sharply. "You can't change the past. Sometimes you don't find the solution yourself… sometimes the solution finds you when you're not looking for it. At the very least, you should be glad that we've gone this long without seeing any sign of Tikani."

"That's true; I'm glad not just for the town's sake, but mine as well," he replied, his ears falling flat at the thought.

"I won't forget what you've done to me."

"You've known him longer than me; is he the type to hold a grudge?" Balto asked.

"I wish I had a better answer for you, but I don't know. Nothing like this has happened before… but I doubt that he'd drop this easily. The bond between mates is the strongest in the pack and if it's lost, it's never forgotten," Maska replied. "There's no doubt that he hates you now… but whether or not he will act on that hate is a different question. Here's what I do know: None of my scouts has seen anything out of the ordinary on their borders. If he's brooding, he's doing it privately… I prefer to think that no news is good news."

"Maybe it is," Balto mused while glancing to the side. They could see that he was still a little down and if there was one thing that Anya hated, it was moping, so she shifted gears to get his mind off what was troubling him.

"Going back to earlier, I think it would be good if we showed Balto some tricks to help him move a little stealthier," she suggested. "I'm sure that he's starting to get tired of me constantly one-upping him."

"Ah, I think I know what you're getting at," Maska continued, nodding as he caught on to her intent. "He does need to learn to move more like a wolf and less like a bear."

"I do not move like a bear!" he protested.

"Sure you don't," she teased, giggling a little.

With that, they spent the remainder of their day showing Balto various ways to make himself less obvious in the woods, from stepping quietly and tracking wind direction to minimizing his prints and keeping his stride down to a jog instead of a full run. The last one proved to be more difficult for Balto because he was part racing dog. His instinct was to stay ahead of whatever was chasing him, but Maska told him otherwise. "The main aim is to stay quiet and conserve your energy," he explained. "Only when you really need to should you break into a run… then you can unleash the full potential of your sled-dog side." Balto took it in quickly, and while he still needed much refinement, he quickly got the basics down over the course of the afternoon.

Before he knew it, the sun was descending towards the horizon. Jenna would probably be finished with her appointment by now, and Balto wanted to get home before it got dark. He knew better than to be out alone at night, and he also had the hope of spending the night with her. With his head full of everything he'd learned, he bid them goodbye and promised to see them again in a few days. He wanted to go alone, but Maska still saw it fit to assign one of his scouts to accompany him home. They may not have seen any sign of Tikani for a month, but it was still better to be safe than sorry. The trip home stared out well, but as they passed out of Maska's territory, neither Balto nor his escort noticed the forms moving in on them from the east…

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Everything was dark, blurry. His head was throbbing from… something. The last thing he remembered was walking home, but something came at him so quickly that he never saw it coming. There was noise behind him… voices? All his senses seemed to be stuck in a haze, but it passed as he woke. The blurred shapes became more visible and the voices became clearer to his ears. He was in a cave and there were two others having some sort of argument. He couldn't easily make out who it was because of the low light - this quickly told him that it was night by now. He didn't know how, but he'd been knocked out for a few hours.

"I'm not trying to go against you on this. I'm just saying that this carries a lot of risk. Once they realize he's missing, they will come for him in force," the first voice said.

"Then let them come. Go and put the pack on alert," the second voice replied.

"But we might not be-" Balto groaned as he started to stir, catching the first voice mid-sentence. "Look, he's starting to wake up."

"It's about time. As for you Atka, you have your orders," the second replied. There was the sound of snow crunching as the owner of the first voice dashed off while the second padded over to him. "Glad to see you're finally awake. Despite my beta's reservations, I'm glad you're here." Balto tried to focus on the voice; it was familiar, but he couldn't put a pin on it. "Oh come now, where's the hello? Don't you remember me?" the second voice taunted.

Finally Balto got the strength to raise his head enough to see who was talking, but when he saw who it was, he wished he hadn't. "No… you… anyone but you," he said to the dark-furred wolf before him.

"Oh yes, it's me," he taunted. "I told you I'd never forget what you did to me." This wolf was the absolute last creature that Balto wanted to see, even more so than his former enemy Steele. This wolf was far worse than any of the antagonistic dogs; he was actually malicious, and Balto was at his mercy.

"Tikani…"

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Chapter 2: A Call To Action

Sleep was of little comfort for Jenna that night, coming only in small snatches. She knew Balto would be out for most of the day, and she assured herself that he could just be running late. The day came and passed, but there was still no sign of him. She figured she would see him by morning, but his absence bothered her a little. Something didn't feel right, and that caused her to have a fitful sleep that night. Eventually, morning came, but when she opened her eyes her shed was still empty.

Now she was starting to get anxious. He was never this late and he would have told her if he would be. She got up and pushed the door open before setting off onto the street, hoping to find him on his boat. The daily crowds of people on their errands was only starting to warm up, with none of them thinking that anything was off. It was another day for everyone else, but as she started walking along the street, she heard the rapid patter of paws coming towards her. Her first hope was that it was Balto, but when she turned around, she was disappointed to find it was only a tan Chinook who looked like he was in a hurry.

"Jenna, there you are! C'mon, you gotta come with me right now," he said, panting.

"What? Why? What's going on Kaltag?" she asked. Kaltag was one of the dogs on the sled team that helped Balto during the serum run. Previously, he'd been one of Steele's lackeys who helped alienate Balto, but things changed when Steele tried to keep Balto from helping, and later tried to sabotage the rest of the team on their return. He switched sides and was now one of their best friends, along with being the new lead dog of Nome's championship team.

"It's about Balto; c'mon, you have to come to the mill with me," he replied, and they set off quickly, running past the clueless residents. The second he mentioned Balto, she started to get queasy; his serious expression didn't help her anxiety much either. Multiple nightmare scenarios started running through her head. He could have been attacked by another grizzly bear, or shot by a hunter who mistook him for a real wolf. He could be hurt, alone… or dying… "Please be okay Balto. Please be okay…" she whispered, hoping for the best, but trying to prepare for the worst. They may have been together for only a couple of months, but already it felt like he was a part of her; a part that she could not go without.

Entering the mill, she found a commotion inside that was quite unusual for this time of day. Normally empty early in the morning, the mill was as full as an evening gathering. That commotion ended the second she entered, and soon the room was quiet enough that you could have heard a pin drop. Many dogs bore worried or sympathetic expressions and that only increased her fear. Whatever was going on, it wasn't good. Scanning the crowd, she was very surprised to see Maska there. Many dogs were wary of wolves and the last time they let one into the mill was during an emergency… 'Please let him be okay.' Maska was talking quietly with an old St. Bernard named Doc, but he too became silent when he saw her enter. With a neutral face, he approached. Right away, she could tell he was not here for a social call.

"Jenna, I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but there's no other way to say it. Balto's been… taken," he explained. "It seems to be the work of Tikani and his pack."

This may not have been one of the possibilities that Jenna was thinking of, but it was no less horrifying. Tikani had sworn revenge on Balto, and if Maska was right, then he was about to carry it out. He believed in justice by reciprocating the actions of others, and since his mate had been killed... "No, not him… please tell me you're wrong," she pleaded, her voice cracking. "Please… it has to be some sort of mistake."

"It's no mistake Jenna. I have a witness to it all," he replied before looking