to notice. She didn’t really mind. She only wanted to find Aidan and thank him for what he had done for her.

--------------------------

Aidan didn’t want to leave her, but he had been afraid that she would try to introduce him to her boyfriend. He couldn’t handle it. He liked her a lot but he didn’t think she had the same feelings for him.

Anger was taking over him; he kicked rocks out of the way, as he walked and growled at cats or smaller dogs that came near.

Why didn’t he just go back and tell her what he felt? What was the worst thing that could happen? Those thoughts where running around in his head but every time he thought about going back, the image of Isha nuzzling the other dog came into his mind, which made his fur bristle.

After a long time fighting with himself, he decided to see what would happen next day, so he walked into an alley, which was between two stores. He walked behind a large box, which would shield him from the wind that went through the alley.

Lying down slowly, he stuck his nose under his tail and soon fell asleep.

----------------------

 Isha sighed. The day had been long and she had walked through the whole town without noticing any sign of Aidan.

“I guess he has gone to another town,” She said in a low whisper to herself, as she walked through one of the alleys she had been so afraid of when she had been younger. The wind blew through the alley making her shiver a bit.

The sun was setting in the distance. It was a very romantic scene to watch on the beach if you had someone to share with. Isha sat down, looking up at the stars appearing in the sky.

“Please, make him come back Boomer,” She prayed to her brother before standing up again, hoping her father was home at the boat, because she didn’t have a place to stay at.

“Hey there,” A voice came from the other end of the alley. It startled Isha, making her jump up.

“Who’s there? “ She asked trying to stare into the darkness but she didn’t see anyone. She wasn’t sure if she should walk towards the voice, it was a rather stupid idea. Stepping back quietly, she walked backwards towards the entrance of the alley, still keeping her eye if someone came out of the darkness.

“You look familiar,” The voice came again, Isha growled in warning, telling whoever it was to keep away.

“You remind me of your sister, Saba!” The voice came again. Isha got interrupted by her thoughts by the mention of her youngest sister Saba. Was she okay?

But when Isha had snapped out of the thoughts, the dog was already in front of her licking his lip, which Isha thought was disgusting.

The dog was dark grey and very scruffy. One of his ears was missing and his left eye was red like blood. Isha stepped back, but hit a pile of boxes. She looked around to see where to run away, but before she found the escape the dog had tripped her, making her fall flat to her stomach. She tried to stand up but the dog kept her down. Digging his claws into her back.

“Easy there girl,” He warned her as she fought like mad to get free.

 --------------------------------

 Aidan could hear murmuring in the alley. It was probably alley dogs. They lived in alleys and looked for scraps of food, which they could eat. Many alley dogs had been brought to the arena by random people that had found them, thinking they were skilled fighters, which was usually wrong.

Aidan tried to ignore it. He didn’t want to fight any random dogs anymore, he had just escaped.

He tried to stick his face under the tail, muffing out the sound.

A loud crash! Aidan looked up sleepily disturbed by the noise. He shook his fur and looked around the corner of the boxes.

A large grey dog was standing over something/someone. He could hear yelping and crying for help...He knew that voice.

“ISHA!” He realized what he was watching. The large dog was holding Isha on the ground and she was trying to fight him but her strength was leaving her.

Aidan ran at the strange dog and knocked him from her. But at the same time, his foot went into her face, smacking her against the wall, making her fall unconscious to the ground. 

“Oh no!” Aidan looked at her from the corner of the eyes, but while he was distracted, the other dog jumped at him, making him fall to the ground and the larger dog held him down.

“Oh thanks, you made the job much easier for me,” He said and once again, he licked his lip, which, like Isha, disgusted Aidan.

Aidan growled kicking the dog, making him fall on top of him. Their faces met and the stranger could see anger flashing in Aidan’s eyes.

And at the same moment Aidan pushed the dog to the side and stood on top of him snarling viciously.

The dog saw he was at great disadvantage and yelped. Only one bite from Aidan would kill him.

“Please, please let me go!” the dog begged.

“If you get out of this town, and never touch another female dog again!” Aidan snarled. He had killed too many already.

“Yes!” The dog cried and, as Aidan stepped of him, he ran away, but Aidan followed to the end of the alley to make sure he ran in the right direction, which he did.

A faint noise came from behind him and he realized Isha was still unconscious. He ran over to her and lifted up her head slowly with his nose.

“Isha?” He whispered, noticing a bleeding scar on her face.

“Oh please wake up!” he begged desperately. He could feel the warm tears welling in his eyes. They fell one by one to the ground, melting the snow at his feet.

He was too afraid to move her, but much more worried to leave her to get help.

“Isha?” Another voice came from the end of the alley. Aidan looked up seeing a dog walking into the shadow.

It was Isha’s boyfriend, the one he had seen her with before.

“What have you done!” Balto growled looking at his daughter and Aidan. He ran to his daughter’s side and gave a warning growl to Aidan to keep still.

Aidan was too afraid to move. What could he say? Deep down inside, he wanted to attack this dog. He was her boyfriend and had let her wander alone into the alley.

Balto examined his daughter worriedly. But he kept looking at Aidan who stood still.

“You disgusting dog! How could you attack an innocent girl like her?” Balto suddenly snarled at Aidan who was caught by a surprise. Did her boyfriend think he had done it?

“I was the one who saved her, you bastard! How could you let her wander into the alley all by herself?” Aidan growled and Balto stepped closer, his anger showing very clearly in his old face. What did Isha see in him?

“Don’t act innocently! You will pay for what you did to my daughter!” Balto said and jumped at Aidan whose eyes had widened at the word “daughter”. He was her father!

But Aidan hadn’t much time to think about it as Balto tried to bite him.

Balto had the upper paw. He was stronger than Aidan, even though he was old. Aidan tried to fight back but each of them had different thoughts in their mind. Aidan didn’t want to hurt Balto, since he was Isha’s father. But Balto wanted to hurt Aidan since he had attacked Isha.

“Please listen!” Aidan tried, but Balto didn’t give him time to explain. He wanted him gone.

Aidan was able to put his feet under Balto’s stomach and kicked, making Balto fall to the side.

Aidan glanced at Isha, feeling bad but he had had to do this.

And without a warning, Aidan ran off. He couldn’t fight Balto anymore, because he couldn’t hurt him. But Balto didn’t believe him.

Aidan kept running until he noticed a familiar sign, which stood for the hospital (or something like that). Barking loudly, Aidan caught people’s attention and a man who looked like a vet came out, thinking the dog was ill. Aidan tugged at his sleeve with his teeth gesturing to follow. 

Aidan dragged the poor vet through town and stopped at the stopped at the alley. There, Balto lay over his daughter, licking her head, trying to wake her up.

“Oh my!” The vet said as Aidan finally let go. The man brushed of some dirt on his clothes, which he had gotten after bending low to follow the dog.

He walked over to Isha, noticing Balto’s worries, he began by putting his hand out to let Balto sniff it, which he did and then stepped two steps back, letting the vet get a closer look.

Balto glanced over at Aidan who stood behind the vet as worried as he was. Who was he? Balto wondered to himself but most of his thoughts went to Isha.

--------------------

 Isha’s head felt like it was going to burst open. She tried to open her eyes, but it felt like they were glued together. Finally, she managed to open them and had to blink often because the light was to bright. When her eyes had recognized her surroundings, she gasped. She was lying in a cage. A small water bowl was next to her and the room was all white.

Where was she?

The other cages around her were mostly empty, aside from one containing an old male dog that was asleep.

Before she could ask him where she was, the door opened and a man wearing a white coat came in. Isha knew he was a doctor and recalled what had happened the other day.

She scratched the cage door, hinting the vet she wanted to get out. He smiled and opened the door leading her out his office.

Outside she could see three dogs. One was Aidan who stood up as soon as he saw the door opening and the other two were her parents. They were so relieved seeing her safe that