The Northwood pack

The Northwood pack is the main pack followed in the books, for which the series is named. Almost all characters that are given a point of view come from this pack. Its size fluctuates as the series progresses, starting out small and sometimes growing larger.

Members (in order of appearance):

Snowflake

Sea

Willow

Sky

Timber

Ivy

Storm

Pine

Territory
As implied in their name, the Northwood pack occupies the northern half of the enormous forest in which the story is set. The majority of their territory is wooded, with a few large fields and multiple clearings. There are two large rivers in their territory. One forms their only truly defined border, separating them at the southern end from the Darkwood pack, which dwells in the south. The wolves rarely visit this river, as doing so puts them close to their enemies. Instead, they stay near the other one, and the lake that it feeds into. Part of this river is a waterfall, and in the rock just behind it is a dry cave well suited for living; the Northwood pack stays here.

History
The pack was first formed a male and a female met each other - both had left their previous packs with the intent to start their own. They lived on their own for awhile, establishing their territory, which was much smaller at that time. One day they noticed another young couple, who had also left their respective packs, accidentally intruding on their territory. At first, their attempt was to drive them off, but in an unusual twist they talked to them and ended up banding together, with the original male and female as the Alphas, and the other female, by the name of Sky, as the beta. For awhile, they lived in peace and settled down, creating very close bonds between them, and then both couples foolishly mated during the late summer. This caused them to have their pups during the bitter winter: Sea, Willow, and an unnamed female to Sky; Snowflake, Timber, and Ivy to the Alpha female. The adult wolves could have survived in the time that they had to stay in the cave, waiting for the snowstorms to pass, but the pups were soon starving. When the storms showed no sign of abating, the Alphas and Sky's mate went out to try and find some food, leaving Sky alone to take care of the six pups. They never returned, and though Sky assumed that they died in the cold, she was later informed by Shade that they had in fact been killed by Darkwood wolves.

The storms continued for a few days, and one of Sky's pups died. The other five, however, survived until it was clear enough for Sky to go out and get them food. She would become the surrogate mother for all five.

Book One
At first, the wolves did not consider themselves to be a true "pack" as they were nothing more than an adult with five pups. It was only after the death of Sky that they began to work together in different ways, and to think of themselves more as a pack than as a strange group. In the second chapter, they held an official discussion on the subject of positions (it was unusual for wolves, but they had decided that they were not like other packs). Snowflake was chosen as the sole Alpha, Ivy as the beta, and the rest were left as mid-rankers. They had also decided not to have an Omega, as again, they were not a normal pack.

Storm joined the pack early on, and was soon accepted as a regular member, though not every member trusted him. Later on, Pine also joined; as he did so after saving Snowflake's life, he had a better reception. Shortly after his introduction into the pack, it had its first battle (though he was not involved) against a group of rogues who were after Sea. Their pack won, though Snowflake stated that victory didn't feel the way she had imagined it.

Timber was the first of the officially structured pack to die, murdered as he was drinking from a river late at night. Weeks later, Ivy told Snowflake that a member of their pack must have done it, and tensions grew.