jumped forward. "Shasta!" Pirate called out. Shasta threw herself at the stray knocking the dog to the ground. Pirate sprinted forward. He saw that another dog was about to attack Shasta but a growl from someone stopped him. Matt had growled at the dog to keep him back. Pirate slid to a stop. The brown husky grabbed the stray by the tail and dragged him from under Shasta. The dog yelped and quickly once free, returned to the line. Shasta got to her feet and was about to dash back over to her pack but Matt stood in her way. "Matt move." Shasta demanded. Matt instead shoved her into Demon’s pack. "Shasta!" Pirate called and before he could run to her rescue, Dakota grabbed hold of his tail. Pirate yelped and wheeled around to face his captive. Dakota’s expression told nothing.

"Wait Pirate…" Pirate growled but did as Dakota said.

Crystal was badly bruised. She was bleeding many places and her blood stained Demon’s teeth. Crystal laid on the ground, her sides heaving. Demon bent his head low as if to snap her neck. Snap her neck, he did not. Instead he grabbed hold of her bandana and slid it off her neck and over her head. The dark blue bandana captive to his jaws. His laugh bellowed. He turned to face Crystal’s supporters. "See what your leader is? She is weak! Crystal is the true reasons of the misfortune! Now I, Demon appoint myself leader of this town’s dogs. You only answer to me and no one else! What you do is what I want you to do! Do I make myself clear!" No one moved.

Demon smiled, his yellow eyes full of pride and greed. "Now I must need a queen at my side…" He looked over his pack and his eyes fell on Shasta. The other dogs around her cleared a path for the black wolf dog. He approached slowly and grinned at the cream husky. Shasta gulped. "Hello there." Demon spoke in a voice so soft it was unnatural for him. Pirate growled deeply. Demon came closer and Shasta would have moved away but she knew the dogs behind her would still push her forward. Demon raised his head and let the bandana slip over her head. Shasta adjusted it and looked back up into the crooked muzzle face of Demon. "Follow me." He turned around and Shasta obeyed. Demon stood right behind Crystal with Shasta at his side. Shasta shot Pirate a get-me-out-of-here look. He sighed and then he looked over at Jay. The brown eyes of Jay were at the brim with tears.

"Time to finish off your unworthy leader." Demon spoke in a deadly tone. Crystal’s eyes slid to where she could see Demon.

"Finally…thought you would just leave me here and forget." She spoke in a soft tone with a trace of sarcastic. Demon growled.

"NO!" Jay lunged forward and sprang onto Demon’s back. His jaws latched onto Demon’s neck. The wolf dog snarled. Quickly, Pirate dashed forward.

"Get back to the group Shasta!" Pirate shouted. Shasta ran and Avalanche would have hugged her if she could. Demon flung Jay to the ground. He smacked into the ground but he stood as quickly as he could. Jay snarled.

"You leave Crystal alone you bastard!" Jay spoke angrily.

"Oh so sorry whelp!" Demon lashed out and caught Jay on the shoulder. Pirate went around back and bit down hard on Demon’s back leg. Demon howled and wheeled around to face Pirate. "You!" He snarled. Demon raised his head. "Attack and kill the red husky!" He said to his group. But no one moved. Most of them knew Pirate and also they were stunned at the sudden attack by Jay. Some dogs whispered to each other and a few left again, heading back to their homes. Demon snarled out, "Fine I do not need you!"

Pirate was for sure no one would attack. Suddenly, he was rammed to the ground. The red husky looked up to see Matt, his least favorite person. Pirate jumped to his feet and the two started to fight as Demon and Jay were battling. May even though on Demon’s side, could no longer stand it. The brown and white husky launched herself at Demon. No way was she going to let her brother die with her around. Demon pinned her to the ground. He realized who it was. "Traitor!" He yelled in her face.

"You leave my sister alone!" Jay bashed against Demon and the siblings started to attack Demon. But Demon remained strong in his attacks while the strength of the other two were failing as they got thrown around. May even though her leg badly wounded she leaped at Demon. The enemy slammed her to the ground with his mighty paw. The impact of her head hitting the ground caused a knock out.

Matt was pinned. Pirate growled. The two were bruised and bleeding. "Go home Matt. You know this is foolish." Matt growled and he opened his mouth to say something.

"Enough!" Crystal stood between Shasta and Avalanche. The white dog limped forward a little. Pirate let Matt up and the embarrassed husky made his way to the back of the group. May was knocked out still. Demon had Jay pinned. Demon looked up and snickered. "Looks as if someone hadn’t suffered too much." He pushed a paw down Jay’s throat. Jay gasped for air. Demon’s eyes narrowed. "Now I’ll make your heart suffer."

"Jay!" Pirate leaped forward only to collide with two dogs from Demon’s force. "This just keeps getting better and better…" Pirate thought to himself as he bit down hard on one dog’s ear. Another dog was trying to grab a hold of Pirate’s neck. Demon meanwhile had been watching with a smile but his smile turned to a snarl when another dog came to Pirate’s rescue.

Kaltag tackled the dog and snarled loudly. "Enough I said!" Crystal demanded again. Everyone froze then.

Pirate gave his Dad a quick thank you expression. Kaltag smiled. Then Pirate realized that Jay was still struggling for his life. He whipped his head around to see Jay trying to push Demon’s paw off but the wolf dog kept it firm. "Let him go. He does not need to die." Crystal pleaded. Her eyes begging him. Demon smiled as he believed he had found Crystal’s soft spot.

"Never…" Demon spoke as Jay was choking. BANG! Demon dropped to the ground like dead weight. Dogs on all sides scattered, scared. What had just happened? Pirate tried to remain calm as most of the dogs started high tailing it back to Nome. Pirate looked around to look at the remaining dogs. Shasta, Avalanche, Kodi, Dusty, Balto, Jenna, Kaltag, Dakota, Kirby, and Nikki were standing looking at each other. Ralph had dropped to his belly and hid behind Kirby while Star had done the same only behind Nikki.

"Where did that shot come from?" Dakota asked. Everyone was puzzled about it but Pirate had picked up the scent. A few humans were running up the hill toward them coming the direction the dogs had not gone.

"Some humans are running up here now as we speak." Pirate responded without looking at either of them. Suddenly, they came into sight. Not any humans Pirate recognized. But then he spotted that among them was the musher. The mail team ran to the musher in delight.

"That’s him alright!" One of the men yelled, pointing at Demon. They surrounded him. One of the other men spotted May. He knelt down next to her. He laid his hand over where her heart would be. He gave a small smile and blew into her ear softly. The ear flicked and May’s eyes opened slowly. She gave a soft whimper and the man stroked the top of her head while his eyes checked her wounds.

Crystal limped closer to Demon’s body and sniffed around. Where had Jay gone? The man that yelled earlier tried to pull the wounded crossbreed away but she refused. Crystal started barking. "What is she barking at?" One of them asked. It was a young man that was holding the rifle. It seemed as if it was he who had killed Demon.

"I don’t know. All I know is you dropped this monster to the ground." There came whimpering from underneath Demon. The man with the rifle raised it just in case it was Demon who made the whimper. A white muzzle poked out from under the wolf dog’s body. Crystal froze. The man dropped his rifle and shoved the dead body off. Jay looked up and his tail started to wag. "Jay!" The man hugged Jay’s neck. It seemed as if the master had came to Jay’s rescue. Jay winced a little but he was happy.

Crystal barked happily. She rushed away from the man’s hand and stopped next to Jay. The human removed his arm and watched as Crystal and Jay looked at each other. Jay then without himself knowing started to lick Crystal’s wounded neck. Jay’s owner noticed the wounds on Crystal. "Looks as if I got two dogs on my hand to care for." The humans started to break out laughing.

Pirate looked around. The musher had taken his team back to check if they had wounds. Nikki, Star, Balto, Jenna, and Dakota went with them. Only Shasta, May, Avalanche, and Kaltag remained.

"Hey isn’t that the Baker’s dog?" They shined a light at him, Pirate was blinded for a minute.

"What other dog could be the Baker’s dog?" Jay’s owner said. The man with the flashlight came closer and examined him.

"He’s got some bleeding but other than that I think he’ll be fine." The man patted Pirate and Pirate gave a doggy grin.

Crystal laid next to Jay while the humans discussed about Demon. Shasta approached her. She slipped the bandana off. "I believe this is yours." Crystal smiled and with Shasta’s help was able to slide it back on.

"Thank you Shasta." Crystal spoke. Shasta smiled before she walked over to Pirate. Pirate smiled.

"You okay?" Pirate asked.

"Yeah just a bit shaken