him and he left Russell’s room, crept down the stairs, and slipped out the doggy door in the kitchen. Sure enough, a few houses down in an alley way that ran past an open barn, there stood a brown husky. A small fire near the barn cast an awkward shadow as he approached him.

“Excuse me, what are-” He was cut off abruptly when she turned around. Even in the flickering firelight, Balto could tell that she was quite beautiful.

“Can I help you?” She looked at him oddly.

“I, uh, thought I heard yelling.” Balto noticed her expression when he finished speaking. Wasn’t that a twitch of fear in her eyes?

“Oh yes, that was me,” she replied calmly, almost casually.

“What happened?”

“Well, my former mate and I had an argument, but he left.” Balto noticed blood on one of her front paws nodded to it.

“How did that happen?” The brown female seemed surprised, even embarrassed.

“He, uh…bit me.”

“What? Jeez, some mate.”

“I know, but it’ll heal soon enough.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, thank you.”

“Oh, okay, as long as everything’s alright.” He turned to leave, but noticed the female heading the opposite direction. “Say, where are you going now? I’ll walk you home in case your ex follows you.”

“Thanks for the offer, but I’ll be fine.”

“Alright. Good night.” As they both turned to go their separate ways, though, Balto spotted something poking around the far outside corner of the barn, just out of the firelight. The brown female was walking towards it. “Hey, what’s that there?” He started towards it, whatever it was, but suddenly the brown female collapsed to the ground with a cry of pain. He ran up to her. “What happened?”

“My paw…” she said through gritted teeth, “I think I stepped on something sharp.”

“Here, let me see.” As Balto bent down to inspect the brown female’s bloody paw, she suddenly twisted him to the ground and sank her teeth into his throat…

“And that’s were everything went black,” Balto finished. Jared stood and without acknowledging Balto’s story said,

“Come. Quickly!” Confused, Balto obliged and followed Jared into the same alley he went into a day earlier. As they passed the same fire that had been there the night before, Jared’s voice took on a tone of grave seriousness. “The brown husky you spoke of is a female named Jade, and I have a pretty good idea why she attacked you…” He led Balto around the far corner of the barn and stopped. Balto nearly threw up at the site.

“By Aniu!” he exclaimed. There in front of him were the mutilated bodies of a male husky and a female malamute.

“Not half an hour ago, someone found them and told my friend, and he told me. The husky was Jade’s mate, and, from the looks of things, she caught him with another girl.”

“Even so, how could she do something so…?”

“I don’t know, lust drives some to do crazy things.” He shook his head. “I was going to have the scene sealed off, but it seems all that needs to be arranged now is a burial.”

“What about a trial? For Jade?”

“It appears that she left. I’ll have the sled teams spread word of what she did and we’ll keep an eye out for her here, but that’s about all we can do for now.”

“I better get back before Russell wakes up.”

“Alright. Thanks for your help, Balto.” Balto nodded and turned to go, but Jared called after him. “And Balto…” He turned around. “It would be best if she didn’t see you. As far as she’s concerned, you’re dead.”

Dingo sat on his parent’s front porch watching the sun sinking below the horizon, turning the Artic sky all shades of orange, yellow, and purple. Boy, he thought absent-mindedly, I wish Jade could see this... He was quite surprised when she, of all people, appeared on the porch beside him.

“Jade…” She smiled at him, and he smiled back.

“Hi. Dingo, is that offer still open?”

“What… Oh right, sure. Of course.” He quickly got to his paws. “That is uh…Where would you like to go?”

“How about the beach?”

“Great. Let’s go!” he said with increased enthusiasm, “Come on, we might still be able to catch the sunset.” As he turned and ran a few more paces, Jade secretly grinned. He’s so happy, and he’s got such a handsome face, she thought, It’ll almost be a shame to get it all bloody. I’ll have to make sure that doesn’t happen.

As Dingo and Jade padded onto the beach, Kodi and Dusty were just leaving their little shed.

“Are you sure the pups will be alright?” Dusty said.

“I’m sure, Dusty,” Kodi replied, “Jenna offered to watch them until we get back. You now as well as I do that they hardly wake up at night anymore.”

“Yes, I know.”

“Well, my lady, where shall we go tonight?”

“I’d love to spend some time together by the ocean.” Dusty suggested.

“The beach it is.” He nuzzled Dusty and they set off toward the shore.

Chapter Three

“That was the most beautiful sunset I’ve ever seen, Dingo.”

“I guess so,” he replied, “but it doesn’t compare with the beauty who’s watching it.” Jade looked at him in surprise, and he smiled. He leaned toward her, but stopped a few inches from her cheek and met her eyes, as if asking permission. For a moment, Jade did nothing, but then she smiled again and kissed him gently on the cheek. When she leaned back, the blush on his cheeks was more than enough to give away his embarrassment. “Well, I didn’t see that coming.”

“Don’t I deserve a kiss too, Dingo?” He smiled and leaned forward to oblige when a sound from behind made both he and Jade turn. Kodi and Dusty were walking towards them from further down the beach, but completely unaware that they were there. Dusty was whispering something to Kodi when Dingo cleared his throat. Dusty and Kodi stopped in their tracks.

“Oh. Sorry if we’re interrupting something,” Kodi said, “We’ll just go somewhere else.” Dusty started to argue, but he gave her a pleading glance and she nodded.

“See you later, guys.” With that, she and Kodi turned and headed back the way they’d come. When they’d finally disappeared over one of the hills, Jade turned to Dingo and nuzzled him.

“Now we’re all alone,” she said, kissing him on the cheek, “And we can do anything we want.” She nudged him over on his back and stood over him. Dingo, being far too surprised to say anything, just gazed up at her, smiling. Then, she did the last thing he expected her to do…

…she went for his throat.

On a hill outside of Nome, Dusty’s ears perked up at the sound of a scream. That sounded like Dingo, she thought, I wonder if…No, he and Jade must be having some fun. She laid her head back down, but a moment later another, longer scream cut through the silence like a knife. Then, just it suddenly stopped. This time, Dusty was scared. She leaned over and shook Kodi awake.

“Dusty…?” he mumbled, “What’s wrong?”

“Didn’t you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

“I heard someone screaming.” Kodi listened and thought for a moment.

“It’s probably just Jade and Dingo having some fun.”

“That’s what I thought, but then I heard another scream,” Dusty said, a hint of fear in her voice, “It sounded like Dingo.” She looked at Kodi and her eyes held a silent pleading message.

“Alright, I’ll go check,” Kodi sighed, “Stay here. I’ll be back.” As he padded past his father’s boat, Kodi thought of a million reasons why he should just turn around and go back to Dusty. But then, he thought, she’d ask me what the screaming was about. He sighed and jumped down from the small bluff onto the cool sand. Casting his eyes down the shoreline, Kodi immediately sighted his brother’s red coat. He was lying on his side with his back to Kodi. He’s probably sleeping, like always, Kodi thought with a smile as he neared the unmoving Dingo. So as not to startle his brother, Kodi called quietly to him from a few steps away.

“Dingo, come on bro, wake up.” Dingo’s ears didn’t twitch at all. Kodi tried again, a little louder. Still no response. He quickly looked his brother up and down and suddenly realized that he wasn’t even breathing! Heart racing, he ran up to Dingo and saw why he hadn’t replied to his calls. Dingo lay in a pool of blood, and his throat and chest were drenched in it.

Staring in shock at his brother’s mangled body, Kodi backpedal so fast he tripped on his own back legs and fell into the sand. Barely controlling himself, Kodi looked frantically from left to right, but saw no one. I’ve go to do something, he thought, Help! I’ve got to get help! He turned around and ran into Nome, yelling,

“Help! Somebody help! Help!” As he ran down