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Pack of Outcasts Chapter 4: Experiments

Tiberius stood with his hackles raised, pacing back and forth as he cautiously eyed the stranger. He was a black wolf, with a tuft of white on his right ear and a streak of white from his lower belly to the end of his tail. But the thing that bothered Tib most was the collar around its neck. The wolf was obviously younger than the twins and seemed ill at ease as he cowered against the far wall. He had shown up when everyone was asleep, being careful not to wake any of them. He had taken a spot just a little too close to the large tan wolf, and next to Sasha, accidentally letting his tail brush against the wolf that now was snarling at him from across the dark den.

"Hey! Tib leave him alone!" Tobi exclaimed, being awakened by the commotion.

"Who the…. Who are YOU!" Tib snarked, he was done being a mister nice guy. The pack, for the time being, was his responsibility. He wouldn't make the same mistake again.

"I…I…I'm…. " The pup stuttered.

"Speak! Or I'll make you." The large tan wolf growled. Sasha was still fairly exhausted and the last thing he needed was a young male no one really knows to be around the females. They all respected each others space, but this stranger? How did they know they could trust him? Tiberius was going to make his point very clear.

"Ember… My name's Ember…" The pup whined, wanting desperately to disappear and make everything go away.

"What do you think you were doing!?" Tib barked. He was going to get as much as he could out of this pup, he needed to establish himself as the alpha, for the safety of the pack.

"I… I was….. going to sleep." The black pup mumbled, slinking to the floor and eyeing the large wolf hesitantly.

"What else where you thinking!" Tib snarled.

"I… I don't know what you mean?"

"Why'd you lay next to Sasha!" He barked, putting his paw down hard, his claws rattling on the hard floor.

"To who?"

"Sasha!" He snapped, pointing his nose in the brown pups direction. Sasha was barely awake, but she knew something was going on that concerned her.

"I… I didn't…"

"Didn't what!?"

"I… I… don't know….."

"You stay away from her! You hear!"

"Ye… Yes Sir!" The pup was quick to reply.

"Tiberius…?" It was Mist's voice.

"What?" The tan wolf replied, not taking his eyes of the pup that lay plastered in fear on the far side of the den.

"I think your overreacting…."

"OVERREACTING!?" He shouted at her.

Mist's ears flattened against her skull at the sudden outburst. "…yeah. Just a little."

"Tib…. Whose that..?" Sasha asked, finally awake enough to notice the strange wolf in their midst.

"That's not important right now…."

"He…. He smells familiar…" Sasha piped up, slowly getting up.

"Sasha…? What are you…." Tib questioned as she walked over to the cowering pup.

"He…. Do you guys smell this…?" She asked as she knelt down to sniff Embers head. The pups heart sank. He was so dead.

"Smell what?" Tobi said inquisitively.

"His scent…" She took in another deep sniff.

"What about it..?" Tib said taking a step closer. He wasn't about to let the pup try anything.

"He smells like… like… the pup."

"What pup?" both Tib and Mist said in unison.

"Like Jade's pup."

"But… that…. Let me smell." Tiberius sauntered over and took in a careful breath. Thinking hard about where he had smelled that scent before. He took in another whiff to make sure before he stood back. The pup was obviously shaking at this point, his paws folding his ears over his eyes, blocking sight and sound.

"See?! I told you!" Sasha said excitedly.

"But… I don't…" Tiberius tried to wrap his head around how that would be even remotely possible.

"Um, maybe I can help?" Mist said hesitantly. Not sure if what she had to offer was correct or not.

"Sure…. You explain it." Tib said, still baffled by how that could be. After all this pup was about the same age as the pup that had survived. He immediately shook that thought form his mind. No, they couldn't be the same, they were different colors, and they couldn't be little mates. Only the one had survived, he had helped bury all the others. Not one of them was black.

"I think…" Mist began.

"Yes."

"I think, he might have the same father…"

"But… but…. I… shoot…."

"I mean come on. Jade never met the wolf that got her pregnant right? And this pup smells like the one she had, right?"

Tiberius nodded his reply. She was actually making some sense to him.

"Well, since the humans control a lot of things why not also have the father? I mean couldn't they have used the same wolf to sire many different litters at around the same time?"

"I… I guess that's possible…"

"Possible? You have any better explanation?!"

"No…"

"Then I'd take it at that… The humans do a lot of weird things…"

"But more than one mate?" Tiberius cocked his head to the side. That was unheard of! Only if one of a pair died would they choose a new mate. But to have so many, at the same time?

"Hey, it's not like he would have had a choice. The humans did all this remember,"

"Still…"

"Oh will you just drop it! What's done is done, he's obviously related, it doesn't matter how."

"Okay… I'll give you that much."

Mist rolled her eyes. Tiberius was been a pain, and he knew it. She herself liked the pup well enough. He was rather lean, with a very glossy coat. If it wasn't for the white fur her would blend right into the darkness of the den. Mist glanced past Tib to see Tobi. He was obviously on edge. He trusted this pup, they had been living in this place evidently for quite some time. Mist could see that he wanted to step in, to intervene on Ember's behalf. Mist walked over and motioned for him to follow. She headed down the entrance to the den a little way before she stopped, the jet black wolf behind her.

"Tobi, why didn't you say anything?"

"I..I… It's not my place to say."

"Sure it is."

"Tiberius is in charge…. What he says goes…"

"Pfft…. Yeah right… that's not how this pack operates."

"Huh?"

"You guys only answer to the white wolf… otherwise your all equals." She scolded him. She hadn't been with them for too long but she had gotten time to pick their alphas brain a little. From what he told her, she realized this was no ordinary pack. Shiego only led because the others wanted him to, because they needed him to. She could tell he wasn't perfect. In fact if he were, he would never had let her and Flint stay. Maybe it was because he trusted the others to make decisions for the whole pack. Like he expected them all to look out for what was best for the whole pack. It hadn't really sunk in till now, but that was what it took to live in the wild. Fighting and arguing could only get you so far. It was learning to live with each other, trusting those closest to you that made a pack strong. She hadn't ever been exposed to that. Flint was the only other wolf she had known for so long. When she eventually met other wolves it usually ended poorly, the humans intervening to keep blood from being spilt. In the wild it was different. Those that lived by the fang and claw, died by the same. She could still remember the image of the white wolf in her mind when she had first seen him. He was covered in blood, barely alive. It was her opinion to just finish him off, put him out of his misery. But this pack was tending to their fallen alpha, protecting the one who protected them. Everyone of them would have laid down their lives for any other. That was how strong their bond had become, but now? Now their was a lot of anger, bitterness and hate. They all knew it was there. Showing more in some than others. And it was slowly pulling them apart.

"But… but…"

"Come on, are you just gonna sit their while your friend gets picked apart?"

"No… I guess…."

"Good! Now get!" She nipped at his tail, sending him rushing back into the main part of the den. It was time they started acting more like the pack that they were. Looking out for each other, as equals.

"Tiberius…" Tobi walked up behind him, he was nervous about what he was about to do.

"What?" Tib sneered. Annoyed at being interrupted from his interrogation of the pup.

"That's enough. Ember's coming with us and that's final."

Tib stood speechless, never had he ever thought that one of the pups would someday stand up to him. He was also slightly ticked. He saw himself in a position of authority in Shiego's absence. "What did you say..?"

"I…. I said.." He stammered, trying to get his words right. "I said leave him alone!"

"Who put you in charge!"

"I'd say the same about you!" Tobi barked back.

"How dare you!"

Mist had stayed to the sides until now. Things weren't going too well as the two males started to circle, their hackles raised.

"ENOUGH!" Mist shouted. The two wolves stopped to look at her. "You are acting no better than dogs! Don't you remember who you are?"

"Yeah… I'm in charge…" Tib snarked.

"No, your not!" Tobi growled.

"Your all equals… Their can only ever be one ALPHA!"

"And he's not here…" The large tan wolf said, continuing to circle.

Suddenly a slender brown wolf stood in front of him, squaring her shoulders to his.

"Sasha?"

"Is this what he would have wanted..?" Sasha quipped.

"Who?"

"Shiego… would he want to see us arguing."

That made him stop to think. He had never really put much thought to it before. When ever their was an argument Shiego always seemed to settle it and bring it to an end. How he wished he was here right now. He was about ready to rip Tobi's throat out over a trivial matter. It wasn't his place to say who could and couldn't join the pack. It wasn't even up to Shiego, remembering how he had asked the rest of the pack before Mist and Flint joined up with them. It was all of them, in fact he wouldn't even be alive if it wasn't for Sasha. I mean, he had pushed the white wolf to point that he was ready to kill him, only saved by the pining of the small brown pup. Now this same pups was keeping blood from being spilt once again.

"I'm sorry… I don't know what came over me…"

"I do…." The strange wolf spoke. Tib turned to see that he was know sitting up, watching them.

"You do…?" Tiberius questioned. The pup sounded rather young but spoke with a certain authority that demanded everyone's attention.

"Yes, I do." He stood up and walked along the wall of the den, glancing up at it from time to time before looking back to group of wolves that stood in the center. "It's this place…. These walls…. What the humans are doing to us all here. You've been forced to only look after yourself, to not care about others… forgetting what it means to be a wolf…"

"And how would you know this..?" Tiberius was skeptical.

"Look to yourselves. Is this how a pack is truly meant to act? I doubt it. You need to leave, before this place destroys what wild is left inside you…"

Tib looked up, he knew he was telling the truth. They didn't have much time either, there was no telling how long they had been their already. Sasha and Tobi had grown quite considerably from when they last been free. It might have been weeks… months… years… No one could tell. All they knew, was that it was time to leave. "Have any suggestions?"

"I've got a few ideas…"

"Good, and your coming with us…."

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So what's Ember got planned... can he be trusted, how long have they really been there? All that and more coming soon!