Emmelene Castellanos I Werewolf I Hunter I Tags; Adam, Emery, Lance, pretty much everybody by this point
The auburn wolf hauled itself to its feet with a mixture of gasps and agonised growls. For the second time in both her life and in seventy two hours, she'd been shot. Whether it was just her bright colouring - glossy copper against white snow - or just her sudden development of a reckless attitude, she wasn't sure. The bullet wound hurt far more than the last, though. That was sure.
Adam's words from earlier rung through her head. High grade silver bullets.
Twisting to inspect the injury, she discerned what she hoped was an exit wound and, although it was inaudible against the constant whimper, she breathed a sigh of relief.
But where was the shooter?
She twisted again, wobbling precariously on her three functioning legs, but only the pair of hunters now facing down Adam and Emery and some other wolf she didn't quite recognise were within eyeshot. Neither were holding weapons.
She stayed where she was, leaning her weight against a tree, until Adam's Wolf suddenly backed up and turned. Was he signalling a retreat?
Wait! Wait, please! Don't leave me here!
Her leg wouldn't hold her weight any longer, and blood was pouring from the thigh of the hurt leg. But she could manage on three. She was going to be a fighter. Adam had said so. And she was going to act like it.
Grinding her teeth in a very unladylike way, she disappeared back into the cover of the denser trees, limping towards the group now rapidly retreating, not quite managing to keep up. But determined not to stop, regardless.
Adrian D'Arc I Human I Blade Team Leader I Tags; Kat, Bronwyn, the retreating wolves, Theo
The body slam connected, but, as that tiny rational part of him muttered, it was like tackling a brick wall.
That was going to hurt in the morning. If he survived that long.
He fell backwards, recovering quickly and half-lunging forward with another knife strike, but hesitating at the last second.
The older, grizzled wolf just stared at him. And, to his even greater confusion, the second wolf - the red one - imterceded, and nudged Kat to her feet almost protectively.
Now thoroughly shaken, despite the endless pyschological training he'd endured over the years, he moved backwards, throwing an arm cautiously between the wolves and Katrine, even as the wolf he'd stabbed slowed and, with the tip of his tail, signalled a retreat.
Clear sentient thinking.
If he wasn't already panicked enough, a voice burst into his head. One he didn't recognise, and - had they not somehow known his name and circumstances, would have assumed a hacker or infiltrators.
But they - she -did.
Command had specified two men, to make contact at 1800 precisely.
He frowned, in spite of himself, and immediately looked towards Katrine. What the hell?
"I've got some lady telling me she's here as reinforcements, Kat," He whispered, cautiously. Had it just been broadcast to him? He assumed so. But like hell he was leaving his teammate out in the dark.
Making an executive decision, he clicked on the mic and uttered a curt response.
"Jin is down. We're alive and kicking, and from the looks of things" - his eye had strayed to the bleeding figure of a smaller red wolf, now trying to retreat into the trees - "our sniper has just joined the party. What is your location?" Not quite willing to assume the newcomer was in fact a reinforcement, but well aware of his unreasonable paranoia and willing to take a risk, he tapped on his smartwatch and opened the map feature; it wasn't as powerful as the wrist computers employed in their full battle gear, but it showed the triangulations of his team's earpieces, if not their vital stats as well. He couldn't see any dots aside from Theo's, Kat's and his own, but maybe he just wasn't looking right. Plausible.
"In fact, Five is in position to the east." He reeled off the coordinates in the standard, coded fashion. "Rendezvous with him and we will convene closer to our COO. Understood?"
Theodore Ford I Human I Blade Operative I Tags; Bronwyn, D'Arc, Kat
One confirmed hit. And only one sho in total. Not nearly good enough.
He scowled, telling himself he'd done the right thing.
From the looks of it, they were backing off.
He followed the wolves with the scope of his rifle, eyes still narrowed and finger still curled around the trigger of the modified Barret, but for now no further moves had been made against his team. Or, at least as far as his vantage point would tell.
All was silent again.
Until a burst of hushed, rapid fire orders burst into his ear.
"Hold your ground. A reinforcement agent will meet you there. Drive her back towards the cabin. We'll meet you a mile from Base."
"Sir?"
He picked up an exhausted sigh from the other end of the channel and quickly signed off.
Jason Loen I Werewolf I Medic I Tags; Alyssa
Finally something he could deal with.
With no further hesitation, he scooped the kid up and carried her through to the stockroom they used as a medical bay, hefting her onto one of the beds, sitting her on her side, and grabbing a medical kit from the sideboard.
Moving efficiently, he slit the side of her pants and cleaned the injury, tilting his head as he ascertained whether she'd need stitches put in or not, muttering soothingly under his breath as he worked and dabbing on numbing cream as he worked. He'd have given her an anaaesthetic shot, but somehow figured she wouldn't like needles.
"Hey, shhh, it's not as bad as it looks. This'll feel a little cold but it'll help with the pain, okay?"
Once he'd cleaned the blood, it looked better already. Wasn't too deep. And she was a werewolf - a born werewolf - so any worries he had were quickly put aside.
He even managed to almost ignore the arrival of Stål - apparently furious that something reeking of not-pack had been allowed so close to her fallen mistress. At least Skylar remained comatose, thankfully unable to shake off the sedatives dripping through the tap in her arm.
"Seriously, it's not that bad. You'll be okay. I promise. Okay?"
Eventually deciding she wouldn't need stitches, he pulled the edges of the wound together with soft tape and then used a minimal amount of surgical glue to close the wound, being as gentle as he could despite the numbing cream. Removing the soft tape, he applied a thick pad of self-adhesive gauze and taped it into place with surgical tape for extra security.
"There. All done."