I let out a happy yelp and rushed over to Tank, only to come to a stop short of reaching him. He was limping badly and his leg was bleeding. I wasn't sure if he would be aggressive towards me, so I lowered myself to the ground and slowly belly crawled my way to him and whimpered. He snorted and panted before dropping to the ground himself. There was a hole in his front left leg and it reeked of human. He had been attacked by the silver things as I could see it still in his leg. I nudged his leg with my nose and he growled at me and I knew he was in great pain.

I swung my head and looked Nurse straight in the eye and she knew that Tank needed help. But I knew she wouldn't want to leave the pups. I growled and slowly she walked over. I knew Nurse would not be able to get the silver thing out of Tanks leg without him attacking her so before either of them could move I pounced on Tank and grabbed him by the throat and I growled, asserting my dominance. Nurse wasted no time and licked the wound, Tank yelped and tried to fight me but if he moved to much he would rip his throat open on my teeth. Nurse tried to be gentle and nudged the silver thing out of his leg with her nose and teeth. Then she continued to clean the wound until it stopped bleeding. Only once Nurse was safely back with the pups did I let go of Tank.

I went behind Tank and lay my head on his shoulder to comfort him, as the pain started to leave his leg. He huffed. Shaggy seemed to settle down now that there was no danger. He slept with Nurse and the pups and I watched over everyone until dawn. I started to wonder what had happened as there was no sign or scent of Gash and Scar. Nurse was the first to wake and left the pups with Shaggy. She went to the small opening of the grass and sat watching and listening for danger, I finally closed my eyes and before I knew it I fell asleep.

I started to dream of large open grass lands with prey of all types and in the distance a shadow of a large wolf. The perfect mate. I tried to go to him but the more I ran the further away he seemed to be until he disappeared completely. I howled in despair. I felt something nudging at my ribs and I woke up to find Tank whining and nudging me with his nose, confusion and fear was rolling off him, but once he saw I was awake he flopped his tongue out and panted happily at me. Then I noticed five small bodies snuggled into me and Tank, Nurse was no where to be seen and Shaggy had taken her place as look out.

As the pups all started to wake, I was finally able to move. I got up and stretched and shook out my fur and the pups seemed fascinated by my actions and tried to copy me. But once they got to the shaking part they all seemed to get a little too excited and fell over in a heap. It was funny to watch and the pups really liked doing it and kept doing it until they no longer found it fun. The pups soon found Tank to be a great play thing and yapped at him and pulled his tail with their teeth. Tank seemed more than happy to let them pounce around him until one fell on his leg and he yelped. They all stopped playing and ran to his side sniffing and licking his wound and saying sorry in the only way they could. I could tell Tank was getting annoyed, but luckily that’s when Nurse showed up with a small deer in her mouth and the pups bounded after her. Tank relaxed and snorted softly and closed his eyes. We all left him be, as he needed his rest so he could recover.

It was days later and Tank was finally able to stand and yet there was still no sign of the others. The pups were growing fast and starting to explore. I had yet to name them yet but I knew at some point I would find the perfect names for them all. Food was starting to become hard to find and so it was time to move on. It would be very slow going with the pups and with Tank still wounded but we had to try. I got everyone to their feet and started at a normal pace of walking but soon found I was moving to fast for the rest of the pack, I slowed my pace, which was hard for me, but I had to for the good of the pack.

We came to a small watering hole and drank our fill and rested for a little while under a large tree. Tank, Nurse and the pups were resting while Shaggy and I kept watch. Shaggy's fur had started to grow back to it's normal shaggy length and I think he was just as glad as the rest of us. It was time to find a new home for our pack. It was starting to get cold and snow would start to fall from the sky again. We would have to find a cave or something and fast or we wouldn't survive.

It was hard going on all of us, between the pups and Tank's wound and the chilly weather... it was almost too much. But at last we found a place that was suitable for us all. The land was unclaimed with plenty of food, a lake with fresh water and a large cave with three chambers inside. The middle chamber was claimed for Nurse and the pups. The large chamber on the left was left for food stocks. The small chamber on the right which was closest to the entrance was left for the rest of us. The nursery chamber had a tunnel that twisted almost completely behind the small chamber so if anyone found us, they would have to get through the pack before getting to the pups.

Most of the time Tamer which is what I named the male pup because he seemed to tame everyone's heart, slept with either me or Tank. He only slept with Nurse and the other pups, when Tank and I were both on lookout. We always hunted for more food than we could eat so we could store it in the coldest chamber for the days we couldn't hunt. After some time in our new home, I found I needed some time to myself. Tank's wound had healed well, but had left him with a scar. I left Tank in charge, as I left the cave and ventured outside.

We had marked out our land from halfway around the lake to right round the back of the cave. Snow had started to fall lightly around me and the air was crisp to the point I could see my breath, as I walked around the lake. I picked up a scent at the far end of the lake. My ears pricked up as I knew the scent I was currently following. Scar. Suddenly, I knew I wasn't alone. I saw movement to my left and my right dead ahead of me. Two wolves walked into the clearing I was in, it was Scar and Gash. I was so happy I raised my head and pointed my ears forward and my tail down, but my happiness was short lived, as while they approached me they had their heads down, tails up and they were both growling at me! 

I was confused, I flipped my ears back and growled in return hoping they would back down. They didn't. Something was seriously wrong with this picture. I saw more movement not far behind them. It was the male rouge we had run into not long before. Then it all clicked in my head. Gash and Scar had left our pack and joined with the pair of rouges to form a new pack with the rouge pair, as the alphas and that would make sense since the female had already been pregnant and only the alpha pair were allowed to have young. The alpha came between my ex pack mates and stood before me and growled at me. I was in trouble, if the three of them attacked me, I would have no chance of escape.

Howling from behind the three wolves in front of me seemed to break the tension and the alpha made a run for it and Scar and Gash followed close behind him. I relaxed and let out the breath I didn't notice I was holding. It must have been the female howling for her mate, it's the only thing I could think of that would make an alpha run from a battle. It didn't really matter, as I turned around and headed for the den.

Now I knew Scar and Gash would not return to us, but what worried me now was that the rogues were now on the boarder of our land. Once I returned, it was my turn to stand watch. The pups were playing in the back chamber and Shaggy and Nurse were sniffing me and wagging their tails looking around, but I just gave a snap towards them and they backed off. I’m guessing they could smell the rogue and Scar and Gash on me and hoping they were behind me, but they weren't and their tails dropped. They knew. Gash and Scar would not return.

I think Tank already knew that the other two weren't coming back. So he hadn't bothered to come over and sniff me. I would always wonder what had happened, but since I wasn't there, I would never know. All I know is Tank returned to us wounded and now we had a litter of pups to take care of. Life was going to be hard until the pups were old enough to fend for themselves but once they were trained to fight and hunt, we would have a strong pack of nine and once I found a strong male as my mate, we would finally have our alpha and then we would have ten wolves to our pack.

If only I could catch my dream mate and then find him in the real world and then everything would be perfect.