VOICES:

-Buck: Mark Harmon

-Kaya: Sasha Alexander

-Bristol: Patrick Swayze

-Xenia: Hillary Duff

-Boss: Brian Blessed

-Balto: Kevin Bacon

-Bear: William Lee Scott 

      For a pack led by a two-and a half- year-old wolf, my pack wasn’t doing badly. Since adding Bristol and Bear, Bear hadn’t left my side and Bristol climbed in ranking until he was the beta, which lowered an angry Talon to baby sitter. Currently, the whole pack was dozing, trying to soak up the rare sun that had penetrated the thick pre- winter clouds. Fall had been unusually chilly, so a cold winter was probably on the way too. Surprisingly, I wasn’t cold at all. In fact, I was warm and tingly inside, just thinking about that one question I’d been meaning to ask…

            “Leader! Leader!”

“Oh great” I heard Kaya moan, interrupting my thoughts.

“Xenia, you’ve only been scouting for a little while…and you’re supposed to howl if you need back up! Remember?” I yawned, lazily opening my eyes.

This must have been at least the tenth time today she had complained about something.

“What did your brothers do now?” Bristol chimed in, amused.

Xenia stopped and glared, taken aback.

                       “Why do you think this is about my brothers?” she scoffed.

“When isn’t it?” Bristol supplied, smirking.

Xenia glared at him but turned back to me seriously.

                       “Well it kind of is, but this time I agree with them!”

“What is it?” I asked. This might actually be serious if she agreed with them.

                       “Well, we don’t really know… but there’s some creature out there”

I stood up and shook off. Bear didn’t waste a second and was ready to follow whatever I did.

“I’ll stay here” Bristol groaned, rolling over on his side.

Xenia jogged off and I followed her with Kaya beside me and Bear not a step behind. We traveled up the trail leading to the cliff that hung over the northern border. Xenia’s two younger brothers, Nuka and Boulder were at the edge of the cliff, staring down at something. They only took their eyes off for two seconds to lay back their ears respectfully and scoot over to let me see. I walked cautiously over and looked outward. In the distance, a few tiny forms moved. I squinted my eyes and tried to see, but they were too far out. I grimaced. I really didn’t want to go down there. The two packs on that border wouldn’t resist a fight. But being the leader, I didn’t have much choice.

“Nuka, go tell Bristol that Bear, Kaya and I are going to be gone for a while” I ordered.

The youngest grey nodded and sprinted of.

“You two stay here and keep scouting”

Xenia frowned at her younger brother and opened her mouth to complain. I rolled my eyes.

“Yes you have to. Isn’t one brother easier to handle then two?”

            “No” she grumbled. “They can keep each other busy if there are two of them”

“Come on big sis!” Boulder sniggered.

I watched them walk off then started back down the trail and toward the open field. The slippery rock was coated with ice, making it impossible to quietly slip down the trail and into the trees. We sprinted along the tree line but something seemed strange. I stopped for a second to try to take it in. It was way too quiet. I strained my ears. No birds. No squirrels or rabbits. No noise whatsoever. Bear and Kaya skit to a halt and started to come back when I heard a tiny click.

“RUN!” I barked, jumping as a huge bang went off. Some invisible thing whooshed by me and a branch behind me broke and fell. I scampered off so fast, it was like I was running in place for a second. Bear and Kaya waited until I caught up with them, then all three of us shot deep into the woods, taking us dangerously close to enemy territory. But the smell I had feared since I was a pup was gone, so we stopped to catch or breath.

            “What was that?” Bear panted, voice trembling.

“Those were humans” I said bitterly.

Kaya cocked her head.

                       “Why would they come here?”

“I don’t know, but we need to get away from here. Before they or another pack catch up with us”

I didn’t want to waste any time. I started off briskly, Bear in stride, but Kaya stayed where she was. I huffed and turned around.

“Kaya, we have to get moving!”

She still didn’t move. I huffed louder so she could hear and headed back to her. Suddenly, something crashed into my side and sent me into the frozen dirt. I threw off my attacker and scrambled back to my feet. Bear snarled and stood by my side as we faced off with three unfamiliar wolves. Kaya finally started to pay attention.

            “What’s going on?!” demanded Kaya.

The wolves acted like she wasn’t there. They ignored Bear. All three only had eyes for me. They weren’t from any of the packs from around here. Wolf packs were small enough to know the enemy’s pack and I was sure the other packs knew mine too.

“Where are you from and who are you”

They didn’t say a word and none of them blinked. Before I could process the movement, two darted on either side and the third jumped at me. I snarled again and grabbed the first by its neck. One of the others sunk its teeth into my back leg. I dropped the first wolf and yelped. Kaya started to howl for the pack.

“Don’t!” I growled in between attacks. “The hunters are going to find us with a noisy pack!”

One of the attackers smirked. So that’s what they wanted.

“Just run!” I ordered, leaping clear of the strange wolves.

Kaya sprinted off; Bear tried for one last bite then followed Kaya. I tried to be quiet, but Kaya’s howl had given away our hiding place. Soon, another gunshot fired and I knew we were in serious trouble. We ran back into the woods, darting between trees and frost covered shrubs. Before I could do anything about it, we were separated and the only thing to do was to hide. I ducked under a pine tree and waited. Something was coming after me. Paws ran by tree and I leapt out, tackling one of the three wolves.

“Why are you here?!” I demanded.

To my surprise, the wolf tucked his tail between his legs and smiled.

            “My masters brought me here to find you!”

As much as I wanted to rip him apart, the dog part of me couldn’t do it. I jumped off without a second look and took a different route back home, making sure I wasn’t followed again.

As soon as I got back, I was relieved to find Kaya and Bear had already gotten home safely.

“Are you guys okay?” I asked Kaya worriedly.

            “Bear got shot” Kaya said flatly.

“Oh my god, are you all right?” I said, turning to the young wolf.

Bear grinned. I raised an eyebrow.

            “I’m fine! This is going to be a great story! I was ambushed and shot at the same time!”

I shook my head. He couldn’t be hurt that bad if he was talking and smiling much less standing and breathing. I turned to Kaya.

“Are you okay?” I smiled.

            “Well after almost getting shot and being ambushed, yeah, you could say I’m fine! Buck! Buck?”

I shook my head again. Had her eyes always been that blue?

“Sorry” I said shyly.

She gave me a half smile and raised an eyebrow.

“Alright” I said turning to the pack. “These humans and their wolves or dogs aren’t here by accident. Everyone needs to take every precaution possible and were going to have to stick around the two mountains. Scouting’s too dangerous”

The pack was quiet and with full stomachs from the hunt earlier today, they curled up and started to fall into an uncomfortable sleep. As hard as I tried, I just couldn’t. I studied my pack and my eyes stopped at Kaya. She was still awake too. That question popped up into my head again…

I stood up and she stretched, getting up to talk to me. I walked over to the edge of the cliff where I usually sat. She followed quietly and sat down next to me, blue eyes studying me.

            “What’s wrong?” she whispered.

I looked at her. She knew me too well.

“Those wolves… when we got separated, I caught one and it told me that the humans were in charge of them. And they said the humans were looking for me”

            “Don’t tell me those humans with their sticks scared you” Kaya joked.

I sighed and Kaya frowned.

            “Now I really can’t sleep” she sighed.

We sat in silence for a while. Early winter flakes floated gently down from the sky. This was the perfect time to ask her…

“You want to go for a walk?” I blurted.

            “Now?”

Curiosity sparkled in her eyes.

“That’s what I do when I can’t sleep” I said, trying to make up an excuse to talk to her.

            “Sure” she shrugged, smiling.

I got up and Kaya followed. We walked in silence for a while, making just barely visible prints in the snow. Kaya opened her mouth and caught snowflakes on her tongue. I smiled and watched her.

“So, I was thinking about being alpha and everything” I started.

Kaya turned to me, ears perked forward. Getting what I was starting to ask.

“Well, I needed an alpha female”

            “Well aren’t I already alpha female?” she said shyly kicking some of the dusty snow.

“Yeah, so I was thinking, um,”

                        “Well look who it is!” a cruel voice interrupted.

The familiar voice sent chills down my spine and made my fur bristle.

“What do you want?” I growled.

                        “Oh nothing…” Boss sneered as he strutted up. He had white stuff on half of his chest and on his paws.

Kaya started to growl and started to move in front of me.

                        “Aw, that’s cute… are you guys mates now?!” he taunted.

Kaya looked back at me but didn’t say anything. I glanced at her, but focused on Boss. This wasn’t the way I wanted to remember proposing…

“No”

The word fell like a rock. Kaya turned back to Boss and showed her teeth, snarling. Boss started to circle and my heart started to pound. Was this the fight I was dreading but expecting?

“Did you come to fight?!”

                        “Nope, just to say goodbye” he said blankly.

“I’m not going anywhere” I muttered, keeping my eyes on him. “And you’re not going to fight me…”

Boss wasn’t getting the reaction he wanted from me. And he was going to get it one way or another. He lunged for Kaya but her weight and size were no match for his. He rolled her onto her side and pinned her head to the ground with a single paw while she struggled and snarled. I was to afraid to move.

 “I’m scared now! What do you want!” I said desperately, eyeing Kaya.

                        “What I was saying was… the humans are your problem now” he grinned.

“You can’t control them”

                        “You can if you do something to them and make it look like you’re someone else” he said, looking down at his chest and paws.

What had he done?! He really would put himself in danger to bring me down?! My temper flared, but that was just what he wanted to see. And I wasn’t about to let him have the satisfaction.

“Let Kaya go now” I said calmly, taking a deep breath.

Boss scowled but let Kaya get up after swatting her hard with his paw so that she fell towards me.

 “I’ll be back soon to see if you’re still alive” he snarled over his shoulder.

Kaya fell into me and scrambled to her feet. He ruined everything… Kaya must have known he did too. It was obvious she was in a bad mood now. Without a single word, she skulked back in the direction of the den.

I watched her leave. None of this was supposed to happen. We were all supposed to be happy. When she was out of hearing range, I snarled and kicked a pile of dirt and snow. Anger wasn’t going to fix anything. I just hoped that something would…

By the time I had gotten back, Kaya had woken up the pack. They were thrilled to see that I was okay, but I had gotten used to it.

“We have to leave tomorrow”

Bristol said something, but the rest of the pack talked at once, covering it up.

“We leave tomorrow morning. There are hunters and….other things around here. It’s too dangerous”

The pack accepted it but still chattered. But as it got later, the sound died and the pack fell asleep, one by one. Kaya went away to get a drink and I watched her forlornly, thinking about what would have happened. My ears drooped.

            “You like her, don’t you?” Bristol said, watching me.

I rested my head on my paws and sighed. Bristol was smart enough to “read” wolves’ body language but it didn’t take a genius to figure out what I was feeling...

“Yeah… I was so close… I wanted to ask her… but… other things got in the way”

            “There’s always tomorrow” he said, trying to get me to smile.

I closed my eyes; tomorrow wouldn’t be a good day either…

The next morning, as the snow stopped and left a white dust on the ground, we started the three day long trip to the west coast. My sour mood spread and soon the whole pack seemed frustrated, angry or sad. Kaya was in just as bad of a mood and it was too awkward to talk to her. She led the way while I trailed behind. Bear walked beside me, ears tucked back. Although I didn’t want to admit it, I had a very short temper. At the slightest mistake, even from Nuka or Boulder, I growled and snapped them back into place. We didn’t even hunt even though I knew the pack was hungry but too scared to complain about it. On the last day, we crossed through several enemy territories without a single fight, which was very unusual during a war, but it was nothing to complain about. We found our usual spot on the outskirts of the woods and settled there.

“Leader?”

Bristol approached me, ears back and tail and head low.

            “The pack’s really hungry… can I take them hunting?”

I nodded and sighed.

“I need time to clear my head anyway” I admitted.

Not wasting any time, Bristol left with most of the pack right behind. I felt a little bad about the way I’d acted, but alone time was just what I needed. I set off towards the city and walked along the frozen beach. The ice filled water lapped on the sand as I passed the shipwreck and my heart sank. Last year, I had found my brother here and this was also the last place Ataneq was leader. The year before that was the first and last year my parents were leaders. Sinking into my own thoughts, tiny voices snapped my mind to attention. I looked around, spied an overturned rowboat and dived under it.

I glanced out from under the rowboat and saw a few young hybrids, a red one and grey one, fooling around. The parents came into view… and the father was Balto! My heart ached. I hoped I had a family one day. Maybe it was time to pay Balto another visit.

The sun was starting to set when I climbed up into the shipwreck and waited in a little room that had a Balto- smelling blanket. I waited and waited, and finally, I heard footsteps and a silhouette appeared in the doorway. Balto gasped and backed up, and I walked out so he could see me. Recognition filled his brown eyes.

“Hey” I almost whispered. “I know you don’t want to see me…”

Balto took me in, but managed to stutter, “No, actually, I was hoping you’d come back”

I managed a smile. Balto wagged his tail a little and smiled apologetically.

            “I saw Mom” he started.

“Me too” I replied, trying to smile.

            “Sorry about last time…” Balto said shyly, averting his eyes and laying back his ears. “I was… kind of in denial”

I nodded.

            “So… did your mate have your puppies yet?” he asked, eyes laughing.

I couldn’t help but to smile at that one.

“Yeah, I wish”

My smile melted and I sank down to the floor. I sighed and put my head on my paws again. I didn’t want to bring back problems the first time we talked, but there was no way to cover it up.

            “I’ve only known you for five minutes, but what’s wrong?”

“Kaya. My ‘mate’. I was really going to ask her to be my mate… I was going to tell her… that I liked her, but… it got all messed up”

            “Then go tell her now”

“It’s not that simple…”

            “Sure it is. I have a mate, and Steele was going to mess it up for me” he said, slipping back into memories.

“What’s your family like?” I asked curiously. "You have two pups, right?"

    "Nope, six!"

I spent most of the night talking to Balto. He told me about how he had saved the town, about his journey, his mate, Jenna and his six pups, Aleu, Kodi, Denali, Yukon,Saba and Dingo. I told him about Ataneq, how I was leader and Boss. Then the sun started to lighten the sky. Like the sky, my mood had changed from dark to sunny.

“I should probably head back. I want to talk to Kaya” I said cheerfully.

            “See you later Buck” Balto smiled warmly.

I smiled back and leapt off the boat. I ran all the way back across the frosty ground and when I got back Bristol got up and stretched, a little apprehensive.

            “Was wondering where you where” he said quietly.

“Do you know where Kaya is?” I chirped.

Bristol cocked his head at my suddenly cheerful mood but seemed confused about something else too.

            “I thought she was with you… She went out looking for you last night”

I started to panic, but tried to keep my cool. It hadn’t been that long since she left anyway. I just had to track her down…

“We have to find her… which way did she go?” I said, darting around at the start of the trail.

Bristol pointed a paw, and I bounded down the trail full speed until the trail split. By then, I could smell her scent trail, but it would be easier to look if the pack helped. I threw back my head and howled, calling the pack together. It didn’t take that long since they weren’t very far away, and then we set off as a group.

            “What’s so important?” Bristol panted, trying to keep up.

I ignored Bristol and kept tracking the scent I had just found. But a new smell caught my attention. My heart almost stopped beating and I froze. Bear, who had been walking directly behind me, crashed right into me and bounced off. The pack swarmed around the terrifyingly familiar scent that mixed with Kaya’s sweet smell. Where the two smells mixed, pink stained the light snow. It didn’t look like it came from a serious injury, but still…

            “Buck?” came Bristol’s quiet voice behind me.

I ignored Bristol and a growl was starting to work its way into my throat. My fury was building…

            “Leader?” said Bear, voice small.

I had never felt as angry as I did right now, not even Boss had made me this mad, but then again, he was the one that had caused the humans to come after me in the first place. I picked up the pace, following the human’s scent.

            “Buck! You can’t just go after humans… they’ll kill you…” Bristol argued.

I whipped around and glared at my doubtful pack. They shrank away and Bristol lowered himself, tail tucked between his legs.

“Watch me!” I snarled, whirling back to the trail.

If anything had happened to her, someone was going to pay dearly…

Buck, Kaya, Xenia, Nuka, Boulder and Bear (c) me

Bristol (c) Anileu

Boss (c) Tadie