asked Scout.

'My father!' she hissed, 'I didn't return home last night. He'll be looking for me!'

She stood up and Scout could tell she was worried.

'Don't worry!' Scout pleaded, knowing that she had every right to worry.

'This is terrible!' she said, 'If he finds me I'll be in trouble!'

What could be worse than this?' asked Scout.

But before Aniu could answer him, a group of wolves surrounded them, nearly all of them growling. They only shut up when the large dark grey wolf walked through. His black ears were pressed back against his head and his black tail was swishing back and forth behind him. There was an abgry expression on his face.

'Nilak!' cried a female voice. It came from a grey and white olf.

Her mother! thought Scout.

'Hush!' Nilak, the grey and black wolf, growled. He turned to Scout and Aniu.

'What were you thinking?!' he roared.

Neither of them replied as he stared at them but somehow Nilak knew what the two had done the previous night.

'Father, please!' Aniu pleaded.

'What?' snapped Nilak.

'It was an accident! We didn't mean it!'

'Didn't mean it!' snarled Nilak, 'How coudl you not mean it?'

Aniu fell silent and her father continued.

'Do you have any idea what this could do to the pack? To you? Do you?'

Aniu didn't reply, seeming more interested at looking at the snow beneath her.

'You could have runied you life!'

Scout listened to everything Nilak was saying to his daughter. He could see a black wolf and a light grey wolf sitting next to Aniu's mother looking sorry for her, there was two more grey wolves as well. One looking startled and the other looking pleased in a way.

Her siblings! Scout thought. He sat and thought about what Aniu would soon be going through. She would be pregnant with hybrid puppies and they would surely not be able to survive with all the others knowing. How could he be so stupid as to let himself do it? He stood up and faced Nilak.

'I promise to protect her under all costs!' he said, 'She will be safe always. And I I'm sure you had her siblings lined up to be the next alphas anyway!'

Nilak growled, 'That may be true, but what she has done could change the pack! And when me and her mother are gone and she is with puppy, who will look after her? I'm sure the rest of the pack will be unsure of these puppies she is to have and what it could do!'

'I also promise that I shall never leave her. Aniu and her puppies are mine to look after and that I shall do!' replied Scout.

Nilak looked at the young dog. He had courage and a brave heart. Nilak was sure that he would be good to his daughter but he wasn't sure about it, nonetheless.

'Ok.' he finally said, 'You may stay! But you must help with our daily activities to keep you and Aniu strong!'

He walked off into the foret, followed by the pack.

'I need to see my friends.' Scout hissed.

'I'll come with you.' replied Aniu. The two wandered through the forest forest and found that Scout's team were still there. They'd stayed in the forest ivernight.

'Scout!' cried Daisy, running up to him and nuzzling him, 'Where were you all night?'

'I was... out!' Scout said.

'Why didn't you come back?' asked Maxie.

'I don't know!' said Scout, knowing he couldn't tell his friends of Aniu and their soon to be puppies.

'There you are!' said the musher, grabbing Scout by his collar. Scout struggled, turned and bit the musher's hand. The musher roared and kicked Scout.

'Scout!' cried Aniu, jumping in front of her mate.

The mail team gasped. Aniu took no notice and nuzzled Scout, helping him up. The musher ran over and pulled Scout's collar off of him. He kicked him in the ribs.

'Get out of here!' he yelled. Scout got up and, letting Aniu go first, ran off into the forest. He collapsed in the snow after a few minutes.

'Her!' said Aniu, bending down, 'Get on!'

'You saw me do that, huh?' chuckled Scout, weakly.

'Yeah!' Aniu smiled. Scout got onto her back and Aniu carried him off. It was a bit of a struggle for her as Scout was a bit bigger than her and heavier but she managed.

Once Scout felt well enough he told Aniu to stop and he got off of her. The two walked through the forest, following the pack's scent. They stayed side by side the whole time until they reached the pack.

'Now where did you go?' asked Nitti.

'To say goodbye to Scout's friends!' said Aniu, sniffily.

'You think you're so great because you're expecting but if I'd mated with a dog I'd be ashamed of myself!' hissed Nitti.

'You're just jealous because no one loves you the way Scout loves me!' Aniu snapped, brushing her head against Scout's. Nitti growled and walked off.

'You can stay with me!' said Aniu, turning to Scout.

'But of course!' Scout chuckled.

Scout spent the day learning about the rules of the pack and, because he was such a fast learner, picked up on them quickly. As night came all the wolves walked into a medium sized cave.

'Father doesn't like having a big cave because he likes us to stay togther to keep warm.' said Aniu, 'Bit strange if you ask me!'

Her and Scout walked in and walked right to the back of the cave. Scout lied by the wall so Aniu didn't have any stones digging into her. Aniu lay next to him and pressed her head against his furry chest. Scout put his paw over Aniu and fell asleep.

For the next two months, Scout had been put into the hunting group because he was very quiet but fast and very strong. He had helped the pack alot, though they didn't liek to say it. He often went hunting on his own to find extra food for Aniu, just like he'd promised. Aniu was now heavy with pup and didn't often move from the cave. She'd take a walk near the cave everyday and also to get water but that was mostly it.
Nilak walked in when Scout was giving Aniu some extra rabbit meat. 

'Father!' cried Aniu.

'Nilak!' said Scout, nodding his head. Nilak smiled. Scout had proven to be strong and smart and clever. He was very loving towards Aniu and Nilak knew he'd make a great dad to Aniu's pups.

'I have come to tell you that it is time you moved to the whelping den. You will be expecting your pups any day soon and I think it's be safer if we took you to the den early just in case!' said Nilak, looking at his daughter.

'Right!' smiled Aniu. She slowly and carefully got up. She leant against Scout to keep her balance and he helped her walk out of the cave. Nilak led the way to the whelping den which wasn't too far from the cave. It was hidden in a huge thicket of trees and bushes. Aniu need some help to squeeze through and get into the other side. Once they'd squeezed through, Nilak led the two of them to a little cave. It was nice and cozy inside. A little bit damp with roots growinf in the ceiling and moss growing on the dampest rocks.

'Nice place!' breathed Scout, not ever thinking that he'd find such a wild place to be so beautiful. He let Aniu lie down and she curled up. She looked up and Scout and the two of them nuzzled each other. Scout licked Aniu's face.

'Stay safe!' he whispered to her.

'I always will be with you here!' she whispered back. Nilak led Scout out.

'You'll be a great father one day!' Nilak said, a little shyly at having praised Scout, 'You'll have no trouble with looking after your pups!'

'My pups?' joked Scout, 'I always thought you'd hated me!'

'Well,' Nilak said slowly, stopping at the river, 'I did until i saw how brave and strong you were. And how you kept your promises that you made! You've helped this pack alot!'

'Thank you, Nilak!' said Scout. The two had a drink from the river.

'Well then!' said Nilak, 'You'd better get to the hunting party! They'll be starting any time sson!'

'Right!' agreed Scout, running off.

Scout got to the hunting party just as they were about to leave.

'We thought you were gonna be late!' said one of them.

'Me? Late?' joked Scout. The party ran off and were soon able to pull down a large caribou.

'We'll come out once more when we've taken this back. We'll need more food to feed everyone and keep them strong!' said one of the lead wolves.

They carried the caribou back to the pack and left it in th cave. Scout yawned and looked around. He heard some muffled noises and quietly went to where he heard them.

'Go away!' someone shouted. Svout looked through the bushes and saw Achak with a group of adolescent wolves like himself.

'You're the reason we've got a mangy dog in our pack!' one sneered.

'Yeah!' replied another.

'I am not!' growled Achak. He'd gotten alot more confident, or angry as Scout had noticed, over the past two months, and now Scout realised why.

'I'm sure Aniu would've never had met that dog if you had kept an eye on her like Nilak told you!' another snarled.

'Just go away!' Achak snarled.

'You're the reason the pack's gonna die out!' said the biggest one, 'You're the black wolf who'll bring destruction!'

Achak really lost it then.

'I am NOT!!' he yelled, biting the largest wolves leg hard before running off. The largest yowled in pain but didn't go after Achak.

'Let him go!' he growled to the others. 'Once everyone starts to die then we'll take over!'

The otehrs agreed. Scout's eyes widened when he realised what was happening. They were trying to make him angrier so that one day he could just lose it and they could take over. Scout ran back to tell Nilak but Nilak was busy and the hunting party was about to go out again. Scout followed the party, planning on telling Nilak later.

'May I stay with Aniu for the next few nights?' Scout asked Nilak, He'd forgotten about Achak after a tiring day hunting and was more interested in keeping Aniu safe.

'Of course!' smiled Nilak, 'We need someone to look after her and warn us if anything happens. And who better than the father of the pups!'

'Thank you!' replied Scout, running off towards the thicket. He crawled under and into the little den.

'Scout!' cried Aniu, happy to see her mate.

'Hey, Aniu!' replied Scout. He walked up to her and nuzzled his mate.