Q'wati was walking through the woods when he came to the land of the Quileute. He saw two wolves and changed them into humans. One wolf was a male and the other wolf was a female. Together they had many babies that had the ability to shift from human to wolf. The two wolves created a council where they were the Great Alpha Male and the Great Alpha Female. Five females and five males made up the council each one being an Alpha Male and Alpha Female. The ten alphas worked together in perfect harmony listening to the Great Alpha Male and the Great Alpha Female.

Jacob paced the length of his room back and forth several times stopping only to stare out his window before resuming his nervous walk. It was exactly 12:34 in the morning and Jacob couldn't get to sleep. He knew that Asha was probably waiting for him and the thought only worried him even more. He needed to talk to the Alpha Female, but he couldn't possibly do that while he was conscious.

The Alpha let out a frustrated groan before flopping down on the bed ungracefully. He struggled to remember how he got to sleep so easily last time. The only thing he could think of was that he had simply been exhausted from the patrols he had run earlier. Once again, the Alpha was stumped.

"What do I do?" Jacob pondered aloud as he rolled over. His thoughts ran over his options, and the young wolf settled for curling up in a ball and focusing on relaxing his muscles.

"Jacob," Asha's voice sounded light and teasing. "Did you have trouble falling asleep?" The Alpha Female smiled at the young wolf's blush that colored his cheeks.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," Jacob apologized as he sat down next to Asha. He looked around before recognizing the cave that he had spotted when the two of them were making the path for Asha's pack. "I see you used the cave."

"Of course I did," Asha smiled at Jacob. "Why would you think I wouldn't? It is shelter, no?"

Jacob shrugged seemingly at a loss for words. Eventually he settled for smiling at the she-wolf and changing the subject. "I told my pack and the council about you coming in a week." Asha turned towards Jacob eager to hear the news. "At first my father – the chief – and several others were hesitant to believe me, but they eventually decided to give you a week to arrive."

Asha smiled suddenly feeling a surge of hope. "I have confidence that if we keep the pace we are moving we should arrive on time and maybe a little ahead of schedule." The Alpha Female leaned back against the cave wall feeling more at ease than she had all week. "My sister, Neima, wants us to wake up an hour earlier so we can cover more ground."

"That's good, right?" Jacob questioned. He was confused about why Asha sounded a little reluctant to follow her sister's advice. "You will get here faster, and you can tell us your news faster."

"It is Bali that I am worrying about," Asha mentioned glancing over at the sleeping child. "He is only four, yet he looks and acts as if he is nine. Because of his growth spurt, he gets tired easily, and I doubt that he will be able to make the journey if we wake up any earlier."

"Can't his father carry him until Bali wakes up?" Jacob asked also turning his attention towards the sleeping child. "If his father gets tired, then one of the other men can carry him."

"Yes, but the other men are alternating with carrying the two suit cases we keep our clothes in." Asha shook her head sadly. "I also fear that we are not alone in the mountains. I can sense the presence of a Cold One nearby, but it is smart enough to cover its tracks. If the Cold One attacks, I will send Aden and her son, Bali, ahead while we fight."

The two Alphas sat in silence as they contemplated their situation. After a few moments, Jacob stood up and stretched noticing how, even though his physical body wasn't sore, his soul felt stiff and tired from the hiking they did last night. If Asha felt sore in any way, she didn't show it.

"I think we should continue forward." Jacob suggested stepping slightly to the side to allow the Alpha Female to exit the cave before him.

Silence settled over the pair while they climbed up a large cliff, neither wolf was willing to break the peacefulness that the quiet brought. Eventually they reached the top, and when they did it seemed as if the whole world was spread out in front of them. Jacob thought the world looked very peaceful when one wasn't close enough to see the monsters that inhabited it.

It wasn't until Asha leaned in closer to him that Jacob realized he had grabbed her hand. When he went to pull away, she only held on a little tighter and asked if they could stay like this for a little while. Jacob found himself agreeing, and together they watched the sunrise.

Bali sat crouched down next to Asha as they watched a large pack of deer wander into the clearing. Asha spoke quietly occasionally pointing to deer while telling him the story of Q'wati gave the deer their antlers. Bali was entranced by Asha's mesmerizing voice, and he looked up to her much like a young boy would an older sibling.

"And so Q'wati grabbed the shell knife that Deer was sharpening and stuck it on Deer's head." Asha spoke quietly to not startle the animals. "He said that Deer was turn and run whenever he saw humans because Deer was to be frightened of us."

When the story was over, Bali found himself staring a deer with rather large antlers that pranced around the clearing. He decided that the deer with the big antlers must've been making a really big knife to kill Q'wati with. Asha saw him watching the deer and she smiled at the young boy's attentiveness.

"You remember how many deer we need to bring back, right?" Asha whispered already beginning to pick out which deer she was going to kill.

"We need to bring back nine." Bali was growing more excited. The boy wasn't good at cooking or farming or reading, but he was a good hunter. After all, it was how he earned his name - through fighting and hunting.

"Find the deer you want?" Asha whispered focusing on the biggest deer. When she saw Bali nod his head, she leapt forward taking down three deer at once before allowing herself to pause and watch Bali as he easily took down twice the amount of deer she had. Yes, Bali had certainly earned the name Hunter.

Jacob rolled his shoulder while listening to Seth draw out the new patrol schedule. Occasionally, Seth would ask a question regarding what time would be easier for which wolf, but other than that it remained silent. Jacob closed his eyes and leaned back in the small lawn chair he was occupying as he attempted to ignore his Beta's curious stare.

Seth waited another moment before speaking, "Jake, normally I'm not one to pry, but you've been looking very… tired this morning, and that's weird because you've slept in pretty late compared to when you normally wake up." Jake remained quiet, and Seth tried a different approach, "Have you visited Asha again? Is that why you're tired?"

"Seth," Jacob began as he fought the urge to yawn, "In my sleep, my soul is hiking mountains, therefore, my soul is tired and sore. Although my body is immune to how sore my soul feels, it can still feel the tiredness." Seth raised an eyebrow curiously, and Jacob groaned. "I don't know how to explain it, Seth."

"I understand," Seth replied. The young Beta didn't get why Jacob's soul was tired or sore, but he guessed it had something to do with how the Alpha was hiking all night. It probably wasn't a good idea to allow his Alpha to continuously spend his nights hiking through rough terrain. "You should take a nap; I'll cover your patrol."

The Beta had ignored the Alpha's cries of protest, but continued to make the schedule. After a minute of complaints, Jacob had stopped mumbling reasons why he should patrol, and had settled for giving his Beta a glare that Leah herself would envy. Seth shifted uncomfortably under Jacob's unwavering gaze; how could one sit calmly when one's Alpha sent waves of frustration to you through the mental link.

When Seth was finished, the Alpha stared pointedly at the name Jacob written in somewhat neat writing under the fourth, sixth, and last patrol of the day. The Beta groaned at his Alpha's stubbornness and quickly flipped the piece of paper over so his Alpha could not stare at it. The moment the writing was hidden from Jacob's view he turned his attention to Seth.

"My name is on three of the patrols listed." Jacob spoke slowly to make sure Seth understood him. "I am tired and sore, but my place – and my duty – is with my Pack." The Alpha turned over the paper gently and ran his fingers down the list of names. "I give my soul to Asha to help aide her pack to our lands, but my body and my wolf is with the Pack at all times. My duty is here, and no matter what I will fulfill it."

Seth shook his head sadly as his Alpha rose. "What good are you if you are too tired to even patrol correctly?" Seth's voice came out quietly, but Jacob froze and Seth mentally cursed himself for daring to even question the Alpha. "Jake, I didn't–"

"Seth, it's OK." Jacob smiled at the Beta. "You're only showing concern for me, and I appreciate that, but I want to do my patrol."

The young wolf sighed and shook his head sadly as Jacob sprinted towards the trees to prevent his Beta from commenting further. Seth thought of yelling after the Alpha, but instead thought better of it and began to doodle on the edge of the paper. One of these days, Jacob was going to run himself to the point where he simply couldn't run anymore. But then again, that day was a long way from now.

Seth sat in the same spot for a while listening to the sounds of nature. He heard the crickets chirp, the birds screech, and the tree leaves rustle. Seth wasn't sure, but he knew that somewhere in the distance a young boy was playing with his pack. Sometimes, he would think of names for the boy, and give the boy a large happy family. The Beta liked to imagine happy scenarios. He never once thought of unhappy scenarios for the people he imagined. No, that was Leah's job.

Ah, Leah.

A feeling of contentment washed over the wolf as he pictured his sister in his mind. The girl had somehow forgiven Emily and Sam during the past few years, and now she seemed… happier. Yes, Leah was happier, so, in natural response, the pack was happier as well. Each day, Leah's usual unpleasant behavior was replaced with a round of playful banter and the occasional bitchy remark. All in all, this was a good time for the she-wolf.

The Beta relaxed in his chair. He knew that soon he would need to get up and relieve Jacob of his shift, but he wanted to sit in his chair and listen to the nature some more. In the distance, a frog paused mid-croak as if the small animal knew that Seth was listening. Both the frog and the wolf sat in companionable silence before the frog grew bored with the wolf and started to croak again.

Another couple of moments passed, and Seth was slowly rising out of his chair noticing how the bottom step to the porch groaned heavily under his weight. One day, that step was going to collapse; another day, Seth was going to have to fix it. It was his job as Beta. Fix the things that need fixing before problems can reach the Alpha.

Seth allowed himself a second to take a deep breath before he slipped off his cutoffs and broke into a sprint towards the tree line. He leapt over a rather large log, but before he could hit the ground, Seth had phased and was already on route.

Over by the beach, the Alpha thanked Seth for allowing him to run his full patrol, and Seth had responded that it was no problem because as Beta he needed to learn when the Alpha was too stubborn to listen to good advice. Jacob stayed quiet after that, but was soon struggling to contain a large fit of laughter. The Alpha wished his Beta good luck before phasing back and leaving Seth with his own thoughts.

The nice calm pacific feeling that settled in Seth while he was alone quickly got shattered by Paul's obnoxiously loud thoughts and Jared's obsessive thoughts. It was no surprise that both of their thoughts were about their significant others, and Seth was beginning to regret placing two wolves on the same patrol block as him when all they thought about were their girlfriends.

If Seth was smart, he would've let himself patrol with Collin and Brady, right Paul?

Of course, Jared. But then again Seth isn't the brightest wolf.

Seth shook his massive head to clear his mind of his pack mates' immature thoughts. He just couldn't catch a break.

Sorry, oh wonderful Beta. Paul's sarcastic thoughts once again invaded Seth's mind, and the Beta let out a long string of curse words flow through the mind link.

I wasn't aware Seth knew such vile words. This time it was Jared that was teasing the younger wolf.

Seth ignored both of the older wolves as he continued to run. The Beta decided to focus on the sound of his paws hitting the ground, and the sounds of the wind rushing past his ears. Suddenly realizing that Seth took his job much too seriously, the Beta allowed his tongue to roll of his mouth as he ran giving him a rather silly appearance. Despite his obvious lack of dignity, Seth could fully understand why dogs enjoyed sticking their heads of windows. Who wouldn't enjoy this feeling?

Paul snorted rather loudly and also thought that Seth was taking this "you should become one with your inner wolf" thing way too seriously. Paul also thought that maybe Seth shouldn't take Jacob's words too seriously. Seth only thought that Paul needed to relax a little bit.

The three wolves ran in silence before another group of three came in and traded places with the three on patrol.

When Seth phased back, he was a little sweaty and his breaths came out in jagged gasps. He had run his hardest today, and was now ready to go inside and collapse on his Collector's Edition Star Wars bedspread that was one-of-a-kind. Going home to these kinds of things were what made his day, and he knew that going home after working as hard as he could to his Star Wars themed room would make him even happier.

In fact, Seth was humming to himself quite cheerfully when he walked into his room. He had flicked his Darth Vader bobble head affectionately before wiping his sweaty brow and falling back on his bead. His head was currently resting on the Yoda figure while his right leg was planted firmly on the silver letters that spelled Star Wars. One arm was draped across his face while the other dangled off the side of his bed with his left leg.

When Seth was asleep, he dreamt of intergalactic missions and wolves that were intent on destroying Darth Vader and his army of Cold Ones.

Neima played with a loose string on her sweat pants that were at least five sizes too big as she lazily watched Bali and Antaeus wrestle. Antaeus might've been older, more experienced, and very invincible, but Bali was determined and very strong for his young age. Neima found herself yawning loudly as Antaeus managed to wrestle Bali to the ground for the 73rd time that afternoon. Bali grunted out a request for another rematch, and his uncle rubbed his hands together gleefully.

"Bali, as much as I would love to whip you in wrestling again," Antaeus began, "I think Neima is getting bored with us. Perhaps, we should do something she would like to participate in as well."

Bali glanced over at Neima curiously. He wasn't aware his Beta was growing bored. "Do not worry about me, Bali." Neima waved her hand lazily. "Antaeus only wishes to distract you before you too fight."

"Look at how she sits, Bali!" Antaeus cried. "She is sick of watching us fight."

"Enough with your distractions, uncle," Bali spoke sounding slightly exasperated and both of the older wolves smiled fondly at the young boy. "I am ready to fight; this time I will win."

Antaeus let out a loud battle cry before lunging at Bali. Neither of the boys noticed their Beta's eyes flutter close. They were too busy fighting to notice how her head dropped, and her breathing evened out. It was only once they had finished their fight – Antaeus was the proud victor – had they noticed that Neima had fallen asleep.

"I told you she was bored." Bali's uncle taunted the pup in a teasing voice. "Look how she sleeps. She is clearly not amused with our pastime."

"She is simply tired." Bali retorted grimacing a little as a small bit of drool rolled down his Beta's cheek.

The two watched their Beta for a moment before they too rested at the bottom of the rock Neima was napping on. If they were back at their village, the two would have left the girl to nap and they would have taken their competition elsewhere, but they did not know what lurked in these mountains, so they would stay and protect their pack mate.

Bali thought it was nice that for once he got to watch over someone instead of have someone watch over him, but when he mentioned this to his uncle, Antaeus only laughed and said that if a Cold One were to approach them that Bali was to get help. Bali did not like that at all, but he listened to his uncle because older pack mates knew best.

"Has Neima fallen asleep, again?" Aden's voice drifted over to the two male wolves, and Bali quickly leapt up when he heard his mother. "It is a good thing that I let your uncle watch you as well."

"We were wrestling, and she grew bored with watching us." Antaeus replied stretching his limbs. "Most females tend to get bored with watching wrestling very quickly. I am surprised that she held out as long as she did."

"You forget that her name means strength." Bali replied as he made his way over to his mother. Aden smiled at her son and tightly grasped his hand in hers ignoring the loud snort that Antaeus let out when he heard Bali's statement.

"You forget that I am over a century and a half old, and that soon I will be nearing 200 years. I was there when her parents named her. I watched as her grandmother approved of the name." Antaeus sat straighter at this. "You have only been here for four years."

"Yes, but he already seems to be more mature than you." Aden commented as she easily lifted her son up into her arms. "Bali will grow to be a strong male. He might even outrank you."

"When he beats me in wrestling, I will believe it." Antaeus leaned back against the rock.

"I came close to beating you today, uncle!" Bali cried.

"But not close enough, Warrior," Antaeus teased. "I am invincible! Only the mighty Heracles can defeat me!" Antaeus let out a loud howl that echoed through the mountains and Aden and Bali raised their heads to join in with their pack mate's call.

There are two big things I want to discuss!

1.) Fanfiction would not allow me to log into my user account for at least two weeks, so that explains the delay.

2.) A lot of people read this and I didn't get any reviews. I know that over 100 people read this fanfiction, and that at least half of those people have accounts. Even if they don't have accounts I accept anonymous reviews. It's sad that I get 20 Favorite Story alerts and Story Alerts, and no reviews.

SO 10 REVIEWS OR NO UPDATE!

Also thanks to people that added this to their favorites...

once again that's 10 REVIEWS OR NO UPDATE!

~B