perfectly, making out every detail. He watched as Pyro would darta dn slide on the ice, dodging Steele's attacks, trying to make the dog more and more tired. But then, Steele leapt out in front of Pyro as she was sliding, and landed right on her. He saw both of the bodies fall into the frozen water as the ice gave in to their combined weight. Moving his paws more and more quickly, he ran and slid toward the hole in the ice, and yelled out:

"NO!"

He stopped at the edge of the hole and looked around the lapping water frantically, hoping to see Pyro's head pop out of it. But it didn't happen. He walked to the other side of the hole and scratched at the snow, letting him look through the ice, only to see dark water. He did the same thing to other spots and finally spotted Pyro's body floating in the water, with no sign of Steele's body. He smiled, reared and smashed all of his weight into his front paws as they impacted the surface. The ice gave in and formed another hole. Dingo took a deep breath and plunged into the freezing cold water and swam to Pyro's unmoving body. I will not let her go on the death road, he thought to himself. He bit into the scruff of her neck gently and pulled her up to the surface. Two figures appeared at the surface of the water and he knew it was only Balto and Seam. As he neared the surface, he pushed Pyro's body with his head up towards the surface first. He felt her weight leave his head as the two canines above took her body out of the water. He swam up to the opening, his lungs burning for air and gasped as his soaking head met the windy land above. He panted and chattered his teeth together loudly as the wind made him even colder.

He saw his dad smile at him and he smiled back, now knowing what Pyro meant back at the forest. As he was about to speak, something bit into his ankle and yanked him back into the freezing water. He struggled against the force, but it just pulled him down harder and harder. Dingo looked to see whot he culprit was and saw that it was Steele, still trying to kill someone. Dingo went up to Steele's beaten collar and saw that it had dug into the skin so badly that new skin and fur was growing over it. Dingo bit down as hard as he could into a aprt where there was more sking than collar, and Steele's grip released. He could hear precious air get out of Steele in the form of bubbles, as he swam back to the surface, leaving the drowning rabid dog behind. He re-sirfaced again, and pulled himself onto the ice shivering from the cold and winced from the pain in his paw. He saw his dad come trotting up to him with a concerned look on his face. Dingo couldn't really say anything, but was releived when he felt a slightly warm body lay across his shoulders and neck. He could smell the figure just fine, and knew it was Pyro. He smiled and closed his eyes tiredly from the battle and quick swim; and he felt her fall asleep too.

Three Hours Later......

"YYYYYYYAAAAAAAOOOOOUUUUUCCCCCCHHHHH!!!!!" Dingo whined as the vet gave him a shot in the neck that would prevent DIngo from getting rabis.

"There," the vet said, rubbing his sticky rubber gloves on Dingo's neck, "All done."

Dingo gladly jumped off the examination table and trotted outside, and was greeted by Seam, Balto, Kodi, and Pyro. They were smiling and chuckling at him, and he only smiled back as he trotted up to them.

"You yelp like a girl," Seam said, now laughing. Pyro glared at him with one of her eyes and Seam quickly added, "You yelp like one those pampered poodles." he smiled unsurely and Pyro just rolled her eyes and walked up to Dingo.

"You okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," he reassured her, "It'll be sore for a while, but I can handle it."

The wolf only smiled and nuzzled him softly. Dingo's body frooze up in surprise, and he just blinked his eyes a few times before nuzzling her back.

"Oh get a room you two," Seam joked, walking off toward his house to sleep.

"Well, I'm going to check on Jenna, she's been acting strangely for a while; good-bye!" Balto said, and ran off toward Rosie's house where his mate, Jenna, lived.

"Um.....Dingo?" a voice said from behind them. Dingo looked and saw his brother Kodi standing in the alley way with a sad look on his face, "I just wanted to say.....I'm sorry...for before."

"It's alright Bro," Dingo said, walking over to his brother and palcing a paw on his shoulders, "Besides, isn't that what brothers do?"

Kodi smiled happily and grunted as Demon and Lily rammed into his legs while trying to get out from behind him, where they were hiding. The two pups were hopping up and down happily in front of Pyro and Dingo with big grins on their faces.

"Hi Uncle Dingo!" the two pups greeted in unison

"Hey guys!" he greeted back to them nuzzling each of their tiny heads, "How's it going?"

"Good," they both said again at the same time.

"Well that's good," Dingo replied to them. he looked up at his brother and said to him, "Could you excuse me for a moment?"

"Sure," Kodi replied.

Dingo nudged Pyro gently in the side and she followed him to Balto's boat, and then to the forest, and then to the opening where they first met. Dingo sat down at the edge of the cliff, looking at the stary sky. Pyro took a seat next o him, and they both stared at the stars for a long time, and Dingo spoke to Pyro as soon as the Northern Lights danced across the sky dimly.

"Pyro," he started, searching for the right words as she looked at him politely as he spoke, "I....I know we haven't really known eachother for that long....but....I feel like I've known you forever. I can't stop thinking about you, and whenever I see you a smile always comes to me....and I was wondering if............if you'd like to be my uh.......," he gulped, looking at her and hesitated for a bit, and finally sighed, "mate?"

And she grinned at him like she never has before; almost as if she has found her family once again and was with her brothers for eternity, "I would be honored to be your mate Dingo." and she nuzzled him, while her nuzzled her back. They both lifted their heads into the air and howled of their new joy, and they could hear Dingo's family howl back to them; and another strangely familiar howl howled with them, that Pyro had known about and thought that she'd never here again. She stopped howling and looked off into the distance and saw four wolves, two adults, two puppies, standing in the mist; looking at them both.

Dingo also looked where she was looking at, but didn't see anything, since a wind came through as he looked and the four wolves disappeared like mist.

"What did you see?" he asked her.

"Spirits," she said, still looking at the spot where the spirits of her family members' stood, "Spirits of my family."

Dingo nuzzled her again and she nuzzled him back, and with one finally parting howl to Nome, they ran off into the forest to find, or create, a new pack.