The True Rogue

Chapter Five

A few weeks later we came across a pack border that seemed stale and Ghost sniffed around curiously for a while, reading the information there. It seemed as though the alpha male had not renewed the border in over a moon nor had his mate.

Only two female and one male subordinates had and their scents were a bit old as well. Ghost tilted his head back then and howled, his call curious and searching for others. Widow and I hung back a bit, ears pricked as we listened expectantly.

Distantly three howls answered the call and Ghost tilted his head, ears rotating to catch their sound better as he wagged his tail. He glanced back at us and flicked his ears in a signal to follow as he trotted across the border and into their territory.

After a bit he howled again, calling to the others once more. They returned it soon after, sounding not as distant as before. We broke out of the tress before long and saw that a large valley lay before us with a lake sparkling in the distance.

The howling back and forth continued for a bit until we drew close to the lake and spotted three shadows on the ridge above. We paused and waited for them to approach and I was glad the wind was carrying their scents to us as we assessed their approach.

Only two females and one male, none of them had the specific scent that had been of the Alphas at the border. As they reached us Ghost stepped forwards immediately, his Alpha posture and easy confidence making the other wolves pause and size us up carefully.

One female stepped forwards first, her fur mostly white with a golden color on her snout, ears, back, legs and tail along with black markings on her back gave her a gorgeous coat and her golden-brown eyes were curious and intelligent.

The other female wolf was grey with black markings, a white snout and underbelly and dark brown eyes while the male had dark grey fur with black over his eyes and snout almost like a mask that made his golden eyes shine intensely. Black fur also covered his ears, back and tail and white covered his underbelly.

The white and golden coated female sniffed noses with Ghost curiously, their tails wagging slightly as they did so and then he glanced back at Widow and I. We stepped forwards as did the other two wolves and once the wary sniffing and greeting was done Ghost stepped towards the other male to size him up.

They eyed each other for a few moments and each growled lowly, taking in each other scents again heavily for a few moments. This other male was a year younger than Ghost, giving Ghost the advantage and he confidently raised his head and tail above the other.

The other male growled and raised his too but Ghost only stared down at him until he grumbled and lowered his stance in submission. After a few moments we all crowded together, brushing our coats together and rubbing our neck and chests over the scent glands in each others tails to merge our scents and create our own unique pack scent.

Our new bond had begun and would be solidified over the next few weeks as we took our time to explore and learn the territory, often led by Ghost and the white and golden she-wolf I decided to call Nova.

I could see she and Ghost had become very close and I was sure there would be pups come springtime. Widow had easily settled into the role of Beta after bossing Eclipse, the new female wolf, and the new male wolf Storm around and Ghost had allowed another female dispersal into the pack as well that became our omega: Sandy, named for her grey and tan fur with a cream underbelly.

We had morphed from three dispersals looking for a home into a strong pack of seven with a large established territory and a decent amount of prey in the form of two large caribou herds and smaller scattered herds of mule deer. We passed through the winter strong and healthy and in spring Ghost and Nova welcomed a litter of four pups, two male and two female.

As two more spring seasons passed along with two more litters our pack size had increased to fifteen strong adults with some of the pups that chose to stay instead of dispersing over the seasons.

We were constantly trying to expand our territory and pushed into other packs territories, resetting borders with confidence as we were the largest pack around.

There was only one border that Ghost never tried to push and I wasn't sure why as there were hardly ever any wolf scents there or distant howls and the thick forest seemed ideal for the harsh winter months but he would always lead us away from that border rather quickly.

Winter was approaching soon and the latest spring pups were all at the gangly adult phase and joining us to watch the hunts often. I found great joy in taking them out to explore parts of the territory also when I could as our large pack often didn't have the patience for all their energy so I always tried to tire them out.

All six of them were currently hot on my heels as we raced across the tundra, purposely slowing my gait so that they could keep up.

Over the many seasons my wolf form had continued to grow as I was bigger than Ghost now, easily the strongest and fastest wolf of the pack. Nyx had assured me I would continue to grow over the next few seasons as well and would be double the size of any wild wolf by the time I reached full maturity.

Thinking of Nyx I reached out for her presence with my own, feeling her familiar warmth easily soothe me as she responded in kind. We did not communicate with words often anymore, preferring to stick to our baser instincts and using emotions or imagery.

I preferred this as I had truly adapted to the communication of the wild wolves over the years and found it more and more difficult to converse with actual words over actions as the time passed.

I also was fully in tune with Nyx as she remained merged with my consciousness for most of the time, experiencing and living with me rather than taking a backseat as she had once explained most wolves did with their human counterparts but I much preferred our way as her presence was always a comfort.

And though I detested it, Nyx still made sure to coax me into my human form for some period of time every few weeks to be sure I did not lose the ability to do so.

Multiple pairs of paws suddenly pounced on to my side, pulling me out of my thoughts as the pups tackled me with playful growls. I tumbled around with them for a bit, nipping and playing chase as I steadily tired them out.

Before long I realized we were near the large river that bordered the western edge of our territory and the thick forest on the other side called to my curious side as it was the border Ghost never tried to expand.

I gave the six pups a short growl, posturing dominantly as I warned them to stay back and wait for me and they all complied, flopping down and panting from our run as their curious eyes watched me swim strongly across the river and to the other bank.

I trotted across the grass and towards the trees, sniffing around curiously as I could smell the scents of wolves but it seemed strange, intriguing somehow. I nosed around a bit curiously when I felt Nyx fully surge forwards suddenly.

'Cassie get back!' she yelped as she seized control, yanking my body into action as we sprang backwards and a huge wolf landed right where I had just been.

Dark brown and black fur covered its massive form and it snarled with bared canines as it crouched to lunge towards me again.

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A/N: Hope you are enjoying the story so far! What do you guys think will happen in the next chapter?

P.S. Cass is currently fifteen (turning sixteen this spring) which means she has been in the wild for about six years now!