yesterday. Junie enterd shortly after him. "Crysa," she said quietly. "We saw dad." Crysa blinked. "Of course you saw him. Where else would he be? Not looking for us." she said flatly. Junie looked at Toner, who nodded. "Crysa, moms gone." she said quietly. Crysa looked at her in confusion. "Of course shes gone. She was sold." Junie shook her head, her eyes glistening with tears. "No, Crysa. Moms dea.d." Crysa starred at her, the words washing over her like cold water. "What?" she asked, her voice no more then a whisper. "She was sold to a guy who fought dogs. She helped a young one escape the fights and her owner beat her for it. Dad found mom starved and freezing in a alley. He tried to save her, but she..." Toner's voice was horse and his eyes were filled with sadness.

"Dad met May after mom died. He didn't betray her." Junie said softly. But Crysa wasn't convinced. "So what?" she snapped. "Just because shes dea.d doesn't mean he had to go start a new family!" Toner sighed deeply and tried to nuzzle her again, but Crysa jerked back. "Crys, he tried to find us. Even after Aunt Margret took us away, he tried to come see us. But Aunt Margret wouldn't let him." Toner's brown eyes starred into her blue ones. "Even after he moved, he still tried to come see us. It's not his fault." he said gently. Crysa glared at him. "Wheres Aunt Margret?" she finnaly asked. Toner looked at his paws and Junie shifted uneasily. "Shes with May and the pups." she murmerd. Crysa bolted upright. "Their here?" she gasped. Toner and Junie nodded. "Dad asked if we wanted to help look after them." Junie said quietly.

Crysa's blue eyes flashed. "Are you?" she demanded. Toner nodded awkwerdly, obviously confused at why she was acting so vicious, and Junie starred at her paws, not meeting Crysa's icy gaze. "Well I won't." Crysa said coldly. "You can watch the little scraps yourselfs." Toner looked hurt and Junie looked shocked. Crysa abruptly turned to the window, her back facing them. A moment later, she heard their pawsteps leaving. A raw feeling stabbed Crysa's heart as she gazed out the window. Mena had curled up in the sun, but Charley was still romping in the grass. Crysa felt tears brimming her eyes. How could this young dog who had never known her parents, be so happy and carefree?

Even though Crysa refused to go see the pups, Junie and Toner kept her updated. May had a litter of eight puppies, two boys and six gir.ls. Junie described the eldest, a black female, Makayi, as very outgoing and loved attention. She also talked alot about the second oldest, Mexico, as very adventures and sweet. Toner spoke fondly of one of the runts, Juniper, a little red female. Both said  how Breezie and Isabella were polar oposets, and how Kisha was as sweet as May. One pup they each described differently. Aaron Jason, A.J for short. Toner described him as a curious pup, while Junie desribed him as a little troublemaker. Crysa vaugly wonderd why they never spoke of the nineth pup, but she never asked.

Crysa didn't really listen. She sat on the bed all day, starring out the window. After a couple weeks, Wes and Teddy grew worried about Crysa's sudden isolation. They went to see her. "Crysa?" Teddy asked as he enterd, Wes close behind him. Crysa turned slowly to them and Teddy had to stifle a gasp. Crysa's lovely blue eyes that ussualy sparkled with laughter, were dull and looked as if they hadn't seen the back of her eyelids for many nights. Her snow white fur looked grey and matted. Teddy glanced at Wes, who's eyes were wide with suprise. "Teddy. Wes." Crysa's voice was hollow as she said their names. "Crysa, please just listen to us." Wes said. "We know your dad found a new mate, and it's hard for you, esspecialy since your mother die.d before you even met her." Teddy said quickly. "But you can't just lock yourself away." Wes said. "Please, at least meet the pups." Crysa's eyes flashed angrly, so Teddy hurried on. "Would it really hurt? You are their half-big sister." he asked gently. Crysa glared at them and for a minute, the two males thought she would tell them to leave. Instead, Crysa's gaze softend, and when she spoke, her voice was soft. "All right. I'll go see them." Then the anger gleamed in her eyes again. "But that doesn't mean I'll accept them." she added coldly.

Crysa set out for the cottage as soon as soon as Wes and Teddy left. She still felt anger churning in her belly. She didn't want to accept these pups as related to her. But, she thought with a sigh, she'd at least try. Mabey seeing them would sort out her troubled thoughts. Her ears pricked as she neared the clearing. She heard laughter and voices. Crysa stepped around the cluster of trees and paused. May was laying on the porch, a brown pup was pouncing on her tail. Miliko was on the ground, sevral pups playing and tumbling over him. Junie was nerby, a brown pup tugging playfully on her ear. A small red pup was snuggling agasint Toner's side. Crysa's eyes suddenly narrowed. Lying next to Toner was a grey female she didn't recinaize. A pink bow was tied around her head, and a black pup was batting at it with it's paws.

The pup suddenly looked at Crysa. It squealed excitedly and scrambled over the grey female. Crysa was startled when the pup ran over to her and rubbed up agsint her like a cat, it's tail a fast moving blur. All the others had heard the pup and were looking at Crysa with suprise. "Hello." she said somewhat flatly. "Mamma, whos that?" The black pup by May asked, starring at Crysa curiously. The pup rubbing agasint Crysa turned to face it. "It's Crysa you goof! Our other big sister." the pup added proudly and beamed at Crysa. Crysa was suprised. She had exspected Miliko to have told the pups about her, but this one seemed extremly fond of her. The black pup by May was glaring at his sister. "How was I suppose to know? I've never seen her." he demanded. "A.J, hush." May said quickly. Miliko stood and the pup on his back slid to the ground. "You came." Crysa couldn't help but notice his eyes shone with happiness, he had obviously been hoping she'd come. "Would you like to meet them?" he asked, nodding at the pups, who had grouped around their mother. "Well, I can't help if I don't know there names." Crysa joked weakly.

Miliko smiled and turned to May. "Come here pups." he called. The pups all scrambled over their mother and bounded over to their father. May, Junie, Toner, and the grey female followed. The pups lined up as Miliko herded them together. "This is Makyi, the eldest." he said, pointing to a black female. The pup defenitly resembled May out of the two parents. "Then theres Mexico and Aaron Jason, the two boys." Miliko pointed to a brown pup and the black one seated next to him. "Then Kisha, Isabella, and Breezie." he indicated to a brown female and the two next to her. "Then thats Juniper." he pointed to the  smallest pup, a female. "It's Splotch." the red female quipped. Toner smiled at her and Miliko's eyes sparkled with amussment. "Right, Splotch." Then his tail flicked toward the last pup. "And April." Miliko smiled at the black pup that had rubbed agasint Crysa. "Pups, this is Crysa. Your other sister." Miliko told the curious looking pups.

One of the males, A.J, stepped foreward and sniffed Crysa. His tail began wagging. "Hi!" he said brightly. Crysa smiled a little. "Hello." April shoved her brother as she stepped foreward. "Told ya." she said proudly. Crysa looked up and saw the grey female whispering something in Toner's ear. He was smiling. Crysa stepped over the pups and walked up to them. "Hey Crys." Toner grinned at her. "Who's she?" she asked abruptly. Before Toner could say anything, the grey female stepped foreward. "I'm Amarie. Toner's been visiting me for awhile." she said. Crysa eyed Toner curiously. So thats what he's been doing! she thought. He got himself a gir.lfriend! Amarie smiled warmly. "It's nice to finnaly meet you. Toner speaks highly of you and Junie." the grey female nuzzled Toner under the chin and Crysa had to smile as her brother's face turned redder then his fur.

"And all this time we thought you'd never get a gir.l." Junie teased as she joined them. Then she turned to Crysa. "Come on in and we can properly introduce you to May." she said. Crysa hesitated, then followed, not realizing one of the pups was watching her with a plan forming in his mind.

As soon as Miliko, May, Junie, Toner, Amarie, and Crysa had settled on the porch, A.J trotted over to where April, Kisha, and Breezie where wrestling. "Hey guys." he called as he aproched. The three imeditly stopped and looked up at him. "What do you want?" Kisha asked, eyeing him curiously. "Aunt Margrets not here, so theres no one to save your hide if you get us muddy." April threatend. A.J just shrugged it off. "I just thought of a great idea." his eyes sparkled as they did when he was up to mischief. "What?" Breezie asked, imeditly intrested. "I just thought of a way to welcome Crysa to the family." he said, his tail twitching eagerly. April was imeditly worried. "What do you mean 'welcome her to the family'? She's already a part of it!" she pointed out. A.J waved his paw at the white female on the porch. "It won't hurt her or anything. Just show her we like playing dirty."

Crysa listened closely as May told of how she met and lost her mate. She couldn't help but feel sorry for the black female. Her last mate, Jon, had been a member of a sled team and had drowned when his team where crossing a frozen lake. "I'm sorry." she told her. May smiled gently at her. "He's in a much better place now." she said softly. "What happened to your daughter?" Junie asked. "You never told us." Crysa guessed she ment her