Pete eyed them angrily.  “Just having some fun.  What’s it to you?”

“It doesn’t look like he’s having fun,” answered Toby, pointing to the cub.

“Ah, butt out,” snapped one of the dogs.

Toby tried to take the cub, but the dogs stopped him.  “Stay out of our business, squirt,” ordered Pete.

Toby felt a sudden pressure on his back as Luna leapfrogged over him and the other dogs, snatched the cub in her mouth, and took off running.  The pack of dogs followed close behind, barking and snapping.

“Luna!” yelled Toby, taking off after them.  He saw them round a corner and knew immediately what to do.  He ducked through an alley and came out the other side ahead of Luna and the cub.  “Luna!” he called.  “Over here!”

Luna dashed to him and together they sprinted away.  After several twists and turns they managed to give the dogs the slip.  At last Luna set her passenger down.  “Are you okay?” she asked.

The cub panted.  “Yeah, I’m okay,” he said.  He looked back and forth between them.  “Thanks, whoever you are.”

“I’m Toby, and this is Luna,” said Toby.  “What’s your name?”

“Loki,” answered the cub.

“What are you doing in Nome, Loki?  I mean, you’re a wolf, right?”

Loki nodded.  “Yeah.  I got separated from my mom, and I sorta wandered into town.  Then those jerks started picking on me and the next thing I knew they had me inside that metal thing and were kicking me all over the place.”

Toby growled.  “Leave it to Pete,” he muttered.  “So, do you have any idea where your pack is?”

Loki shook his head.  “No, I don’t.”

“Do you have a place to stay?” asked Luna.

“No.”

Luna looked at Toby.  “What should we do?”

“I don’t know.  Your owners probably won’t take him in, and I’m not sure how Charlie or his folks would feel about me bringing home a wolf cub.”

“Sorry,” Loki interrupted.  “But my mom told me never to go anywhere with strangers.”

“You got a better idea?” asked Luna.

“Listen,” said Loki.  “I don’t trust anybody except my pack, and certainly not anyone who lives around humans.  That’s how we wolves are.”

“Loki, I know you’re scared, but you have to trust us.  The other dogs in Nome aren’t so nice when it comes to wolves.  Those punks who were bugging you before don’t quit easily.”

“And how would you know?” Loki asked defiantly.

“Because I know them-all too well,” answered Toby, not eager to acknowledge Pete as his relative.  He softened.  “Look, will you please just listen to us and then decide whether or not to trust us?”

Loki agreed.  “I guess that sounds fair.”

 “Alright,” explained Toby.  “If you want, I can show you a place where you’ll be safe from Pete, and you’ll have food and water until we can find your pack.”

 Loki raised a skeptical eyebrow.  “And you’re just doing this out of the goodness of your heart?  What’s in it for you, housepet?”

 “Just call me the Good Samaritan.”

 “The what?”

 “Never mind.  The point is, I just want to help you get out of trouble.  Pete’s picked on me before, and I don’t want anyone else to have to put up with him.”

Loki rolled his eyes.  “Right.  And you and your girlfriend just happen to be the only dogs in town who don’t hate wolves.”

“For your information, I admire wolves very much.  And Luna has a some very good reasons not to hate them.”

 The cub scoffed.  “Such as?”

 Luna gave a smug grin.  “I’m part wolf.”

 Loki considered.  He’d always regarded dogs much as you may regard gorillas: similar in shape, perhaps, but overall an inferior species.  “Is that possible?”

 “Well, let’s see.  My dad is part wolf, my grandpa is part wolf, and my great-grandmother was all wolf.  So I’d say it’s possible.”

 Loki shrugged.  “Okay, let’s pretend I believe you.  So where’s this place you were thinking of?”

 Toby and Luna looked at each other.  “He could stay with my grandpa,” suggested Luna.

 Toby shook his head.  “Nah, I don’t want to bother him.  Besides, no offense, but he getting kind of…” he leaned over and whispered in Luna’s ear.  “…old.”

 “What are you two talking about?” pestered Loki.  “I thought you said you knew a place I could stay.”

 “You can stay with me,” answered Toby.

 Loki backed up.  “I don’t think so.”

 “There they are!” yelled a voice.  The trio looked up to see Pete’s pack running in their direction.

 “On second thought,” Loki yipped, “Let’s go!”

 Toby snatched up Loki and the three of them dashed away from the rapidly approaching pack.  “Do you always have this many enemies?” asked Toby through his teeth.

 If he had known then what he would know later, he might have taken some warning from the fact that the wolf cub didn’t answer.

It wasn’t easy escaping Pete’s bullies a second time, but even that was a cakewalk compared to getting Loki inside the house unnoticed.  “Stop squirming!” Toby hissed.

“You’re carrying me wrong,” Loki growled back.

“You know,” Luna offered, “he could stay with me.”

Toby shook his head, accidentally shaking Loki in the process.  “No, I agreed to look after him, and I will.”

“Well, I think I know how to get him inside.”

“How?”

“How many people are at home?”

Toby thought for a moment.  “School’s not out yet, and Mr. Winters is at work, so that just leaves Mrs. Winters to consider.”

Luna smiled.  “Okay.  I’ll go around the back and distract her.  Wait till you hear me bark, then get inside and hide Loki.”

Toby nodded.  “Sounds like a plan."

The plan worked flawlessly, at least as far as it covered.  Toby got the cub up to Charlie’s room and hid him, giving a brief list of ground rules.  “Okay, kid.  We can’t let anybody see you.  So don’t make any noise or come out of hiding unless I give the all-clear.”

That part went well, as did Loki’s supper.  A mouthful of food brought up by Toby proved to be enough, although he complained that it tasted terrible.  It wasn’t until bedtime that he turned difficult.

“Can’t I stay up a little longer?” he pleaded.

Toby shook his head.  “Bedtime is bedtime.  And that means now.”

“Please?” begged Loki.  “My mom lets me stay up later than this.”

“Well, just for the record,” Toby pointed out, “I’m not your mother.  Right now you have to go to sleep.”

“Oh, okay,” whined Loki.  He looked around.  “Uh…”

Toby let out an exasperated sigh.  “What is it now?”

“Where do I sleep?” asked Loki.

Toby paused.  He hadn’t considered this problem.  “Well, I usually sleep on Charlie’s bed, but I guess you can’t sleep there.”

“How come?”

“Duh.  We can’t let the humans know you’re here, remember?  You’d probably get sent to a zoo or something.”

Loki whimpered.  “Please?” he begged.

Toby shook his head.  “No.  You’ll have to sleep under the bed, I guess.  Just pretend it’s a cave.  You like caves, don’t you?”

Loki snorted.  “Yeah, caves with other wolves in them.”

Toby shrugged.  “Well, we’re a little short on wolves right now, so under the bed will have to do.  Here.”  He pushed a pillow under the bed and nudged Loki in after it.  “That’s your bed.”

Loki whined, but then he lay down on the pillow and went to sleep.  Toby watched him for a moment before he heard the door open behind him.  “What’re you looking for?” asked Charlie’s voice.  “Did you bury a bone under there or something?”

Toby didn’t answer; he just hopped up onto the bed.  Charlie slid under the covers, and Toby curled up on top at his feet.  “Goodnight, Toby,” yawned Charlie.

Toby softly woofed goodnight.

“Goodnight, Toby,” added Loki.

“Goodnight, Loki.”

There was a long moment of silence.  Just as Toby was about to drift off, Loki’s voice piped up from under the bed.  “Why do humans live in houses?”

Toby shrugged.  “Because it’s too cold outside.”

After a pause, Loki asked, “Why is it too cold for them?”

“Because they don’t have fur.”

“Is that why they hunt animals?”

“I guess so.”

After another pause, Loki asked, “How come they don’t have fur?”

“Goodnight, Loki,” said Toby with great finality.

The next morning, Toby was awakened by a shriek.  ‘Oh no,’ he thought in a panic.  ‘They’ve found him!’  He dashed into the living room, where the scream had come from.  Of the wolf cub there was no sign.  Instead, there were pieces of cloth and feathers strewn all over the place.

“Toby!” scolded Mrs. Winters, seeing him enter the room.  “Bad dog!  Just look at this mess!  You should be ashamed!”

Toby sniffed one of the scraps of cloth.  It was the remains of Mrs. Winters’ favorite pillow, and it bore a distinct scent of wolf cub.

He scanned the rest of the room, surveying the damage.  A small table holding a porcelain figure of a deer had been knocked over, and the deer itself had been reduced to powder.  A large chunk had been taken out of the couch, and Charlie’s old crutches (fortunately no longer needed) were covered with tooth marks.

He started toward the couch, hoping to sniff out Loki, but Mrs. Winters seized him by the collar and dragged him toward the front door.  “Oh, no you don’t!” she snapped.  “You’ve done enough damage as it is!  Bad, bad dog!”  And with that she threw him out the door and slammed it behind him.

Toby tried to re-enter by the pet flap, but apparently Mrs. Winters had anticipated such a move and placed a chair up against it.  Toby growled.  ‘When I get my paws on that kid…’

“What’s wrong, mom?” asked Charlie, dashing into the room just as Mrs. Winters slammed the door.

“What’s wrong is that that dog of yours destroyed the living room last night.”

“What?”  Charlie was aghast.  “But Toby would never…”

“Oh, he did.  See for yourself.”  She picked up one of the scraps of pillow.  “This was a wedding present, and that beast ripped it to shreds.”

Charlie shook his head.  “Toby would never do anything like that.  I know him.  He’s no mad dog!”

“Well unless you think there’s a wolf or something sneaking into the house at night, I’d say all the facts point to that mutt of yours.”

“Toby’s not a bad dog!” Charlie insisted, stomping out the door.  He flung himself down on the steps next to Toby and sulked.  Then he slowly patted his dog on the head.  “It’s okay, boy.  I know you better than that.”

Toby whined appreciatively.  ‘At least someone around here believes me,’ he thought.  He stood up and scratched at the door.

“No, Toby.  Mom says no.”  When Toby continued to scratch, Charlie opened the door a crack.  “Mom, Toby wants to come back inside.”

“Not on your life, buster!  That dog is not coming through that door until he’s ready to shape up!”

Charlie thought for a moment and grinned.  “Come on, Toby.”  He lead him around behind the house, where a stack of wood was piled high against the back wall.  “Come on, boy,” he urged, scaling the logs and reaching his bedroom window.  “Mom said you wouldn’t be coming through that door, but she didn’t say anything about the window.”

Toby climbed up and Charlie lifted him through the window.  “Now stay in here and don’t make any noise,” the boy instructed as he closed the window and climbed back down the pile.

He needn’t have worried.  As soon as Toby’s paws touched the floor, the dog began to sniff madly.  “Okay, Loki,” he growled.  “I know you’re in here, so come on out.”

Whimpering, Loki crawled out from under the bed with his tail between his legs.

“Loki, you are in sooo much trouble.”

“What’d I do?”

“What did you do?” Toby repeated, convinced he was hearing wrong.  “You destroyed the living room, got me thrown out, AND YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT YOU DID?!”

Loki whimpered.  “I didn’t mean to destroy the house.  It just…happened.”

“What is the matter with you?  You’re nothing but a little monster, that’s what you are.  Now listen, I want you to go back under the bed, and don’t you DARE come out until I…”

He was cut off by an odd gurgling sound.  “What was that?”

“I’m hungry.”

“Well, tough.  You can just go without food for a while.  I can’t show my face downstairs.”

Loki nodded and crawled under the bed, but as his stomach growled louder and louder, he began to whine.

“Oh, all right,” Toby caved in.  I’ll try to sneak into the kitchen and get some food, but if you move, you won’t get a bite.”

Loki nodded, and Toby crept out the door.  He snuck downstairs and into the kitchen.  Mrs. Winters was still busy cleaning the living room, and Toby seized his chance to run over to his bowl and grab a mouthful of dog food.

“Toby!” yelled Mrs. Winters.  “How did you…rrgh.”  She stomped over and snatched up the dog.  “I don’t know how you got back in, but when I say out, I mean OUT!”  With that, she heaved him out the door and into the snow.

“Toby!  Are you all right?”

Toby turned and groaned.  “Hi, Luna.”

“What happened?  I saw you get thrown out.”

Toby filled her in on the morning’s events.  Luna shook her head in disbelief.  “Whoa.  So he’s getting you blamed for his trouble?”

“Yeah.  I never should have let him badger me into going downstairs to get him some food.”

“Let me give it a try,” offered Luna.

“No, that kid needs to learn his lesson.  Maybe a little hunger will do the trick.  It’s not like he’ll starve or anything.”

Regardless, Luna stomped determinedly up to the door.  After several headbutts, she managed to open the pet flap.  But no sooner had she entered than Toby heard yelling from inside.  A moment later, Luna found herself thrown out as well.  “Sheesh,” she muttered, dusting herself off.  “What a grump.”

“I hope the kid starves,” muttered Toby under his breath.

            After about a week of Loki’s antics, Toby was at the end of his patience.  Every morning it was the same routine: Toby would wake up to discover Loki’s latest rampage, take the blame, and get thrown out of the house before he could have his breakfast.  And as if the nightly demolition derbies weren’t bad enough, the pup refused to paper train.  Naturally, Toby always got blamed for that too.  But the worst was still to come.

            One morning, Toby awoke to an inexplicable silence.  There were no screams from downstairs, no angry Mrs. Winters coming after him with a broom, and no quiet snores from under the bed.  At first he was relieved, but as his brain slowly shifted into daytime mode, he started to wonder what was going on.  He sniffed under the bed.  No sign of the wolf cub, but there was a scent there he recognized…

‘Pete?’  Then his eyes grew wide with panic as he made the connection.  “Loki!”

Fueled by terror, Toby followed his nose downstairs, out the door, and through the streets.  Personally he would have liked nothing better than to see the kid disappear, but not like this.  “I swear,” he muttered to himself, “If that punk did anything to Loki, I’ll…”

“Toby?” asked Luna, running up to him.  “What’s going on?”

“Loki’s in trouble.  Pete and his gang kidnapped him…or worse.”

“Oh no,” gasped Luna.  “I'm coming with you.”

“Thanks.  I could use the backup.”

After what felt like eons, the scent led them to a door.  “Butcher,” Luna read, looking up at the sign.

Toby sniffed at the base of the door.  “Pete was here,” he announced.  Further investigation revealed that Loki’s scent was around the mail slot.  “Pete, what have you done now?”

He didn’t have long to wait.  Right at that moment the butcher came along to open up shop.  No sooner had the man entered the shop than three things came out.  The first was an outraged yell from the butcher.  The second was Loki, running as fast as his little legs would go.  The third was the butcher, chasing after the wolf cub with a knife.  “You thieving little beast!  Come back here!  I’ll teach you to break into my shop!”

Without sparing a thought for all the trouble Loki had given him, Toby dashed after them with Luna right behind him.  Neither of them saw several dogs slip into the shop through the open door.

“Look!” Loki yelled over his shoulder at the butcher.  “I didn’t break into your shop!  I was framed, I swear!”

Ignorant of the cub’s plaintive yips, the butcher pulled back his arm.  Something hit Loki in the side mere moments before the knife struck the snow where he had been.  “Don’t you know they can’t hear us?”

“Toby?” asked Loki.  “What are you doing here?”

“Just the usual.  Sniffing out gangs, running from maniacs with knives, saving pesky-“ he stopped.  “Never mind that last one.  Are you okay?”

“I’ll live.”

“Pete and the Goon Platoon snuck in last night and nabbed you, right?”

“Yeah.  How’d you know?”

“Lucky guess.  Anything else?”

“Yeah, they said they were going to use me as a decoy or something.  I think right now they’re raiding the butcher’s shop.”

Toby’s eyes flashed.  “Why those dirty little…”

“Ow!  That’s my neck!”

“Oh, sorry,” said Toby, unclenching his teeth.

Loki was strangely silent and inactive all day, but later that night he crawled up onto the bed and nudged Toby awake.  “What is it?” asked Toby groggily.

“I just wanted to say…thanks again for what you did today.  I can’t believe you saved my life after I’d been so rotten to you.”

Toby shrugged.  “Well, I try not to hold a grudge.  My dad always says, ‘Toby, if you’re going to go out for revenge, you’d better dig two graves.’”

“What does that mean?” wondered Loki.

“It means that when you try to get even, you usually hurt yourself more than the other person.  That’s why I always try not to hold a grudge.  But I have to admit, you made it really hard to hold onto that resolution sometimes.”

Loki hung his head.  “I know.  I wish I could take it all back and make it like it never happened.”

Toby patted him on the head.  “Well, if you’ll promise not to tear apart the living room anymore, and try to go on the paper from now on, I promise not to yell at you anymore.”

“It’s a deal.”

Toby smiled, enjoying the prospect of a future free of getting blamed for Loki’s antics.  “That just leaves the question of what to do about Pete and his punks.”

Loki looked at him as if he had just asked how to walk.  Then the wolf cub assumed a fighting stance.  “You call old Goliath-Breath out, genius.  One on one.  Dog to dog.  Hero to bully.”

“Victim to mugger,” Toby interjected.  “Loki, he’s twice my size.”

“Size doesn’t matter, Toby.  You’ll be just like that kid who killed a giant in the story your boy’s mom read last night.”

“I don’t have a slingshot,” Toby pointed out.  “Besides, that kid won because he had…well, I guess you might call him “the Great Spirit” on his side.”

“I think you do too,” Loki pointed out supportively.

Toby sighed.  “Thanks for the vote of confidence, but my dad told me never to fight unless there’s no other way, and I can’t help feeling that there is an alternative here.”

“Well, if you figure out what it is, let me know,” said Loki.  “I’m going back to bed now.”  And with that he slipped under the bed.

Toby lay awake for a while, thinking about his problem.  How could he stop Pete from bothering Loki once and for all?  Keeping the kid inside clearly wasn’t going to work even if it would be fair, which it wasn’t.  Finally, with no more ideas than when he’d started, he fell asleep.  And as so often happens, he found the answer in his dreams.

The following morning, Toby led Loki right over to Luna’s house, catching Luna just as she was coming to visit them.  “Would you mind watching Loki?  I have to go talk to Pete.”

“How about we all go?” Luna suggested.

Toby shook his head.  “No, this is something I have to do myself.  It was my responsibility to look out for Loki, and Pete kidnapped him right under my nose-literally.”

Luna nodded.  “Alright.  Come inside, Loki.  They’ll never think to look for you here.”

 “You mean they actually think?” asked Loki.

Toby shook his head in mild amusement and walked away.  “Take care,” Luna called after him.

Loki looked up at Luna.  “You know, he sounded just like my dad when he said that stuff about me being his responsibility.”

Luna’s ears perked up with interest.  “You don’t say…”

“Hey, if it isn’t the mutt,” taunted Pete.  “What’re you doing here, squirt?”

“Listen,” said Toby.  “I want to settle this matter between you and Loki.”

Pete raised an eyebrow.  “Who?”

“The wolf cub you guys were picking on.  The one you framed for breaking into the butcher’s shop.  The one you almost got killed.”

“Hey, man, what’s it to you?  We was teaching him a lesson,” said one of the dogs.

“Quiet, Bruiser,” snapped Pete.  Turning his attention to Toby he said, “The runt was trespassing in dog territory.  Wolves stay out of Nome.  That’s the rule.”

“There’s no rule about that.  Besides, Balto is half wolf and he has more right to be in this town than all of you put together,” Toby pointed out.

The gang seemed to get quite a kick out of that one.  “That old has-been?” Pete snorted.  “He’s yesterday’s news.”

Toby bared his teeth.  Nobody talked about his hero that way.  But he didn’t have time to argue.  “Well if you want to pick on wolves, you’ll have to deal with me first.”

Pete snickered.  “All right.  You’re on.”  He gathered himself up for an attack.

“Not a fight,” said Toby.  “A race.  One week from today.  Just you and me.  If I win, you lay off of Loki.”

“You hear that, boys?” Pete sneered.  “The washed-up wannabe sled dog wants to race!”

Toby growled.  “At least I got that far.  You barely finished the trial run.”

Surprisingly, Pete didn’t seem to lose one ounce of his arrogant self-assuredness.  “So what happens when you lose?”

“If I lose,” Toby offered, “You still have to lay off the kid, but you can make me your slave for a week.”

“Two weeks.”

“One week, or I’ll tell every dog in town that you were beating up a little kid.  And by every dog, I mean all the girls.”

Toby could see he had Pete over a barrel with that one.  After a long pause Pete half-snarled, “Alright.  You keep quiet and it’s one week, including tackle-dummy duty.  One word and it’s three.”

Toby resisted the urge to point out who the real dummies were.  “Deal.”

“You did WHAT?!” asked Luna when Toby came back and told them what he’d done.

“I challenged Pete to a race.”

“You did that for me?” asked Loki.

“Toby, you’ll never make it,” Luna cut in before Toby could reply.

“Sure I will.  His dad may have been a sled dog, but Pete can’t run for beans.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about.  You know as well as I that Pete will go to any lengths to win a race.”

Toby stopped, realizing that he had completely overlooked that problem.

“Knowing him, he and his gang will do anything they can think of to get across that line first.  Even if it means making sure you don’t cross at all.”

“Oh, come on.  Even Pete’s not low enough to kill me.  Even if he were, he wouldn’t have the guts.”

“I agree, but what about his gang?”

Toby considered.  “Well, yeah, but he’d stop them, right?”

“Are you willing to bet your life on it?” asked Luna.  “Because by the sound of it, you already did.”

Toby nodded.  “I guess I see your point, but what can I do now?”

Luna stared at the ceiling.  “Go over the deal again.  Tell us all the details.”

So Toby repeated his story, with Luna and Loki paying close attention to every word.  “You say you promised to keep quiet about what they did to me, right?” asked Loki.

Toby nodded.  “Yeah, that was part of the deal.”

“Alright, I think I know the answer.”  Loki beckoned Luna down and whispered his plan in her ear.  She giggled and agreed that it sounded perfect.

“Well, what is it?” asked Toby.

Luna came up and whispered something in Toby’s ear.  Toby considered.  “Hmm…”

Toby trained hard all week, racing up and down the street.  He dragged out the dogsled he and Charlie played with sometimes, and didn’t stop barking until Charlie hitched him up.  He pulled Charlie all over town, working his muscles to the bone.  He was worn out at the end of every day, but Loki and Luna’s faces made it all worthwhile.

Seven days went by, and then it was time for the race.  Two of Pete’s dogs stretched a rope taut, then slapped it down on the ground to mark the starting line.  Luna was pretty sure Pete’s part of the line was a little farther forward, but the angle was so slight that they couldn’t prove it.

“Okay,” said Luna, “You both know the rules.  No tripping, no tackling, no biting, and no accepting help during the race.  Run down this street all the way to Main Street, take Main Street to the General Store, and come back by the same route.  Each time you hit the turn, and at the store itself, you have to pick up a flag to prove you didn’t take any shortcuts.”  The “flags,” which had been Loki’s idea, were taken from the remains of various items the wolf cub had damaged or destroyed.  “First one back across the line wins.”

Toby grimaced.  Pete’s gang had driven a hard bargain on the racetrack, and he knew that most of it would be out of sight from the starting line, leaving Pete and his gang to do who-knew-what.

“On your marks,” Luna called out.

Both dogs hunched down at the starting line.

“Get set…!”

“Ready to die?” Pete whispered.

“I heard that, Pete!”

Pete lifted his head and glared at Luna.  “It was just an expression, Princess Prissy.”

“Go!” Luna shouted, pretending she hadn’t heard.  Toby was off like a shot.  Pete, still awaiting a response from Luna, didn’t realize Toby was gone until the mixed-breed was almost to the turn.  Spluttering in protest, he took off.

Luna was getting ready to fend off the protests of Pete’s gang, but the pack of dogs was nowhere in sight.  “Come on, Loki,” she said, picking up the wolf cub and heading for a roof at the corner.  “Let’s make sure we see what happens.”

Toby snatched the flag from its place at the turn, making sure he left another one for Pete.  Pete followed close behind, taking the other flag.  Toby easily widened the gap between them until a gray blur shot out from the side of the racetrack and bowled him over.  Pete ran past as one of his gang’s members ran roughshod over Toby and then took off.

“Did you see that?!” asked Loki from his and Luna’s vantage point.  “That hit-and-run creep just clobbered Toby.”

“It’s not over yet,” Luna replied as Toby got back up and continued running.

True to Luna’s expectations, Toby easily caught up to his half-brother again before a rope sprang up in front of him, pulled tight at knee level.  Pete, who had obviously been expecting the trap, easily jumped over it, but Toby was bowled over into the snow.

“Come on, Toby, you can do it!” yelled Loki.

“Hang in there, Toby!” Luna shouted in encouragement.

Pete made it to the second stop ahead of Toby and grabbed both flags!  “Ha, ha!” he jeered as he dashed past Toby on his way back.

Toby gritted his teeth and ran the rest of the way to the turnaround point anyway, then chased after Pete.  About a length behind the husky, Toby fake-tripped and fell on his face.

Pete turned and let out a derisive laugh, dropping both of his ill-gotten flags in the process.  Quick as a wink, Toby was on his feet and gone, taking one of the flags with him.  Snarling, Pete took off after him again.

Toby was almost to the corner when half a dozen members of Pete’s gang jumped him, burying him in a mass of dogs.  Pete ran past and grabbed the last flag, then jogged towards the finish line.

“No fair!” screamed Luna.

“Cheaters!” Loki howled.

Toby gritted his teeth.  “I didn’t train all week to lose!” he yelled, throwing off three of his attackers.  He kicked another one in the face, forcing it to let go, but by then two of the first three were on him again.

“We gotta help him!” yelled Loki, but Luna stopped him.

“We can’t,” she said, “Or we’ll sink to their level.  Toby has to win this one on his own, or he’ll lose.  All three of us will.”

In the massive pileup, Toby was quickly losing strength.  He couldn’t hold under the weight of six dogs.  There was only one chance.  With a groan, he slumped to the ground.

Laughing, the dogs got off of Toby.  Released from their weight, Toby sprang up and dashed to the corner.  Pete was strutting haughtily as Toby grabbed the last flag and headed for the finish line.

“Go, Toby!” yelled Loki.

Startled, Pete turned to see Toby coming up behind him.  With a grunt of surprise, he shot to top speed and headed for the line.  Toby ran as hard as he could, but Pete made it across a full two lengths ahead as his gang gathered around to cheer.

“Well, Toby, it looks like you lose.”

“I did not!” protested Toby.  “You cheated!”

Pete scoffed.  “Prove it.  Nobody saw, stupid.”

“I did,” said Luna, coming up behind them.  “I was watching the whole race, and I saw every one of those stunts you pulled!”

Pete and his gang chuckled.  “Like anyone’s going to believe you.  It’s your word against ours.  That’s one to thirteen.”

“Oh, I beg to differ,” Toby grinned.  Time to pull the ace out of his fur.  “I had witnesses posted all along the racetrack.  I’d say there were, oh, at least fifteen of them.  Since I know how terrible you guys are at math, I’ll clear that up for you: fifteen witnesses plus myself, Luna, and Loki makes eighteen to thirteen, our favor.  You lose.”

Pete growled.  “Since when do you even have that many friends?”

“It’s called being sociable, Pete.  Try it some time.”

“Also,” added Luna, “Toby tells us you made him promise not to tell about what you guys did to Loki.  But you never made me or Loki promise anything, so we’re free to tell all we want.  And we will unless you forfeit right now.”  Pete growled, and Luna added cooly, “My sisters live just a block away.  You remember Phoebe, don’t you, Pete?  The girl with a 'mouth the size of North America?'” she asked, quoting the very words Pete had once used to describe Phoebe.

Pete hissed through his teeth.  “Ah, I’ve got better stuff to do anyway, ya wimps.  C’mon, guys, let’s go.”

Loki was all smiles as he ran in circles around Toby, jumping and yipping.  “You did it, Toby!  You did it!”

“We did it,” corrected Toby.  “Come on, guys.  Our work here is done.”

With Loki behaving himself and Pete’s gang no longer a problem, Toby finally felt at peace.  Luna occasionally babysat the wolf cub when Toby wanted to spend some alone time with Charlie, but that was just fine as far as she was concerned.  Partly this was because she loved pups, and partly it was because Loki gave her an inside peek at what Toby was like behind her back.  Loki, too, seemed to enjoy the change of pace, especially since Luna knew a lot of games he’d never heard of.  But it was rare now for Toby to actually want time away from Loki, so Luna’s services were rarely needed.  More often the three of them would all just get together for no particular reason at all.

The only thing that bothered any of them was the fact that they had heard nothing about any nearby wolf packs.  Luna went to visit the Northern Lights pack, which lived very close to Nome, to ask if they knew anything.  She came back saying they did not, although her aunt and uncle had offered to take Loki in for the time being.  Loki quickly declined.  “I like hanging out with Toby better,” he asserted. 

About a week later, the trio were sitting on Toby’s front porch one evening when suddenly Loki’s ears stood straight up.  “Did you hear that?”

 Toby was confused.  “Hear what?”

 Loki sat up and listened.  “There it is again.”

 Now Luna was acting strangely.  “I hear it too.”

 Then, ever so faintly, Toby heard a distant sound.  “What is that?” he asked.

 “It sounds like a wolf,” answered Luna.

 “It’s not just any wolf!” Loki burst out excitedly.  “It’s my mom!”

 “Are you sure?” asked Luna.

 “Of course I’m sure!”  Loki’s tail was wagging like mad.  “I’d know that howl anywhere!”

 “Well, there’s no point wasting time,” said Toby.  “Let’s get you back to your pack.”

 Loki lifted his head and started to howl, but Toby stopped him.  “Not yet.  We can’t just start howling right in the middle of town.  Come on.”  He grabbed Loki and flipped him onto his back.  “Hold on to my collar,” he instructed.  Loki did as he was told, and together the two dogs and one wolf raced down the street in the direction of the howling.

 “I can’t believe I’m going home!” Loki yipped excitedly.

 To Toby’s surprise, neither could he.  The wolf cub had really started to grow on him, warts and all.  “Believe it,” he said to himself and his passenger.

 As soon as they were well clear of the houses, Toby stopped.  The howling was much closer now.  He lifted his head and answered, his deep-throated howl echoing through the night and making Luna and Loki flinch from the sheer force of it.  But when he stopped and listened, there was no reply from the wolves.  Just the same howls as before, calling, “Loki!  Lokiiiii!”

 Toby howled again, with Luna joining in this time.  But still the wolves did not acknowledge their presence.

 “It’s because you’re dogs,” explained Loki.  “They won’t answer a call from dogs.”

 “Any ideas?” asked Luna.

 “Just one,” replied Loki.  Tilting his head back, he let out a tiny howl of his own.  It was high pitched, scrappy, and decidedly off-tune, but when he stopped to listen, the howls from the pack had changed.  “They’re coming!” he yipped.

 “It’s a wonder they could hear you,” remarked Toby affectionately.

 Moments later, a wolf pack appeared over the crest of a hill in front of the trio.  As soon as he saw them, Loki ran to meet them.  He jumped onto one of the females, laughing gleefully.

 “Loki!” the she-wolf cried in delight.  “You’re alright!”

 Loki nodded, burying his face in his mom’s fur.  “I missed you so much, mom.”

 She licked his ear and nuzzled him lovingly.  “There now.  It’s okay.”

 A male wolf joined them, and for the next few moments the rest of the world seemed to disappear.  “It’s so good to have you back, son.”

Loki smiled.  “Meet my friends,” he said, gesturing with a paw towards Toby and Luna.

His father looked at them skeptically.  “You made friends with a couple of dogs?” he asked.

Loki nodded.  “But they’re totally different from what we thought.  Toby seemed mean at first, but he’s not like that at all.  He saved me from a bunch of bullies and gave me a warm place to stay,” he proceeded to give a rapid-fire account of everything that had happened, skipping the parts about Toby getting mad at him for wrecking the house.  His parents’ eyes grew wide as they listened, and by the end of the story their mouths were hanging open in surprise.

After a moment of stunned silence, Loki’s father looked at Toby and Luna.  “Is this true?”

Toby’s conscience bothered him about skipping the bad parts of the story.  “Well, actually…”

“You bet it is!” Luna cut in.  “Toby was amazing!”

“A real hero!” added Loki.

The wolves stared at Toby.  Finally Loki’s father said, “Then I can’t thank you enough.  If there’s anything we can do to repay you…”

Toby laughed.  “Oh, that’s all right.  I’m just glad he’s back safe and sound.”

Loki got that scheming look in his eye that Toby had come to know all too well.  “Actually,” he said, “I think there is something we could do…”

“You realize this plan is completely insane, right?” Toby whispered.

Loki nodded eagerly.  “Yep.”

“And you realize that you could get sent to the zoo, right?”

“Yep.”

“And you are aware that the whole thing would blow over if we decided not to do this?”

“Yep.”

“Are you going to keep saying that all night?”

Loki flashed a mischievous grin.  “Yep.”

Toby grinned back.  “You really are just like me.”

“Are we going to sit here talking all night, or are we going to stir up some chaos?”

Toby shook his head, trying not to dwell on what they were about to do.  “It just seems so wrong, faking something like this.  Besides, it’ll make people in Nome more afraid of wolves than ever.”

Loki nodded.  “I know what you mean, but humans already hate wolves.  One more incident won’t change much, and if it does, we can figure out a way to fix it.  Anyway, do you know any other way to make them not be mad at you?”

Toby shrugged.  “No.”

“Then let’s mix it up.”

Toby grabbed Loki by the scruff of the neck and lifted him up onto Charlie’s bed.  Then he headed for Mr. and Mrs. Winters’ room.

While Toby was out of the room, Loki crawled up to Charlie’s face and gave him the cold-nose treatment.  There was no response.  He tried again without success, and finally decided that there was only one way to wake the kid up.  He crawled up on top of Charlie’s face and planted his front paws on top of the boy's nose.

“Huh?  What?” Charlie asked as he awoke in a daze.  Upon seeing Loki, his face lit up.  “Now where’d you come from, little guy?”

Loki took Charlie’s pajama sleeve in his teeth and gave a playful tug.

“Hey, you’re real friendly, aren’t ya?” asked Charlie, patting the “puppy” on the head with his captive hand.

Right at that moment Toby entered the room with Charlie’s parents in tow.  “What’s going on?” asked Mrs. Winters with a yawn.

Charlie held up his sleeve, with Loki still holding a death grip on the cloth.  “I woke up and found this puppy sitting on me.  Can we keep him?”

Mr. Winters turned up the light and gasped.  “Charlie, that’s a wolf!”

“That’s our cue,” hissed Toby.  Loki let go of Charlie’s sleeve and dashed out of the room with Toby hot on his heels.

The humans followed the canines into the room to find Toby chasing Loki around the room.  In the course of the chase, Loki damaged or knocked over various items and generally caused as much chaos as possible.  Finally, Toby succeeded in chasing him out the pet flap.  The Winters followed, only to discover Toby nose-to-nose with a very big and very angry wolf.  A vicious fight ensued, with a great deal of snapping and snarling.  Finally Toby succeeded in driving off the wolf, who grabbed Loki and disappeared into the night with Toby close behind.

As soon as they were well out of sight the three of them stopped.  “Well,” panted Loki’s father, “That was certainly…invigorating.”

“You guys did great!” Loki crowed.  “Even I wouldn’t have known it was just for show!  We really did it, didn’t we?”

Toby nodded.  “Yeah, I guess we did.”

Loki’s mother came trotting up, along with one of Loki’s siblings.  “Mission accomplished,” she reported.  They had “borrowed” a string of sausages from the butcher’s shop, snuck into Pete’s house, and left it near the canine con-artist.  Toby had informed them that, while Pete’s humans tended to be early risers, Pete himself was a notoriously late one.  Unless of course, as was practically guaranteed to be the case next morning, a viciously handled broom was involved.  “If what you said is accurate, Toby, his gang will kick him out once they find out he’s been caught in a crime.”

Wishing there were a way to replace the sausages taken from the butcher, Toby looked at the wolves.  “Well, I guess this is goodbye.”  He ruffled the fur on top of Loki’s head.  “So long, little buddy.  I’m going to miss you.”

Loki leaned against Toby’s leg.  “I’m gonna miss you too.”

Loki’s father dipped his head.  “I always thought your kind were inferior.  But now I see that you would make a fine wolf.”

“Thanks.  If you’re ever in the area and need a babysitter, you know where to find me.”

Loki’s father laughed.  “I’ll keep that in mind.”  He turned to leave.  “I hope our paths cross again.  Perhaps next time it will be under better circumstances.”  And with that, the wolves disappeared into the night.

“That was so sweet,” said a voice behind Toby.

Toby jumped.  “Luna, don’t do that to me.  You almost gave me a heart attack.”  After a pause he asked, “Were you eavesdropping?”

Luna smiled.  “Everybody needs a hobby.”

“You know, if you weren’t such a good friend I’d bite you.”

She laughed and rubbed her nose under his chin.  “You did a really good job taking care of Loki.”

Toby sagged.  “Yeah, I just wish I’d started off better and saved myself the trouble.”

“Hey, if people never made mistakes, how would we learn?”  She nuzzled his neck.  “Personally, I think you’ll be a great father someday.”

Toby shook his head in suppressed amusement.  It didn’t take a genius to guess what Luna was driving at.  “You and your romantic ideas,” he muttered.  Then he stifled a yawn.  “Well, I’m going home.  See you tomorrow.”

When Toby returned home, he received a hero’s welcome.  Everyone apologized for accusing him of destroying the house except Charlie, who was gleeful over the fact that Toby really had been innocent all along, just as he had said.  The Winters decided that the wolf pup must have been sneaking into their house every night for some reason, and Toby decided their conclusion was, if not quite true, close enough to suffice.  Especially since he had no way of telling them otherwise.  And of course they were all glad to see him alive and unharmed after his “fight.”

Once the celebration had died down and everyone went back to bed, Toby took his usual spot on top of Charlie’s feet, looking forward to a night uninterrupted by questions.  Strangely, he found himself tossing and turning for the next three hours.

‘I can’t sleep,’ he thought with a sense of irony.  ‘It’s too quiet.’

Toby, Luna, Pete, Loki © Dragon Tamer

Flint © Redwolf 03

Aleu © Universal Studios