They reached the human’s house a while later. The girl opened the door and put Nunivakdown. It was a lot warmer in here than outside, she thought, as the girl closed the door and took her shoes off. Upon closer inspection, Nunivak saw that this human had black hair tied back into a ponytail and friendly emerald green eyes. She bent down to have a closer look at Nunivak.
“My name’s Annie, and I’m your new owner! But what’s your name?” she asked, tilting her head at the little pup. “I think it should be… Suka! You like it?” Annie asked. Suka barked. She liked her name a lot. Annie smiled.
“I thought would.”

 

It had been three years since Suka was adopted by Annie. She had grown into a slightly wolfish hybrid. She had a tuft of fur on her head that stuck up like her father’s, and his nose ruffles too. Her paws her large and wolfish too. Annie didn’t seem to care about it, but Suka had gotten looks from the snobbish purebreds and show dog breeders in town. It concerned her, but not to the extent of her sister, Aleu. She had been told of her wolf heritage a year ago, just after Aleu’s accident. Aleu was scared of her father, still distraught with grief from what happened, so she ran out to the wilderness alone. Their father, the famous Balto, had run after her, as Aleu was the runt of the litter and physically weak. He came back without her, explaining that Aleu stayed with a wolf pack she had met and she was never coming back.

 

It was a big loss, indeed. None of the litter had been given to anyone outside of Nome. Their brother, Dingo, who had looked out for Aleu before, had to focus on his job more. Kodi also had to cope with the loss at work. Sabaand Dakota didn’t have jobs, but they still missed their sister. Suka, however, didn’t. She hated looking after Aleu while Dingo was working. She was always wanting to do things that would get them in trouble, and she was always a bit too friendly with Steele, the black and white malamute that had troubled them for far too long. She’d always have to pull her away from that scumbag, which was why she thought it was somewhat Aleu’s fault for what had happened. What had happened? One year ago, on a musky April night, Aleu had agreed to go out with Steele. She didn’t know where they were going exactly, she was taught to be polite by their mother, so she accepted only to be friendly. She thought it was only dinner. But it was much more than that. Aleu was violated that night, and Balto was nearly killed when he walked in on the situation and tried to fight Steele. Then she ran away, found her little wolf friends, never came back…

 

Suka didn’t hate wolves, though. She loved wolves. She remembered meeting a brown pup when she was young. They had called dogs killers… why were they killers? Why did they supposedly search out wolves and… but was it true? She didn’t know. She’d seen several hunters in town bearing wolf carcasses, though. The sight of it sickened her. Their hunting dogs would stride beside them with pride. She always wondered if she should leave Nome for a life in the wild, but her siblings and parents always advised against it.

 

It was a late summer night. She lay beside the window in the bedroom on the second floor of the house. The window was slightly open, letting a soft gentle breeze in. There wasn’t much noise tonight… a few barking dogs and that was about it. Another plain and boring day in the town of Nome. Annie walked into the room, smiling at her. Suka lifted her head up in acknowledgement, but then rested her head on the floor again. Annie smirked.

“I’m gonna go take a walk. You wanna come?” she asked. A walk? At this hour? Ridiculous. Suka yawned to show her tiredness. She wasn’t going out now. “No? Well… alright then. I’ll leave the window open for you, but you’re to stay put up here, okay? I’ve got some things down here that you can’t exactly have your nose in.” Suka panted lazily as Annie patted her on the head. She watched as Annie walked out and shut the door. She rushed to the window to watch as Annie left the house and walked across the street. Fantastic. Now for some- she noticed Annie had shut the door. Great.

Suka lay back down. She’d have to fall asleep or die of boredom, neither of which she wanted to do. Suka was about to drift off into sleep when she heard a noise she didn’t usually hear but loved. A wolf howl.

 

Suka got up quickly and stood near the window. There was something odd about. She could smell this wolf. Where was it then and what was was a wolf doing in Nome? She looked wildly about. A few other dogs had joined in without realizing the first howler was a wolf. She poked her head out of the window to see who it was from. There was a giant, black wolf in the street. It had some sort of silver marking on the corner of its eyes. It looked like a female… Suka squeezed out of the window. She barked to it, trying to be friendly. The wolf’s head snapped to her, her black and silver eyes widening. She didn’t like the look of this hybrid one bit. As Suka tried to clamber down the roof the wolf snarled defensively at her. She didn’t want Suka near her. Suka didn’t care, though, and landed on the street with a thud.

“You come nearer, hybrid, and my fangs will rip apart your body limb by limb!” she desperately threatened. Suka knew she wasn’t serious.

“I don’t mean any harm,” she protested.

“My father will hear of this, he will. Stay away from me!”

“I don’t want to hurt you!”

“Get away from me!” the wolf yelped. “My father’s told me many things about your type!”

“My type? What do you think I am, a murderer?” Suka growled.

“You’re violent and brutal!”

“Who’s your father?” Suka asked.

“The great wolf Jericho, who has done far too much for you canines!”

“Why do you hate hybrids?”

“I knew one. He was merciless and cruel. He killed my mother!” the wolf whimpered. She turned tail and started running from Suka.

“No! Wait! Come back!” Suka called.

“Get away from me!” the wolf shrieked. Suka followed her out of town. She had to; otherwise she might get into trouble. This wolf was distraught, and wouldn’t be any good if she was in danger. She kept going until the wolf lead her into a forest. Other wolves quickly ran in their direction and surrounded the two. A silver wolf with his daughter’s icy silver eyes snarled.

“Who are you?” he demanded. “What are you doing to Selene?”

“I’m only trying to help her!”

“No you’re not! You’re a hybrid. Hybrids are violent and cruel. They killed my mate, and for that I will never forgive your kind.”

“I’m sorry, Jericho!” Suka pleaded.

“Jericho? How does she know my name?” Jerichogrowled.

“You are a great wolf,” Selene muttered. Jericho looked back at Suka. He didn’t trust this hybrid one bit.

“This is for Luna,” Jerichosnarled. He lunged at Suka’s legs. The pack joined in – when their alpha fought, they fought. Suka was overwhelmed with wolves trying to attack her. She couldn’t defend herself. Her tail was grabbed, her legs bitten. She would surely be killed.

“No! This is my fight!” Jericho called. The other wolves stopped and watched as Jerichomauled Suka. She was thankful it was only one wolf instead of thirty, but Jericho was a tough fighter, and harsh. She was always beaten when she tried to retaliate. He was stronger than her, more vicious, instinctive. He had called hybrids brutal, but Suka was beginning to think maybe he was the brutal one. By the time he was done, her tail was missing several patches of fur; she had been bitten in several places, bleeding, wounded, and exhausted. Jericho panted as he surveyed the punishment he had dealt.

“See? This is what happens… when their kind is ungrateful, when they steal what is not theirs!” he called out. Selene remained sitting. She was scared for Suka now. Jerichohad never attacked a hybrid in front of her. He smirked as he watched the weak form of Suka struggle to get up. When she finally did, she looked up at him, panting heavily.

“Get out of here,” he ordered. Suka glared at him for a while.

“What, you want more?” Skyler asked. He growled at her warningly. If she didn’t leave, he’d have his turn with her. Suka grunted and swayed a bit, but walked to an edge of the circle.

“Move please,” she abruptly said. The wolves smirked at her and stayed where they were. “I said move!”

“Move aside,” Selene ordered. They parted for Suka. She looked back at the black wolf. Maybe Selene was decent after all. She looked ahead and continued on her way. The wolves growled after her.

 

The hours passed. Suka was tiring. She had taken a decent beating from Jericho. Her legs were trembling, but she pressed on. Her patchy red tail remained limp, easily played about by the wind. Oh, how she wanted to be home right now… in the warm bedroom… but she didn’t know where she was. She didn’t know the way back to Nomefor help. She was starting to think it was a rather stupid idea to have followed Selene out. She wanted sleep, too. Soon the sun began to rise. She had certainly gone a long time without resting… and her legs were starting to fail. She fell down as she had done many times throughout the night. She tried to get up, but she couldn’t. Suka decided to resort to crawling. She must have been a pitiful sight. Soon she succeeded in standing up again, but she walked for a few seconds and suddenly felt a huge wave of dizziness. She fell onto her side and whimpered. Most of the bleeding had stopped now, but she still was in a fair bit of pain. Her vision started to fade. Was she dying? She didn’t care. A gray wolf came into her sight. It had black eyepatches and bright yellow eyes. Was she saved? She wasn’t sure. Everything was swirling for her… and with a few heavy breaths it all faded into

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