I was shook awake by Jonah. I got up and saw that Mathew, Joseph, Harold and Elizabeth were already up. Great. I'm going to have to work with that guy? I groaned and dressed myself. I headed out to see if my father was still in the camp. I was lucky and found him sitting outside his den. He was talking with one of the elders. I sat beside him and waited for my father to turn his attention to me.

"Thank you on your wise council Seisal. You always were smarter than most wolves." He bowed his head to the elder and turned to me. "What do you wish Tyler?"

"I was wondering." He nodded for me to continue. "I am going on the Dawn Patrol but I wonder if you might replace Harold on the Dawn Patrol. He and I don't get along well and if he went with us then it would be more of a difficult task to accomplish."

"No I will not replace Harold. Excuse me Seisal. Follow me Tyler." He got up and went inside his den. I waited outside for permission to enter and he called for me. "Tyler get in here!" I went in and sat down at his table and waited for him to continue. "I will not replace him on the patrol. You will need to learn to deal with him because there are more people like him in this world. We are here to teach each other. I wish I could show Harold the right way but he is not my child. His parents raised him to be like that. Some people you cannot change what they believe. I believe that Harold will help you in becoming an Alpha. The best that there has ever been."

"I believe that Harold will be the death of me if I become Alpha. Do you know how many fights he starts because he 'likes the way his enemies' blood tastes.' And I quoted him on that. I heard him talking to the others as I –"

"I demand that you go out there and go on the patrol and don't speak to me about this again today. I do not approve of eavesdropping Tyler. You will do well to learn that." I bowed and left his den, heading over to where my friends were eating. I took a hare from the food pile and sat by Joseph.

"You try and talk your way out of the patrol?"

"No. I tried to talk Harold's way off the patrol. I don't need him starting a battle with the Shitanais. Do you realize that Shane could be on their patrol? He also likes battle."

"Well their both dumb as—"

"Don't say it. As an adult you are supposed to be perfect like the Alpha and his kid."

"Which took years of practice. The only problem I have is sometimes I 'act like a child' and the other is Harold himself. Anyone have any ideas on how to deal with such a person?"

"It is time you went on patrol." Jonah said and I was only half done eating. I tried to finish up but the others, Harold and Elizabeth especially, were getting up to go on the patrol. I took one last bite before standing up. The reason we eat raw meat is because it makes us rough and tough even if we aren't werewolf form.

I caught up to them and they were waiting for me. For some reason, Father was having the ones who went on the patrol with me let me lead, a teaching for when I become Alpha? At least I got to say who is in charge of what but that is hard in itself. I led them out of the camp and to one end of the border. The one we shared with the Clopstans. They were nice except for when challenged. I have yet to come across any Harold's in their clan. We marked our territory by rubbing against the trees and then moved on to mark our borders.

When we reached the Shiatanai border however we were met by Shane and three others. "Why do I smell Akatai scent across our borders?" Shane asked. I sniffed and found that what he said was true. It was different scents however. One was Niklaus, three others that DID belong to the clan. Of course he wouldn't know. Niklaus and his two friends wander around in every part of the woods. The trouble was no one could discern the difference between the two. The others were Atticus, Ranael and Gerald. I would have to get on to them later.

"I smell more human than werewolf. I agree that yesterday some of our werewolves crossed your borders and I promise it will never happen again."

"What do you call this NEW scent?" He pointed at one of the stupid trees. I could not answer the question because I could tell by the way the scent was positioned that Niklaus had been pushed against the tree by one of his play mates. I couldn't possibly tell them that. They had been playing, racing maybe. I stared at him.

"That would not be a scent marking. That was just one of the village children at play."

"And they smell like you?"

"What do you mean?"

"I demand that you give us compensation for this act!"

"Well I demand you get off your high horse and realize that there is villager scents on it too. Within the scent."

"Why you bloody idiot. I will tell Jerome about this!"

"What? You afraid to face us yourselves?" Harold asked.

Then I heard Shane growl. "Attack!"

They all rushed forward. I was going to have to fight. I rushed at Shane and shoved him off of Elizabeth, who had been losing the fight and punched him in the jaw to get him to pay attention to me. He tried to upper cut me but I dodged just in time to kick his abdomen. He groaned in pain and then one of the other Shitanais came at me. He managed to back hand me away from Shane and he tackled me to the ground and began to pummel me with punches to my face and this time Joseph smashed the man away from me and growled at him. I saw that two of the Shitanais had left but Shane was easily taking down Harold. I rushed over to flip him over and banged his head against a tree. He shouted to the other one who was taking Joseph and Mathew. "Retreat! We'll get these backstabbing bastards later!"

"And when you do I'll be waiting for you!" Harold jeered after them. I looked to the others and saw that Elizabeth was bruised on her leg. She would need to see Jacob. I glared at Harold and helped him up.

"Did you really have to start that? Elizabeth is bruised because of your mouth. You almost lost yourself. You realize he could have killed you?"

The others stared at me. "And who are you? Ishaan?" Harold laughed. "If you can't tell we won."

"Yes we did but we wouldn't have to 'win' if you didn't open your big mouth Harold. Come on. Let's keep moving. We have territory to cover."

"Whose scent was that anyway? If you remember I did help you defend it."

"I have no clue what you mean but if you didn't notice, your own DAUGHTER crossed the border as well."

"Yes and I will deal with her as soon as we get home."

"Yeah well good luck. She probably takes after you." I said and we marked the rest of our territory. We headed home and Harold was still trying to make me give up the name of the scent. I didn't. I couldn't. It was Niklaus' secret to keep and throw away as he pleased, though hopefully not in front of Mikael. I couldn't imagine the consequences of that.

When we did get home I saw Harold head over to the teen den and he pulled out Ranael and they stood in the center of the camp. I went inside and found the other two. Gerald and Atticus. I pulled them out and I saw Harold spanking Ranael. I turned away to lead them to Ishaan.

I found him in his den. The children got quite nervous as I called his name and he came out.

"What is it Tyler? What do you want me to do with these children?"

"Are you aware that Ranael, Atticus and Gerald left camp today and crossed our borders into the Shitanai borders?"

"Is this true?"

They looked away and I knew it was time for me to leave. I wasn't comfortable watching children get punished for their misdeeds but they did need to learn. Had my son been in the clan though, I would have done exactly like Harold was doing. So I couldn't confront him about it but I could ask him what he was doing there.

I headed over to Elizabeth, who had started bleeding in her arm, and talked to her. "You should go see Jacob and Florence."

"No I'm fine. Really."

"No I insist."

"No Tyler. I said I was fine."

"Then I'll go get them."

"Take one step in there and I swear I will beat you to a pulp in your sleep." I began to laugh but didn't go over to the den. Instead I followed Florences' voice to the inoperative den. That is where all the pregnant people were headquartered at. I followed him inside and found the women who were either pregnant or nursing. I smiled at all the activities going on. Children always made me happy. I walked over to Florence.

"Hey Florence."

"Hello Tyler."

"What are you doing?"

"This woman is about to give birth and we have another woman coming in. The good thing is we have one woman leaving. She has a child at the age of four. I feel sorry for the women. But the good thing is when the babies stop breast feeding and begin to feed on real food like meat and drink water, which happens about the age of two the women can go out and hunt or a stroll. Even before then if the baby has opened its eyes the woman can go out but not that often. It's a good thing that we only have about twelve women in here."

"Well the more the merrier I believe. The birth of a new wolf means the birth of more warriors to fight for this clan. I think we need more every day."

"It's a good thing that we ever have people dying. Though if we do need extra help the elders are always raring for something to do. Okay now what was on your mind really? I know that you don't come looking for us unless you need a favor or some ones hurt. Which is it?"

"Elizabeth is bleeding. We got in a fight at the Shitanai border because of –"

"You don't blame other warriors Tyler. You should know this. How bad is she bleeding? I'm trying to convince this little to come out but it could wait if she's in danger."

"Well then we got in a fight and she's bleeding, not that bad. Why don't you care for her and I'll try my luck with the kid?"

"Well I have been trying for over an hour so I could use a break. But hurry because we have a new woman coming in."

I turned to the kid. She was only four and her mother had already left on a hunting patrol. I leaned down to her level. "Hey darling. What's your name?"

"Angelica." She said and giggled. I smiled at her.

"My names' Tyler. What you doing here?"

"Waiting for mommy to come back."

"But don't you want to play?"

"… Isn't Tylwer the nawme of Big Daddy?"

Big Daddy? Maybe she meant the Alpha? "Do you mean Ishaan? I'm sure he'd love to see that beautiful face of yours."

"No. Tylwer. The boy who had bonfire night."

"… I'm not the Alpha. I'm his kid."

"How old you?"

"I'm 38 years old." I answered. "So you wanna play a game with me?"

"I love gawmes."

"Well then whoever sees sunlight first wins." She got up and ran as fast as she could. I followed behind her. I saw Elizabeth still being tended to and she glared at me, I just smirked at her, declaring my victory. "You win." I told the girl. She saw the others playing and ran to join them. I watched to see that she had a good welcome into the fold. She did.

I headed out of the camp and found my way to the village. I watched as Niklaus shoved his friend to the ground. He was exhibiting some aggressive traits by now but since it wasn't the full moon I could be certain that he wouldn't kill them.

He looked up from helping his friend up to his feet and looked around. He caught his eye beside me and smiled. As if he thought he could see me. I backed up and waited for his reaction. His mouth moved and his friends headed out to get their horses. He headed to where he thought where I was and he realized I was there. He looked around and then he quickly walked over.

"Father how are you? How did the night go?" he asked and embraced me. I returned the hug and then led him to a clearing outside of the camp but in our borders.

"It was great. I however wanted to ask you a question."

"Sure."

"What were you and your friends doing in the forest?"

"What? What do you mean?"

"I found your scent against a tree, did you get shoved or were you playing?"

"I was playing with my friends. Why?"

"It is dangerous in these woods. There are other wolves besides us. I need you to be careful."

"I'm sorry. I promise not to get in danger. We play in the woods every day."

"Why?"

"…."

"Niklaus… answer me."

"To spite our parents."

"Well that is unacceptable behavior."

"Okay I promise we'll stop." I ruffled hi hair, happy he would make a promise like that."

So I headed back to camp and was met with another patrol, the Noon Patrol. This time my father was leading it. I smiled at him as we passed each other and headed back to my den to get some rest. Since most of the adults were gone out of camp anyway.