This is the full book of Joining the Pack. Those of you who have read it and are at the last chapter, scroll down to the bottom to see it. Thank you for viewing!
The Pack
Book 1. Joining The Pack
Chapter 1
Rock was a lonely gray wolf who lived alone with no one to help him survive. He had a hard life - chasing after prey and sleeping in different places at night. After all, he was never taught how to hunt because his mother had died a few days after she gave birth, so he hunted his own way. When he couldn’t catch his own prey, he had to find dead prey on the forest floor to eat. He traveled from place to place for more prey each day. Although, he failed at catching most of it, so he was a scrawny size. He mostly caught small mice or songbirds on the ground because he thought that they were the easiest things to catch. One thing he didn’t know was that mice and songbirds were some of the hardest things to catch for some other animals...
One day, Rock was traveling through the forest on a beautiful spring morning an suddenly smelled some prey. He instantly dropped into what he thought was a hunters crouch. He stalked up to the mouse and leapt as high as he could and crashed down onto it. He took one nip at it and it’s body went limp. He gobbled it up as quick as he could, to keep going.
Later, he spotted a songbird on the ground and dropped into his hunters crouch. He leaped, caught, and ate, as fast as can be, so he could go to catch more prey. After he took a few paces away he smelled something big. Something he felt like he’d scented before but couldn’t quite remember it from anything.
Chapter 2
Suddenly, something burst out at Rock and sent him flying across the forest floor. When he smacked the ground, he swung around ready to fight. When he turned around, he was so surprised to see that it was another wolf! The scent that he had remembered was his mother’s scent! “Why have you trespassed our borders?” shouted the other wolf with rage. “I’m sorry,” Rock cried. “I didn’t notice your scent borders! Please forgive me,” he said as he started to back away.
“Wait a minute!” the other wolf said. “You seem very lonely.” “Well...” Rock started, “I actually am...very lonely...” “Well then...” the other wolf grunted. “My name is Claw...Meet me back at this spot in the middle of the day when the sun is at it’s highest point...I have an offer that might interest you...” Rock thought this was a great idea because he thought that this might make him less lonely, so he replied, “All right...that sounds good to me!”
The next day when the sun was at it’s highest point, Rock came across the same scent he had smelled the day before and followed it to where he would meet with Claw.
When he arrived, Claw was already waiting for him with two more wolves next to him. “So you want to have him join?” One wolf asked, quietly, to Claw. “Yes.” Claw replied quickly. “So, there...whats you name then?” Claw asked Rock. “My name is Rock.” he said. “Ok then Rock. My offer is...Well...We wanted to ask you if you want to join our Pack. In a Pack we hunt for each other and share our prey with the wolves in our Pack. You know, to help each other survive. The wolves that can’t hunt, like our Pups and Elders, well, we hunt for them too,” Claw began. Rock seemed interested so Claw kept going. “We need more wolves to hunt so we have been asking wolves that are alone and lonely to come along with us. You don’t have to if you don’t want to though...” Claw finished. “Well I...” Rock started. “We are giving you until tomorrow to chose if you want to stay like this or join our Pack.” Claw said. “Okay.” Rock said. “Meet here tomorrow again at the same time to tell us your answer.”
Chapter 3
Tomorrow, Rock was hunting when he decided to check the sky for the sun to see if it was at it’s highest point yet. “Nope not yet.” he said to himself. He decided that it would be okay if he took a short nap. So he found some dry moss, and arranged it for his bed. Once he was finished, he padded over to his new bed and fell asleep. When he woke up, he dashed into a clearing as fast as he could to see if the sun was at it’s highest point yet. Sure enough, it was almost there so he ran over to where he would meet Claw. When he arrived Claw and the two other wolfs were just arriving too. “So Rock,” Claw started, “are you ready to tell us?” The two other wolfs looked at each other and then looked back at Rock. Rock gulped. “Yes I am....and my answer is...Yes.” Rock was pleased at the thought that he had said yes to something that would change his life forever. “Okay then!” Claw said. “We are excited to have you.” One of the other wolfs started. “Oh - and my name is Boulder.” He added. “And my name is Oak.” The other one said. “Well, come with us to our Cave!” Claw said. “Okay!” Rock shouted happily.
When they arrived at the Pack Cave, all of the wolves stopped what they were doing and parted for the newcomer to come though. “Thank you.” Claw said as he passed a pup in the crowd. Boulder and Oak vanished into the crowd of wolves. Rock scented so many new things that he had never scented before and some that he had. He scented the wonderful scent of prey in a pile in the middle of the cave. His mouth was watering because he had never seen so much prey in one spot before. He was excited to get on with a new life.
Claw suddenly stopped and looked up at a black male wolf sitting on a high rock. “I have come with the newcomer I told you about,” Claw informed. “I think that he could be one of the Pack members to help us hunt and survive.” Claw said. “Well,” The Black wolf started. “I think that it would be okay for him to join...What do you think meteor?” A brown colored male wolf walked up to the black one. “I think that it would be fine. We are low on prey and Hunters.” the brown wolf stated. “Ok. I thought the same. I just wanted your opinion on if you thought otherwise...” the black wolf said. Claw grinned and said, “Thank you Shadow.” Rock grinned as well and said, “My name is Rock.” “Well then Rock, welcome to The Pack.”
Chapter 4
“The Young Hunter’s tunnel to their cave is right over there.” Rock glanced over at a small opening that led to a small room at the end of it. Claw continued, “The Hunter’s tunnel to their cave if over there.” Claw flicked his head towards an tunnel that Rock couldn’t see the end of. “And the Nursing Cave, Medicine Cave, and Elder’s Caves are all down that tunnel. Claw pointed his head at a tunnel that split into two other paths. “You are in the Hunter class because your to old to be in the Young Hunter’s class. Everyone will give you tips to help you learn faster.” Claw finished. “Sounds good to me!” Rock said excitedly. “Oh, and one more thing. Meteor is our Pack leader’s helper. And our pack leader, is Shadow. When Shadow dies...Meteor becomes leader. Then he, picks a new helper for himself. Then when he dies, his helper becomes leader. You get the point right?” Claw asked. “Yes.” Rock said. “Good. Now we call the time when sun sun is at it’s highest point, like right now, we call it sun-point. So, now that it’s sun-point, we should go for our sun-point hunting group. Shadow picks who will go on each one. We have three hunting groups a day. The sun-rise group, the sun-point group, and the sun-set group. Today, for the sun-point group he picked me, you, a female Hunter named Pebble, and another female Hunter named Leaf.” Claw checked the sky and said, we don’t want to be late for our sun-point group so we’d better get going. Don’t worry, we can talk on the way but if anyone of us, scents prey, we all have to be as quiet as can be.”
When they were on there way, Claw asked, “So, Rock, what do you know how to hunt?”
“Well, I hunt songbirds that are on the ground, and small mice.”
“What?”
“You know, easy things to catch like songbirds and mice...those are easy to catch. Right?”
“No! Your kidding right?”
“Um no...”
“Well none of us can get even close to catching those things!”
“Ok well-”
Rock’s voice was cut off by the loud squawk of a crow. “I bet I can catch that.” Rock said challengingly. “Alright. Give it your best shot.” Claw watched as Rock dropped into a weird type of a hunter’s crouch. Then he watched as Rock sprang up snatched the bird just as it started flying off, and then he watched Rock nip it, and bring it over to Leaf. The other wolves watched in astonishment as Rock came trotting over casually with the crow in his mouth. He dropped it in front of Leaf and said, “So, what else do I need to learn to catch?” He asked. “I think we need to learn to catch something else from you...” Leaf said.
Chapter 5
“Really?” Rock asked in surprise. “Yeah,” Leaf started. “We’ve never have even come close to catching those things! None of us in the whole entire pack could catch those things!”
“You sure?”
“Yeah I’m sure! Nobody has ever caught one!”
“Okay...If you say so.”
When they returned to the cave, Rock put the crow in the Prey Pile. As he did a couple of wolves stared in astonishment. “Shadow!” one called out. “This wolf Rock, caught a crow!”
“Really?” Shadow asked. “Yeah come here!” the wolf shouted load enough for everyone to here. “Wow!” Shadow cried with shock. “But how did you do this?” he demanded Rock. “Well, it’s my natural instinct.” Rock replied casually. “Well Rock,” Shadow started. “You can use that instinct of yours anytime you want when we are hunting...Now, by any chance, could you teach us how to catch songbirds and mice please?” Shadow asked. “Of course!” Rock cried happily. “Well, it’s getting dark. You should all get some rest. Be ready for the sun-rise hunting group.” Shadow said.
“Rock?”
“Yes?”
“You can sleep in the Hunter’s Cave okay?”
“Ok. Now which one is it again?”
“The one right over there.”
“Thanks Shadow.”
When Rock got into the cave, he found that all of the wolves sleeping in little divots in the ground, so he found a divot that no wolf was sleeping in so he walked over, laid down, closed his eyes, and fell into a deep sleep.
Chapter 6
The next day when the sun was making it’s first glow, Rock awakened and walked out into the clearing. The sun-rise hunting group was just leaving. Then, as he looked around him, he saw all of the other wolves coming out of the caves. A small female wolf came trotting over to him and said, “Hello! My name is Flower! Nice to meet you! What’s your name?”
“My name is Rock.”
“I am a young hunter! You know, there is a new wolf that can hunt songbirds and mice!”
“Um...that would be me.”
“What! I’m really getting to meet you?”
“Listen Flower, it’s not really that hard to hunt those things.”
“Well.....can you teach me?”
“I’m going to teach everyone don’t worry!
“Okay!” Flower said as she turned around bouncing over to her mother. “This is my mother. Petal. Bye now!” She said as she bounded away.
“Hello Petal. I just met your little daughter of yours.” Rock said.
“Oh, yeah...she is pretty funny huh? So your the new wolf that can hunt crazy things.”
“Uh, yes...”
“When are you going to teach everyone how to do it?”
“Soon...”
Later, Rock saw Shadow up on the tall rock he had saw when he was just joining that pack the day before. “Hello Shadow!” Rock called. “I’m ready to show everyone whenever your ready for me to!”
“Oh hello Rock. We will wait up here for the group to come back to have the meeting.”
“Ok! Sounds great to me.”
Chapter 7
When the sun-rise group came back that morning, Rock and Shadow were ready to start the meeting.
“All wolves of the Pack! Come to the Great Rock for a meeting please!” Shadow called out. As the wolves began to gather, Shadow spoke. “Rock is ready to show us his amazing hunting skills!” “Alright!” Rock replied with excitement.
“So. My name is Rock for those of you who don’t know me. The second after I was born, my mother died. I don’t really have a family because my mother was gone in a few days. I never learned how to hunt the right way, so, I hunted my own way. I used my strong hind legs to spring up off the ground to catch birds that were just flying off, and my dark grey color to keep me hidden from the mice I were trying to catch. I see that all of you have strong legs, and a dark color...so you can all learn.” Rock finished. “Okay great!” Shadow said happily.
“So. You hunt like this. Low to the ground. Just like you would with anything. Then, when you get really close to the bird, leap as high as you can toward it. Then, come down, crashing onto the ground on top of the bird.” Rock said. Rock saw all of the wolves trying to do what Rock had just showed them to do. “Umm, just a little bit closer to the ground-” Rock’s voice was cut off by Shadow’s voice.
“Her name is Pebble.” Shadow whispered into Rock’s ear.
“Okay. She seems familiar to me for some reason.” Rock finished his teaching lesson. “Okay.” Shadow replied. “I think everyone’s got it.” Rock said as he watched Shadow leap up high just as he had said to. “Alright.” Shadow said.
Chapter 8
The next day on the sun-rise group, Rock watched as Leaf stocked up to a bird very steady and slow. “She is doing great!” Rock whispered into Meteor’s ear. “I know! She awesome at this!” The pack helper whispered back. They both watched as she leaped up and caught the bird. Then, she came trotting over to Rock panting as she said, “So, how’d I do?”
“You did great!”
“Really?”
“Yes...you did...”
Thank you Rock! You are nothing that our pack has ever seen before.”
“Is that a...good thing?”
“Of course!”
“Well i’m proud of you Leaf.”
When the sun-rise group came back from hunting, they had six birds, and then, the normal amount of other things. Then, Rock went to find Shadow to tell him how many birds they had caught. On the way in he could here Petal yelping inside the Nursing cave. So he went to see what is was all about. “Don’t worry! It’s going to be alright!” He heard another voice speaking to Petal. He came in to the cave to find Petal on some moss next to another wolf. “Petal almost there!” Then at the instant, Rock realized that Petal was having another baby! But how? She hadn’t looked like she was going to have a baby when he had met her. Then, he thought that that maybe she was a small wolf...and when she was having a baby...she looked normal? Just then, the yelping stopped, and the other wolf said, “It’s all done Petal. You’re okay.” By that time a lot of wolves had gathered around to see what was happening. Then Petal called faintly, “Meteor,” Rock then knew that Meteor must be her mate. “What shall we name this male pup?”
“I thought Stem would be nice.”
“I like it too.”
Then Shadow said, “Welcome to our pack Stem.”
Chapter 9
Rock was happy for the two wolves. Then, he wished that he could have a mate, and be a father to a pup or two. Then Shadow broke in to his thoughts by saying, “It’s nice to have another pup in the nursing cave again, don’t you think Rock?”
“Well yes...”
“What’s the matter Rock?”
“Oh nothing...”
“Are you sure?”
“Well...yes.”
“Okay Rock.”
Then Meteor trotted over and said, “Time for the sun-point group! I would like to take, Rock, Leaf, Boulder, and Pebble.” When they were leaving, Rock saw little Stem, rolling around happily out side of he nursing den, barking with joy. Then, he thought that he would be able to have a pup of his own that he could teach, and be proud of, and play with. Then they left out into the woods.
The next day, Rock woke up to hearing, “SHADOW! Stem is gone!” All at once, everything sprang into action. Shadow called, “All wolves healthy enough to catch food, go out to try to find Stem and bring him back!” Then, all of the wolves went dashing though the woods, trying to find little Stem. Then Rock heard little yelps of terror though the woods. He dashed towards them. Then, he saw a huge terrifying creature walking on two legs, carrying Stem, into a big colored block. Then, in a clear part of the block he saw Stem run up to it and start scratching at it franticly. Rock bolted forward jumped up, and smashed the clear part of the block, snatched Stem and ran into the woods as fast as he could, back to the caves. When he got there, he dropped Stem, and yowled, “I have Stem!”
Chapter 10
At that moment, both Flower, and Petal came rushing over. “My pup!” Petal yowled. “Who got him?” Flower asked. “Rock did.” Shadow replied. Then he yowled louder that Petal or Rock had. “Stem is back!” Rock, Petal, and Flower all flinched from the noise. Then, all of the wolves came dashing back, through the woods. “Ouch!” Boulder yelped in pain. “I stepped on a bramble.” In an instant, the wolf that had helped Petal have Stem, came dashing over. “Is everyone okay?” “Everyone but Boulder who has a bramble stuck in his foot.”
“Oh! Okay! I’ll go get some herbs!” Then she dashed away. “Who was that?” Rock asked Shadow. “Oh, that’s our medicine wolf who lives in the medicine cave, and helps heal the wolfs that are hurt.”
“Oh okay!” Rock answered. “By the way Rock...I want to talk to you for just a minute.”
“Am I in trouble at all?”
“No, no, of course not. Follow me!” So Rock followed Shadow into his cave and then Shadow said, “Sit down. I know deep down you still miss your mother...right?”
“Well,” Rock sniffed sadly. “I don’t really remember her because she died only a little while after I was born.”
“Do you remember anything she said?”
“Well...she said something like ‘Pine’ and and that’s all she ever said.”
“Really? Well do you remember what color she was?”
“Yes. She was a yellow, tan, type of color.”
“Hmm. What did you do when she died?”
“When I saw her eyes close for the last time...I yelped with terror and bounded into the woods. Then I heard more yelps and screeches...”
“Um...Rock...I think I have to tell you something...Pine was your mother’s name and...she was my mate.”
Chapter 11
“Okay, that’s not a funny joke, it’s sad for me that I lost her so early.” Rock sighed. But Shadow’s face looked sirius. “I’m not joking Rock. We found her dead body just laying there, and then Pebble, her daughter. Pebble is my daughter. We also saw little tracks leading right out of our hunting boundaries. We took Pebble home and took care of her. Never knowing that she also had a son. That I had a son...”
Rock wasn’t sure about it but as he thought it over, he realized that it had to be true. Then, Shadow called Pebble for a meeting just between him, her, and Rock. “Pebble,” Shadow started. “I have something to tell you.”
“What is it dad?”
“You...have a...brother.”
“What?!”
“Yes...it’s true”
“Who?”
“Rock.”
“But how is Rock my brother? You just found him out in the woods!”
Then Shadow told her the story that he had just told Rock. Then Rock muttered, “So I really do have a family. One thats right here with me now. I thought that I had no family.”
“Well Rock,” Shadow whispered. “You do. We are together now.” Then, all three of the wolves, came closer and closer to one another, until they all touched noses. Then Rock whispered very quietly, “I do have a family.”
The End.
