I ran beside a runt; he was far more agile than me, even though we were almost the same size.

"Keep going!" I told him, "I'll try to distract them."

"I'll grab a snack from the kitchen for you and meet you in the tunnel under the playground slide."

I turned down the left hallway and quit suppressing my aura. It wouldn't take them long to sense it and track me down. It was probably me they were after anyway, especially since I had the television remote clamped between my teeth.

The floor vibrated with approaching footsteps, and a veritable horde of children ranging from one to twelve years old appeared in the hallway behind me. Most were in wolf form for better speed, but a few of the older ones were on two legs.

"Eep!" I quickly took shelter in a family room and squeezed under a big couch. I hid the remote behind me as I lay down.

Wolves and humans peered underneath.

"Come on, hand the remote over! The cartoons are about to start!"

"What remote?"

"The one you hid behind you."

Some kids tried to push the couch away from the wall, but it was heavy and didn't budge.

"Where are Carl and Pat?" one of the girls asked. "They are small enough to get under there."

"They're still catching up. Ah, there they are."

Under the encouragements of the others, two of the smallest pups began crawling under the couch in search of the remote.

I tried to distract them. "Want to play?"

The tail on one began wagging, as easily convinced as any one-year-old.

"No! The remote, Pat! The remote! So we can watch cartoons!"

The pup looked between me and the girl, confused and torn by two fun-sounding things. Beyond the girl, I saw a larger set of feet approaching.

One end of the couch suddenly lifted, raising up my hiding place and the eight kids who had been piled on top of it.

"Thanks Vera!" several of them exclaimed, darting forward to pull me away from the wall and expose the remote.

Like an invading force, they ran back to the other family room to watch their shows, the bigger ones carrying the smaller ones this time.

I snorted and sauntered out so Vera could put the end of the couch down since it was just the two of us now. "Ruining my fun..."

"Keeping the peace," she corrected. "Even Conrad felt the disturbance from the training field."

"And he sent you to fix it?"

"He knew it involved a lot of kids, so there was a good chance the group from the orphanage was involved."

"Ah, that makes sense since you are in charge of the kids sent here. The others also listen better to you than to most adults when they're up to mischief."

"With the exception of one particular troublemaker, yes. With all-" she suddenly paused and tilted her head.

I tried to look as innocent as possible, which probably wasn't working considering the emotions I was feeling from the kids who were likely mindlinking Vera.

She looked down at me and raised an eyebrow. "And why are the batteries not in the remote?"

"I can honestly say I didn't touch those. I was told it was a game of hidden treasure, and they have to find it."

Vera immediately connected the conspicuously missing runt with the missing objects, and mindlinked all of the kids and me. "Phillip has the batteries. Go find him. Take Talia, it will be good practice for her people-sensing abilities."

"I hope you're hiding well," I told him. "They're letting Talia practice her Omega skills."

"Oh, bother," he replied to me. "I forgot her abilities were starting to emerge."

"At least you can shift and climb the playground equipment. I'm stuck hiding under couches."

Vera sighed and picked me up. "You're going to give me grey hair one day."

"I doubt that. It's only going to be a year or so until enough of the kids are strong enough to move the couches on their own. And by that point, they'll also be big enough to get into more mischief than I have ever managed."

"I somehow doubt that's possible."

Grinning up at her as she walked outside, I replied, "Either way, we will find out before too long."

She shook her head and stood on the porch as we watched nearly twenty kids swarming one particular slide. Beyond them, thirty small stores were nestled down in a valley while the training area was on top of the hill. The old packhouse was on the other side of this one, so I couldn't see it from here.

The Alpha walked beside us and leaned on the porch railing.

"Oh. Good morning, Kiel. I didn't know you were still inside."

"I just finished drafting our request to expand our borders farther east and south. I'll take it to the neighboring packs tomorrow, although I can't see them having a problem with it since it isn't close to their borders."

"What about the rogue group that lived there? What did they say?"

"We discussed it, and settled on letting them live by the hot spring along our southern border as long as they remain peaceful. They get the protection that comes with being along the border, so they are happy with the arrangement. They might join us eventually, but they haven't asked yet."

I grinned at him. "And we all know what the answer would be."

He chuckled in agreement. "Indeed. What pack or rogue within a two week's travelling distance hasn't heard that the Darsha pack accepts anyone who wants a fresh start?"

"Good question. I have no idea what the answer is, though."

"Neither do I, but gossip spreads among rogues quickly."

"Which explains why we are still getting new people on a weekly basis. Speaking of which, when do we expect them to bring more ferals?"

"I'm not sure. I haven't heard any rumors of ferals bothering any packs that our members have family members in. The rogues have to travel a long distance to even hear anything about ferals at this point."

I tilted my head and examined the dozens of people within my sight at this moment. "Huh. I wonder where all the ferals went?"

Vera snorted. "Might as well wonder how this pack managed to grow to three hundred members last month. Here, you can take Julie. I have to go dig up a rascal before Conrad's abilities force him to come and keep the peace."

She passed me to Alpha Kiel, and we watched her take two steps and jump off the porch step, shifting mid-jump into a dark brown wolf.

"They have come such a long way," Alpha Kiel quietly told me on a private mindlink. "Thank you."

I looked up at him in confusion. "Huh?"

"Two years ago, I had been writing up a notice to let the neighboring packs know I was disbanding mine since it had shrunk too much. Then you arrived."

"I remember that. You had me and twenty-four hot-tempered lunatics standing on your border."

"It was one of the hardest decisions I have ever made. But I'm glad I did it. This pack could have never seen such potential without us welcoming in anyone looking for a better life."

"I know what you mean. As much as I miss my old pack, I also couldn't imagine what it would be like if I hadn't helped so many ferals."

"Life isn't always about what you have or who you know. Sometimes it's about how many people you have helped."

I nodded slowly at the wisdom of his words. "And I like helping people. Especially the ferals."

"You have truly made a difference. You have managed to redeem the lost."