hunter too?" Carter asked, still excited that the fact he was in a real wolf pack now later on to be surrounded by real wolves.

"We'll see. It depends on how great your hunting skills are," said Maxwell. "Come on, let's get back to the cave." All three nodded, and they all began to walk back to their pack territory.

"Guys, I would like to intruduce a new pack member."

Everyone in the cave turned their attention towards Maxwell, Quincy, and Carter, and gathered around.

"Wolves of Blue Pack, we welcome a new member into our pack. His name is Carter, he is a young brother of mine I found in the woods alone. He would like to join us, so please welcome him kindly." And not like you did with Quincy, Aniu, and Kweku. He thought to himself, a frown spreading across his face.

Cool... was all Carter was thinking though, his eyes twinkling with excitement and delight.

"I will be training him how to fight, hunt, and guard. Whichever one of those three things the best he is at, he will recieve that job," Maxwell continued. "Meeting dismissed."

All the wolves walked away and began to do their regular routines.

Quincy walked over to Carter and greeted him friendly like with the wag of his tail. "Congratulations, Carter. Welcome to the pack," he said softly.

"Thank you," Carter smiled.

Quincy smiled back.

One foggy afternoon, Aniu was sitting at the entrance of the den with her mate, Quincy, watching their puppies play with Angel and Maxwell's litter. She and Quincy were waiting for Maxwell, Dewayne, Angela, and Cristian to come back from teaching Carter a hunting lesson, so Quincy and Aniu were pretty much baby-sitting for Maxwell and Angel. Kweku, Julie, and Kelvin were out scouting for any tresspassers.

Aniu and Quincy's ears perked up in alert when they suddenly heard a gunshot. All the puppies whimpered and ran over to Quincy and Aniu. They both nuzzled them in comfort.

"What was that noise, mama?" Balto asked.

"I don't know, Balto, calm down," Aniu said softly, licking her son on the forehead softly. She looked up when suddenly Kweku, Julie, and Kelvin appeared and ran over to them.

"Aniu, we have to get out of here," said Kweku. "Hunters are on the way here, we have to get the puppies out of here safely." Kweku, Aniu, Quincy, Kelvin, Julie, and the puppies all turned their heads towards Maxwell, Dewayne, Angela, Cristian, and Carter who were running towards them.

"My babies! Are my babies alright!" Angela panicked. Her six puppies ran over to Angel and Maxwell whimpering, and seeking comfort from them.

"Hunters are on the way," Julie growled. "We need to get out of here!" There was another gunshot that interrupted, and it seemed closer.

"Quick! Grab the puppies, now!" Kelvin paniced. Maxwell grabbed Ursula & Ty, Dewayne grabbed Candy & Bernadette, ngela grabbed Daphne & Judy, Cristian grabbed Josh & Jeannie, Julie grabbed Hamish & Balto, Kelvin grabbed Rick, Quincy got Deanna quickly and put her on his back, Aniu picked up Jana in her jaws, Kweku caught Genevieve before she could even move, and Carter snatched up Kyler and locked him tightly in his jaws, and every pack member seperated in different ways to get the hunters confused a little.

Quincy and Aniu ran the same way. They heard another three more gunshots as they ran through the forest. Aniu and Quincy paniced more, hoping that none of the hunters got them, any of the pack members, and especially their puppies and each other. There was suddenly a gunshot louer than ever and Quincy collapsed to the ground.

"Quincy!" Aniu cried. Deanna whimpered and got off of her father's back and looked up at Aniu and Jana.

"Aniu," Quincy weezed. "Take Deanna and Jana to a safe place..."

Aniu fought back tears as she listened to Quincy's instructions and abandoned him. Tears rolled down her eyes as she heard another gunshot and a yelp of pain, knowing it was Quincy's cry and that he was dead. She ran and ran, until the gunshots had never came back again and she met up with the pack members again. 

Chapter Four

"Aniu, please eat, you need more milk for the puppies and it'll make you feel better," said Angela softly, nudging a rabbit over to Aniu. Aniu looked at it. She sniffed it, then pushed it away and looked away. Ever since Quincy's death, she had never eaten for a week or did anything but lie in the same spot back in the old den, ignoring anything or anyone that tried to speak or give her something. Angela sighed and walked out of the den, over to Maxwell and sat beside him at the entrance. Maxwell watched closely as Carter played with his children, and Aniu's children play alone with each other.

"Aniu still isn't eating," Angela mumbled, ears twitching. "She's truely upset about the tragedy and what happened to Quincy.

Maxwell sighed. "It's already been a week. For Pete's sake, she has puppies to take care of, why isn't she thinking of them!" Maxwell growled a little, then sighed again, trying to calm himself from getting angry.

"We just need to give her a little more time, she'll get use to it soon," said Angela, putting a small smile.

"We already gave her enough time," Maxwell snapped, but not at Angela. "I think we should force her."

"No! If we force her, something bad might happen!" Angela said quickly, looking at Maxwell with crazy eyes.

Maxwell thought for a moment. "Your right," he mumbled as he still watched Carter with his neices and nephews and Aniu's offspring.

Balto wasn't playing with them, he was watching them from the side. He was also a little sad that his father died and his mother was always so depressed. Since he was the runt too, he wasn't really into rough-housing, or else he would always lose.

"Hey Balto."

Balto turned his attention to his sister, Bernadette. Bernadette was the only one that was nice to Balto and never hurt him during rough-house. She wasn't like his other siblings.

"You want to come exploring with me?" she asked. "I want to go somewhere far away from here, but nobody will let me go unless I have an adult with me, but I don't want an adult, I want  a brother or a sister instead, and nobody else I asked will go with me. Do you?"

Balto shrugged. "Sure, it'll be much more interesting getting out and about then being stuck at this old boring place," he sneered. They both got up and snuck away from the other pack members without letting them see them.

Balto and Bernadette explored the forest for a very long, until Balto noticed how foggy it was turning again. It scared him because his father had been killed in the fog.

"Uh, Bernadette," he whimpered. "I think we should go home now, it's getting foggy and our dad was killed the fog."

Bernadette thought about that, and nodded in agreement. "Yeah, we should go," she said.

As soon as the two puppies were about to leave, a voice stopped them.

"Your not going anywhere!"

Bernadette and Balto gasped and looked around them, seeing three large grey wolves surrounding them.

"Well, well, well, Ramon, what do we have here?" a female sneered out of the other two males.

"I don't know Charlotte, what do you think Zane?" Ramon asked, looking towards the other wolf behind him.

"I think those are trespassers," Zane growled, blocking Balto and Bernadette's way.

"Well what are we guys waiting for, get them!" Charlotte growled, and all three grabbed Bernadette and Balto by their scruffs very hard, making them cry loudly in pain.

"Stop hurting my puppies!"

Charlotte, Ramon, Zane, Balto, and Bernadette all turned their attention towards Aniu, who pounced at the three loners and made them let go of her two children, making them cry in pain. All four or them wrestled in a frenzy. Aniu struggled to send out a message to Balto and his sister.

"Go! Go tell the other pack!" she shrieked and struggled for life. She knew she was going to lose against them, since she hadn't eaten for awhile which made her weak, plus no wolf could take on three more than him or herself.

Balto and Bernadette fled back to the pack territory. They got Maxwell and Kweku and brought them back to Aniu and the fight, but it was too late. Charlotte, Ramon, and Zane were gone, and Aniu lied motionless on the ground, not breathing. But the last thing on her mind before she died was her family, and the last thing she heard was Quincy's voice...

Chapter Five

"No, mom, wake up!" Balto whimpered, shaking her, but she didn't move. "We got to go home." Aniu still didn't move. He began to cry and looked at  Maxwell and Kweku to do something. "Is she... is she going to be okay?" he sniffled.

Maxwell hung his head. "No..." He shook his head. "She'll be okay now, but she can't be with you anymore..."

Balto and Bernadette gasped and whimpered, knowng it was their fault for Aniu's death. If they hadn't wandered off, they wouldn't have got involved with those three nasty wolves that killed her, but Aniu still would have died starving herself and falling ill too.

"Come now, we must go home," said Kweku, picking up Aniu's motionless body and carrying it home with Maxwell, Balto, and Bernadette. 

Balto felt guilty the whole trip. At some parts, he almost fell and began to cry, but he kept catching himself before he could. Once they got to the pack, Balto went into the den and laid down, closing his eyes. He couldn't bare to stare at his mother any longer.