make the next jump, but Atka wheeled around, shaking his head and urging them to stop. Looking down, he and Balto saw another wolf walking along the street. They waited until it passed them before finishing their crossing. They continued along, while the wolf below remained oblivious that his target had only been a few feet above his head.

They jumped across three more gaps, going from roof to roof roughly towards the edge of town. Faro, Atka and Salin had started out with uneasy legs, but as they went along, they gradually developed their balance. Soon they were trotting comfortably on top of the buildings. Despite their relative safety, the tension surrounding them was still quite high. They knew that it wouldn't take much for them to be seen, and they jumped at the slightest bark from the streets below them. The barks were only random and not a sign of any alarm, but it still put them on edge. Step by step, they neared the edge of town. There was only one more jump and they would have a shot at making a break for it. The pack seemed to be focusing their attention within the town, so the hope was that they wouldn't notice them speed away. Everything was going well until a nearby bark startled Salin. It was another random bark, but it spooked him enough that he jolted his foot back, landing right on a very loose shingle.

It took only a second for the shingle to be knocked loose, causing him to trip and lose his footing entirely. He fell sideways and cried out as he started to slide off the roof, his claws unable to get a grip on the icy surface. Jenna was right ahead of him, and when she heard him go down, she wheeled around to intervene. She grabbed the scruff of his neck to steady him, but his weight started to drag her down as well. Atka was the next to act, but he was only able to catch her bandanna in his teeth. It was enough to stop their fall, but not before Salin's flailing legs knocked a large amount of snow off the roof… and right onto the head of an unsuspecting wolf below them.

"What the… IT'S THEM! IT'S THE HUSKY!" they heard him cry, causing many barks and howls to ring out across town, converging on their location.

"Move over, move over!" Balto barked, trying to go around Faro to reach Jenna and a panicking Salin. Atka's hold was weakening and just before Balto reached them, the bandanna snapped out of his jaw, sending the two of them sliding off the roof and crashing to the ground. The snow cushioned their fall a bit, but when Jenna shakily got up, her eyes widened in terror when she found herself staring at the bared fangs of the villainous wolf.

"Gotcha," he growled, licking his lips before getting slammed to the ground by something falling from the roof. That something was Balto, who decided to forgo any conventional method of incapacitating the wolf, opting instead to knock him out simply by landing on his head. Atka and Faro quickly jumped down to meet them, but they could hear the cries of the approaching pack.

"So much for that plan. Now what do we do?" Faro asked.

"We… it's… just run!" Balto barked, looking from side to side. The cries of the pack were coming in from all sides, so they charged forward. A group of five wolves rounded a corner ahead of them, but when they turned the other way, they saw at least half a dozen more coming in from the other side of the street. The hunters closed in on either side of them, with the surrounding walls limiting their options.

"Over there! A door!" Jenna cried, and she dashed towards a lone door across the street. The others were quick to follow, entering what was once a large workshop. There were the remains of a wooden bench in the corner and an old rusted sawblade hanging from a peg. Everything else was taken away when the owner moved out, leaving a large empty room. The only source of light was the open door they'd entered through, and a smaller square at the far end with light shining through it.

To them, that light was salvation. Balto desperately rushed towards it, failing to notice the metal grate in front of it until he ran headlong into it. The metal clanged from the impact, leaving him dazed for a moment before he examined it. He looked at it with determination, as he wasn't about to let a piece of metal prevent his escape. The barks and howls outside were getting closer, and the stress made his paw shake as he extended a claw and tried to pry out the pins holding the grate in place.

"C'mon… work damn you!" he growled as he managed to get it to wiggle, but the rusted pin was jammed firmly into the cold wood. Desperate, he grasped it with his teeth to yank it out, but it refused to budge. Jenna joined in with the second pin, but she had no more luck than he did. His jaws ached from the strain, and the cries outside reached a deafening climax until… all was quiet. They soon heard claws clicking on the wood floor behind them, along with the occasional growl.

He knew what he was going to see behind him, so he decided to let go of the pin and stare down the pack. The tension was thick as they crept towards them, as if ready to pounce at any moment. Faro, Atka and Salin quickly surrounded Jenna to protect her, but Balto knew it would only delay the inevitable. His eyes darted left and right, his body so worked up it felt like he would take off if he wanted to. This was it; this was gong to be his final stand, but he wouldn't back down from it. One wolf decided to make the first lunge at him, but he caught it by the shoulder and shoved it back. Two more tried to go for Jenna, but the three protecting her beat them back. They would knock one or two back, but more would take their place. They were against a never-ending sea of teeth and claws, and it was only a matter of time before one of them fell. After rearing up and slashing a wolf's muzzle, Balto was caught in the side by another and knocked to the ground. His attacker reared up, ready to strike his neck, and then-

"Hold it! Don't touch them!" a commanding voice bellowed. "They're mine."

The wolf quickly stepped back towards the crowd at the order. Another wolf that had gotten Atka's neck in his jaws also let go, giving them some breathing space. Balto shakily got up and saw the crowd part as Tikani entered. The alpha wolf wore a contented smile as he surveyed his exhausted enemy. Balto only glared at him with contempt; here was the wolf that had put him and his mate through hell for the past few days, and now that same wolf had him cornered.

"Well, well… you two led us on quite a chase," Tikani started, very calm in what he saw as his moment of victory. "You managed to slip through my paws many times, and you almost did again today… but now you've run out of places to run and hide. You and your husky won't escape this time."

"I won't ever let you have her," Balto growled. "If you want her, you're going to have to beat me down first."

"Ah, so the half-breed diplomat actually has claws. It's too bad you didn't show them sooner, you may actually have had a chance."

"I guess that's the difference between you and me. I prefer to actually give others a chance before I beat them senseless."

"And that is why you're weak! You cling to your ideals, and that's why when you had the chance to end me, you didn't take it. You let your enemy get up and continue to fight while you just ran away. You may have thought you could get away, but as long as I am in control here, I will never stop until I have what I want."

'He's right - through all this he's never given up on getting what he wants. As long as the pack is hanging on to every word, this will never end. They won't believe us if we try to explain things, they'll only believe what he says… so what if… he admitted it himself?'

Putting on a neutral expression, Balto started to play out the idea that was forming in his head. "You know what, you're right. You're not going to stop, so what's the point of running anymore? Why don't you and I settle this right now?"

"You want to challenge me one on one, eh? Are you sure you want to do that?"

"Balto, no-" Jenna put in, but he turned to her and silently mouthed the words, "Trust me," before turning back to Tikani. "I'm sure. A simple fight to settle this once and for all. The first one to make the other fall gets to walk home free. What do you say?" He knew it was a risk to take him on, but it was all part of his new plan. Balto would play on Tikani's ego, making the wolf think he was the one with the advantage, when he was actually walking right into Balto's paws.

A grin started to form on Tikani's muzzle, his eyes glinting with delight. The prospect of having a one on one contest with the perceived source of his misery was too sweet to ignore. "I accept."

With the challenge accepted, the pack arranged themselves so that everyone would get the best view of the spectacle. They formed a rough circle to box the competitors in and ensure they couldn't escape out the only door. They flanked Jenna and her three guards to prevent them from interfering, while Balto and Tikani circled each other, waiting to see who would make the first move. Jenna watched anxiously as they squared off, hoping that Balto wouldn't lose this fight.

"You do realize that by challenging me like this, you lose any chance of mercy from me," Tikani stated. "You may be only half, but you still have some wolf blood in you. It'd be a shame if that had to be spilled… enough of us have