of what had happened today, I was confident I was quiet and sneaky enough. One of my two bodyguards was asleep. The other was watching outside the den. I carefully stepped over the first bodyguard, taking extra caution not to wake him. I crept behind the second bodyguard and stopped behind him. For a second, I hesitated. If I did this now, there was no turning back. But Ataneq’s words vibrated in my head and I was sure I wanted to do this. With all the force my light body could muster, I fired myself at the bodyguard. His head conked against the den’s rock wall and with a short gasp, he slid to the ground, unconscious. I sniffed him to make sure he was okay, looked both ways and flew out of the den. I was free!

                                                *                      *                      *

            I had now been on my own for over half a year. My small, thin body was now muscular and well built. I was still very quiet and sneaky, which helped me to avoid anyone I didn’t want to mess with. I wasn’t much of a fighter anyway.

My travels brought me out of the wilderness and near a large town filled with curious creatures that walked upright. They were so strange, yet so interesting. I was able to hunt small animals and even go through the town and pick up some of their garbage. I hadn’t been there for more then three days when the creatures started to make a huge commotion. Groups of them came on my turf, causing me to hide in the woods. I watched as they set up huge banners and different kinds of buildings that were smaller. Then something even stranger happened. Smaller and leaner wolves arrived, pulling what looked like trees behind them. And then they were tied to the ground! I watched several groups of them come in, but one group caught my eye. The lead wolf looked happier then any other wolf I had seen yet. He was grey- brown like the color of a mouse and I had to admit even for what he was, he was pretty good looking…

 As soon as night fell, I decided to survey the camp. I padded between the buildings and stopped at the first group of sleeping wolves. The wolves didn’t smell or look like wolves, and they had to sleep heavier to not hear me. Suddenly I stopped. One of the wolves was awake and to my delight, it was the one from earlier. I started thinking about mates; I was old enough to have one. But who’d want me for a mate? I told myself, trying to keep my hopes from going up. He put his head back down and I went a little closer, thinking he went back to sleep. My heart melted when I saw him curled up with another black and grey wolf. Told you I told myself. He already has a mate. I walked over, passed the wolf and sniffed his mate. Then I heard a growl. I froze.

            “Get away from my sister”

The sister woke up to her brother’s voice. She made a small noise and didn’t take her eyes off me. I stepped back stammering to apologize. He looked me over.

            “What kind of dog are you and what business do you have with us?”

“I’m not a dog!” I spat back. “Is that what you are? I’m a wolf” I added proudly.

The dog relaxed but his team started to wake up and bark. Now I was outnumbered. I retreated quickly but stayed in the trees nearby. The dog was watching where I had disappeared, but so was his pack.

            The next morning, when I had woken up, the dogs and their two-leggeds had already left. It wasn’t really that hard to follow though. They left trails in the deep snow that might as well have been arrows. By the time the sun started to set, I could see the first group of dogs. I kept traveling, passing one group after another until I found the one I was looking for. I put my nose to the ground and one scent caught my attention, the one I had thought about all day. I followed it and looked up into the blue and brown eyes of the dog it belonged too. I stood still, waiting to see what he would do and to my surprise and delight, he started to wag his tail. I walked over, carefully. He crawled as far as he could and rolled onto his back. That surprised me a little but I wasn’t as afraid now.

 “Are you still mad at me?”       It was the only thing I could think of saying. For the first time, I felt a little shy.

“Well you said you weren’t going to hurt her” ,he shrugged. “Do wolves have names?”

What a stupid question that was, I thought.

“Of course we do. Mine’s Aniu”

“I’m Tundra”

            I asked Tundra about everything. Why was he here? What was he doing? We talked for a long time, longer then I expected. It seemed like no time at all when I heard the human, John in his tent.

“I should go…”

“I’ll see you tomorrow night?”, he asked.

I smiled and nodded.

I retired to the woods and curled up to sleep. I was sure that they wouldn’t be hard to find again.

I slept late again, rested and ready. Once again, I followed the trail until I could see the team. When the dogs were all asleep, I went into the camp, unafraid. I found Tundra right away. He did a play bow and I jumped over to him and swatted him playfully. We didn’t even play for five minutes before he dropped down. He fell asleep within seconds. I smiled and lay down next to him and curled up. It was nice to have someone to keep you warm…I closed my eyes, inhaled Tundra’s scent and sighed. I feel into a light sleep and before Tundra woke up, I heard John and took off, wishing I could have said goodbye to Tundra.

Since I had slept at night instead of day, I decided to follow Tundra’s team. I darted through the trees, pretending I was the lead dog of another team. I jumped over the trail and flew back into the other side of the woods, creating my own sound affects. I know it was stupid, but I was love sick. Excited barking and angry voices echoed behind me and I turned in time to see Tundra try to follow me. I smiled and laughed when Tundra was scolded. They passed another team a few minutes later ad I cheered Tundra from the tree line.

I was tired of waiting when the team finally stopped. But only more waiting greeted me. John took an extra long time handing out food and then I had to wait for everyone to fall asleep. I walked slowly over to Tundra, expecting him to be happy. Instead, he was chewing feverishly at his leash.

            “What’s wrong?” I asked, feeling a sudden dread.

“I’m leaving tomorrow. John said we’d cross the finish line tomorrow”

            “Then come live with me and my family!” I blurted.

I didn’t want him to leave. I knew he could never do that. But he was the first person I ever looked forward to seeing.

“You know I couldn’t do that. I can’t just leave them. I’m their leader! They need me!”

Before I could stop myself, I licked his cheek. He stopped chewing but restarted, only chewing harder. I sighed and lay down, resting my head on his back. There had to be another way out of this. He couldn’t leave…

“I broke it”

Tundra’s voice jolted me out of my thoughts.

            “What?”    

“I broke my rope”

He leapt up and playfully attacked me before I had time to process what he’d just said. But I wasn’t about to let him get away with that! I jumped on him, knocking him down and ran further into the woods, not knowing what I was getting myself into. I ducked behind a tree, but Tundra was having a hard time following me. I stepped out to where he could see me and he ran to me as soon as his eyes latched onto mine…

            The next morning, I was woken up by Tundra in a panic. I opened my eyes to see him pacing. He glanced at me and even though he was in a panic, he had enough time to lick my forehead. It filled me up with a warm, glowing feeling inside.

“I have to go back! I’m going to miss the finish!”

I just wanted to close my eyes and go back to sleep. There was still a crust of frost covering the snow and getting up before it melted was too early. But my new mate needed some common sense. I stretched out, stepped lightly over to him and licked his cheek. He stopped and smiled for a second.

“Go then” I smiled.

He started to leave but paused for a second and came back to nuzzle me.

 “I love you. Good luck”              

The he took off. I felt all warm inside despite the cold temperature. I looked for the sun but it was still too dark and the moon lit up the clearing instead. I shivered and started to feel hollow inside. Was I ever going to see Tundra