VOICES:

- Buck: Mark Harmon (younger voice)
-Kaya: Sasha Alexander
-Ataneq: Jack Nicholson
-Boss: Brian Blessed

    I waited, trembling behind a pine tree, listening for Ataneq’s signal. Kaya, my friend for one month, and I had just turned seven months old! And tradition called for our first hunt, so here we were, waiting for Ataneq and the pack to make it as easy as it could be for our first hunt. Still, it was exciting and both Kaya and I were straining to hear Ataneq’s howl.

            “Was that it?!” she whispered excitedly, pacing back and forth.

“No, no. That was the wind. Ataneq said we’d see a cloud of snow when they got the deer running.

I tried to think about other things… it was a nice day…no clouds but snow covered ground… what was that?!

“Was that it?!”

            “No. Calm down!” Kaya said. “I think you’re hearing things Buck!”

I’ll show her who’s hearing things! I pounced on her playfully and nipped at her. She tried to kick me off but bit my ear instead. Suddenly, a long, drawn out howl reached us. I sprang off Kaya and raced to where we were supposed to be waiting. Kaya scrambled up and slid to a stop next to me.

“That’s it!” I yipped.

            “I see the snow cloud!”

The herd of deer was getting closer. We searched for the pack, but it wasn’t that hard to find. They all surrounded a doe, the least dangerous large prey to catch and were nipping at it, steering it away from its herd. We waited until the deer was cornered, then made our move.

“Now!”

Kaya and I sprang out and ran for the deer. It saw us coming, made a bellowing sound and dove to the left. Too bad for the doe because two other wolves were there to trip it. It tripped and fell, as planned.

                        “Good job you two not bad for a first hunt!” Ataneq said.

Kaya and I beamed.

                        “Unfortunately for you two, you aren’t anywhere close to being on top yet, so you eat last!” he laughed then dove in.

I will be someday I thought to myself. Since there was no chance I could eat yet, I walked over to one of the hooves and sharpened my teeth on it like Ataneq showed me. Kaya walked over, watched, and then copied me. I couldn’t think of a time that we were apart since I had found her. I did save her and the rest of the pack was older then us, but we did everything together.

Ataneq finished quickly and left, taking most of the pack with him. Talon, our beta, and a few others were the only ones left. I shoved my way through and Talon gave me a dirty look. Me and Kaya ignored him gulped down our food because we knew that the pack was energized from the food. And that usually led to playing!

Kaya and I snuck through the trees, keeping Ataneq in sight all the time, and pretended to be spies for another attack.

“Target in sight” I joked.

            “On the count of three! One, two three!”

 I led the charge out of the bushes and reached Ataneq first. I jumped right on his back and playfully bit the top of his head and back. Ataneq, surprised at first, started to laugh until Kaya knocked into his legs and tripped him.

“Got you grandpa!” I smirked.

Ataneq smiled, not a bit worried.

                        “Do you know what happens when another wolf knocks down an alpha?” he whispered.

“What?”

                        “His pack comes and saves him…”

I raised an eyebrow then got tackled by half the pack. Kaya, who had seen them sneaking up, had already started running. I raced after her, leading the pack in a short chase. Then we returned to Ataneq.

                        “I’m getting too old for this”, he smiled, lying down. “Let me take a nap. Go exploring or whatever you young wolves do these days…”

Not waiting to be told twice, I took off and hid behind a tree, and crouched for Kaya to run by. As soon as she did, I pounced on her, planting her into the snow and laughed over my shoulder. I slid across the now thick ice of the creek and stopped on the other side. She followed me but stopped short and sniffed the ground before crossing the creek.

            “This is the territory line”, she said blankly.

“I know. I’ve lived here longer then you”

            “Yeah but what about…” She didn’t have to mention Boss for me to know who she was talking about.

“Trust me; we’re old enough to take care of ourselves”

            “But didn’t Ataneq say this was war? Isn’t that kind of dangerous? she asked.

“He’ll never find us! I think that the alpha likes me anyway! He was kinda nice last time”

            “Okay” she sighed as she carefully navigated the ice.

Exploring territory that wasn’t ours was okay for a while, but we never found what I’d hoped to find. Kaya seemed happy about it. The cramped trail showed no signs that other wolves lived there. I was starting to think about turning back…

            “This is boring” Kaya yawned.

“It’s about to get much more interesting” said a voice behind us.

Kaya and I both jumped, but this is what I was looking for.

            “You’re right it did! Well, I won’t hold you back, so we’ll just be leaving” Kaya said, shoving me. But I had other plans. I grinned and glared and turned to face who dared to stop us.

Two wolves, definitely scouts, came out and blocked our path.

“This isn’t your territory”

            “Well would you look at that!” Kaya exclaimed looking around. “I guess you’re right! Let’s go Buck!”

“What did you say your name was?” said one of the scouts, taking a sudden interest in me.

“Buck…”

“As in Ataneq’s grand pup and Aniu’s son”

I looked between both of them, wishing either of them were the one I really wanted to fight.

“Where are your old scouts?” I growled.

                        “Promoted” the scout said flatly.

By now, Kaya had enough. She hated fights.

            “Lets go now!” she snarled, running away.

I didn’t want her to get involved in this anyway… but the two scouts closed in on me… my confidence shrank, and I whirled after Kaya. The scouts followed right behind. I caught up to Kaya and we ran for our lives. We took trail after trail, crashing through the brush and not caring how much noise we made.      

“You guys don’t know this territory well do you?” the scouts laughed from behind. “You’d better stop! The pack doesn’t like when intruders run”

I slid to a stop, their words sounding a lot like someone I hated. The scouts slid to a stop, confused. I didn’t give them anytime to think about it. I fired myself at the firs scout, hitting him square in the chest and knocking the wind out of him. The second scout had started to bare his teeth. I paused for a brief second, then tackled him as well. I grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and shook until he was knocked out. The other scout pulled himself to his feet, but sat down and grinned.

“I see you fight like your father did” said a cold and familiar voice. The voice that belonged to the wolf I was looking for… that I wanted revenge for. I whirled around to see Boss and his pack. He looked bigger then I remembered even if I was almost full grown. My confidence was slipping, but when I saw Kaya, anger restored it.

“Let her go!” I snarled. The two grays Kaya called One and Two each held onto her with their teeth. She was squinting at Boss though.

“Let me talk to your alpha!” I demanded, hoping he remembered me.

            “You’re talking to him” Boss grinned.

“You’re stupid, weak and slow! I don’t believe you”

Boss snarled and charged at me. I stood my ground and he stopped inches in front of me.

            “I’m stronger now and if you don’t watch your tongue, you’re gonna be sorry!”

 I squinted at him and bared my teeth, but