beyond the fire.

“What do you want?” Jenna said. The shadowy figure laughed as he stepped into the light.

“You, Jenna. I want you,” he said. After a brief moment, Balto stood and said,

“Get out of here, Steele, you’re banished and you know it.” Steele laughed again as he stepped toward them.

“I’m banished from Nome, but we’re not in Nome are we?” Balto held his ground, thought he had to admit he was right. ”Jenna’s coming with me, wolf-dog.”

“Over my dead body,” Balto replied.

“I was hoping you’d say that.” From the shadows behind Steele, two black wolves leapt at Balto and attacked him. As the three of them rolled about on the floor, Steele snickered to himself. He glanced at them, and then turned his eyes to Jenna, who began to quiver.

“I’m not going with you, Steele.”

“In a moment, you won’t have any choice in the matter,” he replied, padded closer to her. For every step he took forward, Jenna took one backward, until suddenly she felt her tail brush against the wall. She was trapped. Glancing around quickly, she looked him in the eye and growled.

“I’ll fight you, then.” This time, Steele’s laughter sapped away her courage and replaced it with fear.

“I’d like to see you try,” he replied. Jenna lowered her tail and flattened her ears against her head, but held his eyes. She would not let him see her fail. Steele grinned as his eyes traveled up and down her slender body. His voice became softer, almost dazed. “You’ve grown so beautiful. You’ll look nice beside me.” His wishful ranting was abruptly cut off when a black blur, one of his wolves, was sent hurtling into him. The blow knocked him against the wall. Steele was still trying to register what had happened when Balto’s determined voice reached his ears.

“Wrong,” he said, spitting blood from his mouth, the result of a good sized cut. Testing his legs to see if they still worked, Balto stepped between Steele, still pinned beneath the limp body of his soldier wolf, and Jenna. “She’s staying right here. You, however, are going to leave…now.” Steele shoved his unconscious follower off of him and rose to his full height.

“Who do you think you are wolf-dog?” he said, walking towards them, teeth bared.

“His name is Balto,” said a voice from up the stairs, “And he’s got real friends, unlike your obedient minions.” Steele, Jenna, and Balto all turned in surprise as the speaker appeared in the flickering firelight. Kaltag nodded to Balto and Jenna and stepped up beside them. “And if I’m not mistaken he asked you to leave.”

“What are you doing here?” Balto asked him, keeping is eyes on Steele.

“Well, I was just walking Krystal home when we saw these four trouble makers headed your way,” Kaltag replied, also staring at the black and white malamute, “It didn’t look right, so we followed them.”

“Where’s Krystal?” Jenna said.

“She’ll be here in a minute.” Just then, growling and snarling echoed down from above and one wolf voice rose in anger. Suddenly, something fell through the open metal door and down the stairwell to rest in a crumpled mass at the foot of the stairs. It was another black wolf, the second of Sadera’s chosen two. From the shadows behind him emerged Krystal. She stepped up beside Kaltag and looked at Steele.

Steele, on the other hand, glared back at them, and silently cursed Sadera and her ‘chosen two’ Worthless imbeciles, they can’t even do this one job right, he thought, I’ll have to deal with them when we get back to the clearing. He glanced at the two unconscious wolves. Or better yet…

“Fine,” he said, “but this isn’t over. I’ll be back for you, Jenna.” He turned and ran up to the top of the stairs and looked back. “Do what you want with those two, they’re worth nothing to me anymore.” Before they even had time to look surprised, he vanished. One by one, Balto, Jenna, Kaltag, and Kystal all shifted their gaze to the two unconscious black wolves.

“What are we going to do with them?” Kaltag said.

“We’ll worry about that later,” Jenna replied, looking over at Balto, “Right now you need to see the doctor.”

“I’ll bring Echo and Milo,” suggested Krystal, “We’ll watch these two. You get Balto to the hospital.”

Jenna backed away from the grating and sighed with relief. Not an hour ago, she had crept under the very floors of hospital through a hole in the boiler room wall. Now, after listening to the doctor talk to the nurse and Rosie’s father, who had brought him in once he saw him, and the nurse, she was sure that he would be alright. ‘He’ll be fine,’ the doctor had said, ‘just put a little sulfa powder on the cuts and a bandage here and there. He’ll be going home tonight.’ Well, she thought, if he’s coming home tonight, I better make sure he has something nice to come back to…

Balto padded through the new snow, wincing every once in a while, on his way back to his boat. It would be empty, so he could sleep in peace. True to her word, Krystal had brought Echo and Milo to see their ‘prisoners.’ Upon awakening, both had been surprised, and even more so when they learned that they could simply return to their pack. When they were told that their leader had left them behind at the mercy of his enemies, they asked to be admitted into Echo’s pack, and Echo agreed. Both Dark Mountain wolves swore their allegiance to Echo and his pack and were then taken back to the den. Kaltag and Krystal had gone with them, undoubtedly on another date. Balto smiled as he thought of them. He thought that they would indeed make a good match. He climbed the creaky board up onto the deck of his boat and down the stairs. Preoccupied with his thoughts, he did not notice Jenna waiting for him on the other side of the fire until she spoke.

“Hello Balto, welcome back.”

“Jenna? I thought you went home for the night.”

“I lied. Sorry.” She smiled sheepishly and he shook his head.

“You never cease to amaze me, Jenna,” he said, lying down beside her. After a moment, he added, “You know, Steele was right…” Jenna looked at him, surprised, but he continued, “You look beautiful tonight.” Jenna smiled and wrapped a paw around him and pulled him over on top of her. This time, it was Balto’s turn to look surprised. As she looked up at him, Jenna said,

“Balto, I’ve been meaning to ask you something.”

“Yes?” Jenna took a deep breath.

“Well, we’ve been together for a while…and I was wondering if…if you were ready to start a family.” Balto tried to think of a suitable response, but the suddenness of Jenna’s question had caught him speechless.

“Jen, I…I…” Jenna smiled and put a paw over his muzzle.

“Shh, I know. I’m nervous too, but… I want pups more than anything in the world.” Balto sighed and smiled as the apprehension finally left him.

“I do too.”

“Are you sure?” Balto smiled.

“Absolutely.” He leaned down and kissed her.

Much later, on a hill overlooking the outskirts, a pair of cold black eyes appeared, eyeing the beached freighter in particular. Steele snickered. I wonder if that mangy wolf-dog had the guts to kill them. If he doesn’t, it won’t affect me. He turned at a noise and a silver wolf padded up and sat down beside him. Steele sighed. For a moment, he had mistaken her for her sister, Sadera.

“What do you want, Sena?”

“Have you any orders, sir?” she replied. Steele shifted his eyes back to Nome.

“No.” After a long pause, Sena continued.

“One of those two…was my son,” she said softly, almost timidly, “Could I form a small team to retrieve him?”

“No,” Steele replied, “He’s probably dead by now.”

“But what if he isn’t? Wouldn’t he be worth saving?” Steele was becoming aggravated. He turned and looked her in the eye.

“Are you questioning my authority?”

“N-no, I-I didn’t mean to. It’s just that…well, he’s my son, and if he’s still alive I want to at least try and get him back.”

“Don’t you think I’d risk anything to save him if I thought there was even the smallest chance that he was alive?” Steele said, although he had no intention of doing anything of the sort. Sena sat in silence for a moment.

“Yes.” She bowed her head as silent tears flowed down her muzzle. Steele saw this and his eyes softened the slightest bit.

“You’re dismissed.” Sena obediently turned and disappeared back into the forest. He watched her go and after a last look at Nome he followed her.

A few days later as the sun began to descend from its perch in the sky, Balto and Jenna padded through the woods toward Echo’s den. As they walked, Balto glanced over at Jenna every once in a while. She seemed quite cheerful, but he sensed that she was hiding something. Pushing the thought to the back of his mind, he led her up into the cave behind the waterfall. Echo and Vella met them