VOICES:

-Buck: Mark Harmon

-Balto: Kevin Bacon

-Jenna: Briget Fonda

-Mindy: Jennifer Love- Hewitt

-Aniu: Glenn Close

-Talus: Patrick Stewart

-Klondike: Viggo Mortensen

-Andy: Brendon  Baerg

       My eyes fluttered open. Where was I?

            “You call this lazy wolf your son?!” someone thundered, making me jump out of my skin.

I leapt to my feet and turned around, teeth bared. But a familiar white form stopped me dead in my tracks.

“Mom…”

Aniu’s presence might have caught me off guard, but it didn’t shock me as it had the first few times.

                        “Hi son” she smiled, eyes sad.

A bad feeling started to ping in my gut.

“What’s wrong?”

Something moved out of the corner of my eye. I spun again, meeting the cold eyes of another wolf that carried the same sort of mystical, powerful feeling that Aniu did. At once, I knew who he was.

“Talus?”

The great grey wolf ignored me.

            “Aniu! You’ve gone too far this time!” he thundered.

Aniu opened her mouth, ears back, but Talus cut her off again.

            “The first time with Boss it was okay, the second with Boss was okay, the third time with the hunter, I had given you this talk and now this! This… this half bred is long overdue!”

A soft growl escaped from me before I could help it. Those cold eyes finally jumped to me.

            “Do you honestly think you could beat me!?” he snarled. “You’re coming with us now!”

I opened my mouth but nothing came out. Was I dead?!

                        “He has to stay!” Aniu cried desperately. “He’s the only one who can beat-”

            “You’ve done enough!” Talus thundered again.

Throughout the whole fight, I was finally able to pick out what was happening to me. The thoughts wove through each other when my mother pulled me out of it.

                        “Buck, honey? Why don’t you go wait outside?” she tried to smile.

            “I’m the one giving orders!”

                        “He doesn’t deserve to be put through all of this!” Aniu snapped.

Talus thought about it then nodded. Still trying to sort things out, I exited.

I focused on the ground, in a kind of fog, ignoring the little bit of snow that fell along as I went. Something in the back of my mind was telling me to go home, and without knowing, my feet started to lead me back to my territory. Suddenly, something moved in the bushes making me freeze. A furry, dark brown creature slithered out; a creature I had never seen before.

            “Hello there Buck” it sniggered.

I narrowed my eyes. Another one crawled out from behind me, whiskers twitching.

                        “How are you feeling?” the second snickered.

I took a step back, bristling when a third came out. What were these things?

“Stay away” I growled.

            “We don’t mean any harm” the first hissed.

“Then what do you want and what are you?!”

                        “We’re just three poor wolverines coming to give you sympathy”

“For what” I shot suspiciously.

                                    “Your family” the third grinned.

“What happened to them?!” I snapped.

            “A huge black wolf killed them”, said the first, pretending to be sad.

My heart dropped right into my stomach.

“Why should I believe you” I snarled, trying to walk around them.

                        “We were there”

I stopped and glanced over my shoulder. They had to be wrong.

“You don’t even know what they look like”

                                    “Sure we do. A brown- grey female and three pups that are black, white and brown”

“You’re wrong!” I yelled, panic twisting my insides.

            “And the rest of your pack thinks you’re a failure”

                        “They don’t want you back”

I closed my eyes and shook my head furiously.

                                    “Tsk tsk. A wolf that can’t protect his own family”

All three of the wolverines began talking at once. All of what had happened to me was crushing me. It was too much. I muffled a sob and took off, running blindly into territory I didn’t know.

 

            I had no idea how long I had run for. It was a while before I stopped and when I did, it was only because I bumped into something. My tear filled eyes couldn’t make out what it was. The only thing I could see was a dark hole. Without a second thought, I burrowed into it and curled into a tight ball. I didn’t deserve to go back. I didn’t deserve to start a new family. I jammed my eyes shut and forced myself asleep. Again, losing track of time, I drifted between sleep and a semi awake daze. But as what I believed were days passed, the sleep became longer and outlasted the daze.

 

                                    *                                  *                                  *

            I opened my eyes, but closed them again with a sigh. They flew back open again and I scrambled to my feet. Where was I?!

I shook off the old brown blanket and almost tripped over a half chewed bone.

            “Buck?” someone mumbled.

I snarled and backed into a corner.

A dark form moved toward me.

“Stay away!” I roared.

The dark figure didn’t stop.

            “Buck, it’s me, Balto”

My younger brother’s form finally took shape and I tried to calm myself down.

“What do you want?” I snapped.

Balto looked dumbfounded.

            “I saved your life” he said breathlessly.

“Well I didn’t want it to be saved” I snapped.

Balto’s brown eyes searched me worriedly.

            “What hap-?”

“I don’t want to talk about it. Ever”

I stalked away but stopped at the railing.

“How’d I even get here?”

            “My son Kodi and his friends found you unconscious under an old rowboat. They brought you here and we had Doc come up to check on you. He said you have shock and exhaustion”

I laid my ears back and clenched my jaw. With a sickening twist, memories rushed back to me. Nero was dead.

“I don’t have any home to go to” I managed, voice cracking thinking of a way to tell him.

            “You can stay here” Balto offered.

 “Balto… Nero’s dead”

I probably could have told him in a thousand better ways but I was in a bad mood anyway. Balto didn’t make a sound and I didn’t want to see his face. With a final sigh, I stalked

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