The hellhound was a slave. He'd found a strange sort of comfort in it, he supposed. To not need to try to think through the fog in his mind, to not need to make decisions for himself. Just do what he was told to do. Channel all his slipping lucidity into an obsessive loyalty. His grip on reality, his anchor. Do what he was told. Daegmar had been right, Valentine was the wisest alpha, the only one worthy of respect. She'd been right to choose Imperium. Valentine had made the right decision when he'd made Hati a slave. Sometimes this mantra chased away Hati's ghosts. Sometimes he was able to sleep soundly. Not often, but sometimes. Today though... Vili strode alongside him, the taciturn male and white male's throat a gaping wound as he matched Hati's every movement. Hroovitnir was blessedly silent, but Ve was flopped on Hati's back, chewing on his ragged ear and cackling. Hati was more than ready to kill something that would actually stay dead. And wasn't it his job to hunt for the pack? Wasn't that what a slave was meant to do? Ignoring Vili, attempting to ignore Ve, he crept up to lay on his belly atop a knoll near the edge of the territory where it bled into the forest. Below him, grazing on the lush summer grass, an elk herd remained blissfully unaware of his presence. The wind was blowing toward him, carrying their scent to him rather than the other way around, and it had been steady all day so it was unlikely to change suddenly. The calves of this summer were smaller than whitetail deer still, and would be an easy target for a couple of hunters - though with more they could even take down a yearling. Too bad he was the only one here. He cast a sidelong glance at Vili; his uncles didn't count. The dead couldn't cut a calf out of the herd or keep the mother away. But he couldn't howl to call anyone to him, even if they would obey the summons of a slave, or he would risk spooking the herd prematurely. Irritated, frustrated, he ground his claws into the knoll. ""

Integra was exhausted, completely and utterly but… at the same time she felt incredibly good. Birna had forced her out on patrol the other night and her body felt so stiff and sore she wondered if she could even stand. Yet, they'd had a wonderful conversation and were able to understand one another and for the first time, outside of her family, she believed she was making a friend. Both of them were fiercely loyal to their siblings and held similar ideals to the pack they were calling home. They'd both suffered tragedies and loss. For the first time in awhile her dreams had been quiet. Ears perked at the eerie call of an elk and she groaned. Integra wasn't really sure she wanted to go hunting but she was still a Servus and would have no say in the matter. Letting prey so close just go by was a wasted opportunity and she was sure to hear about it later.. The girl got to her feet and stretched lightly, wincing at the soreness and she eyed her herb stores for a moment but opted to go without them. It wasn't that bad and it wouldn't do to deplete her hard-earned stores even a little after all the effort she put into them. Strolling switfty across the knolls her nostrils flared as she set about tracking and soon ran into a man. An older, scarred and scruffy ebony male with golden eyes. She dimly recognized him as another slave but couldn't quite put a name to his face. Had he been a former Imperium member as well? She almost thought so but she just couldn't be sure. Integra didn't want to risk speaking and spooking the prey. Instead she nodded in greeting, gaze shifting to the moving herd. She supposed autumn would be coming swiftly upon them soon. ""

She had smelled that Hati had returned to the pack, his scent was not one that she would easily forget. He was one of the first wolves to ever intimidate the pale woman, first wolf that she had really been wary of in Imperium. She knew not what his rank was on his return to Valentine's rule, but was still surprised to hear him call a hunt. Ears flickered as she pulled herself up to her paws, shaking out her fur as she gathered her wits about her.

Weaving through the Knolls she picked herself a hill, seeing that Hati and Integra were so far the only bodies gathered. Smirking to herself she worked her way to them with ease, she always seemed to be the first, if not the first paw full, of wolves to show up for anything. Her timing seeming to just be grand. She was however, shocked to see Integra back in Imperium as well. We're all its disappearing members trickling back in? She could hardly blame them, there were no other packs out there quite like it. Dipping her head to the two wolves, she settled on her rump slightly off to the side. "Good to see you two." she said softly, before settling into a comfortable silence.

Sirius was hungry. She'd been slinking around the herd for awhile now, simply watching from the shadows and salivating over something she couldn't get on her own, so when she came upon the little group who looked to be gearing up for something, Siri was hooked. Please oh please let them be getting ready for a hunt. Her gaze casually roved over the three, going from Hati to her sister and lastly to her mentor Mercy. Fully aware of just how sharp elks ears were and how close the herd was, she said nothing, just quirked an eyebrow in a silent question. How are we going to do this?

Apparently he wasn't the only one with thoughts of feeding the pack on their minds. A familiar form moved close to him, and his lips twitched, his muzzle wrinkled in reaction to the dull sort of pain that the girl's appearance brought him as he was reminded of just who had been this girl's teacher before he'd left Imperium. One of the Armada brats Daegmar had been training - she'd grown up well. Daegmar would have been proud of - well no, actually, probably not. Daegmar was hard to impress anyway and the girl was as much a slave as he was.

A voice dragged him out of his reverie, and he shot a silent snarl at the woman who'd appeared next. What was she doing yakking around prey? She was going to scare them off. Oh he recognized her too. She'd been a big-mouthed yearling who had thought she was pretty hot stuff last he remembered. Didn't look like a whole lot had changed in the pack. Armadas and Destructions everywhere. Even the third wolf to appear fit into that category, Sirius being another of Daegmar's child soldiers. He glowered at her, but she had been blessedly silent.

Well, they could stand around staring at each other all day or someone could take charge. His heavy tail jerked behind him in irritated motions as Ve leaned over on his back to bat at it like a cat. He was a slave - he couldn't call any shots. But he was also the most experienced hunter there. he could play obedient-little-slave and stay subservient... or he could actually get a damned elk.

He was getting the fucking elk.

He jerked his head irritably at the three, gesturing them closer, and - scraping a small area to dirt - he began to doodle in the dirt. A big circle with horns - an elk. A little circle with horns next to it. Baby elk. Shut up he knew female elk and baby elk didn't have horns. It was a... metaphor or some shit like that. Four dots... he gestured at each of them as he made the dots to indicate who was who. Scraped lines from two dots - Integra and Sirius - to the elk mama. Two more lines - Hati and Mercy - to the elk calf. Then his paw obliterated the elk calf's circle. Got it? He glared around at them. If they didn't get it things were going to get very, very interesting when he gave the signal to go...

Integra was not the only wolf to show at the temptation of prey so close. Mercy arrived and spoke good morning to them. However, it was the next wolf to arrive that caught Integra's attention. Sirius! She almost cried out her sisters name in joy but managed to swiftly shut her jaws before any sound that might alert the prey could gather. It wouldn't be good to spook the prey til they were ready. Even so, Integra could not contain herself at finally seeing one of her siblings and she loped softly over to the taller girl, aiming to nuzzle a welcome. "I'm so sorry I've been away." she whispered. She wanted to tell her siblings about everything that had happened since the blizzard but it would have to wait til afterwards. Especially with captain grumpy gills leading the hunt. Well… she assumed he was leading. While slaves typically followed orders everyone present was a yearling and probably not knowledgable enough to lead. She turned her focus back to the task at hand, ignoring the irritated looks from the ebony male as they got started. She tentatively stepped close and gazed down at the mans drawing. She nodded, pretty sure she understood. She and Sirius were to separate the mother elk from her calf and keep her busy while Hati and Mercy isolated the calf and took it down. ""