your father”

I smiled at her and with a final nuzzle, tore after my siblings and new leader. We trotted in silence for only a little while before noise erupted behind us. Bear glanced nervously over his shoulder and picked up the pace. I exchanged glances with my sisters but we kept pace with Bear. The sounds grew louder and it wasn’t hard to realize they were sounds of a fight. Bear started to run faster but kept peering over his shoulder.

            Before any of us knew what was going on, a few of Boss’s pack were right behind us.

            “Just keep running!” Bear ordered, spinning around. “Don’t come back no matter what!”

My heart sank but I followed my sprinting brother and sister. It almost seemed that we couldn’t make our feet carry us fast enough. We could hear Bear yelp behind us and I had to bite my cheek to stop myself from turning back around. What’s worse was that Bear couldn’t even stop the wolves from chasing us. A few more were on our tails and gaining. Dakota, who was leading us again, peered over his shoulder and furrowed his brow. I skit to a stop, making the snow fly. Anyu spun around too and I followed right behind.

            “Dakota! You heard mom and Bristol!”

                        “I did! And for everything I do you guys end up getting hurt so go on without me!”

Anyu shook her head furiously. She never got angry…

The white wolf ploughed into my brother and sent him lying into the snow.

            “You go!” she snarled. “I’m the oldest and you’ve done enough! Just go!”

Dakota, still in shock, pulled himself to his feet and shook off the snow.

                        “But, but…”

            “The next time I turn around, you better be gone!” Anyu snapped, turning to fight.

Dakota shook his head but followed orders. Tears started to well up in my eyes and when Dakota took off, I could barely see his dark form against the moonlit snow. No wolves followed us.

            Later on, just as dawn was breaking, we were finally able to stop. We were definitely out of our territory. I sniffled and Dakota looked back at me.

            “Hey, we’re okay now” he said gently, licking my forehead. “We’re safe”

“I miss momma! And Anyu! Why did she have to do that?!”

Dakota shrugged and lay down at the foot of a tree. I followed him and lay down next to him.

            “Just forget about that all. Boss can never get us again. We’re… free”

The last word hung in the air and vibrated. I wondered if it had as big of an impact on Dakota as it did on me. We were free. We never had to see that ugly beast every again. He could never touch us again. The emotions swirled around my head and if I hadn’t been so tired from running the night before, I would have never gotten to sleep.

            When I woke up, the sun was high in the sky. I stretched and rolled onto my side. I thought for sure I’d crash into Dakota when I did, but instead, I hit the cold snow. Startled, I sat up and looked around frantically. Dakota was gone! I scrambled to my feet and sniffed around furiously. My older brother’s sent was all over the place but I wasn’t very good at tracking.

            “Good morning! I thought you were in a coma or something!”

I jumped at Dakota and nuzzled him.

“Where were you!” I demanded.

He wagged his tail and walked back were he had just come from and brought back a small deer.

            “I thought after you had slept a day and a half, you’d be a little hungry” he grinned.

“I’ve been asleep for a day and a half!”

He nodded and started to eat. My stomach twisted. I hadn’t eaten for a long time! As I ate, Dakota filled me in.

            “While you were in your comma, I decided to check this place out. It’s really different from home… it’s so flat and closed up. No mountains. But there’s nobody living here or nobody marked any territory anyway. We really are free!”

My hopes soared. We were free! Dakota reached for one of the deer’s legs but I was too energized to let him get away with it! I snatched it and leapt a few feet away, tail wagging furiously. A grin spread across Dakota’s face and he did a play bow, tail wagging as hard as mine was. At the same time, I bounded away and he followed after. I was a little faster then him but he had more endurance.

I stopped, out of breath, but he wasn’t going to have the leg! Dakota caught up and sank his teeth into the leg, eyes bright. I clung on and shook my head, growling playfully. Dakota didn’t have to shake it. He growled too and started to drag me. I closed my eyes and tried to pull harder. Suddenly, he let go and I tumbled backward in the snow.

“Hey! What’s the big ide-”

A real growl interrupted me. Four wolves, in several shades of brown surrounded us. Dakota, bristling and snarling, stood in front of me.

“Nobody’s territory!” I snapped sarcastically.

            I kept my eyes on the ground in front of me as Boss’s wolves escorted me back to the pack. We stopped briefly, but only to pick up a barely conscious Bear. I was sore, bruised and only a little cut, but Bear looked really bad. When his blue eyes landed on me, they clouded with pain and defeat.

            “Where are Dakota and Sitka?” he whispered mournfully.

“They got away as far as I know” I replied hopefully.

We walked the rest of the way back in silence. When we reached the den again, the whole pack was awake and pacing for different reasons. As it always had been in these situations, the pack was split in two. My mother, who was tending to a cut- up Bristol, was in front of one side of the pack, with members of our old pack: Xenia, Nuka, Boulder, Yukon, Atka  and a few older wolves I hadn’t gotten to know very well. The other side was headed by none other then the dictator himself, pacing back and forth angrily. My mother looked up and seemed to droop. Boss, on the other hand, beamed.

            “Where are the other two?” he demanded.

One of my escorts hesitated fearfully but finally stammered “He got away sir”

Boss’s grin dropped off his face.

            “What! You blundering idiots!”

They scrambled away and left me standing there with Bear.

            “And you! It’s your fault this all happened!”

He charged straight at me. I closed my eyes, clenched my jaw and waited for the blow but it never came. I opened one eye to see him standing less then a foot away, grinning.

            “On second thought, I have better plans for you”

 I gulped. Boss turned to Bear.

            “And you helped her didn’t you!” he snarled.

Bear couldn’t bring himself to say anything.

                        “Don’t you even think of touching him!” barked Atka, breaking away from the pack.

She boldly stood in front of us and looked Boss right in the eye. What was she thinking?!

            “What do you think you are doing?!” Boss growled. “Just because you’re alpha female, it doesn’t mean that I still can’t control you”

He raised a paw to smack her but Atka didn’t flinch.

                        “I wouldn’t do that if I were you” she said coldly.

At that, Boss grinned.

            “And why ever not” he asked with false kindness.

                        “Because if you hurt me, you could hurt your pups”

For a second, everything was still. Boss’s tiny brain must have been working hard to process what she just said.

            “Atka, you’re pregnant?” My mother finally asked.

Atka nodded but kept her eyes on the father of her pups. Boss wasn’t sure how to react. He still stood with