The morning sun shone on Soul’s white fur as she watched Rex get put into a harness and tied to the rest of the team. On her other side, Pablo was stuck behind the other team members. He saw her and winked, Soul scoffed and went to Rex who was only one dog away from the front of the team.

‘ I’m so proud of you Rex. You’ll be lead dog one day like your Grandfather, but first you’ll need to prove that you’re worthy of the job.’ Soul said to Rex as she nuzzled him.

‘ I’ll be lead dog one day, but I won’t be lead dog. I’ll be lead wolf dog, like Balto was.’ Rex said as he nuzzled Soul back.

‘ Don’t be ashamed of being part wolf. It’s great being part wolf on a sled team ‘cause you’ll be able to get the team out of any sticky situation, like if they get lost or you’re under attack.’ Soul explained.

‘ I’m not ashamed, I’m proud of it, but I’m just happy that the musher put me on the team in the first place.’ Rex said as he looked at the sky.

‘ Yeah, but the musher is new and he heard that there were wolf dogs in town and everyone knows that wolf dogs are faster than dogs because wolves are the fastest canine around, and you’ re a wolf dog.’ Soul said.

‘ Yeah, but so are you. Why didn’t he put you on the team? Your way more wolf than me anyway.’ Rex said as he looked at her lovingly. She stared back and then Rex realized that she looked like a Husky, not a wolf.

‘ Hey! Wolf dog. Just wanted to make sure that you called your pack to tell them the good news,’ Pablo said as his teammates mocked Rex. Pablo then howled mockingly and Rex got angry and started growling at Pablo. ‘ Oh, I’m so sorry Soul. I’m sorry that you’re paired with a wolf dog. A husky doesn’t belong with a wolf dog. She belongs with me, Pablo the pure bred Border collie.’

Soul was just about to blurt her secret out to the town when Rex stepped in. ‘ Pablo, leave her alone. She doesn’t want you because you’re a spoiled brat who hasn’t even moved out from his mothers yet. Ha!’ Rex said as he imitated a baby Pablo, crawling on the ground and whimpering for his mum.

‘ Hey! I do have an owner and my mum lives in Nenana with my dad. I’m not a pup!’ Pablo shouted as everyone else laughed. ‘ That settles it! The winner of this race wins Soul and the loser has to… be the slave to the winner for a fortnight.’

‘ What?! Leave Soul out of this! She hates you, but she loves me.’ Rex said as he stepped in front of Soul.

‘ Yeah, anyway. Pablo, you said that you’re a pure bred? Why are you as big as a German shepherd? Aren’t you meant to be half of Rex’s size?’ Soul asked as she walked to Rex’s side.

 ‘ Places!!’

 ‘ Gotta go. Bye Rex.’ Soul said as she walked to the sidelines.

Rex got into place and got his energy warmed up as he watched the starting flag. The flag went down and Rex started running as fast as possible.

The teams started getting even when they left the town border and ran into the outskirts. Pablo’s lead dog, Dustin, stared at Rex. He knew that Rex had an advantage over him. Dustin was a chocolate brown husky and Labrador mix with matching eyes. Rex’s lead dog, Cloud, saw Dustin’s team slowing down. Cloud was a champion sled dog and was known all over Alaska including Nome. He had grass green eyes and a coat as black as a thundercloud. 

As Cloud’s team reached the forest centre, Rex noticed that Dustin had stopped the team on the outskirts of town. He was confused and surprised when he saw that their musher had bite marks all over him. First thing that came into his mind- Murder. They had hurt their musher so they didn’t have to stop and that way they would win the race.

‘ Cloud, I think I just found out something about the other team!’ Rex shouted as he ran.

‘ You have? Just a little further and then we’ll stop so that you can tell me!’ Cloud shouted back. When they got to their rest stop, Cloud walked over to Rex and then he explained what he saw back there.

‘ We need to keep moving if we are to beat them and prove that they have cheated. I’ll get the musher moving, you get everyone else and tell them what I have said.’ Cloud said.

Rex then went to the team and did his job while Cloud did his. Soon they were back in the race with the other team back at the forest edge.

4 hours later, they had reached their destination: White Mountain. Once the musher had dropped off his sign that he had been there, he went onto the sled and they ran once again. When they were at the outskirts of White Mountain, they saw their opponents about 5 miles away from them. When they passed them, Pablo got really jealous, but not as much as Dustin.

When Cloud saw that an avalanche had covered the snow plains, he had no other choice than to go over a dangerous mountain and maybe lose a few members of the team.

As they walked along a narrow path, Cloud slowed down to a walk. Rex looked over the edge and regretted ever joining the team. Suddenly he slipped and hung onto the edge, he felt his harness coming off. Cloud saw what happened and pulled as hard as he could, the others started helping too. Cloud then wriggled out of his harness and pulled Rex’s. He then felt the weight decreasing and looked over. Rex’s harness had come off and he was holding onto his life.

‘ Come on! I can’t let anyone die here! Not again,’ memories of his daughters death came to him as he pulled. ‘ Not again!’

Cloud then heard howling and saw that Rex had gone down.

‘ NO!! Rex! Answer me! Please.’ Cloud said as tears filled his eyes. Ever since Rex had joined the team, he had felt like a father again. He got up and walked over the rest of the mountain. 

For the rest of the race, no one cared if they won or lost. They just wanted Rex back, from the dead. Cloud still had memories of what happened to his daughter two years ago. They were having a father-daughter time when a Cougar pounced on her, Cloud had tried to help, but he was knocked out and his daughter didn’t stand a chance, so she was killed at such a young age.