''I was born in these woods. We do not have long lives, but still l have seen some of these trees grow from sapling to soon-to-be towering oaks. I have the memories of greener days where I, as a small pup, was running through the woods and plains of this glorious forest we call home. So much as it changed now...or is it simply the lost of innocence from our younger days that disappeared? I could not tell, but it matters little to me now. The well being of this pack is all that matter to me as well as most of my fellow pack members, I am sure. The forest has become restless as of late. The Two-Paws walkers only come rarely here, they prefer to remain in the safety of their self-made forests created from stone and metal. As should they. No, they are not the reason behind the agitation of this place.

Many preys have left the area for reasons unknown, leaving us in bitter rivalry with the northern neighboring Winter-Wind pack. They are weaker and less numerous, but their nonstop guerrillas tactics made the hunt even more dangerous than it was before. Now that we must bring more of our hunters to the hunt, we fear for he safeties of our pup.

If only the Winter-Wind were the only problem... a group of aggressive Bears have settled in the western hills, making it an off-limit zone for both clans and limiting the hunting grounds.

Despite all this, we will come out on top as we always did. The Dark-Wood pack have been roaming these parts forever, and so shall it remain. I may not be the Alpha, but as long as I, Styrke, remain alive I won't let my brothers or sisters falter.''



The mighty wolf stood up from the large rock over viewing the whole of the pack's home, his grey and brown fur moving in the wind as he looked down. There were different dens all across the place, some of them having pups sleeping in them still. Others were out playing while the adults got ready for the coming day; Warriors and Scouts would ready themselves to go out on patrol while Hunters came up with a plan for today's hunt. This was what Styrke loved to see. A strong willed pack that did nto give up despite the hard times.

Tufang Bloodsnort had seen better days. . . with the loss of sight on his left eye and a scar telling the story of how the battle had been fought out and ended for him at least, with him having showed weakness in his own words. Tufang had just woken up from his sleep within the den, opening his eyes that met with only one seeing the sun light slowly showing the dens entry which his head was facing towards. Rasing his body up from the ground and now standing on his four legs and walking towards the entry to at least get fresh enough until he had to watch the little pups while the others were hunting or scouting the areas, that was still deemed safe enough. Looking around the rocky den he wondered how many generations of proud and loyal Dark woods pack members have lived and died for the pack.

The insides of the den was, of course diffrent in height and size of spaces to sleep and eat. Tufang was at a normal paste moving closer towards the entry which light was emitting from and hitting his right eye that he could see through seeing the proud Styrke just standing their on the large rock, moving closer he did stop a away from him to show respect " Morning great Beta" he said as he lowered his head a little

Winter trotted anxiously towards the rock where Srtyker stood. She slowed when she saw Tufang. "Morning, Stryker, Tufang." Snowflakes drifted off of her almost transparent white fur, making her look as if she were made of snow. Although Winter was a sentinel she didn't brag about it or shove it in anyones face just to be mean. "Stryker how many are staying behind to watch the pups?" Between he Winter Winds pack, the disappearance of prey and the aggressive bears she felt on edge.

After a night of restless sleeping, Bruce smelled the morning dew and knew it was morning. After he had groomed his fur and shook off the nightmares lingering, he padded outside of his own private den. It was made inside a crack of the largest rock in camp. These times were hard for the pack. Enemies and predators were rising up against them, prey was scarce. The alpha noticed Stryke was keeping watch on too of his den, observing the camp. He moved to join him, but Tufang intercepted the beta before he could. The huge wolf waited patiently. Finally he moved to Stryke's side, his large muscles rippling underneath his pelt. "Morning Stryke, Tufang, and Winter." The alpha turned to Stryke. "Are the Hunters and Warriors on duty already? I want a group of warriors to check to see if the bears have retreated. I might join the patrol, and if I do I would like you to join me."

Winter waited for him to finish speaking. "Excuse me Alpha but is there anything I could do?" She wanted something to do to keep herself from stressing out too badly. Winter was a wolf who got irritable and snappish if she felt she couldnt do anything. Her sleek muscles rippled under her fur as she started to pace a little. Snowflakes traced her pawsteps as her restlessness increased. She looked Bruce in the eye. "I need something useful to do. Wheres Kaia?" She asked suddenly, looking around.

Kaia breathed heavily through her nostrils as she rolled around in the damp grass. She had been up before dawn, she liked to be the first one up except the for the night guards. Although they never interfered with her ritual. She wasn't that important. She liked to watch the moon slowly disappear as the bright glowing star came up from behind the hill. No one had explained it to her. Some still thought of her as a pup. She hated that. There is nothing Kaia wanted more than being recognized as the grown up lady she was.
She rolled around again looking up towards the hill seeing some of the pack members gather together around the alpha. The superior males always looked so handome when keeping lookout. Their ears tilting from side to side, their eyes slightly squinted due tot he morning light. The breeze through their fur.

Kaia realized she was daydreaming again and got slightly embarrassed. She sat up and shook the grass off. She didn't like to get caught daydreaming.

Tufang turned his head back to see their alpha coming up towards them, with having tufang only bowing down his head to him " Good morning mighty Aplha And of course good morning Winter" He took his head up again and backed down a little to now stand to close to the beta and alpha and jsut stood silent there until the pups would wake up with their parents going out to hunt prey to feed the pact .Tufang had been thinking if he should tell the pups a story of his when the warriors and hunters were few at the den for him to open up

Ghost walks to the group. The Alpha talks about gathering Warriors and Hunters to check out some bears. It saddens Ghost. Isn't that what the Scouts are for?

Styrke only briefly looked at Tufang as the pup watcher walked up to him. The den was waking up, and everyone was expected to go to their duty. The role of the Alpha was to be the leader and coordinate the whole of the den, but as the Beta most wolf would come to him if Bruce wasn't around. Styrke took only little notice of Tufang's salute, but answered it with a silent nod. IT was only moments later that Winter, a female subordinate, walked up to them also, asking about what was going to happen today. Styrke immediately looked back at the female, showing his fangs in slight anger as he simply answered;

''Styrke. My name is Styrke, not Stryker. One would hope that in all this time, you would get it right, Winter.''

Styrke was not known for being particularly gentle with his peers, especially in times such as these. However, the other member of the pack knew not to take such things too personal. He was, along with Bruce, a leader after all. Leaders could not afford to show themselves as weak. Especially Styrke. Despite Winter's question, the great wolf did not answer. He knew Bruce was coming up to them, and even as strong as he was, Styrke had no intention of stepping over the Alpha's authority. He bowed his head slightly at Bruce's approach.

''Alpha.'' He simply said as greeting. ''The den is still waking up, and most are still getting ready. If you want to scout the bears, send in the scouts themselves, it is their job after all. We need warriors to accompany the hunters and protect our territory, with all respects.'' He answered on a simple tone. Styrke liked to speak his mind, and he knew Bruce would not shame him for it.

''I fear the hunters will need to go deeper to find preys, this time. Pups are hungry, and last hunt was only meager. I suggest sending in some of the Subordinates to assist. I already warned Accalia, the lead hunter, about it. I only need your authorization on this so that we can move out. As far as the patrol go, of course I would follow.you Alpha.. My life goes to your protection as well as this pack.''

---

Accalia had been up and about since sunrise. On the last evening, the Beta came up to her with a dire situation. On their last hunt, the preys were only barely sufficient for all the pups, let alone the adults. Styrke knew this, and it was why he asked Accalia to go into deeper territories today. The risk of encountering the Winter-Wind pack was greater, so they had to come up with a plan. Accalia was now with her most experimented hunters, talking and devising a plan that would allow them to move under cover. Moving without being discovered was the easy part, but chasing a prey took time and effort...efforts they could not put into defending one another if they were under attack. The hunters could easily take down any prey that lived in these forests, but they would need protection to do so. Styrke agreed to see with Bruce if they could send in some Warriors for additional security, and all of Accalia's plans were based on that fact.

She left her hunters, once they were all satisfied with the plan so far, and left for the Beta's den, where he gave her rendez-vous. Upon arrival the white wolf saw not only Styrke, but the Alpha too. Along with them was Tufang, a pup watcher and Winter, a subordinate. Walking up to the rock, she passed right beside Kaia...who was day dreaming again. Accalia playfully bumped into her to get her out of her mind, smiling to herself. Once close enough, she bowed to her superiors and spoke up.

''Greetings Alpha, greetings everyone. Styrke, me and my hunters have devised the plan you asked for and are ready.'' She looked to Bruce shortly before saying her next sentence. ''Could you...get us the warriors you promised?''

Kaia caught herself falling asleep on the field opening her eyes slightly while squinting towards the morning sun. She took a long inhale through her snout expanding her nostrils to catch any unusual scents. She didn't smell anything out of the ordinary. She could hear the superiors gather up on the hill and for a second she considered joining. But as usual she didn't have the nerve to look the Alpha and the Beta in the eyes. She always made a fool of herself when they were around.

Kaia sighed heavily before sitting up. She felt her fur being out of place as she had been laying down in the grass for a while and shook herself to fluff up her fur. Her ears shifting around being semi-guarded of the others location and the other living creatures around. It was important for Kaia to prove herself worthy to the others, being as she was one of the youngest grown ups around.

Kaia glanced down towards the big half dead hollow tree. She was certain she saw a squirrel there and squinted her eyes locking her ears forward to spot it. She couldn't see it anymore. She was hungry. The pack hadn't caught any huge catches lately due to the bears taking most of the resources. She could feel the pinching pain in her guts. Although the hunger mainly effected the low ranks.

Winters fur spiked. She was not tolerant of wolves who spoke to her that way. She looked Styrke dead in the eye and growled. "Excuse me Styrke but a littl respect goes a long way. I'm sorry I said your name wrong but that gives you no right to snap at me." She looked at him Icily. She was a Sentinel and deserved the respect that came with it. "Keep that sharp bark of yours to yourself Styrke." Winter turned to Bruce and looked at him questioningly. "Alpha may I have a word with you in private once you are done talking with them?" She stalked away, the air around her cold as ice, her fur ruffling in an unseen breeze.

((Winter is a Sentinel/Watcher you guys. She isnt a subordinate. Just lettin ya know.))

Tufang really didn't want to come between their royal bitch fighting, and surely had better things to do as he saw two pups running out of the deens entry and down towards the grass feels at an increadable speed. " By the moon" He ran after the two cups and catched them both as they were at the start of the long walk upwards to the entry. " I really hate the pups in the morning. . . . " He said in a mumbling tone as he had them in his mouth, with him prevosliy took them up by their neck hide without sticking theeths into them of course. Though before he walked up he could Kaia and sighed mentaly. . .

Sonya had woken up, along with most of the adults. She rolled onto her side before realizing that, whenever that she tried to do that, she always just kept rolling towards a wall. Or, in this case, her mother. She looked around her den. Orange. Huh. It was usually gray. Oh, and there was white too- oh yeah, she rolled into her mother. She rolled to the other side. Gray. As it should be.

She stood up on her paws, walking to the back of her mother and shaking her, so they'd wake up, and do...whatever they did. Hunt, right? Yeah. That's what it was. See, Sonya was incredibly innocent, like all young pups. Almost all of them. There were some. Sonya wasn't one of them, though.

Seeing as her mother woke up, she looked towards the entrance of the den. She was very jubilant, as the adults were gonna be up soon, right? Aren't they up early too? Yeah. So she could walk out. Okay, Sonya, stealth- she ran. She ran, all the way to- well, she didn't know. She looked at a rock. There were wolves on the rock. She kind of recognized the figures. They were part of her pack!

But she didn't go there, for she was actually only to the side of her den. Wow, what a failure. Huge failure. She couldn't run lots. Running wasn't her thing. Slow stealth was. Oh well. She looked about, and in her eyes, everything was absolutely beautiful. Though, her eyes were used to seeing fun stuff. Like almost all pups.

Sigh.

Bruce's mind was a million miles away as more wolves joined him. His cluttered thoughts were broken when Tufang spoke, he acknowledged him by nodding slightly. Winter also joined them, she seemed especially snappish that day. He was going to speak by Stryke interjected with a correction of his name. Winter became aggravated and Bruce sighed. "Peace, Winter. The hunger must be getting to you, we'll talk later. He was grateful that Stryke had caught his mistake. "Thank you my friend, my mind is elsewhere this morning." Bruce nodded, thinking. "I've changed my mind. Ghost and Grey will scout the bears, we'll join the hunters to assist in the hunt. We'll need everyone at hand, we can not come back empty-handed."

Bruce then began to try to get the pack in motion. "Styke, could you help Accalia gather a group of warriors for me? I will meet you when you are ready." With that, Bruce bounded off. He stopped by Kaia, "Kaia, you will be joining the hunting party. Meet them at the edge of the den." Then he found Winter, "Winter!" He called out. "You wanted to speak with me?"

Ghost nods and walks away from the group. He sees Grey in the distance, laying in front of a rock. This is Grey's first job, so Ghost is quite worried. He knows he shouldn't be. Grey is well trained, but still...

Ghost spurts to Grey. "Wake up." Grey opens his eyes. "I'm already awake." He stands up, still a bit dull. "What are we going to do?" "We are checking the bears out." Grey freezes. "The... the bears? Isn't that a little bit extreme for my first time?" Ghost says nothing and he walks to the west. Grey regains his wits and he decides to follow Ghost, although sceptical.

Winter sighed and nodded. "Alpha I feel I have no been getting the respect I desrve and each time I ask for something to do I am ignored." She looked him in the eyes with exasperation. "I need something to do or i may go insane or moon forbud leave the pack. I have no wish to leave but i am tired of being pushed away and disrespected." Winter lay down heart and belly hurting. She sighed and stared at the ground between her paws, snow collecting around her.

Tufang was walking up again with the two pups in his mouth that he was carrying, since they thought it would be fun to run around so early in the morning. Slowly going up towards the other wolfs. As he enters he sees that one more pup had awoken. The two pups just swinged their tails in glee as they had a play mate to play with. Tufang placed the two down as they ran towards her with the hope of finding someone to play with like they always did

Kaya sees the alpha approach, she rarely talks to the superiors up close and alone. She sits up straight trying to impress with her good posture and nods once after receiving the order. She was excited, she was rarely trusted with important tasks. Mainly because people still saw her as a pup. Although she didn't want to show the alpha how excited such a minor deal made her.
She walked up towards the den, keeping her straight nearly royal posture as she walked. Mainly to impress the superiors, but also a little bit because of the pride she held for finally being approached by the woman she intends to be and by the alpha himself.
The thoughts gave her a happy thrill, a wave of goosebumps down her spine causing her fur to stand up making her look somewhat puppy fluffy.

She approached the group by the corner of the den trying to blend in. She was going to join the hunting party, with the adults. She was an adult. The thoughts kept sending chills down her back.
I'm ready.

Lars stumbled through a bramble-bush, catching his foreleg on a whip-like branch of thorns and tearing open a patch of fur. Ouch. He pawed at the offending branch pathetically, before giving up and biting its stem off. It would fall off eventually--he hoped.

He looked up and crouched down upon noticing the cloister of wolves across from him. Maybe if he was really quiet, they wouldn't notice his less-than-graceful entrance or the fact that he'd been out all night without permission--his new pack didn't really trust him yet, but at least he wasn't an omega--catching small moles and whatnot. He lingered near the brambles for a moment, before moving to crawl around the important-looking discussion in the shadows of the undergrowth. Maybe he'd just have to wait until they dispersed to tiptoe into the camp-ish thing they had going, and pretend he'd never left.

Styrke could hardly believe the type of answer he received from Winter. It was true that she was a Sentinel, and that she, in particular, always have had this explosive personality. In many situations Styrke could have congratulated such a bold speech, but Bruce was there and Styrke hated to be made a fool of in front of everyone. With a deep and menacing sound that was distinctly his, he began growling at Winter. He also showed her his mighty fangs as he even took a step toward her. The next moments were clear in his mind; He would jump at her throat and bring her down the rock they were on. For such disrespect, he would scar her for life or, if he lost his temper, pluck out one of her eye in a glorified show of force and fear for all to behold and know their place. Unfortunately, or fortunately, Bruce came between them and calmed both of them. Before anyone could continue, Styrke looked Winter dead in the eyes.

''You may be a Sentinel, Winter, but do not forget who put you in such a position. In no way can you disrespect me in the future. That better be clear, because next time, Alpha or not, I will get retribution. Be warned.'' did he say, dead serious. Styrke threats were never to be taken lightly, ally or enemy.

Bruce then asked him to go with Accalia, probably to put space between them. He nodded and complied. walking away with the female wolf.

---

Accalia knew better than to speak to Styke right now, seeing how mad he was. Despite this, they both stalked the den in search of warriors. They found some that agreed to come with them. The rest would remain close by the den and do their usual patrols. Styrke broke off in order to go at the meeting point Bruce gave him, leaving Accalia to gathering the rest of the hunting party. With her usual experienced hunters and their new warriors, she felt like they had all the fighting power they needed...though upon thinking that, she stumbled upon Lars. He was one of the Subordinate, not having been able to impress anyone yet. Accalia knew now was not the time to take risks...but at the same time, they needed all the help they could get. She walked up to the wolf.

''Lars...where the hell have you been...?'' she said upon looking at him. He did look a bit dirty, as if he had been out. He also had a branch stuck in his fur. Accalia took a deep sigh. ''...No matters. Lars, you will join me and our hunting group today. We need as much warriors as possible. Meet the group at the far end of the den as soon as possible. Do not be late.'' After this, she took off with her group of warriors towards the meeting point.

They would need to wait on the Alpha before setting out.