With Loki behaving himself and Pete's gang no longer a problem, Toby finally felt at peace. Luna occasionally looked after the wolf cub when Toby wanted to spend some alone time with Charlie, but that was just fine as far as she was concerned. Partly this was because she loved pups, and partly it was because Loki gave her an inside peek at what Toby was like behind her back. Loki also seemed to enjoy the change of pace, especially since Luna knew a lot of games he'd never heard of. But it was rare now for Toby to actually want time away from Loki, so Luna's services were rarely needed. More often the three of them would all just get together for no particular reason at all.

The only thing that bothered any of them was the fact that they had heard nothing about any nearby wolf packs. Luna went to visit the Northern Lights pack, which lived very close to Nome, to ask if they knew anything. She came back saying they didn't, although her aunt Aleu and uncle Flint had offered to take Loki in until his pack could be located. Loki quickly declined. "I like hanging out with Toby better," he asserted.

About a week after the race, the trio was sitting on Toby's front porch one evening to enjoy the sun's last warm rays when suddenly Loki's ears stood straight up. "Did you hear that?"

Toby was confused. "Hear what?"

Loki sat up and listened. "There it is again."

Now Luna was acting strangely. "I hear it too."

Then, ever so faintly, Toby heard a distant sound. "What is that?" he asked.

"It sounds like a wolf," answered Luna.

"It's not just any wolf!" Loki burst out excitedly. "It's my mom!"

"Are you sure?" asked Luna.

"Of course I'm sure!" Loki's tail was wagging like mad. "I'd know that howl anywhere!"

"Well, there's no point wasting time," said Toby. "Let's get you back to your pack."

Loki lifted his head and started to howl, but Toby stopped him. "Not yet. We can't just start howling in the middle of town. Come on." He grabbed Loki and flipped him onto his back. "Hold on to my collar," he instructed. Loki did as he was told, and together the two dogs and one wolf raced down the street in the direction of the howling.

"I can't believe I'm going home!" Loki yipped excitedly.

To his surprise, Toby couldn't either. The wolf cub had really started to grow on him, warts and all. "Believe it," he said to himself and his passenger.

As soon as they were well clear of the houses, Toby stopped. The howling was much closer now. He lifted his head and answered, his deep-throated howl echoing through the night and making Luna and Loki flinch from the sheer force of it. But when he stopped and listened, there was no reply from the wolves. Just the same howls as before, calling, "Loki! Loki!"

Toby howled again, with Luna joining in this time. But still the wolves did not acknowledge their presence.

"It's because you're dogs," explained Loki. "They won't answer a call from dogs."

"Any ideas?" asked Luna.

"Just one," replied Loki. Tilting his head back, he let out a tiny howl of his own. It was high-pitched, scrappy and decidedly off-tune, but when he stopped to listen, the howls from the pack had changed. "They're coming!" he yipped.

"It's a wonder they could hear you," remarked Toby affectionately.

Moments later, a wolf pack appeared over the crest of a hill in front of the trio. As soon as he saw them, Loki ran to meet them. He jumped onto one of the females, laughing gleefully. "Loki!" the she-wolf cried in delight. "You're all right!"

Loki nodded, burying his face in her fur. "I missed you so much, mom."

She licked his ear and nuzzled him lovingly. "There now. It's okay."

A male wolf joined them, and for the next few moments the rest of the world seemed to disappear. "It's so good to have you back, son."

Loki smiled. "Meet my friends," he said, gesturing with a paw towards Toby and Luna.

His father looked at them skeptically. "You made friends with a couple of dogs?" he asked.

Loki nodded. "But they're totally different from what we thought. Toby seemed mean at first, but he's not like that at all. He saved me from a bunch of bullies and gave me a warm place to stay." He proceeded to give a rapid-fire account of everything that had happened, skipping the parts about Toby getting mad at him for wrecking the house. His parents' eyes grew wide as they listened, and by the end of the story their mouths were hanging open in surprise.

"fter a moment of stunned silence, Loki's father looked at Toby and Luna. "Is this true?"

Toby's conscience bothered him about skipping the bad parts of the story. "Well, actually…"

"You bet it is!" Luna cut in. "Toby was amazing!"

"A real hero!" added Loki.

The wolves stared at Toby. Finally, Loki's father said, "Then I can't thank you enough. If there's anything we can do to repay you…"

Toby laughed. "Oh, that's all right. I'm just glad he's back safe and sound."

Loki got that scheming look in his eye that Toby had come to know all too well. "Actually," he said, "I think there is something we could do…"

"You realize this plan is completely insane, right?" Toby whispered.

Loki nodded eagerly. "Yep."

"And you realize that you could get sent to the zoo, right?"

"Yep."

"And you are aware that the whole thing would blow over if we decided not to do this?"

"Yep."

"Are you going to keep saying that all night?"

Loki flashed a mischievous grin. "Yep."

Toby grinned back. "You really are just like me."

"Are we going to sit here talking all night, or are we going to stir up some chaos?"

Toby shook his head, trying not to dwell on what they were about to do. "It just seems wrong, faking something like this. It'll make the people here more afraid of wolves than ever."

Loki nodded. AI know what you mean, but humans already hate wolves. One more incident won't change much, and if it does, we can figure out a way to fix it. Anyway, do you know any other way to make them not be mad at you?"

Toby shrugged. "No."

"Then let's mix it up."

Toby grabbed Loki by the scruff of the neck and lifted him up onto Charlie's bed. Then he headed for the room Nolan and Shenoah slept in.

While Toby was out of the room, Loki crawled up to Charlie's face and gave him the cold-nose treatment. There was no response. He tried again without success, and finally decided that there was only one way to wake the kid up. He crawled up on top of Charlie's face and planted his front paws on top of the boy's nose.

"Huh? What?" Charlie mumbled as he awoke in a daze. Upon seeing Loki, his face lit up. "Now where'd you come from, little guy?"

Loki took Charlie's pajama sleeve in his teeth and gave a playful tug.

"You're friendly, aren't you?" asked Charlie, patting the pup on the head with his captive hand.

Right at that moment Toby entered the room with Charlie's parents in tow. "What's going on?" asked Shenoah with a yawn.

Charlie held up his sleeve, with Loki still holding a death grip on the cloth. "I woke up and found this puppy sitting on me. Can we keep him?"

Sharon turned up the light and gasped. "Charlie, that's a wolf!"

"That's our cue," whispered Toby. Loki let go of Charlie's sleeve and dashed out of the room with Toby hot on his heels.

The humans followed the canines into the room to find Toby chasing Loki around the room. In the course of the chase, Loki damaged or knocked over various items and generally caused as much chaos as possible. Finally, Toby succeeded in chasing him out the pet flap. The Winters followed, only to discover Toby nose-to-nose with a very big and angry wolf. A vicious fight ensued, with a great deal of snapping and snarling. Finally, Toby succeeded in driving off the wolf, who grabbed Loki and disappeared into the night with Toby close behind.

As soon as they were past the tree line, the three of them stopped. "Well," panted Loki's father, "that was certainly…invigorating."

"You guys did great!" Loki crowed. "Even I wouldn't have known it was just for show! We really did it, didn't we?"

Toby nodded. "Yeah, I guess we did."

Loki's mother came trotting up, along with one of Loki's siblings. "Mission accomplished," she reported. They had borrowed a string of sausages from the butcher's shop, snuck into Pete's house, and left it near the canine con-artist. Toby had informed them that, while Pete's humans were early risers, Pete himself was a chronic night owl. Unless, of course, as was practically guaranteed to be the case next morning, a viciously handled broom was involved. "If what you said is accurate, Toby, his gang will kick him out once they find out he's been caught in a crime."

Wishing there was a way to replace the sausages taken from the butcher, Toby looked at the wolves. "Well, I guess this is goodbye." He ruffled the fur on top of Loki's head. "So long, little guy. I'm going to miss you."

Loki leaned against Toby's leg. "I'm gonna miss you too."

Loki's father dipped his head. "I always thought your kind was inferior. But now I see that you would make a fine wolf."

Toby felt himself swell slightly at what was apparently the highest compliment a wolf could give to a dog. "Thanks. If you're ever in the area and need a babysitter, you know where to find me."

Loki's father laughed. "I'll keep that in mind." He turned to leave. "I hope our paths cross again. Perhaps next time it will be under better circumstances." And with that, the wolves disappeared into the night.

"That was so sweet," said a voice behind Toby.

Toby jumped. "Luna, don't do that to me. You almost gave me a heart attack." After a pause he asked, "Were you eavesdropping?"

Luna smiled. "Everybody needs a hobby."

"You know, if you weren't such a good friend, I'd bite you."

She laughed and rubbed her nose under his chin. "You did a really good job taking care of Loki."

Toby sagged. "Yeah, I just wish I'd started off better and saved myself the trouble."

"Hey, if nobody ever made mistakes, how would anybody learn?" She nuzzled his neck. "Personally, I think you'll be a great father someday."

Toby shook his head in suppressed amusement. It didn't take a genius to guess what Luna was driving at. "You and your romantic ideas," he muttered, stifling a yawn. "Well, I'm going home. See you tomorrow."

Luna watched him go with a smile on her face, and the excellent father comment tickling the back of her mind.