as curious as you are." He chuckled kindly. She didn't come out from her hiding spot.

"If you're so curious, then what do you want?" she asked. Her voice was kind of deep, for a girl. It sounded of church bells and was actually quite lovely to listen to.

"Just to ask why a pretty canine like you is wandering around a dirty old barn like mine." Miksa sat down in the snow, to assure that he meant her no harm. He figured that if he tried looking for her, she would either never come out of hiding, or run away.

"Hmm," she laughed through her nose. "Sweet talk isn't going to get you anywhere."

"What makes you think I'm trying to get anywhere with you?" Miksa shot some attitude right back at her. He could sense that she smiled.

"Ouch. That hurt." the wolf giggled sarcastically. She slowly emerged from behind a pine tree trunk. She seemed a little more friendly and less skiddish now.

"So, miss....uh," Miksa blushed a bit because he tried to address her without first knowing her name.

"Aniu," she smirked.

"Miss Aniu," he smiled. "What was so interesting about my barn?"

"Something smelled interesting around there," she said, looking away. She shifted her eyes to his. "I guess I found out what it was." She was definately flirting with him. Whether that was a good thing or not, it didn't matter to Miksa. But he automatically knew that maybe this new friendship with Aniu was going to lead him into the new life he was waiting for.

******

Miksa didn't return home until the next morning. He and Aniu hit it off really well that night. They talked for hours while traveling on the outskirts of David's land. Aniu was the only daughter of the alpha male, Lokesh. Her mother and siblings were killed by hunters on a very foggy night. She had wandered from home when she was a pup. Her father chased after her and that's when it happened. Since she found her family like that she had always been scared of the fog. Lokesh wanted to stay as far away from humans as possible, but Aniu couldn't help but find them fascinating. Miksa asked her why her pack was so far south. She wasn't sure, herself. Though, he envied her for her sense of adventure, but at the same time frowned upon her disobeying her father. When they had reached the barn, Aniu wanted to see him again the next night, so he promised she would.

As soon as he collapsed into the hay to fall asleep, he was disturbed by Storm.

"Where were YOU last night, hmm?" Storm asked. The others looked up from their resting positions.

Miksa opened his drowzy eyes and looked at her in a vexed way. "I was out." he simply said, and closed his eyes once again. Storm pushed him with her front paws to wake him up again.

"Don't you think you should stay HERE, where you're needed?" she nagged. "Instead of gallivanting around like nothing else matters?"

"What do you want me to do?" Miksa asked, aggrivated. "One minute you guys tell me to stop being depressed, now you're telling me not to be happy."

"Of course we want you to be happy, stupid!" Storm growled. "We just don't want you to simply forget about us, and your life here." The last thing she said was gentler than before.

Miksa looked at her, at the others and then back at Storm. "I wont forget about any of you. Or anything here. No matter what happens." Storm smiled and rubbed her head against his. Naturally he could never forget about this place. If he were to be separated from the others, he would reminisce in order to carry on living. But then Aniu came to mind. He couldn't leave her either, because he knew there was something about her that he had to get to know better. Maybe he could somehow stay behind, at least long enough to be able to keep long memories of her. Why was he thinking about her so much? It was probably because he liked her. But even so, why did staying for her seem more important than staying for his family?

******

He returned to the woods to meet Aniu for the next two nights. Since then, David's wife sold Gina, Talleulabelle, Jack, and Boomer. It was said that Gina and Jack were sold to be racedogs. Talleulabelle was sold to a small family. And Boomer was sold to a breeder. Miksa was glad that they were able to find good homes on the spot, but he was still uneasy about Watson, Storm, and Tazwell finding good homes. They might, but he could never be sure. Storm was getting angry at Miksa for leaving every night doing God-knew-what. She was afraid that one day he was never going to come back, but like he kept promising Aniu, he promised Storm, Watson and Tazwell that he would come back.

The third night he seen Aniu, she greeted him in an unusual way. Before she would barely go near him, but this time she nuzzled him softly. It wasn't a strong, intimate nuzzle, but it still felt weird to Miksa. Good. But weird.

"Well, I must say that was unexpected." Miksa blushed. She blushed back for a response. "My master's wife is going to be selling me soon...just so you know why I might not come back."

"Yes, I know..." Aniu sighed sadly. She was very young compared to Miksa, and he wasn't sure if she would really understand, but she seemed to take that fact kind of hard. "It's not fair though, because we just met, and I know that we can do something great together! Or make something wonderful happen someday. I'm not sure what, but...you know." Miksa had an idea of what she meant. She didn't sound like she had anything sexual in mind, and that was fine to him. But he could see where she was coming from with it not being fair that he had to leave to soon. "Why don't you join my father's pack?" she asked, hopeful.

"I don't know, Aniu..." Miksa winced. "I've never met your father, and I doubt I'd be able to stand a chance."

"I could take care of you!" she said. "I'll do anything to keep you coming back here. I'm afraid that if I don't have a part of you with me, I'll forget a very good memory." She basically said that she wanted more time with him, and Miksa just wanted to give that to her. But he knew that if he ran away, it would only be a matter of days before he grew weak. Wolves could go days without food, but he was too used to eatting every other day, if not every day of the week.

Miksa just looked down, unsure of how to respond. She stared at him for a moment and nuzzled her face against his in a loving way. She backed off a bit, her face hovering next to his. He looked into her gold eyes. The moon shone into them from above. Unknowingly, he licked her forehead gently. She pressed her cheek against his and padded off a few feet away from him. She looked back at Miksa and smiled. She turned around and ran off into the woods somewhere. He smiled too, and chased after her.

******

Miksa woke up the next morning, but he didn't wake up in the barn. He was outside in the woods and the snow was beginning to melt off the tree branches and drip onto the ground. Miksa heard birds chirping, and a faint breathing pattern from the sleeping form next to him. Aniu was still asleep, her body still pressed against Miksa's. He smiled at her and looked off into the woods. He could hear animals from all around moving about in the snow. It was very peaceful. When the sun shown on Aniu's face, she awakened and looked at Miksa. She smiled at him and nuzzled him with her nose. Her ears twitched and her smile broke into a frown.

"What is it, Aniu?" Miksa asked, concerned. He sniffed the air.

"It's my father. I never returned last night, he must be out looking for me!" Aniu stood up.

"Should we run?" asked Miksa, standing up.

"There would be no good in it," Aniu stated. "It would only bring more trouble."

Miksa thought to himself. "More trouble? What could be more trouble than your father finding us here like this?"

Not a moment later, a pack of ten white wolves surrounded the couple, all of them snarling at Miksa. Aniu growled at them right back and told them to stop. The wolves ceased the growling when a larger white male wolf commanded it. He must have been Aniu's father, judging by the way he was glaring at Miksa.

"What were you two thinking?!" Lokesh demanded. Neither Aniu nor Miksa spoke to him, but somehow he knew what they did the previous night.

"Father, please, it was an accident," Aniu pleaded.

"An accident!" Lokesh snarled. "Do you have any idea what this is going to do to your life? To the PACK'S life?!" Aniu seemed hopeless, but Miksa wasn't sure if comfort was going to make her feel any better. He knew that Aniu was going to be pregnant with hybrid puppies, and he wasn't sure if they were going to survive like that, and surely not in a pack of wolves. He almost kicked himself for not knowing what she was going to soon be going through.

"Yes, I have an idea," Aniu snapped quietly. "But I'm willing to take any punishment for it."

"That you will be! When I die and you are with puppy, who is going to lead this pack?" Lokesh asked, his voice not lowering one bit. "SURELY, not that DOG!"

"I am willing to do just that, sir," Miksa said gently. "Because I promise that I will never leave your daughter."

"You better not leave her," Lokesh growled. "For if you do, I will kill you." Lokesh made it perfectly clear to Aniu that her life would be punishment enough for her and he was going to go easy on her for being irresponsible. He knew that what was done was done and there was nothing he could do about it. Aniu understood where her father was coming from and they nuzzled each other. Lokesh turned towards the woods and started off. The rest of the wolves followed behind him, and Aniu and Miksa were last to follow.

******

It had been about a month and a half since Miksa was unofficially a member of the pack. He seemed to have lasted just fine since he was already a fast learner and a fast runner. He rarely ate much and whenever he was done eatting, he let Aniu eat more than what she ate. He was very good to her, and they were very happy together, even Lokesh was happy for them. He eventually learned that Miksa wasn't a bad guy and knew that Miksa would be a good father. He also followed the rule that wolves mated for