Alue were one of those that stayed calm.

“Get the pups!” He growled at Alue as he fought his way against the current of running wolves toward the bangs and the yelps of Taki.

Alue pushed thee pups near Psyche. He looked at her in surprise, staying perfectly still despite the panic surrounding him.

“Take them to our usual hideout safely. If I do not return…” she gulped. “You will take charge from here until Shay comes of age, as he is the oldest one. I trust you’d do well.” Alue nuzzled Psyche, gave each pup a lick and dashed away. He looked at her sadly, then pushed the pups. “You heard what your mother said… We better hurry.”

Alue was running through the blood-spotted snow as fast as she knew she would never run again. The snowy trees and the bodies of the wolves were unifying into one bizarre color, but she couldn’t see it through the haze of tears. If she was one second late…

Alue wasn’t. As she burst into the small opening, a human stench she was used to in her long-gone days of puppyhood hit her like a falling tree. She saw it in slow motion.

A big man with a short beard and dressed in rich furs was pointing his gun at Suchin, who was laying on the snow, his back leg a bloody mess, covering up Taki with his body. A thin trickle of blood was running down his muzzle and leaving ruby stars on the sparkling snow.

“Alue… No..” he wheezed. Tears filled his eyes.

“This one will be worth all the money we wasted on this damned trip,” coughed the man and spat some tobacco out of the corner of his mouth.

Such rage she has never experienced before. It shot through her body, ripping her away from her conscience. With a satanic snarl, she leaped the instant the bullet soared out of the gun. Alue didn’t hear any noise, just thick, heavy silence pierced by faint screams from the men. The little piece of metal was slowly moving closer and closer to Suchin, cutting the heavy air like soft silk. Alue watched it as it came, and knew she wouldn’t make it. But she did….

As the men saw it, there was a BANG when the gun went off, and instantly there was a snarl, a flash of sharp fangs, and a large silver-gray blur shot and pushed the dying wolf out of the way. It yelped, then collapsed onto the large black wolf, a bubble of blood growing in it’s side.

Alue yelped as she covered up Suchin, taking bullet after bullet in herself. It seemed a small price to pay… For a new life and your love…

When all seemed hopeless, a few wolves burst into the small opening. They attacked the men, and left them running off in fright, guns laying forgotten in the deep snow. Fog was slowly crawling around them. Alue moved her head. She tried to gulp down some snow, but gave up. She knew her time has come. Even so, she smiled.

“My brothers and sisters…” she whispered, with blood coming out of her mouth. “I leave you be under Psyche’s leadership until Suchin recovers. I am going to see my grandmother… I promise I’ll be watching over you.”

“No…” panted Suchin, trying to lick Alue’s wounds desperately. “NO…”

“I love you.”

Fog took up the whole place. Alue’s body slowly dissolved in the milky mist, to the tune of sad, lonely howls singing the death song. Flakes of snow started falling More joined in at the distance.

“You finally came, Alue,” she suddenly heard a soft, comforting voice. A shining form of a white wolf was in front of her. “Let me guide you…”

Two shining wolves set off on a gleaming road to where the Sun rises…

“No,” Alue growled suddenly, and stopped. Aniu looked at her in surprise.

“They need me. Suchin needs me. My children, your flesh and blood need me,” she said in a calm voice. “I need to go back.”

“Do you understand what you’re doing, Alue?” asked Aniu. “There’s no going on if you turn back now.”

“There is going on,” Alue growled, “And there will be until pups stop being born, until at the end of every winter there will be a warm spring, and at the end of a night sweet morning will come. I am going back.” Aniu smiled warmly.

“Well, it’s your choice. You are a truly a wolf now. Balto shall be proud of his daughter… As I am now.”

The wolves were crying silently. Suddenly, a shining silver wolf came out of the shadows in a cloud of fog. Her fur was slowly getting more solid.

The sun rolled down, coloring the sky with it’s blood, defeated by the darkness only to be born again tomorrow in the clear skies. The moon filled the snowy forest with a cold, silvery light. It slithered on the frozen ribbon of the river, and reflected in the eyes of two wolves, a black one and a gray one, watching the sunset.

“It was lucky most of the pack made it…” whispered Alue.

“Under your lead, we can do anything.”

As the last, weak rays of sunlight fought their way through the twilight, two voices said one thing.

“I love you.”

A large, white creature was standing in the darkness. Or was it just a cloud of fog?…