Odin shut his mouth and puffed out his chest.

            “Watch and learn my friend!” he drawled, tail twitching.

Everest sat down, trying not to laugh. Odin lowered himself to the ground and snuck over to the water’s edge.

            “They have super sensitive hearing” Odin whispered. “But if they can’t see or hear me…”

Odin flew through the air and into the water.

“You’ll still catch nothing” Everest supplied when a disappointed Odin came shivering out of the water.

They attempted trying to catch a fish for most of the morning until Odin managed to catch a small one… only to have it be stolen by a bear cub a few moments later.

            “THAT’SMY FISH YOU STUPID, SMELLY..!” Odin roared.

“Odin, you might not want to-.”

Odin skit to a halt when the cub galloped behind its mother.

            “You have a very…” Odin gulped. “…cute cub! Don’t let me use up you’re quality time together, heh heh, EVEREST!”

The bear roared, but Odin was long gone.

“You just had to yell at the bear cub didn’t you?!” Everest panted as they sprinted away.

Odin glanced over his shoulder and stopped.

            “I think we lost em!”

“I think we found someone else…”

Everest and Odin were surrounded by a pack of wolves. There was no way out…

Chapter III

            Everest and Odin silently followed their captors back, unsure of what was going to happen to them. Noticing the similar colors, Everest could bet that this was an actual pack. Not some little bachelor group trying to hold out some territory. All the wolves that surrounded them all were the same shades of brown with white stomachs, but not two had the same markings. A few yearlings, younger then Everest and Odin played among the pine trees until they spotted the procession. Then they tagged along, curious about the visitors. Finally, the small group reached a larger one, making it a huge pack, maybe as big as the Ublureak. There they stopped, until the largest wolf stepped forward. He was the darkest, had grey hairs woven into his muzzle and carried the same respect that reminded Everest of Chief. The leader’s eyes passed over Odin but rested on Everest. Everest returned the stare, curiously noticing a flicker in the leader’s eye.

Do I know him? Everest thought.

                        “Welcome to the Aklark Pack” the leader greeted warmly. “I am Cedar, the leader of this pack and you may stay here as long as you’d like”

Odin let a sigh of relief rush out of him, making the Aklark wolves closest to him laugh.

            “I thought you were gonna eat us or something!”

But Everest concentrated on the leader, wracking his brain for any memories that had slipped away.

                        “I’m sure you’re hungry?” Cedar asked.

            “You have no idea!” Odin said dramatically, “We’ve been trying to catch fish all day until a stupid bear stole it when we finally caught one”

A few wolves brought Odin to some leftover food, but Everest hung back.

“Do I know you?” Everest asked unsurely.

Cedar shook his head.

                        “But you’re almost the spitting image of your father”

The chocolate colored wolf turned and left, leaving Everest in a state of shock. No one had ever talked about his father!

            “Everest! Aren’t you going to eat!?”

Everest snapped out of his thoughts and glanced at Odin.

            “Hurry up before I eat it all! And guess what! You don’t have to dive into frozen water and worry about not catching it” the sandy wolf laughed.

Everest glanced after Cedar, but his stomach pulled him over to the leftover food, leaving his mind spinning. The yearlings that were following, curious as ever, came forward, tails wagging.

                        “Where’d you guys come from?” the boldest asked curiously.

“The Ublureak” Everest said, swallowing a mouthful before he spoke. Then thinking thoughtfully added, “But I’m not sure what happened before we left”

                        “What happened?!” the lightest pup, a female squeaked.

“They came after us, like we did something really wrong. And some wolf named Hiatus was in charge” Everest explained thoughtfully.

                        “Hiatus?” the quietest, a young male with brown eye patches, legs and tail asked suddenly.

Everest nodded.

                        “You might want to come with me then, if you’ve eaten enough”

Everest nodded and Odin shoved down a final mouthful then followed Everest happily.

                        “I’m Will by the way” the young wolf added.

“Everest. And that’s Odin”

                        “Hiatus isn’t good” Will explained. “I think you need to talk to my dad… when Hiatus came here the last time, he was trying to get us to help in this insane plan of his”

            As soon as the dark chocolate leader came into site, Will broke into a jog.

                        “Dad! Everest has some bad news!”

Cedar looked at Everest with a troubled face.

“Do you know anything about a wolf named Hiatus?”

Cedar’s face grew dark.

            “Why?” Cedar growled gravely.

“Odin and I heard him talking and he seemed like he was in charge” Everest shrugged.

            “Don’t go back there” Cedar ordered. “Hiatus thinks that he can change the packs around here for the better. If he gets the power he wants, he’ll destroy everything that your father worked for”

“What should I do then?!”

            “Stay here. If Hiatus really is back at your pack, your leader is dead. Chief would have known better then to let some youngster like Hiatus try to lead”

“No…” Everest said, a horrible feeling growing in his stomach. “Chief isn’t dead! I probably… just heard the name wrong”

With that Everest whipped around and hurried off, refusing to believe that anything would have happened to his adopted father.

            Over the next few weeks, Everest and Odin spent their time as part of the Aklark pack. Will especially became good friends with the two, and Everest taught him a few things that he had learned from Chief. However, just when Everest and Odin had become accustomed to Aklark life, scouts rushed back to the pack, announcing that there were intruders in the territory. Cedar called the pack together and like the day that Everest and Odin had arrived, the whole pack waited in front of the den. Everest, Odin and Will stayed at the front, curious about who was coming. Gentle snow only made the newcomers silhouettes as they approached but as they got closer, Everest could make out a large white wolf with half closed yellow eyes and grey ears, paws and tipped tail. Everest didn’t recognize him, but Cedar stiffened and Will shuddered. As the group came closer, Everest could make out Arrow, Wave, Echo and Ice. Chief wasn’t with them.

            “Hiatus” Cedar started agitated. “We have already spoken about this. Having a pack doesn’t change a thing”

            Hiatus and the Ublureak came to a halt and although Hiatus talked to Cedar, his yellow eyes only stayed on