Happy belated Canada Day to those of you in Canada and happy early Independence Day for those readers in the United States of America. And if you're from a country that doesn't have a holiday around this time of the year... happy July 3rd, I guess. Let's celebrate with another round in the battle between Canada's most famous white Omega against the brutal and the cruel invaders trying to destroy her pack's home. Also, a big thank you goes to DLW for the great reviews of the past three chapters. Keep reading and reviewing, guys, and enjoy this next chapter!


Can-do returned from surveying the pack, making sure everybody was there and no one had been killed or injured by the enemy.

"Is everything alright?" Hutch asked.

"If you mean that we're all still alive, yeah," Can-do said, "but the whole pack is starving. If we don't get some food soon they're not going to be happy."

Lilly, who was anxiously peeking over the cliff ledge for any sign of the enemy, stood up and walked over. "Don't worry. I already took care of it."

"Took care of it?" Hutch and Can-do asked together in surprise.

Lilly nodded.

"How?" Hutch said.

"It's not like you can hunt caribou. None of us can with those troublemakers down there," Can-do added.

"No," Lilly said, "but I got the next best thing."

"We're back, Lilly, and we've got everything you need," said a muffled female voice. Hutch and Can-do looked behind them to see Reba and Janice walking toward them, with several branches of bitter blue berries hanging out of their mouths. Reba had spoken.

"We found as much of these as we could," Janice said, "and we've already passed them out to the other wolves. We thought we'd bring what's left for you."

"Thanks, guys," Lilly said.

"Bitter berries? Bitter berries?" Can-do barked. "You can't expect us to eat those!"

"I know they taste bad," Lilly answered, "but they're the only thing we've got right now. We either eat them or go hungry."

"She's right," Hutch said, reluctantly taking one of the branches Reba and Janice had put down.

Can-do grumbled. "No way I'm ever eating those. I'd rather be killed by those goons out there."

Meanwhile, those goons out there were not idle. Timur and Ivan were standing in front of the forest, watching the cliffs.

"So what's your next plan?" Timur asked.

Ivan whistled. "Bring her out here, boys!"

And then Timur saw a team of ten wolves march out of the forest. They were in two rows and between them was a very large and very long log. Vines had been used to tie a very sharp and jagged rock to the front end of the log.

"Now what's this supposed to do?" Timur asked.

"It's very simple," Ivan explained. "We're going to charge Lilly and her two lieutenants, with these wolves carrying this log in front. The force of our momentum and the jagged rock will make sure that whoever or whatever gets in our way gets pounded. Once we get to Lilly and the others, we can just charge them with the log and they'll all be crushed beneath us."

Timur nodded. "Oh, so it's a battering ram!"

"Basically," Ivan said proudly.

But Timur was concerned. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but with a battering ram, don't you need stuff to batter? Like doors or gates or something?"

Ivan grinned. "A minor technicality. Just watch, sir, and you'll see how well it works."

"Okay. Then, if everything's ready, charge!"

The wolves ran toward the mountain, the battering ram out in front. Just as they reached it, Reba and Janice were coming down looking for more berries. They were the first victims. The log smacked into both of them, sending each flying.

Lilly, Hutch, and Can-do were at the cliff, each trying to force down their ration of bitter berries. "They're actually not that bad once you get used to them," Can-do remarked. Lilly and Hutch glared at him.

And then, they heard the mad howls of the invading pack as they charged up the mountain. Lilly and the Betas watched in horror as the long, evil-looking log appeared around the windy path, followed by a horde of screaming wolf warriors.

"That's not good," Hutch said.

"It sure isn't," Lilly said. Both could not help staring in shock.

"Hello, does anybody else notice that we're right in the path of that thing?" Can-do yelled.

Hutch and Lilly looked at each other. "What do we do?" Lilly cried.

"I don't know," Hutch said. "This situation doesn't usually come up in the standard Alpha School curriculum."

Lilly looked around in panic and suddenly she had an idea. "Hurry, throw those bitter berries in their path!"

She threw her branch of berries toward the attackers. Hutch and Can-do just watched.

"So, you want to give up our only remaining food source to the bad guys," Hutch said. "I don't mean to be critical, but your plan seems rather lacking."

"Trust me, guys!" Lilly said.

Hutch shrugged. "You're the boss." He never thought he'd be saying that to an Omega. But he was, so he was going to follow through with what she ordered him to do. He picked up his berries and threw them at the oncoming horde.

A few seconds later, Lilly and Hutch turned to see why Can-do hadn't thrown his berries. They found him trying to eat as many as possible as quickly as possible.

"Can-do, we need those berries," Lilly said politely.

"But they're mine!" Can-do said. "I haven't eaten anything all day!"

"Can-do, just toss them!" Hutch said.

Can-do grumbled but at last threw his berries in the path with the others.

The attackers did not even notice. They kept coming. Lilly, frozen in her tracks by fright, tried to hide her face as she braced for the impact. But then she heard the squashing sound. The attackers had made contact with the berries.

And, just like that, the wolves holding the log began slipping. The log swayed from side to side, getting dangerously close to the edge of the path, as the wolves tried and failed to keep their balance. And then they fell backward. And when they fell backward, the log fell backward. Now the pointy rock was pointing at the rest of the invaders. And the log landed in the bitter berry juice, making it uncomfortably slippery.

"Retreat!" Timur yelled. But it was too late. The log slid down the path, taking out wolves left and right. Some wolves even jumped off the path ledge just to get away. It seemed impossible to escape. Timur and Ivan only got away because they had pushed several other wolves between them and the log.

"We did it!" Lilly shouted. She turned and lifted up her paw to Hutch for a high-three. Hutch, full of excitement, gave her one. He then looked completely embarrassed after doing it.

Lilly turned to Can-do with her paw raised.

"Don't even think about it," Can-do said with a growl.

Lilly pulled her paw back, afraid that Can-do might attack it or something. "Okay, I was just trying to keep up team spirit!"

At the other end of the valley, injured wolves were limping back into the forest.

"I don't get it," Timur said. "Giant gang of marauding wolves on the warpath vs. sweet and innocent little wolf pup. Sweet and innocent little wolf pup wins. Twice."

"At least things weren't all bad," Ivan said.

"Not all bad? Not all bad? Where have you been? I just ordered a full scale retreat for the second time in a single day, two-thirds of our pack is no longer able to even fight a squirrel, and it's all because of you and your little experiments!"

Ivan smiled nervously as Timur showed him his nasty fangs. "May I point out," Ivan said, "that we did get two of theirs this time? So, we are improving!"
Timur growled. "Any more improvements like this and we won't have a pack left!"
Just then, another wolf brought Reba and Janice forward.

"Stop this madness!" Reba yelled. "Stop the killing!"

"Don't you know your barbaric scavenging practices are ruining not only the lives of our animal friends but the environment as well?" Janice added.

"Yeah I do," Timur said, "but it's just too much fun to give up."

"Permission to kill them in a brutal and needlessly violent manner, sir?" the subordinate said.

"Yeah, sure," Timur said. But then he realized something. He stopped his wolves from attacking. "Killing those two, it would probably be doing their own pack a favor! But if we kept them alive, we might be able to make use of them! I have a plan."

"Wait!" Ivan said. "Come on, sir, you've got to give me one more chance! My next design is absolutely full-proof! It's the best I've done yet! Just let me prove it to you and make up for the past… shall we say, malfunctions?"

Timur glared at him. "Okay, Ivan, you get one more chance. Go build another of your fancy machines. But if this one doesn't work, there'll be serious consequences. Deadly serious. And you can trust me on that."

Ivan saluted. "Oh yes, my chief, my beloved leader, I shall not fail you this time! Wait till you see my grandest experiment yet!"

"I shudder to think," Timur answered.