The journey for the three wolves, Saku, the brown one, Tala, the white one and Hunter, the black one, led westwards. This was not the journey that was over in just few days. As large as Alaska was, it also meant a lot of travel for these three wolves and they had one goal in mind - form a wolf pack or join a new one before the first snow this fall.

They had chosen the best possible time to begin the journey because the summer was coming so they could have been safe somehow. While the summer heat was not really existent up in Alaska due to its geographical position, the humid air and somehow unpleasant rain sometimes made their journeys by day hard to keep up.

At the bright side, the fauna in Alaska was fully awakened and it meant more prey for them, whether from the small ones like squirrels and rabbits or the larger ones like deers and caribous, they had to keep in mind that as long as they were going to find the ideal place for a wolf clan, they had to make sure the numbers of their prey were going to be in large.

Back in the days, Saku, Tala and Hunter had heard a lot of stories about humans, but they had never seen one. At least they had not seen any until this summer. Thankfully, their contact with the humans was never a direct one and the humans never seemed like they had ever felt the presence of the three adventurous wolves.

If the landscapes in Alaska could leave them feel like as if they were impressed, that was the case in the late July. Once when they were searching for the groundhogs in the pine forest nearby, they could hear a loud noise in the distance. It was like a water and lot of water. Their curiosity got the best out of them and their discovery was the great river.

"Wow! That's one great and wild river!" Tala was impressed by the might of mother nature giving it to the river that was raging in its banks as it was flowing westwards. The waterfalls had shown what kind of strength the water had in here. If anything, they had hoped that the current would never try to pull them and do something… terrible.

"And it kinda feels fresh to stand by the river! As if it is refreshing us from this humid air today!" Hunter said in relief, feeling the freshness of the water passing through him, his sister and his brother-in-law, who also seemed to enjoy the feel of the water flowing by him and even he couldn't deny that: "You're right! This is a relief!"

As much as they wanted to stay the entire day by the river to refresh themselves from this unbearable day, they had to hunt down some prey to satisfy their hungers. Their hunt was pretty much the way they pleased and it could be easily said that this was their lucky day. If anything, a change in their everyday routine was welcome.

"You know, I have been thinking about what we've seen over the last few weeks." Saku gathered his mate and his friend in the small cave they'd inhabited to stay over night as they could replenish their energy after feeding on a groundhog. It was an August night and a sunny one, not to mention the warm one either. The cave provided them the cool air they needed. "It is about humans."

"What about them?" Hunter curiously asked, since they had seen humans over the last few weeks, but never came near them to be noticed. After taking a bite from his meal, Saku said: "I think that there are the two kinds of humans we've come across. You may have noticed that they're looking different in some ways."

"Such as?" Tala wondered, not getting how there were the two kinds of humans if they were all the same? So Saku decided to easen her troubles: "Remember the ones who live in leather settlements, talk with the strange tribal languages and use sticks with sharp rocks on one end? I think those humans are like us wolves. Native, tribal, clan-like life."

"I have to admit, their language is hard to figure out, but I think the great river we've been at weeks ago are near these humans and they call it one name - Yukon. I'm curious, what does "Yukon" mean anyhow?" Hunter pointed this out as the origin of that name was alien to them. Even if they had time to figure it out, Tala switched back to the main topic: "And what is the other kind?"

Saku stopped for a moment so he could try to leave a realistic impression so he began: "I know that the humans are not fond of us, but the tribal ones would sometimes see us as being loyal to them, but not the other kind of humans. That other kind I can picture as - advanced humans." It sounded pretty interesting to call them "advanced".

"And in what kind of way they are advanced?" Tala was puzzled by that term and even if none of them could provide a very reliable answer, Saku did his best: "They live in the settlements made of stone and woods, use those sticks that create a loud and deafening noises, lethal for us and some of them have something related to us - dogs."

"What is a dog?" Hunter wondered about that term, not really connecting himself with the "dog". Surprisingly, it was Tala who offered a somehow reliable answer: "I remember back before we set off on the journey, I've heard from our former packmates that dogs used to be wolves, but many times ago they had been tamed by humans and as the ages passed, they grew attached to live with them instead of living in the wild like we do."

This was a very interesting talk between the three and even if they had learned something new, they always had to make sure not to come in contact with humans. Anyhow, since they had to continue their journey tomorrow, it wasn't until soon enough, all three of them were done with their meal and were ready to get some sleep.

With the summer coming to its end, the rains had intensified and they stopped being those pleasant summer relieving rains. The temperature was dropping and by the late September, the winds were indicating that the first snow was going to fall by October very soon. It all seemed like it was bad news for the three wolves on their journey.

Only it wasn't. That one day, when it was over at last with raining for a few days, Saku, Tala and Hunter had found themselves in front of the brand new landscape. It was starting by the two birch trees on each side and they led towards the large dark green meadow in front of them. At the other end was a small rock hill, with half a dozen caves on one side.

As they looked around to see what else they could find in this new land, they had discovered several paths, one leading to the small river on the east, other one leading to the lake on the northwest and the path on the southwest was rather leading towards the unexpected place full of herbivores that were an appetite opener for the wolves.

"Can you believe this?! We've found a herd of elks, underground nest of groundhogs and some beavers!" Hunter enthusiastically skipped around the meadow where they gathered back, feeling like they had finally found the place where to settle, which was all now depending to Saku and Tala, who'd have the roles of alpha male and alpha female, with Hunter being the beta male.

"What do you think, Tala?" Saku asked her for an opinion, whether she liked it in here or there was something missing which'd cause them to continue their journey and possibly settle down in someone's pack. Tala's answer was both a relief and pleasure for the males: "I like it in here! As if we're destined to form our own clan here!"

Even Saku was pretty good about that idea as he seemed like he loved this place. Heading towards the rock, he inspected how many caves there were and his search led to him to discover some more caves on the sides. Looking at the largest one, Saku knew that this was going to be his and Tala's, as alpha pair had the highest authority in the hierarchy.

"Alright, if you Tala like it here, and you, Hunter, think that this is the good place for us, then we should form the borders around the territory and we're having our own clan!" Saku joyfully and officially made the decision which led to him, Tala and Hunter cheerfully establishing their territory, which would take them a day or more to establish their borders.

All three of them had a pawful of work to do as they wanted to make sure that with their scents being left on the borders, they'd make sure that any stray or lonely wolf who'd come close would either find the alphas and seek the place to live or just leave in case the wolf was not friendly. By the dawn of the next day, they had marked their territory.

Truth to be said, it was not nearly as large as their previous clan was, but it was just the beginning for them. They had everything they needed: shelter, water, prey and open space. All that missed was more wolves, any who'd be kind enough to join the clan under the leadership of Saku and Tala.

"Alright, now that we've established the rule on this territory, now all that we need are more members!" Saku clearly stated this out as his new clan had a potential to blossom with more wolves and not just any of them. Hunter, whose scout and hunting skills were somewhat superior to Saku's, told him: "Leave it to me, Saku. You and Tala may have a time for yourselves!"

He had a good reason to say that. Saku and Tala were even going on dates during these months of their journey, with Hunter having no need to protect them. Still, even if they were dating, they still hadn't settled down a family. It was most likely that they had that in mind, but due to them travelling, their plan was not set in motion yet.

"Good luck, Hunter!" Tala headed to nuzzle him by his chest as he was ready to search for the lonely wolves around the borders of their territory. Once he was gone behind the trees to the east, Tala and Saku were on their own. She moved in front of him to stroke his white chin with her snow white tail and so she mischievously asked him: "So what do you have in mind for today, my alpha Saku?"

Saku mischievously chuckled while enjoying her stroking his chin by saying: "Maybe have daytime date with you for today? How about that?" Even if he sounded like he was joking, she sounded like she was pretty intrigued by it so she let him know: "Why not? We'll have a nice view from the top of that rock hill!"

Since Saku wasn't expecting that, he could have said it that he was joking but instead, his answer was just: "Then what are we waiting for? I'll race you to the top!" So he had a head start, but as soon as the climbing came, Tala had reached him at once and so she got this better, much to Saku's surprise.

For most of their day, both Saku and Tala were spending on the top of the hill while they watched the fall sky being combined with the blue and grey colors. While Tala was resting her head by his, it could be said that this was all like a dream, even when she said with a dreamy voice: "Saku, sometimes I think if we're still sleeping in our former pack or this is all real?"

This question did not surprise him as it was all like a dream to have their new home. He said in a dreamy voice: "I ask myself the same, my dear Tala. I mean, we have each other, we have food, we have water, we have territory, we will have our clan and you know what else we'll have one day?" She lazily glanced at him with her green eyes when she heard the last one: "What?"

"Saku! Tala! Over here!" Before Saku could answer her, Hunter's voice from below broke their dreamy moments as there was something that sounded quite important. Saku rolled on his front paws and looked below where Hunter was so he shouted: "Hunter?! Where have you been all day and… oh my! How did you…?!"

"Whoah! Hunter, that's amazing!" Tala rolled on her front to glance towards her brother who was below with the eight unknown wolves, some male and some female. Hunter proudly shouted back at them: "You won't believe me this! I thought that two wolves would be enough for today, but you can see eight with me!"

Saku and Tala hopped from rock to rock below to reach the bottom of the hill so they could all see the newcomers. Each of them had a good look at every one of them while they were filled with amazement and surprise. The biggest one came to Saku as one of the wolves asked: "So, you two are alpha pair? Alpha Saku and alpha Tala?"

Being entitled as "alpha" was something that Saku saw as a great responsibility and even Tala was surprised by being called like that, despite the fact that they were expecting this. Hunter leaned to them and whispered: "Better get used to this. I have told them about me being a beta male so you'll have to do your own introduction!"

Tala and Saku gave each other glaces, mixed with surprise and insecurity and Saku tried to stay firm as the words came from his muzzle: "Yes… yes, we are the alphas of this clan." At first, Saku was expecting that they were going to laugh at him as if they could know somehow that he was a runt and that this was going to be pretty embarrassing…

Only it did not happen. All the newcoming wolves bowed their heads down and this made both Saku and Tala feel some kind of warm feeling when one female from the group spoke: "It is the honor of each of us if you were to give us a place to live in here and we will respect your authority, our alphas!" As big as this was, this was something that should not be declined.

"Raise your heads." Tala spoke, firming her voice solid so all the wolves would look at them and she spoke: "And it'd be our honor to have you in our clan!" All eight of them were happy to hear these news and all of them howled in honor and pride when they had been accepted. So did Saku, Tala and Hunter, the latter one already knowing they meant no harm.

The next challenge for the alphas were to embrace the leadership of this clan and to make sure that they were capable enough to be the alphas of this pack, something that the newcoming wolves didn't see from them yet. While their leadership skills were not perfect, they all knew that someone young as them was forgiven from that kind of mistakes.

Saku and Tala improved over the course of next few weeks and the wolves under their leadership gained more confidence and trust in them, seeing that they were capable of being good alphas. Not to forget, each of these weeks that had passed brought them surprises in form of two or three new wolves coming to the clan, hearing the impressive stories of Saku and Tala.

Then, one week in October, when the trees started to become yellow, brown and orange and started falling off, the oncoming snow was going to be there soon. Still, it didn't matter to Saku's clan as he and Tala, while Hunter led the clan to hunt some elks, had decided to have this pretty fall morning by the river.

Both of them were resting on their backs on the ground covered by the fallen leaves as the stirring of the river was very close to them. Saku and Tala glanced at each other with love in their eyes. They had accomplished everything they had planned except for one thing and so Saku asked her: "Tala, remember that time when we have formed our clan?"

Tala remembered that was weeks ago, although she had a hard time figuring out what exactly so she asked him: "When exactly at, Saku?" The memory of them sitting at the top of the hill flashed in Saku's eyes when he answered: "When Hunter came with the first of the wolves who'd joined our clan."

"Oh yeah, I remember that!" Tala recalled that day as well right now. Just before Hunter had called them to come below, Saku decided to repeat his question: "After everything we've accomplished by now, do you have any ideas what this clan needs? More specifically, do you know what we need?"

Tala's look sparkled with curiosity when he mentioned that. They had each other, they had their clan, they had food and water. What else they needed? Was there something they did not accomplish so far? Before she was able to ask, Saku wanted to help: "Have you thought that the two of us… could have a family on our own?"

He did not want to leave any bad impressions when he said this and clearly, there was a surprised look on her face until it started to wear off and then morphed into smile as she answered at last: "Us, having on our family?! Saku, that's a wonderful idea! We have been dating for a while, maybe it is about time we settle down!"

So Saku smiled back at her when the orange leaf from the tree above them landed in between them as the joy and happiness radiated between them. However, the silence was broken when the familiar black wolf rushed to their site and once he stopped, he wheezed: "S… Saku! To… to the entrance…! Two wolves…!"

"Hunter? Hunter! Hey, calm down! Breathe!" Saku rolled on his stomach and raised from the ground and so did Tala, being curious about Hunter's sudden intrusion. While catching some break, Hunter's ability to talk returned more firm as he told him: "Saku, I was leading the pack to hunt, but then two wolves were seen at the entrance of the territory. Two of them, one male and one female. They mean to harm, I made sure of that!"

Two new wolves, male and female, and none of them being dangerous, just the way how they liked. Heading back to the meadow, the center of the territory, Saku told them: "What are we waiting for? Let's welcome them!" Just then, Hunter rushed in front of him just so he could tell him: "I almost forgot! When I told them who are the alphas, they were surprised to hear your name! In fact, the female one wants to see you!"

Upon realizing that these two wolves hid no surprise to hear of Saku's name and that there was one female who wanted to see him, the surprise had him stunned. Could it be?! Was that her?! The one he had the feelings initially for… but everything went into flames because of his lack of confidence. All that came from Saku was: "Come on! Follow me, you two! I think I know who these two are!"

Tala and Saku were genuinely surprised by how Saku was reacting to this other female who wanted to see especially him! The look on Tala's face was mixed with suspicion and insecurity, but as they were heading to the meadow, passing the tall trees, was that female the one Saku had told her on their first date?! It had to be her, Saku had no one else than her!

Once they were at the wide meadow, with the grass becoming grey from the rains and upcoming snow, one of the wolves called for Saku: "Alpha Saku! What are we going to do with these two?! Both of them are eager to see you!" Without thinking about that twice, Saku ordered: "Let them go! Lead them to me!"

The wolves broke the siege as the two wolves were standing in the circle that was broken. The dark brown male with the dark grey underbelly and golden eyes and the black female with green eyes, brighter than Tala and Hunter's, almost like grass, looked at the alphas of this clan and both of them were stunned when they saw the alpha male - Saku.

"Saku, is that really you?" The black female spoke first when both she and the dark brown male walked towards them, being escorted by the rest of the clan. Hunter, who knew less about Saku's past than Tala, had to ask: "Saku? You know these two?" Tala was already known with these facts, but she had never seen them and how they looked like.

"I do. I never thought that we'd see each other again." Saku admitted to him whereas he didn't have to tell Tala. Still, it was an unexpected moment in his life to see these two again and when they were closer and closer, Saku spoke: "Sami." He adressed the black furred, green eyed female. "Faro." He glanced the dark brown furred, golden eyed wolf.

"Saku! This is incredible! You're alive!" Faro spoke, hiding no surprise nor animosity towards the old friend of his. Even Sami rushed to nuzzle him deeply as if she were seeing someone special to her after long time when her voice was heard: "Saku! Oh, you have no idea how you've frightened us! Faro and I have been looking for you for weeks after you were gone! We feared that the humans had hunted you down!"

"But I still stand still and I'm still breathing, Sami." Saku warmly smiled to her, albeit not as warm as he'd to Tala, knowing for whom he'd feelings. Moreover, he added to them, as Saku and Sami parted: "I have to say, I'm happy to see you two again! If anything, you're both alive and well!"

"And so are you!" Faro joyfully commented as the escort around him and Sami easened, realizing that they were no threat at all. While Faro glanced at the territory around themselves, noticing the hills, caves, trees and meadow, Sami asked him the question she'd desired upon seeing him in case he were alive: "Saku? What happened? Why you were gone?"

Noticing that there was a lot to cover, Saku glanced at his and Tala's cave so he turned around to speak: "Faro, Sami, Tala, Hunter… follow me! The rest of you, wait in here! Hunter will be there soon to lead you to hunt! Now come on!" Turning one hundred eighty degrees around, Saku beckoned them to follow him to the greatest cave in the hill.

All four of them followed Saku into the great gray and cold cave. Tala knew what they were going to talk about as each of them sat by Saku's side, Tala taking the right one and Hunter the left one. Faro and Sami were wondering if they were going to get their answers as they sat on the opposite side of the cave.

"Faro, Sami, before I tell you, I'd like you to meet my friends - Tala." He looked at his mate to the right, then at his best friend to the left. "And Hunter. Hunter, Tala, you already know that these are my old friends, Faro and Sami. Hunter, I don't reckon mentioning them to you before." All four of them exchanged the cordial and warm welcomes and wishes to each other, feeling the there could be no animosity between them.

"And now, here's the truth to you two, why I have left our pack before meeting Tala and Hunter." Saku looked at Faro and Sami as if the anticipation was not letting them go due to their looks in their eyes. Thus Saku had begun: "Sami, do you remember how we meet when we were little pups and how we've met again in our former pack."

"Yeah, of course?" Sami confirmed his question and so Saku could explain her without going to any unnecessary details. "Then you came, Faro. Know that what I have to reveal is nothing against you, alright?" He waited for his response which was in form of nodding as this was a green light for Saku: "So, here it is, the real and honest reason of me being gone."

This was it, no backing down, no lying. He looked at each of four pairs of eyes and he revealed: "Sami, for a time back then, I thought that you were the female in my life who I ever needed. I had a crush on you back then, but you've never known that. The one to blame is me, for lacking the confidence and courage to muster."

Sami didn't want to hear about the blame as she spoke before he could: "Saku, don't. No one blames you for your choices!" Even if that was true, Saku decided to carry on: "That one day when I saw you and Faro together nuzzling, which felt that there was the bond between you two, I felt like my entire world had shattered on that sight."

This made both Sami and Faro uneasy and the cold cave they were in made them shiver a bit. Faro tried to compensate with: "Look, I'm sorry you had to see it that way, Saku." It seemed like that Saku held no grudges when he told them: "But I accepted it peacefully, which I've blamed myself for days. In the middle of night after a while, I couldn't take it anymore. I ran away from the pack, realizing that you weren't the female of my life, Sami."

Then the silence embraced everyone as the sole thought of that past moment was hard to take in. Yet, Tala's voice brought the warmth in the cold environment: "But it doesn't matter anymore. If it wasn't for that, Saku would have never met me and my brother Hunter. I helped him to change a lot in his life and you should see how he's changed!"

Her talk was making them feel better and it could mean that there was nothing to look back at. Sami looked at her old friend and smiled warmly, telling him: "Saku, I'm glad that you are alright with us. If anything you should know, Faro and I have become mates not long ago! We were hoping to see you and tell you about it!"

The genuine happiness spread into Saku's body like a fire and he got on all of his fours to head to his puppyhood friend to nuzzle her deeply and joyfully all while saying: "Congratulations, you two! And it is all well, Sami. You're with Faro and I acknowledge how much you love each other, because you're meant for one another."

She giggled on that remark and Faro got on his paws to tell him: "Thank you, my friend." He nodded to him and the cold cave no longer felt cold, but as if the all warmth of the world came into this very cave. Moreover, Hunter broke the silence: "Faro, Sami, I assume that you're looking for a place to live, right?"

Sami looked at Hunter and then realized something. Though, she knew that there was no rush for whatever it was as she answered: "Technically you're right, Hunter. But we aren't just looking for a place to live. We're looking for the territory." Faro confirmed her statement: "Sami and I have our own small pack consisted of both of us and four other wolves, not far from your territory. We want to settle down before the first snow."

It sounded like a pretty dire situation for them and their small pack, but not for long when Hunter was heard: "Listen, you two. Not far from our territory there's still enough area for you to mark your own and maybe your and Saku's pack's could be neighbouring packs because how you three used to live together!" That sounded like a reasonable idea for all five of them.

Even Saku and Tala were delighted to hear these news even when Tala said warmly: "It'd be an honor!" Therefore, they already knew the answer which was followed with Sami and Faro's: "Thank you so much!" And even Faro commented: "Since you two are alphas of your pack, it'd be dishonorable of us to claim ourselves as the alpha pair of this pack."

"And at the same time, I cannot imagine any other rank for you. I mean, you two were pretty good hunters in the wolf pack we used to be in together back then!" Saku spoke, realizing that he could not submit these two to be betas, gamas or any other rank than alphas. Then Tala looked at her brother and told him: "Hunter, let Faro come with you and may they bring their pack to their new territory."

It was obvious that after not seeing each other for a long time, the old friends could not break their friendship like that and before leaving with the beta male of the pack, Faro spoke to his mate: "We'll be right back, Sami. You can thank Saku for the hospitality!" Sami smiled to her mate when he and Hunter headed away to get their pack in there.

Then Tala, Saku and Sami were by themselves. Saku looked at his friend once more to tell her: "Sami, it's an honor to see you again. Since you, Faro and your pack have been travelling a lot, let me offer you some food, water and place to sleep before we find for you and your pack the territory and our packs may co-live in amicity and cordiality."

Sami loved to hear these words coming from him, realizing how he'd changed. She nuzzled him one last time to tell him: "With pleasure, Saku. And you too Tala, and your brother Hunter." Tala smiled on the behalf of herself and her brother as the old friends were together again, ready to share their lives together for the oncoming winter.