raising my eyebrows.

He looked at the floor and I tried to nuzzle his head. He shrank away, eyes burning.

            “Steele wouldn’t even go that low!”

I was speechless. I had barely recognized him so he probably didn’t know me at all. Still, couldn’t he smell? He interrupted my thoughts.

            “Get out of here now! Leave me in peace”

“But-!”

Balto plunged into me with his eyes closed and made me hit the rail, which creaked and swayed with the sudden weight.

“Balto stop!”

            “Don’t even use my name…” he opened his eyes and they glistened with tears.

“But I’m really your brother!” I said. How could he think I wasn’t?

Balto closed his mouth and jumped, pushing me over the ship’s deck. I fell and landed on my back. I let out a tiny yelp of shock and Kaya charged up. Balto took his attention away from me to size up Kaya. I groaned and rocked to my feet. I’d feel that tomorrow. Balto bared his teeth and moved towards me.

                        “I am so sorry for whatever my mate did!” she lied.

Balto and I both snapped our heads in her direction.

                        “You see, I’m pregnant with his pups and we’re all alone and haven’t eaten in days!” she gushed. “He’s delusional”

Balto must have known she was faking, but like he had said before, he was a husky. He nodded and walked away without another word. A wolf would have never let an attacker get away that easily.

                        “Let’s go before you get into another fight with someone else” Kaya growled.

I followed her with my head and tail low. I didn’t know what was worse. Not knowing if your brother was still alive or knowing he was but didn’t want anything to do with you. Kaya stopped and looked at me sympathetically.

                        “Alright, I’m sorry. I didn’t know that me being unusually sarcastic or mean would affect you.

“It’s not that” I mumbled. “That dog back there was my brother”

Kaya’s eyes widened and she looked back at the shipwreck.              

“You mean Balto?! Why didn’t you stay?”

“He doesn’t know me and he doesn’t want to know me or remember me. He thinks he’s a dog”

                        “That would just kill me” Kaya sighed.

I glared at her. She noticed me looking at her and shrugged.

                        “Sorry. Cheer up! At least you know where he lives”

“I guess you’re right” I said, perking up a little. It could have been worse. We wandered back, or at least the way we had thought was back. The trees grew closer together and the trail started to smell different.

                        “Great. Now we’re lost!” Kaya grumbled.

“Huh. I was sure this was the way back. Well the good news is the trail didn’t close up behind us like it usually does!” I answered sarcastically. “We’ll just retrace our steps back…”

I turned around and headed down the trail. It started to get cold as we traveled the trail though. I shivered a little, but the chilly spring winds found their way under my coat. Even as we turned around, the trail only got darker and creepier.

                        “What’s wrong?”

“I’m fine. Just a little cold. Why?” I answered as I scanned the tree line.

                        “You look like you want to start a fight. You’re all bristled up”

I hadn’t even noticed, but I was a little on edge. I was positive that this was someone else’s territory. And I was even more sure that they were still here and that they were following us. Fortunately, the big shipwreck sat in the distance and I could almost smell our territory. I broke into a jog, relieved of not having to fight. When we were less then a few wolf lengths away from our territory, three wolves jumped out. I skit to a halt so fast, I almost sat down. Kaya crashed into me from behind, knocking me on my stomach.

            “This isn’t your territory!” the eldest growled.

“Sorry. We got lost! Our territory is just at the end of this trail” I said submissively.

Kaya rolled her eyes.

            “Oh, okay then” The unusually calm wolves moved right out of our way. I watched them as we walked past, still tucking my ears back and trailing my tail on the ground.

            “Wow! What happened to you?!” yipped the youngest as I walked past him.

“Uh, I got into a bad fight….with a bear” I didn’t make eye contact and walked faster and tucked my tail between my legs. Kaya scowled at me.

            “Wait just a second” said the eldest, squinting.

Kaya stopped, forcing me to stop too. I shoved her. She glared at me. Why did she want me to fight so badly?

                        “They let us through without a fight. The least we can do is stop for a second” she said. I shoved her again and she backed up, forcing me to back up too.

The oldest of the three approached me. I wasn’t going to let Kaya get away with this. I rolled right onto my back and wagged my tail. Kaya furrowed her brow. The old wolf looked me right in the eyes.

            “How did you say you got that scar again?” he asked.

“Um, a fight with a bear” I said, confidence slipping away.

I was frozen to the spot and the other wolf looked serious but unsure. Next to me, Kaya smiled and looked between the two of us.

                        “Oh dear! I hope you don’t fight.” she said innocently.

The old wolf didn’t even acknowledge her. I barely heard her myself. I felt a growl grow in my throat. The older one showed his teeth while the other two blocked our path. The older wolf started to circle me. I started to circle but in a different way then I was used to. Kaya watched me angrily.

                        “Well if you don’t fight, I will!” she spat.

She lunged for the old wolf, but he had experience on his side. The old wolf easily won the short fight while I watched in horror. The old wolf had her pinned, but he must have been a kind wolf at one point, but when he let her get up, Kaya attacked the other two.

“Kaya! Knock it off!” I called desperately.

Kaya didn’t listen. The two younger wolves, one a little older then us and the other very young, outnumbered her and fought to hurt her. One of the attackers sank their teeth into her and she cried out. Self consciously, I lunged forward and snarled. The two wolves stopped momentarily and Kaya watched excitedly. I stopped myself and dropped my eyes to the ground, and lowered my head and tail in submission. But Kaya knew what had triggered it.

“We give up, we don’t want a fight” I forced.

            “I know who you are! I’ll tell him you’re a live!” the old wolf threatened, confused.

There was no need to mention “his” name. We all knew he was talking about Boss. I started to reconsider, but stopped.

“You’re not part of his pack”

            “He still takes all of our food! Turning you in would keep him out of our territory for good!”

I wasn’t going to fight. Kaya kicked away the other two and realized how serious this was getting. For the first time, I was actually terrified. We all stood, tense for the move to make. I met Kaya’s eyes and she motioned to the two younger wolves.

We leapt at the same time and charged at the two younger wolves. Kaya easily cleared the wolves and all I had to do was growl. The young wolf got out of our way with a tiny yelp, letting me go