Approval

Chapter 1: It's Official

Steele dragged Nikki's mangled corpse away from town. He buried him deep in the snow making sure no one found him. Then he wiped the blood of his face or what he could, he was covered in it, soaked in it. He smiled thinking about last nights kill. He enjoyed it, he wished he could repeat the moment but only make it look worse than it already was.

He started thinking how Balto's last moments would be. The wolf dog would probably cry and beg for mercy like the wimp like he already was. He smiled already knowing how Balto's life would end...

Kodi awoke and looked beside him. Clarie was sleeping beside him, she slept like a angel, a beautiful innocent angel. Her eyes slowly fluttered open she looked up to see his brown, hazel eyes. “Hey.” she said.

“Hey.” Kodi replied with a slight smile.

Clarie's eyes widened, she looked around then suddenly gasped realising she wasn't at home, she had slept over Kodi's. “Damm! Dad's gonna kill me!”.

Kodi smiled slightly. “Tell him you were with me”.

Clarie got up. “He'll think your a bad impression on me” she said.

Kodi smirked. “Your dad sounds 'harsh'”

Clarie smiled. “No he's just protective. Ever since my mum died he's been so protective of me and Ryan”.

Kodi chuckled getting up. “Over protective parents? Mine too.”

Clarie rolled her eyes and nuzzled him. “I'll see you later ok?”.

Kodi nodded. “Ok.”

Clarie smiled and walked out. Her father was going to be furious. She could already picture the punishment in her mind.

“Balto! Balto!”.

Balto awoke startled. He went outside to find Kaltag and Star rushing towards him. “Balto...” Kaltag took a minute to catch his breath. “Have you heard from Nikki?” he asked.

Balto shook his head. “No. Why do you ask?”.

“We haven't heard from him since last night” Star said.

Balto frowned. They sounded concerned, this wasn't like Nikki at all. “You sure he hasn't just gone for a run?”.

Kaltag and Star feared the worst. Balto frowned. “C'mon lets go find him.” He said.

“Where have you been!” Marvin yelled. “Honey, I've been worried sick!”. Clarie was right about her father being angry, he was furious.

“Dad chill. She spent the night at Kodi's”. Ryan said trying to lighten the mood.

Ewan frowned. “Kodi?”. His mood softened.

Clarie nodded blushing a little. “Yeah.. sorta”.

Marvin smiled lightly. “Are you dating?”.

Clarie shook her head quickily. “No! We're just friends-”.

"-I think we're going to have to have the boy talk.” Marvin announced with a grin. “Ryan, don't you agree?”.

Ryan nodded with a bright smile. Clarie groaned annoyed. She never thought her dad could be this protective and her brother.. well he was doing it just to annoy her!

“How was your date.” Kirby asked Kodi as he approached the team.

Kodi smiled. “None of your business.”

Ralph laughed. “It's funny how she'd go for you.”

Kodi frowned at this. “What do you mean?

“She's way out of your league.” Ralph said.

This made Kodi feel uncomfortable, he was right. Clarie was way too good for him. She came from a wealthy family, of course she was 'way out of his league'.

Dusty rolled her eyes. “You're just jealous! Kodi she loves you! I mean look at the the way she looks at you? It's that obvious.”

Kodi cleared his throat. “Uh... come on guys we better start training. I heard from Simpson that we have a race next week, where's Ryan?” he suddenly asked.

Kirby frowned. “Ryan? Y-you mean you actually think Ryan will be able to race? He might have joined the team and all but Kodi, he's not ready. He's not even here for practice!”

Kodi sighed, annoyed with the fact Kirby was right. “Come on then, everybody.” he finally said. “Move!”

“John it's good to see you again!” Rosy's dad exclaimed. Jenna smiled hearing the name. 'I know what that name means... Ewan's here'. Ewan was Jenna's brother, Kodi's uncle. He was quite fun when he came to visit, he was however a protective brother. So technically if any harm came to her, he would make sure the one responsible would pay. 'I might as well say hi' she thought. Making her way downstairs Jenna did not only find Ewan but she found- “Dingo?”

Dingo smiled sheepishly. “Hi mom.” Dingo was Kodi's older brother, he left town sometime last year. “long time no see”.

Jenna smiled. “It's good to see you both here.” she said giving both Ewan and Dingo a nuzzle. “How long are you staying?”

Ewan shrugged. “As long as you want us too really. How's Balto?”

Jenna rolled her eyes. “Charming as always, he'll be glad to see you.”

Ewan was always protective from the first day she met Balto, at first he didn't like him, he always thought Balto would do something to hurt her. “So... how's Kodi?” he asked smiling, now changing the subject.

Jenna laughed. “You seriously want to know?”

Ewan scoffed. “Of course I wanna know! He is my nephew after all!”

Dingo smiled slyly hearing Kodi's name. “Mom, how is he?”

“He's lead dog.” Jenna replied. Dingo had this charming but quite evil personality. Ever since he and Kodi were pups they usually had arguments which turned quite bad. It was a brothers thing.

Dingo looked surprised. “Lead dog? You mean he's actually lead dog of a sled team?” Ever since Kodi was a pup, he would go on and on about his dream to one day become the leader of a sled team. This surprised Dingo because he thought Kodi would actually never achieve his dream.

Jenna nodded smiling. “Yeah, I think they got a race next week.”

Ewan grinned. “That's quite impressive.”

“How's my baby?”

Alue rolled her eyes playfully. “Papa, for the last time I'm not a baby anymore.”

Balto found a shocking discovery while looking for Nikki. He had some grieve news to spread. To clear his head, he went to check on Alue. Kodi had already informed him that she would not be staying long, he wanted to spend much time with her as possible. Chuckling lightly he said. “You'll always be my baby.”

Alue laughed amused. “How's everything?”

Balto sighed.

Alue noticed how tired Balto looked. “You ok?” she asked walking over to him.

Balto smiled weakly. “I'm fine, you?” his smile turned sad. “I heard from Kodi that you'll be leaving soon.”

Alue bit her lip. “Today actually. I have to as Alpha leader, It's my duty to my pack. The sooner I leave the better.”

Balto sighed again. “Alue...” he began. “What happened that night?”

Alue sighed. “I was on the run from something. I don't remember what though, my memory's blank. I don't remember any of it.” Alue noticed something was definitely bothering him. “Dad, seriously what's wrong?”

Balto bit his lip. “You don't want to know...”

“So... tell me about this Kodi? What's he like?” Marvin was irritating Claire with all these questions. He was surely a overprotective father, Clarie appreciated it sometimes but this time, he was just being too overprotective!

Ryan just watched him talk with glee.

“Dad!” Clarie snapped finally having enough. “Kodi's just Kodi, nothing else. He's kind and sweet.”

Marvin smirked. “Kind and sweet? That's all you have to say? That's what you said about Damon, before he broke your heart-”

“-Don't you dare bring up Damon!” Clarie yelled. Damon didn't just cheat on her, he did much worse. Not even Ryan knew, they only knew the innocent side of the story. “Dad, Kodi's different.”

Marvin chuckled. “Different huh? I want to meet him.”

“What?”

“You heard me Claire. I want to meet him lets say ...tonight?”

“But-”

“-No buts young lady! Until you get you get my blessing you aren't dating anybody.”

Clarie scoffed. “What's with you today? Yesterday you were encouraging me to go for it?”

Marvin frowned. “I did?” Clarie had already left the room

“Dad, seriously? What's wrong?” Alue demanded getting a little nervous.

Balto sighed. “Nikki's dead.”

Alue frowned. “What?”

Balto nodded. “Me and Kaltag found his body near the outskirts of Nome.” he said.

Alue had heard of Nikki, Kaltag and Star. She had met Kaltag before, but never Star or Nikki. She however knew he was a close friend of her father along with the other two members of the trio. “Dad, I'm so sorry. What happened?”

“I don't know. All I know is we found the body …. torn to shreds.”

Alue gasped. “Oh god.”

Balto nodded. “Yeah. Look, listen I gotta head off to the boiler room. Take care