Author's Note: Yes, I know I have "Claw" misnamed as "Scar" in this story. If you want to see the reason, please read my story "The Little Western Wanderer", if you haven't already. Thank you.

Once again, this story is from Sweets' POV:

As Hank came up beside me, he grinned and asked "So, Sweets, where're we headed to, now?"

I grinned back at him. "Well, Hank, I think you should see where we do most of our caribou hunting, since you'll be there a lot if you join our pack. Besides, that's where our lead Alpha is right now, along with her hunting party. Her name's Kate. She's actually very nice. I'm sure you and her will get along fine and dandy."

"Hey - if I can keep from fighting with Cando when he's all up in my face, I think I can get along with the lead Alpha. Right?" He laughed, his brown eyes sparkling in the morning sun.

"Good point, Hank." I caught myself laughing, too, but then I was serious. "Although . . . you also knew that you wouldn't have much of a chance of joining our pack if you'd gotten into a fight with him. So there was that motivation, too. But even if you did join our pack, you wouldn't stay long if you couldn't get along with Kate, either. You know as lead Alpha, it would be her duty to have you kicked out if that happened.

"But all of that's neither here nor there. We're going to watch them from above the valley while they hunt. You and I both know that means absolute silence, no matter what we see going on. I'm only taking you there because you need to see that area as part of your tour. Otherwise, I'd be staying well away from there. If we so much as sneeze at the wrong time . . ."

Hank looked grave. "Yeah. I know . . . stampede. That's the thing we hunters fear the most. It's the thing we can do the least about, aside from try to scatter to the sides and hope for the best. And sometimes, even that's not enough. I've seen a few wolves that didn't make it out. Not pretty." He shuddered, obviously remembering things he wished he could forget.

We reached the edge of the valley and carefully lay down so we wouldn't scare any prey that happened to be below. As we looked up and down the valley for any sign of the hunting-party or their intended prey, I saw we were in luck. There were a couple caribou grazing calmly almost right below us, and the hunters were a little way up the valley, working their way down toward the caribou. I went to silently point them out to Hank, but saw that he'd spotted them before I did. As I felt him tense up beside me, I knew he was barely keeping himself from joining in the hunt.

Kate was in the lead, with Garth, Scar, and Claw following close behind. They were all keeping as low in the grass as they could with the wind in their faces, trying to get as close to the unsuspecting caribou as possible before rushing to the attack. Kate signaled with her tail, and the others crept around, positioning themselves around their still-oblivious prey. At another signal, they all leaped at the caribou to their right, completely catching it off guard. It went down in a flurry of slashing fangs and flailing legs.

Meanwhile, the second caribou bolted back in the direction the hunting-party had come from, straight into a second group of wolves we hadn't even seen further up the valley. This one was led by Winston himself, with Cando, Hutch, and a tall brown wolf whom I hadn't met yet from the former Eastern Pack completing the group. They held their positions, crouched down in the grass, until the prey was VERY close. Then they sprang into action, surrounding the caribou and knocking it off its feet with the sheer weight of their bodies.

Both struggles were over quickly. Two caribou, two kills. The United Pack would eat well today.

As soon as the kills were made, Hank and I stood up and barked and howled our approval to the hunters. They all looked up at us, surprised at first, since they'd been focused on their prey and hadn't known we were there.

Then my friend Scar grinned, and waved in greeting, wagging her tail. "Hey, Sweets, my Best Omega Friend!" she called out. Then, a split-second later, her tail stopped wagging and her smile faded as she frowned, motioning toward Hank. "Wait a second . . . Who's that with you, Sweets?" Kate, Garth, and Claw looked up at us questioningly, as well.

From a little further up the valley, Winston called out "It's all right, everyone - he's a friend! Sweets is taking him on a tour of our territory so he can see if he wants to join our pack!"

Everyone looked back at Winston, who was trotting to where Kate, Scar, and the rest were. The others in his party followed. "Okay, Dad," Kate called to him, a frown on her face, "but . . . why weren't we told about this?"

As he reached them, he said "You and the others were already out here, Kate. No time to tell you before now, since we wanted to make a double kill today." He looked up at us. "Okay, Sweets, you can bring him down here to meet those of us he hasn't met yet."

"Yes, sir," I called down, "We'll be right there." I looked over at Hank. "Well, Hank, this is your chance to make a good impression with the lead Alphas. The pathway down is right over here . . ." I led him to it, and we went down into the valley.

As we trotted up to the others, I started the introductions "Everyone, this is Hank." I then introduced him to the others that I knew, indicating them each in turn. I looked at the one wolf I didn't know, smiled, laid my ears back, wagged my tail, and introduced myself. "Hi. I'm Sweets."

He laid his ears back, wagged his tail and grinned. "So YOU'RE Sweets, eh? Winston's told me all about you. I'm John. It's a pleasure to meet you." He held out his paw, which I shook.

I grinned back at him. "The pleasure's mine, John. I'm glad former enemies can be friends. Being an Omega, I'm not much of a fighter, and I don't like to see fighting, either. Nice and peaceful. That's how I like it. Hee-hee!"

He nodded, continuing his grin. "Couldn't agree with you more, Sweets. Even we Betas like the peace. You can get more done with co-operation than fighting, anyway."

I nodded, too. "Exactly, John." I pointed to Hank. "John, this is Hank. Hank, John."

They shook paws, nodding to each other. "Always glad to meet a fellow Beta, John." Hank said.

"Likewise, Hank. I hope we get the chance to hunt together sometime."

Then Hank turned to Winston, saying "I must say, sir, I'm very impressed with the way you've integrated the two packs. Sweets explained to me about how you'd nearly been at war. And now, your two hunt groups worked like they'd been together all their lives. I mean, I couldn't tell who'd been in a different pack."

"Thank you, Hank." Winston nodded in appreciation. "But I can't take all the credit. Garth and Scar's father, Tony, who led the Eastern Pack until we united the packs, had an equal part in that. You'll get to meet him a little later on, when we all make the decision whether or not you'll be staying with us."

"Sounds good to me, sir," Hank smiled and nodded, "So . . . when am I gonna get to meet the others? I'd love to know if I'm in or out. I've got my eye on a certain lady . . ."

"Sweets?" Winston looked at me, smiling as he tilted his head to the side. "Does he mean you?"

I giggled. "Oh, my! No, sir. He and Ashley hit it off pretty well when I introduced them a little earlier today. THAT'S who he means."

Winston nodded. "Oh, I see . . . Well, then - the others and I need to go get cleaned up from the hunt. Could you and Hank watch the kills for us while we're gone? We don't want any scavengers helping themselves, now do we? Normally, I'd have a couple of the hunting party stay behind, but since you two are here . . ."

Hank stepped up and nodded once. "It would be an honor, sir. I appreciate the trust you're showing me. The caribou will be as you left them when you all return, sir. You have my word."

"Good, good. We'll go to the pool and clean up. We'll be back in a little while." To the others he said "Let's go, everyone. We need to get cleaned up for our meeting." He turned and trotted off, with the others following.

After they left, Hank and I sat between the two kills, so that we could reach either one equally fast if anything tried to approach. We sat down to wait.