worried about you after what happened today,” she said nuzzling him.

“Jenna I’m here to say goodbye,” Balto replied steeping back away from her.

“What do you mean goodbye?”

“I’m leaving Nome tonight.”

“WHAT! No you can’t……I love you,” Jenna gasped in shock.

“I know you do Jenna but I don’t belong here, I never have.”

“You cannot mean that. I understand what you’ve been through but none of that matters to me. Balto please I love you.”

“I love you to Jenna but I cannot stay in Nome. I’m hated here and you are harassed because you are with me and what I did today will only make it worse for you. You are the town princess, I am an outcast.”

“I don’t care what dogs say about me. After all we’ve been through you cannot throw that away,” Jenna pleaded in desperation.

“Well I will not tolerate persecution by narrow minded dogs!”

“It will die down in time. If you are leaving due to the fight……you don’t have to fear repercussions Steel and the others fear you now.”

“Today’s fight does not play a part in this, it was revenge for everything Steel and his cronies have done. My choice was my own,” Balto replied walking away.

“What about Boris? What about Muk and Luk?” Jenna cried running after him.

 “They accept my decision.”

“I’ll come with you, if you have to leave we both leave. We can be happy together away from Nome,” Jenna replied happily.

“No Jenna that is not right Nome is where you belong. No matter how much I love you I cannot ask you to leave everything for me,” Balto replied shaking his head sadly. “I love you Jenna which is why I have to let you go.”

        The pair had reached the edge of town. Standing on the hill overlooking the town, bathed in the light of the setting sun, were Arden and Eagle. Both looked at their brother below them, their hearts aching with the pain they knew he was feeling. Seeing them Balto smiled sadly before turning back to Jenna.

“I know this is hard for you to understand, please believe me when I say this will make both of us happy in the long run,” Balto replied softly licking her cheek.

“How can we be happy if we are apart? I love you so much, please Balto stay here. We can be happy together,” Jenna pleaded, tears running from her eyes as her heart broke.

“Forget I ever existed. If you love truly me Jenna you have to let me go. I am a wolf not a dog. You will find a pure breed husky and he will give you the love you deserve,” Balto replied looking at her. “Goodbye Jenna, goodbye forever.”

     Turning away from her Balto ran up the hill to his family. Reaching them he was smothered in licks. Looking at each other the family smiled, tails wagging with delight. With a short howl Arden set off running across the tundra, with their own howls, Balto and Eagle ran after him. Pain mingled with happiness as Balto left Nome, behind him Jenna’s heart shattered. Together the three wolves ran into the sunset, the last rays of the sun turning their fur to gold.

       Part 2

      Loves Legacy

       It had been a few months since Balto had left Nome, lying in a basket in Violet and Arthur’s lounge, Jenna looked week old pups that lay next to her. Two males two females, three looked like their mother, though they did have large wolf paws. But the fourth, a female, was the perfect mix of her parents. She had inherited her father’s wolf looks and markings. Where Balto had light brown she also had light brown but where as Balto had dark brown she had red. A fortnight after Balto had left Jenna had discovered she was pregnant. Thought shocked at first Jenna had quickly come to love the fact and was glad something special had come from her relationship with Balto. The pregnancy had not been easy as she had to deal with grief and hurtful comments from other dogs once they found out. Star, Kaltag, Sylvia, Dixie and Boris had rallied around her, fighting any dogs who dared throw comments her away. Arthur had Violet had been wonderful and fully accepting of the situation.       

  “Well now they have grown in a week,” Boris said walking into the room, ticking one of the male pups.

“I am amazed how much,” Jenna replied licking the wolf like pup.

“Thinking of Balto again?” Boris asked seeing the direction of her gaze.

“How could I not? Look at her Boris she looks more like a wolf than Balto did.”

“It may not be the same for her as it was for him. Times have changed.”

“You know the names I was called while pregnant. Some dogs still hate Balto, even more so    for what he did to Steel. My poor little wolf………..” Jenna replied looking down at the pup.

“We can only home time will heal, Steel is not as popular as he once was, and many say he deserved what Balto did to him. Have you decided what you will call her?”

“Rosa. Rosie loved Balto and I so it is fitting I name this pup after her. I love this little pup no matter what happens or what anyone says to me. Despite everything that has happened I still love him, not a day goes by when I don’t think about him.”

“Understandable given they are his.”

“If only he had stayed, if I’d known at the time, he would have stayed. I should have tried harder to make him stay.” 

“Nothing you could have done would have made him stay. If you known perhaps he would have remained that we will never know.  Balto believed he did not belong here, he thought he was acting in the best interests of you both. Perhaps it is for the best he is not here,” Boris sighted.

“HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT?” Jenna replied leaping to her feet. “Rosa looks more like a wolf than her father did. She will be rejected and persecuted for what she is. If Balto had stayed he could have helped her.”

“She is your daughter also. The dogs will see you within her and your other pups.”

“Kodi, Saba and Dingo will find loving homes but no one will take Rosa.”

“Lessons will have been learned from the past. They will accept her.”

“I hope so Boris. If only Rosie was here none of this would have happened, we would have been so happy,” Jenna whispered looking at her pups.

    Leaving the room Boris looked sadly at Jenna his heart going out to her. Arriving back at the old boat Boris looked across the sea.

     “Oh Kiddo you really left your mark in this town and not just on Steel, that dog took a month to recover after the beating you gave him. Four pups Kiddo that’s what you left. I warned you not to date Jenna until you’d had time to grieve and think things through, I knew something would happen. You laughed it told off saying it would all be fine. Well Kiddo I was right something has happened and I will have to pick up the pieces. You thought you were doing the right thing, well you didn’t know about the pups so I cannot judge you. Where are you Kiddo? Oh Kiddo I hope this works out well.”

       As the days passed the pups grew opening their eyes and learning to walk, soon running around the house causing all sorts of mischief and laugher. Chewed socks, bites taken out of hats, table legs chewed, holes dug in the garden were just a few the pups antics. No one would forget the day Saba and Kodi knocked over the hat stand would always remain in Violet and Arthurs memories. Not only were they pair covered in hats and coats but the hat stand fallen through the window in the hallway. The window had broken with a crash that had resulted in half the hat stand hanging out of the window. Violet would always remember the time Rosa and Dingo became covered from head to paws in flour, jam, eggs, icing and milk. This was a result of running into the kitchen table while Violet was making a cake, resulting in the ingredients falling off the table. Despite the happiness the pups brought they also brought pain as Jenna and Boris saw Balto in them.

   The pups were six weeks old. On the beach they raced through the sand dunes and through the boats. Sitting on an old boat Jenna, Sylvia and Kaltag watched them, while Star and Dixie chased the pups through the sand.

“They seem to be growing well,” Sylvia said watching as Saba splashed Dixie.

“They have inherited their father’s speed to,” Kaltag chuckled. “Young Kodi will be a sled dog in a year or so.”

“Maybe,” Jenna replied looking at her son. “If he is allowed………..”

“He will be. There is gossip around them, three of them are accepted by all dogs, Steel calls them lucky,” Sylvia replied slowly.

“But he hates Rosa,” Jenna replied sadly.

“I’m not sure, she has blue eyes and your colouring and she is female. That confuses him, had she been male it would have been easy for Steel to hate a wolf looking pup,” Kaltag replied as Rosa climbed up on her father’s old home.

     Climbing onto the roof of the cabin Rosa lifted her head and howled a wolf howl, lifting her front paw up. Rosa’s eye glittered as she howled joy coursing through her body as her heritage