The rain poured down, as I saw through the opening of our cave. My mate Aerik and I have lived here since we first became mates, over a year ago. Life was wonderful, but it wasn’t easy getting it that way. I’ve faced many hardships, same for Aerik. But we found each other and that was the greatest blessing I could have asked for. At the moment though Aerik is out on a hunting trip to bring back food for the long winter ahead. I curled up and face my head towards the mouth of the cave and waited patiently for his safe return. I soon become restless though, as I have a tendency to not be able to sit still for more than two seconds. I start pacing and then trot out into the rain. I let the water fall off my nose and watch as it forms a puddle at my paws. I look up into the sky, only to see the full moon crowded by rain clouds. I let out a howl, hoping to liven up the gloominess night with the songs of the wolves. I have always had such a passion for song so I am often howling or humming quietly to myself. My ears perk up and I stop howling, in the distance I hear Aerik howling back to me, telling me he has been successful in the hunt and will return home soon. I smile, and prance back in the den, waiting for my mate to return.

                He walks into the den, dragging a large bull elk behind him. Aerik plops it down in the food cavern of our home and joins me in our bed we made out of pine needles, grass, and leaves. Aerik nuzzles up against me and then whispers into my ear, “Did you miss me?”

                I respond, “Always do.” and smile as he puts his head on my neck.

                “I love you.” Aerik states as he looks at the rain.

                “I love you too Aerik.” I lick his check then get ready for sleep to come.

                I don’t know where I am but all I know is that I am running. Away from something, or towards something is still unsure in my head. But I am running, the trees are just a blur to me as I zoom past them. I skid to a stop when I notice Aerik standing in my path. I go to greet him when I see a strange figure blocking the way. I slowly walk towards it, the figure get clearer and clearer in till I realize that it is a puppy. I tilt my head in confusion and bend my head down to sniff its fur when it bites my nose. I growl and fling my head up and the pup goes in the air only to land with a thud. I trot over to it to see if it is alright when it suddenly grows fifty times its size. This animal would make an adult male grizzle wet himself. I backed away and went to run to Aerik, but the animal jumped over me and bolted to Aerik. He attacked my mate, then when the savage wolf-like animal finished with Aerik and he was just a lifeless carcass he turned to me and darted. Throughout this whole time I was screaming, terrified and feeling horrible pains inside me that twisted me and seemed to grab my stomach and stomp on it and squeeze my throat so hard I couldn’t breathe, and I also had this feeling that I was being shaken back and forth and someone screaming in my ears. The wolf got ready to pounce on me and no doubt kill me, when everything shattered. Just as if it were glass it fell and there was nothing left but black nothingness, loss, and death, and I was sent falling, screaming to no one………

                “Wake up! Get up!” A voice yelled

                My eyes burst open just to realize it was Aerik. I was sweating, out of breathe, and burning up. I was now calm for Aerik was safe and so was I, and we were together, that’s all that mattered. I yawned, and as I stretched and stood up and asked, “Whats wrong hon?”

                “I was just about to ask you the same question. Are you okay?”

                I fumbled with my words as anyone could probably tell as I was a horrible lyer, “Y-y-y-y-yea, why would a-a-a-a-anything be wrong?” I struggle to get the words out, then try to sell my act by tilting my head to try and make him thing I’m confused.

                Aerik smirked and sighed, “I can tell you’re lying.”

                “How do you figure that?”  

                “Because every time you lye you start to get a stammer, and face it, you’re a horrible lyer.” Aerik smiled at me then walked closer and sat down next to me.

                “Yeah, you caught me.” I say as I laugh.

                “So whats been bugging you?”

                “I’ve just been having very strange dreams.”

                “About what?”

                “Um I don’t really wanna talk about it.” I lower my head and turn away.

                He sighs then responds after a long pause, “Alright then.”

                Aerik stood up and walked halfway across the den floor and was about to leave the den and go hunting on his three day trip as he always does every Wednesday, when I called, “It’s because I’m scared to lose you.”

                He turned and faced me, confused, “But why would you be scared, I’m never leaving, I’ll always be here for you because I love you, don’t ever forget that.”

                Aerik walked over to me and we both rolled over onto our backs as I told him everything, I told him of my puppyhood. How my mother died, and sister. And my father left to find his place in the world, that the pack I thought I’d be in forever exiled me because I spoke out of turn in the packs meeting, which I found extremely cruel for just speaking my mind. About how I had my first hunt before I was even in my teens as I was taught by the great Aniu. How my old alpha threw my mother’s dead body over a cliff instead of giving her the proper send off she deserved, and how he almost did the same with my sister when she was a sick pup. I was all alone and faced death and laughed at it, because I had nothing more it could take for me, I had nothing to lose, for I had nothing. Then I told Aerik, “Since I had become mates with you, I’ve always worried death would come back and destroy me. Because if it takes you, I will be nothing. I will have nothing to live for; I wouldn’t have the will to do anything anymore, not leave the den, eat, or even breathe. I would be lost without you Aerik.” I fell to my side and nuzzled him and buried my head in his fur.

                “I will never leave you, I swear, you are my life and…….and……..I will always be here for you no matter what, because I love you more than life itself, you are the best thing that’s ever happened to me and I would be a fool to throw that away.” he smiled and licked me, “Now how about we go visit our good friend Balto, we could use someone to brighten our mood, no?”

                “Good idea.” I responded as I laughed, Aerik wiped the tears out of my eyes and kissed my forehead. Then we trotted outside and off to Nome.

                We didn’t always use to know Balto, but we were best friends with Alue, Balto’s daughter. So Alue introduced us to Balto, Jenna, Boris, and Kodi, and all her other friends that lived in Nome.

                The sun was setting when we finally reached the small town of Nome. We strolled through the streets, walking extremely closer to one another for the cars zoomed past and people always shouted at us, or threw snow at us. We bolted to Balto’s boat house, only to see Muk and Luk playing at the shore, Boris moping the deck and Balto talking with Jenna. Aerik and I sat in front of the boat and let out a mighty howl, as wolves it was customary to ask before you came into someone’s territory, that’s how the alpha would know if you were a visitor or an intruder. After we finished our howl I saw Muk and Luk screaming and running in circles, in till they ran into each other and fell to the ground making a large splash. Boris merely looked at us over the rim of the boat, smiled and waved, and then said, “Eh boy chicks, nice seeing you both again.” and then went back to moping. Jenna and Balto came down the gang blank to greet us.

“Hello.” Aerik said as he nodded to each of them. Smiling and wagging his tail and I did the same.

                “Hi, it’s been a long time since we last saw you. How have you been?”

                “Good, we just thought we’d stop by and say hello.”

                “That was nice of you two.” Balto smiled

                I trotted over to Jenna and we picked up our conversation as if we’d never left from our visit before. We all went to the boiler room later that day and met up with the other dogs of Nome, at first some of them didn’t remember us and were hesitant because we were wolves. But once they got to know us they opened right up. We all had a lot of fun and played games. As Aerik knew I was the fastest wolf in Alaska and Balto the fastest Wolf/Dog in Nome we had a little race. And of course everyone had to bet on who they thought would win. Jenna and the others betted on Balto and Aerik, Kirby, Star and Nikki voted for me. We got ready on the starting line and then when Aerik howled we bolted. We ran to the shore, around the boat, the trail that led through the woods, the perimeter of Nome and then came back. We were neck and neck the entire time, I was saving my energy for the finish, and I had a feeling that so was Balto, so I let him pass only by a few paces though, as everyone was cheering us on. I held a comfortable gait and then when the finish line was in view I noticed Balto’s pace quicken, I didn’t want to let him get to far ahead, so I bolted as fast as I could, everything was a blur to me, Balto’s figure slowly faded back till I could no longer see him in front of me. It was a short mile till the finish line and I gave it my all. I could feel that Balto was trying hard too. And when we finally crossed the finish line I looked back to see that Balto was right at my tail the hole time, he was fast. He was half wolf he was born fast. And since im a pure bred wolf I am twice as fast, but we were both evenly matched as competitors. I thanked Balto for racing and being such a fair sport. And he congratulated me on the win.

                The dogs that betted on Balto laughed as the ones that betted on me crept over and took the winning bones. And the bones that I earned I shared with everyone. And then I looked up at the sky and noticed the last lights out day were fading I told Aerik that we had to start heading home soon. He agreed, and after saying our goodbyes and saying that we would come back soon we pranced off, homeward bound. We both turned around and howled to them all and heard them all bark and howl their replies, and then we darted home. We wanted to get to the den before night fall, it’s not safe to be out late at night, there’s Grizzly’s and Bull Moose roaming around. And luckily we reached home before we become wolf chow.

We both went inside and lied down ready to sleep when Aerik said, “I want puppies, I want to be a father and have a family like Balto and Jenna.”

                I completely ignored him and closed my eyes hoping he would just let it go, but knowing Aerik and how persistent he was it didn’t end there.

                He then continued, “Don’t you want puppies?”

                I simply replied, “No.”

                “Why not?”

                “I’m not the ‘mommy’ type. I don’t know anything on how to rear a pup, they wouldn’t like me.”

                “That’s not true! They would love you. And it’s instincts when their born you’ll know just what to do and I’ll be right with you the whole time.”

                “No. I don’t want pups. End of discussion.”

                Aerik let out a loud sigh, then seeing as the conversation was over fell asleep, but I knew he would bring the question up again, and again, and again till he got the answer he wanted.

                I didn’t have my nightmare again and that gave me plenty of rest and I was bounding with energy the next morning. Before Aerik even woke up I scampered off to my favorite Cliffside. I sat on the cliff and overlooked everything from the babbling creek to the sandy beaches. The morning breeze ruffled my long coat and I smiled. My ears started twitching as I heard someone approaching. I turned around and smiled, “Morning sleepyhead.”

                Aerik yawned and kissed me good morning, “so I take it you’ve had no nightmares last night?”

                “Yup, I slept like a pup.” I smiled and went to his side as we started walking to the creek to get a drink.

                Aerik’s eyes brightened and he smiled, “And speaking of pups….”

                I cut him off in mid sentence, “No Aerik, just drop it.”

                Aerik moaned, “Oh come on Brooke, wouldn’t you want to have a family?”

                I growled at him and snapped, “No!” Then I took off towards the beach. I didn’t actually bite him, just raised my voice and growled. I was just trying to make a point.

                But for some reason the tears came. I deliberately fell to my side and let out a long sigh. Why did he even have to bring up that stupid question, none of this would have ever happened and we would have gone on living totally a normal life, just as before.

                I saw him coming over out of the corner of my eye, but I didn’t move. And neither did he. He stayed a few paces away from me, probably giving me a second to cool down. Then when I was calm I stood and walk towards him, “I’m sorry Aerik, I don’t know what came over me.”

                “its okay honey, but I would like you to put more thought into your decision other than saying that they wouldn’t like you.” He smirked and wiped the tears from my face.

                “Okay.”

                “Good. I love you.”

                “I love you more.” I said laughing

                “That’s not possible.” Aerik said jokingly as we ran around the beach, chasing each other, I pounced on him and he twirled me so he was pinning me down, and we were both laughing.

                I pushed him off of me and he landed in the water making a splash. When he stood he was sopping wet and all his fur hung flat on his body and was dripping with the salty water. I couldn’t contain myself any loner, I burst out in a fit of laughter and fell on the ground from laughing so hard. And after a few seconds Aerik was laughing as hard as I was and trotted over to me, then he shook himself trying to get dry and purposely get me wet. Our fun was soon interrupted though. A nearby alpha wolf in the territory next to ours was howling to us, calling to us as a plea to help him. We sprinted over to him to ask what was wrong, he was sweating and pacing and all he said was, “My m-m-m-m-mate! She’s having h-h-h-her p-p-puppies now! P-p-p-please help! She’s in t-t-the d-den; please h-h-hurry!”

                We jogged into the cave and found his mate panting and whimpering pleas of help. I grabbed her paw and told her it was going to be alright. She nodded and then let out a loud scream of pain. I tried to distract her by asking her random questions, “So whats your name?”

                “Sierra, who are you? – yelp —.”

                I started rubbing her paw and then responded, “I’m Brooke and this is my mate Aerik.” I nodded to Aerik who was standing behind me with Sierra’s mate, her mate then came up to her and started nuzzling her.

                “Hello – whimper — thank you so much for coming and helping.”

                “Anytime Sierra, so do you have any names you’re thinking about for your pups?”

                “Yes. – Shriek — for girl names I’m thinking about using the names Kenya, Luca, Rita, or Sadie. And for boy names I was thinking about the names Cooper, Capone, Buckeye, or Codi.”

                “Those are such beautiful names Sierra.” I responded, as I smiled.

                “Thank you Brooke – scream — I think their coming!”

                “Ok just breathe honey, in and out, in and out. Just like that dear. Ah! There’s the first one! And…….it’s a boy! Here comes the next one! My this one’s a big one, and it’s a boy! He’ll be nice and strong when he gets big. And the next one is a girl! What a pretty little thing. And the last one is……..a girl! Their all so adorable! Congratulations to the both of you!”

                “Oh thank you so much Brooke! You’ve been such a great help. You should have pups one day I bet you’d make an amazing mother.” Sierra smiled at me and Aerik.

                Aerik walked up to me and gave me an I-told-you-so smile. And I rolled my eyes. Sierra’s mate led up out of the cave and said, “Thank you so much! This is our first litter so I felt a bit helpless; I didn’t know what to do. But you, you were amazing, you knew just what to do! And for helping us I hope we can all become great friends.”

                “Like brothers.” Aerik said as he gave a wise and knowing full nod.

                “Like brothers.” Sierra’s mate said back in response to Aerik to state that we could count on them.

                “Well we must be heading home now. Hope to see you both soon. And congratulation to you, your mate, and your healthy and happy family.”

                “Thank you for helping, and good night.”

                We both loped on home to the den. I then sat down for I had a feeling that Aerik had something he wanted to get off his chest. I gave him a moment, and watched as he paced across the floor in front of me. He let out a sigh then said, “Not the ‘mommy’ type eh?”

                I rolled my eyes, “Because they’re not mine.”

                He finally stopped treading back and forth and sat down in front of me, “Please Brooke, please…….” Aerik sighed and put his head down, trying to avoid my sad gaze, “This has been all I’ve ever wanted since I was a pup, to grow up find a wonderful mate and start a family. I don’t ask for much.”

                After a long pause I soon responded, “I’m scared, I’ve never had anything to do with pups, besides when I was one once,” I exhaled deeply then continued, “My mother died when I was extremely young, as I told you before, I never had the chance to watch how she took care of us or make us laugh or any of that. It feels like…….your going into a battle all by yourself, only the scary part is that your blindfolded and you know nothing of where you are, how you’re going to concur the enemy, and why this battle arouse in the first place. So I’m sorry if my fear blocks the way to your happiness, I’m sorry that your life won’t be complete without being able to have a family! But I’m not ready! I’ll tell you when the time is right, when I believe that we are ready for a family. We can spend time with Sierra and her new family so I can learn if this is what you crave so badly, and maybe then you’ll realize how hard it will be, and all the challenges we’ll face, the fears, the tears we’ll cry, and the uncertainties we will be facing. So please give this time, you can’t just ask out of the blue for a family, it takes time for these dreams to become reality. You must give your dreams time to grow and love them anyways even if they choose not to bloom full of your hopes and wishes. And when the time comes it will bloom bigger and more beautiful than ever.” I let all my frustration out with a sigh, then to make it even more dramatic; I walked away into the sleeping cavern, where I soon fell into a deep sleep. And as you know I am extremely dramatic and make small situations into big things, but that’s just who I am. Aerik didn’t come to bed that night, I thought he probably needed some time to think over what I had recently said.

                The morning came as fast as it had left, and I bounded out of the den and into the bright sun of the new day. I looked around for Aerik but he was nowhere in sight, I sniffed the ground and quickly picked up his trail. I followed his trail in till it suddenly ended at the meadow. The meadow’s tall grass was bellowing in the morning breeze and the willow trees were gently swaying side to side. The creek was extremely still today and all was calm. I knew exactly where he would be now, I slowly walked over to the small pond where we always we sit and talk, with not a care in the world.

                And there he was, under the willows, right beside the pond, his eyes close, probably deep in thought. I ignored the ponds barer between us and swam right threw it as if it weren’t even there. I shook myself dry and took my place next to Aerik. He did not say a word, he did not even bother opening his eyes or even say hello to me. I immediately thought he was mad at me. and when I finally had the strength to talk I said, “Aerik?”

                He didn’t move all he said was, “Hmm?”

                “Aerik are you mad at me?”

                “Mad at you? Why would I be mad?”

                “Because of what I said yesterday and that I don’t want a family just yet.” I looked right into his eyes and felt them melt my heart and my guard quickly fell. I was calm, it didn’t matter about anything else just Aerik and I, and it was like we were the only ones on Earth.   

                “Of course I’m not mad, I shouldn’t have randomly asked you that question, I shouldn’t have pressured you, you are in charge of your life and how long you wish to have pups is up to you, or the choice to not even bother with them.” Aerik finally opened his eyes and smiled at me.

                I licked his check, “I love you.”

                “I love you too.”

                “I’ll give pups a chance, for you.”

                “Really?”

                “Yes, so why don’t we visit with our new friends Sierra and her family, so we can learn all we can?”

                “Of course! Let’s go!” Aerik said as he was happily prancing around me and bounding with enthusiasm. I laughed and trotted right behind him.

                When we reached the outskirts of our territory and the start of theirs, we howled, asking if it was alright to come in. Sierra’s mate howled back his reply and allowed us to come to their den. We loped up to their den and peeked in, we saw Sierra lying on the ground nursing her pups and her mate sitting beside her. Sierra’s mate looked up and said to us, “Brooke, Aerik! Wonderful of you to stop by. How can we help you?”

                “Well Brooke is unsure about having pups and would like to spend some time around you and your family to see if having a family is the right choice for us if that is alright with you.”

                “Of course! That’s a splendid idea. Come, you can learn all you need from our family before you make the decision to start your own. Oh and by the way I didn’t get to formally introduce myself, my name is Diablo.” Diablo smiled and motioned for use to come in.

                I slowly followed behind Aerik, still unsure of myself around the pups. I looked at them all, squirming around, fighting to find a spot to nurse. I smiled, even my fear ridden heart melted at the sight of a pup, something I thought only Aerik could do, in till now that is.

                We came back to watch the pups every Tuesday and Diablo and Sierra were always glad to see us. And we watched as the pups grew and grew and grew, showing their personalities and playing with their siblings. How they would play fight with each other, and wrestle. Or play tug of war with a piece of fur from their parent’s meal. And when they no longer could nurse they started eating small animals, such as rabbits, squirrels, and chipmunks. Many months went by since we first decided to learn about pups. And the pups grew very fond of us as did we to them. They even started calling me Aunt Brooke, and Uncle Aerik. Our bond with Sierra and Diablo grew stronger too, and we became great friends.

                It was about four months after we decided to learn about rearing pups that I had finally made up my mind. Their pups were no longer pups anymore they were adults and were off looking for a place to call home, a mate and hopefully start their own families. We said our teary goodbyes to the pups and to our friends who we would be soon having over to join us for dinner. We trotted home to our den and Aerik was about to fall asleep when I stood up and sat in front of him. Aerik rubbed his eyes and yawned, “What wrong dear?”

                “I’ve put a lot of thought into what you said?”

                “And…..?”

                “I believe that now is the perfect time for a family.”

                “Really? That’s wonderful news Brooke!” I smiled and Aerik started wagging his tail.

*A FEW MONTHS LATER*

                Aerik stood in front of my, tilted his head and went around to look at another angle. Then I said, “Well?”

                “It’s not that bad honey.” Aerik smiled

                “Not that bad!” I burst out in a fit of laughter, “I’m as huge as a house!”

                Aerik fell on the ground laughing along with me. But then our fun was once again stopped, I was having extreme stomach pains and let out an earsplitting yelp. Then Aerik helped me up and asked, “You okay dear?”

                “Yeah I’m fine.” And I smiled at him to show that I was truly okay

                “Okay.” Aerik wagged his tail and turned around to head for home.

                “Um Aerik?” I interrupted

                “Yes sweetheart?”

                “I need a squirrel.”

                “A squirrel?” Aerik asked quite baffled.

                “Yes, I’m hungry and I want food, now!” I growled

                Aerik slowly backed away and tilted his head very unsure of what to do next.

                “Oooh but first lets go prance in the meadow sweetie.” I said with a carefree spirit coming from me as always.

                “Um ok?” Aerik said, somewhat dazed

                “No, let’s go visit Balto and Jenna, instead.”

                “Good idea.” Aerik said as he followed me leading to the trail to Nome.

                “Oh and Aerik?”

                “Yes darling?”

                “You still haven’t given me my squirrel!”

                “Oh yes, sorry I forgot, I’ll be right back.”

                “Okay thank you love.”

                Aerik trotted away thinking to himself, Man! That girl’s got some serious mood swings goin’ on lately. Then he laughed.

                I kept walking to Nome, and when I reached the midway check point, Aerik was back with my squirrel. He held his head high for me to take it, and when I only looked at it and started walking on he dropped it and said, “Don’t you want it?”

                I laughed and said, “No silly, I’m not even hungry.”

                Aerik rolled his eyes and rolled behind me as he smirked to himself.

                We were nearing the town when I started to moan, “Uh are we there yet? I’m tired of walking.”

                “Were almost there can’t you see the boat?”

                “It’s too far away.”

                Aerik smirked and said, “Oh come on.” And trotted ahead of me.

                “Hey it was your idea to have pups you know. So deal with it!”

                Aerik laughed, and then responded in a sarcastic tone, “Yes dear.”

                When we reached Balto’s house he and Jenna were relaxing on the shore together, watching as their grown pups ran around with their friends. We trotted up to them and said hello. When the turned their heads and saw that we were going to have pups soon, they freaked out. They were so happy, they were congratulation us, and even put a paw on my stomach to see if they could hear them.

                We spent the rest of the day with them and just talked. And Jenna revealed to us that she was having another littler too. And as always we were extremely excited and delighted for them. We were almost ready to head home when a sharp pain made me fall to the ground. I yelped and whimper, and cried, I felt as if I was being ripped apart and twisted into a pretzel. The pain was so excruciation that my eyes rolled into the back of my head and my heart stopped beating. I could only hear the others franticly yell at each other with ways to save me, but I was losing the battle for life, and it would soon be over. But then I heard someone, nudge me onto a metal object and drag me down to the town. The only way I’d of known I was nearing a town was because I heard the cars buzz by. I gasped to air and was granted a breath. I soon was in a room, where others were, I heard dogs, birds, and many more creatures, and was certain I was in the towns vets office. I heard the people yelling and many buttons going off, and before I knew it I was picked up and put on a hard metal table, where I was repetitively shocked with these buzzers and then on the final try my heart woke up, it sped to life again, and I started panting to fill my lungs with air. I still couldn’t see and before I knew it I went into a daze and everything blacked out, I thought I must have died. Everything went by so slowly, and then I felt a sharp pain in my stomach, like I was being cut open. But then I felt nothing at all, I couldn’t hear, nor could I see, or smell, only breath, and I was determined to keep it going, would not die, because dying is to easy….

*WHEN I REGAINED CONSOUSNESS*

                My eyes fluttered open, and the first thing I saw was Aerik, his worried face, his deep brown eyes staring deeply into mine. When he noticed I was awake he started licking my face, and nuzzling me, and then he spoke, “I’m so glad you’re alright!”

                I slowly stood and smiled at everyone, “Sorry for the scare there everyone.”

                I jumped down from the table and sniffed the air. And soon grew worried, where were my pups? I was frantic and panicky asked Aerik, “Where are they?!? Are they okay? Did they die?!”

                I started pacing and then Aerik came over to me and put a paw on my shoulder and said in a calming voice, “There fine love, follow me.”

                We trotted inside a room, still in the vet’s office. Aerik told me we had to stay for one more day so the vet would know I’m okay, and then we were free to leave with our pups. I saw Jenna and Balto in the room, and they smiled at me, Jenna then said, “Were so glad you’re okay. The pups have been looking for you dear” Then she smiled at me

                I poked my noise into the box and saw them, and they were gorgeous, so unbelievably precious. There were three boys and two girls, a total of five beautiful pups. One was tan just like me, with black markings that looked just like he was wearing a mask and all his paws were black, and the tips of his ears were black as well. The second male was black with silver tipped ears and the tip of his tail was silver too, and the right side of his face was silver as well. The last male was all tan, with the same leg markings as me, and a black diamond on his chest, with his left ear black.

                The females were as amazing as the others, the first girl had a pure tan coat, except for a little white diamond shaped marking on her chest and all her paws were white. The second female was just like me, same leg markings, same ear and back marks, same everything, with a little black mask, just like the first male had. I loved them all and nuzzled each and every one of them. I crawled in the box with them and curled up, because even after all that time I had to rest, I was extremely excruciatingly tired, and soon fell into a deep peaceful sleep…

                Soon I was being shook back and forth, I opened my eyes, and saw it was Aerik. I looked and saw the pups were okay as well. Then Aerik said, “Ready to go love?”

                I yawned and sleepily nodded, I picked up one pup and Aerik did the same, and then Balto and Jenna trotted in and picked a pup each too, and then Kodi came in and helped carry a pup, and then we headed off. Homeward bound.

                When we reached home we placed the pups in the birthing den and thanked everyone and gave them the directions back to Nome. When everyone left we loped to our pups, our new family. I couldn’t help but smile, they all looked like us, with a twist of the other in them. They were perfect, absolutely perfect. I curled up around them and Aerik did the same. And I watched as he and the pups drifted off, but I was wide away, and couldn’t sleep. So I walked outside the den and looked up at the full moon and howled a song of the wolves.

                When I trotted into the den everyone was asleep except for one male pup, with the black markings on his face almost like a mask, and then I remembered, we still haven’t named our pups yet. I nudged Aerik and he jumped to his paws and shouted, “Whats wrong?! Is everyone okay?!”

                “Yes of course, but we never named them.”

                “Oh, well umm, the male with the mask should be named Yukon; I’ve always loved that name.”

                “Perfect and the next male that has the silver marks on the right side of his face should be called Alex.”

                “I love it! And the last males name should be called Bailey.”

                “For for the females, the one that looks just like me should be called Sage, and the last girl should be named Sam.”

                “Wonderful, there such beautiful names dear.” Aerik nuzzled me then got ready to lay down, and I did the same. I thought I would hate having puppies, but to tell you the truth I absolutely loved every second of it, and I never thought I see the day when I’d say that, which made me laugh to myself.

                And soon everyone fell asleep, including me.

                When we arose with the new day it wasn’t because we were ready to get up, it was because of the pups. They started squirming around and whimpering. I sighed, and lead the pups closer to me to eat. I soon fell back to sleep, smiling. Aerik yawned and stretched; he jogged for the exit of the cave and whispered to me, “I’ll be home in a few days with food. Love you.”

                I didn’t open my eyes but responded, “Love you too.”

                I pulled myself closer to the pups as soon as I felt Aerik was out of our territory, I didn’t tell him this but I was scared someone would hurt the pups, I sensed danger was lurking for a while now, but gave no thought to it, I just ignored it. Because I knew Aerik would protect us, but with him gone, the pups still extremely young, and me still being weak from surgery, I had no idea how to defend them. I heard the outsider enter our territory, and I grew tense. The puppies started whining because they sensed I was worried and them to became afraid.

                The outsider grew nearer and nearer with every breath we took. I could tell from his steps, that he was a big dog, defiantly not a wolf, but still a threat to us. He must have been strong because his paws dug deep into the ground as he strode along. I knew for sure that it was a male; he seemed a lot bigger than an average Alaskan female dog. He was close by the den, and I let out a deep growl to warn him not to come and closer. But obviously this dog was as dumb as a rock because he kept coming in till he was at the entrance of our den. He was a Malamute, and he stared at me, growling. He staggered forward. I soon noticed a collar he had around his neck that read, “STEELE” and on the bottom it had a number to call if he got lost.

                This was the dog that Balto and Jenna told me about. I growled, “What do you want Steele?!?”

                He stopped and smirked, “I heard all about you…Brooke. And any friend of Balto’s is an enemy of mine!”

                “I’m not scared of you.”

                “No? Hmm? Well, maybe your pups are! You’re just a low life wolf, just a piece of trash! You and your mutts you call pups!”

                “If you like living, I suggest you shut your mouth and leave, before I rip you to shreds and leave you for the cats to play with!”

                Steele growled and lunged, and bite his neck and slammed him to the rock hard ground and pushed him back out of the den and away from the puppies. I tore his ear and lunged at him again. Steele bit me by the scruff of my neck and dangled me over the nearest cliffs. I looked down and took a deep breath. But I refused to give up so easily. I grabbed his neck and swung myself so I was on top of him and I leaped in the air and landed on his neck, and when I heard a snap I took a few steps back to see if he would give up. But he just kept lunging at me. Steele bit my right paw and bit down extremely hard, and I knew for sure it must have broken. I held back my tears for now and limped over to him. I head butted him to the edge of the cliffs and held down his left paw with my teeth, and then I heard it break and I released my grip. He lost his balance and fell to the rocky bottom of the cliffs, and I heard a thud as he landed, and I knew he couldn’t have survived that, I was positive that he died. Or at least wouldn’t be back again anytime soon.

                I bolted back to the den, and I saw that Bailey, Sam, Sage, and Yukon were all safe. I nuzzled them all. And let them feed again. They were growing faster than I would have thought, and soon they would be old enough to leave the den and explore the world.

                Only a day had passed when I saw Aerik entering the den dragging a bull elk behind him. I welcomed him home and gave him a lick on his noise, and then I told him of what happened with Steele. He was extremely furious at him. I than told him of what happened to my right paw, and he freaked. Because in the wild a wolf with any broken bones is likely to die. But I told him it was nothing to worry about, I’m a fighter, and I wouldn’t give up living so easily now that I have something worth living for, I said nodding to Aerik and the puppies.
                Aerik smiled and licked my check. I limped to the pups and stood over them, as everyone settled in for sleep. The moon was rising, I couldn’t lie down as easily as the others so I kid of collapsed on my left side and then scooted closer to my family as we all fell into a deep, peaceful slumber…

*A MONTH LATER*

“Bailey stop biting Sages ear! Sam stay near the den dear. Alex please eat your dinner everyone else has already finished.” I hounded the pups

                “But mom, I’m full!” Alex groaned

                “What else did you eat?”

                “Well me and Bailey were down by the lake and ate some beached fish.”

                I moaned, “Who told you that you were allowed to go to the lake?”

                “Bailey said you said it was okay.”

                I rolled my eyes, “Bailey you’re such a trouble maker,” I picked him up by the scruff of his neck and trotted inside the den, “Now face the wall, because of what you did you just earned yourself a time out mister.”

                I walked outside the den, “Yukon! Where are you?” I looked around the den site but didn’t see him, “Sage honey, where’s your brother?”  

                “He’s in the bushes over there.” Sage said as she nodded to the shrubs

                Yukon burst out of the bush and growled, “Nice going Sage! You gave away my position!”

                I laughed, “Yukon you can play hide and seek later.”

                “Mom it’s not called hide and seek, that’s a baby game, it’s called hide and be found.” Yukon said sarcastically

                “Sure it is honey.”

                The pups were about seven months old and were finally old enough to leave the den and explore. Aerik was away on another hunting trip to bring back food. And the pups were quite a handful.

                Sage and Sam were playing with some cat tail plants that surrounded a small pond near the den, Baileys was now out of time out and wrestling with Alex, and Yukon was sneaking up on Sam and Sage again. Yukon burst out of the bush and pounced on his sisters. The girls fell in the pond, I rushed over and pulled them both out, and then Sam said, “Mommy! Tell Yukon to stop scaring us!”

                I put them down and shook my head at Yukon and said, “Say sorry Yukon.”

                He dragged his paw across the gravel and slowly muttered, “Sorry for scaring you.”

                “Good now go play.” I then nudged him in the direction of Alex and Bailey.

                He trotted over to them and they all started wrestling together. Sage and Sam the shook dry and continued to play with the cat tail plants. I walked into the den and sat down in a position where I can keep my eyes on all the puppies.

                My paw had healed perfectly and I can still run as fast as before, it’s just a tad bit weaker than the rest, but just as strong.

                I saw Aerik stride into the den site dragging a bull elk behind him. The pups tackled him and all started saying, “Daddy, daddy, daddy!”

                Aerik laughed and nuzzled them all, I trotted over to him and licked his check. The puppies then said, “Ewe! Gross!”

                “How is that gross? You think this is gross?” I started kissing the pups and blowing on their tiny stomachs till they were rolling around in a fit of laughter.

                I brought the elk into the food storage section of our den then jogged back outside to watch as Aerik and the pups ran around the den site together. I smirked to myself. Then as the set started to set I let out a howl, and the pups soon joined in, as did Aerik. We howled till we could no longer see the sun, then we gathered round the resting area in the den to tell stories of our ancestor wolves, some scary and others not, but the pups sure seemed to get a kick out of them.

                I looked around the circle. We were one, a family…I hated that word. Family. I hated the thought that I’d been broken, that Aerik had been right, that I loved my pups. I was defiantly just like my dad. Stubborn. Extremely stubborn. I smirked. But I was defiantly not the family type, it felt award to me. And I shifted nervously in place. But I loved them, every single one of them. We were…..a family. I let out a gleaming proud smile at the thought, yeah…our family.