matter for her. I hope she isn't left behind like I was so many times. If she is, I don't know what I'll-'

His thought was cut short by a piercing howl from none other than Aleu, breaking the previously quiet scene. "Aleu honey, please don't howl," her mother asked.

"Sorry momma," she said sheepishly. "I'm just so excited about today."

Aleu was quickly tackled by Saba, who was eager to put her two cents in. "I'm excited too. I can't wait to get a human, and chew on their socks!" she said, giggling with glee. Aleu was quick to brush her off, and the two quickly joined their other siblings in play.

"Poppa, are you going to get a human too?" Kara asked him shortly after.

Balto just chuckled a bit and rubbed her head with his paw. "Naw. You see, humans like cute little puppies like you, not grizzled old grownups like myself," he said, avoiding any mention of the real reason he didn't have a human owner of his own.

As the day went by, human children came over to see the pups and pick their favorites. One by one, the pups were taken away by children who wanted to have their own puppy as a pet, or by other people who wanted to raise them to become strong sled dogs. It was both happy and sad for them to see their pups go, and at least once that day Balto had to comfort Jenna as the sight of the pups moving on brought her to tears. Their numbers dwindled, but when the sun started to set, one pup still remained. Had it been any of the others Balto would have less concerned, but it was Aleu, the odd one out of the group. After a full day of waiting, Aleu had taken a nap while her parents anxiously waited to see if anyone would take her. However, hope was fading fast for both of them, and for Balto it looked like his fear would be confirmed. No longer could he ignore the cruel reality of the situation.

"Let's face it Jenna, no human will want her. She looks more wolf than me," he said in defeat as the day came to a close.

"That's not true, we just have to keep trying!" she retorted. "If not today, then maybe another day. We just need to make sure she's looked after until then."

"I know, but you know that your family isn't willing to keep them another day." Jenna's face scrunched up as fresh tears formed in her eyes. It looked like she was trying to decide whether to be angry or sad over the injustice of this situation. "Look, I can take care of her. I want her to find a home too… it'll just take some time," he finished, before gently nudging Aleu awake. "C'mon tiger, it's time to get you to bed. What do you say to staying with your old dad for the night?" he said as she slowly got up.

"Okay… but I thought a human was going to come and adopt me," she said.

"I'm sorry, but no one came for you. Besides, we don't want to leave you out here all night, now do we?" Balto replied, trying to mask the crushing disappointment he felt.

Aleu hopped out of the box, but before they could turn down the street, Jenna had one more thing to say. "Just promise me you'll find her a home somewhere."

"I promise," he replied, turning to her for a moment before starting the walk to his boat. She didn't say anything, but Aleu could tell that finding her a home was something very important to both of her parents.

The walk to the boat was quiet, with Aleu seeming almost as disappointed about the outcome as he was. Balto hoped that this would only be a small delay, but there was still the part of him that feared that she wouldn't get a home for the same reason he didn't - for looking too much like a wolf.

"Poppa? Why didn't a human come for me today?" she asked as they walked up the gangplank. He stopped and looked at her bright blue eyes, seeing the sweet innocence in them.

'Should I tell her? She might deserve to know why she was left behind… but knowing that could break her little heart. She's so young to be burdened with the idea of being an outcast, but what else can I say?' he thought as he tried to decide what answer to give. "Well, Aleu, the thing is… the humans… there might not have been enough kids for everyone to get a pup today," he replied quickly, deciding at the last second to keep the truth from her.

"Okay… does that mean there might be a human for me another day?" she asked.

"I hope so," he replied, trying to keep himself from breaking down and shouting out about the real, painful reason. He had to stay strong for her, not letting the truth burden her until the time was right, 'I'll tell her when she's been accepted somewhere. I don't know how long it will take, but I won't let her go through what I did if I can do anything about it. I just hope it won't take too long to find somewhere she can belong…'

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Chapter 9: Letting Go

One year later

'This isn't what I wanted. This could be very dangerous and I don't want anything to happen to her.' These were Balto's thoughts as he tried to settle down and get to sleep. The rhythmic sound of the ocean against the shore did little to calm him as he rested behind a large rock outcropping. Part of the discomfort came from being in a very unfamiliar place, surrounded by strangers, some of whom didn't seem to enjoy his presence in the first place. 'Everything has gone from bad to worse since I had to tell her the truth.'

A year had passed since the pups were given away, and while five of them found homes, the sixth – Aleu – was left behind. He couldn't bring himself to tell her that it could be because looked even more like a wolf than he did. He hated the idea that some of the lingering prejudice against wolves was the cause of this, but as the months passed, the evidence supporting it grew as she did. She had the same long, narrow muzzle and leaner build that wolves had, and she also shared many of the mannerisms of wolves, including howling. However, her howling was often to express joy or excitement rather than any sort of territorial claim.

'I'm surprised we went this long without being caught,' he thought, remembering his repeated requests for her to temper her voice. He would always give some excuse like, 'You don't need to be so loud – there are other animals in the forest,' but it was because he wanted to avoid a confrontation with wolves that might see his daughter as an intruder. He didn't want her to be put in a situation that she might not understand, so he made sure contact with wolves was avoided, including with his friend Maska. 'I'm sorry to have shut you out like that my friend… I just wanted to wait for the right time to tell her.' Maska had continued to suggest that she may be better off with his pack, but Balto was adamant about finding a human home for her. Eventually, the task of looking after her grew to take up more and more of his time, and visits with Maska started to fall by the wayside. In fact, it had been months since he'd last seen his good friend. 'I hope he doesn't hold it against me. I just wanted what I thought was best for my daughter.'

And so, Aleu had no contact with, or had heard barely any mention of wolves. All she knew about them was that they lived in the wild, unaware of the deeper connection she had with them. This ignorance continued until only a few days ago, when he was forced to tell her the truth. Ironically, it had come about after a brush with a human, the types whom Balto had hoped would take Aleu in… but he'd misjudged how she would look to a hunter.

It was a typical day for her, playing with Muk and Luk and without a care in the world. He'd followed to check up on her, only to find that his reluctance to talk about wolves meant that she didn't know about a potential danger - the hunter. His heart jumped when he saw the man pointing a rifle at her, but to make it worse, Aleu was actually running towards the man, blissfully unaware that she was charging towards a loaded weapon capable of ending her life in an instant. She only thought that the human might want to adopt her.

Bolting into action and caring only for his child's safety, he charged forward and ploughed into him right as the gunshot went off. For a split second he feared he'd been too late, but the bullet ricocheted harmlessly against the trees. She urged him to stop as he tried to wrestle the gun away from the hunter, and it was only when Boris, Muk and Luk provided a distraction that they were able to get away. However, Aleu still demanded an explanation for what happened, and he tried to explain what the hunter was doing. At first he tried to make it sound like a case of mistaken identity, but further pressing from her forced him to spill the secret he'd kept for her entire life.

"Great, so my grandmother was a wild animal. Did the wolf teach you to know when a human wants to kill you too?"

In retrospect, Balto saw that keeping it from her for so long was probably the worst thing he could do. He hoped to tell her when she was adopted, telling himself 'It'll be soon. Just a few more days, that's all.' Days grew into weeks, weeks into months, and now it was over a year, and his deception seemed to hurt her more than the idea of a human not accepting her - something that he had been warned about a long time ago. She bolted away in anger and he let her run, thinking she'd return once she'd cried herself out, but she didn't. She kept on running and when he