A/N: Cutie here! Sorry for the long wait. I went to visit my dad & then began a Harry Potter fic (I've got the exciting middle part and epilogue and possibly ending, but the dang beginning is too boring!).

To make up for it, I present you with a nice, juicy chapter!

Disclaimer: Lionsgate owns half the characters in this story. 'Laughing at my life' line was inspired by a wise woman: Reba.

Lilly walked through the unfamiliar territory with head hung low. It was near sunset and she was resisting the urge to tuck her tail between her legs as the territory began to feel more and more creepy. She was about to be Head-Alpha. She couldn't appear weak to her enemies.

Am I stupid? Lillythought. All this time, I've questioned if I've been spending too much time away from my family. Meanwhile the Northern/Southern pack was plotting to kidnap one of my pups! What do they want with her anyways? Probably for something I don't even know about because I'm a terrible mother!

Lilly began to whimper quietly. Garth looked at her, concerned. He nuzzled her cheek. "It's okay," he soothed. "We're going to get her back."

"It's not that…it's just…do you think we could've prevented this?" Lilly wondered. "Maybe if we were spent more time with her and Troy…could we have stopped it?"

"Enemy packs are extremely unpredictable," Garth pointed out. "I don't think we could've done anything to prevent this. Maybe if we set limits or were more thoughtful of how close to the border their—" Garth probably should've stopped there. "I mean! Not that—" Garth stammered when Lilly looked even sadder.

He was saved as they both turned to see two wolves racing towards them.

"Lilly! Barf!"

"It's Garth," Garth rolled his eyes, annoyed.

"No time for that," Kate panted as she skidded to a halt in front of her sister.

"Kate. Humphrey. What're you doing here?" Lilly wondered.

The two paused to catch their breaths. "We finally heard about what happened with Luna. We want to help," Kate explained at last.

"Why?" Garth cocked his head.

"Because we hope the Northerners will share their donuts!" Humphrey said sarcastically. "What do you think?"

"She's our niece. We care about her too," Kate answered for them. "And after what we did for Troy, the least you could do is let us tag along. You never know what those Northerners will do these days. Especially with a Southern-raised as their leader."

"What did you do for Troy?" Lilly questioned.

"We found him by the waterfall all bloody and wounded. We cared for him until mom came, so we could come and help you guys," Kate informed her in a rush.

Lilly whimpered again at the thought of not being there for her injured son (she didn't even know he had been injured at all!).

Kate ignored her sister's saddened expression. "So? Are we going to fetch Luna or stand here waiting for her to pop out of the flowers?"

She elbowed Humphrey roughly as he actually started to nose through the flowers next to him. "Oh! Um…I knew we weren't really doing that," he avoided his friends' gaze.

Kate tried to ignore her frustration with her mate's momentary idiocy. "Humphrey, please tell me you were joking," she mumbled, her paw on her snout.

"Well…I…ahem. Are we going to find Luna or wait for her to crawl out of our ears?" he changed the subject, walking quickly past them.

To be funny, Lilly actually stood on the tip of her paws to look into Garth's ears before walking into what must've been the heart of Northern territory.

"It had to be an Alpha," Hayden decided. She was walking towards the usual hunting valley with Jake by her side. She was thinking carefully and Jake was watching her and listening intently. Being an Omega, Jake instinctively walked with his head held a little low. But his interested smile told Hayden it was only because of an Omega thing.

"What makes you say that?" he asked.

"There's no way a Head-Alpha would ever pay attention to what an Omega would say," Hayden explained. "Oh, no offense Jake!" she added quickly, blushing a little. Jake didn't seem to notice.

"Well that narrows it down to about half the pack. But you now what they're saying. Uncle Shakey was the first to find out," Jake pointed out.

"But who was the second…?" Hayden wondered, half to herself. She started to limp as she put a paw on her muzzle to think better, like her dad did sometimes.

"Well what does it matter anyways?" Jake tilted his head.

"You said so yourself, someone betrayed mom and dad," the young Alpha reminded him. "How else would Aunt Lilly and Uncle Garth know before the rest of the pack what happened to Luna?" She paused to think some more. "Okay…who has it out for our parents or Aunt and Uncle?"

"Don't know. Someone who hates Luna or Troy? Or us maybe?"

"Can you think of anyone who hates us?"

Jake shook his head.

"And who would possibly hate Luna or Troy?"

"Don't know."

"Okay. So…it had to be someone who wants power. Who thinks they can gain something if something happens to mom and dad?"

"Hutch?"

"He's our other grandfather!"

"Oh yeah…"

"Maybe Candu? He's always sought the aggressive side out if you know what I mean."

"I doubt it."

Hayden growled with frustration. "What if someone just wanted to frame Uncle Shakey?" she thought aloud. "You know, make it seem he was a traitor to us. Maybe it was a coincidence Uncle Shakey saw the attack. Someone who hates him and wants him to get in trouble."

"I never would've thought of that."

Hayden sighed. "I hope they're all okay."

Jake shrugged. "Well, you know how it is. Ever since the Northerners united with the Southerners they adapted to the cruel and heartless lifestyle. Why, mom and dad are probably dead. Uncle Garth is getting beat up like there's no tomorrow. Aunt Lilly's most likely being tortured by watching Luna get ripped limb from limb. And Troy…possibly lost in the woods, running for his life and fell off a cliff ten seconds ago. Grandpa, for all we know, could be—"

"Jake!" Hayden squeaked.

"Sorry."

"You know? I always thought Omegas were meant to make us feel bet—" Hayden was cut off as they were both nearly trampled by something furry and huge. She let out a small squeak of surprise as she leapt out of the way, Jake quietly hopping in the opposite direction.

"Mooch! I mean…Uncle Mooch," Hayden corrected, calming down. "Where are you going?"

The large wolf finally saw the pair over his shoulder and skidded to a halt a few feet in front of them. He spun around in a circle to face them. "Where else? The hunting valley! The other Omegas are freaking out. The only Alphas left in the territory don't know what to do." Mooch started to say something else, but he had already turned and was running again.

Hayden and Jake exchanged a glance before pelting after him. They both slid to a halt behind a pair of bushes. The usually bright valley was covered with dark rain clouds and the sun was setting. The valley was covered in young wolves running around, yelling at each other and panicking. Older ones, like Mooch and Salty were trying to calm them down, making them snap as well.

"Jake! What do we do?" since she was in charge, Hayden had to hide her own panic. But how could she?

Jake darted into the center of the valley, bouncing among his friends, trying to talk them into relaxing. "Hey! Guys! Calm down! Hey! Quit it—" Hayden lost sight of her brother in the massive cloud of wolves.

She turned and leaped from rock to rock until she was standing on the side of the valley. "Shut it!" she screamed at the top of her lungs.

Every wolf below froze in place (aside from one or two that couldn't stay on their hind legs much longer).

"What do you think you're doing?" Hayden demanded. Her voice echoed off the other rocks on the sides of the valley, making her sound more like a leader. "All this panicking and yelling? If this screaming doesn't cause a stampede, then it'll surely reveal we're all here alone and exposed to an attack from Southern wolves. So shut up, and if you're an Omega, go back to your dens, relax, and stay there until my parents and grandparents get here."

The Omegas dipped their heads and began to walk back to their dens silently. The teenage Alphas watched them go, then looked back up at Hayden expectantly.

"Except you," Hayden pointed to her brother. Jake paused and looked up at her over his shoulder. She gestured with her head for Jake to come up beside her. He obeyed.

"Hi, hi," Jake greeted casually as he trotted up and stood beside her, head still low. Hayden felt more confident with him so calm beside her.

"Alright Alphas," Hayden addressed her friends. "Now, I want no trouble, no panicking, and no freaking out the Omegas." Hayden looked at a specific group of Alphas that were hiding embarrassedly behind Delilah.

"And, we have fewer mouths to feed but more work to do since we're not as good as our parents."

The young wolves growled with offense.

"Oh! Wake up and smell the roses," Hayden snapped. "We're all amateurs, even me. Anyways, hunting…" Hayden paused to think her plans over. She was mentally drawing a line to divide the valley in half. "Okay. If a stampede started randomly, those of you who'd go to the left side of the valley, hunt in what was formerly Western pack territory. Those who'd go to the right, Eastern. Bring the prey to an Omega's den and then your own."

"What about border patrols?" someone asked.

"Better not go there," Hayden decided. "But otherwise, do stuff as if this were any other day. Except your parents are most likely not home. Stay in your dens and try to just…well, hang out there. Bond with your siblings. If you don't have any, go with a friend. Just try to stay in one place and under a roof."

The Alphas all nodded and padded away to carry out their duties.

"You are one impressive sis," Jake commented when they all left earshot. "So what 'ya need me to do?"

"Stick with me while we go to our own den and figure out this traitor thing," Hayden replied. "Because I'm freaking out!"

The sun was long gone by now. Lilly was extremely nervous. They must've walked across the entire territory and there was still no sign of life.

Lilly suddenly halted and tensed. "Did anyone else hear that?" she whispered to her companions. They stopped and pricked their ears. They heard it too. A low rumbling noise, like a stampede. Except there was something different about this one. It was more like paws….

"Northern wolves?" Humphrey guessed.

"Okay…we just need to stay calm and confront them like adults. For all we know this whole thing was a misunder—wait…Lilly? Lilly!" Kate called.

Lilly had broken into a run. She had finally seen the huge rock. It looked like Howling Rock but it had many dips and caves where The Northern wolves slept. At the top was one cave resembling a cherry over ice cream. She guessed it was Seth's cave. She was running towards it at top speed, desperate to get her daughter back before Luna got hurt.

Kate and company ran after her, thinking she was running with fear. Secretly, they were afraid too, but they needed to stick together. But Lilly was so fast!

"Kate! Stop!"

How did Northern wolves know her name? Confused, Kate looked over her shoulder, making her not notice something coming from the side and collide with her. Garth, Humphrey, and even Lilly slid to a stop and whipped around to see what had attacked Kate.

The gold female moaned at the pain from where she had been hit. She heard another wolf moan too.

"Who are you Northerner?" Humphrey demanded as Kate came to her senses.

Beside her was a cream and gold young female rubbing her pink nose from where it had collided with Kate.

"Cheyenne," she finally answered, sitting up. She was scarred and had many bruises, some older than others. "I was just escaping from Seth and his crew. Who are you?"

"Humphrey. Future Head-Alpha of the Untied Western and Eastern pack," Humphrey replied proudly.

"I'm Garth. Also that. These are our mates, Lilly and Kate, who your face just met."

"Sorry about th—wait, you're the Head-Alphas?" Cheyenne's eyes suddenly widened.

All four wolves nodded.

"Oh no! You—you can't be here!" Cheyenne yelped, her ears flattened against her head.

"And why not?" Lilly squeaked.

"It's a trap! He doesn't have your daughter here!" Cheyenne whimpered, turning to Lilly and Garth (she saw their resemblance to Luna). "She's on the other side of Jasper Park! After he's done here, he'll only kill her!"

Kate sat up, eyes wide with alarm. "What?"

"Luna isn't here! She's in Southern territory. They'll kill her any minute now that the moon's done rising. You have to get out of here before someone finds you!"

"Wait, wait, wait," Garth held up a paw. "Why are you so concerned about what happens to us? What makes you want to betray your own pack?"

"Yeah. You barely know us," Humphrey agreed. "For all we know, this could be a trap to make us fall into a trap by making us think we falling into a trap because…the whole thing is a trap?" He began walking closer to Cheyenne. She nervously backed away until she bumped into Kate.

"Oh! Um…er…I'm," she stammered. The young wolf wouldn't take her eyes off Garth. "I…kinda…don't want to see you get hurt because I…er…like your son," Cheyenne shrugged, trying to look innocent.

She waited. She waited for them to yell or get mad or something. To Cheyenne's shock, Troy's parents just laughed. "How could you? You haven't even met him!" Garth chuckled.

"But I have! I met him where Luna and Logan usually meet!" Cheyenne protested.

Lilly's face immediately switched to what others look like when they just realized someone wasn't joking. Garth still thought she was and chuckled again. "Garth…I don't think she's kidding," Lilly said, elbowing her mate.

"I know. I'm just laughing at my life."

"Your grandparents plan to do what?" Logan gasped. He and Troy had spent the past half hour sneaking around Seth's followers and searching for Luna. While doing so, Troy told Logan all about what his pack had planned to do while Luna was hostage.

"Keep it down!" Troy hissed. They were very close to one wolf that didn't look happy to be there.

"Sor-ee," Logan tore the grass with his claws.

"You heard what I said. Or were you just not paying attention?" Troy replied, looking around for a spot that looked like a good place to hide his sister or himself to get closer to where his sister was hidden.

"I paid attention!" Logan growled softly. "And if your grandparents come here, they're doomed!"

"Really?" Troy said sarcastically. "Are there any members of my family that aren't about to die?"

"Most likely not."

Troy growled, but it was more with frustration than anger towards Logan. "Well, where would they be keeping Luna?" he asked the grey wolf beside him.

"Don't know," Logan shrugged, looking around as well. "With me on the loose, they probably didn't even think very hard on where to hide her."

"With you on the loose, Seth is angry."

Troy and Logan both whipped around and gasped. Behind them were Seth's two favorites, Max and Hawk.

"Looking for something?" Max went on.

Logan jumped to his paws, every fiber in him burning with hate. "Only what you stole from this clown!"

Troy leapt to his paws, snarling. Then he comprehended Logan's words. "Hey!"

"Sorry. Meant to say—"

Logan yelped with pain as something brown pounced on him and pinned him down, sinking its claws deep into the sides of his fur.

"I said to listen to me you serial killer!" Max spat.

"Seth said to kill if necessary!" Hawk argued.

Troy darted forward and pushed Hawk off with his head. Hawk yelped with surprise, then whirled around, clawing at Troy. Logan jumped in the way. He took the unusually long claws down his side, yelping.

Troy prepared to block Hawk from attacking again, but Max jumped in his way, snarling. Troy crouched, ready to pounce. Instead, Logan leaped in from no where and snarled at Max. He raked his claws down his pack mate's muzzle.

"What are you doing?" Troy demanded as Logan fought both wolves, never giving Troy a chance to help.

"Distracting them, stupid!"

Troy ignored the last part. "You need to find Luna!" Logan was interrupted by teeth sinking into his back. "My spine!" he wailed.

"Quit griping, wimp," Hawk had to release Logan to speak. Logan knew he would and used it as a chance to whip around and bite into Hawk's neck. Hawk yelped and writhed to escape. Logan finally dropped him.

"Find Luna! I'll keep off these morons," Logan ordered as Hawk gasped for breath. Max jumped him from behind and tore his claws down Logan's flanks.

Troy backed away. Logan was fighting fiercely, but would he survive without help much longer?

Troy finally decided to obey. He whirled around and hared off into the shadows. He didn't care about Seth's followers seeing him. Logan was willing to sacrifice himself for Luna! Maybe he wasn't such a bad guy after all….

"You mean to tell me my daughter was meeting with an enemy wolf behind my back?"

Cheyenne (and even Kate a little bit) stumbled backwards with shock to see such a quiet wolf snap. The Northern she-wolf had just gotten done explaining the events of the previous month to Luna and Troy's family. Lilly didn't look happy at all.

Garth himself was mildly surprised to see his mate so angry. "Um…Lilly? Would you like to bite something?"

"Certainly not!" Cheyenne squeaked, wrapping her tail tightly to herself and holding on to it with her paws.

"He meant that," Kate assured her, pointing with her paw to the pine cone Garth was rolling towards Lilly. Lilly grabbed the pine cone in her mouth and sank her fangs deep into it. It snapped into many pieces and flew everywhere. Lilly spat out some last splinters and seemed to be more calm.

"Okay…" she took a deep breath. "Okay, I'm okay now. What were you saying dear?"

"I'd rather not repeat it…" Cheyenne muttered.

"Oh yeah. You were telling me how my own pup—!"

"Lilly!" Humphrey cleared his throat and trotted closer to the enraged female. "Ahem. Perhaps we should keep our voices down? In case Northerners hear us?"

"We're in front of their camp, I think they'll hear us by now!" Lilly retorted.

"Gee, you Western wolves are smarter than Seth said."

Cheyenne squeaked with surprise as she was jumped from behind and someone pinned her there. Kate, who had been sitting next to her, jumped sideways with surprise, squeaking as well.

The wolf who had spoken emerged from the shadows. It was a gray and white wolf. At his sides were none other than Nick and Seth. Seth smirked.

"Hi there, Cherry," his devious gaze fell on Cheyenne who was struggling to escape. "You're a clever little vixen aren't you? But no one can escape from me." He turned to Lilly, grinning evilly. "Not even your daughter."

The young Head-Alpha stepped forward, looking at all four wolves now. "Welcome my guests. Into your trap."

Garth snarled, ready to pounce on the Head-Alpha. Lilly snarled too, looking like Eve.

"No need for hostility. Before I kill you, I want you to feel homely. For at least the few minutes you have left to live. After all, don't you wish to know who's betrayed you?"

"We don't know what your talking about," Kate growled. "No one's betrayed us!"

"Then how do I know so much? I'm looking at him right now. Come out of the shadows boy!" Seth looked at the wolf pinning down Cheyenne. "It's time to see the consequences of your choice."

Find out who's betrayed us! Only a day away (or two at least)!