you started something, you also finished it. "You go" he spoke panting.
The two wolves worked in harmony to bring the boar down and now it lay defeat on its side. Akela allowed her to make the kill, and the woman not would not argue with his decision. She gave a firm nod when he told her to finish the boar off and was quick to wrap her jaws around the squealing creatures neck. Soon it was all over for the hog and it lay lifeless in the jaws of Adelina. She quickly lapped up the blood on the creature's neck before walking to the shade a nearby tree provided.
She moved to lay on her side to rest and cool her body off after the run. While positioning herself to lay down she looked to Akela to see if he had any injuries. "Are you alright" she asked unaware that the male had been wounded during the hunt. Her focus had been taking the boar down but now it was to figure out if her hunting partner was fine. She had seen how some hunts went, when even the smallest of injuries could grow to bring death.
Akela remained until she did the deed. He sat back, taking a moment to calm down and thanked the boar for its sacrifice and the spirits for the good catch. He remained next to the catch. Since the cougar attack, he had grown a little paranoid. This was free food, especially since they were outside of the borders. He kept a careful eye and ear out, before he started to open the beast. He was not going to call the rest of the pack, this would be for Meldresi and Burke and Lusa and the pups. And well, since they had caught it, he and Adelina would share the organs before dragging the rest to a nearby cache.
"Yeah, I'm fine. " he replied to reassure the female, and digged in. The warm still pulsing body was exactly what he needed. When he lifted his head, blood was all over his snout, yet invisible cause of his dark fur. He stepped aside, leaving Adelina the spot to eat, while he was starting to skin the beast on the flank and cut pieces , it would be easier to drag it that way.
Want to fade here?
Adelina rested in the shade while the higher ranked male began to tear at the flank. It was not her place to eat the tastiest organs at such a low rank. If the entire pack would have been called, she most likely wouldn't have eaten at all. Luckily the dark male allowed a spot for her to eat, and the woman moved to devour on the meal making sure to leave the most delectable organs of them all, the liver, heart and kidneys, for Akela. She feasted until full, then began to lick her chops cleaning them of the blood before turning to the delta.
"Would you like me to bring a piece of the carcass to Meldresi and Burke while you take care of the rest" she asked wondering what the male wished her to do. After she would received her order and carry it out, the woman would rest and allow the meal to properly digest. Her body would gratefully receive this much need nourishment, and begin it's long road to recovery.
I think so, there is nothing else to bring out of this. So I'll end it and ask for it to be archived ^^
The wolf stretched himself , managing to rip the carcass in half with Adelina still eating. He let her finished, otherwise it would be rude and licked his bloody lips. Much like her, he would rest once this would be done and they would be back into pack lands. Adelina was a skilled hunter, from what he had seen, they could work well together, and he had not really anything to teach her, more like exchange to perfect both their techniques. That was refreshing and a good thing, cause with winter coming, they needed to gain some weight if they all wanted to pass it. At her proposal, he nodded. "Yes, go ahead. " he gave her directions as to where the den was located. He allowed this simply because he thought Adelina deserved to be seen by the alpha couple. Make a good impression and show her use to the pack to be handed more tasks and a higher rank.
They both got to work. One dragging the carcass towards the den, the other towards the nearest cache. At least this would be a little treat until the next pack hunt. Akela was quick to drag it past the border and notified everyone through a howl that one of the caches had something in it, then went to rest.
- End -