Somewhere in the Siberian Taiga, Russia

A grey wolf/dog with black under-markings opened her jade-green eyes, awakened by a disturbing dream. She stretched out her legs and yawned. "That's odd," she thought. This was the third time she had had this dream. "Three times in a row is not a good sign, Jade," she told herself. Her mate was still lying sound asleep next to her. She remembered how they had met a few months ago. . .

She was on her first hunt without the pack, and she was overly confident in her skills. She thought she could take down a 3-month-old caribou on her own, so she moved in on the herd, singling out the babies. She ran out of the bushes and caught the young caribou by surprise. She had pinned it down and was about to sink her teeth into its neck when she saw the mother caribou standing ten feet away, beating the ground with her hoof and snorting, about to charge. There was nowhere to run. The caribou lowered her antlers to the ground and began to charge at the young wolf/dog. She thought it was all over, when a white blur jumped out of the bushes and barreled into her, pushing her out of the way. Jade looked up at her savior to see a large, white wolf male, with yellow eyes that had piercing blue irises, standing over her.

"Thank you, ummm . . ." she said, realizing that she had never met this wolf before.

"My name is Kazan," he said in Russian. "And you're lucky I showed up, or you would have been a dead wolf."

"I'm Jade, and thank you for saving my life, Kazan. I don't know what I would've done without you, but could you let me up?" He was still standing over her. She saw him blush a little as he moved out of the way, and she stood up. They took down the baby caribou together and feasted that night. They talked late into the night, and Jade found out that Kazan had lost his pack to hunters, so she invited him to come home with her.

The alpha, Koryak, didn't approve at first, but he eventually gave in to Jade's plea. His mother had adopted Jade when she showed up out of nowhere and the two were raised as brother and sister. Soon enough, Jade and Kazan fell in love, and they became mates. . .

After her brief reminiscence, she decided to wake Kazan up. He always seemed to know what dreams meant, and she hadn't told him about this one. "Kazan, honey, wake up," she said as she licked his cheek.

"What . . . oh, hello Jade. Did I oversleep again?" he yawned. "I'm sorry."

"No, I just woke up early. Kazan, I've been having these dreams," She started. He looked at her with concern. "And I think they might mean something. I've had the same dream for the past three nights."

"Well, what is the dream?" he asked.

"It's a memory from my past. Something I never told you about," she said nervously. "It was when I was just a little pup. I lived in Alaska . . ."

"Then how did you get here?" he interrupted.

"I'll get to that. Anyway, I lived in Alaska, in a forest outside of Nome. My mother, two sisters, three brothers, and I were outside our den playing. My brother Flint had just pinned me, my brother Ikuma and my sister Sage were chasing each other, and my sister Luna was fighting with my other brother Balto over a bone. Suddenly, my mother, a pure white wolf like yourself, heard a gunshot, and began to push us back into the den," she paused and sighed deeply, her eyes shining, wet with memories of the cold tears that ran down her face that fateful day. "It was too late. The hunters shot my mother, and my brother Ikuma. The rest of us ran off and were separated. All I know is my story. I went into town looking for my father. I'm half husky . . ."

Kazan's eyes widened and his jaw dropped. "WHAT? I never . . . you never said. . ."

". . . And I'm sorry I never told you, I felt awful keeping a secret from you, but I felt I had to, some wolves just don't like dogs . . . and despise wolf/dog hybrids even more," she said, looking sorrowfully into his widened eyes, hers welling up with tears. She shut her eyes tightly and held back the guilty tears she wanted to cry. She hung her head and sighed.

"I couldn't find my father anywhere," she continued. "I ended up in the basket of a sled. The musher was on an expedition to cross the Bering Strait by dogsled, and I was along for the ride. So, that's how I got here. The dream is just the part about my mother's death, and my separation from my siblings. Do you have any idea what it means?" Jade asked as she finished her story.

"Well," Kazan said, "it's hard to interpret a dream now that I've just found out that my mate has forgotten to tell me she's not a full wolf!"

"No one knows it but you. I was planning to tell you soon, but I was afraid," she replied. "You know how Koryak is about dogs. He would exile me from the pack if he found out, and he would send you and the children with me . . ."

"CHILDREN?"

"There's something else I need to tell you . . ." she said slowly, looking at her feet shyly, "I'm not sure how you're going to react," She looked into her loving mate's eyes, hoping he would be delighted at what she was about to say. She gathered up her courage and spoke in a low, shaky voice: "I'm . . . pregnant."

Kazan's eyes widened in shock and then softened. "I'm . . . a . . . father?" he said slowly, then exclaimed, "I'M A FATHER!"

Suddenly, a voice came from out of the darkness behind them. "I'm so happy for you," the voice said sarcastically. Jade turned around to see Koryak step out of the shadows of the pack's cave.

Jade's eyes widened with fear. "How long have you been there?" She knew that if he had heard the whole conversation, she was doomed.

"Long enough," the alpha replied. "After the pups are weaned you and your family will leave this pack and return to Alaska when the Strait freezes over. Until then, be careful what you say to others, for they may be less merciful than I. If it were not for the fact that you were raised as my sister, you would be leaving now. Nonetheless, there will be no half-breeds in this pack!" With that, Koryak howled to awake the pack. "And Jade," he added quickly, "your true pedigree will be announced no later than one day after the pups are weaned. I always knew there was something different about you."

Nome

Nikki, Kaltag, and Star were talking in the Old Mill before the team set off for Nenana.

". . . and then that wolf/dog appeared out of nowhere and landed right in front of me. Balto went on, but someone jumped on top of me, so I couldn't catch up!" Nikki explained to Kaltag.

"It doesn't matter, Nik! A bet's a bet, and I would've won that race if Balto hadn't," Kaltag replied.

"Yea, but you didn't win 'dere Kaltag."

"But," Star interjected, "since that half-breed was disqualified, Kaltag did win!" This time Nikki was the one to hit Star over the head, and the small, grey dog spun around and collapsed to the ground with a thud.

"Yea, but if Balto hadn't jumped down in front of me 'dere I would've beaten Kaltag by a mile!" Nikki added.

"Actually, Nikki, I had the inside lane on that turn, and you had been steadily losing acceleration. You would've ended up behind Star, if my calculations are correct," Kaltag said proudly as he defended his win.

"Which they always are!" Stare interjected again, before receiving another blow to the head from Nikki.

Star got back up and shook his head. Nikki and Kaltag were still arguing. Suddenly, the door to the Old Mill swung open and hit the wall with a loud boom. Steele walked in haughtily and yelled "Nikki, Kaltag, Star, let's go!" Star got up to go, but Nikki and Kaltag sat arguing. Steele, shocked by their disregard for their leader's orders, ran over and pinned both arguing dogs to the ground. Again, he growled, "Let's go! Now!"

He stepped off them and, in unison, they exclaimed "But he started it!"

Steele just rolled his eyes as he walked out into the night and said, "That medicine isn't going to deliver itself, now is it?"

Kaltag shot Nikki an angry glance and muttered, "You got off easy this time, but next time you're going to lose." They left to meet the musher at the sled, who harnessed them up and clipped Steele into the lead position.

Dixie and Sylvie approached the team. "Have a good run, Steele. We're rooting for you!" they said. Star looked on as Dixie flirted with Steele, and wished it could be him getting all the attention.

Steele bluntly pushed the two flirtatious dogs away, and looked around. "Where's Jenna?" he finally asked.

"She's with her girl," Sylvie answered, "and Steele, she doesn't love you. She doesn't even like you."

"What?" he growled. "If not me, then who?"

"Balto," Dixie explained. "She told us herself."

Steele's eyes narrowed and he bared his teeth, "BALTO! When I get back, I'll get you for this, wolf/dog. No one can steal Jenna's heart from me! You'll pay for this, Balto! . . . I'll make sure of it!" From behind the sled came the cry of "MUSH!" With a deep anger inside, Steele set off for Nenana at top speed, venting his anger . . . for now . . .