Impulse could not recall what his birth parents looked like. He had been small when he'd ran off from the young parents of the only-child. He'd ran off for the thrill of it. He always returned.
Just this time, he returned and no one was there to fawn over him, to sternly tell him he was bad and then send him to bed without supper, only to break their vow and let him eat afterall. His father lay silent in the den and the sticky, disgusting scent of wet blood told him everything he needed to know. Father was dead. Mother was gone. Had she done it? It was an idea he played with. An idea that scared him. He didn't stick around to find out.
Windfall was the only place he knew he could go, but a great disaster had happened upon the lands to make the lone-alpha, Crush, spiteful of newcomers. That wolf had chased him out of the territory like a rabid lynx! Impulse had scrambled for freedom, feeling the great wolf's teeth upon him when someone called out and stopped him.
Impulse had stared into the crystal-blue eyes of the beta, Aydie. It was Aydie who looked at him, sadness apparent in her gaze, mourning her lost daughter. It was Aydie and her mate, Moody, who had taken him in, had pleaded him through Crunch's stern ways, had kept him near and never let him stray, even when he felt like it.
The first time he caused trouble was also his last time. Aydie's jaws had snapped closed over his and sorrowfully, sadly, she began to tell the story of the young wolf, Bipolar. An omega, she had somehow gained the attraction of the alpha, their pairing being odd and scandalous. The pair had a litter, one lone puppy, but Crush never once considered her his mate. Aydie figured that this drove the young female to do what she'd done. Bipolar had taken her own daughter's life. She'd been promptly exiled.
This story stayed in Impulse's mind for the rest of his young life. He became the life of the pack and the light in his new mother's eyes. Aydie, who had been unable to have any more puppies since the disaster. Bipolar had been her daughter.
On the height of his first year, Impulse decided that packlife perhaps wasn't his calling. He decided that he needed an adventure, something to spice up his life. He promised he'd return, but he left Aydie at the boundary line of Windfall with tears in her eyes. He'd smiled bravely and marched on. Always marching on.
He had a mission. He would find the reason Aydie was so sad. He would find this Bipolar.
He just never figured he'd find her so easily.
That, or fall in love with her daughter.
[FIN]
