Lily first didn't understand what he was saying. After a few seconds, she repeated those words in her head. They loved each other with such passion; passion that is only found between two mates. She looked at Kodi who was behind Hank. His head still lowered. He opened his eyes slowly and lifted his head. He looked into her brown eyes. She showed no reaction. She just looked at him. She was very much surprised to find this out, but of course, she had to make sure it wasn't a lie.

"Kodi…..is this true?" she asked carefully.

"I'm sorry……" he said and stared to cry a bit more. He then ran across her and away from her sight. She didn't move. She was still surprised.

"So, now that you know this, how about us go, before the musher leaves us." said Hank with no feeling towards Kodi.

"Why didn't he tell me?" Lily asked herself with eyes wide open.

"Because, he knew that you wouldn't love him anymore and so he wanted to keep it a secret."

"What!?! Not love him? I still love him!!! Even if he was in love with a male dog, I still love him. Whatever gave him that idea? I'm not prejudice."

Hank was shock to hear her say that. She still loves him? After finding out he is gay?

"But-but, he likes male dogs more than female dogs. Doesn't that bother you at ALL?"

"NO!!!! I mean, as long as he still loves me more than anyone else, I am perfectly alright. How could you tell him his secret? He was about to tell me. I thought you were his friend. Now I know you're just a stupid dog."

Lily gave him a stare that scared Hank for a while, like if she was about to jump on him and attack him. She then looked at the direction where Kodi went and ran towards it.

Hank was left there by himself.

o

Lily ran fast. She looked everywhere for Kodi, and yet again, she found nothing. She saw the boiler room door was slightly open. The team had left without her and Kodi. The morning sun light had vanished into darkness by huge black clouds.

Lily ran around the boiler room to see if he was around. She looked hard with eyes wide open. She then heard a loud clap of thunder. It startled her. She looked up into the black sky and saw the clouds move fast. She looked down and started to sniff the air for his scent. She picked up nothing, but the smell of moisture in the air. It was going to rain hard.

She sniffed the ground until she picked something up. She followed this familiar smell and she ended up inside the boiler room. It was dark and abandoned. It was very quite. She can hear the small tools inside slightly move with the small gusts of winds coming from the outside.

She moved with caution until she was in the middle of the empty room. She lifted her head up high and sniffed the area. The smell was coming from her right. She looked and found a hay stack. She slowly walked towards it. Her ears were straight up. She moved very slowly until she heard a small and almost inaudible sound. It was a small cry from Kodi behind the hay stack.

She moved and her head was looking down at the crying dog on the floor rolled up, as if he felt very cold.

"Kodi?" she asked in a very soft tone. "Kodi? We need to talk."

"Go away!!!" He responded with his head still hidden from her sight by his body.

"Kodi…." She moved closer to him, but before she can say anything else, he lifted his head and again yelled "GO AWAY!!!!"

His face almost made Lily want to cry. She can see tears falling from his face like waterfalls. He looked away and cried more. She didn't know what to say or do. He was just in so much pain.

Why didn't I listen to my instincts? I'm not meant for love. Males and females don't love me. Why didn't I just forget about Kirby like everyone else? Why?

Lily walked closer to him. She lowered her head and Kodi looked at her.

"Kodi…..do you love me?" she asked a bit worried about his reaction.

"What?" he asked a bit confused. Tears were still falling from his eyes.

"Do you love me?" she repeated.

Kodi looked away and thought about it. I...I-I do love her. I love her...

He looked into her eyes and stopped crying. He stood up without taking his eyes away from hers.

"Lily…I love you. I loved you since the first day I saw you. You are the most important dog in my life." He confessed to her

She smiled and said "Then I don't care what you were or used to love. As long as you love me now and forevermore, I love you back. I want to live my life with you. You too are the most important dog in my life."

Kodi wagged his tail and they nuzzled each other. After a few minutes, they parted and they looking into each others eyes.

"I'm sorry…" said Kodi with his head down. "; I should have told you about me and Kirby when we first meet. It's just that, I was so happy with you and I didn't want to remember him. I mean, I do miss him, but I would never get over him….until you came along. I'm so happy now, for the first time in such a long time."

"You don't have to apologize. If you didn't want to talk about your past, then you didn't have to. It's your life and your secret; nobody had to know about this, not even me. As long as you love me, I don't care about anything else."

"Thanks. I'm so lucky to have you." Said Kodi while giving her a nuzzle

"I'm so lucky to have you too." Said Lily retuning his nuzzle