VOICES:

-Buck: Mark Harmon

-Kaya: Sasha Alexander

-Bristol: Patrick Swayze

-Bear: William Lee Scott

-Atka: Jennifer Morrison

-Yukon: Toby Maguire

-Nero: John Cusack

      How long had it been since we had started our search? It had to have least been a month, maybe longer. I hated to admit it, but my search was interfering with my leadership. It was now night and after yet another day of not finding Kaya I was livid. Furious. I wanted to find Boss and tear him to pieces. This was his entire fault anyway! The pack waited cautiously nearby. They didn’t dare get me madder. Even Bear, who was usually my shadow, was afraid to get too close to me. I paced back and forth, trying to think of what else I could do…

            “Buck, maybe we should rest for the night” came Bristol’s small voice.

I stopped and glared at Bristol. He backed up and laid his ears back, tucking his tail between his legs. As angry as I was, I wasn’t going to take my anger out on someone innocent. So I clenched my jaws and returned to my pacing.

“Fine” I said coldly. “I’ll find Kaya by myself”

But deep down, I knew my pack needed to rest too. I probably needed it the most out of anyone. But once again, I was going to end up not sleeping at all.

“Why would they even take her!?” I roared, mostly at Bristol.

Bristol shrank back into the pack. Now I was just being mean. That wasn’t me.

“Just stay here and rest” I muttered. “I need to cool off on my own”

I stalked in the opposite direction of the pack. Boulder and Nuka, who were blocking my path, scrambled out of my way, lowering themselves down to their stomachs. I ignored them and glided past.

Maybe this was what I needed. Wandering off into unknown territory was dangerous, but that was the last thing on my mind right now. The winter snow that floated gently down, only reminded me of how Kaya loved to catch them on her tongue. I shook my head and concentrated on the snowy ground in front of me. I needed to bring the pack home for winter, to be in the safety of our own territory… but we still needed to wait for Kaya. One part of me wanted to believe she was still alive, and this part was a lot stronger then the part that told me she was gone. I stopped and looked at the bleak sky. My heart hurt… I tilted back my head and howled the loneliest howl I’d ever heard. I let my legs collapse from under me and just sat there, looking up at the sky… what was I doing?! I loved Kaya, but I needed to take care of the rest of my family! Ataneq was furious with me when my parents had died and I had acted like this! He wasn’t here, but I still shouldn’t act like this…

            I approached the pack later on; about the morning after my time alone. My heart sank when I saw most of the wolves cower down. I never wanted to be that leader… Bristol stood up first and walked cautiously towards me. I wagged my tail and laid my ears back.

“I’m not gonna bite this time” I said quietly.

Bristol smiled back sympathetically. And the pack relaxed a little.

“We should go back home” I said, looking down at the ground.

Bristol nodded and the pack started to pick themselves up and shake off. But before we left, I touched noses with everyone in the pack as a kind of apology…

We started our journey just like we had the few other times we had left here, but I couldn’t help but to hang back… just in case anyone needed to catch up. But as the cold winter winds blew, no familiar grey and tan female ran to be with her pack. There was still no way I’d let myself think she was gone for good. Still even though we never saw Kaya, I felt like we were being followed. And as leader, it was my job to find out. Bristol watched me curiously from the front of the pack. If it was part of Boss’s pack, they were going to be in big trouble… it was their fault Kaya was gone in the first place. I had promised myself to not take my anger out on my pack, but Boss’s was a different story…

“Stay here” I growled “I’ll be right back”

Bristol didn’t ask me, I think he knew… but without another word, I stalked back towards where we had originally started. The wind blew in my face, which was perfect for being undetected. I was finally going to have my revenge. I could smell our stalkers’ smells and my heart rate picked up. I entered a clearing and sniffed around, trying to be seen or to see them. A thin layer of ice covered the snow; ice was a good advantage if a wolf knew how to use it. I heard whispers, three different ones, and smiled to myself. If they weren’t going to come out by themselves, I’d just circle around and surprise them. But I didn’t get too far away before I heard something spring out of the bushes and declare loudly “I guess he’s gone”. I’d show him!

The dog or hybrid was red, grey and a little smaller then me. I bet he was one of the humans’ hybrids! I stepped behind him and growled softly. His ears and tail drooped and he winced when he peered over his shoulder. He looked over to his two friends then spun around with closed eyes and bit the first thing he could reach: my shoulder. I snarled angrily but grabbed him by the top of his neck and tried to swing him around. He must have been really young and light because when I let go of him, he slid right across the thin ice and into the underlying snow. I heard him yelp and saw the next red hybrid running towards me, his lack of confidence very easy to see. He looked like he wanted to see his friend without a fight, but he had helped humans take Kaya away, and I wasn’t going to let him off that easily! I dived for him and grabbed him by his front paw, using his own weight to slid him towards his friend. The two tried to scramble up in the snow and ice while I padded toward them. Suddenly, something snapped down on my tail. I smothered a yelp and turned to see the third hybrid, a female, latched onto my tail. So she liked to bite tails huh? I whirled around and bit her tail, but shook. She dropped my tail and yelped pathetically. I slammed into her with my shoulder and she flew right off of her feet and hit the other two. I circled them while they scrambled to get back up.

“You’ve done enough damage” I growled softly, getting excited. “And I know who sent you”

The smaller male started to say something, but I wasn’t in the mood for excuses. I lunged for him and grabbed him by his front leg. He yelped, eyes wide. The bigger male jumped at me and surprisingly, knocked me over. But he was still inexperienced, and he slid on the ice while I calmly pulled myself away.

“You guys really picked the wrong day to mess with me” I smirked

The female jumped, but like the other two before her; she had probably never gotten into a fight before. She hit me, but it only glanced off and sprawled onto the slippery snow. I pinned her down and looked up at the two horrified hybrids.

“If you want her to live, don’t move” I threatened. They didn’t say a word.

I shrugged and wrapped my jaws around her neck. But something about her was strange. Familiar… I opened my mouth and sniffed her. She smelled like Balto! Balto said Aleu was grey; Mya looked like a dog so this must have been Atka.

“Atka?!”

I let Atka get up and turned to her brothers.

“Yukon? Nero?” I said, not really sure who was who.

They nodded but looked at me confused.

            “Are you Buck?” Atka asked cautiously.

I nodded sheepishly.

“Sorry, you caught me at a bad time… and I thought you were someone else” I mumbled.

            I brought the three back with me, much to the displeasure of the pack because of their doggish appearance. But they were family and that set the pack straight. After settling them in, we continued back to our home territory which was only took two days, and those two long days passed without any excitement. No other pack had even tried to take over our territory, which was pretty strange… but boring. Tired from bickering and traveling, my pack fell asleep and for the first time in a long time, I feel into a deep sleep.

            My eyes flew open. I jumped to my feet and looked at the sky. The moon was still high in the sky and the stars still shone. What woke me up? I glanced around at my sleeping pack and stretched. Nothing was wrong, but I was awake now and I didn’t feel like sleeping. So I walked over to the cliff in front of the den where I usually sat to think. Suddenly, a long, familiar howl filled the air! Kaya?! Overjoyed, I tilted my head back and emptied all the emotions I had held back. Behind me, the pack panicked and scrambled. I ignored them and looked off into the distance, wagging my tail furiously. Seeing that there was no threat, the pack stood at attention to see what was so important.

            “Buck! It’s the middle of the night!” Bristol pleaded.

“It’s Kaya!” I said, still not taking my eyes away from over the cliff.

Bristol shook his head. Bear gave me a sympathetic smile but it looked like he doubted me. Atka, Yukon and Nero exchanged glances. They