The season of Snowfall had ended, and now the Snowmelt had begun. Akela's pack had nearly doubled in size. First of all, Winona had three pups, Chaska, Maliha and Ajay. However, only Chaska and Maliha had survived, for Ajay was born the runt of the litter, and did not survive for long in the harsh Snowfall. But Winona was happy, and that's wanted counted there.
But it wasn't just the pups which had been added to the pack's numbers. Randal and Ramina, brother and sister, had been roaming the lands for a long while, looking for a place to settle down amongst other company. Or rather, Ramina wanted to have someone else apart from her brother to talk to, and Randal wouldn't let Ramina out of his sight. But the pair were a wonderful addition to the pack, proving excellent when hunting elk.
Last but not least, there was now one other member of the pack. Takoda. He was a cheerful wolf and was friendly to everyone, his spirit kept everyone's hopes up even when Snowfall seemed to not want to release it's harsh grip on them. But apart from his bewildering optimism, Takoda was a valuable asset to the group, for he knew how to fight, and fight well. He was a relatively small wolf, but he used that to his advantage.
So all in all, Akela was pleased with the pack. She'd made Takoda her Beta in fact. Of course, she was Alpha through and through, but she needed his support as any Alpha would. Besides, she needed someone to organise hunting parties and territory checks, and Takoda could always make a great compromise. Splendid.
And now Akela sat, tall and grand, upon the largest boulder at the very foot of the dead tree. She looked out upon her territory and a wild sense of victory rushed through her. They had survived one of the toughest Snowmelts, and the pack was growing. Their territory had so far remained theirs, with no competition from other wolves. All was good.
Out of the corner of her ochre eyes, she spotted Ramina coming from the entrance of the den, followed shortly by Randal who was – as always – hovering protectively over her, his anxious dark brown eyes glancing from side to side nervously. Akela fought back the urge to laugh. Ramina had accidentally stepped on a sharp stone, but she was instantly flooded by Randal's questions. "Are you okay?", "Are you sure?" and "Do you want to lie down?" were repeated over and over again. But Ramina just ignored him as usual.
Akela looked back over the territory to see Takoda and Akemi coming up the mountainside quickly, their pawsteps getting further and further apart as they turned from a gentle amble to a sprint to get to the den. Alarmed, Akela leapt off her boulder and waited impatiently for the two to get to her.
If anything had gone wrong… Akela couldn't bear to think. It was all going so well, what could have happened now?
Takoda and Akemi skidded to a halt beside her, spraying up snow as they did so.
"What is it?" Akela growled, wary.
"There is scent of wolves on our territory. Down by the river." Akemi growled, but for all his ferocity, his eyes were still anxious.
"The scent was faint, but it could cause trouble." Takoda barked coolly, shaking snow from his dark grey fur.
Randal padded over curiously, obviously having overheard the conversation, he was looking more nervous than usual. Ramina followed behind confidently, she clearly wasn't bothered by the news. Ignoring them, Akela kept her eyes on Akemi and Takoda.
"Anything else? Any scents you recognize, any signs of how long ago they were there?" She asked, ears pricked.
"It was a few sunrises old I'd say, and we couldn't tell who they were." Takoda barked.
"How many?" Randal asked anxiously, eyes darting from side to side as though he were expecting an attack any moment.
"At least three. Maybe more." Akemi growled, his lips pulling back in the beginnings of a snarl. Well, it seemed that he wasn't going to be very welcoming to the strange wolves.
Akela just nodded calmly, taking all the information in. If these wolves were a threat to the pack, then they'd have to fight them. There was no other way. If they were interested in joining the pack then… Akela wasn't sure. She didn't trust these strange wolves. If there was three of them, then they would be sticking together and would not want to join her pack.
"Why were they there?" Ramina asked, her tone contemplating.
"Perhaps they were just curious?" Winona's voice came from behind them. Akela looked around to see the she-wolf sitting in the den entrance, her gentle eyes worried.
"Curious?" Akemi asked her, puzzled.
Winona rolled her eyes as if it was obvious. "We're a new pack on the mountain, they could just be curious about us. Not threatening our pack at all, perhaps they might be scared of us." Her voice was as reasonable as her argument.
Akela frowned. Winona had a point. But the she-wolf had suddenly turned around and flashed back into the den, the sound of her pups whining for food had caught her attention.
When Akela looked back at the rest of the pack, all eyes were on her. They were waiting for her decision. And she would give it to them, eventually.
"I think we should ignore it for now, but if there is any more suspicious activity on the river border, then report back to me immediately." She ordered, and the rest of the pack nodded. They agreed with her decision at least.
The pack dispersed into small groups, murmuring amongst themselves, but then Takoda padded over to Akela and sat next to her. "It'll all be fine, you'll see." He murmured soothingly.
Akela gave him a sideways glance, and hoped he was right.