his father spoke. “Oh, my son. You are not the only one to feel defeat before.”

Kodi gasped again. “You’ve felt like this?”  

His father nodded. “Everyone feels like they’ve failed at one time or another, Son. It’s not just the two of us that do.”

“But I never would have thought that you, my sled-dog father, had ever felt like failing before!” The burgundy pup was in shock as he spoke, slowly lifting his front legs and placing his body in a sitting position. “What happened to you that made you feel this way?” 

The brown-gray hybrid sat beside him and began to tell him his struggle of over a year prior to his own death. “It all happened the year you were born, only a few months before. I was leading a sled team back to Nome, just like you; however, I had precious cargo to deliver: a supply of necessary serum to cure the sickly people of town.”

“Dad, I’ve heard that story plenty of times! You know everyone knows your story by now!” The red and white pup reminded him. “You found the missing sled team in the wilderness and took control of them, leading them back home. I know, I know that already!” 

“Yes, but there’s one part I never told anyone,” the wolf-dog continued, suddenly grasping his son’s attention. “My team was on a mountain too, and we began to slide down a steep part of one until I was able to catch a hold of a nearly-buried branch. The team was safe, but a rope snapped from the sled, causing the fragile box to fall. Following my instincts, I slid through my harness and leapt towards the remaining ropes, grasping them with my jaws. I let out a sigh of relief, as did my team, but the snowy earth below me began to crumble, collapsing into the rocky walls of the canyon below.”

Again, the son let out a breath in shock. “No way, Dad! How did you even survive that?” 

“Well,” he replied with a slight hesitation in his voice. “You’ve already met the real reason why I survived.” He paused, pulling his head back to let out a howl. The white wolf from earlier suddenly appeared behind the wolf-dog and approached them. “Because of her,” he turned to his side, acknowledging the lupine’s presence. “I realized that I did have the strength necessary to lead.” His head lowered for a moment, his voice was a murmur. “Once I fell, I gave up hope. I felt that this was punishment for doing what I thought was right in my heart. I truly felt as if I had failed everyone – Rosy . . . Jenna . . . the team above me on that mountain . . . all of those sick children who were so close to death . . .” A couple of wet drips formed at his front paws.

“Oh, Dad . . .” Kodi leaned against his father, trying to calm him. 

“It’s okay . . .” The patriarch had a small smile on his face. “Back then, I thought I had failed because I was born a hybrid. She helped me realize that I could succeed by accepting myself as a hybrid.” He looked back up at his son and gazed at him with encouragement. “You have wolf in you too, Son, and you know that very well. Let that part of you show when it really counts, especially when you think about others instead of yourself.”

Kodi’s brown eyes sparkled with the sound of his father’s words, his face beamed with pride as he felt the touch of his father’s paw on his slightly scruffy shoulders of burgundy.  

“I will, Dad,” Kodi said as the white wolf beside his father lifted her head and let out a howl. “You know I won’t let you down.”

The gray-brown hybrid’s ears pricked at the sound of the lupine’s call; he knew it was time to part from his little son. “That’s my boy.” Nuzzling him once more, he returned the howl and saw the lupine walking towards a wall of blinding snow. Walking behind the towering ivory wolf, he turned back at his son, smiling with pride in his heart. “I love you, Son. Do your best, and make me proud – No . . . make us all proud of you, Kodi.” As he ran into the flurry of snow, he let out a howl to his young pup. 

“I’ll make you proud, Dad,” Kodi whispered into the wind, the snow suddenly whipping against his body. “I love you.” The burgundy quarter-wolf, feeling empowered by this unpredictable meeting, began to lift his hind legs from the snowy ground almost as if he had never been injured during the long fall. A loud howling farewell was emitted from his lips as his father and the white lupine disappeared from his view. He paused to catch his breath – a smile formed on his face – and let out another call.

Yes, I can do this! Maybe there’s still a chance to . . . prove myself to everyone after all! The burgundy pup looked upward to where he had fallen with a hopeful glance, still keeping the smile on his face as he steadily approached the bottom of the rocky canyon.Perhaps it was a good thing that he showed up after all, he thought as he halted at the wall of jagged rocks and small cliffs. He took a breath, let it out, and placed his two front paws on the lowest slab of mountain. 

I’ll make you proud of your boy, Dad . . . I promise.

It had been about an hour since the team decided to wait and pray for their fallen companion. He was their lead dog after all, and they were all pulling for a miracle to take place. It was freezing cold at the edge of the cliff, so the Inuit musher held his fur-lined coat closer around his body as he remained firm on his runners behind the sled; he had wanted to continue the race, but his loyal team of huskies refused to budge without Kodi to lead them. Mr. Simpson let out a sigh as he saw his breath freeze in front of him.  

“Oh, Kodi,” the Inuit sighed again, thinking aloud to himself as he took his glance back and forth from his snow-dusted team of six, the empty leather and snow harness that lay in front of them, and the edge of the cliff. “Where are you, boy?”

The musher’s worry clearly could be felt from the dogs in front of him. They looked at each other, at the harness and back at the cliff too, laying close to each other to keep some sort of warmth and keeping their hopes alive for Kodi’s safety. 

Ralph let out a long whistle as he glanced down the canyon. “That’s a long drop down there,” He moved his neck from the cliff and let out a forlorn sigh. “I just hope he’s alive at least.”

“At least?” Dusty turned to him with a gasp. “I’m sure he’s fine. He . . .” She began to struggle with her words as tears began to well up in her eyes. “he-he’s gotta be okay . . . I mean,” She sniffled a bit as Ralph leaned up to dry her eyes. “He’s his son, after all . . .” 

Kirby sighed. “We all know that, Dusty . . . it’s just . . .” He sighed again. “It’s just impossible for him to have survived that fall. Those rocks would have hurt him, maybe even killed him . . .”

The team gasped and began to whine in the thought that their new lead dog might be gone for good. Dusty’s face was buried in Ralph’s neck, turning it a darker shade of gray. The large husky sobbed also as he tried to console the she-dog’s tears, as well as his own. 

“Even if he did survive the fall,” Kirby continued with a heavy heart and a straight face. He was not one to easily show emotion in times such as this, but inside, he was saddened as much as his teammates were. “there’s absolutely no way he could –”

His sentence was interrupted by a nearby howl. All the huskies’ ears pricked up at the noise, unsure of the identity of the cry. 

“W-w-what was that?” The gray and silver-marked wheel dog shuttered in fear. “I-i-it sounded like a wolf or something!”

“Wolves?” Ralph, Dusty, the brown husky beside Ralph and the other wheel dog – another brown male husky with white markings – gasped with fear in unison.  

“Well, I know that this is wolf territory out here,” Kirby calmed them down. “It’s normal for them to be out here . . .”

“Y-y-y-yeah, b-b-but do you k-k-k-know if they . . .” Ralph gulped. “k-k-kill h-h-huskies?” He stammered out, covering his head with his front paws as he trembled with fear. Then he screamed out with tears in his eyes, “I don’t wanna die! I’m too young and beautiful to be killed by wolves!”  

Kirby was unable to give the bulky husky an answer, for not even he knew; he shrugged his wheat-brown shoulders, only causing Ralph to yelp in pure panic. His fear quickly spread through the remainder of the huskies in the form of worried whining and constantly shuttering bodies, but it was silenced as another howl – one that was identical as the first, but slightly louder – flooded the six pairs of canine ears.

“Wait a second . . .” Dusty, whose tears were all dried by now, twitched her velvet gray ears towards the canyon with curiosity. “That voice . . .” She slightly romped forward, stopping at the edge of the cliff; her friends followed her, wondering what had caught her attention. “Could it be . . .?” 

The next howl was stronger and louder now, and much more recognizable than ever. The team smiled as they happily barked, giving Mr. Simpson the sign he – and all of them – had been praying for.

“Huh?” The young Inuit looked at his team gathering around the cliff, barking and yipping at the spot where his lead dog had been lost. Slowly but surely, he moved from his perch behind the sled and walked towards his team, wondering what all the commotion was all about. “What’s this – Kodi?” He gasped in shock and amazement. “Oh my goodness! Kodi! Come on, boy!” He began to call his red and white coated miracle with tears of joy falling from his black eyes, drenching his cheeks below.  

The rest of the team was encouraging him too, as he carefully made his ascent up the rocky ledges of the cliff. He could hear them all coaxing him onward, telling him not to give up and to be careful with his footing.

“C’mon, Kodi!” Dusty lowered her head to her front legs, looking at her fellow teammate beginning to struggle up the rocks. “You can do it!” 

“Yes, you got it!”