[HeIsKing]

A few excited yips and yaps echoed across the canyon as a small group of wolf-shifters barreled through the snow, seeming to be in nearly complete bliss. This particular pack of wolves, the Mountain pack, had lived in this area for generations. There were few other packs, wolves, or people around, which is why it was strange when the leader picked up an unknown scent.

The leader, Bramble, raised his tail to signal to his pack to stop. He wasn't easily identified as the leader; he was somewhat smaller than the others, with a milky brown coat, white paws, and white muzzle, and deep blue eyes. He also gave off the scent of an omega, which was odd. Omegas were rarely leaders, both in the wild and out of it, due to age-old prejudices and gender roles. However, by the way the other wolves reacted to him, it was obvious that he was the one in charge.

Bramble followed the unknown scent, leading him to a lone wolf in the snow. Growling slightly, he spoke.

"...who are you?"

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It wasn't common for his kind to be on their own. They were pack creatures. Without the echo of running paws beside him, Reed felt the haunting sense of loneliness. Not that it was surprising to be on his own, being the youngest of three older brothers didn't put him at the head of his previous pack. Better this way... Perhaps he could even find something to tear into. Hunger pooling in the pit of his stomach as he kept his nose to the cold snowy ground, scenting. Eyes scanning for deer or rabbit trails.

Instead, it seemed as if he were the one being hunted. The hunger driving him towards food must have kept him from sensing the strange pack of wolves approaching. Wolves like him, if the scent surrounding him was anything to go by.

Reed probably wasn't as intimidating as he could have been on his best of days, having wandered countless miles to just get away from it all. He was tired and worn down, pretty sure his white and silver coat could use a good half hour of cleaning. On the bright side, at least he had quite a bit of muscle on this strange wolf.

"A drifter," he answered vaguely as he cocked his head in curiosity towards the small leader.

[HeIsKing]

Although this wolf was bigger than him, Bramble didn't feel the need to call on his pack for backup. He was an intruder, of course, but he didn't look like he was there to cause trouble. In fact, he looked like what he really needed was a good grooming, and a good meal.

"My name is Bramble. I am the leader of the Mountain Pack." Thinking of the deer they'd stashed behind, Bramble took a few steps towards the other wolf, tail held high but still wagging slowly. The fur on his spine was down, as he wasn't trying to appear intimidating.

"You seem hungry. Perhaps you'd like to join my pack to eat?" He wagged his tail slowly again. "We don't get many drifters around here. It's quite a lonely place up here on the mountain." As long as this wolf -- who gave off the scent of an Alpha -- didn't try to make a move on him, Bramble would be fine.

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Reed watched this 'leader' closely, careful eyes taking in every step and gesture to gauge the level of aggression for his trespassing. To his own surprise, he found none. This 'leader'...Bramble seemed to genuinely want to help him. A low rumbling chuckle gathered in the back of his throat, he wasn't expecting this and so he had no idea how to react.

"The mountain pack?" Reed questioned, his tail kept low to show submission but it wasn't wagging like the other's. He had traveled far. He was still a little hesitant about being so welcomed after having been run off as many times as he had during his journey. It was a little unsettling if he had to admit it, perhaps more proof that he wasn't 'leader' material after all, despite being an Alpha.

Large silver paws shifted in the snow slightly, not backing away or approaching but almost dancing in place with his uncertainty, ears still pinned to his skull. "You're rather friendly for a pack that doesn't see too many outsiders," he pointed out, sniffing at the air as the other wolf got closer.

[HeIsKing]

Tail still wagging slowly, Bramble smiled at the other wolf, tilting his head up a bit more so that he could lift it over the other. Even though he wasn't being aggressive, he wanted it to be clear to this other wolf that he was large and in charge here.

"I am friendly, this is true. The members of my pack are a bit more weary, but I have always been an unorthodox leader," Bramble told him. He could tell from the other wolf's scent that he was a bit confused, and possibly nervous. He could use that to his advantage, if need be.

"The truth is, we need more outside blood. Being such an isolated group has limited our bloodline," Bramble explained. "So -- who are you, strange one? And where do you come from?"

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As the other wolf got closer and lifted his muzzle above Reed's, the Alpha got a nose full of the scent of an Omega. He scolded himself for not noticing sooner as his hackles rose instinctively to make his large form even larger, tail tucking tight between his legs in defense. It was mostly out of confusion... The startling realization that this 'leader' was Omega. It was almost mocking of his own position in the world.

"Unorthodox is putting it mildly, is it not?" His tone could have been interpreted as a challenge, but it meant little to nothing in his defensive position. Warning signs going off in his head that he shouldn't be here... Yet the other was still as welcoming as ever.

Tail untucking slightly, but still low against his hind legs, Reed managed to take a small step backwards. His subtly went out the window as the snow crunched beneath his wide paws. A huff of hot air escaped his nostrils. "I came from the North, one of the Arctic packs. Hence the size and coat colors... I'm Reed."

[HeIsKing]

"Reed." The wolf repeated the name, as though testing how it sounded coming off of his tongue. His tail twitched when Reed's hackles rose, but Bramble didn't react defensively. He could tell that the other wolf was mostly just confused, and a bit startled, which was expected.

A soft chuckle came from Bramble's throat as he turned his head, hearing the calls of his pack as they invited him to come and share the kill. "Ah, there's my pack. If you want to eat, you should follow me."

If he was going to join them, there were a few things Reed would have to learn. But, for now, the least Bramble could do was let him eat.

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Unintentionally nodded as the other wolf repeated his name, his ears perked and hackles lowered at the sounds coming from the distance. A pack calling for their alpha. Golden eyes going back to the small Omega before him with the same curiosity as before, it made him feel young and naive again...Unsure if that was a good thing or not.

He lowered his head after a moment, ears also lowering as he submitted to his own growling stomach and followed the milky brown wolf towards the yipping in the near distance. It was unlikely that he'd be able to find his own meal before he grew tired, let alone take whatever creature he did find down on his own without hurting himself in the process.

Keeping his head low as he followed a safe distance behind, he couldn't help by express his gratitude towards the offer of food. "Thank you."

[HeIsKing]

Bramble nodded, a silent acceptance of Reed's thanks. "It's no trouble." His pack had no difficulties finding enough food to feed them all, as they were quite small; there were only fifteen wolves in the pack. Currently, there was one pregnant Omega, but he was only carrying one pup. There was no strain on their food supply, so to speak.

When Bramble approached his pack, they immediately, rushed to inspect Reed, some growling with their hackles on edge. Bramble quickly drove them back, telling them quickly that he'd brought him there, and he was to feed with Bramble. Reluctantly, they backed off, but one pure white wolf kept his eye on Reed, hackles still raised.

"Don't mind Snowfall," Bramble told Reed, pointing his tail towards the white wolf. "He is my half-brother, and he has always been hard to convince." Bramble then led Reed to the carcass of a freshly-killed bull elk, inviting him to start eating.

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For a moment Reed almost literally turned tail and ran after seeing so many others coming towards him with varying stages of aggression. In the past couple of days he'd been driven off more territory than he cared to think of, hind legs sore with old bites from close chases. For some reason he stayed, if anything he instinctively crept slightly closer to Bramble for safety.

The pack was quick to listen to their leader, despite his strange status as an Omega, backing off Reed but still sniffing and glancing in his direction. He was watched closely. The pack's loyalty was impressive to Reed... Of course his eyes met with the challenging stare of a white wolf.

Reed listened to Bramble and followed towards the elk, but his gaze still traveled to Bramble's half-brother, Snowfall who hadn't taken his eyes off Reed since Bramble brought him in. It was a little uncomfortable having the other stare at him with his hackles up, but the hunger gnawing at his was stronger and pulled his attention to the smell of food.

He left the internal organs for Bramble and probably Snowfall, grateful for the food and unwilling to step on toes when it came to who ate what in this pack. Sticking to the thick meat on the elk's hindquarters.

[HeIsKing]

Once Reed had opened the kill, Bramble quickly fell in next to him, tearing into the elk's stomach cavity. The rest of the pack followed, erupting like a furry molehill towards the kill, each of them falling into place. It almost looked rehearsed, how each pack member found their spot, tearing into the meat and stripping the carcass.

When they were finished with it, the elk was little more than bones. Some of the bones had even been taken by the pack; Bramble collected the skulls from the kills, and he currently had the elk's skull and antlers in front of him, cleaning them carefully of blood and gristle. When he noticed Reed again, he lifted his head, licking his muzzle to clear it of blood.

"So, Reed," he started to say, stepping away from the skull and towards the newcomer. "How would you feel about joining the pack? We have few Alphas, so you would be high in the pack's ranks."

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For a moment it didn't feel strange or imposing for Reed to be there at all, the other members of the pack fell into line quickly beside them without fuss. Perhaps it was just the fact that food was a great distraction, but Reed genuinely felt welcomed.

By the end of the elk, Reed felt full and content. Falling off to the side in order to lick himself free of the blood that had gathered on his paws and muzzle. He'd distracted himself with cleaning and startled slightly when he heard his name coming from Bramble who was suddenly at his side. Blinking, he had to repeat the words to himself for a moment to believe they'd actually been said.

"You mean... You'd just take in a rogue Alpha? Just like that?" Reed was flabbergasted, it had been a long time since he'd been shown such kindness from a stranger of his own kind. Especially from a young Omega leader.

[HeIsKing]

"As I said before, we need new blood," Bramble reminded him, sitting down in front of Reed as he spoke. "Besides, we are a strong pack. It's true that we know little about you, but if you do turn out to be -- unpleasant, we can deal with it." Although he scratched his ear nonchalantly with his back foot as he spoke, the threat in his voice was real, yet subtle.

"If you're unsure, you're welcome to spend a few days with us. Or, you can leave now, if you'd like. We won't chase you, and no one here will kill you," he assured him, just in case Reed still wanted to leave.

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Reed still found the offer almost too good to be true, but he also doubted an opportunity like this would happen a second time. He had to fight back a chuckle at the threat of being unpleasant. He'd certainly never meant any harm, but perhaps he was just too used to the Arctic packs where you couldn't trust anyone not to jump you when your back was turned.

Keeping his head between his large paws, built for the snow, he offered a wolfish grin and let his tail wag back and forth behind him. "Thank you..." He paused for a moment, staring up at the leader of the pack.

"What should I call you?" he asked with an honest curiosity. Generally the leader of the pack was referred to as simply 'Alpha', but it wouldn't quite fit in this case. "Pack leader?"

[HeIsKing]

Bramble dipped his head respectfully, nodding over at Reed. Then he lifted his head to answer the other wolf's questions. "You may call me Bramble, as all of the others in the pack do."

"But you best be respectful, outsider." This time, the growl came from Bramble's brother, Snowfall, who had trotted up to join the two. His dark blue eyes were narrowed suspiciously at Reed, his tail held stuff. "Or else you'll --"

"He understands, Snowfall," Bramble told his brother, flicking his tail to dismiss him. "I assure you." The two half-brothers stared at each other for one tense moment, before Snowfall trotted off with a grunt, switching back to his human form as he did to join some of the other pack members.

Although they were all wild, they did change into their human forms every once and a while, usually after they ate. They could digest the kill longer that way, keeping them feeling full for a longer period of time. Bramble turned back to Reed, stating,

"We are going to return to the pack's camp. You may stay as a wolf if you'd like, but it isn't far."

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Reed nodded his head and continued to wag his tail. "Well then, thank you, Bramble." He stated formally, moving to stand so he could bow his head low and rump up. A respectful bow that turned into a half stretch as his back legs complained about moving.

However, his tail tucked low between his legs as golden eyes caught sight of Snowfall approaching. It didn't look as if Bramble's half-brother had warmed up to Reed at all, but he assumed Snowfall acted that way to protect the Omega despite his status as leader. It was in their nature to keep the Omegas in the pack safe, though Bramble did seem more than capable of taking care of himself.

Bramble didn't need to repeat himself. Reed couldn't remember the last time he'd had fingers instead of paws, long before leaving his previous pack. His shifts had always been easy, and rarely painful. Because his muscles were sore from his travels, he winced slightly as he took the shape of a man rubbing at his shoulders with his hands as his back cracked more than he'd have liked as he stood.

In his human shape he kept his golden eyes and shockingly silver hair, despite his young age for a wolf. His coat was actually darker than the rest of his brothers and made it slightly difficult to hide in the white snow, drawing too much attention with the sun. He ran his fingers through the hair on his head, brushing the short bangs out of his face as he did.

For a moment he'd forgotten he wasn't alone, and his bright gold eyes turned expectedly to Bramble with a light of their own.

[HeIsKing]

As a human, Bramble wasn't much different than when he was a wolf. He had dark brown skin, speaking of his mixed black and white heritage. His hair was long and scruffy, and he had a bit of body hair, but not excessively so. He was about average height for a man, taller than most of the Omegas in the pack, but not taller than Reed. This didn't seem to intimidate him, though, as he fell in line with the bigger wolf.

Bramble was built like a runner, and it looked like Reed was too. Neither of them seemed extremely muscular or super built, like one of the Alphas in the pack. Snowfall was likely bigger than both of them, but Bramble had no trouble holding his own against wolves twice his size.

"You're certainly easy on the eyes," Bramble joked to him as they went along with the rest of the pack. "Tell me, why did an Alpha such as yourself leave his pack?"

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Reed couldn't help but laugh at Bramble's compliment. "Coming from the kid with the complexion women pay thousands to have? Yeah right." His shoulders shook with his genuine laughter as he followed after the pack.

Bramble may have smelt like Omega, but a passing glance at him didn't make that fact obvious. Like Reed, he wasn't huge or imposing like most Alphas, instead built for speed and endurance. He was sure the two of them could outrun any beast in the forest with ease. The thought thrilled him, and he found himself looking forward to hunting with this pack. Looking forward to belonging somewhere.

Making a 'pft' noise with his lips in a very human-like manner of brushing someone off, Reed shrugged. "Youngest boy of the family," he explained. "My brothers are also a whole lot bigger than I am and a whole lot more...Alpha I guess. We bickered more often than we got along. It was better to just leave them to their dirty work than try and pacify everything all the time."

[HeIsKing]

"I meant it. I wouldn't tell you something I didn't mean." Bramble had many flaws, like everyone did, but he was no liar. Sometimes, he could even be brutally honest, telling it how he saw it. He had to be, if he was going to be the leader of a pack.

He nodded along with Reed's story, watching the pack amble ahead of them. His packmates filled him with a playful spirit, but he held it back for now. Their camp wasn't too far from here.

"My brother and I used to quarrel as well. Being the son of my mother and a different male, and younger than I, he wasn't technically supposed to rule," Bramble told him. "But, as he is an Alpha, others of the pack wanted him to rule in my stead. We had many a bloody fight over it, and, as expected, I was more fit to be the leader."

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Reed couldn't stop his eyes from rolling slightly as his shoulders continued to shake lightly with laughter. "Hey, I didn't mean anything by it. It's not like I was calling you a liar or anything," he surrendered automatically, raising his hands lightly into the air. "But if you think I'm easy on the eyes you should see my brothers. I got the short end of that stick." He paused for a moment, golden eyes searching for the human form of Bramble's brother. "Actually...my brothers look a lot like your's. As a wolf at least."

As Reed followed Bramble's lead, he listened to the other wolf's words with a strange intent. He was more than curious about Bramble, that was true, and couldn't help but want to know more about this strange wolf.

Reed's eyes scanned over Bramble as he spoke, feeling a great deal of respect for this leader Omega. It wasn't often that Reed found something worth his attention, but Bramble was certainly worth a second glance. "That's quite the story, something you should be proud of. I can't think of a single Omega who could say they've lead a pack, even for a short time. And your brother...he seems to care for you and doesn't seem to hold any regrets that he's not leader."