James had been with the cubs, teaching them the basics of how to shift forms consciously and how to move about and get used to their forms, when a sentry burst through the edge of the clearing, shifting into his human form as he went. "Hey Black, we have some bitch wandering through our territory," he reported.

"Is she hostile Red?" he questioned going into alpha mode.

"No, in fact she seems to be malnourished," Red answered a bit confused.

"Well why didn't you invite her over then?" Black answered, turning to the cubs, who'd shifted back to human form and smiled apologetically at them, "Sorry cubs, but I am going to have to cut this short so that I can take care of something."

Ignoring the protests of the cubs, he shifted into his wolf form, signaling for Red to lead the way, which he promptly did and they were in the area within half an hour. Leaving thoughts of how she'd gotten so deep in his territory before being caught for later, he returned to his human form signaling his pack-mate to hang back as he circled around before he gave away his position by standing straight up. "Alright, show yourself, I know you're there!" he called out.

James eyed the wolf before him, critically taking in her appearance and gait. She looked as though she would turn tail and bolt at any second and hungry. It was obvious that something had happened, either she'd been exiled from her pack or her pack had been slaughtered, since no pack would allow one of their own to go hungry and there had been plenty of game the past few seasons if regular food wasn't enough. However, he was relatively new to being the alpha and had yet to come across a lone wolf before; not really knowing what else to do he shrugged away his inexperience and just barreled his way through the situation, going with the flow. "I am James Black, Alpha of the Penn Woods Pack. Who are you?" he challenged and at the same time, exerting his dominance.

He raised an eyebrow at the rough sound of her voice, and was further intrigued by how she'd introduced herself. "Former Alpha" she had said, something must have wiped out the pack then. Even so, despite all of this there was still a fire in her, her spirit had not yet been broken, she was strong and every bit an alpha. This woman could make quite the contribution to the pack, but first he would have to see how everyone reacted to her presence. Having made his decision, James flicked his wrist slightly, signaling for Red to go back to his patrols, which he did at once before he turned his back on the woman and started walking back towards the town. "Well first things first Lights, since you're already here why don't we get you fed," James declares, then throws over his shoulder, "and don't even think about running off, in your current condition you wouldn'tmake it far before I caught up to you."

"Charity? Pity act? Running you off? Where the hell do you get these ideas? If we were going to do any of that why would the sentry come for me instead of my beta or better yet chasing you out themselves??" he spun around on his feet to look back at her, he was intrigued as to where she'd gotten these ideas but even more so at the fact that she'd so vehemently denied him. For as long as he'd lived, he'd never been denied anything from anyone except for his parents and even then not all that often.

Suddenly it dawned on him that he'd made a grievous misstep in blatantly pointing out her weakness. James knew that the other alpha would take even greater insult if he continued pointing out her obviously weakened condition more than he already had, but he also knew that she needed a decent meal and good night's rest. Without really thinking about it, he blurted out the first thing that came to mind, "Anyway, whoever said that it would be free? You can have a room and food for as long as you contribute to the pack, like teaching the cubs to hunt and shift for instance, in the end you will be free to leave whenever you wish, but if you do then you must leave this region altogether. What do you say Lights?"

He knew that this was a hastily made decision, but he wanted a chance to see what she would do. Besides the terms were in her favor, there was no reason for her to turn him down if she wanted to survive.

He couldn't explain why but it felt good earning someone's approval even if it was reluctent and not a hundred percent. So it was no wonder that he smiled at her as he waited for her to catch up and let her set their pace, not wanting to push her to go faster than she could and not minding having to walk slower, as he led the way. The whole time they walked he chattered about the pack wanting her to how things worked and trying to 'subtly' get her to accept them. He didn't know how well that worked since subtlety wasn't his strong suit. Still, he told her about how well everyone worked together, his hunting exploits, how the cubs were coming along under his supervision, though they were not as far as they should but he thought that he was doing okay considering that it was his first time. They were almost there when he remembered something that he should've thought of earlier, causing him to stop and fall silent for a few minutes. "Are you sure that you want to sleep outside? I heard that it is suppose to rain pretty hard tonight..." James trailed off, giving her a look of concern before turning back towards the borders where the sentries were. He never liked the fact that some of his pack-mates were forced to tough out the snow and rain as they patrolled, but it was necessary. It wouldn't do to have an enemy suddenly attack just because they'd grown lax on security.

He didn't like it, but he didn't really have any authority over her as long as she didn't do anything to harm the pack. "Alright... but if you get sick, you're coming inside until you're well again," he thought that he was being fair, demanding that she stay indoors when she became ill instead of forcing her to either tough it out or come asking later on, it gave her an out. After saying his piece he led her into town where people greeted and he nodded back in return. He was tackled once by his beta Kal and they joked around a bit, talking sports before he left to go check up on his mate who was with her first litter. Soon after that he'd made it to his home and he led her to the kitchen. "Feel free to anything you want, I'm going to be in my study just down the hall if you need anything else," James informed her and with that left her to her own devices as he went to his study to pull out maps of the borders, trying to figure out where the holes in their security were. If one lone wolf was able to break through for who knew how long, then would a pack be able to do the same? It was troubling, and he wanted this resolved as quickly as possible, the safety of the pack was on his shoulders now.

(Sorry I thought that it didn't go through the first time)

James wasn't making any headway with the charts and he was about to give up and just go take a look at the borders himself when Lights came in with an omelet and a glass of water. He leaned in his chair and ran his hands through his hair to release some of his stress as he allowed her to take a look at the maps. Though when he saw the smirk as she leaned back to look at him, he knew he wouldn't like what she had to say and when she spoke he hung his head and let out a sigh when he discovered that he was right. "Those low branches also make for a good ambush, we've known about them for years now. Looks like we let them grow over too much, I'll have to have someone cut a few of them down and in a way that looks natural. Man this is such a drag..." he complained as he drew a hand through his hair again before looking back up at her with a grin giving a small glance at the food, "Thanks for that, I would've had to go all the way back there to scout out the place myself otherwise. Have you already eaten?"

"Sure, follow me," he instructed absently as he grabbed the plate and began eating as he walked to his room. When he got there he placed it down on a dresser and opened up a drawer and pulled out a black t-shirt and a pair of grey draw-string sweats then handed them to her before then leading her to the bathroom that was between his bedroom and the second one, taking a fresh towel from closet opposite while he was at it. James handed Lights the items and opened the door for her, "Take as long as you need, I will be right back I have to take care of a few things."

After the door had closed James went back to his room to quickly finish the omelet then left to go look for Trixie who was working at the local garage. Her family owned a small nursery, but she was more interested in autos than flowers. He himself avoided the nursery like a plague since every time he entered people seemed to think that he was buying something for some girl, when all he wanted to do was speak to the owners to see how their business was doing. "Hey Trixie!" James shouted as he entered the garage.

"What's up Jimmy!" she called back as she rolled out from under a car and grabbed a rag cleaning her hands of grease, "What can I do for you?"

"I need you to ask your parents to check out the eastern border for me tomorrow. The branches have grown over to the point where they put us at risk. I just need them to trim them down some but do it in a way that looks natural," he requested.

"Sure thing, and in return how about a date?" she tried to bargain as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"How about you do as I say and you find another date, I'm busy right now," he smiled, but his tone had a warning in it.

Knowing not to push her luck, she let him brush her off with a pout. "Does it have anything to do with that girl that Kal came in chattering about earlier? From what I heard she isn't anything special, did she get lost in the woods when she went camping with her folks or something?" she asked.

"No, she's a lone wolf named Lights, she's going to be staying here for a while doing odd jobs here and there until she decides to leave. Tell that to anyone who asks and send word if your parents need someone to watch the store tomorrow while they are out," James informed her as he left and returned home, going back into his study, cleaning up the maps and putting them in their proper place then turned on his computer and began writing a log of that day.

"Alright," he said absently as he finished typing a sentence then looked up giving her his full attention. "Just so you know the door is never locked so you are welcome to come in and out whenever you want and take whatever you need. If anyone asks why you are here you can either direct them to me or handle it yourself, whatever you want. Oh, and before I forget I need you to be up early tomorrow, the Donaldson's are going to fix that branch problem and they might need someone to watch the nursery for them. If they do, I'll ask that they bring some of Trixie's clothes, they'll fit you better until we can get you some of your own. I think that was everything, do you have any questions, Lights?" James asked, he wanted to confine her to the order of the pack, but as he already knew that wouldn't go over well with her so he had to do things so that she had the freedom to choose, yet still give her odd jobs around the pack as per their earlier agreement. This was going to be nearly impossible to balance for him and he knew that he was going to slip up sooner or later, it was already giving him a headache, both the balancing act and the argument that was sure to come when he failed.

An amused grin made its way onto his features as he thought about the Donaldson's, they really were an odd family. The girls grew up wanting to be one of the guys and the boys grew up to be sensitive and caring, it was a wonder that the men ever found a mate to continue the line. However, without fail, every time the male came of age he would find a mate, which he supposed was a good thing considering that no one knew plants like they did and were the pack's medicine men.

"Don't worry about that, you'll be helping Sid out, he's Trixie's kid brother. He might only be eight, but don't let his age fool you, he knows his stuff, he just can't reach the top shelf and some of the higher plants yet. Trixie can't be there because she works down at the garage," he explained, then as if on cue the rain started to pour and he had to hide his amusement as Lights conceded to sleeping indoors. "Uh, sure, no problem, I'd offer you the spare bedroom instead if I thought you'd take it.." James trailed off realizing that he was rambling and instead focused on the matter at hand, "Anyway there are spare blankets in the hallway closet, feel free to use one. I just need to finish a few things here before I go to sleep myself. Did you have any other questions?"