North and the other Guardians watched as the Man in the Moon chose a new Guardian and sent an image of them. It was the image of a wolf.
"But that could be anyone!" Bunny exclaimed. "All the wolves look the same!" Jack shook his head.
"I recognize her. You can tell because the tip of her tail is a different color. It's white, like a fox's. Her name's Jade, I think. She lives in a forest," he said.
"Then what are we waiting for?" Tooth said and they took off in the sleigh.
"Kora! It's time for the Run! Get Ramah!" Jade, the Alpha of the pack, called. Kora nodded and got another wolf and they set off to run to the edges of their territory to check for danger. Then something crashed through the trees nearby. It was a sleigh pulled by eight reindeer. Five people were riding in it, one of which were Jack Frost.
"Jade, this is North, Sandy, Tooth, and Bunny," Jack introduced.
"Why have you come?" Jade demanded. Her companions were already creeping forward, growling. They thought the Guardians were a threat since only Jade could understand what they were saying.
"The Man in the Moon has chosen a new Guardian to protect the children of the world: you," North explained. "Do you accept?" Jade thought it over in her head.
"Will I be able to stay with my pack?" she asked.
"Yes," North said. "We will only need you to come with us to the Pole occasionally, like now."
"Hold," she commanded to her wolves in wolf-talk. Ramah and Kora stopped growling at once and Jade continued thinking. She couldn't just abandon her pack. Would this have a positive outcome for her pack? No, not really. She would be saving human children, and humans were hunters, and hunters kill wolves. But, they are just pups. It doesn't matter what they are. They are pups. And all pups must be protected.
"I'll do it," she said. "But wait here. I must finish the Run and tell the rest of my pack. I don't want to leave with them mad at me for not finishing the Run. I'll be back soon." They nodded.
"What did they want?" Kora questioned as they continued to Run through the forest.
"They wanted me to go with them to protect human pups," Jade explained.
"You're not going, are you?" Ramah inquired. Jade nodded. Kora gasped.
"You can't!" she exclaimed. "They're humans! You can't possibly want to help them!"
"They're pups, Kora," Jade reasoned.
"But we need you here," Ramah pointed out.
"Kora will be able to be Alpha while I am gone. I will return, and whenever I am here, I will resume my duties as Alpha. Understood?" Jade said. Kora and Ramah nodded and they finished up the Run and told the pack.
"Traitor!" a wolf howled in rage. "You leave now and you will never come back!" The other wolves howled in agreement.
"Silence!" Jade boomed. "I will return, and resume duties as Alpha. While I'm gone, and only while I'm gone, Kora is Alpha."
"You will never be Alpha again!" another wolf warned. "Do you really want to do this for humans?"
"I will be Alpha again!" Jade insisted. No one listened to her. Slora, the fourth most powerful wolf in the pack next to Jade, Kora, and Ramah, was the loudest of them all.
"Finally!" Jade heard her murmur to herself. "I'm in the Runs!" Something about what Slora said made Jade uneasy.
"Be quiet!" Kora yelled. "Now, Jade will be-"
"Exiled!" Slora interrupted loudly and leapt up onto the rock where Kora and Jade stood. "Jade has chosen humans over us! And she says she will still be Alpha when she returns? I say no! Jade is and always will be a traitor to her pack, a traitor to wolves, and a traitor to Skytooth himself!"
"What?" Kora said quietly. Slora turned to Jade, bristling.
"Jade, traitor to wolves, your pack, and Skytooth, you are exiled to life as a Lone Wolf," she said. "Get off this rock."
"No!" a wolf howled.
"You dare challenge me?" Slora growled, turning on the wolf. "Don't forget I am in the Runs now!" The wolf dipped his head in respect and stepped back.
"Jade is no traitor," Kora growled. "She will be Alpha while she is here and I will be Alpha when she is not. That is the final word. Get off the rock, Slora." Slora looked stung and stepped down. "Goodbye, Jade. See you soon," Kora added. Jade nodded and left to go to the sleigh, where North pulled out a book and she took an oath and they went to the Pole in the sleigh.
"So what are you the spirit of?" Jack asked in the sleigh.
"Animals," Jade answered. "I'm not quite like Mother Nature, since my powers are only in the field of animals."
"How did you die?"
"I had my powers to shapeshift and talk to animals even before I died. Then one day, a venomous snake attacked my family. I turned to a wolf on instinct and killed it, but it bit me and I died ten minutes later. I woke up in a room made of marble with a stone dragon necklace next to me. I put it on and I turned to a dragon. I knew that it gave me Dragon Magic, and now I can turn into mythical creatures and venom can't kill me, or fire."
"Do you have any idea why Manny chose a new Guardian?" Jack inquired. Jade shook her ehad no. By this time they arrived at the Pole and Jade caught a scent.