Author's note: Now keep in mind that I have zero knowledge on the Alaskan history of towns and such, so please bear with me >_>

*********************

It was late evening at a farm a few miles out of Fairbanks Alaska and Miksa was just finished with his supply delivery to and from the woods. It was winter, and his master David wanted to stock up wood for his large family to stay warm. Miksa was resting with his teammates in the barn just outside of his master's house. He was a dark brown and white husky and was large for his size. His teammates were Watson, a white malamute; Storm, Boomer, Talleulabelle, a gold malamute; Tazwell, a german shepard, saint bernard mix; Gina, a brown husky; and finally Jack. They were all pretty close, and Miksa enjoyed running with them, whether he led or not. They were all bought at the same time to grow close and work together as a family, and all of them were six years old.

Miksa sat in some hay and faced his teammates. "Good run, guys. That was tough pulling all of that wood, huh?"

"Tough is putting it mildly! I would've keeled over if David put me in the back of the sled to pull all that weight!" Storm laughed. Storm was a female black and white malamute. She was also Watson's older sister. Although she was small for her breed, she was probably the loudest and most aggressive of the group. For every sound she hears, she makes loud barks and growls in hopes of scaring away any danger. Storm looked to her side and seen Boomer asleep next to her. He was a red and white husky who never spoke, nor barked. Everyone probably only heard him speak once when he was introducing himself as a puppy. But since then everyone was only able to know what he was thinking or saying through his facial expressions.

|"Psh! That dog! I wonder how he can fall asleep so fast. You'd think him not talking would make him more energetic than any of us," stated Jack, a black, brown and white malamute.

"I'm sure he is more energetic on the inside," Miksa grinned. "I'm just WAITIN' for him to burst out with something amazing to say."

"THAT will be the day!" laughed Watson. The other dogs joined in with soft chuckles.

After David ate with his family, he entered the barn with a bucket of raw meat. He threw to each of his dogs a handful of meat for them to eat as a reward for a hard day's work. Miksa led that day and David gave him more attention for that reason. The same thing went for any of his dogs that led. David was about 42 years old and had four kids, two boys and two girls, his oldest son being 18. Miksa didn't care for David's son because he rarely seen him at home. When David left the barn, the eight dogs fell asleep with a full moon's light pouring in from the window.

It wasn't long before dawn, and David hooked up all of the dogs to the sled. He casually stated that he needed to mail some letters and get some money out of the bank. He decided to let Miksa lead the sled again. The weather was very nice and cool that morning. The wind was bearly blowing and it made it easier for Miksa and the others to run. He sniffed the air and he could tell that it was going to snow soon. He ran a little bit faster than usual, because he didn't really want to be caught in the snow. No matter what he wouldn't let it get to him. All he wanted was to run and bring his master home safely.

After a few minutes, they all eventually made it to Fairbanks. David hooked the sled near the bank, gave Miksa a word of praise, and strided up the small flight of stairs and through the door into the bank. It seemed a little more crowded than usual in town that day. Everybody was probably aware of the snow coming and wanted to get things done. Whatever those things were, they didn't seem important enough to Miksa and he wondered why humans were always in such a hurry. They seemed rushed no matter what time of the day it was. He sighed to himself and thanked the heavens that he was a dog.

A scruffy-looking man walked up next to the sled. The dogs looked at him and growled, especially Storm. She barked at him trying to get him to go away. He eventually did, and walked to the front where Miksa was. Miksa just looked at him with an expressionless face. The man didn't look very happy, he seemed more depressed than anything. He was definately shorter than David and was wearing a long coat that looked too big for him. The man looked like he was going to steal the sled, but thankfully Storm wasn't going to let him anywhere near it. He scoffed and ran inside the bank.

"Is it just me, or did that guy look very creepy?" Miksa asked jokingly to his team.

"No, it wasn't you," Tazwell said in a suspecting way. "I'm usually good with people, but I did NOT want that guy anywhere near me."

"I know what you mean!" Storm exclaimed. "Why, if he were to lay ONE hand on the sled, I would've--" Storm was interrupted by a gunshot. The dogs all looked where the gunshot came from. It was from inside of the bank.

"David's still in there!!" Miksa cried. He wandered around as far as his harness would let him. He looked through the windows from where he was and tried to see any sign of David. While he was looking, people were scrambling in the street away from the bank. Miksa spotted David in one of the windows with his hands up to his shoulders. Some words were exchanged. Then there was another gunshot, and David fell from Miksa's sight. HIs eyes widened as the scruffy-looking man ran from the bank with a bag of money in his hands. He ran into the crowd of scrambling people and disappeared. Miksa looked into the bank and seen that a few people were alive, but shaken with fear. And just beyond the door was David's dead body. It began to snow outside.

******

It was four days since David's death, and it was snowing lightly ever since. That fourth evening, Miksa layed in the straw, staring into nothing. He couldn't stand the thought of being on the farm if David wasn't around. Without him, the family had no money because David was the only one working, and David's wife would eventually have to sell the dogs. Miksa knew that would happen, and the thought of being sold to a man like the man who shot David angered him greatly. If he could help it, he didn't want to leave his teammates. He knew he shouldn't fear the inevitable, but he couldn't help it.

Tazwell eventually walked in the barn and sat next to Miksa. "You've been sitting in here for a long time. You cant let this bother you, Miksa." Miksa stayed quiet. He knew he couldn't let David's death bother him. He felt a little bit responsible for it, though, because he seen it happen, and he kenw that somehow he could've stopped that man from ever entering the bank. But what really bothered Miksa was what would happen after he and the others were sold.

"Well, it's official," said Tazwell, sadly. "The Mrs. is going to sell us to help pay for the family's needs."

"I don't see how selling us is going to help the family," Miksa said sourly. "We're only worth a couple hundred dollars each anyway, the money would run out in no time."

"I know, but the least we can do is ensure them a little bit longer, right?"

"Yeah, but what would happen to you and the others after we all got sold?"

Tazwell was silent for a moment. "...I don't know." He accompanied Miksa a few moments longer and left the barn.

Boomer walked into the barn a few minutes later and stood next to the laying Miksa.

"Hey Boomer," said Miksa. Boomer stared at him with an annoyed look in his eyes. "You come to give me a peptalk too? I'm all up for hearing anything you hafta say." Miksa chuckled.

"Just because David's wife is going to separate us, doesn't mean that life has to stop." Boomer said simply. Miksa was a bit amazed that Boomer said that much. But he took what he said into thought, and smiled.

"You're right." Miksa said after Boomer left. He looked up at the moon that was peeking through the window. He wondered why he never thought of having a better life after this one. He seemed to go back to his optimistic self. When all of the dogs came into the barn to sleep, he figured it was time to do so as well.

******

Miksa woke up in the middle of the night to light footsteps in the snow outside of the barn. He sniffed the cold air. It definately wasn't the scent of David's wife, or any human for that matter. Miksa quietly got up and padded over to the barn door. It was always cracked open so that the barn never got too warm for the dogs. His ears moved around to hear if there was anything outside of the door. So far, there wasn't, so he slowly walked out of the barn and looked around. He couldn't really see anything because it was snowing, so he relied on his sense of smell. He made his way to the back of the barn. The sled was parked there.

"Hm," Miksa thought. "They must have forgotten to put it away." He looked behind the sled from afar and seen a figure whiter than the falling snow staring at him with gold eyes. "A wolf!" Miksa exclaimed in his thoughts. The wolf was pure white with the brightest gold eyes he had ever seen. It was definately smaller than Miksa, maybe only a year or so old, and judging by the sweet smell of the animal, he could tell that the wolf was female. She stood very still, knowing that Miksa had spotted her. He tried wagging his tail to show her that he meant her no harm, but as soon as his tail flinched, she turned as fast as she could and sprinted towards the woods. Miksa gasped and before he knew it, his feet were carrying him right after her.

The snowfall lightened up after a minute and made it easier for Miksa to follow the wolf. She dashed through the trees trying to get rid of Miksa, but he kept up with her. She must've been getting tired but since Miksa was trained to run long distances, he wasn't tiring at all.

The wolf eventually turned and Miksa lost sight of her and stopped. He listened. He couldn't hear her running so she must've stopped too.

"You still here, miss?" Miksa asked aloud. "No need to fear me, I'm not gonna hurt you. I'm just as curious as you are." He chuckled kindly. She didn't come out from her hiding spot.

"If you're so curious, then what do you want?" she asked. Her voice was kind of deep, for a girl. It sounded of church bells and was actually quite lovely to listen to.

"Just to ask why a pretty canine like you is wandering around a dirty old barn like mine." Miksa sat down in the snow, to assure that he meant her no harm. He figured that if he tried looking for her, she would either never come out of hiding, or run away.

"Hmm," she laughed through her nose. "Sweet talk isn't going to get you anywhere."

"What makes you think I'm trying to get anywhere with you?" Miksa shot some attitude right back at her. He could sense that she smiled.

"Ouch. That hurt." the wolf giggled sarcastically. She slowly emerged from behind a pine tree trunk. She seemed a little more friendly and less skiddish now.

"So, miss....uh," Miksa blushed a bit because he tried to address her without first knowing her name.

"Aniu," she smirked.

"Miss Aniu," he smiled. "What was so interesting about my barn?"

"Something smelled interesting around there," she said, looking away. She shifted her eyes to his. "I guess I found out what it was." She was definately flirting with him. Whether that was a good thing or not, it didn't matter to Miksa. But he automatically knew that maybe this new friendship with Aniu was going to lead him into the new life he was waiting for.

******

Miksa didn't return home until the next morning. He and Aniu hit it off really well that night. They talked for hours while traveling on the outskirts of David's land. Aniu was the only daughter of the alpha male, Lokesh. Her mother and siblings were killed by hunters on a very foggy night. She had wandered from home when she was a pup. Her father chased after her and that's when it happened. Since she found her family like that she had always been scared of the fog. Lokesh wanted to stay as far away from humans as possible, but Aniu couldn't help but find them fascinating. Miksa asked her why her pack was so far south. She wasn't sure, herself. Though, he envied her for her sense of adventure, but at the same time frowned upon her disobeying her father. When they had reached the barn, Aniu wanted to see him again the next night, so he promised she would.

As soon as he collapsed into the hay to fall asleep, he was disturbed by Storm.

"Where were YOU last night, hmm?" Storm asked. The others looked up from their resting positions.

Miksa opened his drowzy eyes and looked at her in a vexed way. "I was out." he simply said, and closed his eyes once again. Storm pushed him with her front paws to wake him up again.

"Don't you think you should stay HERE, where you're needed?" she nagged. "Instead of gallivanting around like nothing else matters?"

"What do you want me to do?" Miksa asked, aggrivated. "One minute you guys tell me to stop being depressed, now you're telling me not to be happy."

"Of course we want you to be happy, stupid!" Storm growled. "We just don't want you to simply forget about us, and your life here." The last thing she said was gentler than before.

Miksa looked at her, at the others and then back at Storm. "I wont forget about any of you. Or anything here. No matter what happens." Storm smiled and rubbed her head against his. Naturally he could never forget about this place. If he were to be separated from the others, he would reminisce in order to carry on living. But then Aniu came to mind. He couldn't leave her either, because he knew there was something about her that he had to get to know better. Maybe he could somehow stay behind, at least long enough to be able to keep long memories of her. Why was he thinking about her so much? It was probably because he liked her. But even so, why did staying for her seem more important than staying for his family?

******

He returned to the woods to meet Aniu for the next two nights. Since then, David's wife sold Gina, Talleulabelle, Jack, and Boomer. It was said that Gina and Jack were sold to be racedogs. Talleulabelle was sold to a small family. And Boomer was sold to a breeder. Miksa was glad that they were able to find good homes on the spot, but he was still uneasy about Watson, Storm, and Tazwell finding good homes. They might, but he could never be sure. Storm was getting angry at Miksa for leaving every night doing God-knew-what. She was afraid that one day he was never going to come back, but like he kept promising Aniu, he promised Storm, Watson and Tazwell that he would come back.

The third night he seen Aniu, she greeted him in an unusual way. Before she would barely go near him, but this time she nuzzled him softly. It wasn't a strong, intimate nuzzle, but it still felt weird to Miksa. Good. But weird.

"Well, I must say that was unexpected." Miksa blushed. She blushed back for a response. "My master's wife is going to be selling me soon...just so you know why I might not come back."

"Yes, I know..." Aniu sighed sadly. She was very young compared to Miksa, and he wasn't sure if she would really understand, but she seemed to take that fact kind of hard. "It's not fair though, because we just met, and I know that we can do something great together! Or make something wonderful happen someday. I'm not sure what, but...you know." Miksa had an idea of what she meant. She didn't sound like she had anything sexual in mind, and that was fine to him. But he could see where she was coming from with it not being fair that he had to leave to soon. "Why don't you join my father's pack?" she asked, hopeful.

"I don't know, Aniu..." Miksa winced. "I've never met your father, and I doubt I'd be able to stand a chance."

"I could take care of you!" she said. "I'll do anything to keep you coming back here. I'm afraid that if I don't have a part of you with me, I'll forget a very good memory." She basically said that she wanted more time with him, and Miksa just wanted to give that to her. But he knew that if he ran away, it would only be a matter of days before he grew weak. Wolves could go days without food, but he was too used to eatting every other day, if not every day of the week.

Miksa just looked down, unsure of how to respond. She stared at him for a moment and nuzzled her face against his in a loving way. She backed off a bit, her face hovering next to his. He looked into her gold eyes. The moon shone into them from above. Unknowingly, he licked her forehead gently. She pressed her cheek against his and padded off a few feet away from him. She looked back at Miksa and smiled. She turned around and ran off into the woods somewhere. He smiled too, and chased after her.

******

Miksa woke up the next morning, but he didn't wake up in the barn. He was outside in the woods and the snow was beginning to melt off the tree branches and drip onto the ground. Miksa heard birds chirping, and a faint breathing pattern from the sleeping form next to him. Aniu was still asleep, her body still pressed against Miksa's. He smiled at her and looked off into the woods. He could hear animals from all around moving about in the snow. It was very peaceful. When the sun shown on Aniu's face, she awakened and looked at Miksa. She smiled at him and nuzzled him with her nose. Her ears twitched and her smile broke into a frown.

"What is it, Aniu?" Miksa asked, concerned. He sniffed the air.

"It's my father. I never returned last night, he must be out looking for me!" Aniu stood up.

"Should we run?" asked Miksa, standing up.

"There would be no good in it," Aniu stated. "It would only bring more trouble."

Miksa thought to himself. "More trouble? What could be more trouble than your father finding us here like this?"

Not a moment later, a pack of ten white wolves surrounded the couple, all of them snarling at Miksa. Aniu growled at them right back and told them to stop. The wolves ceased the growling when a larger white male wolf commanded it. He must have been Aniu's father, judging by the way he was glaring at Miksa.

"What were you two thinking?!" Lokesh demanded. Neither Aniu nor Miksa spoke to him, but somehow he knew what they did the previous night.

"Father, please, it was an accident," Aniu pleaded.

"An accident!" Lokesh snarled. "Do you have any idea what this is going to do to your life? To the PACK'S life?!" Aniu seemed hopeless, but Miksa wasn't sure if comfort was going to make her feel any better. He knew that Aniu was going to be pregnant with hybrid puppies, and he wasn't sure if they were going to survive like that, and surely not in a pack of wolves. He almost kicked himself for not knowing what she was going to soon be going through.

"Yes, I have an idea," Aniu snapped quietly. "But I'm willing to take any punishment for it."

"That you will be! When I die and you are with puppy, who is going to lead this pack?" Lokesh asked, his voice not lowering one bit. "SURELY, not that DOG!"

"I am willing to do just that, sir," Miksa said gently. "Because I promise that I will never leave your daughter."

"You better not leave her," Lokesh growled. "For if you do, I will kill you." Lokesh made it perfectly clear to Aniu that her life would be punishment enough for her and he was going to go easy on her for being irresponsible. He knew that what was done was done and there was nothing he could do about it. Aniu understood where her father was coming from and they nuzzled each other. Lokesh turned towards the woods and started off. The rest of the wolves followed behind him, and Aniu and Miksa were last to follow.

******

It had been about a month and a half since Miksa was unofficially a member of the pack. He seemed to have lasted just fine since he was already a fast learner and a fast runner. He rarely ate much and whenever he was done eatting, he let Aniu eat more than what she ate. He was very good to her, and they were very happy together, even Lokesh was happy for them. He eventually learned that Miksa wasn't a bad guy and knew that Miksa would be a good father. He also followed the rule that wolves mated for life and accepted their decision.

The pack had been traveling for a few days and Miksa immediately recognized the area. He was on his old master's property. He had almost forgotten about his teammates and his family. Well....his OLD family. Even if they weren't as important as they were, they were still important to him. He told Aniu that he would be back with her before sunset and he went off towards the farm. He wondered if Watson, Tazwell, and Storm would recognize him because he was alot more muscular than he used to be. Nobody seemed to be in the house, but he heard a noise come from inside the barn. He peeked in and without warning, Storm barked and snarled at him. She looked at him again and her eyes widened.

"Miksa?" she gasped.

"Hey, Storm!" he exclaimed happily. "How've you been?"

"Where WERE you!" Storm cried, pushing her face into his shoulder.

"Sorry, Storm," Miksa sighed. He looked around. No one else seemed to be in the barn. "Where are Watson and Tazwell?"

"Oh yeah!" Storm's voice grew cold and angry. "See, what happened while you were SIDETRACKED, they got bought and sold!" When Miksa heard this, he lowered his head. He felt like he had betrayed them somehow.

"I'm...sorry." he said.

"Psh, yeah, like sorry's gonna bring them back," Storm scoffed. "Also, while you were gone, David's wife sold you too."

"What? How could she sell me if I wasn't here?"

"Because we all knew you would return." Storm sniffed. "She may not have been close to you like David was, but she knew that since you were his dog you wouldn't possibly leave this place forever."

"Well, when--" Miksa heard a car pull up outside of the barn. Two humans were making their way to the barn and before Miksa knew it they entered. One of them was David's wife and the other seemed oddly familiar.

"Ah, see? I told you he'd be back." David's wife said in a quiet tone.

"Wow, look at him," the man went up to Miksa and let him sniff his hand. Miksa did, and realized that it was the same man who killed David, only this time he was more trimmed up and well-dressed. The man ran his hands up and down Miksa's body and looked inside his mouth for any infections or signs of rabies. "He's perfect. He's just what I need for my team. I'll take him." Miksa growled and tried to run out of the barn, but David's wife grabbed him by the scruff and pulled him back in. Miksa would have easily been able to slip out of her grasp, but when she said "Whoa," he instinctively stopped what he was doing. For the first time he cursed David's command training.

The man slipped a rope around Miksa's neck and whenever he tried to get away, the rope tightened around his neck. He was practically dragged to the truck and he pulled so tight that the rope was taught around his neck and cut off his oxygen supply. He tried getting away from the man, but the lack of air was getting him to tire. Miksa cried out Aniu's name a few times, but speaking only tired him more. Before the man even reached the truck to put Miksa in the back, Miksa passed out from the struggle and lack of oxygen. |

Storm gasped and went to go to Miksa's side, but she was stopped by David's wife and was put in the barn. The man lifted Miksa up and put him in the back of the truck.

"Now, where did you say you were taking him?" asked David's wife from outside of the truck.

"Juneau," he stated. And drove away.

******

Sunset had passed, and Aniu layed on the ground waiting to sense Miksa coming. But she couldn't hear, smell, nor see him anywhere. She sighed and layed her head onto the ground of the small cave she was in. She was by herself in the front of the cave, while the other members were crowded together in the back. She wondered where Miksa was. She knew that there was no way Miksa couldn't find them because he had excellent tracking skills.

"Something must have happened to him." Aniu thought, trying to hold back a tear so that her father wouldn't see.

Lokesh walked up to her from the back of the cave and looked out into the distance with his daughter. "I can't believe that he backed out on his promise. But I'm afraid that if he isn't back by the morning, I'm going to have to believe it."

"I refuse to." said Aniu.

"Well that's your decision." Lokesh turned around to go into the back of the cave again.

"Father?"

Lokesh turned again to face Aniu.

"Couldn't we wait until..." Aniu sniffed. "Couldn't we wait for a while? Maybe about two weeks...a month? Because...because I think something has happened to him."

"One week." Lokesh decided, and disappeared into the cave's darkness.

******

The first week passed and the pack wandered towards the ocean. Aniu always travelled last, in hopes of letting Miksa catch up. But he never appeared behind her. More weeks passed. And months passed. And then it was finally time for Aniu's puppies to be born. The pack took shelter for her to give birth in a small cave outside of a town near the ocean. Her father, who was waiting outside, was uneasy for his daughter. He paced the area outside of the cave, waiting for any sign. Aniu wasn't worried at all because she gave birth nice and easy, to four beautiful puppies. There were two girls and two boys. One girl was light brown, and the other was white. One boy was also white, but his brother was all brown. Once she cleaned her young, she smiled upon them when they began nursing. She looked up and said a prayer to Miksa, wherever he was, and thanked him for a beautiful and healthy litter.

******

Aniu and her pack members stayed put near the ocean. Although the pups were two months old, they weren't ready for days of non-stop travel. She was still afraid for their safety because they were close to humans in the town. She would teach them all she knew about the humans and the dogs that lived with them. Lokesh was against those teachings, but Aniu insisted that they would help them later on in life. Food was scarce in the area, but a few pack members managed to catch and eat some birds and rabbits. One pack member ate a dog from the town and Lokesh punished him for it because the humans would not be happy about it.

One foggy early evening, Aniu was sitting near her pups in the cave while they slept. A few pack members were outside keeping watch while others hunted and scouted the area. Aniu never liked the fog because she was afraid of not being able to see her surroundings, but as long as her pups were sleeping soundly, she was unafraid.

She was about to fall asleep, herself, until there was a gunshot from nearby. She jerked up and looked around. Her puppies were whimpering from the unfamiliar noise. She tried calming them down by nuzzling them with her nose.

"What is that noise?" asked the brown puppy.

"Shh," Aniu quieted him when a pack member walked into the cave.

"We have to get out of here, Aniu." he said. "Hunters are nearby, tell the puppies to stay put."

"NO," Aniu exclaimed. Just the thought of what happened to her mother and siblings wanted to make her cry, but she stayed calm for her pups' sakes.

"Get two more of the pack to get back here." The wolf called for two others to enter the cave. Aniu said, "Take one of each of my puppies and run. I don't want the hunters getting them." Aniu picked up her brown cub and ran into the fog. It wasn't long before she lost track of her pack but she could hear the hunters coming nearer. Where could she possibly go to keep her pup from being seen? The hunters wouldn't dare go near the town so she ran in that direction. She would have to find a spot outside of the town, because her and her cub would surely be killed in the town itself. She ran, but without even paying attention, her feet splashed into ice cold water. Judging by the salty smell, it was the ocean. She cursed herself for getting her feet wet and not being careful. Soon her feet would become numb and she wouldn't be able to run as fast.

She ran back towards where she came from and heard three gunshots and cries of her packmembers. She held back some tears thinking that they were the same ones who possessed her puppies. The fog had become worse and she wasn't sure of the whereabouts of her other three cubs. But all she knew was that she needed to get the one she had to a safe place. The fog cleared up a bit and Aniu looked up at the structure in front of her.

It was a large, ruined boat. It didn't look safe to use, but it would have to be safe enough for her cub. The hunters chasing her were way too close for her to hide in the boat, so she placed her cub in what used to be the captian's quarters. She licked his head and nuzzled him.

"Mama?" asked her cub. "What's going on?"

"It doesnt matter now," she whispered. "Just keep living and remember everything that I've taught you." With that she heard another gunshot and ran way from the boat before her pup could see her cry. She ran and ran until she reached an open meadow. At least she thought it was a meadow, but she still couldn't see anything from all of the fog. She stopped to take a breath and to give her aching feet a rest and heard a click. She began to sprint, but then she heard a gunshot and felt the bullet go into her and she collapsed and died in the fog. Her last thoughts were of what her family would've been like if Miksa hadn't left for his old home. She could hear her puppies bark and hear Miksa's kind voice.