Chapter 4 - Growing too Fast

Ajax lifted slowly lifted his head. Snow fell from him as he moved. The blizzard was over and they were all buried in the snow. Ajax looked over to see Riot cuddled inside the den. The pup must have moved in there during the night. He hoped he had stayed warm enough.

Ajax felt movement beside him and looked over to see Red waking up as well. Ajax smiled then pushed himself to his feet and shook, flinging snow in every direction. Red huffed at the snow hitting her in the face.

"Oops, sorry about that" Ajax said with a slight smile. He then wondered up the hill to see if anything was going on down in the valley. He didn't see anything out of the ordinary.

He made his way back to Red and lay back down. Red was just getting up. She took advantage of this moment, shaking and flinging snow at Ajax. "Hey!" Ajax laughed as snow pelted him in the face. "Karma" Red replied with a smile.

"I guess so" Ajax laughed. He looked over. Riot was still sleeping. Poor pup was completely exhausted. Ajax rose to his feat again. "I'm going to go patrol our territory and be sure everything is well marked. I'll be back soon." Ajax headed off making sure all was well in their land.

As he came upon the taller look out hill, he threw back his head and howled. Once again letting all who could hear him, know that this area was taken and to stay away.

He made his way back down to the den. "Still asleep huh?" Ajax asked Red, indicating towards the den. "He was pretty exhausted" Red replied. "Yeah, I guess so". "I was thinking we should go travel the river a bit today. What do you think?" asked Ajax. "Sure." Replied Red.

Red pawed at the sleeping pup. "Time to wake up". Ajax helped by nudging Riot with his nose. "Come on pup, we're going to go travel the river and maybe we'll find something good to eat." The pup grogily woke up, not wanting to get up until Ajax mentioned food. "Okay!" Said the pup as he clamored to his feet and wagged his tail.

The three wolves headed away from their den and towards the river where they all got a drink, quenching their thirst. They headed down stream. It wasn't long before they started running into stranger wolves. Ajax held his tail high, muscles tensed, ears alert. Growls escaped him when he felt uncomfortable.

There were three stranger wolves, almost all at once, but none came together. It made all of them feel very uneasy. Ajax directed his attention to each one individually, not letting any of them too close to Red or Riot, and not letting any of them circle around them.

The two females, Katy, and Emily were rather submissive and Ajax allowed them to approach. Both looking for a pack to join, Ajax accepted them in. He turned his attention to the dark male who was not so submissive, but seemed to be respective. He too was wanting to join their pack. Ajax accepted him in as well, but didn't have a great feeling about him.

"You are all welcome in our pack, but any funny business and you'll be back to being a loner. Got it?" Ajax spoke aloud to all of their new members.

Emily & Katy were quick to respond. Kai, the dark male, was not. Ajax growled. "Kai... Got it?" "Huh? Wha? Oh, yeah. Got it." Kai responded. Ajax had a gut feeling it wasn't going to work out well with Kai.

They continued on down the river and came upon a carcass. Kai and one of the females was first to get there and immediately started eating. Ajax growled. "The pup eats first" Ajax then realized Red and Riot were still a ways back. Ajax threw back his head and howled for them to come.

Soon they were there and Ajax had Riot & Red eat first, followed by him. He let the three new members figure it out from there. They would all have to earn his trust and respect.

While they were eating, Emily came running. "Ajax! .... Ajax!" She called out. "What's wrong?" Ajax asked. "Katy's been hurt!". Ajax sighed. He followed Emily over to Katy to see a bloody wound upon her body, her breathing shallow, and her losing consciousness. Ajax sniffed at the wound and cleaned it with his tongue. There wasn't much else he could do. He could see she wouldn't be with them for long.

Katy lost consciousness. Ajax decided he had, had enough of an eventful day and started towards the den. Emily & Red didn't want to leave Katy behind. "Ajax! We can't just leave her!" Red called out. Ajax stopped and turned around. "There's nothing we can do. She's dying. We have to let nature take it's course." Ajax continued on towards the den.

Riot followed Ajax, he was scared and didn't know what was going on. Too much was happening at once. He didn't like it.

Red & Emily were reluctant to leave. Ajax got half way back to the den and stopped to look back. He tossed his head back and howled for his pack to join him, then continued on. Ajax was tired and wondered if he had made the right decision on adding so many new members to the pack.

Red and Emily made their way towards Ajax, leaving Katy behind. Kai decided this wasn't the right pack for him and headed off on his own way.

Almost back to the den, Ajax could sense somebody following him that wasn't supposed to be there. He turned, looking around and was startled by another lone female. Ajax growled out of surprise and raised his tail to show dominance. The female giggled, and wanted to join the pack. Ajax was unsure but finally decided to let her in.

Too much was going on and Ajax needed some time to think. Red returned to the den and headed straight for her spot on look out hill. Ajax joined her and plopped down, resting his head on his paws. "Maybe leaving the den was a bad idea today." Ajax spoke. He could tell Red was stressed out too. "Yeah, maybe" Red replied.

Riot went off by himself, also needing time. Nora and Emily attempted to be friends with him but Riot wasn't having any of it. He was overwhelmed.

Red got up and trotted towards the river needing time alone. She remembered now why she had been a loner for so long and wondered if she should leave the pack.

Ajax watched Red trot off. He understood. He felt the same way. He stayed for a while, then had to get out of there too. He headed for the river to drink and spotted Red laying sadly beside it. Ajax got a drink and then lay by Red. Not too close though. He figured she needed her space. "You okay?" he asked. "Yeah, I think so. Just need some time. I'm not used to so many being around me."

"Tell me about it" Ajax replied. "I'm not used to this either". They both sighed. Riot arrived, he had followed Ajax not wanting to be alone at the den with the strangers. He lay down beside them. Ajax wondered again if he had made the right decision. He wondered if he should give it more time or discuss things with Red and Ajax. It was obviously affecting all of them.

Before he could discuss it with Red, she got up. "I'll be back in a few days." She said. She needed time to think. Ajax sighed, sad to see her go. He looked over at Riot, very upset Red was leaving. "It'll be okay. She'll be back." Ajax tried to comfort Riot. "You ready to go back to the den?" Ajax asked. He understood if Riot said no.

"I guess so." Riot replied. They trotted back. The others were asleep, Ajax was thankful. He plopped himself o top of look out hill and quickly drifted off to sleep. Riot lay by Ajax and was soon asleep too.

Soon the sun was up, the birds were chirping, and there was..... puppy whining? Ajax lifted his head, his ears twitching in every direction. To his surprise they were coming from his own den. He got up and trotted over. "What the....." There he found the female, Nora, giving birth to puppies. Ajax growled. As if he wasn't overwhelmed before, now there were puppies and they weren't even his.

Nora's protective instincts kicked in and she launched herself at Ajax, biting him in the shoulder. Ajax jumped back. "Whoa!" He needed time to think again. This was way too much. He decided to go patrol his territory and trotted off. Once he got up to the taller look out hill, he did his normal routine of howling to let others nearby know to stay way from the area. That's when he seen others in his hunting grounds. Ajax growled. As though he didn't have enough to deal with up here, now he had more strangers on his territory.

Ajax did not want to deal with them right now. He returned to the den instead. As he arrived, he seen a cougar making it's get away with one of Nora's puppies. Ajax was in disbelief. He was unsure of what to say to Nora, but finally brought himself to speak. "Nora? You okay?" Nora turned to look at him. Sadness and pain in her eyes. "Three" she replied.

"Three?" Ajax tilted his head and asked in confusion. "I lost all Three puppies." Nora replied. Ajax could see how much pain she was in. "I'm so sorry." Ajax said. He felt bad for her. He hadn't been happy about her having them, but certainly didn't want them all to die. He felt bad for not realizing she was even pregnant the day before.

Ajax remembered the intruders down below. "There are others in our hunting grounds I need to go tend to." Ajax said, then he turned and trotted away. He wasn't great at comforting others sometimes.

As Ajax came over the hill, he could see the intruder fleeing the lands. Ajax was relieved. He threw his head back, howling a warning to the wolf. The wolf howled back.... a confidence about it. It made Ajax uneasy and he let out a growl. The wolf continued on it's way, and Ajax headed back towards the den. He seen Emily running around and howled for her to come over to him. Emily came over. "Yes Sir?" she asked.

"Hi Emily, I know there's been a lot going on and we haven't gotten much time to talk since you've joined. Will you tell me a bit about yourself?" Ajax asked, trying to get to know his other pack mates better. "Yes sir, I understand there's been a lot going on. I'm sorry to disturb your pack. I am around 5 months old, I lost my parents a while back and have been struggling to survive. I can't survive on my own and am so thankful to have found you and your pack. Thank you sir." Emily replied.

"You're very welcome, and no worries. You didn't disturb my pack, just a lot going on. I didn't realize you are around the same age as Riot." Ajax softened and smiled. "We're happy to have you here." Emily spoke again. "May I ask.... What's up with Riot? I try to be his friend, but he doesn't seem to like me." Ajax answered, "Just give him time. He's a little shy and unsure at first but he'll warm up to you. The more space you give him, the faster he'll warm up."

"Ajax?..." Nora called out. Ajax looked away from Emily towards Nora only to find Nora with a large male standing behind her.

Ajax instantly went on alert, very tense, tail up, growling. "It's okay, he's with me." Nora spoke. Ajax relaxed a little, at least Nora knew he was there and knew who he was. "This is my mate, the father of .... my pups..." she spoke with sadness. "I am leaving the pack. Thank you for your hospitality and letting me stay here for the night." Ajax gave a nod. "You're welcome, you are welcome back any time." Ajax responded.

Ajax and Emily watched as Nora and her mate trotted off in their own direction. Riot then joined them up on the taller look out hill. Ajax looked at both of the pups, thinking to himself. "Just us now..." Ajax couldn't help but feel relieved. He hoped Red would return soon and find this amount of members much better than before. He also hoped Emily would stay with them for a while and that her and Riot would become good friends since they were around the same age.

The three of them returned to the den and lay down to rest. Ajax wondered when Red would return.