Ash

It is when the pup marked with ash comes forth that the skies will fill with fire, and destruction will come

Ash, given his name because of his ashen appearance, has a rather interesting past for a wolf that is only one years old. His father Rowen was the alpha of the Shining Rocks pack, and his mother is Moonset- the herbalist. Rowen already had a mate, and the relationship was especially taboo because herbalists were to never find a mate of their own; their duties were to the pack and the pack alone, as well as their ancestors, and a relationship of any sort would potentially get in the way of their responsibilities.
When Moonset had become pregnant with pups, Rowen made the decision to outcast her from the pack. This decision was not only customary to the culture of Shining Rocks, but it was also intended to protect Rowen from the truth of the pups' origins getting out to the rest of his pack. Of course, the only wolf that suspected the truth was Sunstone, Rowen's mate. However since Sunstone was not the type to confront any wolf, she kept quiet to keep the peace. When Moonset was outcasted, Rowen had given her the specific instructions to live on the outskirts of the territory, near a waterfall. The roaring waters would hide the sounds of pups, and the water would help with hiding her scent. This was intended to be her living space for the rest of time; Rowen felt great love for Moonset, and he felt he needed to do right by her by offering her and their pups protection. Moonset had followed these instructions, and when it was time for her to have her pups Rowen had made sure he was going to be able to be there; giving birth made Moonset particularly vulnerable to potential dangers, and thus he had to keep a watchful eye over the new mother. When the pups were born, there were two; however one had ended up being stillborn. The stillborn pup was female, and had the same color and markings as her father Rowen. Rowen felt disturbed; this death of a pup that was so young, and that looked identical to him, felt like a bad omen. When the second pup, Ash, was born, both Rowen and Moonset had frozen in place before exchanging a knowing glance. There had been a long-standing prophecy passed down from previous alphas and herbalists that was now being set into motion; this pup, donning an ashen appearance, had sealed the fate of the entire pack the very moment he was born. Rowen bared his teeth and slowly approached Moonset and their son, and was insistent that the young pup needed to die. However, with much convincing Moonset had managed to sway Rowen. It was decided then that she would leave the territory with Ash, and never set foot there ever again. She would be going on a long journey to ensure that the territory was far enough that, once Ash was old enough to roam by himself, would never stumble across the Shining Rocks territory.
After three days time, Moonset took her surviving pup and made her journey. She had wandered as far as her weary body could take her, to a thick forrest that had plenty of food, water, and herbs within her reach. Even though Moonset was taking care of Ash, she only ever provided the bare essentials; she had grown to resent Ash and her behaviors toward him reflected this. Ash had endured his first year of life being given harsh words and treatment from his mother Moonset. However, since he didn't know how a pup was meant to be treated, he assumed this was normal and her way of showing she loved him. Even though he assumed her treatment was out of love, he still felt very hurt by her harsh words and occasional hard nip or scratch on the nose. When he was about a year old, Moonset had decided he was taught everything he could possibly know about how to hunt, protect himself, as well as use herbs, and so she chased him away from the forrest that she claimed her own.
However, when Moonset had chased him away it was in the direction of Shining Rocks. Because Ash was never told anything about the pack, he unknowingly managed to step paw into the territory after roaming for a week. When he had wandered into the territory he had stumbled into a young she-wolf and a hunting party she was going to be leading. The young she-wolf, Fang, was the new leader of the Shining Rocks pack; Rowen had passed within the last year after a run in with a large grizzly bear that was threatening the pack, and so the position of Alpha was passed onto his daughter Fang. Even though she was young and inexperienced, she was at least able to have an elderly wolf named Ravenrock to council her about how the pack was run, as well as their customs and how to lead and make important decisions. After speaking with Ash, Fang had made the decision to allow him into their ranks. The prophecy, with the herbalist position vacant and the former leader having died suddenly, was never passed onto Fang- if she had known of the prophecy, she would have most likely killed her half-brother or chased him off of the territory.
Ash's time within the pack was short, but he had managed to make a name for himself. He proved himself to be an efficient hunter and, while he was not a herbalist, had been able to train a young wolf to fill that role within that pack thanks to the knowledge he received from Moonset. At first, Thistle did not know what to make of Ash and even resented him a little; how could a wolf just wander in, and somehow be this perfect male who was a good hunter and even could teach a wolf how to become a herbalist. Who was this wolf? Why did he seem so important? In all of her time trying to get a feel for this wolf, Ash had managed to become smitten. He made many attempts to impress her through gifts of prey from hunting, rocks, and flowers that he thought looked pretty. Eventually Thistle had a collection of dried flowers and rocks that decorated her space, and the other females in the pack resented her for not giving this wolf a fair chance. The only time that she was swayed and decided to give Ash a chance was when he showed off his strength in a fight against a trio of wolves who had wandered into their territory and were deadset on claiming it as their own. As Ash was treated by the herbalist for his injuries, Thistle had given him a sign that she was in fact interested by bringing a mouse carcass by the herbalist den and licking his scratched, sore nose. From then on, they had become inseparable and Ash always made it a point to gift pretty trinkets to Thistle as a show of his appreciation.
It wasn't long before Thistle became Ash's mate; Ash, in love with Thistle, vowed to himself and the ancestors that he would protect the young wolf with his life. Everything he did, he did for her. Within the pack his devotion to his mate became something to behold, and many of the females would look on with jealousy.
Of course, the time Thistle and Ash would live happily together in the pack was short-lived because of Ash and his prophecy. It was late in the night when Ash had woken up to the smell of smoke and sounds of crackling flame. When he had realized there was a fire overwhelming the pack's living space, he had shot awake and woke Thistle up. The two wolves, fearing for their own lives, had no choice but to try and make their mistake without looking for survivors. As they weaved through burning underbrush and branches, their nostrils were assaulted by the unmistakeable smell of burnt fur and flesh. During their escape Ash had frozen in place when staring out towards the crackling flame; Thistle attempted to grab Ash by the scruff and force him to keep moving forward, but failed. Ash was frozen in place as he saw something within the flames; to this very day Thistle was never told what Ash could have possibly seen, and he made a vow to take his visions to the grave. Within the flames, he saw a wolf that resembled that of Rowen. Even though Moonset had never told Ash about Shining Rocks, she did however tell Ash about his father- not where he lived, but what he looked like and how he acted; this was the only time Moonset would ever speak fondly of anyone. The wolf, that was supposedly Rowen, stared at Ash with his ears folded back and his gaze full of disgust. Ash never knew about his own prophecy, but he at least understood that this look the vision was giving him was that of blame and hatred. When Rowen disappeared, Ash came back to the present situation and was able to then hear Thistle's pleas to keep moving. They both finally continued to run, and they eventually stepped foot in unmarked territory in the mountains.
Now that their pack was no more, they sat dazed and confused by their loss. It took a couple days until they were finally able to speak, and more specifically discuss what they could possibly do next. "We must rebuild," Thistle said with conviction, "We must start a pack of our own- it's the only way to survive." Because Thistle had more experience living within a pack, and Ash did not feel like he should lead, Thistle assumed the role of Alpha. When deciding upon their name, they had decided on Cloudwhisper- for within the skies above there were clouds, and the winds that hit their ears were soft and quiet like whispers from the ancestors themselves.
During the rebuilding of their pack, Thistle and Ash became the parents of two pups- Cedar and Cinder. To ensure their protection, Ash assumed the role of pup sitter; because of the treatments given to him from Moonset, he wanted to make sure he could give nothing but love and protection to their growing family. Currently, their pack is growing and thriving and they are making attempts to make a name for themselves within the mountains.
Unfortunately, one of the pups he had with Thistle - Cinder - had been killed by a strange wolf from a rival pack. With a burning anger in his heart as well as Thistle's, they had vowed to never let this happen again. Due to Thistle's grief and inattention, Ash had started to wander and had his eyes on other wolves, specifically the females in their pack that were ready to have pups of their own. Despite loving Thistle, he went behind his faithful mate's back and had started to speak with other females. Of course, since Thistle had eyes and ears everywhere - and their remaining pup Cedar often was nosy and never kept her mouth shut, Thistle knew the whole time. However, out of undying love for her mate she decided to never - ever - confront Ash or the other wolves involved. While he knew the truth would devastate Thistle, he felt that he had his own needs and as one of the leaders of the pack, it was his right; besides, there were many packs where the alpha male would mate with multiple wolves, besides his assigned mate. Surely this was fine... Right? He didn't think to consider the consequences, nor did he take into account how this could hurt the family he already made for himself.