gain permission, but Rosy already guessed what he and Jenna were up to, she waved her little hands and said “Wanting to be off with Jenna, oh you little charmer? Well, go on! Have your fun!”

 “Come on Balto.” Said Jenna with the most attractive smile ever, and they walked out of the hospital together. Balto was a bit of nervous walking on the road, he used to travel around the town via small alleys and sometimes even rooftop, so that he can avoid the dogs and humans, which are all pending danger to him at that time. But now those moves are no longer needed, he was all welcome to walk on the street, but all those years of hiding and escaping made him very sensitive to his surroundings, and open places held the greatest possibility of being tease, chase, or attack.

For the first few minutes they just walk together, looking around and enjoying each other’s company, until Balto realized that Jenna wasn’t just walking around, but heading towards some destination. “Where are we going?” He finally asked.

“We’re going to the boiler room.” Replied Jenna “Now you are welcome in Nome, but you still need more friends. The boiler room is the best place to start with, since almost every dog here goes there daily.”

Once again, Balto felt nervous. He was just accepted by the town not more than a day and now he was acting like anyone in the town already. Wouldn’t it be a little bit rash? Thought Balto. He sounded his opinion to Jenna.

Jenna gave him a smile warm enough to put out all his uneasiness, and said “Why would it? You’re always a part of Nome, and it’s always your right to join us in our lives, although some never wanted to admit it before, but now they do. So why wait?”

Despite Jenna’s reassurances, which proved to be very convincing, Balto can’t help but felt his muscle tensed, ready to make for the run in case if any dogs still cannot accept him as who he really is. Back in the days when Balto was just a stray hybrid, he might get himself killed if he walks into the boiler room, it had been one of the places that Balto had learnt to avoid going in no matter the circumference since he was a pup. However if he ever needed to catch up the news he is interested with he would sit on a ventilation window nine feet above the floor, where he could listen silently to the discussions below and get whatever he needs to know.

As the boiler room came into their sight, Balto’s uneasiness grew. He was about to walk into a place where he had long marked highly dangerous, However, he knew that Jenna would not bring him here if she had no guarantee that it would go just right. Balto took a deep breath, and went into the boiler room after Jenna.

The dogs inside fell silence when they saw who is entering. Balto did a quick scan on the faces looking at him and, luckily, found none of the previous despise. Nikki, Kaltag and Star were there, telling the story about their latest journey to their audience, who were a few other dogs in the town, Balto didn’t even know the name of some of them; he never had the chance before. Sylvie was there, of course, being the gossip of the town she won’t miss such a great story, it would buy her lots of attention.

“Ah, Balto you’re here, Welcome!” Kaltag greeted him warmly, which surprised Balto a little. As Jenna and Balto took their seat at one side of the crowd, Kaltag continued “You’re here in the right time. We were telling the part when you fell of that cliff, but we do not know exactly what happened at the bottom, so it’s best for you to tell this part.”

 Balto hesitated, he wasn’t sure how to put that part with the white wolf into their minds, but the fuzzy feeling of being finally accepted made him wanting to share as much as he can. And so he laid out the full story, and he made an extra effort in explaining how the white wolf appeared out of nowhere, and how real it is that it can’t be an illusion. He also tells the how he embraced his wolf side, and what it means to him and finally the part of how he led the team home with the enchanted sense of wolf.

“A wolf that appears out of nowhere?” asked Nikki after Balto finished the tale, he seems frightened. “How is this possible? I mean, if all wolves can do this, they will be the most horrible, most fearsome and most-- “Demons!” Star cut Kaltag’s exclamations off, and received a hit on the head.

“I don’t know what it might be, but certainly wolves can’t just appear in front of us. I’m still working on an explanation.” Said Balto. In truth, he didn’t have any idea what explanation he can think of, it just happened in the time when he don’t have the mood to think. Meanwhile, Jenna has another question in her mind “Where’s Steele?”

“That murderer?” Kaltag snapped “He isn’t here since last night, and he’s not in Nome, either. Most of us don’t care about that at all, but some did go out to find him. There, that’s one of them.” He pointed his nose towards a dark brown and grey husky, whose name was, as Balto remembered, Leo.

“I went out this morning with two of my friends; we searched everywhere for Steele, just to make sure he’s not going to cause any more trouble, but with no success. We, however, able to find his scent at the back of this room, leading all the way into the nearby woods, that’s where we stopped searching.” Reported Leo.

“Yeah, Looks like our snappy friend decided to live a life as treacherous as he is, eh?  I’ll bet he won’t survive more than three days.” Said a brown and cream colored husky, Rex. He was the lead dog of the second fastest dog sled team in Nome. He was still furious at Steele for snapping at one of his dog during the last race, which led to them loosing the race.

“It’s not really like what you think, Rex. If he’s half as wise as he seems, he would come back and beg forgiveness. Or if he can’t put down his cursed pride, and he’s lucky enough, he might be found out by some musher out there, any musher would recognize the golden collar around his neck.” Balto pointed out.

“Maybe,” said Rex slowly, “but whatever will happen, I just hope he never come back. Let’s get the topic off this gloomy subject.”

Chapter 3: Reports of the Woods

It soon became a daily habit for Balto to go chatting boiler room. And at the same time, Balto had finally mustered enough courage to ask Jenna out, which she, of course, accepted. They spent a whole night by the beautiful moonlit beach quite a distance from Nome, so they won’t be interrupted. There, Balto finally confessed his love for Jenna and she accepted it, too. And for the next few days, their love blossomed, Balto couldn’t be happier, everything that happened only brought him more and more confident to stay in the town. Most of the previous doubts and hatred against him had faded away, just like his own to himself… most of it.

It was a normal day with a little snow and a nice breeze blowing around. Balto and Jenna were going to the boiler room, there were some news going around in Nome, and they are going to hear it out. Inside the boiler room, the dogs talked louder than usual, they seemed restless.

As they approached, Doc, the St. Bernard who was like the mayor of the dogs in Nome, Said “Balto you’re here, good. We’ve got some news from Morris, and maybe it is related to that white wolf you mentioned earlier in your story.”

Balto nodded as he took a place and sit down with Jenna, eager to have a clue about that almost mystical wolf. “About three hours of so ago,” started Doc “a sled team that came to deliver mail arrived, the dogs were wounded in several places and that musher, a very young boy, looked so afraid that he might faint in any moment. We asked the dogs what happen; they started off from and town to the east, the journey was normal for the first two days, but when they were one and a half days from Nome things started to go wrong, they spotted a pack of wolf, going the same direction as they were. They tried to maintain the distance, but the wolves attacked, probably out of their territorial instinct, that’s where they got their wounds.”

Doc stopped to have a rest, and Rex continued “They got away, but some of them were wounded, as Doc said. They continued to run for their lives with the fastest speed they can muster with the wounded ones, and soon the wolves stopped pursuing. But their wolf luck hadn’t ended there, along the way they also encounter several lone wolves, several, not one. Isn’t that strange? I mean, since when did Nome become a wolf attraction spot?”

“Well they are just heading toward the forest, not for Nome.” Star pointed out.

“What’s the difference? The forest is where our sled teams must pass through!” snapped Kaltag.

“Even if we know they are coming, what can we do? And why do we do? The forest is vast, it’s not likely we would encounter them every time we go in.” asked Jenna.

“Yeah, but there’s still a chance, and if they claim that part of forest where our passage lies as their territory, then we will have lots of chances there.” Said Nikki.

“They are welcome to try!” said Rex, “Our musher always carries a gun when we’re out mushing. They’ll be dead before they know it.”

“You said it, a gun. You think one gun can take up a pack of wolves at least a dozen strong? Don’t you