In Which Sam learns to Hunt as a Wolf...

[likely_evil]

After his talk with Dean, Sam took some time to digest their discussion about him having to adapt to things the pack was asking him to do. He sighed, realizing that it was going to be something he was going to have to learn eventually. And Dean was right - his not liking it would remind him that he was human at the end of the day. He didn't have to like what he did... but it needed to be done.

A few days later, Sam waited on the window seat in the living room. Morgan was going to take him out that morning and start showing him how to track. Sam had to admit he was curious on how tracking as a wolf would be different than how he tracked on a hunt as a human.

Morgan actually liked teaching new pups, though from his stoic expression no one would ever know. He stood in the kitchen for a moment and studied Sam in the window. The boy was proving to be an asset to the pack if difficult at times. He hadn't been born wolf like many of them had. He would still need to be trained, like the rest of the pack. It was for survival.

"Let's go, Sam," he said, voice deep and serious. "We'll be gone all day if there is anything you need to do here, do it now."

"Already done," Sam stated, getting up. "Should I change here? Make sure I can do it and not worry about the clothing or something?"

Morgan shook his head. "We will change in the forest. We prefer to make things look human around the house. This protects us from hunters and other weres that might kill us simply because they see us as competition. We'll walk."

Sam sighed, but he would just strip before he changed then. He put on a ski hat and then shoved his hands deeper into his pockets as he followed Morgan out.

He started down a path in the back of the house, which went deeper and deeper into the woods. Morgan didn't say anything, just silently led the way trusting Sam to follow and ask any questions if he wanted to.

Sam kept up, moving easily in the woods. He had spent a good portion of his life learning how to walk through nature, and was pretty quiet already on his feet, habit having him scuff his feet a bit to avoid stepping on things that would trip him or create noise. It was a bit too quiet for Sam's nature and he started to talk after awhile. "So what's it like growing up with this lifestyle?"

"The same as yours, in a way," Morgan said with a small shrug. "It is normal to me. I know no other way to be raised."

"Were you able to go to school and stuff like that and not change in front of people?"

"I was homed schooled, but Kirmani and Murphy grew up in more normal, human like homes. They have college degrees and you know to work for the government Murphy's background must be clean."

"Yeah. I just, everything I've read on werewolves never talked about people being born this way. The three of you are so strong from it." Sam knew what it was like to grow up and be different. He didn't feel so strong mentally at times from all the stuff he had to go through in school.

"Being a werewolf has nothing to do with being strong," Morgan corrected him. "Strength comes from something deeper, something anyone could have."

"Yeah, but growing up different had to be hard." His voice dropped a bit, trying to form a kinship, even if it wasn't the same. "You've embraced your differences. Some people run from it."

"Nothing good comes from fighting what you are." Morgan shrugged. "I was raised in another pack. So was Butters. There aren't differences between then and now for us. If we tried to fight or ignore what we are, it would just be painful and most likely violent."

"I've been trying to run from who I am most of my life," Sam said. "Except for my dad and brother, I never felt like I belonged anywhere. But I hated our lives and wanted more, and I ran from it, and them. Feels like I've been running ever since."

"And what did that teach you?" Morgan glanced over his shoulder, one eyebrow raised.

"No matter how far you run, it always catches back up with you. And people get hurt along the way."

He nodded. It showed Sam had some sense at least. "There are things we have to face. Hunting is one of them. The wolf in you wants to chase, follow trails and hunt. You'll have to come to terms with that."

"It's the killing that I have the problems with. I don't mind helping track, or even helping flesh out. It's the killing." Sam's hands managed to get just a bit further into his pockets. "I'm having a hard time coming to terms with that part."

"Killing is part of life, part of the wolf. What bothers you about killing?"

"The loss of life. Knowing that my direct actions results in the death of an innocent creature."

"But eating something that was killed by someone else, that is fine?" Morgan turned to walk backwards, waiting Sam closely. "It is the same thing, essentially. The creature is dead."

"It's easier not to think about it that way." Sam rubbed the back of his neck. "I tried to be a vegetarian for all of three days when I learned I couldn't really survive on the road with a bag of carrots and Twinkies."

"The way this park, this world works is something dies so that something else might live. If we don't kill it, it will die anyway. We aren't killing for sport or because we can. We kill because we need to."

"I know. And I get that. I just... when I killed that rabbit the other, I felt the last breath leave it and..." Sam laughed a bit, shaking his head. "My brother says I'm acting like a girl when I think like this."

"There's nothing wrong with respecting life." Morgan snorted at the comment. "We should respect life before we're capable of taking it, so we know what it really costs us and the prey."

"Do you feel like you lose part of your humanity when you do it... I mean, do you like killing?"

Morgan thought about it for a moment. "I like the hunt, the tracking and yes, there is a certain satisfaction to making the kill but the means are more important than the ends."

"I'm just worried I'm going to stop feeling human if I start killing..."

"That is your first problem. You are no longer human." Morgan turned back around and took them off the path and into the woods.

"Not fully, but I'm half human at least."

"And you always will be. The wolf will not overcome your humanity if you don't let it. Humans kill more than wolves anyway."

"That's true. And for reasons that don't make sense most of the time." He stopped to look around, realizing how far off the path they were. "Where are we?"

"Does the where matter?" he asked. "We're not here to find out where we are."

"Well, as long as you're not going to dump me in the middle of the woods somewhere and tell me to find my way back home." He was joking, but did look back to make sure his feet had made a nice trail anyway.

"That comes later." And it wasn't clear if Morgan was kidding or not. "We should be close to the elk now. We need to shift."

He shifted seamlessly and then waited for Sam.

Sam watched, shocked at how easy it was for Morgan, and now he got all his clothing off while doing it. "Uh... give me a minute." He started to take off his clothing, shivering as he took off the layers and semi-folded them as he put them on a rock so they weren't in the snow. He then turned around to remove the last bit, standing only in his socks as he tried to focus and remember the feeling he had last time. He remembered the moon, the howling, the playing in the snow with Murphy... and then with Heather. Then he felt the pain and closed his eyes, hunching over and whimpered. It wasn't as painful as it had been last time, and when he opened his eyes he was nose to nose with the rock his clothing was resting on. He quickly turned back around to look at Morgan, then kicked his feet to get the socks off before they tripped him.

Morgan pawed at his nose and then pawed at Sam's, signaling they would start by scent tracking. He put his nose down in a pool of elk scent and waited for Sam to do the same.

Sam did so, cautiously, then backpedaled away and wiped at his nose at the strong scent. It was too strong.

Morgan waited until Sam had calmed down and then pawed his nose, trying to get him to sniff again. He had to get a lot of scent to keep from getting distracted by other scents in the forest. If they stumbled across another prey animal or a bear Sam might lose the trail.

He was pretty sure that he wouldn't forget the smell, but he hesitated and leaned back down to smell it again. It smelt like piss and... leather? He wrinkled his nose and rubbed it again. He got the idea that he needed to remember it, and nodded that he got it.

Morgan wasn't so sure but he was willing to test Sam. He sat down and waited for Sam to lead.

Sam sniffed the air, still thinking very human wise. If they were going to hunt by scent, then he needed to find where the trail went after the puddle of piss. He looked around, trying to see where it was stronger. He couldn't smell it right away because the puddle was too strong, but he did see hoofprints and looked at the angle of the broken brush branches that went away from the puddle. He sniffed the branches and they smelt like leather. He nodded his head and motioned for Morgan to go that way.

Morgan sighed and showed him how to properly find a trail, putting his nose to the ground. He started off that an easy trot, nose still down on the ground, following scent and scent alone.

But they were still going in the same direction. But he also lowered his head more, trying to pick up what Morgan was teaching him. He could smell the scent on the ground, watered down a bit with the snow but it was still there. He soon was keeping up with Morgan, getting more confident on the tracking but stopping when another scent crossed it's path. He whimpered a bit, not knowing what to do and pawed at the ground. He could follow Morgan, but he was here to learn and wanted to know what he was supposed to do.

Again Morgan sat down and waited for Sam to make the choice. He couldn't tell Sam what to do like this and that was why they tracked and hunted as wolves. Sam would need to learn to trust his instincts.

Seeing that Morgan wasn't going to show him, Sam huffed and sniffed at the ground again. It was a different scent and he didn't know what it was but it wasn't the scent they were trailing. It was also... older? Stale? Whatever it was, it wasn't as strong and so it was older. He moved around the area, smelling the ground and trying to find the specific scent again until he found it, then looked up at Morgan with a puppy grin and nodded with his head before starting off on that path.

He was pleased that Sam figured it out so quickly. Morgan rose, checked to make sure they were actually on the right path and then followed after him. He knew the herd wouldn't be traveling very far or very fast with the snow cover. They should be easy to find.

Sam was already a hunter, not that Morgan knew that, so he picked up the new tricks quickly. The smell soon got stronger and Sam stopped at the edge of the woods. In the clearing was a group of animals that Sam had never actually seen in person before - just on the Discovery Channel. He looked back at Morgan, pleased with himself as he then sat down, wagging his tail.

Morgan rolled his eyes. Sam had found the herd but he wouldn't be able to take them down. This early in the winter, the herd was still mostly strong and healthy. He scanned the herd with quiet contemplation, looking for those who wouldn't make it through the winter. After a moment, he turned around and started to follow the trail back to the confusing cross scent patch that Sam had found. They were going to look for something harder now.

Sam whined in confusion, but turned and followed Morgan because he wasn't going to stay here on his own.

Morgan gave a little scolding growl. He didn't like whining. He stopped at the weaker trail and pawed at the ground, trying to signal Sam to follow this one this time.

Hesitating for a moment at the growl, Sam went over to the trail and sniffed at it, recognizing the weaker trail from before. He sniffed around, not sure how to tell which direction it had gone or come from. He was frustrated and didn't want to use his other senses since Morgan hadn't liked it before, and instead sat on the ground and sighed, unable to figure it out. He could find the trail, but it was too weak to figure out which way to go.

He sighed and continued to wait. He wasn't going to give Sam the answer.

Sam got up and tried again. It was hard and it was starting to get at him and he pawed the ground to show it. Finally he cheated and went to sniff the bushes, but he was really looking to see if they were bent in certain ways.

Morgan was no fool. He knew what Sam was doing. He growled and stomped the ground with a foot. Wolves were not vision hunters, even if they had good eyesight. They hunted by sent and only when they were chasing did they use their eyes.

He turned to look at Morgan, lowering his head a bit. He pawed at the ground again, chastised, but he didn't know what else to do. It all smelt the same and he couldn't be sure which way to go.

Morgan shook his head, rather disappointed Sam had given up so easily. He got up, sniffed at the weakened trail, slowly following it, sweeping his nose back and forth as he went then slowly moving forward patient step by patient step.

Sam tried to figure out what Morgan was smelling that he couldn't smell. Morgan was expecting him to figure it out on his own and he needed to be shown, not just expected to know it. He followed behind, watching Morgan carefully to see what he was doing.

As Morgan swept his nose over the snow he found where the weak scent was the strongest and where it disappeared completely. He followed the weak sent carefully through the snow at the same steady, slow pace. He was waiting for Sam to try it himself.

He watched a moment longer, then put his nose back to the ground. It was still hard to smell, but then he found the spot where it disappeared completely. He lifted his head a bit, sniffing the air, then put his nose down. It was further from where he had been looking before, and he went further in the path to see if it picked up, but it didn't. So he turned back around and started to follow the weak scent again, stopping at the crossroads with the strong elk scent, then moved past it to find the weak other scent again. He started to follow it further, keeping his head down as he kept smelling until his nose was starting to go up the edge of a tree. He looked up the tree, then went and circled around the tree, trying to see if the scent started again or if this thing went up the tree.

Wolves didn't deal with prey in trees. There was nothing worth catching up them, just small, hard to catch mouthfuls. Morgan barked to get Sam's attention away from it, clearly glaring at him for getting distracted by trees.

Sam looked back at him. He was just following the scent trail, after all. He huffed, wishing that they just had a way to talk like this as he walked back over to Morgan.

With great dignity, Morgan led him away from the weaker scent. Sam wasn't ready for that yet and he was wasting time trying to teach him. He went deeper into the woods, until the scent of a moose caught his attention. It wasn't weak, but it had been left some time ago. Sam would need to concentrate to follow it. Morgan pawed the snow where the scent was and waited for Sam to begin tracking.

Putting his head back down, Sam got the scent. He knew Morgan wanted him to figure this out so he took his time, doing what he had seen Morgan do and took him time, going back and forth and trying to test the paths it went without looking up at the bushes around him. He started to follow one way - slowly - and then he could smell how the snow was starting to saturate the scent and make it fade away. He then turned and started going the other way, taking his time until he was rewarded with the scent becoming stronger with a bunch of yellow snow coming under his nose. He wagged his tail a bit, then continued to follow it and trusting that Morgan was following behind him.

Morgan did follow. They would work on how to stalk prey after Sam had learned to track it. So far, there was a great deal of noise being made by the two of them. The moose would probably hear them coming. If they were tracking a bull it could get somewhat exciting.

It was a few more minutes before the scent really started to get stronger and Sam got more excited. Finally he pushed through a clearing and looked up to see the moose already looking at the two of them... and boy he wasn't happy. Sam backpeddled a bit, looking at Morgan with a "now what?" look.

Morgan sidestepped so Sam wouldn't back into him and growled at the moose, who shook is impressive set of antlers at them. He was more cautious in backing up from the moose, but kept snarling and snapping occasionally to discourage it from attacking. Eventually, he was far enough back that the moose felt safe. He stood, watching Sam and Morgan, stomping a foot to express his irritation that they were still hanging around.

Sam kept just behind Morgan, watching the moose carefully. He kept his body low to the ground, showing his teeth a bit but not sure if both of them growling would make the moose angrier. He just took each step back in time, learning as he tried not to screw things up.

The moose decided it was best if he left. With an annoyed snort in their direction he walked off into the deep woods. Morgan watched him good with a small, somewhat amused wolf smile. He always enjoyed interacting with other forest animals. Their reactions amused him. Since the moose was leaving, Morgan turned around and started back the way they came.

When the moose started to leave, Sam stood back up. He took a few steps in that direction, watching the animal leave, then turned and ran to catch up with Morgan. He trotted a bit, happy and feeling a bit playful. He felt good at being able to figure out how to do this, even if he had moments where he didn't quiet get it. He was hoping that his first time out wasn't that disappointing to his teacher.

Morgan took them back to their clothes and shifted easily back to human form. "You will spend three hours a day in the woods tracking prey from now on. Either myself, Murphy or Kirmani will accompany you to make sure you're actually tracking as a wolf tracks. When I think you're ready, we'll begin the lessons on stalking prey and hunting with a pack. You'll need to learn how wolves communicate between each other."

He dressed just as smoothly as he shifted between forms. "Otherwise, you'll be no use to us."

Sam sat and focused a moment, thinking about his brother and reminding himself that he was human. That he couldn't go back to Dean if he was just a wolf. He then gritted his teeth in pain and felt his body shift, where he took a moment to breathe away the pain before slowly standing up as he grabbed his boxers and kept his back to Morgan. "Why can't I use my other senses if they work and come in handy though? I mean, shouldn't I be using all my senses?"

"The nose is the most important tool to a hunting wolf. We mark territory by scent, know the scent of ever prey animal that comes through and follow it by scent. Sight can trick you. A broken branch out here can be broken by the wind, could be broken by hikers and other non-prey animals. Scent comes first. When you start to learn how to hunt in the pack, your other senses will come into play more but scent is what you need to focus on now."

"See, now it would have been easier if you could have just told me that then," Sam stated. "I was spending half the time trying to figure out what you wanted me to do."

"Good," Morgan finished getting dressed and crossed his arms over his chest. "You need to figure things out for yourself. In a hunt, the pack works as one but to learn you have to get it on your own. Watch and learn. It's how all pups learn."

Sam was quick to follow on getting dressed, a lifetime of quick changes working for him, plus he was COLD and needed to get it on quickly. "Did I at least do some of it right?"

"You found the moose didn't you?"

He looked at Morgan a bit, then gave a small smile while he rubbed his arms. "Yeah, I did."

Morgan nodded and then started walking back towards home.

Following quickly in his footsteps, Sam remembered that they had been talking about before starting the hunt. "Did you really mean it? About dumping me in the middle of the woods and my having to find my way back?"

"Yes," Morgan said without remorse. "A wolf must know how to find the pack and the pack's territory. Don't worry, it will be some time before you're able to do that and before we'll consider you ready."

Sighing, Sam rubbed his arms. "As long as we can wait until it's warmer, that's all I can hope for."

"We'll see." Was the only comforting response Morgan could manage.