Claudette woke up, and was immediately worried. She looked everywhere that was near her, but couldn't find Steele! As much as she wanted to win, she didn't want to leave without him. It was almost as if she...cared about him? No, that couldn't have been it. It was also that if they both didn't cross, their teams would be disqualified. She calmed herself down, while banishing the near-romantic thoughts she had for Steele, and managed to make out his tracks in the snow. As relieved as she was, she knew she had to move fast before more snow covered them.
"Oh, Steele, où est-tu?" she said to herself before running in the prints' direction. She smiled as she was able to see a dog in the distance. But her happiness quickly faded. She began to see bigger prints in the snow, and she knew exactly what they came from. "Loups? Oh no. Steele!" She began to run even faster, who knows if he was able to fight back or not, if he was still snowblind? Claudette finally came up to three gray wolves, one of which came to her, while the other two were preventing Steele from doing the same.
"Claudette! They're not letting me leave." he said to her. She was so worried that she didn't even try to correct him. She stared the supposed lead wolf right in the eyes, and spoke to them.
"Let him go." The wolf just laughed slightly and replied.
"Oh my dear Claudette. I never though that you, of all dogs, would turn on your own kind." His words filled Claudette with a certain kind of anger that only a certain accusation could create. She growled at him and began to attack, only for him to scratch her and push her down. The leader looked back at the other two wolves and seemed to gesture to them to let Steele go. "But, I didn't say I wouldn't let you go without your friend." As the two huskies started to get far enough away from the wolves, Steele, once again oblivious, asked Claudette an important question.
"So...What did they mean by 'your own kind' back there?" Claudette just looked at him with an indirect look of light anger.
"Oh mon dieu, you're dense." She sighed and actually answered the question. "Look, I'm not a purebred husky like you. A few years back, my leader found me here, when I was very young. She didn't care that I was half-wolf, she loved me anyway." She finished, sounding both upset and sad. Steele looked down embarrassingly, because he didn't know what to think now about half-breeds. Claudette recognized that look and said in French, "Vous n'êtes pas seulement stupide, mais aussi raciste."