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Chris

He left when he was 16. Younger than he should have, or so everyone told him. His sisters protested the hell out of it. But he had to go. He just had to.

"You'll die out there, on your own." He still remembered the hollowed tone of the alpha's words. One last warning playacting as if he actually cared.

I'd rather that than stay. In his mind, Chris had growled the words back at him. In his mind, a lot of things had gone differently. On that day, he hadn't looked back. Not at his father, the alpha. Not at his sisters, Kate and Erin. Not at any of his denmates. He couldn't bare it. Without a word, he left.

Regret didn't catch him until a week later.

Then his family was all he could think about. Visions of home plagued his dreams, he mistook every wandering howl for one he recognized. Memories of his old pack chased him no matter how many miles he put between himself and that place. In the cities, when he strayed that far into human territory, he'd catch himself staring at every blonde he passed. They all looked like them. Like Erin, and Kate. Occasionally, even like his father. He was never sure if he felt relieved or panicked to see them.

Because all Chris could remember was the night before. The last time he spoke to them all.

"Come with me." He could still taste the words on his throat. "We can get out of here, all three of us.

"You want to leave the pack? That's…crazy!" Erin was almost offended at the suggestion.

"Crazy? What's crazy about it?" He thought she'd jump at the opportunity. Erin, wild Erin. Erin who was always picking fights. Erin who got sent home from school for talking back to teachers. Erin who took down a pack of coyotes single-handedly when dad was injured. Erin who everyone was sure was going to be the next alpha. Wild Erin.

"How about all of it?" She'd snapped back at him. "Chris, our entire lives our here. We can't pack up and leave just because you and Dad don't see eye to eye."

"What, like you two do?" Chris was exasperated.

"Just because we fight doesn't mean I want to leave him, or that I hate him."

"Doesn't mean you have to live with him either."

Erin snarled. "Chris you don't understand. We can't just leave! For fuck's sake Kate is pregnant! She needs this pack, she needs us. Don't you get it?"

"We'll find a new pack!" Chris shot back at her.

"Oh yeah? You really think we're gonna find a pack willing to accept three new members, four if we count her mate, just like that?"

"Well maybe!"

"No Chris, there's no maybe. It's too big of a risk." She barred her teeth at him. Though they were in human form at the moment, Chris couldn't help himself, he stepped back.

Nothing his submission, Erin froze, checking herself. Slowly, she retreated, lowering her voice until it was somewhere almost calm. "Look. I understand your resentment, really…I do. But we can't leave all this behind. This pack is our family, we have too much invested here to just walk away from it. If you really hate this place, fine, leave. But don't expect us to come with you."

"Erin…" He started to argue.

"I mean it." She'd snapped back at him. And Chris could tell she did.

At the time, he'd felt so angry, so betrayed. He practically turned on her, right then and there in the middle of their living room. How could she of all people be content to live like this? Chris knew how she felt about their father. He'd seen her grit her teeth more than once in his direction. But now that he was offering her a way out, she denied him. He had the gall to call her a coward.

Chris didn't realize until later how wrong he was. Erin wanted change just as much as he did. On that night, Erin had asked him to fight. It was a challenge, in her own way. If you hate it so much, stand up to him.

But he couldn't. Not against him. He wasn't alpha material. Not like her anyways.

Chris had always been bigger than the other wolves in his pack. His mother, when she was alive, insisted it meant he would grow up into some great hunter. Maybe even a leader. Chris didn't have the heart to tell her she was wrong. And he didn't have to stomach to stand up to his father and prove it to her ghost.

So he fled. Just like that, he ran without looking back.

For two years he was on the road, hitchhiking when he could, running in wolf form the rest of the time. He'd thought to head out to the desert, somewhere his golden fur would actually help him instead of hinder him. He didn't even make it to the border when he doubled back. He couldn't help himself, something in the mountains called to him.

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Chris was somewhere near Blackwood county when it happened. He'd been chasing down a rabbit, gray and speckled white, the first bit of good prey he'd seen in a while. He was caught up in the chase, one of the few liberties of being a free wolf of course being the whole free thing. No worrying about boundaries or subtly, about bringing enough home for the pack. There was just him, just the hunt.

Needless to say, he was less than prepared when another wolf came bursting out of the underbrush, and barreled straight into his side.

"Aaah!" Chris yelped as the wolf crashed into him, knocking him off course and pinning him to the ground. Though momentarily stunned, Chris recovered quickly, working his way out from under his assailant and leaping to his feet. In an instant his tail as in the air, lips drawn back into a snarl as he faced his challenger. Meanwhile, the wolf in question lay whimpering on the ground.

"Oww!" The wolf slowly brought himself to his feet. He was young, Chris noticed, somewhere around his own age, and had shaggy black fur and a thin, wiry frame. He seemed distracted; by the looks of it, the supposed attack had been hardly more than an accident.

In a moment Chris confirmed, as the wolf – seeing Chris in a dominant stance – immediately retreated.

"Oh…my god I'm so sorry." He pressed himself near to the ground, taking a submissive position. "I was just running…and then there was a rabbit and…" He smiled sheepishly.

Chris hesitated. He'd been expecting a fight. "What?"

"I was running and there was a rabbit and then you were there and then we crashed…" The wolf repeated evenly. "I'm really sorry bro."

"Bro?" Chris felt his snarl fade. Clearly, whoever this was, they mean didn't fight him.

"Yeh…bro." A hopeful look passed the black wolf's face.

Chris narrowed his eyes. Taking this opportunity, he approached the other wolf, circling him slowly and taking long whiffs. The younger wolf, still unsure himself, obliged. The wolf had the smell of a pack to him, Chris able to pick up at least one, no, two other distinct scents besides his own. And, by judge of action, Chris was fairly confident he was talking to their omega.

Somewhat relieved, Chris lowered his guard, stepping back from the young wolf calmly.

Seeing the tension had passed, the other wolf cautiously raised to a standing position. "Is that it? Are we good?"

"Um…yeah." Chris said awkwardly, stepping back a bit. In truth he was still getting used to the formality of the situation.

Over the years, he'd had no small number of encounters with other wolf packs. When he was young, Chris's father mostly handled things himself, though once or twice Chris had helped to wave through a stray that wandered into their territory.

After he left, he'd met all sorts of wolves: loners, hunters, pack wolves. Most treated him with the same level of caution, held him at a distance until he proved himself an ally or foe. The only exception previously was an old, graying loner who led him through Shade Pass a ways west. Besides that, Chris had often found himself on guard around other wolves, and they around him. But beyond his own pack's omega, this was actually his first time encountering a wolf lower in rank.

"What's your name kid?" Chris tried to play it cool, sizing up the younger wolf like he'd seen his father size up others passing through their own territory.

"Josh." The young wolf perked up a bit more. "What's your name?"

"Uh…I'm Chris." He lost his cool as soon as he found it.

"Alright Chris." Josh smiled. "Nice to meet you bro."

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When Josh first asked Chris to join his pack, Chris couldn't help himself. He laughed.

"Something wrong?" Matt, a jumpy young wolf with brown fur, asked defensively.

"No nothing." He chuckled. "This just, wasn't what I was expecting." He looked out over the gathered wolves.

Including Josh, there were three currently in his pack. Josh, as Chris had correctly presumed, was the omega. Though, at 20, he was in fact the oldest of the group. Matt was the youngest, and dead center of their picking order. Most surprising, however, was their alpha. Hardly older than he, she seemed a patient sort, with kind eyes and golden fur like him. He couldn't help himself, he was entranced.

"What were you expecting?" The alpha, Sam, turned her head inquisitively.

Not this. He almost said it out loud. For two years now he'd been looking for a pack, some place that felt right to him. Some place to call his own. And though werewolf packs were rare among the wilds, they weren't that rare. Josh's offer wasn't the first that had come Chris's way, not by a longhshot. But it was the first that mattered.

He'd seen a lot of different groups in passing. Groups that traveled with a lot of kids, groups that traveled with none. Groups who refused to let females be the alpha, groups where the entire group was composed of females. A lot were the same. A lot were like his father's. Where the picking order was everything and the alpha's word was law. Where the alpha was headstrong and confident or they were overthrown.

This was nothing like that, Chris could tell already.

When Josh brought him to Sam she hadn't sized him up. She wasn't looking for his angle, his weak spot. Besides some initial curiosity, she'd greeted him like family. Like a brother.

Chris chuckled to himself. They practically were a siblings, age-wise at least. They all were. They were just kids. Runaways. A collection of strays and remnants of other packs. Matt was proof enough Sam also didn't give a shit whether they were born or turned.

Nothing could be farther from his father's pack.

It was exactly what he'd been looking for.

"I don't know." He finally answered the alpha's question, turning to Sam cheerily. "But I like it."

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A/N: Idea sounding/concept help from marsellia-rose. Basically an au where they're all half-werewolf and join together in a wolf pack, and basically protect each other and become a giant family. There should be 8 in total when I'm done, one for each character.

...Eventually

Anyways thank you all for reading. See you in the next chapter!

P.S. Bonus points if you read this while listening to "Renegades" by X Ambassadors.

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