Chapter by dax0042

It had been one week since Samuel and Terra had found King. And now that he had changed his ways, King took the time to get to know his grand-pup, Anna. They were four happy wolves, having just celebrated their first holiday together as a real family.

Back in the Rocky mountain regions that Samuel and Terra had called home form so long, the sun crept over the trees, its rays shining through the entrance of the den and right into Samuel's eyes. Using his paw as a shield, the sleepy wolf awoke with a yawn. Stretching his stiff back, the yawning Omega let out soft moans of relief as he felt each vertebrae pop, the deep breath of sanctification after giving him a chance to smell the crisp winter air.

"It's morning already," he smiled, a twinkle in his eyes as he could see that Old Man Winter had graced the valley with his presence again by leaving a thick blanket of snow. Looking over to his sleeping mate, Sam leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on her cheek, resulting in a soft moan of content from the comfortable female. Terra opened her eyes and smiled. She loved the way her husband would wake her. Especially if he was "in the mood."

"Good Morning, My Stunning Alpha," Samuel whispered in his own flirtatious way, earning a similar comment in return.

"Good Morning, My Handsome Omega," Terran giggled as she leaned in for a quick kiss, which was happily returned.

After pulling away from her mate, the lovely alpha looked over at her father, a warm smile spreading on her muzzle at what she saw. King was in the corner of the den, his body curled protectively around Anna who was snuggled up next to him. They looked so happy. Terra turned turned to Sam and gave him the "let them sleep" look.

Samuel nodded. Then the two of them left the den and went to go hunting for some breakfast.

"I've never felt so happy," Terra finally said after a few minutes of silence, "we finally have a family."

"Yeah," Samuel responded with a warm smile, stepping closer to his mate to nuzzle her, resulting a small giggle from Terra.

Samuel and Terra then made their way up a dirt path that was used by human hikers. The smell of humans made the two wolves nervous, but they pressed on up the trail. Before long, the two picked up the scent of blood, which could only mean one thing...

Food.

However, the closer they got to the source of the smile, they noticed that it did not belong to anything like a deer of moose. Upon reaching the top, Samuel's jaw dropped, and Terra, greatly sickened by the sight, had to turn away to keep from vomiting.

There, laying on the trail in a pool of blood was a dead wolf...

A female wolf, to be precise.

"What do you think happened, Sam?" Terra asked after finally getting the stomach to turn back, her voice shaking badly.

Samuel looked at the female and shook his head sadly. "No idea," he said. It was a hard thing to see, and from the look of the body, she had been killed just last night. Samuel walked up to the body and began to inspect it, curious to see exactly how the female met her end. She looked reverentially clean, except for a bite wound to the side of her neck.

"This female was killed by another wolf!" Sam stated firmly. Terra looked around to find a clue or anything to help them know where her attacker came from. There wasn't much to go on, other than a few drops of blood and a few wolf tracks, still, Sam felt that the killer was still hanging around nearby. One thing was for sure, they were both filled with an unshakable feeling of fear for what this could mean for them and their family.

Back at the den, King was still sleeping, but Anna awoke when the call of nature made itself known. And for a little pup, when you gotta go, you gotta go.

I really have to go. The pup thought to herself. Looking to her grandfather to make sure he was still asleep, Anna ran out of the den. Once she made it outside, the little pup saw a bush and went to do her business. As Anna went behind the bush, a big black wolf with bright red eyes jumped out from behind a tree and walked up to her. He smiled and showed his teeth to her.

"Hello little pup," he greeted. "Are you out here all by yourself?"

Anna was so scared that she didn't need to find a push anymore. Anna opened her mouth to speak, but noting came out other than a terrified squeak. The black wolf began walking toward her. His red eyes were fixed on her. He was only a few feet from her when, out of nowhere, King tackled him to the ground. Anna watched as her grandfather pinned the black wolf down.

"Who are you?!" King demanded, his claws pressed against the wolf's throat.

"Cain," the black wolf replied cautiously, making sure he did not move in such away that the wolf above him to could slice his throat. "Now, get off of me! This is no way to treat a pack leader!" Cain shouted, but King refused to get off of him.

"Why were you going to attack my granddaughter?" King asked Cain, pressing his paw harder against his neck.

Cain looked up at the older alpha. "I wasn't going to hurt her," he choked out. "I was going to ask her if she had seen a female wolf around. You see, one of my alphas got lost during a hunt last week, and I've been trying to find her."

King thought for a minute. If Cain had wanted to hurt Anna, he would have done it already. But that still didn't settle his unease about wolf under him. But, he shrugged it off and said, "I'm sorry." Then King got off of Cain and let him get up, quickly offering his paw soon after. "I'm King by the way."

"You're forgiven, King," Cain said, shaking King's paw, accepting his apology.

Cain looked around. "So...Where do y-" he began to ask, but was cut off when he heard a twig to snap behind him. Cain turned around and saw the most beautiful wolf he had even seen in his life, her slender, auburn body framed perfectly by the fresh snow.

It was Terra.

"Dad, are you and Anna alright?" she asked, then looked at Cain with a frown. "Who the hell is this?"

At that moment, Cain raised his paw in the air, as if to strike her. Upon seeing this, Terra took up a defensive stance, growling as she readied herself for him to attack, but instead, Cain plucked a flower from the bush beside him and placed it gently in her hair. King, puzzled, looked at Terra, then Anna then at Cain. What was he doing?

"Calm yourself, Beautiful Alpha," he said commenting her on her good looks. "My name is Cain. What's your name?"

"Princess," she said, slowly rising from her defensive position, "Anna is my daughter. King is my father. He was the leader of the...Alpha Pack of Banff." In truth in wasn't entirely a lie, but Terra knew she couldn't divulge too much information to this wolf she had just met.

With that in mind, Terra turned toward the hill and howled.

"Why did you do that?" Cain said confused.

"I need to introduce you to someone." Terra said as Samuel came running down the hill.

"What's wrong? Ya need something?" Samuel said, only freeze when he noticed Cain. "Uh... sweetheart, who's this?"

Sweetheart? Cain thought to himself. Who is this guy?

"Sam, this is Cain." Terra said introducing Cain before introducing Samuel. "Cain, this is Sam, my mate."

"Your mate?" Cain said through clenched teeth, a forced smile on his face.

His forced expression was viable to see, but really Cain sat in shock with mixed emotions of anger and jealousy within his mind. This girl he had just met had just said that she had a mate. And this was unacceptable, and Cain began to think about what to do he just leave and go back to his pack? Or should he invite these wolves to his pack. Cain looked at Terra and knew what he was going to do now.

"You four should come with me to my pack," he proposed, and pointed to hills in the west. "We are always looking for new members and I think you four will love it there."

Terra, King, Samuel and Anna huddled up and began to debate on what would be the best course of action to take. But as they did this, an evil smile crept across Cain's face, as he stared lustfully at Terra.

Just you wait, Terra. I'll have you as my mate by the next full moon. Cain thought to himself.