heels. 

The sounds of fighting faded and Everest had finally reached the dirt bank, giving him more solid ground to run on. Behind him, he could hear Arrow crashing through the grass still. The only thing preventing him from getting out was one last mud puddle.

Using the last bit of solid ground, Everest took a strong leap but Arrow was right behind him. The grey wolf landed right beside Everest, roughly cutting him off from his exit. 

Both panted heavily, catching their breath while their burning eyes didn’t leave each other. The silence was practically deafening. Whatever fights had been going on before had ended. 

Then their little break was over. Arrow dove for Everest, Everest just barely getting out of the way. Using all his strength, Everest shoved Arrow into the thick mud so that his head dipped under. Arrow kicked Everest off after thrashing a bit under the mud and came up gasping.

Everest attempted to get away again, but Arrow snatched Everest’s tail, dragging him right back. The gold wolf whirled around, biting Arrow’s nose and for a second, both were thrashing in the mud, making it impossible to tell the difference between the two mud-covered wolves. 

“Daddy?”

Both wolves froze, Everest’s tail in Arrow’s mouth and Everest’s teeth latched onto Arrow’s shoulder. Both looked for the source of the sound... it had come from Axle.

“What are you doing out here?” Everest snapped, letting go of Arrow.

Arrow growled, convinced that Axle had been talking to him. Arrow dove for Everest but he wasn’t the only one, more wolves appeared out of nowhere and barreled into Everest and the golden wolf was shoved under the thick mud. He struggled but the moving weight holding him down was too much for him to lift up. Just as his movements became slow, someone grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, dragged him out and dropped him on the solid bank.

Chapter IV

Coughing, Everest sat up, trying to get the taste of mud out of his mouth. None of his fur showed. He was completely covered in mud now. When he opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was Axle, who was worriedly licking his father’s paw as his tail wagged furiously. 

Then Arrow came into view, scooping up the chocolate colored pup and placing him in front of Fly, who was desperately trying to remain calm. The it hit Everest. He was surrounded by Hiatus’s pack.

“What to do with you now...” came Hiatus’s sing-song voice, forcing Everest to look up blankly.

Portly was there too... so was his pack.

“So you guys are suddenly pals now?” Everest uttered, eyes passing between the two alphas. 

“We each thought we were fighting your pack! Isn’t that silly?!” Portly chortled stupidly, puffing up his chest. 

Everest thought about his own pack... he could bet they were watching, ready to jump out if someone made a move. He didn’t want them to get dragged into this for his stupid mistake.

“So what to do with me now...?” Everest droned, imitating Hiatus’s voice. 

Hiatus frowned, clearly not amused. “Bring him to the den until we can figure out a punishment that fits”

The two groups started to move but Portly stepped in front, stopping them. 

“Well I have an idea-”

Portly stopped, noticing Fly’s pups. Fly protectfully nudged them behind her and glared at him.

“Those are pure Illiivat pups... aren’t they”

Everest and Arrow both started to object at the same time but it was Everest who shut his mouth first.

“They’re my pups” Arrow growled in a low voice as he stepped in between Fly and Portly.

Portly laughed out loud, making Arrow growl and Everest tense up. 

“They don’t look a thing like you! I can’t be possibly dumb enough to believe that-”

“Shut-up!” Arrow snarled, loosing his patience and taking an aggravated step toward the wolf. 

For a tense moment, Portly’s pack stepped forward, making the Ublureak wolves tense up, but Hiatus motioned for the pack to relax. Reluctantly, both packs backed down.

“Whether they are or not doesn’t matter right now” Hiatus said in his usual cold tone. “Why does it matter to you?”

Portly looked over to Everest, a new twinkle in his eye. Everest tried to keep his face emotionless, never letting his gaze waver but his heart was in his throat. Portly knew who the pup’s father was. Time seemed to slow down until Portly turned to Hiatus with a new proposition.

“They need to be killed”

Everest lunged toward Portly, but was held back by wolves on either side of him. Fly growled and stood protectfully over her pups. Arrow snarled out loud.

“You can’t let him do that!” Arrow exclaimed to Hiatus, who didn’t seem to be convinced. 

“That would... conflict with my own plans” Hiatus replied, seeming to lose interest in Portly and was gaging Everest’s reaction instead.

Everest forced his eyes to drop to the muddy ground. The last thing he needed was both Portly and Hiatus getting in his head at the same time. 

“Well that doesn’t matter” Portly chuckled. “I’ll just kill them after their mother I suppose”

Everest snuck a glance, fidgeting, but pretended to look away when both Portly and Hiatus noticed. He bit his tongue hard to keep from saying anything.

“I appreciate your enthusiasm but I’m the one in control around here” Hiatus said, starting to become irritated. 

“No you’re not” Everest said simply, starting to cook up another idea. “Not at all”

Hiatus strode angrily over to Everest until he was practically nose-to-nose with the smaller wolf. 

“Well I don’t see anyone good enough to challenge me” he hissed. 

“He is” Everest smiled charmingly, motioning to Portly.

Hiatus sized up Portly, muttering, “You’re kidding”

“Hey Portly” Everest called, getting the fat wolf’s attention. “You should fill Hiatus in on your little plan, after all, he’s a big part of it all too, isn’t he?”

Portly strutted over happily, previously preoccupied with trying to see Fly’s pups. 

“Well the order I planned to go in was Fly, Everest then you but you seem reasonable so you can take whichever turn you like!”

Hiatus raised an eyebrow, “For what, might I ask?”

“Well killing you of course!” Portly grinned, rolling his eyes immaturely. “What else?”

Hiatus looked at Everest, gaging to see how serious Portly was and Everest coughed, averting his eyes.

“And just what are you going to do...?” Hiatus drawled, voice filled with a deadly calm.

“Well take over what you’re doing” Portly began, only too happy to share. “I mean, you started off right, taking advantage of one of the strongest packs and built it up but when it comes down to Everest, you simply failed. After all, you’ve barely gotten rid of any of the troublesome packs and you haven’t even caught him yet!” Portly exclaimed, motioning to Everest. “Plus, I can clearly see the scars that everyone says he gave you which-”

Meanwhile, Arrow had been trying to sneak Fly and the pups off, only being noticed by Everest until Portly stopped, mid-sentence and shrieked, “Get her pups!”

Both packs once again exploded into chaos. Most of Portly’s pack, including the two guarding Everest, sprang after the family. Hiatus’s pack blocked Portly’s pack.

Everest sprang away, flying after his mate in pups. As he expected, the others had been watching from the marsh grass and were alongside him in a second. 

“They have the pups!” Fly cried ahead, making Everest run faster. 

A second later, he found Fly, who was wide-eyed and desperately trying to locate any of her four pups.

“Arrow went after one of them!” Fly stammered, tears starting to form in her eyes. “I don’t know where the others are... I- I- they just wrestled them away...”

“We’ll find them” Everest said sincerely before rushing off again in the direction most of the wolves seemed to be running.

Meanwhile, Portly was simply beaming. He was positive that his pack could win. He was so confident, he hadn’t noticed that he had hit a nerve in Hiatus while explaining  his plan. And that Hiatus hadn’t run off to try to fight Portly’s pack.

“So You’re planning to kill me and take over my duties, are you...?” Hiatus started, creeping closer to the fat wolf. 

“Most certainly!” Portly smiled, not looking.

“And once again, Everest got away when I could have ended him... because of you...”

“Well that won’t matter, it won’t be too hard to find him again” Portly said, beginning to pick up on Hiatus’s tone. He turned around and stared into Hiatus’s deathly yellow eyes.

After some running, Everest, Tempest and Odin were the first to spot a wolf tearing away with a struggling Ozark in his mouth. Adrenaline allowed Everest to get there first, knocking the wolf’s feet out from right under him. Ozark let out a little yelp and rolled across the ground. 

Everest didn’t even bother with the strange wolf and was checking over Ozark instantly. Odin and Tempest chased away the strange wolf and Everest nudged the