The Appalachian Pack (open)

Alaska and Thomas ~

Alaska rolled over in her bed and glanced at the clock. Although she had school today, like most, she'd rather lay in bed and she ended up doing so. Thomas had tried to wake her up at around six, but having been out all night, she wasn't going to have any of that. Sola had even tried to get her up. She trumped down the stairs and into the kitchen, braiding her hair into the normal long braid.

"And she's alive," Thomas greeted, sliding her a cup of milk. Alaska drank it graciously and checked her cellphone. Nothing. Even if she liked to stay to the traditional ways, the world was always moving fast, so the cell phone was only practical. She sent a quick text to Sola, telling her she was awake before dropping her empty cup into the sink. "Are you going to eat anything?" He shook the box of cereal at her. Alaska scrunched her nose up and shook her head.

"Not any of the processed crap. That's disgustingly unhealthy." She smiled and pulled an apple from the fridge before striding to the door.

"Don't stay out late, you really have to go to school tomorrow." To that, Alaska rolled her eyes and stepped out of the door, barefoot. She didn't bother shifting as she walked down the leaf covered road, leading to the main road that the pack would probably be driving home on after a while. There were only two people she looked forward to seeing, and that was Haven and Sola. The others knew she didn't like them. Anyone could tell, but she didn't care. She had her opinions and it took a lot to change them.

(Decided to just put myself in here.)

**Yipee, let me know if I portray Qali ok, if not I'll change it. **

Haven:

Haven sat down across from Qali pulling one of his homework packets out of his backpack.

"You ok?" He asked trying to get her to look at him, but like normal she avoided eye contact.

"Yeah." Was all he got out of her. He took a deep breath and looked around.

Just spit it out, you need to make sure there aren't any problems in the pack. Alaska is one thing, full breds disliking non full breds is normal. I gotta just ask if there is something wrong. He thought as he fumbled through his homework.

"Ok, out with it it comes. Qali, do you have a problem with me? Cause you will never look at me, never talk to me. I want to make sure everyone in the pack is happy and is ok, but I get the sense that you aren't and honestly it makes me sad. You are part of the pack and I want you to feel that way. I'm here to make sure everything goes ok in the pack and to make sure everyone is happy and safe. Is there anything I can do to help you be happier? I mean it seems like you think I'm going to rip your throat out everytime I get around you."


*Sola*

Sola looked down at her phone and smiled, Alaska was up! She quietly slipped out of her classroom saying that she was sick and going to the nurse. She slipped out of the school and once she was at a safe distance from the school shifted and took off to where Alaska would be waiting for the pack to get out of school. When she saw the girl she shifted back to human form.

"It's about time you got up sleeping beauty!" She grinned at her friend as she plopped down on a tree stump tossing her backpack a few feet away.

Alaska ~

Alaska smiled at Sola and stretched her arms above her head. "Well, I'm not so sure about the beauty part, but I sure did have a nice nap. I forgot to tell Haven, but I caught a really weird scent out there last night. Nothing dangerous, I'm sure, but it seemed like it was a human mixed with a bird. It sounds ridiculous, but I spent all night trying to see if I could find it in a different place." She sighed and looked down the autumn leaves decorating the dirt road.

"We can check it out later, I'm sure." Sola smiled before leaning her head back to bask in the sunlight.

"How was school?" Alaska looked at her best friend with a cheeky grin.

"It was school. Nothing too special."

"And the half-breeds?"

"'Laska..." Sola warned and Alaska just smirked. "The rest of pack is just fine." She glanced over at Alaska, whose gaze had hardened as she looked at the leaves. "You're going to have to accept them one day 'Laska." Alaska just gave her a snort in response, her brown eyes glancing up at the sun through the trees above them.

Qali Johansson
"...I mean it seems like you think I'm going to rip your throat out every time I get around you."

Now I really couldn't look up. He thought that I didn't like him? I stared intensely at the words in my book, desperately trying to come up with something to say. Why couldn't I just behave like I usually did, when I was around Haven? With anyone else I could babble for hours on end, but with him it was near impossible to even say hello.

"N-n-no I.." I swallowed, hoping that it would stop my stutter. "I don't hate you. You're a good leader." My heart seemed like it was trying to pound its way out of my chest. I just wanted him to disappear and leave me alone. Everything would've been so much better if I had never met him. I didn't even want to be in love with him!

"Then what is it? Is this about.." He hesitated and I held my breath. "Your parents?"

My vision was starting to blur, and I almost screamed in frustration and shame as I saw tears falling onto my book. I got up and I ran out of the library, out of the school and into the forest. Before I knew it I was far out in the woods in my wolf shape. My cry sounded more like I was being strangled, since wolves can't cry, and it only got worse when I realized that I had forgotten my backpack in the library, and my notebook had Haven's name doodled all over it.

Spoiler

You can decide if you want Haven to discover it

**not a half breed just pointing out**
Hayden Brookes

"I can't do this any more today I have to get out "I whisper to my self as I leave the table and head to and door and outside. When I get out side I just run toward the forest and change to try clearing my head. Some times I just think about how much I want to be excepted by everyone yes there all great and try and make me feel welcome. I know everyone lost someone in the battle first before the battle my father was killed for being a Traitor of the pack. That left me and my mother to be cast out after the pack was attacked and we had to find my mothers old pack. Then after they where attacked my mother was killed and I was left to only one choose to go with Haven and his sister. I want to do something for the pack to prove I'm not just a small fry that helps out the the daily chores. Then I picked up a scent that smelled familiar but a little different like how I smell but something was wrong like there was no wolf but owl. this could be my big chance to I follow the smell to a tree with a big brown owl looking at me with large orangy-red eyes. I shift in to my human form to see if I could climb the tree and get a closer look but as I walked toward the tree the owl flew off. So I headed to the spot where we normally meet after school.

Spoiler

Ah, he didn't mean to upset her at all!! Only problem is I want to not have him find out this soon, cause I'm still trying to figure out how he'll handle it. Just for the fact that I think it would baffle him because all he can think of is protecting the pack and his sister not finding love. She is perfect for him, don't get me wrong, but I'ma hold off on it for a little bit.

Haven:

Haven just sat there dumbfounded. He picked her back pack up and pulled his phone out slipping out of the library and calling Sola.

"Hello?" She answered.

"Where are you?"

"With Alaska, whats up?"

"So your advice was crap. I tried talking to her and she burst out crying and took off leaving her stuff behind. I don't even know what I did wrong!" He said walking to his truck and tossing the bags in it.

"Which way did she head?" Sola asked with a sigh.

"I don't know, just to the woods." He replied leaning against the door so he could wait for anyone else who may want a ride.

"I'll go see if I can find her."

"Don't take Alaska with you. Now is not the time for her dislike of Qali."

"Got it."

Sola:

Sola hung up and looked at Alaska.

"Stay here, I gotta go do something, can you take my bag home when you go?"

"Why can't I come?"

"Because you don't like Qali." Sola shrugged. "Gotta go." She tore off through the woods in wolf form trying to catch whiff of Qali's scent. When she finally found it she started tracking her down.

Eric Mason
I flew around for a bit, not really looking for anything particular, and then settled down in a tree to groom my feathers a bit. It had taken me years to understand that my feathers had to be kept clean for me to be able to fly properly, and even longer until I understood how to do it properly.

Movement in the corner of my eye. I turned my head much further than I would've been able to in my human shape, to look down at the wolf. Why was it staring at me like that? I was up in a tree, so it couldn't possibly get me even if it tried. I was about to go back to my grooming, when it suddenly shifted into a human. He was a shifter? An actual shifter just like me? He was one in the group at school that I found so odd. That meant.. That meant that the rest of them had to be shifters to, right?

I twitched when I realized that he was trying to climb up the tree. Did he know who I was? No, he couldn't possibly. My eyes were a giveaway, sure, but I doubted that this guy knew who I was. I couldn't remember ever talking to him before.

For a moment I considered revealing who I was, but I decided not to. Not yet, anyway. First I wanted to know if the others were shifters too. I lifted from the branch and circled the woods again. I spotted a white wolf, and another wolf as well, and decided to watch from a distance.

Spoiler

Eric's gonna reveal himself as soon as they're all together in the woods.
TN, yeah, it's probably good to wait a bit

Come on guys don't let it die!

Qali Johansson
i had just barely calmed down when I heard another wolf running towards me. It was Sola. Fantastic. I turned back to human form, so that we could talk properly. Not that we would talk properly anyway. I couldn't tell her about my feelings for Haven, or she'd just tell him. She turned back too.

"Qali, what's wrong? Haven called and he was worried."

I wiped the last tears from my eyes, trying to come up with some type of excuse. "It's nothing, really. I just.. It's just.. My parents, you know?" Well, at least it wasn't a complete lie. Odd as it may sound, the whole situation with Haven actually stirred me more than the fact that I probably was adopted. It all hurt, a lot, but Haven's indiffierence towards me was actually worse. Even if I was adopted my parents still loved me, I was sure of that. Haven, on the other hand, would never love me. In fact, he was more likely to start disliking me, since I couldn't behave like a sane person when I was around him.

Sola put a comforting hand on my shoulder. "Yeah, I get it. It can't be easy not knowing if they're really your parents or not."

I took a deep shaky breath and nodded. "So, where are we going to meet up with the others?"

Sola:

"Everyone was just going to meet in the woods and go for a run. Alaska is already where the road meets the woods so I figure we'll all just meet up there." She smiled at Qali whose face scrunched a little at the mention of the other girl. "And by the way, sometimes it may not seem like it, but Haven really cares. Sometimes he gets so wrapped up in trying to protect the pack that he doesn't realize he can sometimes distance himself from their needs unknowingly."

Haven:

After school Haven got everyone together and they met Alaska at the edge of the woods. Qali and Sola sooned joined them.

"Remember, if you smell anything off, if anyone sees you, anything like that we scatter and meet back at the house." He said looking everyone in the eyes. "And Alaska please try and make it to school tomorrow. We dont' want the teachers trying to call a meeting with your parents." He smiled and then turn and ran deeper in the woods shifting after the first two steps. He shook his fur feeling amazing, this was the form he wish he could have more often. It was amazing!

Eric Mason
If I had been in my human form I would've smiled. Haven, Sola, Qali, Hayden, Alaska, Blakely, and even more arriving. All of them shifters, just like me. Well, not exactly like me, but close enough. I wanted to talk to them, but it didn't seem like a good idea to interrupt them in the the middle of their run. They seemed to be enjoying themselves, just like I did when I flew.

They must have run for hours before they finally stopped in a small medow. I had kept watching them from up above the treetops, and Haven appeared to be the leader. Qali and Blakely was very similar in their wolf form, and they were quite similar in their human form too. Maybe they were related? No, in that case I would've known about it already. It was probably just a coincidence.

I landed in a nearby tree and watched as they turned back to humans. Were they going to hold a meeting or something? Well, I might not get another chance to introduce myself. Although I wasn't entirely sure it was a good idea. I had no way of knowing how they'd react.

I spread my wings and glided down to the ground at the edge of the medow. Just before landing I turned back to human, dropping the last inches and landing with a slight thump. My sudden appearance startled most of them, though they soon recovered. Some were staring at me with suspicious eyes, some looked afraid. Haven looked both suspicious, afraid and angry at the same time, like he wanted to..

I quickly held my hands up to show them I meant them no harm. "Hi," was the best thing I managed to come up with. Maybe it would've been better to shift in front of them, 'cause this way I looked like I had been spying on them. Well, I had been spying but not because I wanted to tell someone about their secret. "You're shifters." That didn't seem to have the desired effect either. They probably thought I was a threat. Haven walked towards me. He didn't look happy at all. I took a few steps back. "I'm a shifter too." Now they finally seemed to.. Well, they didn't look like they wanted to kill me, at least.

"You're a shifter?" Haven asked suspiciously.

Trust issues? Definitely. "Yeah. I'm an owl." I had a silly smile stuck on my face, which I was trying to drop, but couldn't. I had actually found others like me.

Hayden Brookes

when we all finally meet up haven lead us all into the forest and shifted into his wolf form and shuck his fur relaxing his muscles. After I shifted again for the second time today I felt the same old feeling that I get like a tingle all throw my body after feeling the change was complete I joined everyone else.
When we got to a small clearing the owl I saw earlier come down and then transform into a kid from are school. He put his hands up and said "hi, your shifters."
Haven walked up to him not looking very happy "I'm a shifter too."
"You're a shifter?" Haven asked not looking very convinced .
"Yeah. I'm an owl." he said.
"Oh my god, oh my god this is my felt this is all my fault" I say to myself i feel some eyes looking at me questioning what I'm saying.

Thomas

Thomas was the last to run upon the group, noting his sister's fuming form along with the owl-boy who was addressing the rest of the group. "You okay?" He nipped at her and she turned her burning gaze to him with a lift of her upper lip.

"I don't want to be here. Not with them."

"You seriously need to cool it. They're your family now."

"No, they're not," Alaska snarled before turning her attention back to the scene before her. The owl, Eric, wasn't much of a threat. She'd seen him around school, mainly drawing her attention due to a permanent scowl on his face and these dark ember eyes. She crossed her legs and planted herself in the fall leaves, her long brunette hair falling around her. She was hardly even listening, but noticed Hayden speaking to himself. What even...

"How do we even know we can really trust you?" Alaska finally called out, her chocolate and hazel eyes accusing as she glared at Eric.

Eric Mason
"How do we even know we can really trust you?"

The smile on my lips died. This had obviously been a bad idea. They wanted nothing to do with me, in fact it seemed as if they couldn't even stand my presence. "Why would I tell anyone about you? I just told you I'm a shifter too, and the risk of you exposing me is far greater, seeing that I'm the outsider here. If I wanted to tell someone, wouldn't I just have done that instead of exposing myself first?" I looked down on my hands and took a deep breath. "Never mind. Just pretend this didn't happen. I was just hoping to find people like me. Guess you're not." I shrugged, but couldn't hide the disappointment in my voice.

Spoiler

Sorry, this is ridiculously short.

Sola:

"Hold on now!" Sola said stepping forward. "Don't go anywhere and I honestly don't blame you for showing yourself."

"Really?" Eric asked.

"Really, if I didn't have the pack I would want to find people like me too. Any of us would and honestly we have no right to jump all over him like this." Sola replied frowning at everyone.

"But..." Haven started.

"No buts about it. He is a shifter, maybe not a wolf one, but none the less he is one of us. We don't know his story and honestly we should hear him out before we run him off." Sola replied. "What happened when we found some of the others here? We didn't chase them off or not trust them, well everything but Haven didn't. So why should we treat him any different just because he doesn't shift to a wolf." She turned back and faced Eric and smiled. "Ignore Haven he is naturally distrusting. Please don't leave, stay I'd like to hear your story."