Forgot to mention something in the summary chapter. READ THIS OR YOU'LL BE CONFUZZLED!

The spirits Mother chose also have the ability to save those on the verge of the death, but only with Mother's will and blessing, can those lives actually become that of which saved them. If Mother does not approve, then they just die a peaceful death and live on to be something greater than they were.

Make sense? If not, PM me or say so.

Eximo's POV

Centuries have long passed since Mother appointed me spirit of freedom. And since then, I had created a pack to stay with me. First was Dex. He had lived a normal life for a teenage boy whose family had no money. Mother called me to him, as Mother does thing we cannot explain, but I have pure faith in Mother.

Dex had been working for a man who owned a massive ranch. Dex was given the responsibilty to look over the pigs. Tasty animals. Man thought so too. I have seen them slaughter many who did not deserve it. Mother set up a rule of the hunt. You must only kill those who are too weak. Such as; the crippled, or the old. You must leave the young and fit to keep the food growing. Man has broken this rule, and I knew from the moment I laid eyes on Dex, he thought so too.

A couple decades later, I found a sister and brother abandonned on the outskirts of a big, man-city. With Mother's blessing, they became part of the pack Dex and I were slowly making. Thier names, Joey and Crystal.

With these three at my side, living for as long as I will, and having some of the same abilites; transforming from their man stage to the form I provided when I saved them. I rarely ever used my man form. I did not feel as free when I posed myself as man. Or rather, man's mate.

Our latest, and youngest member was my little—well—Little One. I found her. A small, orhpan, child, crying in a burning house with nothing but her white nightgown and a singed doll. I'm sure I saved her life that night. I had smelled the smoke, and sure enough, one of the log cabins on the other side of the mountain had caught fire. I had found Little One curled up in her bed whimpering and crying.

I had carried her out of there. Her small hands clinging to the fur on my back, and her pitiful coughing. Once I had gotten her outside, I could smell death lingering around her. Even though the flames were spreading all around us, I curled up with Little One snuggling against me. I licked all the smoke and soot off her face until I could see her white skin.

I will never forget that small smile she gave me, when she looked up at me with those big, blue eyes. I knew then, that Mother had wanted me to save her.

And now, a couple years passed, and Little One was just beginning to discover the ways of the wolf. And I was teaching her.

"Eximo! Eximo!" Little One cried out from the top of the huge boulder she was perched on.

I was laying in a small patch of warm sunlight. Patches like these were getting scarce with winter approaching. And kill was becoming scarce, too. So scarce that Joey and Crystal had to go down to the human village two times during this moon for food.

I looked up to Little One. She had her haunches raised up in the air, her tail wagging excitedly, and her front smushed against the ground. All day she had been working on her pounce, and all day she had looked exactly as she looked now. Absolutely, hilarious.

I chuckled to myself and then called up to her, "Don't fall into the river, again!"

She snorted, "This time. This time, for sure."

She launched herself across the small river that was flowing past the base of the boulder. On the other side was a small patch of frosted grass. The water was becoming cold as well. I did not want Little One to catch a cold. It's one thing to be sick during the warm seasons, but to become sick during the winter was disastorous.

Little One jumped from the boulder. The sunlight dipping through the branches gleamed off her pale fur. Her tongue rolled out to her side, as she stretched out her paws to reach the other bank. Unfortunately, she was a couple feet off and landed with a big splash. I even got a couple of drops on my warmed up coat.

She pushed herself out of the freezing water and onto the bankside nearest to me. She shook herself dry and then plopped down on her side.

"I can't do it," she said miserably, "How is Dex gonna let me hunt if I can't even jump across the river? From a boulder no less!"

I got up and prodded her in the side with my muzzle. She looked up at me. "Enough," I barked down at her.

"Oh, please don't yell at me, Eximo. I-"

"I said enough," I barked again. She shrunk down with her tail wrapping around her hind legs. I began to circle her. "So, you can't jump over a small river. That does not mean you are not ready to hunt," I sneered. "I would only agree with you, if you had tried once and then given up, only then would I allow you to put yourself through such misery, but no! We've been here all day so you could jump across that river. That shows pure determenation and I will not allow you to give up." I sat down on my haunches and nodded to the boulder, "We shall not return home until you have succesfully jumped over the river."

Little One jumped to her paws with her tail wagging. "Yes, Eximo." she yipped and scrambled back up to the top of the boulder.

Several hours later, with the moon high in the sky, Little One and I padded slowly into the den. Each of our pelts soaked, and both of us very breathless. It is safe to say that no, Little One did not complete her task, but that did not mean she didn't want to return tomorrow and try again.

Little One plopped down near the back side of the cave. I could see Joey's brown fur rising and falling in a slow rythym. Always asleep. Then, I saw the most terrifying sight. A larger, clearly alpha, black wolf with bright blue eyes, stalking up to where I stood. Dex. And he was mad.

"Hello, Dex," I said nervously.

"Where have you been?" he demanded, "And why are you all wet?"

"Little One and I were practcing her leaps. Very essential for hunting and-"

His eyes narrowed, "The hunt," he snarled, "Like the one we were supposed to go on before the winter freeze settled in tonight?"

Uh-oh. My tail lowered itself between my legs and I whined for sympathy. "Dex, please. Little One desperately wants to go on a hunt with us, and I want her to, as well. Don't you want her to be a good wolf?"

Dex turned his back to me, "It doesn't matter if she's the best wolf. She'll be starving one this winter. We all will."

That's it. "You don't need me to do everything," I snapped and he whirled around to face me again. "What was stopping you from taking Joey and Crystal out to hunt? You three are more than capable of doing it yourselves."

It was Dex's turn to whine. "I wanted you to come along, Eximo. It's how it's always been done."

"And you expect me to leave Little One all by herself, with no experince of hunting or fighting?" I snarled, "Dex, just as I've said before and just as Mother told me, as the world changes, so must we, and that means our ways, as well."

Joey stirred from where he slept. He got to his paws and shook himself awake.

"Jeez, you two sound like a married couple," he muttered under his breath. Joey had a dark brown coat and fierce, green eyes. He was a tad bit smaller than Dex, but his ignorance and cockiness made up for what he lacked in size. He padded up to the both of us and sat down. "And Dex, chill out about the whole hunting thing, man. There ain't nothing to hunt, anyways. Crystal and I got enough food to last us the entire winter. We'll be fine."

Dex growled at him but stormed to the way back of the cave. Joey sighed as we both watched him sulk away. Then he turned to me.

"So, great leader, what's the plan for winter?" he asked.

I looked outside. Already, the snow was beginning to fall. Winter was creeping up fast. I turned back to face the others. Crystal, who had come in while Dex and I had been at each other's throats, padded up to me with her pet bird on her back.

It annoyed Dex to have such a fat piece of prey hitch a ride on the animal lover's back. If you harmed any helpless animal in front of Crystal, you have just lost all chances of survival. The bird was a clear white, dark eyes, and a yellow beak. It was a normal bird, but the reason it never left Crystal's back, it couldn't fly.

Little One trotted over and I licked her behind the ears. Little One was like my own child and I'm sure she favored me as if I were her mother.

"For winter, I suggest we bunker down further into the cave, and try to keep the food portions small. We still have a few more days until the worst of it hits. So, these next few days will be ones of preparing for the worst." I said to all of them as we padded further into the cave. The cave curved into a large opening that had ledges we all had padded down with blankets for our sleeping places. In the middle of the room was a small pond where water dripped in from a small hole in the ceiling. I looked up at it. "We'll have to find someway to cover up that hole." I said.

They all nodded.

"So, who gets what job?" Little One asked, "Oh, oh, can you and I go hunting, Eximo? Can we? Huh, huh? Can we?"

"Not this year, Little One," I said with a sad smile. Her ears and tail instantly drooped.

"Just leave the hunting up to me and Dex. Right, Dex?" Joey called over to the heap laying on the furthest ledge with his back to us. Dex didn't reply to Joey. Joey shrugged, "You'll just have to get over your grumps, 'cause tomorrow we have some serious hunting to do."

"What about me? Is there anything I can do to help?" Crystal asked, a little timidly. While her brother was cocky and subborn, Crystal was quite shy and quiet, except when an animal was in trouble. Her coat was a lighter brown than her brother's, and her eyes a paler green.

"You and I, and Little One will go down to the village tomorrow for more blankets and warmer clothing." I said, and Little One perked up.

Her tail went to wagging again. "You mean it?" she asked, "You're gonna take me to the human village?"

I nodded, "Yes, but-"

She was soon jumping up and down faster than the eye could blink. "Yay! Yay! Yay! I get to go to the human village! Yay! Yay! Yay!"

I left her alone to bounce around the big room. After all, there was nothing here she could break. I turned back to Crystal. "We'll go before the boys go out to hunt," I told her. "So be ready at dawn."

She nodded and then smiled. "going to the village will be good experience for her, won't it?" she asked as we both padded to our ledges. While doing so, we changed into our man form so we could climb the walls. In her man form, Crystal was truly beautiful.

She had long, smooth, brown hair and her eyes the same pale green. Her skin was the color of dry dirt and her figure was very thin. She insisted that I was beautiful, but I did not feel that way in this form. Only clumsy and awkward.

My dark, shaggy hair matched my mid-night coat. My saphire eyes remained the same as well. And I will always wear the black dress Mother gave to me. Always. No matter how many times it gets torn.

"I believe so," I said as I climbed up to my pallet. "But only if she stops bouncing off the walls and goes to sleep!" I said just loud enough for her to hear.

She did, and soon, a little ball of Little One in her man form was running over to her pallet. She threw her blanket over herself and went to sleep. Not really, but she acted like it.

Crystal and I both shared a small smile.

"Goodnight, Crystal." I said to her as darkness settled over the cave.

"Goodnight, Eximo," she replied softly.

"Goodnight you lovely ladies!" Joey called from the opposite side of the den. "And mister grouch."

I giggled as I heard a rock thrown and Joey grunt in surprise and pain.

"Ain't no reason to be throwin' rocks!" Joey snapped.

"It slipped," I heard Dex mutter, but I heard the smile in his voice.

I turned over on my side to peer into the darkness. Dex's pallet lay across from mine. He was laying on his back with his hands folded behind his head, and his eyes fixed up on the ceiling. His bare chest rising and falling with every exhale or inhale of breath.

Dex had pale skin, like me, but he was truly beautiful. Thick, curly hair with piercing blue eyes. And running around in the mountains for a couple hundred of years had surely toned up his body. He didn't like wearing shirts all that much, just jeans.

He used to be so much fun to be with. When it was just the two of us, we would run through the trees, chasing one another. Then, when Joey and Crystal came along, Joey and Dex were almost inseperable. I think Dex really started to change when I brought home Little One that one night.

I remember it thoughroly.

I laid the whimpering wolf cub down at my paws so that everyone could see our new member. Dex had bounded up with a rabbit dangling in his jaws. When he saw the pup he halted, and stared at me. Something changed in those blue eyes of his that night. Whether it was good or bad, it was hard to tell, but ever since then, Dex and I had grown distant from one another and it hurt. It hurt me very much.

Dex's POV

I lay there silently in the darkness, lsitening to everyone's slow breathing. Sleep was getting harder and harder for me. My brain would never shut off. There were always too many posibilties of someone getting hurt. My brain liked to tease me with scenarios of the day, and how they could've ended up badly.

Like, when Eximo and Little One were out like they always were. What if Little One had come bounding up crying out Eximo had gotten hurt, or if Eximo came back with a limp Little One in her jaws.

That night Eximo brought Little One home, I knew Eximo had taking a liking to the young girl, and I knew that it was time that I dropped the fantasy I always had ever since I met Eximo. Eximo wanted a family, and in order to give her that, there had to be a man of the house. There was no time for fun and games. Not anymore. Not with everyone to take care of. Especially, Eximo.