Chapter 1

The young wolf pup opened her eyes to her four brothers and sisters surrounding her in the den. She was the youngest of two older sisters, and two older brothers. They were several weeks old and had yet to receive their names. They called each other older sister, older brother, middle sister, middle brother, and she was little sister.

They all figured that she was weak being the youngest of the litter and one of them always stayed close to her for safety. And they all slept around her for maximum protection. She never ate any meat the older pack members brought her either. She figured it was gross to eat pre-digested meat up-chucked by the other wolves. So she found a berry bush and would eat the berries from the bush, then thank her ancestors for her life.

She loved the old ways of the wolf, but as the new humans came chasing the older ones off, they began to lose those ways in order to survive. She always looked forward to the elder wolves stories of the old ways, but most of the time they just talked about battles between other packs. As if she wasn't ready for hearing the old ways.

But that was going to change. She was about to finally start life at its fullest. She would receive her name from her pack mates and begin to train in the ways of battle. But she wasn't looking forward to hunting. Those animals have just the same right of being on the mountain as the packs. She had herd from the elder wolves that there is a long lost pack of wolves that did not kill the female or young prey. Their main food was off of recently killed animals, usually from natural deaths that cannot hurt the wolves if they eat the remains.

She also heard that some decedents could speak with the dear and the moose. Those decedents now live spread through the five packs of the mountain.

She was so excited to get her name that she got up and slowly began to lift her paw over middle brother. But suddenly big brother got up and darted in front of her. He was the second oldest – next to big sister – and a huge know-it-all. Or is that middle brother? She could never tell. Their dark brown pelts looked the same to her.

"Where are you going?" he asked bouncing up and down on his paws, "You know we're not aloud to leave the den until Leaf, Twig or Stump come to get us. And even so you can't leave unless one of us comes with you. And alone you would need all of us."

Big sister stretched awake behind them, "You know I don't think 'Leaf' or 'Twig' will mind if you call them 'mom' and 'dad'."

"Well it's their proper pack names," middle brother joined the argument beneath her, "So as the leaders they should be addressed as such."

"Their proper names are 'Leaf on Twig' and 'Twig that bears Leaf"," said middle sister.

"Only when they became mates. I don't think anyone remembers what their original names are," remarked big brother.

Now all of them were talking at the same time and she was almost to the main entrance room on the den. She slowly backed into the clearing and into a small hole only she can fit into.

"Is all they do fight?" she wondered out loud, "Maybe they'll get named after the noisy woodpeckers."

A shadow fell over the room and her mother walked over and sniffed the hole, "Come on out," she said in a sweet voice, "I know you're in there."

The young pup licked her mother's muzzle and climbed out of the hole, "Hi mom! Do we get our names now?"

Leaf looked at the sun that was high up in the sky now, "It is time."

"Yah!" her tail shot up in the air and she called to her still bickering litter mates, "Come on dudes! It's time! It's time!"

They all looked over and ran toward the entrance. They would have toppled her over if Leaf hadn't picked her up. She had thick almost white brown fur, but her fur fell out at the thought of being up high.

Middle sister came running back when her mother set her down, "Come on sis! Let's go! We have names to receive! And a pack to greet!"

Her sister was the closest to her. She also liked the old ways, and they planned on returning them to the pack. Middle sister was the only black pup in the litter. She also had a white spot on her chest. The rest of the litter was a darker little sister.

The pups emerged from the den and looked up at the large rock in the center of the clearing. On top was the same dark pelted wolf as Big and Middle brother. It was their father Twig. Twig and leaf actually parented almost all the living members of the pack. All the others had joined their ancestors in the havens.

It was time to receive her place in the pack.