"Wait, so I am going to be welcomed into the pack like Simba from the Lion King? On top of a large rock overlooking everybody else in the pack?" I asked Sophie as we, Sienna, Jason, Sophie, and the twins, walked into the forest.

"Well, no, but-" Sophie began but both twins interrupted.

"Exactly!" William yelled, jumping in front of me and walking backwards with his hands in the air, holding an imaginary lion cub.

"Mahhhhhhh Sebenyaaaaaaaa Ababitsibababaaaaaaaaa.... Enyaa-ayyyyyyy Enya-ayyyyyyy....." Brett yelled, attempting to mimic the African Singing at the beginning of The Lion King.

"Wow..." Sienna said looking around the forest floor as if she had dropped something.

"What did you lose?" William asked worriedly.

"An IQ point listening to you two, but I'm sure its here somewhere" she said in a completely emotionless, dull voice.

We all instantaneously died laughing.

Some of the things Sienna said had you rolling for hours.

We walked for about twenty more minutes until we came upon a large boulder jutting out of the earth. It had, apparently, rolled to this spot years ago, uprooting trees in the process. To the right of the rock was a huge tree that had half of it's roots sticking up in the air and the other half on top of the rock and in the soil. Everything was green and healthy around the rock, really giving off a vibe of peace and wellness.

"A little smaller than Pride Rock I'd say" Jason said with a chuckle. I would have to agree, although I thought it was more majestic looking. There were about forty people gathered around the base of the boulder and more people were showing up behind us. I felt my nerves awaken and my stomach dropped slightly.

"How many people are in the pack?" I asked Jason.

"About a hundred and fifty" he answered proudly. "We're one of the biggest packs in America".

"Oh, yay. And how many are coming tonight?"

"Everybody" he answered cheerfully.

"...Yay..." I mumbled.

"Hey, you need to head on up there. It won't take long and then we can go pack to the Pack House and watch movies" Sophie said reassuringly.

I nodded and started walking to the left side of the massive rock. As I made my way around to the backside of the boulder, I ran into Beta Andrew.

"Hey Slapzilla, there you are" he said affectionately.

"Hi Beta Pain in the Butt" I retorted.

"Cheeky. Where's your attached-at-the-hip husband?" He said smarmily, meaning Nate I'm sure.

"He's not my husband or my boyfriend for that matter and I don't know where he is" I told him.

"Ooh, he's probably dealing with his bills or something" I said with a off handed wave.

"Bills? Don't his parents handle those?" I asked.

"He didn't tell you?" Andrew asked me with a puzzled expression. I shook my head indicating that he had not. "He doesn't have parents here. We found him on the doorstep when he was an infant. There was a note with him saying he was a werewolf and that his name was Nate Searing, but we could not find records of a Nate Searing or any Searing for that matter" he explained. I was shocked. Nate didn't have parents? I had assumed that he had parents like everyone else but did not live with them. But now that I think about it, Sophie, Sienna, and the twins had mentioned her parents occasionally and Jason talked about his mom every now and then but I had never heard Nate mention any parental figures.

"I feel like an awful person" I whispered.

"Don't worry about it, he doesn't like to tell people about it. He does just fine on his own" he laughed and ushered me up the path that led to top of the rock. The whole trek up I was imagining a lonely little boy yearning for love from anyone. A poor, confused child who just wanted someone to hold him. I felt awful, and now all I wanted to do was speak with Nate.

We reached the top of the boulder and I found Alpha Alex standing on the crest holding a large wolf statue. I wanted to say something rude to the Alpha but something about the statue in his hands was holding my attention. It was three wolves standing together on a pedestal. One wolf was larger than the other two and was howling up at the moon. The wolf to its left was slightly smaller and more serene, as if it were observing and calculating something. The third wolf was much smaller than either, almost a pup, and seemed to be confused as to what was going on but was easily offering up its support to the two elder wolves. While I had been analyzing the statue, I had been subconsciously moving closer to Alpha Alex. I reached out with both hands and gently took the totem from him, looking up at his face in the process. Instead of his usual expressionless face, he had on a shocked expression. I was going to ask him about the totem, but then I remembered what he had told me and instead turned away from him and asked Beta Andrew, "Where did this come from".

"It's been our totem since the Pack was formed" Alpha Alex answered anyways. I did not even look at him. Instead, I walked closer to Andrew and asked him my questions more personally.

"It's beautiful. What does it symbolize?" I queried.

Beta Andrew looked up with a smirk at what had just transpired and then proceeded to answer my question. "It symbols the unity a Pack must have and everyone's jobs within it. This is shown with a sculpture of a wolf family. The Father Wolf leads with his heart and his strength, protecting those he cares about. The Mother Wolf" he indicated the medium sized wolf," she is the thinker. She sees everything before it happens and helps keep Father Wolf level headed. She is wise and kind but strict. And Young Pup; the naïve, young offspring of two great leaders. He does not know everything but he does know he can trust his mother and father and he will follow blindly doing the best of his ability. Everyone in our pack belongs in one of these categories. Most are young pups, some are Mothers, and others are Fathers. Ironically enough, its not the Fathers we have a hard time finding, its the Mother's. Anyone can train hard to become a warrior and protector but not everyone can learn to care for others. It is a natural instinct" he finished with a knowing smile and a twinkle in his eye.

"That's beautiful" I said, giving him the totem back. "So, what is going to go on here?"

"Alpha Alex is going to say his spiel about being a pack and then you will cut your hand with a knife and hold it over the totem. Your blood will drop on whichever wolf you're destined to be" he said with an easy going voice.

"Uhh, cut my hand open? Really? And that doesn't make sense. If I want it to be a fighter then I should just hold it over Father Wolf and it should fall on him, right?" I asked in confusion.

"No, see this is why it is a magic totem. I held my hand over the pup but my blood fell onto the Father Wolf. It is fate. what you are supposed to be is what your blood will land on. It has happened inevitably to everyone every time" he explained.

"Oh...ok"

"Are you ready?" Andrew said in a supportive voice. I nodded and he proceeded to nod to Alpha Alex.

"Today, we welcome a new member into the Pack. We accept those into our pack that will greatly benefit us in some way. Be they Fighters, Philosophers, or Workers, they are welcome to bring their abilities and benefits into this Pack to better us all. Terrilynn Falana comes to us, granddaughter of Charles and Linda Jackson, to be accepted and welcomed into our Pack. Terri," Alpha Alex turned toward me, "do you accept our traditions made by the Father, Mother, and Young Wolf? Do you promise to never betray this pack to any outsider? Do you swear to follow the lead of the Alpha and the Beta and do whatever course of action they ask of you" I could definitely feel the double meaning of this. I was basically agreeing to follow Alpha Alex's ridiculous 'don't speak to me rule', but I had no choice because I wanted to be part of this pack.

"I do" I nodded.

"Then with the blood of your body combined with the blood of those before you, you will be accepted into this Pack and acknowledged as a contributor to our life" Beta Andrew came up and handed me a knife, with which I proceeded to cut my right hand open. I clenched my fist and held it over the totem in Alpha Alex's hand. I intentionally held it off to the side, almost over the Young Pup statue, but when the drop of blood ran off my palm, it fell directly on top of the...

None of them. My blood did not land on a statue, nor on the spot beneath my hand. It landed, rather, directly between all three figures.









Thanks for reading! Vote and comment! Stature on the right! The song on the side is amazing to me because I love his voice!