very popular, and Jenna was afraid to leave him, for then, she feared, she would lose her new friends.

She thought about the dog she had met the other day, at the races.

Balto seemed to be a bit of a strange dog, and was certainly not going to help her popularity level at all.

She’d just yesterday learned that he was part wolf.

This scared her a bit.

Her friends, Dixie and Sylvie, had told her stories of wolf dogs turning on their friends, and killing them.

Jenna had decided that it would be a good idea to stay away from Balto.

As they were sitting there, who should walk by but Balto.

Steele stood up, taking any opportunity he saw to pick on the dog.

His three friends, Nikki, Kaltag and Star started howling, and Steele laughed.

“What’s the matter wolf dog, your pack send you away?”

They all cracked up laughing, and Jenna sensed they wanted her to say something.

Balto too turned to her, maybe wondering what she was doing with this group, and what she would do.

She didn’t really want to pick on Balto, but…. with her friends all around….

She turned to Steele and smiled.

“Yeah wolfie, why don’t you go back to your pack, where you belong!”

Steele and the other’s laughed, but Balto’s eyes stopped her dead.

As he looked at her, the hurt in those eyes almost tore Jenna apart.

A single tear rolled out of Balto’s eye, then he turned and bolted.

Jenna felt really bad, she hadn’t wanted to hurt him, and he hadn’t reacted that way when Steele and his buddies were picking on him. Why was it different for her?

“That was a good one Jenna.” Nikki said.

“That was the coldest, the sharpest, the most straight to the heart….”

That was Kaltag again, and he wasn’t helping.

Thankfully Star cut him off, as usual.

“I… I think you hurt him.”

Kaltag bopped the small dog on the head, and he fell to the ground.

This never failed to elicit a laugh from Jenna, but not today.

She watched the alleyway Balto had ducked into, somehow hoping he’d come back, and she could apologize.

But he didn’t…..

 

“What was up with that?” Balto asked, bringing Jenna back to the present.

“I… I was around my friends, and… and I felt I had to fit in…. I… I was stupid.”

Balto grinned and nodded.

“Hey!” Jenna said, “you’re not supposed to agree with me!”

Balto smiled, and nuzzled her muzzle.

Yes, he was very glad that the two of them were back together.

“Holy cow.” Jenna said.

Balto laughed and opened his eyes.

“What?”

“Is that…” Jenna continued.

“Dash.” Balto finished.

“Hey mom, dad.” Dash said.

“What brings you here?” Jenna asked, “Is something wrong?”

Dash laughed.

“No, I just wanted to tell you that Talkeet has decided to join Shadow’s team, and we’re holding a competition day after tomorrow, and I thought you might want to come.”

Balto looked at Jenna, who shrugged.

“I… I suppose we could.” Balto said.

Dash smiled.

“That’d be great, you can stay in the cave of course. The competition will be a week long, think you can stay that long?”

“Yeah,” Jenna said, “in fact…”

She looked at Balto.

“Let’s leave the kids here this time, go just the two of us, like old times.”

Balto looked back at her, somewhat surprised.

“What?” Jenna asked. “They’re old enough to take care of themselves for a week.”

Balto shrugged.

“It’s okay with me, it’s your house they’ll destroy.”

Jenna laughed.

“Let me go tell them, and then we’ll head back with you Dash.”

Dash nodded.

Jenna walked inside.

“Dad,” Dash said, “I…. I didn’t want to tell you this while mom was here, but… the reason Shadow is recruiting new members is that the team got completely wiped out.”

“What?!” Balto asked.

Dash nodded.

“Shadow thinks it was the Uniea clan.”

“There’s gonna be a war huh?” Balto asked.

Dash nodded.

“Unless Aleu can pull off a diplomatic miracle, which I wouldn’t put it past her to do.”

Balto nodded in understanding.

Jenna reappeared.

“Well, I guess I’m ready, you Balto?”

Balto nodded.

“Let’s go.”

The three of them ran toward the edge of town.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Five

 

It was the next day, and Balto and Jenna were standing amongst a crowd of wolves, waiting for the contestants.

 

At the same time, Dash and June were standing with Talkeet in the adjacent chamber.

“You be careful Talkeet.” June said.

Talkeet smiled.

“Don’t worry about me, I’m gonna be fine.”

June nodded, and Dash stepped in between them.

“I know you will son, but… like she said, be careful. All of your training has been sparring; you’ve never been in a real fight, where the other guy wants to kill you.”

Talkeet nodded.

“Just keep your head on straight, and I know you’ll do fine. I love you son, and I’m so very proud of you.”

Talkeet smiled.

“Thanks dad.”

June stepped forward, and Dash walked out to join Balto and Jenna.

June nuzzled Talkeet.

“I mean it, you be careful. Even though I’m not you’re real mother… I still love you, and I don’t want you to get hurt. These past few weeks have taught me a lot, and it’s mostly you.”

Talkeet smiled.

“Hey, I said don’t worry.”

June looked up, and a tear rolled out of her eye.

“Hey, I’ll be fine… mom.”

June smiled, and then broke into tears.

“Oh Talkeet.”

She put her head on her son’s shoulder.

“You take care of yourself Talkeet, your father and I are very, very proud of you, and I know you’ll do great.”

Talkeet smiled again, as June lifted her head off of his shoulder.

“I’ll see you at the finish, okay?”

Talkeet smiled.

“Okay mom.”

“Come on,” she said, clearing her eyes with her paw.

“Balto and Jenna are out there to see you off.”

The two walked from the chamber.

 

Balto was the first to see Talkeet emerge from the chamber.

June walked over to Dash, and started crying again.

Talkeet watched her, until Balto and Jenna reached him.

“How are ya Talkeet?” Balto asked.

“Ready, I hope…” Talkeet said.

“What’s the competition going to be like?” Jenna asked.

“Well,” Talkeet said, “I don’t really know, Shadow didn’t tell us a whole lot, but… well, I know that there’s at least three fights, a few agility tests, and a survival section. I think that will be the hardest, because of the storm.”

“Yeah,” Jenna said, “what a time for a storm to move in huh?”

Talkeet smiled.

“Yeah… man I am hungry.”

“Did you not eat this morning?” Jenna asked.

Talkeet shook his head.

“They haven’t let us eat anything for the last week, and no sleep either.”

He yawned.

“I feel horrible.”

“Why would they do that?” Jenna asked.

“I guess they want to see what we do at our worst, I mean… if we get into it with the Uniea clan, I suppose we could face conditions like this.”

“I guess….” Jenna said.

“Well I’m sure you’ll do fine.” Balto said.

“Thanks,” Talkeet answered. “I’m a little worried about the fighting part, I’ve never really been in a fight before, not where I could get killed, or… or have to kill….”

There was an awkward silence following this statement, which was finally broken by Jenna.

“Well, maybe you won’t have to do that.”

Talkeet nodded.

“Maybe…”

Suddenly, Shadow called the contestants to the front.

He waited for the sixty some wolves to sit down, and everyone fell silent.

“We’re getting ready to begin, just remember, do anything to win. Your very life will depend on your willingness to do literally anything to eliminate your opponent. Though this is not generally accepted, my team requires a different breed of wolf… of soldier. You are all here to join this group. I’m sure you’re all aware of what the ultimate duty of this team is, but just in case, as this is your last chance to quit, I will give you a brief history. My team began shortly after I was picked up by Nava. Then, it was just me and one other, after all, we were only ten wolves strong… but we still needed to protect our leader. When Nava joined this pack, I continued the idea, setting up a much larger team, and devoting it not only to protecting our leader, but defending her as well. I, and my team became very good fighters, ready to do anything Aleu asked of us. We have a very successful record, in that out of over two hundred operations, we have no failures. We have accomplished every task asked of us.”

Shadow paused, bowed his head, and began to recite names, some familiar to the crowd, some not. It was quite a lengthy list, and it took him about ten minutes to say them all.

When he finished he paused, and looked back up.

“Do you know what all of these names have in common?”

No one answered.

“These are the names of all of the wolves who have died in service to Aleu, and this pack.”

He sighed.

“That’s just the ones who have given their lives for hers, not including those who have died

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