Thanks again to everyone for following this story. To answer everyone's questions, yes, Balto is supposed to be half husky. But Aniu is in love with Scrub, a wolf. What's going on here?

And for that matter, what will the rest of the pack think?

Kodan

"The southern patrol is back," noted Nina.

I looked, and sure enough I saw Scrub and Aniu emerge from the trees. Just looking at them made me smile. Their joy at each other's company was so great I could practically smell it. I could see Aniu's smile even behind the rabbit in her teeth. The two of them had it bad.

Unfortunately, it seemed not everyone knew the two of them were a couple. As Scrub broke off to make his report and Aniu sat down to eat, a brown wolf named Rama trotted up to meet her. "Good morning, Aniu," he greeted, his tail wagging.

I approached, sensing trouble.

"Good morning," Aniu replied, not looking up from her rabbit.

Rama's ears dropped back for a moment. He must have been confused at her lack of interest, but it didn't stop him for long. "Glad we finally got rid of that stinker Kava," he remarked. "I just wish I could have finished him myself. The way he treated you..."

'And pushed you aside,' I thought. I glanced over toward Scrub and the alphas, wondering if they knew what was going on. The alphas watched with curiosity. Scrub briefly met my gaze, and I could see he was worried.

"So anyway," Rama went on, "I was wondering if you'd like to accompany me for a little walk?"

She stopped eating and looked up at him. Then she glanced toward Scrub, and I could see her expression fall. "I'm afraid not," she said, trying to sound casual about it. "Someone else asked me first."

Rama seemed surprised at this. Apart from the alphas, and Taro, who was too old for Aniu, he was the fittest wolf in the pack. The thought that anyone would get the jump on him must have been quite a shock. "Who?" he asked.

She hesitated, unsure what to say. Before Rama could ask again, I stepped up. "An old friend of hers," I answered.

Rama stared at me. So, it seemed, did nearly every other male in the pack. "You're going with the dog?"

"No!" we both blurted at once. Great, as if things hadn't been awkward enough, now look what I'd done.

"Aniu is with me."

All eyes turned to the speaker. Scrub stood as firm as a tree, his ears up and his tail raised. I had never seen him look so sure of himself. "I asked for the right to court her last night."

There was silence for what felt like a very long time. Then all at once, every wolf in earshot burst out laughing.

"Oh, that's a good one," Rama chortled.

"The bottom of the heap courting the heiress?" Khoros could barely stand up. "You must have been up all night planning a joke like that!"

One of Aniu's friends, a she-wolf named Asaila, was rolling on the ground. "I guess being with Kava brought your standards down, didn't it?"

As the laughter subsided, Aniu strtode over to Scrub's side. "It's not a joke," she said firmly.

Everyone fell dead silent at that. I felt as though time itself had frozen.

"You and Scrub?" asked Rama. "But he's... he's an omega."

"He's as much a male as you are," I pointed out. "So he has as much..."

"You keep out of this, dog!" the wolf whirled to face me. I have to admit, he was pretty intimidating. The guy was twice my size and showing teeth I'd seen break a moose' leg bone clean in half. "You're not part of our pack, so keep your nose out of our business while you've still got it, got it?"

"Well, Rama," Sequoia boomed out fiercely, "Am I still the head of this pack, or did Nina and I die in our sleep last night and no one have the heart to tell us?"

Rama turned to his right and came face-to-face with the alpha male, who regarded him with a confident scowl that instantly sent him back with his ears down and his tail tucked. "Sir, I didn't know... surely you haven't..."

Sequoia cut him off. "Scrub has our permission."

Nina, at his side, added, "He came to us in advance, and he's told us all we need to know about his interest in our daughter. We trust him completely, and we have every confidence in our daughter's judgment."

That shut everyone up. To bully the omega was nothing unusual, but to defy the alphas was unthinkable. As if to drive this point home, Sequoia stepped up nose-to-nose with Rama. "I also seem to remember telling everyone that anyone who spoke ill of Kodan would answer to me. Wasn't that my command after he risked his life to save a packmate?"

Rama stammered. "Y-yes, sire, but wasn't Kava...?"

"Wasn't that what I said?" Sequoia repeated.

Rama nodded, wide-eyed. "Yes," he whimpered weakly.

Sequoia sat, the intensity gone from his face as if it had ridden away on a passing breeze. Only a hint of tooth and the ever-present strength in his gaze so much as hinted at the aggression he was capable of. "I believe you owe our friend an apology, and my daughter as well."

I waited for him to speak on Scrub's behalf too, but he said nothing more. All eyes were on Rama as he turned to face me, the humiliation so heavy on him that I couldn't help feeling sorry for him. He stared at my paws and muttered. "I'm sorry, Kodan. You had every right to speak."

He turned to face the budding couple, but refused to even look at the omega. Instead he addressed Aniu alone. "Forgive me. I shouldn't have been so rude. After all, it is your decision."

Khoros seemed to realize that she was the last resort. "Aniu, are you sure you're...?" he began, but Scrub cut him off.

"If Aniu wishes," he suggested, "I won't stop her from courting another. I have no claim over her yet, and the law allows her to court many suitors provided she takes only one mate in the end."

That was the limit. Let everyone else take Scrub for filth, even Scrub himself. "No!" I protested. "Why should Aniu have to put up with other suitors who are only in it out of jealousy? And why should Scrub have to compete with them when he actually loves her?"

A wiser dog might have kept his mouth shut, since I still think it was only the alphas' protection that stopped the males from leaving me with scars or worse.

Nina fixed me with a somber expression. "Kodan, your concern is commendable. But you must realize that the ways you knew where you came from are not our ways."

"Perhaps not," Aniu countered, "But he has a point. I want a courtship of love, not envy. So I'll only court one male at a time, and until I choose otherwise, that will be Scrub. Let it be known that anyone who tries to cut short my courtship, to Scrub or any suitor, will never be my mate."

Well, that pretty much ended the matter. No one, not even Aniu's parents, could override her when it came to whom she would or wouldn't consider for a mate. One by one, the crowd dispersed.

Scrub walked up to me. "Thanks for the backup," he uttered. "I thought they were going to force me off."

I shook my head. "No need to thank me. I was just doing what any decent dog would do."

Scrub nodded slowly. "Yes," he observed. "You dogs have an odd way of doing things, but I like it."

I was glad to hear that. And when he asked me to come with him and Aniu whenever they went out courting in the future, I readily agreed.

Is it only hindsight now, looking back, or did I imagine even then what a snare lay in my path?

Oh-oh, I get the feeling our friend Kodan's not out of trouble yet. And what about Scrub and Aniu? Will they withstand their differing social statures and the persecution of their packmates? Will the other wolves heed Aniu's words? Is there a drastic turn of events coming up with Kodan destined to land in the crossfire? And why do I sound like the narrator on those old Batman episodes starring Adam West? Stay tuned.