Sylar awoke to the sound of rustling in the autumn leaves of the forest, he sprang to his paws and padded gradually towards the noise he snarled quietly and leapt onto the leaves. He heard a snicker and yelped as the leaves moved beneath him.

"hey watch it Sylar! one day You're going to crush me!" Apryl howled happily

"ha! you actually got me with that one!" Sylar laughed

"hey where's mom?" Apryl questioned

"I think she's gone out hunting with Skylar and Revel...Why?"

"I was just wondering." Apryl sighed

Sylar smiled and nuzzled his daughter, "alright then, I have to go wake up Astrin, He always sleeps in too long" Apryl laughed and padded into the brush. Sylar bounded over to Astrin's sleeping form and chewed into his ear, Astrin whimpered and stood to his paws angrily,

"you know, a friendly wake up call would suffice fine too!" He sighed

"yeah it would, If it could wake YOU up." Sylar smiled "come on lets join the girls, their out hunting." Astrin yawned loudly and reluctantly followed Sylar and Hartly up out of the dark cave into the snowy forest. Sylar jumped up onto an overlooking rock and howled loudly and long, shattering the silence of the lifeless town of Nome. Three Small howls sounded from the absent town. Sylar frowned and squinted out into the distance "that wasn't them" he snarled leaping down to the frosted ground "come on Astrin" Astrin slammed down into the ground beside him, his teeth bared and eyes vicious,

"if any one has touched my Revel, I will rip them to pieces!"

The trio sped through the underbrush together over the fallen logs and small creeks and streams that bubbled down from the mountain glaciers until they reached a snowy flat large meadow where in the middle sat Nome, Still sleeping in the early morning. Astrin howled a warning to the three unknown wolves in the town. Sylar grasped Astrin's tail just as he snapped and tried to charge the wolves as they approached slowly. A gray-brown wolfdog with yellow-ey eyes, a red sled dog, and a lighter brown female wolfdog padded slowly to stand in front of the pair of angry wolves.

"who are you?" the first wolf questioned lightly

"I'm Sylar, the leader of the pack of Nome wolves, this is Astrin, my Beta wolf, and Hartly, I have lived near Nome for 7 years, so who are YOU?"

"well, I am Balto, this is my son Kodi, And my daughter Aleu, and we just live here."

"Oh Sorry, we though you had attacked our friends thats why Astrin was trying to fight you the whole time, I apologize," Sylar spoke softly

"hey that's no problem Aleu just returned from being in a wolf pack a couple days ago, you might know a few of them" Balto reassured

"like who?" Hartly questioned

"well, there's one named Nuk" Aleu told the trio

"Oh yes, we know him and his pack, we are quite good allies, though I'm not very fond of Niju," Sylar spoke

"he is no longer a part of that pack, he turned traitor when we tried to find more food for the pack." Aleu growled

"well I expected  that would happen eventually," Hartly snarled

"Our pack was looking for wolves and dogs alike to join our pack here, are any of you interested?" Sylar asked

"I would like that! If you approve dad?" Aleu asked Balto

"yes that would be better than going so far away from home to be with a pack." Balto sighed

"yes! I will join you!" Aleu howled excitedly

"alright, and what about you Kodi?" Sylar questioned politely

"I'd rather not, I have to keep delivering the mail for Nome" Kodi stated awkwardly

"that's fine, Alright, thank you all for your cooperation but we must find the rest of my pack" Sylar said. Aleu leaped up beside Sylar Hartly and the suspicious Astrin of whom was cautiously eyeing her with distaste as if he didn't trust her fully enough. bounding away, Sylar lead the way through the thick tree cover all four pack members skidded to a halt in front of Bella, Skylar, Revel, and Apryl all untouched and unharmed, Astrin let out a sigh of relief and licked Revel on the shoulder cuddling her and growling quietly with happiness, Sylar approached Apryl and Bella And nuzzled them both. Hartly led Aleu into a clearing backed by a high cliff with shallow caves dug into the side, Hartly left Aleu and started scratching at an empty part of the wall and was slowly joined by Sylar,Bella, Apryl, Astrin and Revel. Aleu watched in odd fascination as the scratches on the rock face slowly growled into a small cave much like the rest after about twenty minutes it was done, Sylar approached Aleu,

"here is your cave, you can do what ever you want with it, you can sleep inside in the winter or outside in the summer, this pack is quite independent, you just have to tell someone before you go somewhere on your own so we know if you're in trouble where you are, just howl and we'll find you!" Sylar explained warmly "and this pack isn't just a pack, it's a family, so if you need anything, don't hesitate to ask any one here" Sylar reassured

'thank you all for letting me join your pack," Aleu smiled happily

"No, thank YOU Aleu" Sylar laughed

"Alright, we should go resume out hunt since Dad burst in on us just as we were getting started," Apryl broke in.

"yep, Aleu, do you want to accompany us as well?" Skylar asked sweetly

"sure! I love to hunt in a pack," Aleu smiled

"OK, Aleu, Skylar, Bella, Apryl, and Revel can all go to the north and Astrin, Hartly and I will go south, meet back here in one hour." Sylar ordered strategically. the first group nodded together and sprang off towards the high cliff and ran up the thin ledges along the face.