didn’t come out very often, but when they did, the whole pack wanted to play. They had all opened their eyes by now and the two younger pups had Kaya’s bright blue eyes. Only the oldest female had brown eyes like me. And after a long debate between Kaya and I, we had decided to name the white female Anyu, the black male Dakota and the youngest one that looked like Kaya, Sitka. Thankfully, by the time the next week had passed, Kaya was confident enough to leave the pups with the newly crowned babysitter, Talon, much to Talon’ displeasure. But she still had to go back to the cave continuously to feed the pups. I had never thought of her as a mother before, but her maternal instincts surprised me when I least expected them.

“You better watch out for Dakota!” I told Kaya playfully one day as we made our way back to the den. “He’s gonna be just like me, I bet!”

I grinned but when I glanced at Kaya for her reaction, the look on her face dissolved my smile.

“What’s wrong?”

She shook her head.

            “What if he is just like you?!” she burst out.

“That’s not such a bad thing is it?” I asked, laying my ears back, a little hurt.

            “What if he gets attacked by other wolves! What if he gets hurt by Boss! What if he gets shot! What if-!”

I blocked my frantic mate, licked her nose and looked straight into her blue eyes.

“I promise, as long as I live, nothing will ever get to those pups” I said with a small smile.

Kaya smiled back and nuzzled me.

“Now let’s go home before everyone gets worried about us” I said, leading the trail up to the den.

Suddenly, Kaya gasped.

“What!?” I said, hackles rising after listening to all of Kaya’s worries.

I followed her gaze to see a beat up Talon sleeping in front of our den. We rushed over as fast as our feet could carry us. Where was the pack when we needed them?!

“What happened?!” Kaya and I barked in unison.

Talon woke with a start and managed to nod into the cave and motioned for us to stay quiet. As we started into the cave, Kaya bristled up as much as I was. But nothing could prepare us for what we saw next…

            All three pups were curled up with each other, sleeping peacefully. Kaya and I exchanged glances.

                        “I think their teeth are starting to come in” Talon moaned behind us.

Not being able to help myself, I laughed right out loud. Talon scowled and threw himself on the ground. The pups’ eyes popped opened and they all scrambled over to us excitedly.

“What did you guys do to Talon?” I asked Dakota gently as he jumped up to lick my face.

            “We hunted him!” Dakota yipped excitedly.

                        “Yeah! I knocked him over!” Sitka added just as excited.

“Next time, you need to pull his tail” I smiled, winking.

            “Are you serious?!” Talon snarled, wiping the smiles off our faces.

“Calm down they’re only puppies!” I replied, raising an eyebrow.

            “They need to be taught manners and need discipline!” Talon growled, moving toward the puppies. Kaya growled softly and I stood in front of the pups.

“Get out of here and cool off!” I growled. “Or get out of the pack”

 Talon looked between me and the pups whirled around and stormed off. I watched him go, confused.

            “What got into him?” Kaya snorted.

“I have no idea… we aren’t leaving the pups with him again, that’s for sure” I declared.

            “Really? Cause I was gonna tell the pups to follow Talon and play with him some more” Kaya replied sarcastically.

“Who can watch them now?” I mumbled, half to myself as the two younger pups wrestled.

Anyu, who was listening intently, looked around and beamed.

                        “What about them daddy?” she yipped, pointing down the trail.

Three red hybrids floundered around in the wet grass, soaking up their time off. Well, today was about to be their lucky day.

“Atka, Nero, Yukon! Come here for a second!” I called enthusiastically.

My two nephews and niece came running up excitedly expecting some amazing job. I looked between the three and grinned widely.

“How would you guys like to take up a super important job?”

Kaya had to hold back a laugh. Yukon caught on and nudged Atka, who watched me skeptically. Nero, however, was almost bouncing with excitement.

“You guys get to…. watch the pups!”

The hybrids’ smiled dropped right off their faces.

“Don’t like that, huh?” I said sympathetically. “Then let’s have a vote”

They sat to attention and didn’t say a word.

“Who ever wants someone else to pup sit, raise a paw”

Three paws went up.

“Too bad” I smiled. “Sorry, I’m leader and we don’t vote”

The three siblings grumbled and dragged their feet over to their new charges.

“See, problem taken care of”

I strutted away proudly, knowing Kaya was about to pounce. She did and landed square on my back, pushing me into the mud.

                                                *                      *                      *

            “That’s my piece!”

“No it’s not!”

            “You have two pieces and I don’t have any! Give it back!”

“It’s mine now! I’m stronger, I need more to eat!”

            “I’m faster! See! Now I have it!”

“Not for long!”

I heard them growling and heard Kaya sigh and moan:

            “Please make them stop! I need a nap”

I was past thinking that the pups’ fighting was funny. My three month old pups were just learning how to eat meat by themselves, and it now it was harder to keep them from stealing each other’s food.

“Knock it off you two! Where are your baby sitters?” I said, opening one eye.

            “They went to go get a drink” Anyu supplied.

“Can I trust you to go bother them and leave us in peace?” I moaned.

Anyu nodded proudly and turned to her younger siblings.

            “Let’s go find Atka, Nero and Yukon you guys!”

Sitka and Dakota dropped their scraps of meat and scrambled after Anyu excitedly. I couldn’t help but to smile as I watched them. I started to close my eyes again…

            “Buck- I mean Leader?”

I opened my eyes and there stood Talon, face expressionless.

            “It’s your turn to scout” he said blankly.

“Oh, right” I said, standing up and stretching. Bear started to get up too; he usually scouted with me.

            “Actually, I missed my scouting shift. I’ll go now” Talon stammered, averting his eyes.

Something was definitely up. I studied Talon cautiously and turned to Bear, who was staring disappointedly at the ground.

“All three of us can go” I said firmly.

Talon started to object, but I started toward the western territory lines. Bear scurried after me and Talon followed us with a dark expression on his face.

“Keep your eye on him” I muttered to Bear. “He’s been acting really weird”

Bear nodded excitedly as we reached the territory lines and started to scout. I kept out a sharp eye for anything unusual and Bear sniffed the ground for intruders. Talon wandered in and out of sight but didn’t seem to be doing anything important. Suddenly, Bear stood alert. I stopped and sniffed the air but only smelt an arctic fox.

            “I think there’s a white wolf over there!” Bear whispered excitedly.

“Go check it out pup” I said, chuckling to myself.

Bear launched himself into the bushes and I heard the fox start to snarl at Bear as he landed on