spilled… enough of us have suffered because of this."

"How touching," Balto replied, making it evident that he didn't care about Tikani's false sentiment.

"You know, I don't get you Balto. I don't get what you see in that begging excuse of a canine over there," Tikani said, glancing at Jenna.

"What I see in her is someone who has their own strength and isn't afraid to use it to help those she cares about," Balto replied. "Remember, she was the one that led the way when she came to find me."

"Yes, but how well did that go? You two have been on the run from us!" Tikani taunted, before making the first charge. He snapped forward, but his fangs met empty air as Balto jumped back. Balto may not have been much of a fighter, but he was no stranger to them. He knew this was only the preliminaries. There were always the introductions, where they would snap at each other, saying what they wanted to say before launching into an all out brawl. He knew that he would have to get Tiknai to admit what he knew before the gloves came off, or his chances for survival would quickly fall to almost zero.

"Maybe, but we weren't the only ones who felt the need to run from you," Balto replied, hoping this direction would take things to where he wanted them. "I'm curious why those three felt the need to come to me. After all, I'm supposed to be their enemy."

"They were exiled because they were plotting against me. They were planning to spread lies and seize power for themselves while we were far from our home!" The barking from the rest of the pack showed that they agreed with their alpha.

"Oh really? What were they going to say that was so dangerous that you felt the need to exile them?"

"They were going to… it's none of your concern. It's just a lie!"

"Oh come on, why are you so afraid to say it?" Balto asked, before snapping at the wolf himself. Tikani jumped back, but he refused to show any weakness to his adversary. "If it's a lie, then what's the harm in letting it out? Who knows, it might explain why they decided to come to me."

"I don't care why they betrayed me; all that matters is that they did!" Tikani barked, snapping back at Balto. "They were trying to spread discord in my pack and I won't let you do the same."

"Alright, you don't want me to interfere with your pack, that's fine," Balto replied. He could tell that Tikani was desperate to keep his cover intact. He couldn't push too hard or he'd risk blowing his whole plan.

"That's right, and had you not interfered last time, Kisa wouldn't be dead and we wouldn't be out here. This is all because you had to come and ruin everything!" Tikani growled, baring his fangs.

"You're acting like I did this on purpose, but her death was due to the actions of a desperate dog and a scared human," he replied. "That dog was only trying to protect his own family, and so would-"

"I don't care about your families!" Tikani cut in. "I hate your dog families! All they end up doing is producing more of your stupid offspring. When there are more of you, there's less of us!" This prompted more angry barking from the pack.

Soon, everything clicked in Balto's head. If Tikani hated dog families so much, then it was just a matter of linking that to Jenna. "So, what would you do if you came across a lone husky pup?" he asked, but only got another snap from Tikani as a reply. "Or, even better… a mother husky who was expecting many pups?"

This caught the attention of not only Tikani, but the rest of the pack as well. "Just what are you trying to say?" the alpha wolf demanded.

"Think about it Tikani… it's a dog who can have pups, while you can't because you have no mate," Balto continued. "They get to have something you can't."

"It's not fair…"

"And who knows… maybe those little husky pups will grow up into big, strong dogs," Balto continued. The barking from the pack was starting to rise to a climax, but it was no longer because of what he was saying. They wanted to see some action soon.

"Dogs that would just come after us like all the rest. I can't let that that happen," Tikani continued. He was near his breaking point. With the egging on and cheers for action from the pack, Balto knew his time was running out.

"So what would you do?" he asked, knowing this might be his last chance. He was going for broke as the jeers from the crowd reached a fever pitch. "What would do to that husky, knowing that she could be the source of your undoing? Or of Kisa's…"

"I'd kill any husky in my way! I'd stop them before they had a chance to attack us!" Tikani bellowed. He was wide-eyed in rage with bristling fur, making him appear almost rabid. "I don't care how young or old they are! You took my Kisa away from me and you will pay for it, Balto! You will pay for it with your pup's lives!"

With that, the barking fell silent as what Tikani declared sank into everyone's ears. Balto could hear some of them muttering with each other, and that was when he knew he'd gotten his paw in the door. It was perfect - Tikani had specifically mentioned him, which meant it wouldn't take much for them to put two and two together.

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Chapter 9: The Dominoes Fall

"Would he really do it?"

"I thought it was wrong to attack a female with pups."

"Why did he say 'Balto's pups'?"

These were some of the things they heard the pack whisper amongst each other after Tikani's outburst. Balto just stood there calmly, looking at the wide-eyed alpha wolf with a small grin. His calm, along with the pack's muttering made Tikani very uneasy. He was not about to lose control due to some half-breed. "Don't listen to him! He's trying to trick you! It was just a hypothetical situation!"

"Hypothetical or not, going after a mother like that is just wrong," an older wolf put in.

"But she's just a dog! They aren't the same!"

"Dog or not, the rules still apply," another wolf near the back added. "As someone who values justice so much you should know that."

"It would be justice for what happened to Kisa!"

"Kisa wasn't carrying pups," the old wolf replied. "And any stranger wouldn't have done anything to harm us. At most, we should just chase them away from our land."

"We don't have time for this debate!" Tikani snapped, becoming more exasperated by the second. "Don't let him confuse you with made up stories!"

"Why did you say that you'd make Balto pay with his pup's lives? We didn't know Balto had any pups."

"What, Tikani didn't tell you the wonderful news?" Balto put in, grinning as he saw his plan fall into place. "Very soon, Jenna and I will-" his declaration was cut off when Tikani wheeled around and slammed into his side, knocking him down.

"I won't let you do this to me! You won't stop me and neither will anyone else! I will kill your husky and the little mongrels she's carrying, along with anyone who tries to stand in my way!" he bellowed frantically. By the time he'd realised what he'd said, it had already reverberated around the room.

"Jenna is carrying pups?" another wolf asked. "Since when?"

"I don't know… wait, no she's not… don't listen to him!"

"But he's not the one saying it - you are," Atka put in. "And I know more than anyone else that your word carries far more weight than mine or Balto's."

"Tikani, is this true?" the older wolf asked, glaring at his panicking leader.

"Hey, I think it might be," another put in. "When we found this old dog, he mentioned something about an expecting mother. Isn't that right Saku?"

"Yeah, he did," a third wolf, Saku added. "At first I didn't think anything of it, but the only one he could have been referring to was… Jenna. I heard it too, and so did Atka and… Tikani. They were all there."

"So what?" Tikani retorted, rolling his eyes. "That old dog was just a-"

"But Tikani, doing something like this is forbidden! It is not our way!" the older wolf cried.

"Whose word are you going to take? Mine or his?" Tikani demanded.

"We would take your words… if they didn't turn out to be full of lies," Saku put in, and the mumbling that followed showed that was the prevailing thought of the pack.

"But don't you remember what that wolfdog has done to us?"

"Let me ask you this? What exactly has Balto personally done to any of you?" Atka cut in, stepping forward to face the pack. "Yes, Kisa's death was a tragedy, but it came at the hands of a human whom Balto had no control over. She may have been an adversary for him, but he still grieved her death as much as we did. Does that sound like the actions of a scheming half-dog?"

"But what about the other dogs? They must be stopped!" Tikani barked.

"The dogs that were the start of all this may have infringed on our territory before, but Balto tried to work something out between us," Atka continued. "We almost had something, but then