our parents’ forbidden love.

I tapped my brother on the shoulder with my delicate white paw. He turned over to face me. “Before we make any plans for the future, we need to survive now. Live, like Dad said. Don’t let your guard down, and don’t trust anyone. We have to make it, Nava. We’re the only ones left in our litter.”

Nava turned over again with a faint murmur: “I might run away.”

I caught my breath, but I understood him if he needed to escape. I wanted to run, too, to get away from the death and looming shadow of fear that hung over me every night and day. But I also needed to stay behind, for Silver Snow and for Kalim, to show him he hadn’t gotten rid of all of us. I would stay to frustrate and irritate him, but I would live. My father’s blood needed to be passed on, too, should I ever find a mate.

The next morning, Nava was gone. I ignored my mother’s tears when she discovered this and thought Nava had been kidnapped by Kalim, and that I was the only one of her pups left alive. Still, I relished the time that morning when she called curses down on Kalim and Ice Moon right to their faces. Never had my mother been more angry, or more beautiful. The chilled wind blew through her sleek white fur and over her slender body, and her ferocious golden eyes sent a glare of fire encased in ice across the distance to wound Kalim and his mate. Her red mouth spat foulness, and she managed to walk back with her dignity, with me by her side. Never had I been more proud to have Silver Snow for my mother!

Times changed in the pack, and in the next year a young male wolf named Seminole challenged Kalim to a fight and won, assuming Kalim’s role as pack leader. Kalim ran away with Ice Moon to avoid the humiliation of being defeated, so the threat to me and my mother left with the conniving pair.

Seminole was a kind leader and chose an even gentler soul, Snow Paws, for his mate and alpha female. I was relieved from the perpetual danger I thought I would always be in, and grew throughout the passing year to become a comely young wolf as white as the fallen snow. Some might have thought me attractive, some might not. I only applied myself to taking care of my aging mother and remaining loyal to Seminole, Snow Paws, and the pack as a whole.

One day it was announced by a pleased Seminole that Snow Paws was soon to have pups, and the whole pack celebrated with a long, generous hunt. After assuring myself Silver Snow was fine, I trotted quietly in to join the large hunting party.

The hunting celebration is a blur now. All I remember is feeling a faint chill slide down my back as I caught sight of a fury of thunderous gray clouds off in the distance.

“A snowstorm?” someone muttered. Others expressed their comments until Seminole demanded silence.

“The hunt stops here. If the storm’s too big and we don’t head back now, we’ll be icicles by nightfall. Let’s go!” We grudgingly made our way back to the cave through stinging snow and screaming winds. I kept my head down as the crystals tried to ram themselves into my eyes. But even without my sight, I managed to unwittingly stumble upon something that would change my life forever.

At first I picked up a faint, peculiar scent. Then my ears heard fading cries for help and one or two pain-filled howls. But the howls did not belong to wolves. I curiously wandered away from my party and almost blindly trudged my way toward the helpless cries. Seminole somehow managed to see me from the front and shouted, “Get back here! You’ll get lost!” I ignored him as the scent became stronger and stronger until it seemed to fill my whole nose. I tracked it to the northeast, and grunted as I tripped over a hidden body covered with snow. Picking myself up, I brushed my nose down my leg as the new smell became so overpowering it was almost too much to bear. I looked up to see creatures I had heard about only through old tales or pack gossip: dogs.

Small but quick, not the brightest but loyal, these were not only dogs but sled dogs, seven of them, in full harness and dragging behind them a full sled. I sniffed them carefully, and watched in awe as one of these brave, strong, unbeatable dogs feebly opened its eyes and regarded me with amazement. We stared at each other for three long seconds, and then his eyelids dropped closed and breath left his body.

I could almost see his spirit rise like smoke and whip away into the swirling storm. Did dogs have spirits? If so, did their souls go to the same heaven as wolves’ went to when we died? I snapped myself out of my self-interrogation and quickly ran down the line. The dogs were freezing to death. I had to do something to help. But were any of them still alive?

Hope sprang up in me when I saw a brown and white dog had thrown himself down on top of the canine behind him in a valiant attempt to keep the dog warm. It had cost him his life, I could see. I read the silver nameplate on the leather harness: Ranger.

Gently pushing Ranger aside, I looked down to see the covered dog was alive, but barely. His name glinted up at me from a similar nameplate: Scout.

“Scout,” I read aloud. His brown eyes shifted upwards to study me, and the passion he had for life shone in his gaze. He was fighting hard against the cold, but if he didn’t get help soon he would lose the battle at a terrible price.

I felt a heated presence by my side, and looked to find Seminole’s hard gaze boring into me.

“Leave the dogs, Aniu! You have to return to the pack! There’s nothing we can do here!” he cried above the wind.

“I can’t leave this dog to die!” I yelled back stubbornly.

Seminole shook his head. “They’re all doomed! Anyhow, it would be almost impossible to get even one of them to the cave! They’d freeze even if they had a little life left!”

“One of these dogs laid down his life to save a friend,” I told him, “We can’t let that sacrifice count for nothing!”

“Aniu…” Seminole said patiently.

I purposefully sat down and braced my paws against the white clumps of snow. “I’m not moving until he does,” I said stubbornly, gazing determinedly into my leader’s kind eyes. He stared unbelievingly at me, then sighed.

Knowing I had won, I briskly pulled Scout out from under Ranger and slipped my head under him so he was on my back when I straightened up. Seminole grudgingly slid in beside me and shifted Scout’s position so he supported Scout’s back end and I the front. We matched our pace and practically flew off to the cave, where the pack stood waiting.

Snow Paws was whining and clawing at the cave floor in agitation. Her face lit up when she saw Seminole arriving safely, and when Scout had been placed on the cave floor she threw herself at her mate. Seminole laughed as they embraced, melting snow from his chestnut coat dripping down to flow through Snow Paws’ light brown fur.

Meanwhile, I had lain beside Scout and stretched myself over his back to offer any warmth I could. His heart was pounding slowly as if pondering whether it was worth it to keep beating. I found myself whispering in Scout’s soft ear a song my mother had sang to my litter as small pups to quieten us when we were hiding from Kalim and Ice Moon:

“ ‘Deep in the night, the winds blow cold,

‘And in a heartbeat, the fear takes hold…’ ”

I felt a quiet stirring inside him, and suddenly I found myself gazing into a pair of warm brown eyes. The words of song died on my lips, and I watched as his awed stare gave way to trust, and the deepest gratitude I have ever seen expressed on Earth. My thoughts were a river, a racing blur, as our eyes remained locked on each other. Though his body was still cold, Scout’s eyes had pricked something in my chest to make a wound that gushed out golden warmth and spinning emotions. His lips moved and I leaned closer to hear his words.

“White angel,” he whispered reverently, and stared harder into me, “My angel.”

Something spilled over inside me, and one tear fell from my eye. It landed on his mouth, and Scout tasted it before he fell unconscious once more.

For the next few days I alone nursed Scout back to health. I warmed him with my own body heat, I pushed tiny scraps of meat down his throat so he wouldn’t starve, and I dripped melted snow from the tip of my paw into his mouth. No one else ventured near him even to help me. They treated Scout like a dark, unwanted presence among them, and began to avoid me, too. Seminole and Snow Paws were the only ones who understood, but even they kept their distance.

So I was the only one awakened very early one morning by Scout’s movements and slight whimpers. I sat up from the hard cave floor and turned to see the dog beside me open his brown eyes, but those eyes were filled with pain. He threw his head from side to side and let out one small yelp that startled no one but me. I realized he must be finally thawing out all the way. He had thawed while whining in pain before, but this looked to be the final and most painful time. There was nothing I could do but sit there in silence while Scout wrestled with his anguish, until finally he relaxed, panting.

He looked up at me with trusting brown eyes and asked in a low tenor tone, “Who are you? And where am I?”

“I am Aniu, daughter of Wildfire and Silver Snow,” I answered formally, “You’re in my pack’s cave.”

“The team,” he muttered, “The storm. Did anyone else make it?” I slowly shook my head. It hurt to watch his eager face fall, but he put a mask of determination over it and stood, limbs shaking. I steadied