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Buck did a quick tour of the rest of the territory, not going far off the trail and right after the sun had set, they arrived back at the den. KC was already curled up outside the den, next to her uncle Yukon, who was still awake and calmly watched over the relaxed pack. Kaya must have already returned... and gone to sleep with the two pups.
"You must be tired..." Buck said in a quiet voice. "You can sleep outside here. I'd offer you the den but Kaya probably isn't in a very sharing mood"
While Charcoal settled down, Buck turned to see Nukka, Boulder and Xenia returning from scouting. Buck nodded to them and motioned for Kanut, one of the older white wolves or the pack, to follow.
"I'll be back by morning" Buck said to Charcoal. "Good night"

Charcoal loved looking over the rest of the territory and had become very worn out from all the sloped terrain. When they had gotten back, she smiled when seeing KC fast asleep. KC deserved a good rest after getting her all this way. Charcoal was in dept to KC big time. When Buck mentioned Kaya not sharing the den, Charcoal nodded, understanding the fact that for now, she was an outsider that just happened to be related to Buck. She walked over to KC's side and laid down, making sure to get as comfortable as possible. She grinned at Buck as he said his goodnight, "Goodnight Buck. Ill see you in the morning." Charcoal snuggled up to KC and closed her eyes. She soon drifted off into a light sleep.

The next morning, the pack was abruptly woken up by Buck and Kanut, returning from scouting with tufts or hair sticking up and covered in cuts. But neither seemed tired or hurt at all. Kanut followed his younger leader with his unusual calm and quiet like he always had. But Buck was furious. Yukon was the first to his feet and KC scrambled up as well, bumping into Charcoal as she did.
"No respect for territory lines!" Buck managed to sputter to Yukon. "They just came out of no where!"
Kaya, hearing her mate's yelling, popped out of the den.
"What's going on?!"

Charcoal was awakened by both KC's bump and Buck's shouting. She gasped when she finally realized that her father was covered in scratches. She took a moment to take in what was going on then finally asked the same thing everyone else had, "What happened Buck?" She tilted her head slightly.

Kanut sat still, face emotionless and Buck shook off, trying to get his fur to even out again.
"It was one of those rogue groups" Buck growled, looking from face to face while Yukon checked him over for any serious injuries. "I'm fine Yukon, give it a rest!"
Yukon shook his head and sighed.
"They weren't even sneaking around, they just kinda walked out. There were four or five of them. We told them to leave and they just attacked us"
Yukon raised an eyebrow. "So more scouts then?"
"Oh yes" Buck nodded. "Watch out for the north-west though... that's where they came from"

Charcoal listened intently to everyone as they spoke. Her ears twitched when Yukon suggested more scouts. Maybe she could help out with scouting and earn her keep. Charcoal finally spoke up, “Um, do you think I could help out with some scouting?” Her eyes locked on Buck.

Buck studied his daughter skeptically but eventually nodded.
"You can scout with Yukon" Buck said, glancing out of the corner of his eyes at Yukon. Yukon nodded but it was clear he seemed at bit uneasy with the idea. "You guys can take the east territory line"
Yukon nodded again and started off down the trail that Buck and Charcoal had taken the day before, knowing that the hybrid would be right behind him.

Charcoal smiled thanks to Buck then quickly followed after Yukon. She made it up to his side then found her pace. Most of the pack members were probably skeptic about the idea of her doing a wolf's job, but she had ever intention of showing them she could do whatever they could. Her gaze wandered as her and Yukon walked the trail. She looked to her side and looked at everything she had seen move. Charcoal was on complete alert, although she might not have had to be.

Yukon was utterly silent. Not because he doubted Charcoal, after all, he was the exact same breed Charcoal was. But he was never really a talker anyway. Just as they had reached the bottom of the trail, Yukon finally turned to talk to Charcoal.
"Okay, so this is the eastern border... it isn't very dangerous, but anyone can still sneak up on you from the woods, so just keep your guard up"

Charcoal nodded. She had been keeping her guard up ever since they had started out. It might have just been the puppy side of her, waiting to prove herself for no reason. As she thought about it, being on the safest border here probably wasnt going to amount to much action.

Yukon was thinking the same... of all the years that he'd scouted the territory, nothing bad had happened to this side. Wolves and dogs had entered through this territory numerous times but not one had been bad or threatening. He led Charcoal with the same quiet when he finally paused to stop, lift his nose and sample the air.
"I think we might have company" he said, a curious light in his eyes. "They smell familiar though..."

Charcoal sighed when she thought about not being able to do anything interesting while scouting. She hit a rock and watched it skip around on the path then stop when hitting the grass line. When Yukon had started to sniff the air, she emotionlessly watched him, but when he got a strange look on his face she started to get nervous. Well what do you mean it smells familiar? Where is it coming from?” Charcoal raised her guard and started to look around suspiciously, her head low.

"I don't know" Yukon replied, puzzled. "I've smelled te scent before but I can't place it"
He calmly scanned around them, squinting his eyes perking his ears. Finally, his eyes came to rest on a patch of bushes. No sound came from them, but Yukon knew something was coming from that direction.
"They're coming from there. They're trying to stay downwind... that usually means that they don't want us to know who they are" the red hybrid explained.