out there must be the reason the team is so late.’

He and Jenna watched as the mail team became visible, yet still faint, in the distance. Balto felt more and more uneasy as strange scents blew down the wind to his nose, and he stiffened when he didn’t catch his youngest son’s scent.

Worry was filling Jenna’s sweet brown eyes. “Balto…Dusty-”

“Calm down, Jen,” Balto said, trying to keep anxiety out of his voice, “We can ask when they get here.”

“Brake!” the musher yelled as the team barreled into town, slowing to a panting stop in front of the mail office and Balto and Jenna. “Sorry we’re so late,” the musher said, jumping off the sled and handing a new bag of mail from Fairbanks to the worker at the office door. “We lost two of the beginner dogs while climbing some cliffs.”

“Shame. Which ones?”

“Kira, the black and white female, and Dusty, Balto’s pup. I took a different route back here so I wouldn’t lose any more of the team. We should’ve never tried that new route. I got replacement dogs at Fairbanks, but the way there was slow with only five sled dogs. The replacement dogs have to go back to Fairbanks, though.”

“Ah, Duke can take them. He probably has enough room in that plane of his.”

The two chattered on. The musher bent to unhitch the mail dogs, and they all scattered except for Kodi.

Jenna stood frozen, and Balto shook his head back and forth slowly in shock.

“Kodi, what happened?” Jenna mumbled.

“You heard what he said, Mom,” Kodi said miserably, “We were going up some hard cliffs. Kira started slipping and fell out of her harness, and then the same thing happened to Dusty. I didn’t see it happen, though; none of us did. We were all facing front trying to keep the sled and team from falling. I just felt the strain on the harness get easier. But…” He shrugged his shoulders in defeat.

Balto breathed a tired sigh. “So Dusty’s gone.”

“Wait. Is there a chance he could’ve survived the fall?” Jenna asked almost hysterically.

“Mom…” Kodi groaned.

“Is there?” she cried.

“I guess,” he said, shrugging again.

“There’s always a chance,” Balto murmured, trying to keep Jenna’s spirits up as well as his own.

Jenna stared fiercely at them both. “Then I know what I have to do.” She picked the lantern on the sled up with her teeth and trotted away into the darkening dusk, the tiny yellow flame in the black box swinging back and forth.

Kodi, bewildered, turned to his father. “The Northern Lights?”

“The Northern Lights,” Balto affirmed, watching Jenna’s bobbing shape melt into the shadows, “They’ll light the sky until Dusty makes it home.”

Kodi snorted. “Why doesn’t Mom just accept it? I know Dusty probably couldn’t have survived the fall, and even if he did, it would be almost impossible for him to make it back to Nome.”

Balto sighed. “Kodi, no one wants to accept that someone they love is gone. This is your mother’s way of saying we still have hope for Dusty’s return.”

“Yeah?” Kodi frowned. “Well, all I know is I’m going to start hating those Northern Lights.”

The morning after his fall down the cliff and his long search for shelter, Dusty woke to a warm body pressed against his. He looked over and saw Kira huddled next to him, curled into a shivering black ball. He could hardly believe his eyes.

“Kira?” he whispered.

She stirred, then opened one blue-green eye. “Dusty?” She carefully straightened to a lying position and pushed herself away from him. “So you survived, too. Did I save the team?”

“I don’t think anyone fell down after us, though being unconscious at the time I can’t tell you much,” he replied. “Are you okay?”

Kira ignored the question and cocked her head. “Why did you come after me? One dog sacrificing herself is enough.”

Dusty shrugged uncomfortably. “I don’t know…I guess it had to do with Lucas kicking me out of my harness-”

“Lucas!” Kira’s eyes flamed green. She sprang up, growling, then took a step and went down a yelp. “Ah!”

“Are you okay?” Dusty cried, coming over and inspecting her battered form.

Kira winced when his paw accidentally brushed her left front leg. “Don’t touch it! I landed on that leg. Now it’s either broken, or sprained really, really badly.”

Dusty watched in worry as Kira pulled herself up again and stood, her limbs quivering with exhaustion. His own body ached and burned with cuts and other wounds, especially the huge bruise he could feel throbbing on the side he had fallen on. But he didn’t think he had broken anything. He knew he was lucky…luckier than Kira had been.

Kira squinted her eyes angrily and stared off into space. “Lucas. It’s always Lucas! He corrupted the team, he pushed you down the cliff, and now…”

Looking at Kira, Dusty could see why Lucas went after her. She was beautiful, with her dramatic black and white coat and eyes the color of ocean waves. Though Dusty wouldn’t know, Kira was very close to being as pretty as Jenna in her teenage years. Physical beauty wasn’t the only thing, though. The thing that made her the most attractive was the one thing that had held Lucas at bay for so long: her personality. Kira was kind, but smart, tough, and independent. So Dusty was startled to see her face crumple and her eyes start to sparkle like she was holding back tears.

“Kira?” he asked tentatively.

She shook her head and looked up at him with so much unhappiness that he nearly took a step back. “Lucas,” she snarled quietly.

Dusty suddenly knew.

“Lucas forced you to be his mate, huh? When he attacked you,” he said softly.

Kira snapped her tail furiously and nodded, but her nodding bobbed slower and slower as the fight seemed to go out of her.

“And you’re bound to carry his pups,” he said.

Kira hung her head and closed her weary eyes, and suddenly swayed. In a flash Dusty was there, sliding onto his back so Kira fell onto him instead of the hard cave floor. He blinked as he realized what he had just done. Where had he learned to react so fast, without thinking? And why had he felt such an emotional bolt of pain when he had seen Kira start to fall?

Kira’s torso sprawled across his chest. She closed her eyes and pushed herself up onto her working legs again. Dusty sheepishly got up and dusted himself off, looking at the ground. After awhile he chanced looking up at her face, and saw Kira wore an embarrassed grin. “Sorry. My legs just gave out,” she explained. She looked out the cave entrance with a sudden extreme interest in the outdoors. “Thanks.”

Without a word, Dusty padded to the mouth of the cave and looked out at the morning. The day was clear except for a light snowfall, and a pink, snowy sky swirled above the tundra. The milky sun shone palely at its early position in the heavens, and somewhere a raven called in its hoarse voice. From the east the scent of a wolf hurtled through the air to Dusty’s nose.

A wolf.

He stumbled back at the strong smell of it, and a sick fear churned in his heart. He had never smelled the blood of the wolf this strong before; not in his father, not in himself or his siblings. Would the wolf get territorial and attack? Or could it help them?

Shivering, he numbly stuck his head out of the cave again.

Suddenly, the drumming beat of four hooves rumbled to his ears, and Dusty stepped back in surprise as a deer streaked past the cave. A brown wolf loped behind the beast and snapped at the thin legs of the animal. Dusty watched in awe as they both flashed past, and continued staring as the wolf suddenly sprang onto the deer and smashed it to the ground, biting its neck. The rich smell of blood clogged Dusty’s nose, and he backed into the dark in horror as the brown wolf killed his prey.

Dusty had never seen the blood lust set so fiercely upon a predator. The wolf slashed and ripped at his kill almost tenderly, taking care to lap up any blood that leaked out of the limp body. He licked its body, slathering its fur with saliva, and sprang upon it with ferocity. Red droplets flew into the cold air and flecked the fresh snow.

As the wolf fed, flurries of black joined the flying red drops in the sky. Ravens cried and called hoarsely as they settled to the ground and dove in to the kill. The brown lupine roared at them, and a few took to the skies to find easier food, but most stayed.

At last the wolf was done. It emerged from the crowd of black, licking its chops clean of venison taste, but suddenly stopped and sniffed.

Dusty ducked inside the cave and pressed himself against the jutting wall, breathing heavily. He had to get some of that deer meat. It was their only chance for food. Dusty couldn’t bring himself to even think about killing something. When the wolf was gone, he would run out there and grab some of the meat before the ravens got it all.

He turned to look out, and came face to face with the wolf.

Its foul, stained breath made Dusty’s eyes water, and the wolf’s glare shone out of golden eyes that were suspicious and menacing. Dusty froze, trembling.

The wolf sniffed, a long intake of breath, and raised a questioning eyebrow. Suddenly he snorted in Dusty’s face and turned to go, only a streak in the distance a few seconds later.

Dusty gaped in fear, then threw off the musk the wolf’s breath had