off into the woods to look for plant stuff and they should be back soon”

Everest nodded silently and sat down. A few moments later Altea and Tempest returned, Tempest happily explaining something about curing a fever. 

“Oh, you’re back! How’d it go?” Tempest chirped. 

“Coulda gone better” Quick answered, sinking down to the ground.

“Are we staying here tonight?” Altea asked.

“Yup” Quick answered again, since mostly everyone else was deep in thought.

“So what’d you guys do then?” Odin asked happily, focusing his question more at Altea then Tempest.

Altea shrugged, ignoring Odin’s sudden interest. “Tempest showed me where I could find plants that help with injuries and some other tricks”

Everest began to drift off to the droning of his pack mates’ voices. The sun had already begun to set, and it was already decided that they were going to stay for the night. But just as Everest slipped into slumber, thoughts of his pregnant mate crossed his mind.

Back in the Ublureak territory, Fly watched on as Hiatus observed a few wolves tear into the freshly caught deer. Once it was opened enough, Mange came over and dropped the poisoned piece of meat, moving it around so that whatever substance was on it was dripped on most of the deer. Mange carefully picked up his meat and nodded to Hiatus and Hawk, who motioned for a few other wolves to start dragging it off to the Aklark territory. Fly waited for a few seconds then started off towards the same territory. As long as she warned Everest soon enough, the whole thing could be avoided. Fly took one determined step but faltered when she felt a sharp pain in her side. She gasped but once the pain faded away, she continued on. A moment later, another sharp pain followed, this time painful enough to make Fly stumble and smother a cry. 

“Oh...no. No no. Not now” she said under her breath, suddenly realizing what was happening to her. “Can’t you guys wait a little longer? At least until we get to your dad?”

Another pain, as sharp as the last made her wince and bite her tongue.

“Apparently not...” she managed through her teeth.

Fly rose slowly to her feet and with a desperate look after the wolves dragging the deer, she hurried to toward the woods; to a den she had dug out weeks ago.

Meanwhile, the wolves dragging the deer had finally made it to the edge of the Aklark territory. Four younger Aklark wolves that had been sneaking around noticed the wolves dragging the deer and padded over cautiously. 

“Is that one for us too?!” One of the youngsters exclaimed happily. 

“Yes it is!” the Ublureak wolf said, pretending to be kind. “Don’t forget to give some to your parents too!”

The Aklark wolves nodded happily and started to rip off chunks to take back to their parents, not noticing the Ublureak wolves slip back into the night. Proudly, each carried a generous piece of the deer back to the pack. Ignorant to the whole situation, Everest and his pack stayed in a deep sleep, not knowing what they’d be in for the next day. 

Chapter III

The next morning, Fly found that she wasn’t alone. Beside her were four sleeping male pups, one a dark brown, two golden like Everest and one pup that was a lighter gold like she was. All had survived through the night and each one was strong. Already, she’d named the older gold pup Ishkur and was leaning towards Ozark for the light gold pup. Everest could name the other two. 

“Fly?”

Fly leaned over so she could see out of the den but she frowned when she saw Arrow instead of the wolf she was expecting. 

“Yeah, I’m in here”

“Did you have...?”

“Pups? Four of them” Fly answered calmly. 

“Do uh, any of them look like me?”

“No. I think they look more like their mommy” Fly crooned as she nudged the darkest, oldest pup closer. 

Arrow didn’t reply but Fly could still hear him shuffling around. More then likely, he was waiting to be invited in to see the pups he thought were his.

“I’m really tired after last night... you can see them later after we’re all rested up”

“Okay. Well I’ll be off then. Hiatus wants me to be on guard”

Fly heard Arrow linger around a little longer, but after she heard him leave, she laid her head on her paws and sighed. A nap was just what she needed since she had spent most of the night awake. But before she even got to close her eyes, a noise from outside the den caught her attention. 

“Hello?”

Something dropped just outside the den. Something heavy.

“Hello...” Fly called one more time, hackles starting to rise. Something scuffled outside of the den, not answering her. Gathering up the energy she had left, Fly quietly snuck down the narrow tunnel to the opening of the den and cautiously peered out. Right in front of her, in the melting snow, was a freshly killed rabbit. Fly cracked a smile.

“Mornin’ sunshine”

Fly turned around to see Everest relaxing right over the top of the den’s opening. 

“It actually took me a while to find this” Everest smirked, hopping off the rocky patch and glancing in the den. “And you look like you dropped some weight”

Fly smiled cryptically. Everest motioned for the den, eyebrow raised.

“You brought me breakfast, I think you earned a chance to see them”

Everest beamed and slipped in the den, leaving Fly to enjoy the rabbit he’d caught. At the end of the tunnel, in the part of the den that was slightly bigger, were the four sleeping pups. Everest’s gaze softened and he couldn’t help but to smile. They were absolutely perfect. 

“Aren’t they beautiful?” Fly whispered gently, placing the half-eaten rabbit in the corner. 

Everest nodded, still unable to take his eyes away. “Do they have names?”

“I named the bigger gold one Ishkur and the light pup I named Ozark. The other two are all yours”

Everest grinned. 

“Theo for sure” Everest started, pointing to the slightly smaller gold male. “And the dark guy’ll be named... Axle”

Fly smiled and nuzzled Everest as they continued to marvel over their new family.

Back at the Aklark, Quick had already been awake for a while. Besides a few of the Aklark wolves that were scouting nearby, he was the only one awake. He kept thinking about Tosca... what other things had Hawk done to her? He heard Tempest whimper in her sleep but when he looked, he saw Will rest his head over hers and move closer. Quick scowled and returned to his thoughts. Maybe he should just go save his sister on his own. Nodding to himself, Quick stood up and started off. 

“...Quick...”

Quick stopped in his tracks and glanced over his shoulder. Comet was still asleep. But she had definitely said his name. He raised an eyebrow, but shook his head, focusing back on the task he had set out to do. 

A few moments later, Quick was edging into Ublureak territory. The territory line was being guarded unusually heavy. But it wasn’t anything that Quick hadn’t handled before. With pinpoint precision and skill, Quick wove in and out of trees and tall dry grass, carefully navigating through the scouting wolves until he was safely past them. He paused for a second when he spotted Arrow who looked strangely happy. But once Arrow was gone, Quick sprinted towards the heart of the territory where the cliff and caves were. Hiatus and Hawk were nowhere in sight but just outside the main cave dozed Tosca.  Quick didn’t waste another second.

“Tosca” Quick shook his sister with a paw. 

Tosca jumped but calmed down a little when she realized who had woke her. 

“Quick?”

Quick nodded. “We’re leaving. Hurry up” 

Tosca raised a brow quizzically. “Why?”

Quick looked at his sister as if she had three heads. “What do you mean why?! Why would you want to stay here?!”

“I’m perfectly happy here. I’ve never been hurt! And so far, nothing else seems that bad”

“Are you blind?!” Quick snapped. 

“Are you?!” Tosca snapped right back, furrowing her brow. “Don’t you think I could’ve left by now if I wanted to?!”

“Do you know what Hiatus and Hawk are doing?!”

“Do you know what Everest is doing?!”

“Would you stop answering my questions with more questions!?” Quick finally barked frustratingly. “Listen, Hiatus isn’t as nice as you think he is”

“But Hawk is” Tosca replied calmly. “And he told me that what they’re doing is going to make everyone’s lives easier”

“After they kill a whole bunch of wolves... they’ve probably killed innocent pups”

“They’re just killing wolves that’ll end up dying anyway” Tosca replied stubbornly. “And they’re trying to help the packs that truly deserve the help”

“You sound just like them” Quick spat, disgusted. 

“Well you helped them since you were a pup. And you probably didn’t even believe what they were saying! You just did whatever they told you to”

“But I figured out what they were doing and stopped! You can too...”

Tosca shook her head. “I’m not leaving Quick. I love