Kiona  © CatWhoHas14Tails
Kita  © CatWhoHas14Tails
Achak  © Draco
Kanook  © Draco
Olathe  © Draco
Ayashi  © Draco
Takoda  © Draco
Dartanion © Draco

REMINDER: THE STORY IS A LOT LESS CONFUSING IF YOU FIRST READ "A WOLF'S STORY" BY DRACO AND "THE WOLF'S TRAIL" BY CATWHOHAS14TAILS

The red hybrid and the silver and black wolf stared at each other, both with unknown interest in each other. Thoughts were running rampant through their minds about each other, and they didn't know why. Why were they so intriguing to one another?

The male wolf stared down at the dog, trying his hardest not to seem interested, but he knew that staring at her could not have possibly helped any. His pack was almost as curious as he was, but for quite different reasons. The scent of the dog probably didn't interest them as much as their leader, but they were still in wonder as to why a mere dog would be in their territory alone.

The dog did not feel threatened by the wolves' scrutiny. But she could sense that at least one of them wanted her dead. Studying the black and silver wolf, she could also sense that he had a good mind and knew better than to give his pack a silly order as to attack a lone dog. But she then remembered the previous night when she felt a warm body against her own, keeping her alive from the storm's bitter cold. The scent that belonged to that body, belonged to him. She was about to open her mouth to speak, but he spoke first.

"It's not safe for a dog to wander the world alone." he said. "You should run back to your human world and find one who won't leave you for dead."

The dog was taken aback from his first words. Even though his voice sounded gentle, the content of his speech was a bit harsh. She wasn't sure if the harshness was towards her or her human, Thomas. But how did he figure out that Thomas left her behind? She shook her head at the question and decided to try and find out at a later time.

"I...can't do that." she said, lowering herself a bit. "But I wanted to thank you," She paused to think of the right words to use. For some reason she felt that she didn't want to embarrass him in front of his pack. "...for before."

"Thank me?" the alpha thought, cocking his head. "She traveled all this time just to thank me?"

"Than consider yourself thankful." the wolf turned to leave with his pack, wanting to stick to his earlier ways of thinking, by not wanting to deal with dogs or humans.

"Wait!" the dog cried. The wolves turned back to look at her. She paused and swallowed. "I want entry to your pack."

A few of the pack members were heard snickering. The dog's fur bristled in embarrassment and anger, until the leader turned his head to hush them. He turned back to face the dog. As much as he didn't want anything to do with the workers of men, he was amazed as to how much courage she had wanting something like this. She must not want anything to do with man either, seeing that she wanted to stay. So she must not have been all bad. But he knew that when he first noticed her scent. She was different... And seeing how she handled herself, through fighting and being leader of her "dog team," she must be skilled in certain areas.

He would have let her into his pack, but a grey female known as Kita spoke up.

"Achak, sir, we cannot just LET a mere...mutt into the pack!" she announced. "She will only get in our way! One of her kind couldn't possibly survive out here for more than a day!"

Achak knew that wasn't true. It had been approximately three days since he rested with the dog, and even then she was injured from her fight. And there was a snow storm since then, so this dog handled bad weather and injuries and still survived. He made that point to Kita.

She said. "Even so, I will not allow that dog to taint our pack!" she turned to Achak. "Please allow me to be her key to entry!"

Achak thought about it for a moment. It would not be a bad idea to make the dog fight to get in. It would be interesting to see her style of fighting anyway. "Alright, Kita," he said, then speaking to the hybrid. "You will fight Kita. If you win, you can join my pack. If not, then you must leave my territory at once." He then began talking to both of them. "Anything goes. But there will be no killing." Then the fight began.

Kita jumped from her spot on the small cliff and made her way down to the dog, jumping on her from above. The dog leapt into the air and bit Kita in the face, making the two stumble in the air and land on their feet.

The dog could tell that this Kita would fight dirty. For some reason she didn't want her in the pack, but now she was even more determined to gain entry. The two females exchanged hateful glares before charging at one another yet again. Kita tried grabbing at the dog's throat, but she slinked out of her grip and bit hers. She didn;t draw blood, but Kita still whipped back for fear of physical pain. Kita jumped back forward and aimed for her oponent's neck again, but instead latched into her harness. She viciously whipped the dog into the ground by her leather strap and it ripped with the force and fell to the ground.

The dog stared at her harness. She had forgotten it was on, but the thought that she could have been killed just now made her blood hot. The fury within her rose to the surface and her eyes rimmed with red brighter than her fur. With unnatural speed, the hybrid ran into Kita and knocked her into the ground onto some rocks. Kita cried out when she struck stone, and cried again when the dog just went insane and kept biting her.

Achak remembered back when he seen her lose control of herself and continuously attacked that dog. She would have killed that dog if the human had not interfered. He knew that if he didn't do something Kita would be killed as well. He firmly yelled stop, and the dog snapped back, letting go of her losing rival.

She backed up, wondering what she had done. She thought she had killed Kita, but when the wolf rose from her position, she just stared at her in fear. Kita then looked up to Achak and ran away.

Achak wondered why Kita would just run away like that. She would not have lost her position of the pack, whether she won or lost. He wondered if she would come back, but judging by how fast she ran, she would not be back anytime soon.

He then turned to the winner, who was still a bit shaken. She stared back up at him, awaiting his words. "What is your name?" he asked.

"My name is Kiona." she replied, referring to the name her owner gave her. She stood taller, confident in herself.

"Well, Kiona, you have made it. Welcome."

Kiona wagged her tail slightly and ran up the cliff with breakneck speed to join the wolves' side.

It didn’t take long for the red female to climb up to meet her new pack on the cliff. One could tell she was proud of herself, and excited to have been accepted into the pack. Achak looked her over. Other than the harness’ absence, Kiona seemed almost unscratched by the fight.

Remembering about Kita again, the alpha looked off in the direction the wolf had run. He was sure she would be back soon. It was understandable that Kita was embarrassed, having been defeated by a smaller domesticated dog. But Kiona had proven herself in the fight, so Achak’s decision would remain.

But now with the dog in the pack, things would certainly be different. Already he could feel animosity from the other pack members. They weren’t sure about having a mere dog in their proud wolf pack. Even Achak himself was unsure. But he couldn’t take back his decision now.

"Well, Kiona, now that you’ve proven yourself, you’ll need to meet the pack. I‘m Achak, alpha of this pack." Glancing back over his shoulder, five wolves walked forward. Three were shades of silver, while the fourth was brown and cream, who stepped up next to Achak, gazing evenly, yet gently at the new member.

"This is Kanook, gamma, or second in command, of this pack." Kanook tipped his head slightly, his dark blue eyes twinkling with amusement. Kiona wasn’t quite sure what to think of this wolf, the curious amusement he was looking her over with.

Now the wolf with the darker shade of silver stepped up somewhat shyly. His friendly golden eyes and smile gave the red-furred female the impression that he was either of low rank, or was just over-friendly. "This is my brother, Takoda. He‘s a scout."

"Nice to meet you, Kiona. Welcome to the pack." Takoda smiled again, tail wagging in greeting. Kiona was taken a bit off guard by that. His brother? They didn’t look very much alike at all! But before she got a chance to think about it, Achak motioned for another wolf to come forward. This light silver wolf with blue eyes was very shy, keeping close to Achak, timid.

" This is Ayashi. She’s my sister." It was obvious the black and silver wolf was protective of his sister, just by the way he was standing next to her. Shining in his bright blue eyes was a clear warning to either stay away, or be nice. Kiona could only guess the alpha was this way with his brother as well.

Ayashi glanced over at the new comer, curious, but her timid nature kept her back. She knew she had nothing to fear, her brother was right there next to her, along with the rest of the pack. Plus this dog was only half the size of a wolf.

Achak turned motioning for another wolf to walk up. This wolf was a mix of white, gray and light brown. His maroon eyes also shown as the other wolfs’ had. Kiona wondered if all wolves had that wild shine in their eyes. This wolf also had something different about him. An aura. The red dog had noticed that the other wolves, including Achak seemed unsure about her, since she was with humans; but this wolf didn’t seem to think or emit that. He walked right up, and even smiled at her.

"This is Dartanion. You two may find something in common…" Kiona was curious to know why the large black wolf spoke with such…contempt with that statement? A short glimmer of anger sparkled in those