VOICES:

-Buck: Mark Harmon

-Kaya: Sasha Alexander

-Bristol: Patrick Swayze

-Xenia: Hillary Duff

-Boss: Brian Blessed

-Balto: Kevin Bacon

-Bear: William Lee Scott 

 

      For a pack led by a two-and a half- year-old wolf, my pack wasn’t doing badly. Since adding Bristol and Bear, Bear hadn’t left my side and Bristol climbed in ranking until he was the beta, which lowered an angry Talon to baby sitter. Currently, the whole pack was dozing, trying to soak up the rare sun that had penetrated the thick pre- winter clouds. Fall had been unusually chilly, so a cold winter was probably on the way too. Surprisingly, I wasn’t cold at all. In fact, I was warm and tingly inside, just thinking about that one question I’d been meaning to ask…

            “Leader! Leader!”

“Oh great” I heard Kaya moan, interrupting my thoughts.

“Xenia, you’ve only been scouting for a little while…and you’re supposed to howl if you need back up! Remember?” I yawned, lazily opening my eyes.

This must have been at least the tenth time today she had complained about something.

“What did your brothers do now?” Bristol chimed in, amused.

Xenia stopped and glared, taken aback.

                       “Why do you think this is about my brothers?” she scoffed.

“When isn’t it?” Bristol supplied, smirking.

Xenia glared at him but turned back to me seriously.

                       “Well it kind of is, but this time I agree with them!”

“What is it?” I asked. This might actually be serious if she agreed with them.

                       “Well, we don’t really know… but there’s some creature out there”

I stood up and shook off. Bear didn’t waste a second and was ready to follow whatever I did.

“I’ll stay here” Bristol groaned, rolling over on his side.

Xenia jogged off and I followed her with Kaya beside me and Bear not a step behind. We traveled up the trail leading to the cliff that hung over the northern border. Xenia’s two younger brothers, Nuka and Boulder were at the edge of the cliff, staring down at something. They only took their eyes off for two seconds to lay back their ears respectfully and scoot over to let me see. I walked cautiously over and looked outward. In the distance, a few tiny forms moved. I squinted my eyes and tried to see, but they were too far out. I grimaced. I really didn’t want to go down there. The two packs on that border wouldn’t resist a fight. But being the leader, I didn’t have much choice.

“Nuka, go tell Bristol that Bear, Kaya and I are going to be gone for a while” I ordered.

The youngest grey nodded and sprinted of.

“You two stay here and keep scouting”

Xenia frowned at her younger brother and opened her mouth to complain. I rolled my eyes.

“Yes you have to. Isn’t one brother easier to handle then two?”

            “No” she grumbled. “They can keep each other busy if there are two of them”

“Come on big sis!” Boulder sniggered.

I watched them walk off then started back down the trail and toward the open field. The slippery rock was coated with ice, making it impossible to quietly slip down the trail and into the trees. We sprinted along the tree line but something seemed strange. I stopped for a second to try to take it in. It was way too quiet. I strained my ears. No birds. No squirrels or rabbits. No noise whatsoever. Bear and Kaya skit to a halt and started to come back when I heard a tiny click.

“RUN!” I barked, jumping as a huge bang went off. Some invisible thing whooshed by me and a branch behind me broke and fell. I scampered off so fast, it was like I was running in place for a second. Bear and Kaya waited until I caught up with them, then all three of us shot deep into the woods, taking us dangerously close to enemy territory. But the smell I had feared since I was a pup was gone, so we stopped to catch or breath.

            “What was that?” Bear panted, voice trembling.

“Those were humans” I said bitterly.

Kaya cocked her head.

                       “Why would they come here?”

“I don’t know, but we need to get away from here. Before they or another pack catch up with us”

I didn’t want to waste any time. I started off briskly, Bear in stride, but Kaya stayed where she was. I huffed and turned around.

“Kaya, we have to get moving!”

She still didn’t move. I huffed louder so she could hear and headed back to her. Suddenly, something crashed into my side and sent me into the frozen dirt. I threw off my attacker and scrambled back to my feet. Bear snarled and stood by my side as we faced off with three unfamiliar wolves. Kaya finally started to pay attention.

            “What’s going on?!” demanded Kaya.

The wolves acted like she wasn’t there. They ignored Bear. All three only had eyes for me. They weren’t from any of the packs from around here. Wolf packs were small enough to know the enemy’s pack and I was sure the other packs knew mine too.

“Where are you from and who are you”

They didn’t say a word and none of them blinked. Before I could process the movement, two darted on either side and the third jumped at me. I snarled again and grabbed the first by its neck. One of the others sunk its teeth into my back leg. I dropped the first wolf and yelped. Kaya started to howl for the pack.

“Don’t!” I growled in between attacks. “The hunters are going to find us with a noisy pack!”

One of the attackers smirked. So that’s what they wanted.

“Just run!” I ordered, leaping clear of the strange wolves.

Kaya sprinted off; Bear tried for one last bite then followed Kaya. I tried to be quiet, but Kaya’s howl had given away our hiding place. Soon, another gunshot fired and I knew we were in serious trouble. We ran back into the woods, darting between trees and frost covered shrubs. Before I could do anything about it, we were separated and the only thing to do was to hide. I ducked under a pine tree and waited. Something was coming after me. Paws ran by tree and I leapt out, tackling one of the three wolves.

“Why are you here?!” I demanded.

To my surprise, the wolf tucked his tail between his legs and smiled.

            “My masters brought me here to find you!”

As much as I wanted to rip him apart, the dog part of me couldn’t do it. I jumped off without a second look and took a different route back home, making sure I wasn’t followed again.

As soon as I got back, I was relieved to find Kaya and Bear had already gotten home safely.

“Are you guys okay?” I asked Kaya worriedly.

            “Bear got shot” Kaya said flatly.

“Oh my god, are you all right?” I said, turning to the young wolf.

Bear grinned. I raised an eyebrow.

            “I’m fine! This is going to be a great story! I was ambushed and shot at the same time!”

I shook my head. He couldn’t be hurt that bad if he was talking and smiling much less standing and breathing. I turned to Kaya.

“Are you okay?” I smiled.

            “Well after almost getting shot and being ambushed, yeah, you could say I’m fine! Buck! Buck?”

I shook my head again. Had her eyes always been that blue?

“Sorry” I said shyly.

She gave me a half smile and raised an eyebrow.

“Alright” I said turning to the pack. “These humans and their wolves or dogs aren’t here by accident. Everyone needs to take every precaution possible and were going to have to stick around the two mountains. Scouting’s too dangerous”

The pack was quiet and with full stomachs from the hunt earlier today, they curled up and started to fall into an uncomfortable sleep. As hard as I tried, I just couldn’t. I studied my pack and my eyes stopped at Kaya. She was still awake too. That question popped up into my head again…

I stood up and she stretched, getting up to talk to me. I walked over to the edge of the cliff where I usually sat. She followed quietly and sat down next to me, blue eyes studying me.

            “What’s wrong?” she whispered.

I looked at her. She knew me too well.

“Those wolves… when we got separated, I caught one and it told me that the humans were in charge of them. And they said the humans were looking for me”

            “Don’t tell me those humans with their sticks scared you” Kaya joked.

I sighed and Kaya frowned.

            “Now I really can’t

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