It wasn't that Parker had never been in a pack before. It was more like, he was unfamiliar of the terms that comes with joining a Pack. All he knew in regards to joining was that, he has to make a howl at the leadership, wait for them to approach him in the border, and interrogate him to see if he will suit the pack, or if he will be of any use. This information only came upon him by his Aunt Mayflower, who very much knew how unknown Parker was to joining another group seperate from one he knows as home after a long while. 

So, with his Aunt's words to rely on, and knowing very much that she knew better than him, the male trots near the borders of what he knew belongs to a pack. What pack exactly? He doesn't even know, and he hopes that it won't be too much trouble for them to accept another mouth to feed, with no exact trade aside from being able to follow direct orders, and knowing his place of when to challenge and when to not. He wasn't even sure if they'll accept him. They'll probably laugh, sneer, and then chase him out of the border for how small he was for a full grown adult.

So, when he howled at the leadership, and even after howling, his ears were perked downwards, tail close to his legs but not truly tucking them in, staring at his paws, deep in though at all the negative possibilities this one could all turn into, and he was only trying to take deep breathes.

He can do this. 

He can survive this.

If he can survive the taunts and the pushing around of Thompson and his group of larger wolves that teased him to no end, stole his catch and left him with a bruised pride, and a bruised body, then he will be able to make through this. While weaker than others, he was sure, that even with multiple failures, he'll succeed. He knows he has to, lest he wants to die in an unknown place where his Aunt will never know where his fallen body will ever lay.

 

The howl caught Stark off guard, every day that passed where Valette grew larger he became more vigilant along the borders. In some ways he was concerned with how withdrawn he must have seemed to his family but he had his own missions. He had to keep them safe. Stark let out an answering howl of his own a doubt then turned course to. And his way towards the source of the sound. What he was presented with was - as predicted - a wolf who gave off the impression of being younger, and Stark looked him over quickly. He didn't see any obvious issues or smell anything too abnormal about the male. 

"So what's brought you here?" Stark had played this song and dance enough times that he could predict the flow of conversation. He'd probably been alone for awhile, probably tired of that life, probably needed an option other than just being by himself. Maybe his dad had run him off with a new litter coming or maybe he'd been too much of an upstart and his Alpha had gotten tired of him. It was usually a few key differences but the same general story. 

It was surprising for him to hear the sudden, answering howl towaeds him, and it shows the attentiveness that the Alphas must have over this pack, and they obviously are immediately better than the Alpha he had back at his hoem pack, who cared only about keeping his dominance in tact through intimidating methods to the younger pups like Peter, and to the oldest, challenging members. Still, he was not going to complaint about that in his mind now, since now, before him, was a dark-shaded wolf with a piercing gaze.

Whoever this is was definitely the Alpha, and Parker knew that picking a fight with a wolf like this would never benefit him, and only leave him with a thrown off body, his insides torn that they went outside when they were supposed to be inside, and a slow, painful way of bleeding to death. That was the last thing on his mind, so only did a few seconds pass when Parker gazed up to who he was facing, ears still narrowed, voice having a bit of a stutter as he spoke

”I-I’m from another pack that goes way beyond your territory, in Forest Hills. An-and, uhm, I seek to join your pack after having spent my entire being there.” He was stuttering, and if Parker knew better, he wished he could evaporate in the ground, slip underneath the ground and never show his face again in shame because now, Thompson’s words rang through his ears, of being forever an Omega, being the useless one of the group made to break up fights for life due to how pathetic and submissive he is.

They were all coming true, and he swore he could hear that myriad of laughter for him even though he hasn’t been in his home pack for many days. Despite his attempts to leave his past alone, the imagination of Thompson and his cruel followers, alongside remembering the brutal death that came towards his Uncle Benjamin still haunted his memories, still linger in his memories.

That was when he realized that in the midst of remembering the many aspects of his home pack, introducing himself to the Alpha with a name hasn’t quite happened yet “Oh and my name’s Parker.” he quickly said, now looking down in the ground in embarrassment. As if he hasn’t made himself a fool with this already. Maybe if he thinks hard enough to the ground, he can just disappear in his embarrassment, and never look back because of how terrible he is at joinings, like this.

 

The kid - not even knowing his age, it was all Stark could think - seemed to almost wilt under his gaze. With his own litter coming in some ways it was nice to not have to roughly assert himself but there was still the part of him that sympathized. Everyone had to start somewhere at some point, after all. "Okay, Parker. I'm Stark. My mate Valette and I lead this pack - we're called Easthollow." He explained. He started off with the simple stuff, trying to ease the males nerves a bit. He had to wonder what kind of a place he'd come from if he was already so nervous and worked up - but then, who knew. His own younger life wasn't ideal after all. 


"So tell me what sorts of things you're good at - sell me on giving you a test run."  He offered it with a bit of a gruff grin, he wasn't opposed to the idea of letting someone else into the pack, not now that be was sure Valette was pregnant and that there was no competition there. He still hadn't seen hide nor hair of Birk and wondered if the male had found better prospects in another pack. It would have made enough sense, but, Stark didn't really want to think about him presently. Instead he took a slightly more relaxed posture and waited for Parker's response.