she had never trusted anything that husky said.

----------

Five Years Earlier

Early on, Amak had made sure that Sonya knew who her parents were. He told her that her father had been a wolf from a nearby pack, while her mother had been a sled dog on Amak’s team. Amak couldn’t tell her much about her father, never having met him, but he could tell her about her mother. They had been trained together and had run many sled trips around Alaska. The more she heard about sledding from him, the more it fascinated her. They would run long distances through the wilderness, working together as one. As Amak once put it, they were like a family, with everyone looking out for each other. These stories were what gave her a drive towards running. She wanted to be a sled dog like her mother; she wanted to travel and to belong to the team's family.

Unfortunately, the sled dogs didn’t want anything to do with her. She would innocently approach them, but they would always avert their gaze and try to avoid her. Some would go so far as to bark at her and chase her away. They would shout things at her like “Go away you little mutt!” or “Get out of here wolfdog!” Everywhere she turned, she met hostility. While Amak got to stay with his owners due to him being the lead dog, Sonya would have to stay with the rest of the team in a barn that Jonathan had set up for them, where the others would push her away, forcing her to sleep in a corner. She would always be isolated from the rest of the team, leaving Amak to be the only one she could talk to. He tried his best to make the other team dogs more accepting of her, but despite him being their lead dog, they wouldn’t get over their prejudice towards half-wolves. Finally, Sonya had to know why they treated her this way.

“Amak, why do they always push me away?” she asked, “Why do they always shout things like ‘mutt’ or ‘wolfdog’ at me?”

“I’m not going to lie to you kid. A lot of dogs in this town don’t like wolves and wolfdogs like you,” he replied.

“But why? What’s their problem with wolves?” she asked.

“Well, I suppose it’s better that you hear this from me instead of someone else,” he started, “There are a lot of stories thrown around about wolf packs attacking sled teams, or wolf-hybrids turning on their friends. They see wolves as dangerous, savage creatures that will hunt them down.”

“But I don’t want to hunt them,” she replied, “I just want to know them.”

“I know, and it’s unfair for you. You didn’t get to choose who you got to be, but most of the dogs here are so set in their hate of wolves,” he replied, “Now listen, over the course of your life you’re going to hear a lot of different things about you and your parents, but most of what they throw around won’t be true. You just have to ignore them.”

That was easier said than done. There were many dogs in White Mountain and each of them disliked her to varying degrees because of her half-wolf status. But out of all of them, there was one would take an almost sadistic pleasure in tormenting her. That dog was Steele. At this point in his career, Steele wasn’t anything special; simply another dog on his team, but he acted as though he already ruled the town. Granted, he was a talented dog, but his talent only led to him having an over-inflated ego. In his mind, the only dogs that mattered in the world were the purebred sled dogs; anyone of a mixed breeding was inferior. Unfortunately, Sonya fell into that category. Like most of the dogs that pushed her around, he never took the time to get to know her; he simply saw her through prejudiced eyes and decided to hate her from the start.

On the day that she first met him, Sonya had decided to take an early morning walk around the edge of town. The dogs within the town would always shoo her away in the streets, leaving the outskirts the only place she could walk unimpeded. She was simply walking behind the houses, enjoying the sights, when suddenly, her foot stepped on something underneath the snow. That something was a husky who had buried himself in the snow behind his owner’s home until Sonya had unwittingly stepped on his tail.

“Watch it!” the black and white dog screamed after bursting out of the snow, “Can’t a guy sleep in a little?”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t see you under there,” Sonya apologized.

“You should be sorry. Don't you know who I am and..... hang on, you look familiar,” he said, “You’re that half-wolf Sonya. What are you doing way out here wolfy?”

“I’m just taking a little walk,” she replied.

“At the edge of town?”

“Yeah, is that a problem?” she shot back.

“Not at all, if you’re considering walking back into the woods where a dirty wolf like you belongs,” he sneered, “This town’s only for sled dogs, not stupid little mutts.”

Sonya was becoming very irritated very quickly. He had known him for maybe thirty seconds and he was already insulting her wolf side, “Hey, why don’t you bury your head back in the snow and leave me alone?” she replied.

“No, I want to know what a half breed like you is doing in this town,” he continued, “What happened, did your parents ditch you when they realized their mistake?”

“Shut up!” she snapped, “My parents did not ditch me! My mother died trying to save me so how dare you say something like that!” The mere mention of her mother brought back the horrific memory of that day. The sound of the gunfire; being carried through the woods; watching her mother take her last breath…

“Oh come on Sonya, it was only a matter of time. After all, you’re not all dog, but you’re not all wolf. You’ll never fit in perfectly with either side,” he said.

“I would be fine here if you’d leave me alone!” she said, becoming more upset by the second.

“No, you wouldn’t be fine. I know that the other dogs on your team always push you away, and they should. You don’t belong with anyone, and even your parents knew it. In fact, they’re probably glad that they don’t have to deal with a mongrel like you.”

“THAT’S NOT TRUE! MY PARENTS LOVED ME! IT’S BECAUSE OF PEOPLE AND DOGS LIKE YOU THAT THEY ARE DEAD!” she screamed. She would not take this lying down; her parents had saved her life and she would not allow Steele to slander their good name. She let out a savage snarl and lunged at Steele, knocking him to the ground. She wanted to hurt Steele for what he had said and to show him that she would not just roll over for him. If she could hurt him back then it might make him back off.

Unfortunately, Sonya didn’t know that Steele was no slouch when it came to fighting. He was on the ground for only a couple of seconds before he was able to roll over, holding Sonya down to the ground. He bit into her shoulder to try to force her submit, but she did no such thing. Instead, she took advantage of the fact that his head was down low and delivered a bite to his ear. The sharp pain caused Steele to stumble back, allowing Sonya to get up. The two dogs faced off against each other, preparing for the next round. They both charged at each other full force, colliding head on. Their fight intensified and soon they were on their hind legs, trying to push each other back while snapping back and forth with their jaws. Finally, Sonya was able to get solid enough footing to push Steele onto his back. She jumped on him and was about to sink her teeth into his chest when another voice rang out.

“Sonya! Stop!” she turned and saw it was Amak, staring at the scene with a look of shock on his face, “Just what is going on here?”

“I’ll tell you what’s going on,” Steele cut in, “Your little mutt here attacked me! She’s a dangerous wolf that needs to be put down.”

“I didn’t ask you!” he snapped at him, “Sonya, would you care to explain this.”

“He started it!” she replied, “I was just walking and then he started saying all these horrible things about my parents. I only wanted him to stop!”

“Yeah, well you stepped on me!” Steele retorted.

“I said I was sorry; what more do you want?!” she snapped back.

“Well, maybe you could leave our town and run away like the wild wolf you are,” he replied.

“That’s enough out of you,” Amak barked, snapping at Steele’s heels, “Go on, get out of here! You've always been the one who causes trouble.”

“Fine,” he growled, knowing he couldn’t take on Sonya and Amak together, “Your lobo-loving friend can’t be around to protect you all the time half-breed,” he growled to Sonya before trotting off. With him gone, Amak could turn his full attention to Sonya, who could tell by his expression that he was not pleased with what she had done.

“Come on, we’re going to talk in private,” he said, and she followed behind him to his shed. Once there, he closed the door so they could talk undisturbed.

“Look, I can understand why you’d be upset with someone putting down your folks, but you shouldn’t let it get to the point where you’re snapping at each other,” he started.

“But he started it! He was the one saying those awful things about my mother,” she replied.

“Just because