maybe by noon or so.”

She sighed and nodded. It looked as if she had nothing to do but wait. She suddenly found herself blurting “So, what’s your name? You never mentioned it yet.”

Sitka sheepishly grinned. Why had he forgotten that simple thing? “Forgive me. I’m Sitka, son of Palu and Tala. They are the leaders of Rose Root clan. I’m sure you never heard of us, we live far away from this area.” He sighed a little. “So, what do you go by?”

“I’m Tovah, daughter of Balto and Jenna. My father is a half breed, and my mother is a husky.” She studied her paws, wondering if she was stupid for telling him this. “I’m only 1/4 wolf. My grandmother’s clan was Clear River, before hunters got most of the clan.”

Sitka nodded. He was beginning to feel sorry for her. Half breeds were never accepted by wolves or dogs. No wonder she acted as she did. He decided to change the subject. “So, when the weather clears up, what would you like to do first?”

“Eat.” Tovah grinned. “I’m hungrier than a polar bear!”

Sitka laughed, and Tovah smiled. Somehow Sitka’s laugh was as warming as a fire on a cold day. “I’m so hungry I could eat a whale!” He said, feeling his belly rumble like thunder. He hadn’t eaten since he left home.

The two talked for a while, trading stories about home and family, and it wasn’t until Tovah looked outside that they noticed the snow storm stopped. “Well, I guess it’s safe to go out and get something to eat, right?”

“I guess so.” Sitka said, poking his head out of the cave. They wandered through the deep snow, and found a moose flailing around in the next bank away. “You ever hunted before?”

Tovah gulped. “Uh… To tell you the truth, I’ve never hunted anything before in my life.”

Sitka grunted as he made his way through the snow. “Well, now is as good as any time to learn.” He plowed as quietly as he could through the snow, and Tovah trudged after him almost as quietly. The Moose bellowed unhappily as it became more stuck. “Alright,” Sitka whispered, “You go around and distract him, while I sneak in behind him and grab him by the neck. Good thing it’s a real young one, or we’d need a pack of five to bring it down.”

Tovah didn’t know whether to be scared of being sent out on a dangerous mission like this when she had no experience, or to feel a thrill at getting to do a thing that she had never done before. She quietly circled around the beast, then threw her head up in a howl as Sitka circled around and jumped on its back. He latched onto its neck, and there was a struggle to bring it down.

At last the beast bellowed and fell, and Tovah ran over to help Sitka finish it off. He sat up and looked at her. “Thanks. I didn’t think it would ever give up!” He paused and looked quizzically at her. “I didn’t know that you could howl.”

Tovah laughed. “Of course I can. Besides, how else was I supposed to distract it?”

Sitka opened his mouth, and then closed it. He hadn’t thought about that. He grinned. “Well, let’s eat!”

Tovah paused and cringed at the messy gore that Sitka was eating. She never had eaten raw meat like this before, only things from the butcher shop. She never eaten anything from a carcass, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to try it. Sitka noticed her staring at the meat, and stopped eating. “What’s wrong?”

“Um… Nothing.” She paused and looked out by the clearing. She saw two figures at a distance, and wondered who they were. Sitka looked and saw them too. “I thought you said this was unoccupied territory.”

“It is. I’m not sure who it could be.” She said uneasily. She heard one of them howl, and suddenly she was sure of who it was. “It’s Kodi and Papa! They’ve found me!” She began to run to them.

They heard her familiar bark, and turned in disbelief. “Tovah?” Balto grinned in relief as she ran into him and knocked him over. “OOF! Well, I wasn’t quite expecting a welcome like that. We thought you’d be frozen in a snow bank!” He nuzzled her happily, and then sat up again. “How did you survive?”

“We’ve already ran into creatures that froze to death while we were looking.” Kodi chimed in. He turned to see a wolf had slipped in right next to him without his knowing, and gasped in shock as he backed off. Tovah and the wolf laughed. “Sorry Kodi. This is the one who found me. If it weren’t for him, I really would have been frozen in a snow bank.”

Sitka bowed before Balto. “I am Sitka, son of Palu and Tala. I’m a new comer to these parts, and was wondering if we- I mean I could stay here in the cave that’s nearby.” He felt his face grow hot as Tovah’s father looked amused. Stupid! Why did I say that?

“You can stay as long as you want to, Sitka. There aren’t any packs around here within a nine mile radius. My brother doesn’t own this territory anymore.”

Sitka smiled gratefully. “Thank you, sir.” He cleared his throat “I suppose I ought to say good bye, Tovah. I’m glad I found you. …Maybe… you and I can visit sometime?”

“Count on it.” Tovah smiled. Balto was looking even more amused then before, and Kodi just scowled a little. “Well, are we going to just stand here in the cold or what?”

Balto nodded. “You’re right. Jenna will be worried about us.” He turned to Sitka. “Thank you for saving her. I couldn’t go after her myself in the storm.” Sitka nodded, and watched them as they headed through the forest back home.

Chapter 4

 Later that night Tovah told her story as far as she knew it, and Kodi and her parents were amazed. “I don’t get it.” Kodi said after the story was done, “What kind of a wolf is a loner by choice? It sounds suspicious to me.”

Tovah rolled her eyes. Kodi was always suspicious of other males that were near his sisters. It was always that way since a dog had tried to hurt their sister Saba. Saba had gotten out ok, but Kodi was always cautious about his sisters after that, to the point of obsession.  She sighed in frustration. “I told you, he said his Dad kicked him out of his pack because the pack was growing too big. I guess he had no choice but to move on.”

Balto agreed. “Kemo told me that’s what happened to him once he was old enough to form his own pack.” He looked thoughtful.

“So you killed a moose, huh?” Jenna said with a laugh, “I never thought you were strong enough.”

Kodi cringed. “Did it taste good?”

“I don’t know Kodi; I never got a bite to see, though it looked a bit messy.” Tovah looked outside the window again. She stared off into space, and Balto suddenly knew what was wrong and grinned. “You like Sitka, don’t you?”

“What?” Tovah looked startled. “What do you mean?”

“Well at any rate, he sure likes you.” Balto bit back a chuckle at the memory of Sitka’s face when he said ‘we’. For a moment a memory of himself as an awkward teen popped into his mind when he had tried to ask Jenna to go out with him. “I think you do too, even if you don’t know it yet.”

Tovah’s face felt fiery hot. She hadn’t thought about it, but she did miss Sitka. She stammered something, and then left the room. She didn’t know what to think or feel; she just wanted that weird feeling of not knowing what exactly she was feeling to go away.

Chapter 5

One month later

Kodi growled a little as he watched Sitka and Tovah talk together on top of a hill that was nearby Nome. It had been a whole month since Sitka and Tovah had begun to go out with each other, and Kodi was irritated that with each visit they seemed to be more then mere friends. It was more then he could bear, watching her come home each afternoon and chatter away about how much fun she had and how much she liked him.

He had complained to Balto that Sitka would probably be wanting to be Tovah’s mate, but Balto had said that if she wanted it that way then to let her do that. ‘You have it all wrong Kodi. The father is supposed to be the one who worries about his daughter, not the brother over the sister. I know just by watching him that Sitka is not the type to ever hurt Tovah, so I wouldn’t worry so much. If they do want to be mates, it would be the best thing for them both.’ Balto had looked at Kodi with a serious expression. ‘Tovah will never find a life here as a dog. She looks too much like me. If she’s at Kemo’s old cave with Sitka, we can still see her nearly everyday if we wanted to.’

Kodi grew angrier as he replayed his father’s words in his mind. Balto had been so protective over Aleu when she was still home, but now with Tovah it seemed that Balto didn’t have that same overly protectfulness he had with Aleu before she left. Kodi didn’t get it. Was he the only one who exercised caution in this family?

He shook his head to clear his thoughts once he heard Sitka speak. “Um, can I ask you something?”

Tovah looked over at him. “Sure, go ahead.”

Kodi watched as Sitka studied the ground, and spoke slowly. “I want to know if…if you want to be my mate.” He looked up with an anxious expression.

Kodi’s eyes grew wide as Tovah smiled. “I hoped you would ask me that.” She spoke softly. “I want to be your mate.”

Kodi tried unsuccessfully to stifle a groan as he watched her kiss Sitka before he left.