about.”

“What?” Jenna asked, a confused look crossing her face.

“Jen, I don’t care about Drake, laws, nothing… I won’t let you go.”

Jenna smiled. “Balto…”

He looked back out over Nome. “I’m serious Jenna. I… I can’t live without you. I… I can’t even imagine…”

He fell silent.

“…. Balto, please… promise me you won’t.” Jenna said. “Please don’t throw your life away for my mistakes.”

Balto turned to her. “Jen, I will do anything I have to so that we never part, whatever it takes, that’s my promise.”

Balto turned and once again looked out over the city.

Jenna noticed the thick layer of snow that had accumulated on his back. “He’s been out here a while.” She thought.

The wind blew and Balto shivered.

“Come on Balto.” Jenna said. “Let’s go inside.”

Balto nodded, and stood, shaking the snow off of him and turned. “Jenna, I love you. Nothing you or anyone else could do would ever change that.”

Jenna smiled. “I love you too Balto, come on.”

Balto nodded again, and the two walked off the porch and threw the doggy door, into the house.

Chapter 12:

Tycha stumbled through the snow in the dark.

She hurt, and hurt bad, she knew this now.

She’d passed out about an hour ago. She didn’t know how long it had been before she woke up, but it had been dark when she finally woke up.

Her leg still oozed blood, and she could still feel it slipping out around the piece of the window frame that had stuck in her side.

She’d thought she’d be alright, that the wounds would close up… but they hadn’t.

Tycha knew she’d lost a lot of blood, and that it was only a matter of time before she ran out.

A tear slid out of her eye.

Tycha didn’t want to die. She wished she could see Tim once more before it happened.

No matter how much sense it would have made to anyone else, she still loved him.

She found herself struggling to forgive him, but something like that would take time, time she no longer had.

Tycha lost her grip on the hill she was climbing and fell to the snow, her claws digging into the snow to keep her from falling down it.

Tycha tried to stand up, butt she didn’t have the strength.

“What’s the point anyway?” She thought.

Tycha slowly released her hold on the frozen snow and slid down the hill on her stomach, stopping near the bottom.

Tycha tried to raise her head, but her strength had left her.

She rolled over on her side, and soon drifted away.

Blaize walked down the alley near Astarre’s home.

He’d told her to meet him here, rather than at her house, maybe that way her dad wouldn’t know that they were seeing one another, and wouldn’t hurt her anymore.

Blaize had struggled with why exactly Astarre wanted to protect her father so much, when all he did was beat her, but that’s the way she wanted things, and Blaize would honor that.

As he stood there, he realized she was a little late.

“Wonder what’s keeping her?” Blaize thought.

He decided to check on her, and walked down the alley.

Astarre stood in her home.

She was supposed to be meeting Blaize right now, but she was thinking something over, something that had occurred to her many times over the years.

Astarre was thinking of leaving her father.

She knew he’d never let her go, he’d probably kill her if she even mentioned it, but…

“I love Blaize.” Astarre realized.

Blaize had been a friend to her, and a good one at that, but though he’d mentioned it, she’d never thought of them as anything more.

Now she realized she wanted nothing else.

She was suddenly very angry at her father.

“Astarre, what are you doing?” Her father asked, as he stepped into the room.

“I was thinking about something!” Astarre snapped.

“…and what is that?” Her father asked.

“Of leaving you!” she screamed. “You don’t love me like you say you do, if you did, you wouldn’t hit me!”

“Oh really?” Her father said. “…and what do you know of love?”

“I know plenty!” She replied. “I know that I love Blaize, and that he’d never do anything like that to me!”

“Blaize?” Her father said. “That must be the name of that stinking mutt you’ve been running around with, huh?”

Astarre was furious.

“Blaize has been more to me in the short time I’ve known him than you ever will!” She screamed.

“Oh really?” Her father said. “You think so?”

Astarre nodded.

Her father sighed and walked over to her.

“You ungrateful little…”

Astarre didn’t hear the rest of what he said, as he swung his paw down and smacked her in the side of the head.

Her ears rang and Astarre found it hard to hear.

He’d never hit her that hard before.

Her father hit her in the side, and fell to the ground.

“I provided for you all your life!” He yelled, hitting her again.

Astarre balled up on the floor.

“Has this Blaize character done that!”

He hit her again.

“Huh?! Has he!”

Sam kicked her three more times.

“You don’t know what I’m doing!”

Sam hit her in the face, knocking her head against the floor.

“You’ve got to be strong to survive in this world!”

Astarre tried to crawl away, but Sam stepped in front of her.

“That’s what my father taught me!” He said, kicking her again. “…and that’s what I’ve tried to teach you!”

Her father stopped.

“Your mother wasn’t a very good learner either, not after you were born! She never appreciated me or my efforts!”

Astarre used this time to push herself up to stand.

She gritted her teeth and hit her father with all the strength she could muster, which wasn’t much.

She looked up at him.

Sam’s eyes stared her down, never wavering.

“That was a mistake.” He said. “Your mother made that same one the night she died.”

Astarre gasped. “You…”

“Yes.” He said. “I killed her.”

Astarre was stunned speechless.

He hit her again and popped her head up,

When her head fell back down, it hung low, against her chest.

Her vision swam. It seemed as if the floor was spinning, or rather she was.

Her father put his paw under her muzzle and raised her head. “Stay with me sweetie.” He said. “…stay with me.”

Then he hit her again, snapping her head back and throwing her to the floor.

Sam stood over her and raised his paw high, ready to smash Astarre’s head into the floor.

A tear rolled out of Astarre’s eye and she shut them.

“I’m sorry Blaize.” Astarre thought. Then she just waited for her father to end it all.

It didn’t take long for Blaize to make it down the alley to Astarre’s home. He walked up on the porch… and froze.

Through a window, he saw a gray dog standing over Astarre, and he was ready to kill her.

Blaize backed down the porch steps and turned, running at the window.

Blaize leapt in the air and soared through the window with a crash.

He hit the gray dog on top of Astarre, sending them both sprawling to the floor.

Blaize and the gray dog grappled with one another, rolling over the floor snapping and barking.

Blaize had learned how to fight being on the mail team. Different teams often got into fights, and so Blaize had experience. This experience came in handy now, as he found himself fighting, not for the honor of his team, but his very life.

Blaize rolled sideways and the gray dog’s paw slammed into the floor, barely missing his head.

“One hit like that and I’m out of this fight.” Blaize thought.

He hit the dog in the shoulder and threw it to the ground.

Blaize stood, but the gray dog had already recovered, and he was there.

He hit Blaize several times in the face and snapped at him, latching his jaws around Blaize’s left foreleg.

Blaize howled and smacked the dog in the face.

The dog let go of his leg, but he retaliated faster than Blaize could react, hitting him several times, throwing Blaize to the ground.

Blaize felt lightheaded. The last few strikes had rattled him pretty badly. The world was starting to spin and Blaize doubted if he was capable of standing.

The gray dog stood over him.

He leaned down close to him. “You must be Blaize. Nice to finally meet ya. So, how do you like the family?”

Blaize put all his strength into a kick that impacted the gray dog’s belly, flipping him over Blaize’s head and toward the window.

Sam felt a sharp pain in his back as he hit the wall, and looked down.

A large piece of splintered frame stuck out of his chest. Blood pumped freely around the wood from the wound the broken frame had caused.

Sam looked up at Blaize. He held his gaze for a moment, then his body