much.'' Nova said. ''Just heard that Tayer moved into grandma's shed.''

''True.'' Nero said to his younger cousin. ''Wanna join us?''

''Join what?'' Nova asked.

''Me, Kassan and now Nero are following Galena and Tayer, as dad said.'' Harath said. ''But we'll let you in. No one else can join now.''

''Fine.'' Nero said. ''They're going to the hills.''

True to Nero's words, Galena and Tayer headed to the hills, while Kassan, Harath, Nero and Nova followed them and took cover in the abandoned house. The house was in a good position for them to hear what were Tayer and Galena talking about.

''Be quiet.'' Nova whispered to his cousins.

''Tayer, how do you like it here?'' Galena asked.

''Much better than with my family.'' Tayer said, frowning because of his family.

''I can't believe this.'' Galena said. ''You and I, together, for free.''

''Oh yeah?'' Tayer asked. ''How come you not believe it?''

''It's really bizzare that I, the grand-daughter of the town hero.'' Galena said. ''And you...''

''Yeah?'' Tayer asked again, concerned for the line Galena was about to say.

''Tayer, don't get me wrong.'' Galena said. ''I don't want to offend you or something, but... you, the son of the mean malamute who kidnapped me when I was younger.''

''No, it's okay.'' Tayer said, careless upon hearing Galena mentioning Steele. ''You may say anything about my father. I don't care.''

Galena looked at Tayer with surprise. She wasn't the only one. Kassan, Harath, Nero and Nova looked at each other with even bigger surprise. What did just Tayer say?

''Tayer?'' Galena asked. ''Why... why do you say that? He was your father!''

''Galena.'' Tayer said, feeling like he should admit something. ''I don't care. Because I never liked my father.''

Then, Galena gasped in surprise. And once again, she was not the only one. The four cousins were about to do the same, but they managed to keep it quiet.

''I never expected that.'' Galena said, confused.

''Can I tell you the story why I never liked him?'' Tayer asked, feeling like he needed to take off some kind of burden off him.

Galena nodded. Tayer looked at her and began narrating: ''I'm his and my mom's youngest pup. And also I'm the only one who's different because of my personality...

...my mom was already poison-minded by my dad, so he did to my siblings and sadly, he succeeded. But he didn't succeed with me...

...seeing how hard it was for him to do so, he became abusive towards me and then, my mom and siblings started doing the same...

...when my dad was killed while fighting your grandfather, my mom became even more furious and more abusive to me...

...the story my dad told to me seemed too inaccurate, but whenever I'd say it, my mom would freak out to take that back, claiming that my father was a hero and your grandfather a villain...

...and remember when we first met? It just got worse. My mom never seemed to stop after we returned to the wild and I didn't want to be like my dad...

...and at the end, few days ago, I had a big fight with my mom and siblings. The last thing I yelled to them is ''I'm nothing like my father and I don't want to be!'' and ran away.''

Tayer looked sad on the ground. Galena felt bad for her friend who was abused by his family. She nuzzled him in comfort.

''I'm so sorry about that.'' Galena said. ''It sure is bad not to have any mother love, right?''

''It is.'' Tayer replied.

Meanwhile, the four cousins saw and heard everything. They also felt pity for Tayer. Kassan and Harath knew that if they tell their parents about this, they'd be free of all duties.

Galena and Tayer walked into the town, talking to each other. They talked more about some happy themes to help him get off the harsh puphood memories.

Kassan, Harath, Nero and Nova waited for Galena and Tayer to leave. When they did, they had something in their minds.

''Well, dad won't give us any duties, eh Harath?'' Kassan asked.

''Right.'' Harath said. ''But now there's a problem.''

''What?'' Kassan asked.

''Nero, Nova, I don't think you should have been with us.'' Harath said. ''Kassan and I had to do this alone.''

''Sorry about it.'' Nero apologized.

''I think they being with us was not a bad idea.'' Kassan said.

''You think so?'' Harath asked.

''Well, I think we should let our other cousins know about this.'' Kassan said.

''Sounds good to me.'' Nova said.

''Yeah, but if we're going to let the others know...'' Kassan said. ''What about Ryan and Aurona? I don't think that our parents should know this.''

''I'll take care for Ryan.'' Nero said. ''I'm gonna ask uncle Kodi if Ryan can come out and play.''

''Good.'' Nova said. ''It might be easier here with me and Aurona. We're siblings.''

''Fine.'' Kassan and Harath said. ''Let's tell our cousins about this.''

The four cousins nodded and headed into separate directions. But first, Kassan and Harath headed to Dingo's house and told him everything what happened, but they didn't mention Nero and Nova.

''Well, you two did a good job.'' Dingo said. ''You're free of any duties from now on.''

''Thanks, dad!'' Kassan said. ''Later!''

The two brothers left the house and just then, Dana showed up, commenting: ''Well, I hope it was the last time you did this.''

''Don't worry.'' Dingo said. ''It is. Lemme tell you what they told me.''

For the next few days, Dingo and Dana told everyone from their family and the others about Tayer's past and he told them to pay some respect to Tayer.

But what they didn't know that his pups told every other cousin about this, but no one cared, as they thought that their parents told them.

The next day...

Tayer left the shed of Jenna's house. He decided to go to Dingo's house and to ask him if he could take him to Balto, because he didn't want to go there by himself, fearing that someone might suspect he was something up to no good.

He walked into the town and eventually to Dingo's house. But as he walked on the porch, Dana came out of the dog door.

''Oh, hello, ma'am.'' Tayer said, blushing.

''Hey, Tayer.'' Dana greeted him with some kind of motherly voice. ''Dingo, Tayer has come.''

Dana exited the house and was followed by Dingo. Dingo seemed to look quite friendly to Tayer and Tayer was a bit surprised for so.

''Sir...'' Tayer said. ''I wanted to ask...''

''Tayer, don't call me ''Sir''.'' Dingo smiled. ''You may call me Dingo.''

''And call me Dana.'' Dana continued.

''Ummm, okay.'' Tayer blushed. ''Dingo, I wanted to ask you if you could take me to your dad? I just want to know the true story...?''

Dingo smiled again and said: ''Sure thing, come with me.''

Dingo left the porch and headed to Balto's house. Dana smiled motherly to Tayer and encouraged him to follow Dingo. Tayer did so.

Later...

Dingo and Tayer were in front of Balto's house. Just then, Balto came out of the house. He had that friendly look because he heard the story of Tayer's memories, but Tayer didn't know it.

''Is there something you want to know, Tayer?'' Balto asked.

''Yes, sir.'' Tayer said. ''I want to know what really happened to the medicine and the lost team.''

Balto looked at him with some kind of embarrassment, because it involved Tayer's father, but he quickly remembered that Tayer didn't like Steele.

''Well, here it goes.'' Balto said. Tayer was ready to hear the true story while Dingo was going to hear it for the uncountable time.

''When I found the lost sled team.'' Balto narrated. ''They were stranded in the snow. Some of Steele's teammates were surprised to see me, but Steele wasn't...

...I wanted to help him to get the medicine to Nome, but he refused and attacked me, but he fell down the cliff during the fight and we all thought that he didn't make it...

...I was wrong. When we left, he messed up the markings so we could never get to Nome, meaning that he left the children to die.''

Tayer looked at him with some kind of shock and surprise, but not quitely, as he had expected that his father was capable of doing something like that.

''I can't believe he wanted to let them die.'' Tayer said. ''He was really mean.''

''It is the true story.'' Balto said. ''I'm sorry if I shocked you.''

''No, I understand.'' Tayer said. ''I knew it. I knew it that it wasn't how my mom told me. It doesn't surprise me why my dad was

Previous Page

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

Next page