VOICES:

-Dakota: Zac Efron

-Anyu: Claire Danes

-Sitka: Ashley Tisdale

-Kaya: Sasha Alexander

-Bristol: Patrick Swayze

-Bear: William Lee Scott

-Boss: Brian Blessed

Dakota (in bold font)

Sitka (in normal font)

Anyu (in italic font)

I flew through the air and landed right in front of my mother. There was a huge crashing sound behind me and I struggled to my feet, shaking off the snow. I whirled around, expecting my dad to be right there, following me. But the only thing left where my father and Talon were standing was a giant hole in the ice. No one made a sound. I expected to see my dad climb out of the hole in the ice, but he didn’t come out. Then I figured I probably had to help him out.

“Dad? Do you need help?” I called, scrambling back onto the ice.

            “Dakota! Come back!” I heard my mother cry.

I didn’t listen and scampered toward the hole in the ice. It was an effort just getting there with my paws sliding in all directions; how was I going to help dad? I reached the hole, slid to a stop and looked down. Through the hole I could see rushing water but not my dad or Talon.

“Mom? Where’d dad go?”

I glanced back at my mom. She looked away and laid her ears back. I looked at the other pack members faces but everyone looked shocked or wouldn’t look at me either. I was trying to understand what had happened when a cruel, cold laughter rang out. The huge black wolf that was hurting me before seemed extremely happy my dad was gone. I trudged back toward my mom, trying to make sense of my dad’s disappearance. I reached the bank but stopped.

“Mom? Where’s dad?” I repeated.

Tears started to run down my mother’s cheeks even though it was clear she was trying to hold them back. A cruel laughter cracked the air.

            “I finally got him! I was stronger! And do you know what he was doing up on the cliff before? He was begging me to kill the pup and let him go!”

My mom glared at the black wolf with hate and tears in her eyes.

                        “Buck’s gone! Okay?! At least shut up!”

The black wolf moved toward my mother and I got in front of her, growling and trying to bark. With the pack behind me, I was more confident. The black wolf stopped and grinned evilly.

            “Maybe I should do what Buck asked” the wolf said. He charged straight for me and before I had time to react, Bristol, Bear and some of the older wolves blocked him. The black wolf slowed to a stop and giant grin split his ugly face.

            “Well isn’t that cute. If I were you, I’d watch him because the next time he’s alone” he snapped his jaws shut. My mother pulled me closer to her. The wolf smirked, turned back to the accumulating wolves and started to give orders. My mother picked me up in her teeth like she did when I was only weeks old. My little puppy mind was spinning trying to understand everything at once. Yips from my sisters interrupted my thoughts.

            “Are you okay?!” Anyu said, sniffing me.

“Yeah, I think so”

My mother set me on the ground and nuzzled my sisters. Sitka licked her nose then bounded past us, staring down the trail as the rest of the pack slowly made their way to the den. But after she had patiently waited and the whole pack plus the newer half had passed, the one she was waiting for never came.

                        “Mommy? Where’s dad?”

Mother’s eyes started to water but she took a deep breath. Bristol, who had been standing nearby, looked up sadly.

“Anyu, Sitka. Come here. There’s something I need to tell you” my mother breathed.

Anyu and Sitka’s ears folded back, knowing that whatever news mother was going to give them was going to be bad. I looked up into my mother’s eyes. She had to know where our dad went!

            “Do you remember your father and I telling you that our pack was in a kind of war with some other ones?”

All three of us nodded.

            “Some of the bad ones won and they ki-” she closed her eyes for a second and clenched her jaw. “Your father isn’t coming back”

Anyu’s face fell. Sitka shook her head in disbelief. She stared at my mother but reality washed over her. She burrowed in mother’s coat and whimpered. Anyu and I did the same. I wished it was all a dream. Or a nightmare.

I had almost calmed down when Yukon appeared out of the den.

            “Where’s Buck?” Yukon asked flatly.

Yukon immediately saw the two packs together and searched around franticly before Bristol answered in almost a whisper “He’s gone”.

I tried to bury my face again, telling myself that my father would have never cried even if something like this had happened.

            I had no idea how long the three of us spent together, faces pressed into our mother’s warm fur. Dad was gone. Forever. Never coming back.

            “Do you know what?!” came Boss’s cold voice.

I glared at him through tear- blurred eyes.

            “I don’t have a mate! Can you believe that?! Now who’s the alpha female around here?”

My mother stood up, back rigid, a mix of shock, disbelief and anger on her face. Boss strutted towards her, grinning widely. My mother stammered but the shock of everything else had taken it’s toll.

                        “I am” someone else said.

Everybody’s heads snapped to see who had spoken. Atka, badly cut up, did her best to stand tall.

            “How can you be the alpha female?!” Boss spat. “She has pups!”

                        “She wasn’t supposed to have them”

            “Buck was her mate!”

                        “He was until I beat her in a fight, now I’m alpha female” she said coolly.

Silence hung in the air for a few brief moments. Atka stared at Boss, face expressionless. Boss’s eyes shifted from my mother, to me, Anyu then back to Atka. Then that same grin spread across his face.

            “If that’s the way you want it”

I was just about through with our new leader. I growled softly and Boss spun around, grinning when his eyes stopped on me. Chills went down my back.

            “I don’t think you like me very much” he smiled.

“Wow, and I thought you were dumb”

Boss’s smile fell off his face. He raised a paw back but before he could hit me, Dakota jumped at him and bit the paw. Boss yelped and slapped Dakota instead. Dakota fell back into the frost and Boss followed him. I couldn’t help but to admire my older brother: he didn’t show any fear. He tried to push himself backwards, away from the huge black wolf, but Boss pinned him down and got so close to his face, their noses almost touched.

            “Do you think you’re brave?” he snarled.

Dakota didn’t say a word and didn’t blink.

            “You’re not so tough without your pop around now are ya?!”

Dakota didn’t say a word.

            “Wolf got your tongue?”

The wolves around them started to get up and take sides. Bristol spoke up.

                        “You harm one hair on his head and you’ve lost half the pack because we’ll die trying to protect him”

Boss glared at him, but stepped off Dakota. Dakota pulled himself to his feet and gave Boss the most hateful stare I had ever seen. Brown eyes burning, Boss spun viciously around and stomped over to Atka, who still swayed with the shock of what had happened earlier.

                        “Atka….” I heard Yukon whisper. He tried to limp over to protect his sister, but Atka shook her head sadly.

            “I’m fine” she whispered back.

Boss shouldered Atka, making her stumble. My