didn't.  They couldn't even tell if he was breathing or not.

Suddenly there was a change of plans as Jenna launched her small frame at the hulking mass of Steele.  "Aargh--bluugheh!" said Steele as Jenna toppled him over and went for his throat.  Once she found it, she held it down with one delicate forepaw.  She had made sure that he could still breathe; he could've turned on her at any moment.  Her tiny paw was no match for his abundant strength.  But the look in her eyes reminded Steele of a certain other pair--a pair with haunting gold and glinting red irises, just after Steele's merciless howling about the dog's deceased mother had aroused them to fury.  Steele kept perfectly still.

"What have you DONE TO HIM?!"  Jenna cried.  Her breathing came fast and raspy.  Steele saw love and pride and fierce anguish in her amber eyes.  For one horrible second he felt bad about the fight; but he was over it quickly.  Still he did not move.

After several painful seconds between them (Treble stood motionless to the side), Balto stirred.  With wild barks of joy Jenna ran to him and wagged her tail.  Taking advantage of the situation, Steele was trying to rise to his feet.  But to his utter shock, Treble was suddenly upon him, and her eyes held an unspoken warning.

"What are you doing?" Steele hissed from the ground, glaring at Balto, who was grinning faintly up at Jenna, and Jenna herself, who was licking and nuzzling her mate repeatedly.

"What are you doing?"  Her voice was soft, but Treble's eyes were sharply on Steele's face.

"I didn't...tell you," gasped Steele; he was short of breath from the pressure of her surprisingly large paw.  All of a sudden all of the husky's attention was riveted on that paw.  Steele gazed up at Treble with a look of revelation and shock.

"Didn't tell me what?"  A little shaken by Steele's countenance, she nonetheless pressed for an answer.

"That-that Jenna was my old love," he wheezed.  He motioned frantically for Treble to let up the pressure on his throat, but she held it there.

"She what?"

"Yes, but that was then.  I don't care about her.  I've had plenty of chances to be with her, but I stayed with...you."  He stopped to gasp for air.  The pressure on his throat released, and Steele choked, drawing in great gulps of oxygen.  He gazed at Treble pleadingly and found that she had taken several steps back.  "Well, then," she whispered, glancing at Balto, who was silently watching, "there's something I must confess to you."

"Anything," Steele said, recovering from lack of air and turning all  of his attention on her.

"I'm...Steele, I'm half wolf."  Treble tried to keep looking at the ground, but it began to swim, and her eyes forced her to take a glance at Steele's reaction.  "My mother was a husky and my father was a...was a..."

Steele's jaw had dropped, and he snapped it shut so hard he winced.  "Well...I...well..."  He struggled for words and found none.

"You don't want to be with me anymore, do you?" Treble whispered, breaking the awkward silence.  "That's why you don't like Balto, isn't it?"  She glanced over at the wolfdog.  "You hate him.  What's the difference between us?"  She looked close to tears.

"No...that's okay," Steele murmured.  "It's going to work out.  It will.  And...I still love you."

"You really do?"  Treble looked slightly doubtful, but there was a definite hope that shone in her expressive eyes.

"I really do.  C'mon, let's go."  Abruptly Steele heaved to his feet.  Wincing, he threw a paw across her slim shoulders.  Smiling through misty eyes, the hybrid leaned her shoulder against his to support his weight as they half-walked, half-limped down the street together.

"Well, what do you think of that?" Balto cried as soon as they were out of earshot.  "He HATES me because of that very thing-my heritage-but when he finds a girl, he just never gives up, does he?"

Jenna chuckled softly.  "I'll bet he tells her to keep a secret. Deep down, he knows that neither I nor you would tell a thing, even though he pretends that you're a rascal..."

"But I am," Balto interrupted, and Jenna hugged him.  "That you are.  Shall we go to Rosie's and get you cleaned up?  You could use a bath."  She giggled warmly.

"So could you, miss."  Balto raised a large paw-larger even that Treble's-and swiped a bit of soot from Jenna's delicate nose.  He laughed.

Four months later...

"So, Balto, how are your kids treatin' ya?"  A sled dog on Nome's mail team nudged the wolfdog on the shoulder in passing.  The day was warm and beautiful, and everyone felt like being outside, on the job or not.

Balto smiled happily.  "They're coming along just fine."  Jenna had recently given birth to six beautiful pups, and Balto was surely the proudest dog in Alaska.

"Did ya hear the news?" asked the dog amiably.  Balto shook his head no in reply.  "Well, they say that Steele's husky mate's"-he lowered his voice and raised a paw over his mouth-"pregnant."

"You don't say," said Balto guardedly, his own children suddenly forgotten.

"Yeah.  With two purebreds like that, they're gonna have a lot of little sled racers on their paws, aren't they?"  He smiled quietly.

Balto threw back his head and laughed.  The sled dog looked at him strangely, and he was forced to check himself.  Remember, he told himself, he doesn't know what you know.  "Yes," Balto got out between subsiding chuckles, "yes, they most certainly are."  He smiled broadly at the bewildered dog and went off to tell Jenna.

Balto, Jenna, Steele, Boris (c) Universal

Treble (c) Iditarod