Whiskeyjack was now a year and a half. His strength and size was already being noticed, the other dogs were beginning to wonder how long it would be until he would overthrow Stone as leader. Stone was still bigger, but in less than a year, Whiskeyjack would easily be able to defeat Stone. Even Thompson was parsing Whiskeyjack.

Thompson was walking past Dawn and Whiskeyjack. They were sleeping with one another, she was resting her head on his back. Thompson’s boots hit the hard wood floor as he walked, they both awoke. Thompson smiled and said,

"C’mon Dawn, its your turn this week." He was going hunting, and it was Dawns turn to go with him. Dawn would refuse to go with him because she was worried that Stone would try to kill Whiskeyjack. Thompson would allow her to stay with him, but now he was old enough to be by himself. This time, Dawn would have to go. Dawn looked at Whiskeyjack with a worried look.

Whiskeyjack smiled. "Don’t worry ill be fine." He knew he would have to be with Stone. But he did not want Dawn to worry about him.

"Please be careful." She said nuzzling him.

"In a few days it will be your turn to come with me." Thompson said petting him.

As they walked out the door, Dawn made him promise that he would be fine when they returned. Whiskeyjack promised, but he knew that he might not keep it. The door slammed and the house was quite for awhile. Whiskeyjack was tired, but dared not to fall asleep, Stone would easily kill him. Before he knew it, Stone came from the corner of the room, the only thing Whiskeyjack could see was his teeth shining from the light the fire gave off. Whiskeyjack stood up and tensed his muscles. He did not growl, he wanted to see what Stone would do first.

Stone walked towards Whiskeyjack with a smile that worried him.

"Its just you and me now, mutt." Stone taunted.

"I don’t want to fight you, Stone."

"Of course not. It’s the sign of the weaker race. Refusing to fight, even if it costs your life." Stone wanted to fight. He wanted to show everyone that he was not going to let him take his place.

"Walk away Stone. Don’t make a foolish mistake, I promise you, you’ll regret it." Whiskeyjack would fight, but only if it was his last choice.

"You’ll regret ever being with Dawn." Stone snorted.

"I swear, if you do anything to hurt her. If you even make one false move against her-"

"You’ll do what? That’s what I thought, absolutely nothing. Your still a scared little pup."

Whiskeyjack had enough. He jumped on Stone a bared his teeth.

"Still think I wont do anything?" Whiskeyjack said.

Stone managed to throw him off. He had to admit, he underestimated him. He did not think Whiskeyjack was as strong as he was at his age. Both of them, readied themselves for a quarrel. The other dogs could only watch, it was not their place to speak out against their leader. Stone knew he had to keep his distance, if Whiskeyjack pinned him down like that again, he would not be able to get out like he did before.

"How does it feel to know that you wont be able to keep your promise to Dawn? By the time she returns, ill make sure your dead." Stone chucked.

Whiskeyjack lunged once more at Stone. This time Stone moved out of the way and slammed his head into Whiskeyjack’s body. Whiskeyjack lost his balance and flew several feet from where he was standing and into a wall. The other dogs began to cheer, egging both of them on.

"Oh! I felt that one!" Drake said.

"Get up Jack! Don’t disappoint us, we were looking forward to a good fight." Tank blurted out.

"Ill bet my next meal jack wins." Kelly said to Randy.

They started to make bets. But Whiskeyjack did not care, his only focus was Stone.

Stone went to grab Whiskeyjack’s neck. He rolled out of the way and drove his paw into Stone’s neck. His head bounced as it hit the floor, Whiskeyjack had him pinned once more. This time Stone could not brake free. Whiskeyjack growled at him and looked into Stone’s eyes. He saw nothing. Stones eyes locked into Whiskeyjack’s. Stone became frightened like Thompson did. His pupils became small, the panicked breath overcame him, and a cold sweat ran down his face. The other dogs began to talk amongst themselves.

"Why isn’t he fighting back?" Marc asked.

"Is he ok?" Xavier said.

Whiskeyjack still did not know what this eye does, but it paralyzes people with fear. He had to know what they saw in it.

"Tell me what you see." Whiskeyjack told him.

Stone did not answer. His eyes never left Whiskeyjacks’s. The same fear still had Stone in its grasp.

"Tell me what you see!" He shouted. He pushed his head closer to Stone’s

"I...."

Before Stone could answer, the door flew open. Whiskeyjack jumped off Stone and looked at the others. They understood what he was telling them to do. He wanted noone to speak of this. Stone got up and regained his sanity, he looked at Whiskeyjack at growled. But he knew he would have to kill him by surprise. Physical contact was out of the question, if they didn’t walk in, Whiskeyjack would have killed him. Stone walked away and hung his head low in shame.

"Very good weather! By tomorrow, well have much better game." Thompson said happily as he walked in.

Dawn rushed in and ran to Whiskeyjack.

"Are you alright? Did anything happen?" She was obviously worried about him. He did not want her to know about what happened.

"Im fine. Nothing happened, I just took a nap and waited for you." He said.

"Good, I was worried that Stone would....." She didn’t finish. She did not want to think of such things.

"Its alright. Im here, ill never leave you." He said nuzzling her.

She nuzzled him back and laid back down together. The other dogs left and went back to what they were doing. Whiskeyjack realized how he’s never seen what Thompson does with the animals he hunts.

"Did you two catch anything out there?" He asked.

"We tracked a decent size doe, and on the way back, a hare." She said.

"What does Thompson do with his game that he hunts?"

"Well....I’ve seen him do several things with them. Most of the time, he cleans them and it becomes our dinner. But I have also seen him skin them. Usually, when he does skin them, three men come here and take them. I personally don’t trust them at all. They treat Thompson like dirt, and they take what we hunt. And when he does skin them, we don’t have anything to eat. Those men take it."

Whiskeyjack thought a lot about what she said.

"Id like to see these men."

Thompson walked in with a large bloody knife and threw it in the sink. He turned the faucet on and washed his hands. Thompson was not himself, in fact, he looked worried.

"What’s wrong with Thompson? He seems scared." Whiskeyjack asked.

Dawn stood up and had the same worried look Thompson did.

"I think your going to see them for yourself." She said.

Thompson stepped back outside and returned with a pile of skins.

"That’s some of the game we caught this morning." Dawn said.

A loud knock hit the door, so loud that Whiskeyjack’s heart froze for a moment. Thompson rushed to the door. As he started to open the door, three men pushed the door open with such force, it slammed into Thompson. Whiskeyjack stood up and watched, Dawn was right. They treated Thompson like dirt. Whiskeyjack growled and bared his teeth to the intruders. The men pulled out objects from their coats and pointed them at Whiskeyjack. Thompson jumped in between Whiskeyjack and the men.

"No! Please, he’s new." Thompson pleaded with the men.

One of the men looked at Whiskeyjack with a scorn. Then he looked at Thompson.

"Is this how you treat your guests? Set your dog to attack us?" He spoke with a Russian accent.

Thompson turned around and gave Whiskeyjack a scorn.

"Whiskeyjack, be still. Go, leave!" He ordered him.

Whiskeyjack could not understand why Thompson acted like this. What did he have to fear of these people? Whiskeyjack obeyed Thompson and walked away. Dawn walked with him and sat next to his side.

"Don’t worry. Thompson knows what he’s doing." Dawn said.

The three men put the objects back into there coats.

"Be sure it does not happen again. I would hate to shoot him." He laughed.

Thompson apologized for Whiskeyjack’s actions. Whiskeyjack would like nothing more than to chew on the mans neck. But he stayed there with Dawn. The man looked at the pile of skins with disappointment.

"What’s this? Is this all you have for us?!" The man yelled.

"Im sorry Rubashov. The season is slow, this is all I can offer for now." Thompson said.

One of the men punched Thompson in the jaw. Thompson flew to the ground with part of his mouth bleeding. Whiskeyjack stood up and growled. Dawn put her paw on his.

"Please don’t." She said nuzzling him.

Whiskeyjack laid back down and was forced to watch it all unfold before him. Rubashov grabbed Thompson’s shirt and pulled him up.

"You take us for fools? We let you live. And all we ask for in return is for you to cooperate."

He pulled out the same object from before. He put it against Thompson’s head, his thumb pulled back, and the object made a clicking noise.

"This is enough to make you at least $500 or so." Thompson said.

Rubashov’s foot slammed into Thompson’s chest. A sound of pain escaped from Thompson’s mouth.

"How dare you insult my decision with your arrogance!"

Rubashov turned around and looked at the two

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