sorry. I’m so sorry,” she said as Marcus unwrapped the line from around him. She felt terrible about it, but brushed it off as Steele’s fault, “That stupid ass! He caused us to crash, it’s all his fault!” she glowered as Steele continued to pace around the area, trying to provoke her to lunge at him again. It took Marcus a few minutes to untangle everything and he called Steele over. The husky tried to take his place beside Sonya but Marcus grabbed his collar, leading him towards the rear. Steele whined and tried to get back to the front, but Marcus’s hand held him back.

“Nuh-uh, I saw that stunt you pulled. You’re going in the back,” he said, causing Steele to scowl. He rearranged the team and Sonya couldn’t help but grin at the sight of a champion being reduced to a wheel dog. With the team reset, Marcus called for them to go and they completed their run, returning to White Mountain by midday. The team was unhooked and allowed to roam, with Sonya and Steele going in two different directions. He followed the team through the town while she trotted to her shed to rest. A mix of emotions ran through Sonya. First, there was the regret towards hurting Jake; she hoped that he wouldn’t be too mad at her for this. Soon, the regret gave way to anger towards Steele. She had been right; he hadn’t changed at all. In less than ten minutes, he had proven that he was the same prejudiced jerk as before. No matter what, he would always stay the same; always picking on her and making her life hard because of her wolf side.

“Why?” she said to herself, “Why couldn’t you have just left me alone? Why do you always have to come back? Why can’t you go away forever?!”

“Hey, what did I do to you?” a voice replied. She turned and saw that it was Jake standing in the doorway.

“Oh Jake, it’s not you. It’s-“

“Steele?” he finished and she nodded, “That’s no surprise.”

“Look Jake, I’m really sorry about what happened today. Is your neck okay?” she said.

“I’ll be fine, but there’s something I want to talk to you about,” he said as he entered the shed, “You shouldn’t let Steele get to you like that Sonya.”

“I know, but he is so persistent. He doesn’t stop until I do something,” she replied.

“That is true, and I will admit wanting to sock him a couple of times too. However, I don’t let him provoke me; I don’t want to get myself or my friends caught up in a fight.”

“You should be more careful with the fights you pick, because you may end up getting someone you care about caught in the crossfire.”

Amak’s old words had pushed themselves into Sonya’s mind and it was now that she realized the truth behind them. While trying to get back Steele today, she had been choking Jake with his own harness. Instead of hurting Steele, she had hurt one of her best friends, “Anyway, I just want you to be careful out there Sonya. I’d hate to have anything happen to my lead dog,” he finished before leaving Sonya to her own thoughts.

“Oh Amak, I wish you were here now. You’d know what to do with Steele.”

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Chapter 4: Secrets Revealed

Three Years Ago

In the months leading up to the race, Jonathan had been rigorously training his team, running them through the dozen mile hop to nearby Golovin and back, always trying to push the dogs faster. This was the first chance Sonya had to run as part of a team and she loved every minute of it. At first, running non-stop for hours on end was difficult, but as the days passed, it became easier and easier for her, with her wolf stamina allowing her to keep pace for hours at a time. Her stamina also allowed her to gain a relatively high position on the team as one of the swing dogs (Jake was the other). Her job was to assist Amak in setting the pace and to help swing the sled around turns (hence the term ‘swing dog’). During the training, Jonathan had tried Sonya in all the different positions on the team and found that she worked best right behind Amak. Sonya could have been a wheel dog for all she cared; she just wanted to be on the team with the others.

Two weeks before the race, Jonathan went out on a hunting trip with a friend, staying with him in his cabin that was to the west of White Mountain. By now, Sonya had gotten used to the rigors of dog sledding so the short trip wasn’t much trouble at all. During the day, they would search for the caribou herds that their humans were hunting, but for the first few days they had little luck. They knew that the herd would be gathered in one spot, but where that spot was had yet to be found.

Despite her competence with sledding, most of the team was still reluctant to accept her. The upcoming race was at the forefront of their minds and most were convinced that Sonya, a former cargo dog, would slow them down. Even though she had been on their team for almost a year, they were still distrustful of the half-wolf. She was still excluded her from their social time, so while they chatted in the evenings, she went off around the other side of the cabin and had started watching the northern lights as they danced in the sky.

“Enjoying the show?” she heard a voice ask. She turned around and saw it was Amak.

“Yes,” she replied.

“You know, your mother loved watching the lights too. I once took her out at night to see them and she loved the whole thing.”

“You took my mom to see them? It almost sounds like it was a date,” Sonya replied.

“That’s because it was,” he said, “This was before she met your father and I will admit having a big crush on her. However, we later found it best if we remained friends. Eventually, she would meet your father.”

“Did you ever meet him?” she asked, wanting to know more about her father.

“Unfortunately no, but from the way Sierra talked about him he sounded like a great guy. I was the only one that she told about him, and for good reason. As you probably know all too well, most dogs hate wolves, and the idea of a dog becoming a mate with one of them disgusted them. So, I was the only one your mother trusted her secret with.”

“You told me that my mother had been banished before I was born. Was it because of her being with him?” Sonya asked.

“Unfortunately, yes. He tried to visit her in town and one of the other dogs caught them together. When I found them, they were completely surrounded. Once they figured out that she was in love with him, they disowned her and banished her from the town,” he said, “I tried so hard to convince them to let her stay, but they were so stubborn. They didn’t want to have to deal with the possibility of Sierra having half wolf pups in the town, so they kicked her out.”

“It was all because she loved someone different from them, wasn’t it?” she asked and Amak nodded, “Why would they be so afraid of half-wolf pups anyways?”

“Because they would be much closer to wolves than the other dogs. There are stories of half-wolf pups being temperamental and turning on other dogs - sometimes people too.”

“Are any of the stories true?” she asked.

“I can’t say myself. I haven’t seen any half-wolf turn on someone unprovoked, including you,” he replied, “I’ve tried so many times to convince the others that you’re okay, but they’re so set in their ways.”

“At least you’re not as stubborn as them,” she said, “I bet if you met a wolf you would see the good in them.”

“Maybe I already have,” Amak replied.

“What do you mean by that?” she asked.

“Oh, you’ll never guess,” he replied. She was the closest thing to a wolf that Amak had known, so she assumed he meant her, “Well it’s getting late, you need your sleep,” he said, and Sonya obliged, trotting back around to where the others were while Amak stayed behind, watching the lights.

“Oh Sierra, I hope I know what I’m doing," he said, "This could horribly backfire on me.”

----------

A couple of nights later, Sonya was starting to doze off in the hole she had dug for herself in the snow, but soon heard the sound of footsteps crunching through the snow. She perked her head up and saw Amak starting to enter the woods. Curious, she continued watching him to see what he was up to, and when she did, her jaw dropped. Amak had met up with a snow-white wolf and they had started chatting with each other.

“Oh wow, so that’s what he meant by ‘I already have’. Well, he did once say to me that he always wanted to meet a wolf. If only the others could see this; they could see that wolves aren’t that bad. I mean, he’s just chatting with her,” she thought, “Wait, her? Has Amak found someone to his liking? Aw, that’s so sweet of him. I wonder why he didn’t tell me about this?” she thought, but then remembered their earlier discussion, “If they banished my mother for being with a wolf, then there’s nothing stopping them from doing the same to Amak. No wonder he didn’t tell me; if it got out it would destroy him."

Beside her, Jake started to stir and poked his head out from under the snow, “Sonya, what are you looking at?” he sleepily asked.

“Um……. nothing,” she said, hoping that Jake hadn’t seen Amak. Fortunately, he had moved on