it, and caribou, eating grass in the open. Max and his pack hid in some bushes.

"Okay," a large black wolf began, who was the one that was leading the small group. "When I flick my tail, that's the signal to move out! And try to kill the biggest one."

Everyone nodded, and began to wait patiently.

Maxwell watched the black male's tail. He was panting with excitement. But as soon as you heard thunderous hooves pounding the ground, and the black wolf was going to flick his tail, a surprise was waiting for them.

One of the wolves, a female with golden pelt's eyes went huge. "What tha --- ?" Everyone gasped, as they heard more pounding hooves, but more like paws. They watched as unknown wolves passed them by, killing all of their caribou and chasing them around.

It was a rival pack of Maxwell and the Blue pack. Their rival pack was called the Red pack, and they were stealing Blue pack's prey!

"Hey!" the large black wolf yelled. "What are you doing?!"

One wolf from the other pack stopped, and glared over at the large black wolf, Maxwell, and the rest of Blue Pack. "Hunting, what does it look like?!" the other wolf snapped, and continued to help his pack kill their prey.

Max growled. The other wolf hit hsi nerve, badly, and he felt like killing and tearing one of his pack's rival apart.

The female with the gold pelt snarled angrily, and lunged at one of the rival wolves, and began to shred him.

The black male wolf growled, and looked at his fellow pack mates and Max. "Attack!" he ordered. He turned towards Red Pack, and charged, with Max and the other Blue Pack wolves following close behind.

Max jumped at a golden male wolf, but his rival caught site of him fast and quickly moved out of the way making Max hit the ground hard. Then the male wolf jumped on Maxwell's back and bit into his neck. Maxwell bucked the wolf off, making him hit the ground harder than he made Max did, which made the wolf cry loudly in pain, and wince. The wolf sure looked angry though. He yelled loudly and ran at Max. Maxwell dodged his attack. The wolf ran at him again, and he dodged his attack again.

"Hold still, I need to kill you!" the wolf snapped. Max didn't listen though. His eyes went really huge though when the wolf finally grabbed him by the neck. The wolf through him to the ground and held his grip tight. Maxwell struggled to get out. He couldn't though, and he knew it must've been his time now.

This is it, Max thought. This your final minute of saying good bye and leaving this cruel world...

Max closed his eyes and waited for himself to stop breathing, when he heard a loud howl, and felt something let go of him. He peeked one eye open, and saw all of the dogs in opposite directions, staring at something with there jaws open.

Chapter Two

He got up, and shook his pelt, opening his eyes. He looked up and saw Brayden glaring down upon them, then looking up at something. Max looked in his direction, and saw a very large black wolf staring right back at Blue pack and Brayden.

Max shivered at the size of this wolf. It was almost the size of a tiger! It smelt of Red pack sent too. She must be Red pack leader, Max guessed, still holding the powerful gaze.

"Lori, what is the meaning of this!" Brayden snarled. "Doesn't your pack know tihs is Blue pack's hunting grounds!"

"We have no choice, Brayden," Lori snarled back. "Our hunting grounds are scarce with food, and you've got more and healthier food, so I guess we'll have to hunt here."

"That's not our problem!" Dewayne, who was standing next to Maxwell growled. "All because you don't have any food in your territory doesn't mean you can go on someone else's turf and steal prey. You just ruined the perfect hunt for our rookie here!"

Maxwell gulped, when Dewayne pointed to him, and Lori looked directly at him. Oh no, what will he think of us! Maxwell thought. I knew I wasn't right to live here, all I do is just make the pack more embarrassed everyday...

Lori smirked and began to laugh. "Oh my gosh, Brayden, your as dumb as I thought!" She laughed harder. Her pack began to laugh along with her. Lori shushed the pack, and kept smiling at Brayden. "You accepted this young mutt into the pack!" The black male who was leading the hunting party stepped up. "He's not a dumb mutt, Lori," the male spoke up to him. "He's a Border Collie, a wolf killer!" Everyone in Red pack gasped, and Lori growled. "What!" Lori yelped out loudly. "What kind of nonsense is this!" Brayden glared at Lori. "Yes, just as Dara said, this is a wolf killer, and if any pack ever messes with us, we will use him," Brayden beamed proudly. "And I won't be ashamed of anyone who thinks I'm dumb for letting a 'dumb mutt' that you speak of in my pack. It's my choice, not any of yours, and this is what I chose. Besides, we had to look for more pack members before we died, and that was all my daughter, Ashlee could find, and I'm actually happy she found him." Max stared up at Brayden in surprise. He blinked at him, and didn't smile. Brayden didn't even look at him either, and wasn't smiling at all. Brayden kept holding his gaze on Lori.
  Lori glared right back at Brayden. "You'll pay for what you've done, Brayden. Not helping us." Lori turned to her pack, and ordered them to follow her, and leave the prey. Red pack nodded quickly, and they rushed to the other side of the field to a different forest. Blue pack began to pant with tiredness, as they picked up the dead caribou their rivals killed 'for them', and began to follow Brayden back to camp. Once they got there, Maxwell looked up as he saw Ashlee, and another wolf, a male, running right beside her. "Are you alright, Maxwell!" Ashlee yelped, nuzzling him in a friendly, worried way. "Cristian & I were so worried!" Max looked at Cristian, and back at Ashlee. "Don't worry, Ashlee, I'm alright. Tell you mate I am too." Ashlee rolled her eyes and pulled away from Maxwell. "Max, for the third time, Cristian's my brother," she laughed softly. Max smiled, wagging his tail. "Oh, sorry. I wonder why I keep thinking he's your mate." He winked at Cristian. "It's alright, Maxwell. I don't mind." Cristian just wagged his tail and smiled warmly at Max. Maxwell just nodded slowly, still smiling at him too. He looked over at Ashlee, who also smiled at him, and then walked away from her brother. She stopped and looked at Max, and flicked her tail for him to join. Max wagged his tail more, and ran over to Cristian & Ashlee, and they went for a small walk.   "C'mon, Maxwell, jump!" "But I don't want to! I'm too scared!" "C'mon, chicken! Water doesn't bite!" Maxwell looked irritated at Cristian & Ashlee, who were swimming around in the lake Max and Ashlee went to every day. "Water doesn't bite, Ashlee. You drowned in it, quit trying to make me look dumb." "Awe, Maxwell, c'mon!" Cristian encouraged. "The water's not too deep if your afraid of drowning, so that means you can't drown in it." Max whimpered and lowered his ears. He turned around and walked away. Ashlee and Cristian looked surprise. They looked at each other. They're ears pricked when they heard large padding, and they looked up. Max quickly jumped into the water, making a large wave crash over Ashlee and her younger brother. Max laughed at both of them as they began to pout. "Well chickens don't do that, do they, Cristian?" Maxwell laughed. Cristian just glared at him and spat some water out that was still in his mouth. Ashlee just laughed and began to splash her two male friends. Max and Cristian began to splash Ashlee back, and they began to have a water fight. Maxwell's ears pricked, when he heard padding outside. He looked up and saw Brayden sitting down on the dry land and staring down at them. "Max," Brayden began. "It's time for you training." Maxwell crawled out and walked over to Brayden. "Training for what?" Maxwell asked. "I thought I was done." Brayden raised a brow. "You got to train for your fighting." Maxwell's ears pricked. "Oh!" Maxwell nodded. "Okay." "Can we watch too, dad?" Ashlee asked, crawling out of the pool with Cristian crawling after her. "Sure," her father nodded. "We can use some company, or else it would have only been the two of us alone." Brayden smiled softly. He, Max, Cristian, & Ashlee got up, and they began to walk somewhere far from the lake and from the pack's camp. Brayden, Max, Ashlee, & Cristian finally found a spot, and  Brayden & Maxwell faced each other. "Alright, Cristian & I thought this up, like father and son, and this is what we are going to teach you first." Brayden looked at his son. "Son, would you like to be my example?" Brayden asked, smiling warmly. Cristian nodded. "My pleasure!" They both began to face each other. Brayden looked at Maxwell, and winked. "Now watch closely." Brayden leaped into the air, twisting as he landed so that he was facing his opponent. He managed to land a blow on Cristian's haunches before he scrambled around to face him. Cristian sprang at him, and Brayden launched himself forward, slipping underneath his with his belly brushing the ground. Hooking his hind legs out from under him, he planted his forepaws on Cristian's bell as he rolled over. Brayden got up and looked over at Maxwell. "Now you try with me!" he barked. Max gulped in nervousness. He was a little frightened that he would screw up, or maybe hurt him bad, but if that's what his leader wanted, then that's