A grave mistake.

On an island just off the Alaskan coast a wolf pack ran onto the beach panting hard after a long

run over a bridge of ice floes across the ocean,

"We made it!", a light grey-brown wolf panted,

"Only just...I'm gonna collapse soon!", a blue-grey wolf moaned, all the others rolled their eyes and

lay down on the sand to rest, the light grey-brown wolf, Aleu, looked back over the waves as the ice bridge

broke up again and sighed, she was'nt sure what to do next after leaving her father and her home to join

this wolf pack but was now without any guidence after the previous Alpha, Nava, found he was unable to

cross the water and she felt lost without the wisdom of her father, he'd always tried to help her whenever

he could although she'd never really appreciated it before now, she would even welcome the help of Niju,

a mean wolf who ran away from the pack at the thought of crossing the water, she felt so alone and lost,

she wandered to a log that had been washed up at some point to rest on her own and to wonder what

an Alpha wolf was supposed to do,

"What do alpha wolves do anyway?" she whispered to herself.

The next morning after everyone was rested and felt better they went exploring their new home,

"So where are those caribou anyway?", one of the wolves spoke up, Aleu suddenly felt a bit sick, she'd

forgotten they came here to find the herd of caribou that had crossed before them, she had never needed

to hunt before and did'nt even know what to do in a hunt or how to hunt in the first place,

"We should split up and look, one group go this way with me and the other go the opposite way", Aleu

suggested, all the wolves shrugged and split up, one small group followed Alue the others wandered off the

other way, Aleu went into the forest hoping she'd gone where the caribou could get easily ambushed in the hope

they would'nt be there, all was going well until they stumbled out into a large open grassland, she could'nt

turn around and go back into the forest because she did'nt want to look bad infront of the pack members,

they walked out over the plains and it was peaceful and very beautiful there and they all felt quite relaxed until

they heard barking not far ahead, they ran to see what it was, they ran up a hill and at the top saw the other group

chasing a herd of caribou, straight towards Aleu and her group!, the others snapped into action and ran for the

caribou, Aleu followed and the wolves caused the caribou to panic, they scattered all over, Aleu had no idea what

to do and stood in the middle of it all dodging the caribou as they ran around, suddenly she heard a large thump,

one of the other wolves had grabbed an old caribou and brought it down, the other wolves all ran to the fallen

caribou, Aleu followed them, she copied the others and bit into the caribou's neck, after a struggle the animal

succumbed to the wolves onslaught, the wolves all feasted on it hungrily.

After their meal the pack went to find a somewhere to use as a place to sleep and hang out, they walked over the

plains until they found a large ridge with a forest at the top and that opened out onto the plain with good vantage

points all around where they could see a long way into the distance, Aleu climbed to a small cave up the ridge and

lay down to settle in for the night,

"He he, I like your odd hunting style", a grey wolf giggled as he approached her,

"What do you mean by that?", Aleu spat,

"Easy, I won't tell I promise", the grey wolf smiled,

"Won't tell what?", Aleu questioned,

"You not knowing how to hunt", the grey wolf grinned, Aleu looked away,

"It's OK princess I'll teach ya, meet me in the clearing just inside the forest at the top of this ridge tomorrow morning",

he told her, "Oh by the way, my name's Keeko", he added then winked at her before jumping down the rocks, Aleu

did'nt like him knowing she could'nt hunt but also did'nt know if she was to do anything about his attitude or not being

the alpha, she shook her head and lay down, she was beginning to get a headache with everything that had happened

and felt sad that she had'nt had the chance to say goodbye to her mother before she left for her new life as a wolf, she

was'nt sure what her mother would think of her leaving with a wolf pack, the more Aleu thought of her parents the more

she felt home sick, living with the wolf pack was'nt everything she thought it'd be, it was harder than it looked before and

she felt more tired than she ever had before, she closed her eyes and sighed before falling asleep.

Next morning when Aleu woke up most of the wolves were chilling out while some where play fighting, all felt relaxed

not needing to hunt after the big meal the day before, Aleu remembered Keeko and his offer and decided to go see if

he'd be able to help her learn to hunt at all, she climbed up the rocks and wandered into the forest, not far in she saw the

small clearing and went towards it. When she got there she saw Keeko with what looked like a dead caribou fawn,

"Good morning princess, feeling lucky today?", he teased as she approached him,

"Hmf, how do you reckon you can help me anyway?", Aleu grumbled,

"Same way all wolves learn, practice", he answered with a smile, as he stood up the fawn moved slightly, he pinned

it down with his paw,

"Catch this princess", he grinned as he released the fawn, it ran away and Aleu chased it, she tried to trip it up but

failed and then tried leaping on it but failed again, she tried for ages but could'nt catch it, after watching her Keeko

intervined and stopped the fawn, he pinned it to the ground and explained to Aleu about the basics of hunting, she then

tried again and kept trying until late in the day, Aleu and Keeko walked back to the ridge together, they went the long way

along the edge of the ridge to the end then back to their spot, as they wandered back they laughed together, during the

day they had talked a lot and Aleu had grown fond of him. When they arrived back at the pack's area of the ridge Aleu

climbed back her cave whilst Keeko clambered up onto a large rock, the rock was almost at the same height as Aleu's

cave and Keeko watched her lay down, she lay with her back towards his rock and he sighed as he watched her, he'd

really gotten to like her during the day and hoped he would get the chance to spend the next day alone with her but the

pack might be hungry by then, he could only hope. Aleu knew he was looking at her but did'nt turn around, she quite

liked the attention after missing her family and friends so much, she was tired after her day of practice and fell asleep.

Keeko wished she had'nt though, he wanted to go and see her when all the others were asleep but did'nt want to wake

her up, instead he stood outside her cave and looked at her for a while before jumping down to a rock just below her

cave to sleep.

In the morning the pack was indeed hungry and everyone left to go hunting, once again they split into two groups, to

Keeko's disappointment he'd ended up in the opposite group to Aleu. Both groups went off in search of food, Aleu led

her group further away than before and without knowing wandered into another wolf pack's territory,

"This place is a mess, it's almost a wasteland, I don't think we'll find any food here boss", one wolf exclaimed, Aleu

nodded and turned around, as they headed back the rival wolf pack caught their scent and ran to confront them, the

rivals leapt off a small hill straight into Aleu's group and took them by surprise, the rivals were skinny but aggressive

and knew how to fight, Aleu was stunned and did'nt have the time to react, the rivals fought with her group but not many

had come with Aleu and they were surprised by the attackers. Aleu froze and just stood watching her pack being killed,

the other group heard the yelps of the other group and ran to their aid. When the other group arrived they attacked the

rivals with a great deal of force killing some whilst the others ran off, the rivals were no match for the whole pack. After

the melee' the pack members could'nt believe what had happened,

"Why did this happen?", one of the wolves questioned Aleu, she did'nt know what to say and stuttered,

"You are supposed to be our leader, they were in your charge!", another wolf growled at Aleu, she did'nt know what to say

or do and hung her head low,

"It was just a mistake, I did'nt know this was their territory I...", Aleu tried to explain,

"A mistake?, huh, that was a very grave mistake then, you're no leader!", the wolf spat at her, the pack turned and left for

the ridge, Aleu ran off.

Keeko was worried about Aleu and went to find her, he soon caught her scent and ran after it. He followed the scent to the

top of the cliff above where the pack had arrived, Aleu was sat looking out at the sea, Keeko walked up to her and sat beside

her, when he got there he could see she was crying, he wiped away a tear from her face with his paw,

"Don't cry princess, it was'nt your fault", he tried to reassure her,

"Yes it was, I led them there, I did'nt help, it was all my fault", she sobbed, Keeko shuffled closer to her and rested his head on

hers, gently nuzzling her as he did, Aleu sniffed and rubbed her head against his chest,

"You'll be fine princess", Keeko whispered to her, Aleu smiled,

"Thank you", she answered,

"Well, that's what you do for someone you...er...well, you know", he stammered,

"Someone you what?", Aleu asked not quite catching onto what he was trying to say,

"Someone you........someone you love", Keeko finally admitted, Aleu felt a bit stunned by what he said but felt the same,

"I love you too", she smiled nuzzling him, Keeko smiled and nuzzled her back. They both sat cuddlling each other until sunset,

"Come on princess, we should go back now", Keeko encouraged, Aleu sighed,

"It's OK, I'll be right by your side the whole way I promise", he reassured her, she followed him back to the

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