Winter’s Run

Chapter One

It was late fall about, when Winter was brought into the world. His pure white fur, with only a hint of gray around the snout, and bright blue eyes always brought the foulest of hearts to rest. He was much larger than the other husky pups, which lead to the conclusion that he was more like his father, an Arctic Wolf named Jeremy, than his mother, Tassie, who was a small brown husky.

He lived a life that was fair enough, he didn’t feel like a wolf at all when he played with his brothers and sisters. He had always thanked them for not making fun of him because he was a half breed.

Winter is still respected by other puppies he meets when he goes to new places, because he is part wolf. He never understood why he was respected for being part wolf, while most half-bred dogs are made fun of.

But it is his story that is of great value, not his rank. And this is it:

Winter rose from his grass nest. It was his first time out of the den. He was determined to be the first pup of his seven siblings to have a successful hunt, but he had to practice a lot before that would happen.

He trotted over to a pile of leaves. “Hmmm…this will be a mouse.” He said, and ran wobbly over to another pile of leaves. “Too small to be rabbit…” He ran back to the other pile and took up a mouthful of leaves. He ran back to the other pile and dropped the leaves into it. “Now it’s a rabbit.” He barked in satisfactory. “A nasty rabbit, though!” He growled, spitting out bits of leaf.

“Winter?” A soft, worried voice came from the den.

“Yeah, Mom?” Winter turned around.

“Oh, Winter! You had me worried sick!” His mother, Rose, growled from the den.

“Aw, Mom! I was just out here!”

“Well, when there were only seven pups in the den I got worried!”

“I’m surprised you’d even care about the stupid wolf dog…” Winter mumbled to himself.

Even though most of his siblings didn’t make fun of him because he was part wolf, didn’t mean they all didn’t. There was one pup, Lane, who always made fun of him and the other pups.

“Here Wolf-Boy!” Lane called, sticking his head out of the den.

Winter said nothing.

“What? You lost you voice?” Lane teased. “Come on! Howl! Like your stupid daddy!”

Winter was stunned at his words. Lane had just called his own father stupid!

“Lane!” Rose growled. “You should be ashamed of yourself!”

“Why?” Lane snapped. “It’s not my fault you decided to choose a wolf as your mate! And make that monster!” He jerked his snout toward Winter. “That poor thing, Winter’s all messed up! And it’s your fault!”

Winter snarled, baring his teeth. “I am not messed up! I’m perfectly fine! And you should be ashamed of yourself! Talking about your parents in such a way!”

“What do you know, Half-boy?” Lane growled, and then stomped into the den.

All of a sudden, the Human walked out. The Human lived in the house near their den, and fed the small family and gave then beds. “What is going on out here?”

Rose wined and walked over to him. She jumped up and licked his face.

“Oh, Rose.” The Human said. “I’m going to work, okay? You take care of your pups, okay? Bye!”

The Human crawled into a big grumbley thing and roared away.