Hope held her head high with the big rabbit clenched in her jaws as she walked back into camp, her fluffy white fur keeping her warm from the cold breeze. 

The hunting patrol followed behind as they headed towards the kill pile and rested their prey among the others. Hope was one of the better hunters the pack had. Alpha Willow instructed that Hope would teach the future generations to be like her or even better. 

They needed everyone they could get to hold off this war with Shinepack. It seemed though they were starting to back off when they heard about the purge that happed moons ago.

"Hope!"

Hope was the name her mother gave her with help from Alpha Willow when Willow was still Beta. Hope was born two days after the purge. Everyone was scared about the Omen that could still potentially come. In addition, Hope had lost her two brothers at birth. So they decided to name this new life, Hope. It was a honor to have been named by her Alpha.

It made her sad that she never got to know her brothers but she would live on for them and bring pride to her family.

"Hope, hey!" the voice called again. A grey she-wolf with black ears and a black tail bounded over towards Hope.

"Hey Lake!"

Lake circled around the kill pile, brown eyes bright and full of excitement. 

"The rabbit yours?" she asked.

"You got it."

"As your Beta, I'm very proud of you," Lake boasted. The two dots under her left eye glimmered, she definitely loved being Beta.

The dots were a mystery to Hope. How did they get there? Why were they there? Well she knew why, it was for status. One dot on the forehead for the Alpha, two under the left eye for the Beta, three under the right eye for the healer. It was quite interesting.

"Lake," boomed a commanding voice.

She'd know that voice from anywhere. Hope turned her head to see her Alpha right behind her. Hope dipped her head with respect and shifted so that Lake could see the she-wolf.

"Hey, Willow."

Most wolves from other packs would tense and see how the Alpha would respond when we call her by her name but here in Oceanpack, things were different. That's what Alpha Fee wanted when she made this pack. For it to be different.

"Will you come with me to the nursery? It's time to check on the pups."

Lake's face immediately fell into a more serious expression. "I'll be right in."

Hope knew how much Lake took the checking of pups seriously. When the mutts were exiled, they had to check all the pups to make sure none had slipped through the cracks or to check and see if any of the wolves mated with a non-wolf. This was to insure that the Omen would never come true. At least in Oceanpack.

The pack barley spoke of it. The only times were if the Elders where asked, whenever a half breed was born or discovered, or sometimes if you asked the famous Raytail, the healer that had the nightmare all those moons ago.

Hope was great friends with Raytail, but Raytail would get mad every time Hope ever denied believing the nightmare was real. It was just a nightmare wasn't it? Nothing more.

Speaking of which, Hope has been over due to see her.

Hope padded over towards the healer's den but stopped herself from going in when she heard a voice.

She couldn't make out what it was saying, it was too quite.

Hope decided to bite the bear and decided to entered the den, it was quite dark, the only thing you could see was the tree dots in the corner of the den, moving back and forth as the young healer swayed and muttered to herself.

"Raytail?" Hope called gingerly.

Raytail jumped, despite whisper, and her eyes shimmered with fear as she snapped her head to where the white she-wolf was standing. Her worried green eyes met Hope's blue ones and she seemed to relax when she realized it was just her.

"Hope, hey," Raytail said with a sigh.

Hope cautiously stepped closer into the den as she kept her eyes on the brown and tan she-wolf.

"Did you dream of the Omen again?" she asked.

"When do I not?" the healer responded with a bit of edge in her voice. "It's all I ever see anymore. It must be happening soon!"

"Raytail, are you sure? You could just be stressed."

"Hope, I already know you don't believe in the omen, you don't need to sugar coat things around me. Why would I get my mentor exiled for some nightmare?" Raytail's ears flattened. 

"You're not injured are you? Just leave."

Raytail started to shrink back in her corner as Hope tried interject.

"Wait, Raytail, please, I didn't mean to make you upset, I shouldn't have brought it up."

Raytail didn't respond as she nodded once and turned back to her corner.

Hope sighed as she left the healer's den defeated.

Why is she so sensitive today? Gosh I shouldn't have brought it up.

Raytail usually wasn't so snappy, something is up.

She might just be on edge. Maybe I'll go bring her some herbs, that'll cheer her up!

"Hey, Hope! Wait up!"

Hope turned to her side as she walked out towards the woods. A grey black-spotted wolf ran up to her with his own little sun in his bright blue eyes.

"Hey, Ash!"

Aside from Lake, Ash was one of Hope's best friends, one of the only that could really understand her and one that fully supported her, even if she was doing something dumb.

"Where you off to?" he asked.

"Getting herbs for Raytail, she seems a little off so I thought I'd take a job off her hands." Hope said with a yawn.

"Want a partner?" Ash asked, tail wagging.

"That'd be nice," Hope said with a smile.

Hope started leading the two out of the Oceanpack camp but further into the forest, Ash started leading. It was a weird thing Ash always did since they were little.

"So what are we looking for?" The grey wolf asked, looking back at Hope.

"I'm not totally sure. Maybe just look around for any herbs that could be useful."

"Whoa, whoa, you want to cheer Raytail up right?" Ash asked, turning around.

"Yeah?" Hope said, not sure what Ash was planning.

"You need something helpful, like yarrow or honey!" Ash bounded towards the trees and Hope shot after him.

The two searched for what seemed like forever until Hope spotted something out of the corner of her eye.

A bee's nest.

"Hey, Ash! Come look at this!" Hope called.

"What is it?" Ash asked as he ran up.

Hope looked up towards the hive and Ash followed her gaze to see the buzzing nest in the tree.

"Oh goodness, that's a lot of bees," Ash muttered.

"Quick, lets go get it!"

"Whoa there," Ash said, jumping in front of Hope. "It's too dangerous. Let's just settle for some yarrow"

"But Ash, it's getting late and we have nothing to bring back," Hope argued. "Please let me go."

Ash didn't move, he just looked into Hope's eyes with concern and uncertainty.

"I'll be careful."

Ash sighed and stepped back. "Fine."

Hope jumped excitedly as she shot up the tree. It was fairly low to the ground and had plenty of branches, providing a relatively safe escape if things went south.

Yes, the wolves in Oceanpack know how to climb trees.

Hope's claws carried her up the tree towards the nest. The buzzing got louder as she reached the branch with the bees. 

Hope realized she didn't actually have a plan. Hope looked around at the other branches for a stick that could help. She spotted a loose but thick stick on the branch above her and ripped it off with her teeth

She took the stick and tried to find the best position as she poked the stem of the bee nest. 

The bees started to get mad and Hope winced as they started stinging her.

This isn't working fast enough. I'll be completely covered in stings if I don't get this down! Even if I did, we wouldn't be able to get any honey because of the bees!

Hope quickly scanned the ground as se tried not to panic and saw that the leaves falling off the trees bunched up enough to jump in. Not enough to be completely painless though. Then she noticed a weak spot in the nest. Hope took the stick and hit it as hard as she could.

This is so stupid!

The piece fell, full of honey, giving Hope a spark of victory in her gut, but then Hope's paw slipped and she fell off the branch and landed in the leaves, leaving whatever feeling of victory she had up in the tree where she was before.

"Hope!"

Hope groaned as she stood up. Her back and legs ached as she put her wait on them with Ash rushing up to her and helping her up with his muzzle.

"Hope, are you ok?" he asked.

"I'm fine, I got the honey didn't I?"

"Yeah but you could've died!" Ash looked over Hope's body for stings and any other injuries. It was quite easy to tell if she was bleeding with her white pelt. 

"How many stings?"

"No idea," Hope said with a wince. "Lets just get the honey to Raytail."

As Hope and Ash entered camp, Ash was teasing her now that he wasn't scared if Hope was ok or not.

"'I'll be careful!'" Ash imitated as they walked towards the den.

"Not funny, Ash," Hope said, honey in her mouth. "Also, when you I ever sound like that?"

Hope spotted Raytail coming out of the healer's den and Hope sighed in relief but quickly went away when she saw the look on Raytail's face as it changed from semi-calm to semi-panicked as she saw the dirt and red marks on Hope's body.

"What happened?!" Raytail exclaimed, looking Hope over.

Hope was about to respond when Ash interjected. "She fell down a tree and got sung a lot by these bees when trying to get honey out of a bee's nest we found.

Raytail gasped in both horror and anger.

"Surprise," Hope said with the honey still in her mouth.

Raytail sighed. "To my den, Hope."

Hope looked at Ash, a little worried. If Raytail wasn't mad before, she definitely was now.

Why did I have to be so careless?

"What were you thinking?" Raytail asked as they entered the den.

Hope put the honeycomb down and licked the rest of the sweet honey off her lips.

"I'm sorry. I wanted to bring something to cheer you up since I kinda ticked you off earlier."

Raytail's gaze seemed to soften just a tad as she took the honey and put it away somewhere in the den's store. When she came back, she had herbs in her mouth and brought them over to where Hope was laying in once of the moss beds. It was Hope's favorite spot because the sun always managed to reach the bed and warm her up after a long day.

The two wolves sat in silence as Raytail worked, cleaning and checking ever scratch and every sting.

"I'm sorry I snapped at you," Raytail said softly, breaking the silence. "I just miss her so much. She was one of the best healers this pack ever had. She was like a mother to me."

"I know, Raytail. I'm so sorry for your loss."

Raytail smiled as she resumed her work. Her glowing dots shimmering in the dark light of the den.

A few moments passed when Raytail looked up towards the entrance to the healer's den. "Hello, Alpha."

Hope turned her head in surprise while getting a slap in the face with Raytail's tail in response to keep Hope still.

"Hey, Raytail," Willow said, walking into the den with Lake close behind.

"How's she doing?" Willow asked.

"She's going to be fine," Raytail responded.

"Can she go on the hunting patrol tonight?"

"Can I?" Hope asked, perking up at the sound of a hunting patrol.

Raytail hesitated. "I think it would be better for her to stay the night here and then she can go on the next patrol in the morning."

Hope's heart sunk with disappointment.

"Alright then, feel better, Hope."

Willow left the den and Lake stepped in the Alpha's place.

"Hey, how are you doing?" Lake asked, walking over in front of her.

"A little sore but I'm fine. I can hunt!"

"Hope, no, Raytail said you should rest, so rest! Take the break!" 

Hope laughed once and rested her head down on her paws. "Yeah, maybe you're right."

"Get some sleep, big shot. You'll be on the first hunting patrol that goes out tomorrow." Lake said, walking out of the den.

"If you wake up that is," she added with a chuckle.

Hope chuckled and closed her eyes and let sleep take her and dreams run her mind. Maybe she'll catch something good tomorrow.

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A/N

Chapter one of my first book! I hope you like it!