The pack flourished from that moment on. As months flew by, they had settled nicely in their new territory. With it established, they became the "NightlightMoonPack" in honor of being with Nightlight. Not only that, Nightlight and Pandora were the alphas of the pack. Nightlight's injuries had healed, but his left ear was now torn and his right eye had a scar under it. It didn't matter to him, he didn't feel it there at all. It was late spring in Yellowstone, and Pandora was eight weeks pregnant. She would be due pretty soon, and so she spent her time in the den she had made, while Nightlight and the others brought her food.
Nightlight was out patrolling his territory, while the others were out hunting. He freshly marked the areas he did over the winter, to let others know that this place was taken. Though he never mentioned it to his pack, he thought about how Bandit was dealing with his pack. Sure Sam stuck around, but he was the pack's messenger and didn't want to go back to being with Bandit. Maybe some of the others left he thought. As he was sniffing the long green grass, a howl filled his ears. Nightlight lifted his head, his ears turning to the source of the sound. It was Atlas, calling him back to the den. Nightlight had made his brother beta, and so far he'd been good at it.
Nightlight sniffed the air one last time before heading back to the den. When he got there, Atlas was there to greet him. "Nightlight! Congrats! You're a father!!" he says with a big smile on his face. Nightlight smiled and passed him. He saw Pandora laying in front of the den, washing pups with her tongue. There was a puddle of blood, but she wasn't wounded. As Nightlight approached, she looked up. "Hello love." she says.
Nightlight nuzzled her. "Hello, Pandora. How are you? How is everything?" Pandora smiled. "I'm fine. Matter of fact, all three of us are fine." Nightlight looked at his pups. Their fur dried, and you could see their markings. One of them had his fur coloring, along with a white underbelly. It had a white tipped tail, and white paws. The other one looked like Pandora, but instead of orange tipped ears and an orange stripe going up it's muzzle, they were black. Not only that, both pups were males. "They're perfect." Nightlight says. "What are their names?" Pandora smiled. "I'm thinking the black and white one should be named "Akela." And the white one "Kiba." The names fit them both." Nightlight licked Pandora's head. "I agree. They'll be a wonderful experience for us both. I know it."
As Nightlight and Pandora were looking happily at their new family, Atlas watched from a distance. He looked happy for his brother yet concerned. Two sons were going to be hard. Nightlight had to pick one of them to be the next alpha when the time came. And since they were both born at the same time, it would be difficult. Moon walked up to him and nuzzled his neck. "Hey love, what's wrong?"
Atlas sighed. "Nothing Moon, I have a feeling something's going to go wrong when the pups are older." Moon sat down next to him. "Why do you say that?" Atlas looked at her. "Both of those pups are males. Since they were both born at the same time, Nightlight has to pick one of them to be the next alpha when his reign ends."
Moon looked up at him. Then to Nightlight and his family. "I'm sure everything will be fine. You don't have to worry. I know he's your brother, but you don't have to be so protective all the time." Atlas smiled and nuzzled Moon between the ears. "You talk sense as usual Moon. I love you." Moon placed her paw on his and buried her head into his fur. "And I love you Atlas."
Nightlight had Akela between his paws and was washing him gently with his tongue. Pandora had Kiba and was doing the same. Time passed quickly after the birth of the boys. They are now two months old. Akela had dark golden eyes like his mother, and Kiba had light yellow like his father. The brothers were always close, spending each day with each other, and with their uncle Atlas. One day, Akela decided to explore his father's territory for a bit, since his brother was sleeping and he had nothing else to do. "This land is beautiful...I wonder if there are any other pack's out there…" He reached the base of a small hill and saw a weakly breathing dark blue figure at the top. It was accompanied by the scent of fear. Suddenly Akela didn't feel so safe, out here in his father's territory...
He took a few steps forward, and the thing didn't move. He took a few more, less careful steps towards it, and then broke into a run. It was a dark blue wolf pup, she looked about Akela's age. He took a step back from her, tucking her tail between his legs in distress. He could see she was still breathing, and she reeked of fear.
Akela instincts told him to run away, but he couldn't bring himself to leave her side, not even to run and go get help. She was so small and alone and in such dire need of a friend. He stepped forward and prodded her with his snout quickly, taking three steps back after doing so.
"Hello?" he whispered.
To his surprise, at his touch she opened her eyes, blinking, and looked up at him in confusion. "Where am I?" she asked him, her voice shaky. "You're on the territory of the Nightlight-Moon Pack. Who are you? What happened to you?" he asked. Now that she was awake, he was more relieved than anything else. Akela had never met a wolf outside of his own pack, let alone a pup. The light blue-eyed stranger sat up slowly, her muscles visibly aching, and sat in silence for a moment.
Akela also noticed that there was a thick layer of mud under her claws, and the base of those claws as well as the pads of her feet seemed raw. From what Akela could remember, that was usually a sign of running without stopping. This pup must have come from far away. But she was so young.
Akela wasn't even supposed to be out of his den without his parents, what could possibly have caused this pup to run so far all alone? Her expression was so blank. Akela had never seen a pup or anyone, for that matter, looking so lost. "I…I..." she stuttered, averting her eyes from him. "What's wrong?" he asked.
"I don't know…" she whispered looking into his eyes pleadingly, "I just…it's all gone. I can't remember anything at all." He felt an overwhelming surge of affection for the strange pup. She seemed so alone and sad, at that moment the only thing in the whole world Akela wanted was to see her happy.
"That's okay," he said, smiling at her kindly, "You'll be okay. You can stay here with us until you find out where you come from, okay? Can you tell me your name at least?" "My name is Blue…" she mumbled, looking at her paws. Akela nuzzled her under her chin comfortingly. "I'm Akela...son of Nightlight and Pandora, the alpha's of our pack. Come...I'll take you to them." He took a step back and turned to walk back to his father. He turned his head to see if Blue was following him, and sure enough she was. Akela hoped that his father would let her stay...she had nowhere to go.