*                                  *                                  *

As Luca got nearer to the den, he could hear yelping inside.  Giving a short howl, the two pups came running out to him.  “Hey pups!” he smiled as they jumped on him.

            “Daddy, you’re home!” Balto yipped.

            Tara jumped up and licked his muzzle.  “I'm so glad you came back!”

            Aniu walked out of the den, her white fur glistening in the moonlight.  “They missed you,” she said as she went up to him.  “And so did I.”

            Nuzzling her gently, Luca couldn’t help but fell a strange since of forbidding come over him.  Shuddering slightly, he pulled away.

            “What’s wrong?” Aniu asked, worried.

            Luca looked at her.  “Nothing,” he lied.

            Dismissing his unusual behavior, Aniu licked him on the ear.  Smiling slightly, Luca leapt at Tara and Balto.  Letting out a playful yip, they ran off a ways and rolled in the snow.  His grin growing, the large tan and white husky ran after them.  Aniu laughed, sitting down to watch.

            After about ten minutes, the little pups began to tire.  Balto stumbled over to Aniu and fell asleep almost before he got the whole way over to her.  Tara didn’t even bother to walk over to her.  She just curled up into a small ball and snuggled into Luca’s paws.

            Laughing, he gently picked up the small light brown and white pup.  She stirred slightly but remained asleep.  Walking slowly, he made his way to the den to put Tara next to Balto who Aniu had already put in their ‘nap-spot’. 

            “You sure tired them out,” Aniu teased as they walked out of the den again.

            Luca smiled.  “Are you saying that’s a bad thing?  Those guys are so active!”

            The white she-wolf nodded.  “But that’s good at their age.  If they weren’t like that, I’d be very worried.”

            Luca looked at her, noticing she seemed to have a far off look.  “What?” he persisted.

            Aniu glanced at him out of the corner of her eyes.  “It’s just… I had a sister and… she was never active...  She died at just two months.”

            Luca licked her muzzle as tears started to fall.  “It’s not going to happen.  Not to our pups.  Nothing is going to happen to us or them.”

            But deep in his heart, he knew that something would change that.  He knew in a part of his heart that he just lied to Aniu.

Chapter 13

            The pups grew a lot over the course of three months.  Every day Balto and Tara started to get more and more independent.  Aniu had also started to wean them and teach them how to hunt.  So far only Balto had caught something and even then it was only a small field mouse.  Tara had come close, but the mouse had just narrowly gotten away.

            “Mom,” Balto called as he stretched.  “Can we go out and play today?”

            Aniu licked him as he stood by her paws.  “If you really want to, you can,” she said.  “But wait for your sister to wake up.”

            Balto smiled mischievously and snuck over to Tara.  Pouncing, he landed on her side.  Yelping, the small she-wolf jumped up.

            “What was that?” she panted.

            Balto laughed as she turned to look at him.  “Time to go play sis,” he barked, slapping his front paws on the ground, his rear end up in the air in a show of playfulness.

            Tara laughed.  “Don’t you have to go ask mom and dad first?”

            “Already did,” he said proudly.

            The two pups raced out of the den and into a nearby snow bank sending the soft snow in all directions.  Balto raised his head with a small pile of snow on the top.  Shaking it off, he sent some flying at Tara.  The light brown and white pup laughed and leapt at Balto.

            Jumping up, Balto raced away with Tara right at his heals.  Bolting past Aniu and Luca, they kept going.  Their paws barley seemed to be touching the ground as they ran.  But soon, the pups began to slow down.  Looking around, they both soon came to the realization that they had no clue where they were.

            “I don’t think we should have run off as far,” Tara said with a hint of panic in her voice.

            “Yeah…” Balto said looking up into the trees.  He was about to say something else when they heard a twig snap from behind.  Spinning around, they saw a large tan and white husky.

            “Dad!” Balto cried, starting to run toward him.

            But as Balto grew closer, he could see that the husky was not Luca, but a male that looked almost exactly like him.

            “W-who are you?” Tara asked nervously.

            The husky laughed.  “Why, don’t you know who I am?”  The pups shook their heads.  “I'm your uncle Talus!”

            Balto and Tara looked at each other.  They had never heard of Talus before.  Why would dad not tell us we had an uncle? Balto wondered.  Maybe he was just to busy keeping us out of trouble.

            “What do you want?” Balto questioned in a small voice.

            Talus smiled.  “I'll walk you home.  You’ll just have to lead the way.”

            Tara smiled.  “I'm sure we’ll be able to sniff our way back!”

            The two siblings ran off in the direction they had come with Talus just a few steps behind them.  Now I'll finally be able to finish that wolf off for good, he thought.  And then I'll get rid of that…brother…of mine.  With those two out of the way the pups will be taken out, too.  Balto looked back at him and smiled.  Putting on a fake grin, Talus kept walking.

            “We shouldn’t be too much longer,” Tara announced about fifteen minutes later.

            Balto nodded.  “You’re going to love our mom!”          

            I'm going to love killing her, he thought.

            Within only ten minutes the three were in sight of the den.  Aniu came running up to them, her eyes full of worry.

            “Where have you two been?!” she barked.

            “We just went for a walk is all,” Balto said innocently.  “And we found Uncle Talus.”

            The white she-wolf’s head shot up quickly.  “What are you doing here?” she growled.

            Talus laughed.  “I just wanted to say hello to my dear brother,” he lied.

            Luca walked out of the den, his hackles raised.  “Then say hello and get the hell out.”

            Balto and Tara looked up at their father.  Nether of them had heard him use