Aleu got to the beach, she sat down in the sand. “Maybe I was gone to long and Scylla was selected to be the temporary leader. But I’m back now, so why is she still the wolf in charge of this pack? She shouldn’t be...” After a few minuets of thinking, Aleu saw Mauro standing next to her. “Why is Scylla still taking charge of the pack? She was probably the temporary leader, but I’m back now!” “Only you can find the answer to that, Aleu. I am not a wolf, because of that I do not know much about wolf behavior.” “It just doesn’t make sense to me at all. Do you think that maybe the pack got used to her being in charge?” “It’s possible, but that goes to almost anything.” “Will I have to live with it, or not?” the answer applies here. Possibly.” Aleu heard the hunting call so she went back to the rest of the pack.

When they came back from the morning hunt and breakfast was over, Aleu asked Scylla, “Why are you still taking charge of the pack?” “Because it is too much of a hassle to get them used to you again. You were gone about a month.” “So how did they get used to you?” “It was a lot of stress. The pack had a hard time until the second week you were gone.” “So you’re going to be the permanent leader of this pack?” “It looks that way.”

Aleu finally agreed with this, knowing that she was going to go back to Nome in a few years anyway. Now she, too, had to get used to Scylla, though. Was this truly her destiny to lead a wolf pack across the Bering Sea, lead that pack for a year, and accidentally get on a plane that went right back to Nome, come back on the same plane to the same pack, and not be the leader any more? Was she going to be able to live like this with her being so used to the leader and suddenly lose her leadership? Would she get along with the other wolves?

When she woke up, for several days, she had the feeling of leading the pack, just as she saw Scylla wake up that reminded her that she was in charge now, not her. “How am I going to live like this?” she asked herself one morning. She thought about this and before she knew it, the morning hut was off. Aleu tried to get her leadership by being the most aggressive of the pack, but it was no use. The rest of the pack still looked up to Scylla. Eventually, she did, too. “Is it going to stay like this, or is it going to change? Or possibly it will… Wait! Possibly! Just like Mauro said! Was he talking about this, too?”

Aleu was right. Mauro was talking about anything that has more than one possibility in Aleu’s life here with the wolf pack. Her “How am I going to live like this?” question doesn’t have a complete answer, though.

It took quite a bit of weeks for Aleu to get used to Scylla being the leader, but she tried hard and it eventually happened. Now to find Scylla. “Scylla! Has anyone seen Scylla?” “No. uh, No!” “We’ve got to find her! She might be harmed!” “It better not be a hunter.” Aleu sniffed around to see if there was any scent of a hunter. There was a human, but not a gun. “Who, or what, could’ve been here?” “Maybe a human looking for a pet.” Who would want a wolf for a pet? Wait, let me rephrase that. What human would want a wolf for a pet? They think we’re vicious.” “Good point.” “Look everyone, we’ve got to find Scylla. Should we do it in groups, everyone to themselves, or all together?” Aleu raised her paw, “I think we should go in groups of two.” “Ok, buddy up and stick with your partner. Mush! I mean, move out!” said Max. “Stop making fun of my dad!” “I’m not, so how can I stop doing something that I’m not even doing?” “Who says Max is making fun of my dad?” All the wolves but three barked. I bet you’re guessing Shadow, Slash, and Max. If you did, you’re right. “Eight to three. You’re outvoted, Max.” “Are we leaving or not?”

After two and a half hours of searching, someone found Scylla’s scent. “I’ve got her scent! Follow me.” Her scent led them to a human house and right inside the door. “How in the world are we supposed to get in there?” “Do you think we could get in through there?” Ginger asked as she pointed her paw towards an open window. “It’s worth a try.” Jack was the first to jump in. The rest of the pack heard a human scream from inside. “What do you think that was?” “Well, it wasn’t Jack.” “Duh” Jack jumped out the window and ran in the other direction. The rest of the pack followed other than Aleu who was determined to get Scylla free. Just then, the door from the human house opened for the human who screamed to chase Jack away, but did not notice Aleu enter the house. “Whew! Now to find Scylla.” Aleu followed Scylla’s scent that led her right through the hose to the back door that was gratefully open enough for Aleu to push it more of the way open so she could get out. “Scylla! What happened to you?” “I’m fine, but I’d rather not be here.” “Let’s go, then!” They did not go through the house because the back door was closed. They just went through the gate to the front yard, because that was open. They then followed the scent of the rest of the wolf pack, not go back to the territory, because Aleu saw that they ran in a different direction.

Aleu and Scylla finally caught up with the pack, panting. “You found Scylla!” “Ok. Scylla is back so let’s go back to our territory.” “Good idea. And I am not going into a human house ever again! The way that human shrieked, MAN!” “So are we going or not?” “Yes after Scylla and I have caught our breath!” Back at the pack’s territory, Scylla thanked Aleu for coming and getting her. Aleu felt a tinge of leadership coming on, but it was shattered in less than a second when Scylla called on the night’s hunt. “I’ve just got to forget I ever was a leader.” Aleu thought during the hunt.

The next morning was the same. The pack got up in the same order, the hunt being successful, Aleu forgetting Scylla was the leader… “Ugh. When am I going to forget that I was leader at one time? I know it won’t happen overnight, but it doesn’t seem any better.” Aleu was thinking to herself again. “Are you thinking to yourself again and what are you thinking about, Aleu?” “Why do you have to care, Shadow?” “Are you giving me an order?” “No, I…” “Yes you were!” “No, I was just asking a question.” “Do I have to answer it? No.” “Then I don’t have to answer your question.” “No, you don’t. “Cause I already know the answer.” “Ok, what am I thinking about?” “I meant the other question. The answer to that question is yes.” Both your questions were in one question, so what am I thinking about?” “Aleu, one day you will never, NEVER, outwit me.” And when might that be?” “I don’t have to answer that.” “That’s because there won’t be a time.” “Yes there will be!” “Ok, when?” Shadow was so frustrated with Aleu that he just left with no response and is face red.

The hours in that day passed by quickly that it seemed only ten minuets when the nighttime hunt was off. “How often does a day go by like that?” asked Misty. “Not very.” The hunt went by fast, too. And dinner. So, before they knew it, it was time to go to bed. "Did this day go by fast, or what?" asked Aleu. "You got that right." said Scylla. "I'll bet tomorrow will be exactly the opposite." "Probably." "Although, it might not be for the

A N I M A L™!" They both laughed, having a hard time controlling themselves. (The

A N I M A L™ is a pretend company that a wolf named Jinkel (Weird name, huh?), made up to blame for not being on duty. They’re not being on duty was supposed to be responsible for his being captured by a human three times in one year. It was supposedly made up of humans and lots of other kinds of animals who wanted to protect all living beings.)

In the morning, no one wanted to get up, except the pups. Kiba was jumping all over Ginger and Robert and Kali were chasing each other. Aleu was asleep when Kiba got bored jumping on Ginger, so she went and tackled Aleu. That was too much for Aleu at this time in the morning. Aleu threw Kiba towards Robert and Kali, so Kiba decided to play with them. “Will they ever learn?” Aleu asked Ginger. “They’re only pups.” “That are almost a year old.” “Yeah, but they’re still pups.” “That are almost a year old!” “I know, but still.” “I get it, but I wish that they would not be like this, this early in the morning.” Aleu was right last night about this day being the exact opposite as that day. It really went by normal, but it seemed like it went by so slow compared to the day before.

“Can a day go by any slower? I sure hope that tomorrow goes by normal.” “It will.” “It should.” “The weather guy said it will.” Most of the pack giggled, but the pups were not paying attention and if they were, they would not get it. “So are we going to eat breakfast and have something done? We have all the three hundred twenty-two hours to do all we want.” All the pack except the pups giggled again because of the same reason. The morning hunt felt like eight hours and so did breakfast.

The day was mostly rest other than the pups, same as the morning. At night, during that hunt, jack spotted a hunter. “Stop!” he whispered. Everyone stopped and most of them noticed the hunter. In three seconds, everyone noticed the hunter. Aleu sniffed the air. “That’s the same person that took Scylla!” Aleu told herself. Scylla noticed that before Aleu, though. Misty noticed that the hunter did not have a gun, just the scent of one. The human, seeing the wolves standing in one place, backed away. “Do you think it’s safe now?” asked Molly. “Not yet.” Scylla replied. “Do you think that that human thinks you are the cause of something, Scylla?” “Probably. But what? What did I do?” “Good question.” “SHHHHH!” “We better go back to Ginger and the pups.” “Good idea. Duh!” The human followed them back part of the way, but did not get too close to the cave, which she thought was the alpha female’s den that might have pups in it. She was wrong in at least two ways. One, there was no alpha female (Even though Scylla was a female, she was still considered the alpha male.). And