"I needed to be careful not to sprain my ankle on the tree roots," he thought to himself as he strode through the pitch black.

The full moon, high in the sky, illuminated the scenery and carnick bars reaching across the thickets around the pack grounds, despite the darkness.

A lone man paced anxiously in the middle of the forest, out of earshot and, more crucially, out of sight.

Jake spun around and leaped into action as soon as the twig snapped in the pitch-blackness of night.

He had reached his final objective at last.

A tall, strong man—about six and a half feet tall, according to Jake—stepped out from...