called over her shoulder, “I can see it! We will be there soon!”

Kaila saw it too, a small earthy den dug out in the side of the riverbank. But it was on the other SIDE of the river.

Sirius stopped the pack at the edge, and Kaila could see the water was frozen, and hopefully a good foot thick with ice. The black alpha male eyed the glistening ice, and gingerly lifted one paw and pressed it down on the frigid surface. It creaked, and the old leader drew back, afraid to go on. Kiowa groaned and leaned against her mate.

“Sirius, I don’t know if I can make it. The pups are almost here.” Sirius rubbed his head against hers.

“Don’t worry, Kiowa. We’ll get you across and in the den before the puppies come.” Sirius jumped into the air and landed gently halfway across the river. There was a great moan from the icy crystals, and Sirius froze. The ice was still.

He watched as Kiowa lowered herself onto the glassy surface. Then the whole pack followed, and Kaila held her breath as big, heavy paws were placed on the waiting exterior, and the ice murmured, but did nothing else. Sirius slowly led every wolf step by step over the icy obstacle. The moving was tricky, and the going was slow. No mishaps were had until Sarai slipped and fell, causing the ice around her to snap and crackle. She quickly jumped away and landed THWAK on her back on top of the ice, about three quarters of the way across. She slowly got up, and as Sirius sharply rebuked her for being careless, Kaila exhaled. They were almost across. Everything was going to be alright.

Sirius took a step forward, and the fracture Sarai had made suddenly sent a jagged crack past Lakota, and the ice crackled and popped as it began to break.

“Everybody, off!” Sirius yelled, and seized Kiowa by the scruff of her neck and flung her to the secure shore. The white wolf skidded to a stop and after a moment shakily got up and watched from the snowy bank. She was too weak and too much in shock to be of much help.

Kaila felt the ice start to jerk under her, and before she knew it she was sliding off a giant sheet of ice and plunging into the freezing water. Cold water rushed into her ears and eyes and throat, and she gurgled and choked and frantically scratched the ice to try to pull herself up. She could feel the giant piece tilting over her, and she continued to drop below.

‘I can’t die!’ Kaila screamed inside her head, but even so she could feel the ice closing in around her. This bleak, cold, cruel enemy that was intent on swallowing her up. She hated it, hated it so much she felt herself get hot with anger, but she was helpless to fight. The ice closed over her head, the light was shut out, and it went dark.

Kaila knew she was running out of air. She floundered uselessly as the cold river water battled with her and seemed to fill up her insides. As Kaila fought for her life, the first thoughts that came into her head were, ‘Somebody save me! Is anyone going to save me? Do they even care?’ Her thoughts swirled back towards home, though was it really her home anymore? Her past was better suited to the term.

‘I never got to say goodbye to Mom or Dad. Are they still looking for me? It feels like forever since I’ve seen them. Will they remember me? Do they even love me?’ Kaila felt herself tire, and her lungs shrieked for air, but she was lost, lost forever in this grey, blue, and frozen world. Kaila drifted in the water, and almost closed her eyes, when something shot through the thin ice above her head.

Lakota’s dark head turned and grabbed ahold of Kaila’s neck with it’s teeth. Kaila felt dizzy as air rushed into her face as Lakota lifted her into the open and dragged her to shore. They both almost tumbled into the depths again when the river ice unexpectedly cracked underneath them, but Lakota leaped over the split and safely laid Kaila on the riverbank. Kaila saw movement and felt a tiny bit of warmth, so she guessed he had lain his body on hers to get her warm again. She couldn’t feel anything, not her paws, not her tail, not even Lakota’s weight on her back. But he had saved her life.

Now they both had respect for each other, her as a great hunter, him as her rescuer. Kaila hoped that was all it was going to come to, and wouldn’t grow into a romance or anything. She respected Lakota now, but that didn’t mean she liked him. She was almost positive that he felt the same way about her.

Kaila felt her body slowly grow warm again, and after awhile she had enough strength to lift her head and open her eyes.

Sage, Lakota, Sarai, and herself were all on the shore. Kiowa was nowhere to be seen. Kaila concluded Kiowa must have forced herself to get to the whelping den. Then she saw the pregnant wolf standing just outside the dark den, watching helplessly the scene on the ice.

Aniu and Sirius were the only ones left on the ice, and Sirius was in danger of slipping under. The black upper part of his body was the only thing not stuck in the depths. Aniu tried to pull him up with her teeth, and scratched at the ice that enclosed her mate. But it was hopeless. He was trapped.

Tears filled Aniu’s yellow eyes as the great pack leader slipped away, and the ice closed after him, sealing his fate. Aniu clawed at the ice some more, tears spilling down her white furry cheeks, but the ice began to snap under her, and she leaped to the shore.

Sarai, Lakota, and Kaila watched silently as Sirius’s three mates looked out onto the ice, where their great leader was drowning and dying underneath. There was a heavy and mournful silence, and Aniu was the first to lift her head. She howled, a long, heartbroken howl that floated across the wilderness. Sage joined in, her howl as sad and melancholy as Aniu’s. Kiowa was silent as she stared out onto the river. Shards of ice drifted harmlessly, and it was hard to believe that underneath them a great pack leader lay dead. Sirius was gone.

Kiowa’s high, soprano howl blended with Aniu’s and Sage’s, and together these three mourned for their lost mate, and at the same time were joined together with unending love for the father of their pups.

Balto strode into the cave and shook the melting snow from his wiry coat. Thank goodness the scents had led him here, out of the wetness and cold of late spring in Alaska. Balto inhaled deeply, and the scents of the cave confirmed what he had been guessing. There were six wolves, one Aniu and five others he did not know. Balto sniffed around some more, and found the old caribou carcass the pack had found by the creek that morning. ‘I wonder what Kaila’s been eating out here,’ he mused, and went on to investigate more.

After sorting out the old scents from the ones that had been left that morning, Balto followed the morning ones to the entrance of the cave. He lifted his head to see faint pawprints in the snow, heading west, and he recognized Kaila’s slightly smaller paws in the midst of all the other impressions displayed in the snow. After some thought, Balto howled softly, then chuckled quietly.

“Being around these wolves does things to me,” he said to himself, “Before you know it, I’ll be joining a wolf pack.”

He chuckled again, then advanced out of the cave and headed towards the west.

“Kaila.”

A sharp voice jolted Kaila awake. Kaila didn’t open her eyes, but rolled over onto her side. “Leave me alone, Sarai,” Kaila said sleepily, “I feel like I haven’t slept for years.”

“KaiLA!!”

Sarai’s whining voice made Kaila pry open her eyes and sit up, yawning. Then in mid-yawn Kaila remembered everything.

The whelping den.

The river.

The ice.

Down under.

Lakota.

Sirius.

The ice.

Gone.

Aniu.

Sage.

Kiowa.

The puppies.

Sadness flooded Kaila as she thought of Sirius, the kind black alpha male. She had known him only for a couple of days. And now he was gone.

But then Kaila remembered again why they were here. She opened her eyes wider and stared into Sarai’s bi-color eyes.

“Are the puppies here?” she asked.

Sarai smiled sadly. “Yeah, they’re here. You fell asleep from getting so cold from going under the ice, I guess, and while you were in dreamland Kiowa had two puppies. Boy and a girl. I’ve already seen them, and they’re…oh, c’mon.”

Kaila got up and followed the young wolf, but something in Sarai’s face made her stop.

“Sarai, what’s the matter?” Kaila asked, concerned. Kaila watched as a tear snaked down Sarai’s muzzle and dripped onto the snow. The wolf turned to Kaila, and her eyes were wet.

“Kaila, how would you feel if you were responsible for your father’s death? Even if it was an accident.” Sarai sniffled, and another tear rolled down her cheek.“I killed my dad, Kaila. I made that crack in the ice, and that started the whole thing. And now my dad’s gone, and my mom’s nearly heartbroken, and I only have one parent, and I’m a murderer!!”

This outburst was followed by screaming and shouting from Sarai, angry at herself and the ice and even Sirius himself. Kaila watched as her friend shrieked and yelled, and Kaila was sure that it would take a long while for Sarai to get over her father’s death.

After this angry fit had gone on for maybe five minutes, Sarai suddenly quietened and just sat there in the snow, sniffling once in awhile. Kaila sat down next to her and placed a paw on her friend’s paw. The silence was soothing between them, and then Kaila broke it with a whisper.

“Sarai,