Title: Part of the Pack

Summary: Wolf's rivalry with Fox started long before they actually met. There wasn't any one event that turned Wolf into the man he was when he met Fox. It could have been his oppressed childhood; his rivalry with James; the loss of his eye; his service to Andross. Only one thing is for certain; no one knows what the future will hold.

A/N: This is the story of Wolf's past and how his rivalry with Fox started. It also delves a bit into the near future. Well, if it gets that far. Lol. Have fun.

Chapter One

"Wolf! Come here right now," Serena snarled at the young wolf pup playing not far from the home where his family lived. They didn't live in the city like the rest of the people. Instead, they lived just outside, on the outskirts, where they didn't have to deal with as many of other peoples' rules. His was a family that liked their own rules and wouldn't settle for what others told them to do.

Wolf looked over his grey furred shoulder at his mother who was angrily beckoning to him. His brothers and sisters had gone inside ages ago when they had been told. Their father, the Alpha Male of the pack, had called them personally. He was a real tough customer, not taking any gruff from anyone, not even his own children. He was the boss and what he said was law. The only person who held anywhere as near as much power as Grane, Wolf's father, was Serena, his wife and the Alpha Female. Of course, even she had to listen to what he said.

After a moments hesitation, Wolf began to walk sullenly back to his house and scowling mother. He knew she would be furious with him for disobeying. Even though he knew the rules, he couldn't help but be defiant. He didn't see why he should have to listen to someone else. His father didn't have to, and eventually his eldest brother, Jace, wouldn't have to either, because he would be Alpha Male after his father died.

Stalking past Serena, Wolf sat down at the table with the rest of his family. Grane barely paid him any attention; he never did. Jace however sneered at him along with his second oldest sister Fio. He didn't like her very much. She may be older than him but he was stronger. In his mind, that meant he was better than her.

Jace was a jerk too. He was twelve years of age, putting him seven years ahead of Wolf's five years of age. Just because he would eventually be the Alpha Male and was the favorite of Grane he bossed all the other pups around.

As Wolf picked sulkily at his food he couldn't help but wonder what life would be like once Grane died and Jace took over. Even though Wolf was young he had no problem with death. It was something that happened, a part of life. It could happen because of some natural occurrence, or something environmental. Death could also be caused by something you did to yourself, or by something someone else did. Sometimes death could be messy, but that didn't bother him; he liked the colour red.

Wolf's appetite had deserted him but he wasn't allowed to leave the table until his father was done his meal. On the subject of Jace being leader, that made him shudder inside. If anything, he would be worse than Grane. His father was indifferent towards him and the rest of his siblings – with the exception of Jace – and he was very stern, though not overly harsh, most of the time. Jace was like Grane except far extreme. He was indifferent to the point of pretending that other's didn't exist, or only existed for him. Where Grane was stern, Jace was cruel. Wolf couldn't count all the times that his eldest brother had bullied him and tried to beat on him. Every time it made him seethe with anger. What made that damned pup so much better than him?

Out of the corner of his eye Wolf saw Grane leave the table. Wolf immediately got up from the table and left as well. He left without a word to his mother went outside again. Jace and Fio followed him out the door and even though he heard them clearly he didn't try and dissuade them. For one, his father would probably hear about it and get mad at him for treating Jace badly. Secondly, no matter how much it irked him, Wolf knew that nothing he could do would intimidate them.

"Hey, Wolfie," Jace jeered. "Having fun alone again?"

"Yes, I am," Wolf replied coolly.

"You made dad mad again Wolfie." Fio spoke this time. God, how he hated that nickname. "He's gonna chew you out."

"Father won't chew me out," Wolf countered. He mentioned his father with little warmth. "That would make me individual. The only one of us that is an individual here is Jace." He felt his ear twitch as he said that. He had just acknowledged that Jace was treated better than the rest of them.

"Well I'm—"

Wolf cut Fio off. "Even you, Fio. To him, your just another member of the pack." He could hear the snarl growing in Fio's throat. She knew all the rules and obeyed them and what he had just said was nothing new to her but it annoyed her to hear it coming out of Wolf's mouth.

Serena appeared behind the two older pups and placed a paw on each of their shoulders. "You two go inside now. Oh, and Jace. Your father wants to see you."

"Yes mom," they said in unison and turned around and headed back inside. Wolf glared at their backs as they retreated inside. He wanted so badly to be rid of them, but he knew that was a far fetched wish. After a moment he returned his gaze to his mother.

"What was that about earlier today?" she asked. She softened her tone slightly but it remained stern.

"I lost track of what I was doing," he lied.

"No, you didn't." Serena sighed and knelt down in front of him. "This isn't the first time you've acted like this," she said. "Why are you so defiant?"

"I'm not." He knew full well that he was but what was the use of admitting it to his mother. She would just try to get to the bottom of his actions and try to fix him. Wolf didn't need fixing.

"Yes, you are." She was more stern now. "This is no way to act, Wolf. You are a part of this family and you have to act like it."

Wolf's temper finally snapped. "I know that I'm part of this family! I know that's all I am to you, to father, to everyone! Jace is the only one that is treated special and that's only because he's gonna be Alpha Male when dad croaks."

Serena cuffed Wolf sharply behind his ear. "Watch your tongue." Her eyes were narrowed dangerously. Speaking against Grane was next to blasphemy. Wolf rubbed the sore spot on his head and glowered at her. He knew that if he didn't watch his words now he would be in for a lot more than a simple cuff on the ear.

"You are a member of a pack, Wolf." Serena continued. "It is who you are, it is what you are. It's about time you get used to it." She stood up quickly and walked back to the open doorway. "Be in bed by the time the sun sets," she called back to him before closing the door.

When he was sure no one was watching Wolf snarled and plunged his claws into the dirt in fury. He hated it here! He was no one, undefined, just a face in the crowd, and he hated it. What made Jace and Grane so special? Just because someone says he's someone special suddenly he's the next-best-thing to god. They weren't born special, nothing happened to them when they were young. They were just like him in every way except in the way they were regarded. Well he'd show them. Someday he'd be better than any stinking Alpha Male, and he wouldn't even need a pack.

Suddenly claws were digging into his shoulders and hauling him from the ground. Wolf would have cried out from the pain except he was stronger than that. He was spun around and found himself facing Grane's flaming eyes. Wolf didn't look away but he felt his tail sag and his ears begin to press flat to his head. It happened to him naturally, not because he told himself to do it. Despite what he was thinking earlier, Grane could be vicious when he wanted to be.

"You disrespected me today," Grane said finally.

"I'm sorry," Wolf replied solemnly.

Grane studied him quietly for a moment, his eyes fierce and unblinking. "No," he said finally. "No, you're not."

This time Wolf didn't say anything. His father was right. He wasn't really sorry and he should have known better than to lie to him. Grane was like a living polygraph.

"I don't understand you Wolf," Grane said. "You were born from the same mother as everyone else and yet you refuse to act like them. You are the same as them Wolf."

Not trusting himself to speak, he said nothing. If he said something, he would either lie and get caught or he would say something stupid and get raked across the face with his father's claws. Though the words he had spoken were mild, there was a definite undertone of malice. Then there was the fact that his father still had his claws embedded in his shoulder.

"If you don't start acting as part of the pack then you will be punished. Not matter how much you want to be you are not an individual here. You are a small part of a bigger picture."

Wolf was writhing inside. What his father had just said was one of the things that bothered him the most. Grane slowly withdrew his claws from his son's shoulder and stood. He glared down at his youngest son for a moment before speaking to him. "This will not happen again." Then he turned around and returned to the house.

After a moment Wolf's hand strayed to his shoulder where he felt the slick wetness of his own blood. There wasn't much, but the fact still remained that his father had drawn blood from his own son. Of course it didn't surprise him. It was one of the rules of the pack.

He looked up to the sky and saw a StarFighter shoot by. For some reason he was drawn to it. Up in space he was totally alone with no one to depend on but himself when it came down to it. Up there just because someone said something didn't make them special. There all that mattered was how strong and skillful you were.

Looking back to his house, Wolf scowled. He vowed that one day he would leave this dump behind and would take to space where he would prove he didn't have to be part of a pack.