Basil looked up at the sky. It was noon, two weeks after he had finally gotten the courage to leave his safe little home and roam the wild by himself. He was quite proud of himself, he'd never been the adventurous type. He'd never been much of anything really, he preferred to sit on the sides and cuddle his mother than join in with any kind of playfights or games his siblings enjoyed. But he had been fascinated with both wolves and the dogs owned by humans and had left his safe home and his mother's side in order to go out and meet one of them and possibly join then.

However, Basil hadn't ever been the greatest hunter. He had struggled these past couple of weeks to find, and hunt, food to survive and he had lost some weight already. He was rather hungry all the time and despite his stomach begging to be fed, Basil often couldn't be bothered to try and fail again. If it wasn't for the fact that another of his weak points was his inability to track correctly, he would most likely return home to his mother and stay there for the rest of his life. At least that way he'd know he'd at least had the courage to try it and would die knowing he wasn't a complete coward.

Basil sighed as he stared up at the pretty blue sky. He wanted to prove to his father that he could do something brave by himself. Suddenly, a scent caught the breeze and blew straight into Basil's face. As far as he could tell it was a rabbit. The smell of it made his mouth water and he made the decision right there, before he could change his mind, to quickly track and hunt it. Sniffing the air, he decided where it was and silently padded off in that direction. Miraculously he was right for once. The fat rabbit was sitting on it's haunches, it's ears back while it ran it's front paws over it's face numerous times. It was pretty chubby, which Basil decided was good because it would hopefully be slower and would be easier to catch and he'd also have a decent meal from it. He sat back for a moment, sinking low down and preparing himself to leap out at it and hopefully catch it before it realised what was happening.

He waited for a few moments, feeling the muscles in him tighten ready to spring. Then.....he pounced. He was grateful that the rabbit didn't even see him to start with and then even froze to stare at the large gangly dog flying towards it. It moved right as Basil landed where it previously sat. He dashed off after it, praying that he'd be able to easily catch it for once. He chased it across the forest, expertly ducking and dodging trees. Basil felt quite proud of himself and momentarily allowed himself to pride himself in this. It seemed he was doing far better than usual in hunting. After that thought, it went slightly wrong. He swiftly dodged a large tree that the rabbit ran around and started to close in on it. He leapt towards it and sailed through the air.

''This is it. I've got it!'' he thought to himself.

Then the rabbit suddenly disappeared and he fell to the ground with a crash in front of someone. He groaned and let out a whimper that he had let his meal escape. He didn't even realise someone was standing over him until he heard them move their paws a little. Then he opened his eyes and looked up. Gazing down at him was a female wolfdog. Her fur was brown, with light cream and gold-orange and her eyes were almost the same orange colour. Her expression wasn't angry or hostile. She just looked curious. Or even amused.

''You alright down there?'' she asked.

Her voice was lovely and clear. Basil cringed in embarrassment and clumsily got to his paws. Being a large dog, he now towered over her but he lowered his head and tucked his tail between his legs, feeling very nervous.

''I-I...uh...yes, fine...'' he mumbled, mentally slamming his head into a tree over and over.

He tried to look elsewhere and noticed the rabbit he'd been chasing was peeking out at him from behind the female. To his surprise, it stuck it's tongue out at him.

''You were chasing my friend. That was some....interesting hunting.'' the female spoke up again, adding in an amused smile.

Basil felt like fainting. He never had been good with females. They scared him and made him jumpy.

''I-I-I-''

After several attempts to speak Basil decided to do what he always did and run away. As emabrrassing as that was, at least he wouldn't have to see them again. But as he turned, Basil found his escape would be a little less easy than he thought. A large wolf stood behind him, several feet away. He was shorter than Basil, being that Basil was very tall, but he was built thicker and more muscular, whereas Basil was rather skinny and lanky. The wolf had brown fur like the female wolfdog's, though his was greyer. Basil was now more frightened for his well-being than he was when it was just him and the female. Basil and the wolf stared at each other...and then the wolf burst into laughter.

''What are you so afraid of?'' he chuckled, ''No one's going to hurt you.''

Basil finally fainted.

He woke up some time later in a small cave-like den. He was confused but was too hungry and weary to worry about where he was for the time being. Until another wolfdog suddenly appeared, making Basil jump. At this the wolfdog started laughing as well. When he finally stopped he saw Basil wide-eyed and staring, pressed against the back of the den.

''Reid and Shilah were right.'' he smirked, ''You are jumpy.''

Basil felt himself sink a little.

''Heh, welcome to my little pack.'' he said, ''I'm the alpha. Name's Chitto. What's yours?''

''B-Basil.'' the dog replied, his voice lower than the wolfdog's.

Right then, the wolfdog and wolf from before appeared, followed by five little fluffballs and the fat rabbit Basil had been hoping to eat for lunch. The two older dogs were dragging in a small-ish caribou. Chitto looked over with a smile and turned back to Basil.

''Dinner is served.'' he grinned.

The five pups all cheered in their high-pitched voices. Five of them looked like equal mixtures of Chitto and the female wolfdog. The last was pure white, with faint darker patches that looked like they could be markings like his siblings. His eyes were also dark pink. Albinos were rare. Two of the pups were female and three were male. They tumbled and rolled around, wrestling with each other and playing with the rabbit until the two with the caribou dragged it into the cave and set it down properly.

''Eat up, kids.'' Chitto said.

They dove straight in while the rabbit, looking slightly disgusted, sat back and laid down, probably glad for some rest. The female wolfdog and wolf approached Basil.

''How are you feeling?'' the wolfdog asked, smiling.

Her face was gentle.

''My name's Reid by the way.'' the wolf approached, ''And this is my son, Shilah.''

He bowed his head with a smile.

''Yes, fine...I'm Basil....'' Basil replied, feeling slightly more at ease with these two now he knew they wouldn't hurt him.

Reid smiled, ''You've met the rest of the pack.''

Basil looked over her shoulder. It was a pretty small pack, even if Basil had never encountered a real wolfpack before.

''Chitto is my mate, and those five pups are my children.'' Reid said.

''My little half-siblings.'' Shilah grinned, proud.

''Oh and the rabbit you were chasing is also one of us. We found him not long after Shilah was born. His mother had left him so we decided to take him in. We don't eat rabbits anymore....'' Reid explained.

Basil was finding this pack to be even weirder by the second. Chitto and his pups were eating the freshly caught caribou. The poor animal's blood splattered across the front of the messy pup's fur but they looked like they were enjoying themselves. Chitto was eating, far less messily, and laughing at his children. Shilah had turned to join them, being easily the calmest and tidiest of the bunch. The rabbit was now sleeping, clearly exhausted after being chased by Basil and playing with five wolfdog pups. Reid turned towards the caribou and then looked over her shoulder.

''Join us.'' she said with a smile.

Basil immediately knew that he would be staying with this small pack for some time. He let a small smile creep to his face. He had down it. He had set out on his own and found somewhere to belong.