VOICES:

-Buck: Mark Harmon (younger voice)

-Kaya: Sasha Alexander

-Ataneq: Jack Nicholson

-Xenia: Hillary Duff (I hate her but she has a perfect voice for Xenia)

-Nuka: Brian Dietzen

-Bristol: Patrick Swayze

-Bear: William Lee Scott

 I sighed as I tried to follow what the two wolves in front of me were saying. I’d force my eyes to follow them, but my eyes blurred up and I slipped back into my own thoughts. Kaya was probably just as bored as I was. She sat next to me and watched the clouds. Of the four months I’d been alpha, the past one with our pack’s newest editions, Xenia, Boulder and Nuka, had been torture. The only reasons why I tolerated them were because they were my cousins and they were still very young.

“Leader?! Buck?!”

“I’m sorry, can you say that all again?” I said, snapping out of my thoughts. Kaya giggled next to me. Xenia glared at me.

            “I was saying that he lost us our dinner!” she scoffed.

                        “I did not!” barked her grey brother, Nuka, head and tail low.

            “You were too! You were supposed to make the deer go left! Instead, you were too busy fooling around and missed your cue!” She barked.

Nuka laid his ears back, glancing at me and back to Xenia and shifted on his feet.

“Well wasn’t that his first hunt anyway?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

            “Well yeah, but he should have still been paying attention! I can’t put up with him anymore!”

“Isn’t he your brother?”

Xenia shut her mouth mid sentence and furrowed her brow.

“We ate yesterday. We’ll be fine for another day. Plus, this isn’t the first time a pup messed up his first hunt” I said, standing and stretching.

            “He’s not really a pup anymore” Xenia muttered as she stalked off.

                        “Sorry” Nuka replied in a small voice before following his older sister.

I plopped back down on the ground and sighed. Ataneq, who was behind me the whole time, gave me a sympathetic smile.

“She just turned seven months old and she can already find anything to tattle on” I said flatly.

            “Not as easy as it looks, huh?”

                        “I don’t know how much more of this I can take!” Kaya moaned, dramatically rolling on her back and kicking her feet in the air. “Why did you have to be the leader?”

            “Don’t worry. It took your dad about this long before he got the hang of it too” Ataneq said very distant.

I turned to Ataneq curiously.

“You never really talk about my dad”

            “Not much to say. He and Aniu were only the alphas for a week or two” he shrugged.

I looked up at the dark, cloudy sky. There was a small storm coming, but it was still a storm none the less. And I needed an excuse to take a break from being leader.

“Let’s go back before it rains. Fall rain is the coldest”

I looked around but I only saw Xenia, Nuka and Boulder.

“Come on you three. We’re going home”

They leapt up and eagerly led the way back up the trail. The trail twisted up the double mountains to our tiny den. I went to the edge of the cliff in front of our den, threw my head back and howled. Other howls from far away joined in, telling me my pack was on their way back. Then I turned back to the three siblings.

“Alright, um, Xenia, Nuka and Boulder, you guys can scout the north and west, but try not to kill each other. Okay?!”

Xenia didn’t look happy at all and was about to complain, but her two brothers bounded off, forcing her along with them, Her complaints echoed back to us as she was rushed to the border. At least they’d be out of our way for part of the day.

“Okay” I started, mostly to myself. “I guess we just need a few more to scout the other two…”

            “I’ll go” Ataneq volunteered.

I cocked my head and he shrugged. The rest of the pack happily retreated toward the den.

“Wait”

The pack grumbled and dragged their feet back, listening to what I had to say.

“You need to take someone else with you… I’m sure you could scout by yourself,” I said, laying my ears back respectfully. “But like you always tell me… this is a war”

            “I can take care of myself” Ataneq snapped.

“Sorry” I muttered, lowering myself submissively.

            “Don’t do that either!” he corrected sharply. “You’re the leader and no one is supposed to intimidate you!”

I raised my eyebrows and cocked my head. Ataneq’s gaze softened a little.

            “Sorry. The cold hurts my old bones… makes me kind of grumpy”

“I guess you’re old enough to take care of your old bones then” I said. “I guess you could scout on your own”

The pack happily left once again and left Ataneq, Kaya and I standing by ourselves. Ataneq looked to make sure the pack was gone then nuzzled my head. He hadn’t done that since I was almost killed in a fight…

            “You’re a good leader Buck, and always will be” he smiled, turning to leave.

Too shocked to say anything, I just sat and watched him go. I turned to Kaya and we exchanged worried looks.

                        “What’s up with him?”

“No idea, but I’m kinda worried” I replied, not sure what to do.

Thunder shook the ground, rain started to fall and soak us. Kaya jumped up towards the den and the cover of the mountain rocks.

                        “You coming?”

“Yeah” I looked one last time where Ataneq had left and followed Kaya reluctantly.

Even after we found the pack and shelter from the heavy wind and rain, I didn’t get a wink of sleep. I worried about Ataneq and the look in his dull eyes… I shouldn’t have let him go. It was time to switch scouts anyway. I woke up Kanut and Cikuq and Talon and another older wolf to go out and send the first scouts back. They darted into the downpour without hesitation and a while later, three forms charged back, soaking wet. As worried as I was, I had to smile.

“Fun to scout in the rain isn’t it?”

Xenia glared at me, shook off and her fur expanded, making her look more like a bear then a wolf. Her brothers were too tired after a whole day of torturing their sister and plopped down, fast asleep. Meanwhile, another figure came out of the rain. Just not the one I expected.

            “Leader, we can’t find Ataneq anywhere” Kanut reported.

“Then stay here, I’ll be back in a while” and with that. I leapt out into the storm to the south and east borders. I followed a stale scent of Ataneq’s and tracked it until I found Cikuq trying to follow the same one.

“Go back to the pack” I ordered blandly.

He gave me a curious look, but with a silent nod, he left. I returned to tracking, but the rain was washing away his scent and tracks. My breath started to turn into fog and the cold rain was seeping through my coat and sending chills down my spine. I hated rain. Especially if it was this cold. Suddenly, a new smell caught my attention. I had to sniff it a second time, just to make sure my nose was telling the truth. I smelt my mother’s smell. Clear and sharp as day. Automatically, I knew I would never see Ataneq again.

My eyes started to flood with tears and I remembered all of the times Ataneq had helped me or taken care of me. How was I going to be a good leader now? Ataneq had raised me from puppyhood. It was like losing my parents all over again. Lightening split the sky above me and I shook the tears out of my eyes. I needed to find shelter now. I broke into a run and searched for anything that had shelter besides a tree. Memory told me that an old, abandoned cave was nearby, so I hurried through the rain, still kind of numb, but found the cave. I dived into it and shook the water off. It wasn’t getting any warmer. Shivering, I turned back to the mouth of the cave and sat stiffly, looking out as the storm raged on. Something clicked on the floor behind me. Like a toenail. I spun around.

 “Ataneq?!” I jammed my mouth shut, sadness ripping through me again, but I had other things to think about right now.

Two pairs of eyes,