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 had no idea what was going on. But it didn’t matter because my own ears had heard her for sure!

“Listen if you don’t believe me!”

Bristol’s ears twitched and the pack quieted to try to catch any familiar sounds. I strained my ears too, but there were no sounds.

“It was her… I know it was” I said softly. Bristol didn’t believe me and neither did my pack. And it hurt.

            “You need to relax and rest. I know you’ve been through a lot but she’s gone”

I didn’t say anything, just kept staring over my territory. Had I imagined it? I was even starting to doubt myself. But I know I heard her…

“Maybe I just need to rest…” I said weakly.

            “That’s it. Now come back with us where it’s warm” Bristol said, trying to comfort me.

I sighed and turned away from the cliff, following Bristol back to the pack. Atka, Yukon and Nero watched with curiosity at what was happening, still very confused.

            When I woke up again, it was morning. I felt hollow, like I was walking around while sleeping. But I still had a pack to lead. Throughout the day, Bristol didn’t let me be alone for a second. The three hybrids still weren’t used to the wild, but they were smart enough to follow orders, so Bristol told them to watch me, which got annoying very fast. We didn’t catch anything to eat; that was pretty normal for winter, but that didn’t help the pack’s downcast spirit. The only thing I had to look forward to was dreaming. Kaya was the only thing I dreamt about now anyway. That night, I closed my eyes, but was only asleep for a little while before my eyes flew open again. This time, I knew what it was. I scrambled to my feet and shoved a wary Bristol to his feet. The pack grumbled and followed us.

“Come on! Just listen!” I shoved Bristol to the edge of the cliff and strained my ears.

“Buck! It’s not her! You were dreaming!” Bristol moaned.

            This time, the long, sweet howl rang through the air. Bristol’s eyes widened and the pack stared, astonished.

Without waiting for my pack, I took off.

            “Buck! Wait! You don’t think that this is suspicious!?” Bristol called.

I knew that they would follow me, so I didn’t feel bad. I followed the trail and stopped until I heard another howl, this one a little strange. Was she in trouble?! I forced my legs to move faster. Finally, I came to the big open field that could be seen from the other side of the cliff, the one by the northern border. I halted at the edge of the field and strained my eyes. This was a dangerous zone. Hunters were here and so were two other packs. But something was moving at the opposite end of the field. It looked like… a wolf. 

Cautiously, I trotted along the tree line but once I was halfway there, I could clearly see who it was… and I wasn’t about to wait any longer to be with her! I broke into a run. Stupidly, I didn’t even stop to wonder why she didn’t move, as if she was tied. Or why it looked like she was trying to pull something off of her muzzle… or why she was there in the first place.

“Kaya!”

She stopped what she was doing and ran toward me, but some unseen force caught her and made her flip back. She didn’t look one bit happy to see me… she looked horrified. My brain finally started to work again. I skit to a halt. What was going on?!

BANG!

The force of the human’s fire stick sent me rolling. It had hit me square in the side and it hurt a lot more then I remembered from when I was a puppy. My legs still moved like they were trying to grab something. My body shuddered by itself from the pain. I tried to roll over, but it didn’t help.

“BUCK! NO!”

Some other figure was moving towards me, a human figure. I tried to growl, but even growling hurt. Someone was whimpering and to my disgust and surprise, I realized it was coming from me.

“I went through a lot trying to get you, wolf. But it’s worth the reward money” said the human.

I didn’t really understand what he meant but I did as soon as the end of the fire stick was pointed at me again. But my pack, a little late, finally got to me. Bristol, Bear and Talon tackled the human and wrestled the fire stick away.  

Half the pack helped chase away the human while the other half rushed over to me. Kaya pushed her way through, with the thing on her face gone and half of a rope hanging from her neck.

“Hey Kaya…” I said, trying to smile.

Kaya tried to smile and opened her mouth to say something, but she couldn’t think of anything to say at first.

            “What did you think you were doing?” she finally said softly. “That was probably the stupidest mistake anyone could make! You out of everyone should have been able to pick that out”

I smiled but her shape started to look like a shadow. Kaya frowned and said something but I didn’t hear anything. The last thing I saw was a raven circling over us. Then everything went black.

            When my eyes fluttered open again, I still couldn’t see, but it only took me a few seconds to realize it was because Kaya was lying down on my head and her fur was covering my eyes. I still felt very weak, and my side hurt as much as it had before, but my energy felt like it was returning. And someone was definitely standing on my wound.  

            “Who are you?! And what are you doing?!” I heard Kaya growl.

                        “Yukon. The pressure stops the bleeding” I heard Yukon mutter.

“You’re some kind of genius, Yukon” I heard Bristol remark. “But how do you know this…?”

                        “My owners lived next to the doctor’s office, so you hear a lot of stuff through the windows…” he replied quietly. “It’s pretty bad, but I think he’s going to be okay”

Kaya stood up ad nudged my head.

“I’m okay” I mumbled trying to sit up. Pain shot through me again and Kaya pushed me back down. Once I caught my breath, I looked up at Kaya.

“So what happened to you, Kaya?”

            “Oh, well, that night that we got to town, and you left, I wanted to talk to you, cause you were going to ask me something before we had left. I couldn’t find you anywhere, so I went to go back to the pack, but this thing came up right out of the leaves and bit my leg. It was a human trap with metal teeth. I waited there, then all of a sudden, this human came out with a fire stick that had no fire and hit me with a fluffy thing that made me fall asleep. Then when I woke up, I was tied to a tree. I tried to howl, but no one came. Then the man came right out the bushes! And he can howl just like us! Then he went to grab my rope and I bit his hand. Then he put a thing around my mouth. Then tonight, he tied me to that tree and he hid in the bushes, howling until you came running right out of the trees. I tried to warn you, but you weren’t paying attention to anything around you, which was kind of stupid…”

I forgot how fast Kaya talked. Bristol’s eyes were glazed over, like his mind was somewhere else. Yukon, having just met Kaya, had his head cocked as if he couldn’t believe anyone could talk that fast. Then he snapped back to attention and took his paw away.

                        “I’m not sure we should move you back yet” Yukon said.

“Well what’s the worst that can happen?” I said confidently, sitting up.

Yukon looked at me skeptically and Kaya made me lay down again.

“Then how long do you want me to stay here?”

            “Just a little longer, just to be safe” Yukonsaid, studying the wound again.

The pack kept a close watch but the human, even though he managed to escape, didn’t come back. The surrounding packs must have known that the human was there, because they were gone too. The temperature started to drop and I started to shiver. It only got worse when it started to snow.

            “I guess you should be okay now…” Yukon said slowly.

“You guess?”

            “You can’t hear everything through the windows” he shrugged.

Bristol and another older wolf helped me find my feet. Everything felt sore, like I’d gotten beat up. When my legs started to move, I groaned at how hard it was to move. Meanwhile, Kaya feinted back and forth. Every time I made a noise, she darted back to make sure I was okay. Finally, in what seemed like half of a day, Bristol and the other wolf maneuvered me into the den and set me down. Kaya followed us in and carefully snuggled next to me to try to keep me warm. 

            “Kaya, why don’t you watch him for a while?” Bristol suggested, smiling at me.

Bristol exited the den, eyes twinkling.

I sighed, finally happy that the hole in my heart was filled… although it had moved to my side, literally.

“I’m glad you’re okay…” I started.

            “You’re the one that got shot” Kaya smiled.

“Yeah, but there was something I wanted to ask you… you know… the thing that got us into this mess in the first place” I said shyly.

            “Uh huh” she said, blue eyes meeting mine.

“Do you want to be my mate?” I blurted awkwardly.

I heard a thumping sound. It was Kaya’s tail wagging.

            “I thought you’d never ask” she smiled, licking my nose.

With that finally said, she lay her head on my back and even though I couldn’t see her now, I knew she was smiling as big as I was.

Buck, Kaya, Bear, Nero, Atka and Yukon (c) me

Bristol (c) Anileu