Rise Of The Black Ranger

The group had exited the castle and were walking into the everfree Shade not too far behind them as Dillon and Ziggy were just playing around by hanging off of Axel’s arms, the two laughing while Axel didn’t acknowledge what they were doing at all.

“Any idea what you're going to say to your mother when we get there?” Shade asks as follows the group closely.

“A little bit just trying to structure it in my mess of a brain” Dillon responded, glancing back at Shade.

Once they step into the everfree Axel’s ear immediately twitches as he looks around before seeing multiple blur’s launches out from the bushes immediately putting the boys down as he kicks two away only for the others to go past him and towards Shade.

“H-hey stop, he's not an enemy!” Dillon shouted as he realized who they were.

Shade simply sighed as he watched the blurred figure coming towards him as he twisted his body to the right sidestepping the incoming figures before grabbing one from the air by the back of its neck. “Okay… two questions. One, do you know these wolves, and two, is there a reason they tried to attack me?”

“Yeah, they're the new additions of the pack, since they didn’t know you they thought you were an enemy….” Axel responded with a sigh.

The one behind him let out a growl and lunged at him only to phase through Shade’s body, as the wolf just looked on in shock at what had just happened. He looked back to see that he was completely fine, “W-what are you?”

“Do you want another try?” Shade asks, throwing the other wolf in his arms to the floor.

Before the wolf could do anything his head was grabbed by Dillon who took a deep breath as he let out a loud howl causing a small shockwave that stopped the wolves from doing anything else as the wolf he grabbed onto went limp.

“I said stop” Dillon growled out before removing his arm from the wolf’s head as the others just looked towards him scared before they heard him shout out, “SIT!”

They immediately do what he says as he looks back at Shade, “Sorry about that”.

“Are we sure you’re not the Alpha of the pack?” Shade asks as he looks at Dillon.

“Honestly at this point, I have no idea” Dillon replied, exasperation in his voice.

“I'm still in the ballpark that they're afraid of you” Ziggy commented.

“I just think they don’t want to get marked by you,” Axel added.

Dillon lets out a groan in annoyance before speaking, “All of you go back to the lake!”.

They immediately ran back into the forest, the one next to him slowly stumbling behind them as Dillon pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Are they really that bad?” Shade asks curiously.

“It’s more so the new additions that are like this…” Dillon responded.

“Yeah the ones that have been in the pack longer tend to help reel them in but they can’t be around them all the time since most of the time they’re out foraging for food or defending our territory” Axel added

“I feel like I may regret asking, but how big is the pack now, before I remember it being just you, the pups, and your mother.”

“Given how traditions work for packs if one attacks your territory and wins the pack that loses becomes part of theirs but we've encountered multiple packs that attacked us but lost so it’s definitely a lot more members in the pack now” Dillon responded.

“I’m surprised the entire forest doesn’t belong to one single greedy wolf with that rule in place,” Shade points out, “I mean all you’d need to do is challenge a pack's Alpha and then force them into your own to take both the pack and their land right?”

“Yeah that’s how it works I'm surprised we haven’t encountered a wolf like that yet” Dillon answered.

“I feel like your tempting fate when saying that,” Ziggy states with a brow raised.

“Same here,” Axel added.

“Heck I might be doing that I just don’t care” Dillon quickly responded to the both of them.

“Let's just keep going, we're not that far from the lake,” Dillon said as he walked forward the group following behind as they brushed past some of the trees and bushes.

“Why do I get the feeling this is going to end badly for someone,” Shade responds with a shake of his head.

“Given the amount of crap that has happened I wouldn’t be surprised” Axel answered, glancing back towards him.

“Dillon, wait up!” They heard Ziggy shout as they looked to see him trying to catch up to Dillon who continued walking forward.

Dillon stopped for a moment and Ziggy, noticing this immediately asked, “You okay Dillon?”.

“Y-yeah for a moment I felt like I was being watched like someone's watching me and I don’t know where” Dillon responded as he looked around.

“Really?” Ziggy asked.

A figure in the forest wearing a hood was looking towards Dillon in silence before looking behind him to see that Shade was looking directly at them, holding his hand up towards them as if he was holding one of his guns.

“Shit!” they say under their breath before jumping into the darkness out of his view.

“Huh, the presence is gone,” Dillon said before shaking his head, “Probably just my nerves getting to me”.

“Probably,” Shade responds lowering his hand, “let’s get you three to your mother okay.” The boys nod as they continue their walk to the lake as Shade looks back towards where they had seen the figures.

‘Harmony… keep track of them, just to be safe.” He mentally asked back to Harmony.

‘I planned to,” Harmony responded as Shade walked behind the group without another word.

The group immediately pushed past one of the trees and found themselves at the lake, letting out a sigh in relief, “Ah home sweet home” before they heard multiple growls coming from the direction of the cave as they looked to see a large majority of the pack in a defensive position outside the cave.

“He’s a friend everyone it’s okay” Dillon stated as they slowly moved out of the way the group slowly walked past them as some of the wolves even the ones they encountered before looked towards Shade.

“Mom, we're back!” Dillon shouted out.

The Omega who was laying down with the pups looked up to see the group standing at the entrance of the cave as she stood up walking towards them immediately nuzzling up against the boys before noticing Shade.

“It's nice to see you again, Shade,” she said with a smile.

“Same towards you,” Shade responds with a bow, “I would have been back sooner, but things have been a bit… chaotic.”

“Seems so, I noticed that the castle has been rebuilt too” She replied before adding, “So what brings you back to the lake?”.

“I think I’ll leave that one up to your son to explain,” Shade responds pointing to Dillon.

Dillon just let out an embarrassed chuckle in response.

“Go ahead and ask her dude” Axel stated as he nudged him forward.

The boy was silent for a moment to get his thoughts together before taking a deep breath and asking, “Mom, would you mind if Shade became my….dad?”

She looked at him in silence which was slowly making him get nervous until she let out a laugh which confused the boys.

“Of course I'm okay with it Dillon I’m just surprised you actually asked him,” She said as she nuzzled Dillon who had blank look on his face

“I was surprised when he asked him too,” Axel added.

“Did one of you two want to request that as well” she then asked as Ziggy slowly raised his hand in response.

“Yes, he can be your dad too Ziggy” She responded as Ziggy lowered his hand.

“Honestly, I thought you would have been against the idea,” Shade admits.

“I don’t, I trust you, and given how he looks up to you I feel like you would be a good father figure for him” She replied before she went into deep thought, ”maybe you can be the…” before she could finish her thought she heard multiple howls coming from the outside of the cave.

“What the?” Dillon muttered before hearing a loud yelp coming from outside the cave as he immediately stood up and ran out of the cave.

When he exited the cave the first thing he saw was the pack fighter another which had higher numbers than them and it seemed that every moment more and more of the other pack came into the fold seemingly starting to overwhelm his fellow pack members as three wolves came up behind him about to attack him, only for them to be hit by three beams of crimson lights sending them flying backward.

“Maybe stay aware of your surroundings or do you need another warning like the day we met,” Shade warned as he walked out of the cave, “You check on any members of your pack that is injured, let me deal with the others… and pull the pack back… I’d rather not have to end up harming them by mistake.”

“Got it” Dillon replied as he whistled which brought the attention to the wolves that were still fighting to him, “Pull Back!” The pack immediately listened as they ran past Shade who just silently walked past them until it was only him and the enemy pack.

“I’ll give you all one warning out of courtesy, leave on your paws now and I won’t attack you, come towards this pack, and you won’t leave here a free wolf,” Shade warned as he held his Eyecon in his hand, while his belt formed on his waist.

The other pack in response just slowly went towards him, letting out low growls in response before one of them in the back immediately barreled past the others and towards Shade as it lunged towards him.

Shade then quickly spun around before kicking the wolf in the side of the head in midair sending him flying into a nearby tree, “I see you have chosen captivity… anyone else stupid enough to try?”

The wolf that Shade had kicked had a look of pure shock on his face as he struggled to get back up on his feet which made the enemy pack step back slightly before Shade turned glaring at the downed Timberwolf, “Sit and stay unless you want another.”

The wolf in response tried getting up again only to collapse on his feet before his pack members snapped out of it and began charging towards Shade.

“I see… I guess you all chose to never leave as free wolves,” Shade adds quickly placing the Eyecon in his hand into the belt around his waist before closing it before a red and black ghost with chains adorning it appeared from the belt crashing into the oncoming wolves as black glowing chains wrapped around the legs of the wolves it hit pulling them together, while the ghost-like figure flew around Shade.

“Yep, those guys are screwed” Dillon muttered as he watched from the entrance of the cave as he saw the wolves try to break out of their bindings, only for them to coil around their legs more tightly each time they moved.

The Wolves in response tried harder to break out but the feeling of defiance slowly started to get replaced by the feelings of uncertainty and fear.

“What is this?” one of them said with fear in his voice.

“I warned you, that you wouldn’t leave here as free wolves,” Shade stated again as he pulled the handle on the belt as the ghost-like figure attached to his back as his body was covered in his Rider suit, his voice distorting into an almost demonic tone, “now… I recommend you don’t try to escape, or you may lose your legs.”

The enemy pack immediately laid themselves down out of fear as Dillon walked next to Shade, as he asked the pack, “Which pack are you from?”.

“Why should we tell you?” one of them growled out before feeling the chain on them tighten, as they saw a red glow on the chains adorning Shade’s form and their bodies.

“If you don’t tell him, I’ll ensure you don’t walk again,” Shade warned, the chains tightening around the wolf's leg more tightly.

Dillon walked in front of the wolf before asking once again, “What pack are you from?”.

“I'm surprised you haven’t heard of us, we’ve been taking over packs throughout the forest out of everyone, your pack was the only one that was untouched and our Alpha didn’t like that” the wolf replied as Dillon just looked confused in response.

Shade then knelt in front of the wolf, “I’d start answering clearly, or do you want to either lose a leg or have an ear bitten off?”

“And I'm not against marking you, I've done it before” Dillon responded barring out his fangs the wolf in response immediately speaking, “Were from the pack called the Rabid Maw we reside on the opposite side of the forest”.

“See wasn’t that easy now you don’t get a chunk bitten out of your ear,” Dillon said in a condescending tone as he patted the wolf's head.

“Now… Why did you attack the pack here? If it was to take them I think you made a very foolish mistake,” Shade asked.

“Our Alpha wants control of every pack in the everfree and this one was the last one he needed” the wolf replied.

“Oh goddammit it's one of those types…” Dillon groaned out.

“We don’t have a choice in these matters if we don’t were either forced out to starve or killed whatever his mood feels the best punishment” the wolf continued,

“So even if you didn’t want to do this you had no choice?” Dillon asked.

“Yeah….either death or banishment is what you get and believe some have tried to overthrow him to stop this but they failed and were used as examples to not fight back”.

Dillon hearing this immediately clenched his fist and grit his teeth before looking towards Shade who saw pure anger in his eyes.

“Calm down,” Shade calmly said, placing a hand on Dillon’s head before looking down to the bound wolf, “I hope he at least treats the pack’s pups well.”

“Thankfully he doesn’t hurt them but everyone feels like he’s close to snapping and if he does I hope he doesn’t hurt them” the wolf replied.

“You said the pack resides on the opposite end of the forest right?” Dillon asked.

“Yeah, why?”.

“Take us to it,” Dillon stated blankly.

“Dillon. Just think for a second. You can’t run straight in, and besides you need to think about the others here, I doubt these are all he will send and they did injure some of the pack, you can’t go running off and leave here in a weakened state. Especially considering the lack of a leader here.”

“I know it’s just….Dammit!” Dillon shouted, slamming his fist into the ground, ‘I just hate guys like that, thinking they deserve everything because they have power!”.

Dillon then walked past Shade and towards the cave, “I'm gonna check on the others….” Dillon said agitation in his voice.

As soon as Dillon had left Shade looked at each of the wolves below him, “Now… what to do with all of you.”

“Since we lost you can do what you will with us” one of them answered.

But as a result, another did the opposite of accepting their fate but instead started to plead for their life, “Please just let us go we won’t come back!” and as a result, some of the others started to do the same.

“Well, I did say none of you would leave with your freedom… I can’t go back on what I said,” Shade says to himself

“Will you lot stop blubbering at least you weren’t killed” Shade heard the Omega as he turned to see her walking up to them.

“So is there a reason why Dillon came back into the cave angry? Did one of these idiots say something to him?”.

“He found out they are from a pack with an Alpha who is controlling and power-hungry, and I stopped him from going after him that second,” Shade responded, “I told him we couldn’t leave this place unprotected.”

She just shook her head in response, “That boy I swear, but thank you for stopping him he’s been getting a lot more hot-headed than usual”.

“Still… What should we do with this lots? I mean I know the Alpha would normally handle this stuff but…”

“Yeah I was going to ask you before these idiots decided to attack, maybe you can be the alpha since Dillon is too young and not patient enough for it, Ziggy’s afraid to do it and Axel has shown he’s not interested in doing it”.

“And you want me, why?”

“Because you're dependable and I trust you,” She replied.

“But wouldn’t you want the Alpha of a pack to be, you know… the same race?”

“You think I cared about that when I brought those three into the pack” The omega replied as she motioned towards the boys who walked out of the cave.

“I think you did so because they could become part Timberwolf and at least be half your race.”

“Not really I mainly did it to get rid of the language barrier, but I care about them either way” she replied before the boys came up to them

“Alright most of the pack isn’t gravely wounded so they can move but some weren’t lucky and are unconscious so I used some of the medicine I had to patch them up and numb the pain” Dillon stated.

“So it had nothing to do with the fact you had barely any pack members left at that point and needed anyone to rebuild it,” Shade responds seemingly having not heard Dillon.

“I'm not disputing that but again I care about them all the same” she quickly replied.

“So this isn’t a fact that you are worried about this new pack and wanted someone who looks to be able to fight back to ask as a deterrent,” Shade suggests.

“I did know about the pack but I more so brought Dillon in so he can somewhere to go to, I was worried about the pack, but bringing in Dillon did help in protecting us” she replied as she glanced at Shade.

“And I get that, but even still it doesn’t solve the root of the issue you would need a pack’s Alpha to do beyond leading… a thing I cannot do as I am.”

The Omega sighs in response, ”I understand, but if you change your mind let me know”.

“Let me be clear. It’s not a no, I just need you to know that at this time, I can’t fill that need of yours, But I can manage everything beyond that.” Shade explained, “Maybe we should go somewhere away from the others to talk about it?”

She nodded in response before looking to the opposite end of the lake.

“Um, am I chopped liver here, what's going on, what are you two talking about?” Dillon piped up as he walked in front of the two.

“Umm, sorry Dillon I didn’t see you there… to answer your question. It’s something important between the two of us.”

Dillon’s face immediately went into a frown, “let me guess grown-up stuff I’m not allowed to listen to?”.

“For now… no. But later maybe,” Shade responded.

“Fine…” the boy groaned as he walked past them, “also most of the wolves aren’t gravely injured but some are unconscious” he added as he walked back to the front of the cave.

“Maybe you should handle this first, along with these captives from the other pack,” Shade suggested, looking at the Timberwolf next to him.

“You're right,” She responded.

“Maybe, for now, take them all into the cave bound as they are. We can have a nice long talk with them all later,” Shade suggests looking at the group of bound wolves again. “I think they can enjoy a nice long stay with the pack don’t you?”

“I do” she responded as she then yelled out, “Axel, Dillon!”.

“Yeah?” they hear the two yell out.

“Bring these wolves into the cave there gonna have a long stay with us” she stated as the two ran from the cave and grabbed onto the bound wolves and picked them up.

“H-hey put us down, you wretch!” The boys hear one of the wolves say before Shade and the Omega see Dillon jab the wolf in the stomach, the wolf letting out a yelp in response.

“I suggest you stay quiet, he doesn't have much patience for wolves like you” Axel commented as they carried the group of wolves toward the cave.

“Please don’t do this, this isn’t fair” they hear one of them whimper out.

“Life ain’t fair, get over it” Dillon blankly replied.

The boys continued, as the wolves continued to whine in response which annoyed Dillon to know end which could be seen from the positions of his ears and his tail frizzing up.

“I want you to keep an eye on them for a while okay! If any cause trouble you can gag or silence them!” Shade shouted to Dillon.

“Alright, dad!” Dillon shouted back as he and Axel chucked the wolves into the cave before walking in themselves.

“Now… shall we go somewhere and talk,” Shade asks, looking at the Omega.

She nodded in response, “We shall” as she walked into the forest Shade not far behind as they continued for a few minutes before finding themselves in a clearing, the omega then sitting in front of him.

“Okay then, so if I did become the Alpha, what would you need me to do?” Shade asked, canceling his transformation.

“To lead and to help manage the pack and to show that the pack is not to be trifled with” She replied.

“Okay, how large is the pack at this moment numbers-wise?” Shade asked as he sat down in front of the omega.

“I would say there are over 30 members in the pack but to be completely accurate I would say maybe 40 excluding the boys and the pups”.

“Okay, now what should we do with the wolves who attacked you. I don’t think we can leave them like that,” Shade admits, “We need to decide how to handle both those we captured and the pack they came from.”

“We can handle the ones we captured by giving them an ultimatum either they join us or..they die”.

“Well maybe not death, they could join willingly, or I can forcibly make them join against their will… I mean I can alter creatures' minds.”

“True, we could negotiate with them since if they go back they would most likely be worse off with what their alpha can do”.

“The easiest way would be to remove their Alpha from the equation.” Satou points out.

“But doing that would require someone going to the pack's home which most likely has a lot more members there than what attacked us” The Omega added.

“If they are as strong as those who attacked us just now… I really doubt that they’ll be much of a threat,” Shade admits as he looks around the area.

They then heard a twig snap come from one of the bushes and turned their attention to where the sound came from.

The omega immediately sprung up and jumped into the bush as a loud whine could be heard as Shade saw her pull a wolf from the bush by its neck as it tried to get away from her.

“So… I’m going to go with this one being a straggler from the attack that tried to hide, but was too scared to move” Shade suggests as he looks at the wolf in the Omega’s grasp.

She nodded in response as she placed him down, “Seems like he didn’t want to fight at all when he saw me he looked like he was paralyzed”.

“Maybe he will explain himself to us,” Shade asked as he looked down at the wolf, “Unless we need to be more… persuasive.”

The wolf in response looked completely terrified before blurting out, “I didn’t want to fight, I didn't want to hurt anyone so I thought hiding was the best option!”

“And what do you think your best option is now you’ve been caught and been eavesdropping on our conversation and know what your choices are?” Shade asked as he knelt in front of the wolf.

“T-That I show you where the pack is?...” The wolf stuttered out.

“We already have the others from your group for that” The Omega quickly comments.

“Besides. This is about what we do to you… not what you do for us,” Shade adds, “Unless you want us to decide your fate for you that is?”

“I-I don’t know what you want me to say”.

Shade then placed a hand against the back of the wolf's neck holding him in place, “let me put it this way. You have been captured by a pack who your groups attacked. You won’t be leaving a free wolf, so you can choose one of three options, joining this pack, being a mindless puppet enslaved to this pack, or death.”

The wolf’s breath hitched as he spoke, “I’ll join the pack, I don’t want to be a puppet”.

“Okay then. I assume you have a name, little pup,” Shade asks in a condescending tone as he patted the wolf on the head.

“My- my name is Rio” the wolf stuttered out.

“Well Rio, you are now a part of our pack now, welcome” The omega commented, the wolf shaking in fear in response. “Oh don’t be afraid we're not gonna kill you if you decided to be defiant then that would have been one of the results so be a good boy and nothing bad happens to you” The omega added.

Rio didn’t say anything, only nodding in response.

The omega just looked towards Shade, “What should we do with him, he looks scared to death”.

“Honestly, I’ll leave that one to you. I mean you are the mother of this pack,” Shade points out.

She just sighed in response before nudging Rio, “Come on get up”, she spoke as Rio slowly got onto his feet.

“Let's get this little one back to the others,” She said towards Shade.

“Maybe a good idea. I doubt the others will react well to him if he appeared by himself,” Shade responds.

The omega nodded as she nudged Rio forward, the wolf walking forward with Shade and the omega walking in front of him as they guided him to the lake.

“I get the feeling someone’s going to need to look after him,” Shade points out as they reach the mouth of the cave.

They then see Dillon holding one of the wolves in a headlock while Axel was holding in a laugh while he watched Dillon having an annoyed look on his face while this transpired, the boy immediately dropping the wolf when he sees Shade and the Omega.

“Oh hey, who’s the new addition?” Dillon asked as he saw Rio behind them.

“His name Is Rio, we need one of you to watch him,” The Omega said as she nudged Rio forward.

“And preferably not harm him… he’s scared enough as is,” Shade added.

“I can tell he looks like he’s about to piss himself,” Axel commented as he looked to see Dillon glancing at the wolves.

Axel sighed, “I’ll watch him,” he said as Rio slowly walked towards him until he sat next to Axel, the wolf shaking slightly.

“Sheesh lighten up we're not gonna hurt ya as long as you don’t do wrong by us we won’t do wrong by you” Axel stated.

“We’ll just be outside, if anything happens you need either of us for. Just shout,” Shade requested looking back at the Omega.

“Alrighty” Dillon and Axel replied.

Shade and her go back outside to the lake as they continue to speak. “So where were we before that happened?”

“I think we were talking about you being unsure since you're not a wolf yourself?” the Omega replied.

“Well, that is a bit of an issue considering that if we want to grow the pack without forcing others into it that we would need to… well you can guess and I don’t think me and you can really do that.”

“Yeah, that definitely wouldn’t be ethical, this is definitely a conundrum isn’t it?” she replied.

“Besides… I very much doubt that it would even be possible between us,” Shade adds, sitting down in front of the Omega.

“You're not wrong” The omega responded, “but even then even if that’s not possible I still believe this can work with helping to lead the pack” she continued.

“By what scaring everyone half to death every time?” Shade asks.

“No, by having them trust you first, the boys trust you, especially Dillon if he didn’t he wouldn’t have sought you out today, things like that for the pack will take time but I do believe it will work”.

“So dealing with that pack that attacked you for example,” Shade suggests holding his hand out slightly.

“Let's not resort to scare tactics, let's try to have them trust us so we don’t have them fight back and die trying if anything the root of the issue is the alpha of the pack they were part of”,

“So to keep everyone safe I need to remove the Alpha of that pack from power. So the easy way would be to beat him into submission and drag him off kicking and screaming?” Satou points out.

“Either that or scare him so much he doesn’t want to be the alpha anymore” she quickly responded.

“So what makes him think that the ghosts of packs he’s wronged are trying to grab him and drag him through the floor?”

“Precisely he’s clearly has a lot of ghosts in his closet if most of the members of his pack don’t think highly of him we can use that to our advantage”

“Well all we would need is a Timberwolf who can phase through objects to do it. I don’t think that is something you can do though right?”

The omega shook her head in response, “Sadly no I can’t do that”.

“And I doubt an Alicorn or Human doing that would really affect him. I can’t think he’s wronged either of those races,” Shade adds his hand still out.

“Then how should we go about this then?” The omega replied.

Shade paused for a moment lost in thought, “I’ll need to think on that. But for now, we need to think about strengthening the pack itself… Do you know of any smaller packs that may have been missed by this larger one. Any that might be inclined to group up with ours to help protect themselves?”

The omega immediately went into deep thought, this went on for a moment before she spoke up, “There might be three packs that are willing to help but I don’t know for sure that they're still around or not”.

“How long would it take to get in contact with them? And beyond that could they be of any threat to our pack if left unchecked.” Shade asked.

“It wouldn’t take long since last I remember their vicinity to the lake isn’t that far, and from what I remember they weren’t aggressive at all unless they were provoked so they aren’t a threat to our pack” she replied before going silent, “Did you just say our pack?”.

Shade only smiled back at the Omega as he simply nodded his head, “I suppose I did, besides if anything did happen to any of the pack I can’t imagine Dillon would be happy, and I do need to at least try and look after him and Ziggy considering the fact I’ve adopted them both.”

The Omega just shook her head with a low chuckle, “I suppose that is true huh, still surprised you took me up on my offer” she said as she walked forward and nuzzled against his hand.

“It’s not a problem. Besides, someone needs to deal with that other pack before they cause too many issues.” Shade responded, before a spark leaped into the bracer on his arm as he recoiled back in shock, crimson lights flickering from it before Shade said, “Don’t say it’s broken. I’ll kill her myself if she damages this thing.”

“What's wrong?” The Omega asked.

“It’s nothing,” Shade responded as the lights stopped flickering before a small screen appeared on top of the bracer, looking to show an image of an Alicorn on it, “What the hell?”

“What is it?” she then asked as she stepped a bit closer.

“No idea. Before now it had only two buttons. One for my human form, one for my Alicorn one and no more. Now there’s this screen on it,” Shade admitted as he flicked the screen with his finger, finding multiple images appearing on the screen. One human, one Alicorn, one Unicorn, and the last one being the most confusing to him. A Timberwolf-shaped icon. “Okay… that’s weird.”

“Is that….a timberwolf?”.

“I think so… but why is it on this thing?” Shade responded, tapping the image of a timberwolf once as his form began to shift before being surrounded in a crimson glow as the Omega looked in interest before covering her eyes with her paws.

Once the glow subsided the Omega uncovered her eyes to find a Timberwolf over twice her size towering over her. The wolf had completely black bark covering it with its tail being blood red with two glowing red eyes staring down at her.

She immediately jumped back and growled towards the wolf in response who just looked at her confused in response. “Is there something on my face?” in a very familiar voice.

She immediately stopped and tilted her head in confusion, “Shade?” she asked as she got a nod from the wolf as she slowly walked towards him.

“Yes?” the wolf responded in confusion. “What's wrong?”

“You don't look like how you were before” She commented as she circled him to get a good look at him before adding, “You're a Timberwolf and a big one at that it's been a long time since I've ever seen one of that stature”.

“Huh? What do you mean by me looking like a Timberwolf?” Shade asked, looking at her confusion clear on his face.

“Maybe look down and you’ll see what I mean,” The omega replied.

Shade then looked down towards the floor, seeing his legs below them, now looking to be paws, “Wait… what the hell.”

“I suppose that wasn’t meant to happen?”.

“As I said the bracer on my arm had two forms, human and Alicorn. No others. So no… this should not have happened… hell I didn’t know I could turn into a Timberwolf.”

“Maybe that person you spoke about killing did something to add that feature” She commented.

“It’s possible… though I would have thought she would tell me if she did make any other changes beyond what we agreed to.”

“Even then you look good and it definitely looks like you fit the role of an alpha in this form”.

“And how should an Alpha normally look?” Shade asked with a curious tone in his voice.

“From the ones I've known during my life personally, they have a commanding aura to them as well as a high stature to them both of those things you have in spades” She replied as she circled him again.

“So being this size is normal for an Alpha?”

“Yes, but for others, they can be the same size as any of the other wolves”.

“So is this a common size for a Timberwolf… It’s weird everyone here seems so much smaller… I mean most of the grown ones are the same height as you.”

“When I was younger it wasn’t like this, but over the past few years that started to happen to them slowly more and more that were born started to go towards the size they are now, honestly you're around the same height as my father was when he was still alive”.

“Anything I should know of him? I assume he was the Alpha of the pack at some point.”

The Omega just shook her head in response, “other than he tried being as patient as possible, no”.

“And did that work well for the pack?”

“He passed peacefully in his sleep with the pack around him, so yes it did”.

“At least he lived a long and mostly happy life,” Shade responded, “But I think I need to work out how to get the other members of the pack to accept me. I doubt they will all jump to follow a strange wolf they’ve never seen in the pack before now.”

“If we can find a way for them to trust you, they might accept you, maybe even have the boys help with convincing or just Dillon since he likes to be blunt about certain things”.

“To be fair, I think Dillon is the only one that actually trusts me for the right reasons. I mean all Ziggy knows of me is that I saved Dillon.”

“To be fair I don’t think Ziggy has a reason to distrust you especially since you adopted him” She responded.

“That’s also not a good reason. That's just blind trust.”

“You're not wrong, but even then as Ziggy gets to know you more he’ll have reasons to trust you”

“Then I suppose I’d better start with the others then,” Shade responds with a shake of his head.

“That's most likely the best course of action from how I see it,” The Omega admitted.

“I guess so,” Shade responds before pausing, “You know… it’s been kind of rude of me but I never asked your name all this time… and I don’t think I can call you just ‘my omega’ constantly.”

“Oh, y-yeah I didn’t tell you, well you can call me Ryka” she responded.

“Well then it’s a pleasure to meet you Ryka,” Shade responds as he places a paw on her head.

“Likewise Shade,” Ryka replied.

“Now then Ryka. Shall we see how this goes with the pack?” Shade asks, placing his paws on the ground.

Ryka nodded in response as they began walking back to the lake and after a few minutes, they were back and looked to the cave to see Dillon in front of the cave with his sword out.

“Why do I feel like I’ve missed something really important?” Shade asks, looking at Ryka nervously.

“Probably best to assume that” Ryka replied as Dillon turned towards them the boy’s stare softening when he saw Ryka but immediately hardened when he saw Shade not knowing it was him.

“Who is that?” Dillon asked as the two noticed a scratch on his face.

“Why do I think this is going to end badly,” Shade asks Ryka as he smiles down at her.

“Because It’s probably going to” Ryka replied with a giggle as she leaned against him.

Dillon just looked at the two in confusion as he overheard them, “What the?” the boy muttered as he saw his mother lovingly lean against Shade.

“Am I missing something cause I'm confused” Dillon then said.

“Dillon, who would be the most important part of the pack?” Ryka asked the boy who only tilted his head in response.

“I guess the alpha would, why do you ask-” Dillon was about to respond before stopping as he glanced at Shade and back at Ryka who only had a smile on her face, “No…” Dillon groaned out only for Ryka to nod.

“Who is this!?” Dillon shouted out only for Ryka to chuckle in response as Dillon shouted again, “Why is this funny I don’t get it!”.

“As your mother said. I’m the pack's new Alpha,” Satou said, distorting his voice slightly making him sound older.

Dillon didn’t say anything in response as his eye twitched slightly.

“Dillon time to switch out!” Axel shouted out as he walked out and stood next to Dillon who didn’t respond.

“Dillon, what's wrong?” Axel shook him only to get nothing again as he turned to see Shade and Ryka, “Oh welcome back, who’s that by the way?” Axel asked as he motioned towards Shade.

“He’s the new alpha of the pack,” Ryka replied.

Axel just glanced at Shade and then back at Ryka before going into deep thought, before he heard a familiar voice say in his head, “Axel. It’s me. We’re just messing around with Dillon, try to play along. We want him to work it out.”

Axel quickly nodded in response “Ok Lord Shade” he replied, as he went silent as all of them looked towards Dillon.

“Are you okay little pup?” Shade asked, looking at Dillon.

Dillon in response just grabbed his headache, “All this thinking is giving me a headache!” as he then proceeded to bonk himself in the head.

“Ow,” Dillon groaned out before immediately going quiet and looking towards Shade specifically in his eyes seemingly starting to connect the dots.

“.......Dad?” Dillon said in a mix of confusion and bewilderment as Ryka and Axel looked like they were about to laugh while Shade held an amused expression on his face.

“Took you a while to work it out little pup,” Shade responds with a smirk on his face.

Dillon just gave a pout in response as he walked back into the cave embarrassed, “W-were switching out Axel!”.

“I think you made him mad,” Axel commented with a chuckle as Ryka went into the cave.

“Dillon it was just a joke” Ryka they heard her say.

“He’ll calm down.” Shade responds, “besides, I think it bothered him more that his mother was close to a random wolf.”

“Probably” Axel admitted.

“Probably not much better that said wolf is his adopted father as well,” Shade adds.

“I think more so that he didn’t expect it” Axel responded before adding, “Honestly can’t really blame him for not knowing off the bat because he’s only seen you in your alicorn and human form”.

“Couldn’t the same be said for you. But you clicked on to it being me pretty quickly. I could tell you was going to call me out before I asked you not to,” Shade points out, “buy the way. How did you tell it was me?”

“It was the glowing red eyes that tipped me off in all honesty” Axel replied.

“Glowing eyes?” Shade responded in confusion. “I didn’t even realize they were glowing.”

“Is that normal?” Axel asked.

“Well I didn’t know I was doing it so… Is it normal for Timbewolfs eyes to glow like mine do?” Shade asked, looking at the Omega.

Ryka just nodded in response as she walked back towards the two, “Yes that's normal it takes a bit for Timberwolves to actually show them, Dillon and Ziggy have shown some signs of their eyes glowing for the past few nights and Axel’s is yet to show anything yet”

“So it’s just weird for me to have it happen instantly… and not be able to stop them from glowing. Any ideas on how everyone normally does it?”

“Most Timberwolves usually do it in a way like focusing your vision,” Ryka replied.

“As in focusing to trigger it or focusing to stop it?” Shade asked.

“It works both ways,” She replied.

“Okay then,” Shade responds as he closes his eyes taking a single deep breath before opening them, “That any better or are they still the same?”

“Yep, they're not glowing anymore” Axel commented with a nod.

“Does a wolf's eye glowing like that mean anything normally?” Shade asks

“More so to show that a timberwolf is not messing around with their business” Ryka replied.

“So don’t activate it around the pack. Got ya.”

“That's the gist of it, yeah”.

Ryka then looked to Axel as she spoke, “Axel get the members of our pack out here I want to introduce them to their new alpha and get Dillon and Ziggy while you're at it, I want them both here for the announcement”.

“Got it” Axel replied with a salute as he walked towards the cave, the older boy immediately shouting into the cave when he’s at the entrance, “Alright everyone who isn’t bound come out, the omega wants to make an announcement!”.

The wolves slowly came out of the cave as Shade and Ryka saw some of the others helping Dillon and Ziggy pull the wolves that were bound together out of the cave until all of the members that were still conscious were in front of them including the boys who just sat down in front of them.

“Alright everyone’s here” Axel stated as he and the pack looked towards Ryka and Shade.

“Okay, everyone now that you're here you're probably wondering who is this large Timber Wolf next to me” Ryka stated as she motioned towards Shade as she continued, “This is Shade and he will be the alpha of the pack”.

The pack started to murmur in response all of them being unsure of trusting Shade which started to get on the nerves of Dillon who immediately spoke up, “Shut up, you guys had a problem with the pack not having an alpha before and now you have a problem with it having one now make it make sense!”.

Shade then rose to his full height looking at some of the wolves, “Some of you have already met and tried to kill me… I think at least one of you tried going for my throat and went through my body. Who did that again?”

“It was that one” Ziggy said as he pointed the wolf in the back,

“Maybe you want to tell the rest of the pack the results of your attack on me?” Shade asked, looking at the wolf at the back.

The wolf’s ears went down as he replied, “I couldn’t touch him but he was completely capable of touching me”.

“Also all of you who are currently bound. You also tried to attack me when you came for this pack. How did that go for all of you?” He added looking at the bound wolves.

“We were completely outmatched” one of them quietly replied.

“Now all of you who have a problem with me. Make yourselves known. I would like to resolve this without causing issues for the pack as a whole, just don’t shout at once, I’ll hear anyone who wants to point out an issue.” Shade adds looking around the pack.

One of the pack members immediately walks forward stopping in front of the group, “Why are you alpha of the pack now I mean no offense but none of us know you other than the ones you said attacked you”.

“That is true, but maybe you want to ask both your Omega for an answer here. After All, she asked me to become your Alpha,” Shade responds, “Or if you have an issue with trusting a random wolf you’ve never met, ask Dillon about me.”

Some of the pack members look directly at Ryka and Dillon expecting an answer from them as Dillon sighed in response, “He’s trustworthy if it wasn’t for him I would be dead right now you don’t have to trust my word completely but if he had bad intentions he would have hurt all of you gravely without any difficulty”.

The pack murmur among themselves before looking at Ryka who spoke, “the reason I asked him to be the alpha is because I trust him and I knew if something ever happened to me if we didn’t have one the pack would fall apart, I've seen that happen far too many times”.

The wolf who spoke up prior looked to the others in the pack who nodded in response as he stated towards Ryka, “I'm not completely sure about this but me and the pack trust your judgment” as he then turned to Shade stating ”it may take some time for us to get used to you being our alpha but we put our trust in you”.

“And I thank you for taking the chance on me,” Shade responds with a bow of his head as the rest of the pack do the same in response as the boys and Ryka smile in response. “Do any of you have anything else you need to get off your chests?”

Most of the pack shook their heads in response as Ryka immediately stepped forward, “Okay now that this is out of the way I'm gonna need some of you to go scout out into the forest and recruit the more friendly packs, am I clear?”.

Most of the pack nodded in response before they heard Dillon ask, “It may just be me being stupid but why are we recruiting other packs?”.

“Simple. If any packs are left chances are their members have been taken away and forced into the pack that our captives are from against their will. If they are in too bad of a state they will need help, and it just might be a way to prevent that other pack from harming anyone else.” Shade explained.

“Oh now I understand” Dillon replied as he looked at the pack, “Alright any one of you that isn’t gravely injured and is willing to do this come forward!” the boy shouted as ten of the wolves came forward.

“Alright you heard what she said, look for any of the friendly packs and recruit them into ours and no attacking them they may be our only allies in this got it?” Dillon said as the wolves nodded to him.

“Good now go!” Dillon ordered as the wolves immediately ran into the forest as he turned around to see Axel smirking at him, “What?”.

“You sure you're not fit to be a leader?” Axel asked as Dillon quickly nodded in response, “very sure I don’t have the patience for it”.

“Are you sure that you're sure because you did pretty well just now” Ziggy commented as Dillon just grumbled in response.

“Now, could you get everyone who needs to recover somewhere safe,” Shade requests looking at the group, “But leave your ‘guests’ outside. I think that we need a nice long talk with them.”

Dillon and the others nod in response as they take the wolves and guide them out of the lake while Axel and Dillon pick up some of the wolves who could barely walk in the process.

After the group exited the area all that was left in the lake was Shade, Ryka, and the wolves who were still bound together.

“So… Now we can have a nice long talk and sort out everything,” Shade responds as he walks towards the bound wolves till he stood towering over them as he stared down at them, “Now, I assume you all have things you want to say to the Alpha of the pack you attacked.”

The wolves stayed silent as Ryka sighed in annoyance, “I'd recommend actually speaking and some of you not looking at us with eyes of disgust”.

“I’ll make this simple. Right now all of you have two choices. You join us, or…” Shade paused bringing a claw to the nearest bound wolf’s neck slowly moving it across his neck leaving a scratch across it.

“I’ll join you!” one of the bound wolves yelled as the other ones that were bound looked at him in shock, “What are you doing!?”.

The wolf in question responded, “Choosing to live and honestly being in their pack looks a lot better than our own”.

The wolves then began to argue amongst themselves until a good majority agreed to join the pack but the outliers that continued to refuse to join the pack were the most vocal and stubborn out of the few.

“Ryka, could you pull the new members to the side? I need to deal with the others,” Shade requested, his voice deepening slightly as his eyes began to glow.

“Okay” Ryka replied as she grabbed the wolves who joined and sat them somewhere separate from the more stubborn ones.

“I’ll give you all one last chance, then that’s it,” Shade warned, standing over the remaining wolves. “So say whatever you want. You might get lucky.”

“I'd recommend choosing your words wisely!” Ryka shouted from the side.

“Why should we, you're probably not any better than our previous one!”.

“Yeah, why should we? You're probably just as much of a bastard!”

Shade paused looking at the ears of two of the wolves seeing that each had a large chunk bitten out of them.

‘Harmony. Are you able to help them?’ Shade mentally asked.

‘Of course. Just touch their ears and I'll handle the rest. It should look like you're doing it,’ she responded with a small chuckle.

Shade then focused back on the wolves in front of him before calmly saying “Tell me… did he take your ears and choices away from you?”

The wolves in response just looked away one of them stating, “He breaks you down until you join him or until you die there is no in between..”.

“Then let me give you a choice back,” Shade responds a soft glow forming near his paw as he placed it against the bitten ear, before pulling it back, the missing skin having reformed, “That any better?” he asked releasing one of the wolf’s paws guiding it towards his ear.

“What, how did you do?” the wolf asked as he looked Shade in the eyes.

“I’m not going to abuse my pack, and that extends to anyone who is willing to accept and follow me,” Shade responds, “now… does that feel better?”

The wolf looked to the ground in response as he nodded, “I- I'll join you”.

Shade only smiled back before the chain binding him disappeared and Shade rubbed the wolf's head, “welcome to the pack.”

“Thank you, Alpha” The wolf responded as he walked to the other pack members.

“Now, anyone else?” Shade asked, looking at the others.

The other wolf from before immediately spoke up, “Please, I don’t want to go back”.

“If you didn’t want to go back there, why did you refuse to join a new pack away from your old one?” Shade asked as he looked at the wolf that had spoken.

“We don’t know whether he’s watching us or not, back in the pack you have to watch what you say or you're punished and he’s very creative…” the wolf replied.

“If he was watching you I would think he would have attacked by now seeing all but four of you jump ship and join this pack,” Shade points out.

The wolf in response looked to one of the other wolves behind him who was giving him a hard glare before looking away fear in his eyes as he quietly spoke, “I’ll join you”.

“Traitorous bastard!” the wolf behind him shouted before snapping its jaw on the wolf's leg who let out a yelp of pain.

Shade then walked over to the wolf that had shouted glaring down at him before stamping a paw down on his head forcing it to the ground, his eyes glowing brighter and he forced the wolf to stare at him, as Shade’s voice deepened further now almost sounding demonic in nature his as he shouted, “I’ll deal with you in a minute, and you will regret what you just did! Understand!” pushing his paw harder against the wolf's head.

The wolf looked towards Shade in defiance as he growled, but only to feel the force on his head getting much heavier, before Shade glared down at the wolf moving his paw to the wolf's neck, as he brought his own head nearer to the wolf's ear before shouting, “do you understand!”

“Screw….you” the wolf responded with gritted teeth.

“I think a punishment is in order,” Shade responds, moving her jaw towards the wolf's ear, “I think a bit off the ear will suffice for now.”

“No!” the wolf shouted as he tried moving out of the way.

“It will only hurt for a moment, young pup,” Shade responded as he opened his jaw over the wolf's right ear placing each of his paws on different parts of the wolf's body preventing him from moving even an inch.

“No, No stop!” The wolf pleaded as he continued to attempt to struggle but to an avail, as Shade placed his teeth against the ear, not biting down fully on it but enough to leave a small mark, before pulling away.

“What will you do for me in return for me not taking a chunk of your ear as punishment for harming a member of my pack little pup,” Shade asked, still glaring at the wolf under his paws as the wolf immediately shrunk down in fear, Shade’s glare making him stay in place and go completely silent. “Nothing? Then I guess I'll simply take your ear as payment,” Shade adds, moving back to the ear again.

The wolf glanced back at his comrades who shook in place they couldn’t say anything they could only watch until the wolf felt a tearing sensation on his ears as he let out a loud yelp that could be heard from where Dillon and the others were.

“Now. Will you behave for your new Alpha, little pup,” Shade asked again, looking at the wolf who saw the remains of his bitten ear against Shade’s teeth before he spat it out, as it landed on the ground in front of the wolf's face.

“I-I’ll behave alpha” The wolf stuttered out in pain as he covered his face while Shade then looked to the other ones, all of them hearing the quiet sobs coming from the bitten wolf.

He then knelt down to the wolf that had been bitten first, rubbing the back of their head, as he pulled them close to his side “Are you okay little one?”

“Y-yeah I’m okay his fangs didn't dig too deep” the wolf replied.

“Let me help with that,” Shade responds, placing his hand over the bite on their leg as it was covered by a faint glow, quickly healing before moving his hand to the wolf’s bitten ear, healing it as he had with the other wolf, “feeling any better?”

“How can you do that?” the wolf asked as they looked at their newly healed leg and rubbed their healed ear.

“That's a secret little one,” Shade responds rubbing the wolf's neck, “and don’t worry, I’ll make sure you don’t get hurt by your last Alpha ever again okay.”

“O-okay” the wolf replied with a nod.

“I assume you have a name for me to call you by my little pup,” Shade responds looking at the wolf with a smile.

“My name's Fern” the wolf quietly answered as she leaned into him glancing at the wolf who bit her before looking away in fear seemingly trying to hide herself.

“Fern. Would you like to go to my Omega, I’ll deal with the rest of them.,” Shade responded in a kind tone in his voice as his eyes returned to normal again.

She nodded as he gently nudged her towards Ryka and the other pack members, Ryka immediately nuzzled against her to show everything's going to be okay before glaring at the wolf who bit her.

Shade only nodded at Ryka as he stood back over the sobbing wolf looking down at him again, “are you going to be a good boy now?”

“I’ll behave” The wolf replied as he continued to say it on repeat, as Shade nodded releasing him from his bindings as he curled up into a ball, before Shade walked over him before looking at the two remaining wolves.

“Do you need me to say anything or are you going to give me an answer?” Shade asked the remaining bound wolves as he looked at them.

“We’ll join you just don’t hurt us” one of the wolves whimpered out.

“Do you both promise to do as me and my Omega says from now on,” Shade asks looking at them both.

“We promise” the first replied as the second quickly nodded, “Yeah we won’t cause any trouble”.

“You promise me that?” Shade asks, looking at the two of them carefully, as the wolves quickly nodded their heads in response before Shade released the bindings from the two of them, “Now that's done. We need to decide how to prevent this from continuing,” Shade adds, turning to look at Ryka.

Ryka looks to Shade before looking behind him to see the second wolf knock the other away and lunging at Shade who immediately grabs and pinned them down.

“Really… was that really a good idea,” Shade asks, his eyes glowing once again as he pins him in place like he had with the other wolf.

“Damn you!” the wolf snarled out.

“Are you trying to get me to kill you? Is that what you really want?” Shade asked, looking down at him in confusion, as it continued to snarl out in opposition, the wolf having a manic look on its face.

Shade then looks to the other wolf that had been pushed to the side, “Who was he to your old pack?”

The wolf that was knocked away stood up as it stated “He and the other one were the most loyal to the alpha. You can basically consider them his first and second in command and that one in particular is his younger brother”.

Shade pauses in thought before a grin appears on his face before he looks down to the wolf under his paws. “You know… I think I have a worse fate for you than taking an ear, a fate miles worse than death even.”

“W-what are you planning!?” The wolf shouted as attempted to break free only to still be unable to move.

“Well… I’m going to take complete control of your body and mind, leaving the current you trapped in your own head for the rest of your life, you’ll be a puppet for me to pull the strings of only being able to do whatever I desire of you for the rest of your life.” Shade responds with a smirk on his face as he stares at the wolf under his feet.

The wolf’s eyes widened as he tried getting himself free again, “No, No!”

“In fact, I could force you to be whatever I want. I could change your coat color, alter your memories, give you a brand new name and make you into whatever our pack desires,” Shade responds as he rubs a paw over the side of the wolf's face.

He tried moving his face away in response only to feel Shade press more weight against him.

“I’ll march you back to your brother as my newest pup, and have you tell him who you now serve to his face. How do you think he will feel, his own brother abandoning him for a new Alpha, and he won’t even know why.”

“Please no, I’ll give you anything you want just don’t do this!”.

Shade ignored him looking back at Ryka, “Say, what do you think we change about our newest pup when I start the changes. Any preferences on the new him?”

Ryka walks over to the wolf and gets up close to his face, “Make him more pleasant, he's too abrasive, maybe during his time he’ll actually learn a thing or two”.

“Still I feel like he needs a change to his coat… maybe black or red would look nice,” Shade suggests.

“Please no…” the wolf quietly whimpered out.

“How about we give him a new name, maybe I’ll call you Kai”

“Grey, my name is grey please don’t take my name away from me!”.

“I think I like the name Kai more,” Shade responds as a crimson glow appears on the paw that had been near his face, black sparks moving down his leg, “Any final requests before the old you disappears from this world forever?”

Grey began to hyperventilate, not knowing what to say until he whimpered out, “tell my brother that I'm sorry”.

“Why would we let him know you're sorry. You're going to help break his pack apart,” Shade adds his paw moving closer to Grey’s forehead, before making contact with it the black sparks moving across his body focused near his head.

Grey just looked to the ground as tears formed in his eyes and fell to the ground, his coat slowly going darker in color, as a red light focused on his forehead, and a faint symbol began to appear near Shade’s paw.

“In this life that I've lived, I know i don’t regret a damn thing” Grey spoke before going silent, as his eyes lost their color before what appeared to be a crimson eye-shaped symbol formed creating his pupils, his head raising looking blankly forwards.

“Ryka. I’ll leave the rest to you, just say what you want from him and he’ll become it,” Shade responds, kissing her on the forehead before looking over his shoulder towards the formerly bound wolves.

“Got it,'' Ryka replied as she sat in front of Grey who blankly looked towards her.

“Your new name is Kai” She stated as they both saw one of his eyes twitch in response to a pained look showing on his face for a moment.

“My name is Grey” he replied as Shade placed his paw on his head again, “my name is G-grey”

“Little pup, your name is Kai,” Shade calmly says, a single spark jumping towards his forehead before looking at Ryka as he nodded his head slightly, “I am your Alpha.”

Ryka then placed her paw beside his as she stated, “And I am your mother's little pup”.

Grey continued to show resistance for a moment before his face went blank before he slowly spoke, “y-you are my alpha and you are my mother” he struggled with the first bit of the sentence but as he continued the struggle he was showing before was completely gone.

“Good boy Kai” Ryka replied

“Thank you mother,” he responded.

“you will be acting as one of this pack's protectors and will help in dealing with this pack that's a threat to our’s, do you understand Kai?”.

“I…. understand” He blankly replied.

“Good” Ryka replied before looking at Shade, “I think he’s ready”.

“I think we need to give him an actual personality… Do we really want him talking like that constantly?” Shade asks.

“Do you have any suggestions for one?”.

“I could keep him mostly the same, just erase his old Alpha and family from his memories and input us in their place,” Shade suggests.

“That's not a bad idea, maybe keep some of his old memories intact though, how about keeping some of his memories from when he was a pup to before he became a tyrant along with his brother and for the others to input us in”.

“If that's what you want from your newest son,” Shade responds, placing his hand on the wolf's head again, making the adjustments to his memories that Ryka had suggested, “Anything else to add before we wake him up?”

“Have him be protective of the pack, especially when it comes to the boy’s” Ryka replied, getting a nod from Shade before pulling his paw away.

“Do you want to do the honors of waking him up?” Shade asked with a smirk.

Ryka nodded before going next to Kai’s ear, “Kai it’s time to wake up hon” she softly said as he slowly stirred from his sleep.

Kai groaned slightly as he opened his eyes and looked to Ryka before his tail immediately began to wag, “Hey mom, was I asleep for too long”.

“No it's fine Kai” Ryka replied with a smile to which Kai gave the same in response before he looked towards Shade.

“You feeling better Kai,” Shade asked looking at the wolf with a smile, “You seemed to fall asleep during the meeting… you have a habit of doing that don’t you.”

“Yeah sorry about that dad guess I was really tired” Kai replied with an embarrassed chuckle.

“Do you even remember what the meeting was about?” Shade asked.

“I think so” Kai responded before going quiet and asking “It was about an aggressive pack right?”.

“At least you were awake for that part,” Shade responds with a chuckle.

Kai then looked around before asking, “Where’s Axel and the others I remember seeing them during the meeting”.

“Hey dad, is it ok to come back now!?” They hear Dillon shout as they turn to see him peeking out from one of the trees of the forest.

“Yeah, you can come back,” Shade responds back.

“Okay!” the boy responded before disappearing for a moment before walking with everyone else behind him including most of the injured wolves who looked to have their injuries patched up slightly.

“Are you all okay?” Shade asked, looking at the entire pack as his eyes focused on the bitten wolf who was slightly beaten up and had dried blood on their fur who looked a bit shaken which slightly concerned Shade as he noticed that Dillon had a new bandage on his arm as well.

“Dillon… what happened to your arm?” Shade asked, looking at him.

“One of those wolves from the other pack attacked us out of nowhere and got a lucky bite on me, But...I took care of him,” the boy replied.

“And where is this other wolf now?” Shade asked.

“I….I,” the boy tried to find his words while Shade noticed some dry blood on his nails and hands.

“Dillon, come here,” Shade responded in a kind tone, as Dillon slowly walked towards Shade until he was directly in front of him before gesturing for him to sit in front of him.

Dillon does what he’s told as he looks towards Shade, “Tell me what's wrong, whisper if you need to.”

“I..I killed him, he attacked me first and went to attack another and only for that moment all I saw was red and when I was able to see clearly the wolf was dead and I had its blood all over my hands” Dillon whispered as he looked at his hands.

“It’s okay Dillon, let's just get you cleaned up… along with him,” Shade responds as he points to the wolf whose ear he had bitten off.

“O-Ok,” Dillon replied with a nod.

Shade then walks over to the wolf he had bitten tapping his side with a paw, “Come on, get up.” as the wolf just slowly stood up as he shook in place, as SHade said “Let's get all this blood and dirt off your little pup.” while slowly leading him towards the lake with Dillon following close behind.