stopped at the pleading look in Luna’s eyes.  It was an expression that spoke of a thousand kinds of longing and emptiness, all of which seemed to sum up in one plea.  ‘Oh, no,’ he thought.

“They’ll be back for me,” Arrow whimpered.

Luna forced her face out of its desperate pleading look and turned her attention back to Arrow.  “If we take you back, you’ll only get caught up in the crossfire again.”

Arrow stared back at her, her face a mix of pain and defiance.  “Yeah, so?”

Luna clicked her tongue, hoping more than anything that she knew what she was doing.  “I have an idea…” she said slowly.  Then, unable to bear the tension, she asked in a rush, “How would you like to come and live with me?” she offered.

Arrow scowled.  “Why would I want to do that?” she asked.

Toby’s mind was racing.  Could Luna really be serious about this?  Her face told him yes, but taking in a puppy off the streets seemed a little extreme.  And his own past experience taking care of a pup had been, by and large, a nightmare for himself and a matter of great amusement for Luna as she had watched him try to cope with simulated parenthood.  Who knew what kind of trouble this pup could get them into?

“A safe warm place and three square meals a day,” he inserted.

Arrow rubbed a paw across her eyes and stared up at them.  “So you want to adopt me?” she asked.  “Well, think again.  I’m not going to turn into some sissy housedog.”

Despite the heartbreak brought by the words, Luna couldn’t help but think, ‘She sounds just like Toby did when we were pups.’  “It’s not so bad,” she persisted, trying not to beg.  “Trust me, I’ve spent weeks out in the wild, and I’ll take a warm house over that any day.”

“Forget it!” snapped Arrow.  “I’m going back to the rest of my gang!”

Luna stared after the pup as she walked away, her mouth hanging open as if to say something else.  Toby trotted past her and slowed to a walk alongside of Arrow.

“I already said no,” repeated Arrow without even looking up.

“I know,” Toby replied, “But at least we can make sure you get back there safely.”

Arrow gave him a skeptical look.  “You’re not gonna kidnap me or something, are you?” she asked.

He shook his head.  “You have my word,” he assured her.  He turned to look back at Luna.  “You coming?” he asked.

Luna shook her head and walked away in silence.  Toby wondered if he should go after her or stick with Arrow.

 ‘I’m sure she’d appreciate it, but try not to overdo it,’ he remembered his mother saying.

“OK, Mom,” he muttered as he continued to walk the stray home.  “I’ll do it your way.”

“What?” asked Arrow.

“Huh?” asked Toby, snapping out of his reverie.

“You said something.”

“Oh, it was nothing,” he replied.  “Just thinking out loud.”  Then thinking about his mother reminded him of something else.  “You know,” he commented, “My mom used to be a street dog.”

Arrow looked up at him.  “Really?” she asked.

He nodded, noting that her tears had stopped.  ‘Quick recovery,’ he noted.  “Yeah, it happened when my…” he tried to think.  He knew stepdad wasn’t the word, so what was Pete’s dad in relation to him?  “When somebody close to her died,” he finished.  “She ran away from home and ended up on the street for a couple weeks.”

“Couple weeks, huh?” Arrow snorted.  “I bet she couldn’t take it so she went back to the leash-life.”

Toby’s temper flared briefly at this insult to Terry before he remembered that Arrow probably hadn’t been taught much about manners.  “No,” he replied.  “My dad found her and talked her into going back home.”

Arrow nodded.  The conversation had begun to settle her down a bit, but a firecracker of suspicion suddenly went off in her head.  “I’ll bet he just did it so she’d go with him,” she quipped.

Toby’s eyes widened and he had to bite his tongue not to bark in indignation.  “No,” he answered after taking a moment to regain his composure.  “He did it because he’s a police dog, and it’s his job to look after dogs like her.”

Arrow rolled her eyes.  “Yeah right,” she muttered.  “He’s probably some creepy old housepet like you and what’s-her-name back there.”

By this time, Arrow’s insults were on Toby’s last nerve.  And they were going at it with all the delicate touch of a meat grinder.  Toby had to take ten deep breaths before he felt calm enough to go on.  ‘If there were a school for low blows, she’d graduate in a week with high honors,’ he thought.  ‘She’s insulted all three dogs closest to me in less than a minute.’  “You probably wouldn’t say that if you knew what she’s been through lately,” he replied.

Arrow snorted.  “I just lost my parents.  Try to top that.”

Toby was just about at the end of his rope, so he decided to tell the kid straight-out.  “The vet told her she’ll never get to be a parent.”

Toby had hoped for at least some reaction to this, but Arrow barely even blinked as she remarked, “My mom would have loved to trade places with her.”

This time there was nothing Toby could think of to say.  What did Arrow mean?  Had her parents not wanted her around?  What kind of dogs could bring a puppy into the world and not love her?

Finally he sighed.  “I’m sorry to hear that,” he told her.  As they passed by Luna’s house he commented, “If you change your mind about us ‘housedogs,’ Luna lives right here.”

“Thanks.  I’ll be sure to forget that.”  And so saying, Arrow slipped under a building on the opposite side of the street and disappeared, ending the discussion point-blank.

Toby shook his head.  ‘She doesn’t even talk like a kid,’ he thought.  In a twisted kind of way he was almost glad he and Luna hadn’t been able to convince Arrow.  Otherwise they might have gotten stuck with more pup than they could handle.

Arrow crept under the house, out the far side, and through five or six alleys before she reached the headquarters of the rebel gang.  Her older brother Samy was waiting for her.

“We thought you wouldn’t be back, kid,” he remarked by way of a greeting.

“Those mutts held me up,” she replied sullenly.  “Mom and Dad are dead.”  She started to slink to the crate she and her siblings had used for shelter, but he stopped her.

"Groven wants all latecomers to check in with him,” he warned.

She snorted with disgust.  “Isn’t the whole point of this an escape from being bossed around?” she asked.

He shrugged.  “Hey, you want to make him mad, it’ll just be that much sooner that you’re back with Mom and Dad,” he pointed out.

Arrow frowned and skulked to the uttermost part of the rebel gang’s “headquarters,” where Groven sat on top of a box like some kind of statue on a pedestal.  No one really knew Groven 's history.  He was a drifter who had come into town some time ago, mostly keeping to himself.  Then one day he had exploded at Chase, whom the street dogs of Nome regarded as somewhat of an army general.  In that one outburst he had managed to acquire enough followers to start a rebel pack, which he ruled through shady dealings and iron-fisted discipline.  He was the one thing Arrow openly feared, and he was the dog who now greeted her with an impatient glare.  “What is it?” he asked in a voice like a millstone.

She gulped.  “Arrow reporting, sir,” she said, trying not to sound as petrified as she was.  She had seen what the boss did to other dogs who displeased him, and knew that there was no one who would help her if he decided to remove her from his misery.

“I assume this is important,” he growled, “Seeing as you’re late.”

Arrow tried and failed to keep her tail out from between her legs.  “The raid went badly,” she informed him.  “We made no kills, but two of our own were killed.  We were forced to retreat when two housedogs interfered.”

He growled deep in his throat at this.  “Housedogs?” he repeated.  “The others made no mention of that.  You are sure this is true?”  Arrow nodded, and the black-and-white dog turned to one of the dogs at his side.  “Question the raid leader again to see if this is true.  If it is, deal with him.”

The dog nodded.  “How severely?” he asked with a sadistic glint in his eye.

The boss considered.  “Leave him able to walk on his own, but make sure he can’t breathe without severe pain for, say, two or three weeks.”  After a pause he added, “On second thought, make it four.  We can’t underdo it, now can we?”

The lieutenant trotted off on his heinous assignment, and Arrow breathed a silent sigh of relief that she had not been assigned punishment as well for being late.

“Now,” Groven added as if he had read her mind, “Why did you come back late?”

Arrow tried not to shake.  “I was delayed, sir.  By the housedogs.”

He snorted.  “Then how did you get back at all?”

“They didn’t want to hurt me, sir,” she explained.  “They just delayed me is all."

Groven snorted.  “Typical housedog weakness,” he muttered.  He growled some in the back of his throat, seeming to consider whether or not to question her further.  Apparently he decided it wasn’t worth his time, for he turned his head away and commanded, “That will be all for now.  You are dismissed.”

“Yes, sir.”  And Arrow wasted no time in removing herself from his presence.

As always happens when there’s an uproar in a quiet town like Nome, word spread quickly.  And as soon as it reached the ears of a certain bloodhound, he instructed Toby to get those involved- namely Luna and Chase- together for a briefing of the incident at his house.  “So tell me how this all started,” instructed Rex.

Chase