I smiled wolfishly (literally, ha ha ha) at Jackson where he stood with his mouth hanging open. I suppose they were probably expecting me to look more like Derek in his full wolf form...
They were wrong, and I loved it. I could tell Stiles did too as I winked in his direction.
While Derek's alpha form did resemble a real wolf, it was also relatively close to the size of one. Whereas we... well, our size was much more comparable to a large grizzly bear. I showed off a little bit, pacing and swishing my tail, before squaring up in front of Jackson. I crouched into a ready stance, and the werewolf did the same as he transformed into his beta form.
Showing off I see, I heard Jared's unsurprised comment in my head.
I would never turn down a challenge, I practically scoffed.
Or the chance to look badass in front of Stiles, Embry added. And well- I wouldn't deny that.
I ignored my pack mates in favour of analyzing Jackson. His stance was pretty good, it was clear he trained and/or had a sports background of some kind. He was steady and focused. His eyes were cold and calculating, observing me as effectively as I was observing him. It looked like he was favouring his left, which I could definitely use to my advantage. I wondered how he would approach this situation. Had he ever thought about attacking a giant wolf? How would he go about it? Would he prove to be more resourceful than I was expecting?
I stayed poised to attack, waiting for him to make the first move. And he did, just like I knew he would. He was too eager to be the tough guy, too eager to challenge me unprepared.
I practically giggled out loud when I was able to trip him up on his first move, exploiting his vulnerable side. But the werewolf was quick, I would give him that. He immediately recovered, bouncing up from the matts and jabbing with his right. He landed a solid punch to my left shoulder, but it didn't do much in the grand scheme of things. The werewolves were as strong as we are, but it was barely a sting. We are only doing some friendly training after all. He managed to sweep my front paws out from underneath me once- but I was as quick as he was. I practically danced around him as he continued to advance, snapping my jaws menacingly closer than comfortable. I wouldn't slip up and actually hurt him, but I wanted to be sure he was put in his place- so to speak.
He was skilled, I wasn't denying that. But they were right, they had been focusing too much on humanoid vs humanoid conflicts. He simply wasn't accustomed to fighting anything else... and that could prove dangerous for all of them.
I finally decided that we had been playing enough and ended the fight quickly by knocking him on his ass and placing a paw on his chest to keep him there. He nodded his understanding, and I released him- knowing full well as soon as my back was turned he would try again. He just seemed the type.
And sure enough, as soon as I turned away, he was on me. But I was expecting it, prepared. I knocked him down, hard, hard enough that the air left his lungs. As if to say- dude, rude. He scowled up at me, and I chuckled the way only a wolf can before leaving the room to phase back. Stiles followed me out with my pile of clothes, setting them in front of me and turning away so I could change back. So polite.
"That was impressive," Stiles murmured, staying quiet to keep our conversation a little more private. I watched his body shiver as he felt the heat of the phase on the air. "Jackson's good- but he wasn't ready for that. You looked like you were going easy on him."
"I was," I smirked as I pulled on my jeans and kissed the back of his neck to let him know I was decent.
He turned around with a wide smile, blushing at the sight of my bare chest as he surveyed it with his eyes.
"You're beautiful when you blush like that," I beamed, pulling him closer and touching my thumb to his rosy cheek. "We didn't really get much alone time yet, did we?" I mused, my mind going in so many delicious, dirty directions at once.
"Keep it in your pants, Pauly!" Emmett called from the other room, and I glared at him through the wall.
"If he cockblocks me one more time, I swear-," I gritted through my teeth.
"You'll what?" Emmett laughed his booming laugh, taunting me in a way only he could.
"Hate to break it to ya gorgeous, but you weren't getting far in the same room as my pack mates- who have supernaturally good hearing abilities," Stiles winked with a mischievous grin on his face. "Now later... when we're alone..." he winked, biting his lip and squeezing my bicep. "Mmm," he licked his lips. I smirked and kissed his plump, perfect lips.
"Alright! That's quite enough of that!" Liam shouted, and somehow I could see him covering his ears.
"Not my fault you're eavesdropping," I called back.
Stiles chuckled, pulling away from me but keeping ahold of my hand as we re-entered the training room. The room was quiet as Jackson stared me down in consideration.
"Any constructive criticism for him, babe?" Stiles asked seriously, giving Jackson a look that said 'you're going to listen and you're going to love it'. The werewolf didn't look like he was about to argue with his alpha again.
"You're good, but you favour your left," I said, but held back the snark the would have usually accompanied such a point. The guy already had something up his ass when it came to me, I didn't need to make it worse. For the first time, I actually cared what the family of my boyfriend thought. Though boyfriend seemed like such an inappropriate word for how I felt about Stiles. "And you were right- you guys are focusing too much on humanoid opponents. And that can be dangerous."
"Vampires are humanoid," Scott added, gesturing to Emmett with his head, and I nodded.
"True, but their instincts are different from yours," I pointed out. "You need to take into account that not everything you encounter is going to fight the same way you do, or think the same way you do."
"He's right," Emmett agreed. "Especially when we're newborns. Our instincts take over, the predatory ones. We lose our human sense and become slaves to our vampiric nature- unless we can learn to control it."
"So- what? Your instincts are more... dog like in nature?" Jackson smirked at me, and I rolled my eyes.
"I could say the same about you, moron," I chuckled. "But as an example... you should have been aiming for my legs, your goal should have been to get me on my back- which would have left my belly and essential organs vulnerable. We're giant wolves with accelerated healing... but we're still living things. Aim for the lungs or the heart. Snap the neck."
Jackson nodded in understanding, keeping quiet this time. The gears were clearly turning, and I was glad to find he was smart enough to absorb the information.
"With a bloodsucker... you aim for their neck," I explained, looking at Scott. "If you rip off their head, they can't recover without being put back together. Then- you rip them apart and burn the pieces separately. It's the only way to truely destroy them."
Emmett snorted at my description, but didn't argue.
I glanced around the room to see varying faces of shock and disgust, with stolen looks at the vampire in the room- who seemed totally unfazed. I just shrugged. It is what it is, and it was a normal part of my life. I found it odd that they had never encountered a vampire here before, but had dealt with so many other supernatural threats.
"You guys seriously didn't know vampires were a thing?" I asked them skeptically.
"Honest to god- no idea," Stiles laughed. "I mean, we had never ruled it out or anything. We couldn't. We've just run in to so many bizarre supernatural things that the possibility was still that... but nope, never ran into any. Which is a surprise for Beacon Hills."
"I knew they existed because of your pack," Derek piped in. "I had heard the histories, but I assumed they were just that... history."
I snorted as I considered the painful memory of the first moment I had phased, the moment all of the legends and myths of our tribe had become a reality.
"You and me both," I grumbled, and Stiles grabbed my hand in a comforting gesture. I squeezed back in appreciation.
"I guess the first change was probably a shock for you," Isaac inferred based on my response. "I never thought about it, but you basically had no warning, did you? I mean with us, we knew it was coming." He glanced at Scott before adding, "Mostly."
"Nope," I chuckled. "I was a kid, thinking our elders were just a bunch of superstitious old men... until the Cullen's moved back to town." I shot an accusatory look in Emmett's direction, but there was no heat behind it.
"Come on man," he groaned, punching my shoulder playfully with a smile. I couldn't help grinning back at him.
"It's not all bad, anyway," I shrugged, smiling shyly down at Stiles.
If I hadn't phased, hadn't turned into a wolf and become a shapeshifter... would I have ever approached Stiles? Would I have met him at all? Would I ever have felt for someone the way I feel for him now? As I looked into his whiskey brown eyes, I decided I would rather not know. This is my life now, and I had no complaints.
"You're such a sap," Emmett snickered, and I punched him for real in the shoulder this time with a scoff.
There was a pleasant lull for a moment, where smiles were shared for different reasons, between family and strangers.
"Well?" Liam asked unhappily. "Can we get this show on the road so we don't starve to death?"
"You just ate," Stiles chuckled, rolling his eyes at the pup fondly.
"Yeah and?" He scoffed, and Stiles smile only widened.
"And I guess we'd best get to it before you waste away," he shot back with a wink.
"My turn!" Emmett exclaimed excitedly, cracking his knuckles like the drama Queen he is and bouncing on the balls of his feet.
"Oh no, no, no," Stiles disagreed with a shake of his head and some wild hand gestures. "The biggest, strongest Cullen is not going up against my youngest pup. You can have Isaac."
"But Stiles!" Liam whined with a pouty lip. "I can handle it!"
"You most certainly can not handle it," he tutted, then reiterated at the betrayed look on Liam's face. "That's not what I meant. You're one of the strongest and most talented we've got! But you're still learning. I would like you to watch before you try, fair?"
It didn't take much to please the teen, as the smile was returned to his face from Stiles' words. Liam nodded eagerly before stepping back.
"What, don't care about little old me?" Isaac joked with a predators smirk.
"Not even a little bit," Stiles joked as the werewolf aligned himself with the vampire in the centre of the mats.