The black and white male moved with a singular purpose through the dark woods of the night. In the shadows lurked ghosts of the past, claws of betrayal and hatred reached out to ensnare him, but Pain did not fear these wicked sprites of the past. His ultimate goal was to kill all who caused him the pain he felt and to make them feel pain as he did. This male was pushed on by the eternal desire for revenge.

Pain had trained independently during his time as a loner, but after just under six months of training he could get nothing more from his training. Already the male rippled with well-toned muscle and he walked confidently with this skills he knew he already honed down to a razor sharp edge. He knew this was not enough however, to truly become strong he needed to join a pack, a strong pack with pack-mates worthy of helping him attain the power he needed.

Many borders he simply turned around from when approaching them, but he soon came upon a new border, the Ernyx border. The male could sense the power in this border, it seemed it was marked mostly by males a very powerful pack he presumed comprised of many good fighters, worthy opponents.

Pain licked his chops, tongue running over what would be attractive feature if not for the scowl he always held. He looked forward to meeting whoever owned these borders, whoever did was undoubtedly the most powerful among this pack of titans. Pain would only seek out on his path of revenge once he surpassed the most powerful of this pack, rank mattered little to him, only the personal pursuit of power and perfection of his deadly skill of killing.

On this lonely night border Pain waited for a wolf to come along so he could seek entry.

Pain, all Katyusha knew now was pain. Not long ago she had been deeply in love with their alpha, and he had returned his affections to her equally, taking her as a mate and consummating their love to one another in an attempt to start a family, giving Katyusha all she had ever wanted. But oh how quickly fate could change it's tide on the oblivious. Darkness had swept over the pack, killing her mate and leaving her alone in a now unfamiliar pack with an uncertain future.

Since Steele's death, Katyusha had kept to herself, spending her days guarding her once den now tomb to her beloved. But days of being left to nothing but her mind was starting to get to the Elite, or at least she thought she was an elite, she honestly had no clue anymore if she was even permitted to have a rank in the pack. But until she heard otherwise she was an Elite, and decided to use this power to patrol the borders in an attempt to find something to kill, to relieve some of this burning rage that was growing inside her.

As the young wolf neared the end of her night time patrol a sudden scent would catch her nose and Katyusha would give a low growl, hoping all too much it was a Helidos trespasser. Quickly Katyusha would move through the snow, nose in the air the elite would track down this trespassing wolf, quickly coming finding the male and giving a loud bark "Who are you and why do you dare come here?" she growled, fur bristling, eager to attack this wolf for even one wrong answer.

It only took a few minutes before Pain could sense a patrol coming on a slight breeze up-wind from him. He decided to stand out in the open then as to not catch the lone patrolling wolf off-guard, a fight was the last thing he was in the mood for now. Soon it seemed the wolf's pace increased as she rushed towards him, Pain was not detected, luckily it was only one wolf patrolling, which seemed odd to him but it gave him the option of withdrawing if need be which was a good advantage to have.

As the fae broke out from the nearby foliage, teeth bared and fur furled the male shifted his weight to face her, his paws crunching in the cold snow momentarily as his dark amber eyes caught hers for a moment before she barked. She seemed to be of high stature in pack from her stance.

Almost immediately the brute lowed his head his eyes to the ground as he lowered his tail to be tucked between his legs. It was a necessary annoyance to follow these protocols as to avoid being simply chased off the pack lands, or worse. As Pain glanced from the corner of his vision from where he bowed his head he sized up the other wolf covertly. If she attacked him he was confident he could fend her off but he would also summon the wrath of the rest of the pack.

In a low voice he replied, "My name is Pain, and I seek entry into this pack as a warrior."

Carefully the Elite sized this foreign wolf up, knowing he would be no match if she decided to sink her fangs into him. While the wolf wasn't the biggest in the pack, she was very toned and muscular from her months of intense training as the Alpha's apprentice. And with her finely honed skills she didn't need much force to leave devastating wounds on those she had ire for.

Once her presence was realized the elite would watch the wolf shift to a more defensive stance, causing her eyes to narrow slightly, seeming like a fight was almost imminent before the wolf realized who she was and took a submissive stance. With easily noticeable disappointment Katyusha would stand fully, tail raised dominantly as she watched the display of submission, and listened carefully to his words.

With a loud sigh Katyusha would listen to him, keeping a cold look the whole while. If this wolf looked closely he would notice Katyusha had dried blood covering most of her body in two main parts. The lightly color wolf's head and neck were splashed in the dried crimson stains, while the entirety of her back was soaked in it, as well as thick streams running down her legs. While it was easy to tell it had been some time since the blood was fresh, but it was rather curious why she allowed it to stain her pelt in such a way.

"If you are wise you will seek asylum elsewhere.... If you are not, why should I allow you to join this pack? What could you possibly offer me to make it worth the risk of feeding you this winter?" she asked, her words harsh and emotionless. She didn't care for this wolf in the slightest, and if he desired to join this pack and serve the evil that had swept over it, she wouldn't stop him.

Pain assessed the situation a little bit closer in the few waking moments after his words fell silent while she contemplated her answer. On the air was the faint tinge of blood, which he could now see in the faint glint of moonlight to be covering her fur. It was already dried, not recent. The fae seemed to wear it upon her coat like a sign of pride, or intimidation. At least this is what Pain thought it's purpose was. Either way he just saw it as another fact to be analyzed, he would have to be wary of this wolf even if she was a fae for the blood could just as easily be of other wolves' as well as a rabbit's that she could care less to clean off. The blood was too dried up to tell.

As she spoke he picked his words then carefully, it seemed she was on edge to fight at any moment, and Pain did not feel like wasting his time with that, he would rather pick his opponent when he pleased, not have someone throw themselves at him unexpectedly, "I do not seek asylum from anything, I wish to join your pack to prove my strength to myself and eliminate any weakness I may have, I seek strength and the only place to get it is with others equally strong or stronger." The male now inclines his head slightly to catch the fae's eye, "If need be I can prove myself against one of your warriors in a spar, if you do not deem me adequate I will leave."

The male paused then sighing slightly, "As for feeding me, living as a loner for more than half a year often meant I had to find food myself or else I would not be standing here before you."

The small female would watch his every move closely, seeming rather annoyed with the entire encounter now since she wouldn't be allowed to just kill him out right for her own amusement, which made this entire involvement with him pointless in her mind. As the brute spoke of making himself stronger Katyusha would almost laugh "Then I wish you luck...And if I were to test you I would do so myself, and if I deemed you unfit, you wouldn't be leaving her." she spoke with a wry smirk.

"Luckily for you I have no desire to do so today." she said honestly, knowing Teren would care a lot more about a fae killing a brute than the actual death itself. As the brute spoke again Katyusha would roll her eyes "If you stay here it does not matter if you eat what the hunter's catch or kill it yourself. It will be prey in my territory, so I am feeding you, housing you, keeping you alive....Tell me, why should I bother keeping you alive? Why should I not just kill you right here? That would at least be fun." she snapped, getting slightly annoyed at how long this was dragging out since she couldn't even kill him, which was still a tempting idea.

With his intentions now realized Katyusha would lower her guard just slightly, not fearing this wolf at all, which was very clear in her posture, but also not expecting him to be stupid enough to attack her. While she did believe he wouldn't do such a thing, she would never lower her guard completely, a lesson Steele had literally beaten into her, the consequences of her mistakes often swiftly punished in a way she wouldn't soon forget.

Upon the fae's response Pain could not help but feel slightly excited. She herself was willing to fight him and was confident in her abilities, which meant she was immensely talented. Pain himself was overlooking the fae previously even with her well toned muscle, because he himself was already conditioned to fight and bigger. He needed to kick that habit, she was of high rank in this pack for a reason.

If the wolves in this pack were as talented at fighting as Pain thought he knew he could fit right in, after all he wasn't looking for a pack to call 'home' or make friends, he only looked for others stronger than him. He would never be content being the strongest in a pack of weaklings, that was the ultimate form of ignorance to the male.

The male would go to any length now to join this pack, as it would ultimately lead to his final goal, his dream. He needed to become stronger. To do this he would have to swallow that troublesome thing called pride for now, "My apologies, while I have no doubt that you could best me in a fight I still think I am a capable warrior who could help defend your pack. Of course there is no way I can prove this to you for sure unless I do actually fight." The male inclined his head slightly to see how she would respond now.

Hopefully, he thought, that would appease the high ranking fae for now, as she was the only way he could join this pack. He made a mental note of her however, Pain would love to fight an opponent such as her one day.

Slowly the fae would watch his attitude towards her change, knowing he had just come to the realization that she truly was a threat, an advantage she could use often when fighting new wolves on the border. She didn't appear dangerous, but she had been forged with fire and hammer into something honed for the sole purpose of killing.

When the wolf finally spoke again Katyusha would nod slowly "Yes...I do suppose we could always use more meat for the grinder..." she said harshly. With no warning the fae would close the gap between them, demonstrating her impressive speed as she went to grab this wolf by the back of his neck and slam him to the snow below her. If the hit landed it would be clear she didn't intend any real harm, as she didn't bite down hard enough to draw blood, and he would be wise to allow her to continue.

Once the brute was down Katyusha would move to stand over him, growling low "I will only say this once, so listen closely. I will permit you into my pack as a warrior. But you are nothing to me, or the rest of the pack. If you think you are strong, you aren't. If you think you are talented, you aren't. If you wish to survive here you will train hard, and remain loyal to this pack or I will take great pleasure in killing you myself." she spoke, moving to walk away from this wolf.

Everything Katyusha did had a purpose, even if he didn't realize it yet, her sudden attack was simply a way to mark him with her scent, so other's in the pack wouldn't attack him as a trespasser until he acquired the Erenyx scent for himself. "The pack clearing is back that way." she said, gesturing into the packlands "I am Elite Katyusha...since you may be asked who accepted you." she said honestly, starting to walk off again on her patrol.

[fixed, sorry about that. Wasn't thinking about it and just wanted to get you into the pack. I apologize.]