said.

“Thank you for your help,” Balto said.

“Anything I can do for a hero like you,” Shep said.

“Whatever Shep,” Balto said. Then he left the house.

Chapter VII

Steele could see the cabin now. He snuck up to the house, even though the wind hid any noise he would have made. He crept quietly up to the side of the house then to the back. The dog had said that they lived in the pantry in the back. He got to the back of the cabin, and sure enough there was a doggie door cut into the real door. He crept up to one of the windows and peeked inside. He was disappointed, Balto wasn’t there. Jenna was, but Balto wasn’t. He couldn’t resist, he slipped into their home through the doggie door. Steele looked around him.

“Not a bad place,” he thought.

His eyes stopped wandering around the room and came to rest on Jenna’s sleeping form. Even though it was warm inside the cozy little room, Steele shivered. He couldn’t believe he was actually here! Jenna’d never know what hit her. He walked over to the side of her bed, careful not to let the boards creak, which might wake her. She was so beautiful! He looked at her slender form, her wondrous face, her delicate legs and little neck. He could almost see the blood pumping through her veins, could almost hear the steady thump- thump of her pulse. He thought of what it would be like to suddenly plunge his razor sharp teeth into that soft throat, to feel her hot blood rushing into his mouth, her eyes wide with terror as she realized what was happening to her. Steele began to feel a little light headed. He shook his head in an attempt to clear it, and kept watching her, unable to take his eyes away. He realized as he watched her breathing, her chest rising and falling, that each of these breaths could be her last, if he wanted it to be. The sense of power, of domination he felt over this untamable female was intense. He went over it again and again in his head, how he could do it, a thousand different ways, some quick… some not so quick. He knew though, that if he killed her now, he’d never see Balto again. Balto’s solution was to run away from anything threatening. If Jenna died, Balto would probably disappear, and it would be very difficult for Steele to track him down. No, he would let her live, for now.

“Another time my darling,” Steele said quietly to the sleeping Jenna. Then he walked out of the room. It was still extremely cold outside, but Steele was burning up.

“Oh yes,” he thought “there will be another time, Jenna…”

By the time Steele had left Jenna in their home, Balto was back in the barn with the team.

“I’ve got to go,” Balto said as he paced the floor back and forth, and back and forth.

“You don’t know anything for sure,” Max said. “Look outside; you’d freeze to death before you got halfway there. I would’ve had major problems, had we not stopped here for the night.”

Balto knew that was true.

“Balto,” Max said,” I know you’re worried and based on what you’ve told me, I am too. There’s a chance that you could be right, that Steele is Nome as we speak..”

Balto cut her off.

“I know that’s why I’ve need to leave.”

“Balto,” Max said, “will killing yourself help her?”

“No,” Balto said quietly.

“Balto,” she continued, ”if you go out there now… you won’t come back.”

Balto thought about that for a moment. Suddenly he lashed out and hit an empty oil drum that was in the barn. It clanged loudly as it rolled around to the back of the barn. Balto stomped over to the lamp that Roger left. He laid down and sighed. Max walked over to him.

“I’m sure the weather will clear up soon,” she said.

“The first time I have even a one in a million chance of getting home, I’m gone, and don’t try to stop me this time.” Balto said.

“Alright,” Max said, “we’ll all come.”

“No,” Balto said, “you need to stay here. If Steele really has turned into some… psychotic… murderer or something…” he stopped. “The less dogs that are around the better. He smiled, “in fact with me gone you’ll need to lead the team.”

Max shook her head in agreement, “yeah I guess you’re right.”

Now Max,” Balto said, ”I’m gong to sleep, you’re in charge.”

“Okay Balto,” she said, “Balto?” He was already asleep.

Chapter VIII

There were Alarms going off in Aleu’s head, loud ones. The thing that had set them off was that no one was here, in the cave! No watch outside, No one in the nursery above… no one anywhere. She thought it strange that Shadow hadn’t met her yet. He always met her when she came back in. Something didn’t feel right. She walked into the main chamber. She found the puppies first.

Shasta and Dash were nowhere to be found. They were… dead, all of them. Aleu wondered who could do such a thing. Then she walked into the meeting chamber. There she found Dash and Shasta, as well as Timbre and Melody.

Aleu swore to take revenge on whoever had done this. She turned away from the awful scene. Then, fighting back tears, she ran up to her room high in the cave. There she found out why Shadow hadn’t come to meet her.

Aleu ran over to him. She buried her face in his neck. His eyes were closed, but he wasn’t sleeping. Blood covered the floor. She sobbed as she pushed her face into his neck. Then she stood up quickly. She ran to the next room.

“Lima, Sheik!” She yelled again and again as she ran around the large chamber, knowing what had happened but not wanting to believe it.

She stopped running and looked in all the corners they liked to hide from her in… but she didn’t find them. She was about to give up when she saw a shape behind a rock near the end of the chamber. She threw up.

It was Sheik and Lima, or parts of them anyway. She ran from the room, until she came to the one Shadow was in. She tried to walk over next to him, but she collapsed in the floor. She couldn’t believe it, her whole family was….was…

She covered her head with her paws. She tried to howl, but it was cut off as sobs racked her body. Suddenly she sensed someone else was in the room. She lifted her paws and saw a dark shape drop from the ceiling. It stayed there in the shadows.

“Show yourself!” She screamed as she leapt to her feet, still crying. The shape moved forward. It was a black and white dog.

A.. malamute,” Aleu thought.

“Don’t help them,” the malamute said.

“What?” Aleu screamed, “You don’t make any sense!”

“Don’t help them,” it said again.

“Help who?” Aleu yelled back, “look around, there’s no one here!”

“They can be..” the malamute said, “don’t help them.”

The realization that the malamute was the only on in the cave, suddenly dawned on her.

“Y… you did this, didn’t you?”

The malamute snarled at her.

“Why!” She screamed as loud as she could.

“You helped them,” the malamite said, still growling. Aleu prepared to defend herself, knowing somehow that this would be a fight she wouldn’t walk away from. Then the dog jumped at her and…..

…..She woke with a start. Her cheeks were wet and her eyes were full of tears. She blinked to clear them. She felt Shadow lying beside her. She decided not to wake him this late and got up slowly.

She walked into a large room next to the one she was sleeping in. There she saw Thunder, Sheik and Lima all rolled up in a ball, sleeping. She smiled, everything was fine.

She was glad the kids had taken so well to Thunder. She’d been afraid that they might not like him, might reject him. But now it was like he’d been born with them.

She found herself shaking. She couldn’t believe how real the dream had been. The images of her family…

She suddenly just threw up on the floor. The images were vivid, still in her mind. She walked out through a hole in the back of the room, and out to a small cliff that overlooked the south side of the mountain the cave was dug into. She shivered as the winds blew. She remembered the husky’s words

“Don’t help them.”

It seemed almost as if she could hear it, whispering in the wind. Nava had taught her to pay attention to her dreams. He said that sometimes the artic spirits tried to contact you, and that the only way they could get through was in a dream.

“Don’t help them,” she said aloud. “What, what does it mean?”

The wind didn’t answer her of course, it just kept blowing. She was out in the middle of a blizzard, so she went back inside. She’d talk to Nava about it in the morning. She curled up next to Shadow and fell asleep.

Steele had just found a good place to sleep tonight. It was a barn that was apparently not used any more. He’d had a hard time getting to where he could even lay down, much less sleep, the thoughts he’d had of Jenna still suck in his mind. It was odd, but he was growing to like the sense of power he had over them when he killed them. He was growing….

…addicted to it, almost like some drug. He didn’t mind, his hope of a peaceful life had ended with Jingle’s death. Now he would just roam around. He’d see