“You can still save them. No one has been permanently harmed. Go save them”

I thought about it… I had to go back.

            “Inari, don’t give up yet” Aniu continued, addressing the hybrid. “Not all humans and dogs are as cruel as you think. Friends can be found in the oddest places. And the one your heart longs for is looking for you still”

Inari managed a smile and her eyes were shining.

            “Finally, Balto… your other daughter is going to make the same choice Aleu made. Let her go”

Balto smiled, a little strained but nodded respectfully.

            “It is time for me to go. I might not see you again, and if that’s the case, I just want you to know that I love you all”

We all smiled and when the wind picked up, swirling the fog, Aniu’s white form melted into it and faded away.

                        “So… you guys are my brothers…” Inari said.

“And you’re our sister…” I said.

            Having a sister was something I’d never had before and it was a kind of cool feeling. As we walked back, we exchanged life stories. Inari did have a tough life. Being a fighting dog. Being abused. Being sold from owner to owner. I’d never had an owner before, but losing a kind one the way Inari described it sounded heartbreaking. No surprise, she’d heard of Balto before, but only far- off talks about his daring rescue. While they talked, I thought some more. I did have to go back. My family was stillalive. But would they hate me like I thought they would? I sighed and looked down at the ground. When we reached the boat, Balto offered Inari a place to sleep and I waited patiently for him to finish helping her.

            “So what are you going to do?” Balto asked sincerely.

“I’m going back” I said quietly.

            “Even if it means… you know”

I nodded, staring down at the ground.

“I should leave tomorrow”

Suddenly, Yukon scrambled up the ramp.

“Yukon what’s-?”

            “They’ve got Atka! Klondike’s trying to get you and they’re coming after me too I think!”

“Distract them” I ordered.

Yukon nodded and took off. Then, in a flash, both Balto and I leapt of the boat, Inari scrambling after us.

                        “Wait for me!”

Balto slowed down, but I charged on. I thundered down the main street, making everything a blur. Suddenly, something red stepped out in my path. This time, unlike other times, I couldn’t stop, but luckily, slid right under her.

“Mindy, you gotta stop doing that?!”

            “Doing what?” she asked sleepily.

“Appearing out of nowhere!”

            “What’s wrong?” she yawned, brown eyes searching my face.

“Atka’s in trouble with Agro and Klondike”

Mindy was instantly wide awake and just as Balto and Inari caught up with me, Mindy and I took off again. And yet again, I was interrupted. Mya and Triton darted out into my path and I had to dive and fall to miss them. Pulling myself to my feet, I suddenly realized that Mya hated wolves enough to have done this in the first place! A growl started to grow in my throat.

“Mya, I swear, if this is your-!”

            “It’s not” Triton interrupted.

I turned to him, rage fully directed at the black and white husky.

            “Just wanted to let…” he mumbled in a smaller voice.

I whipped around, leading our small rescue group away, Mya still squabbling questions.

            “Did they catch Yu-?”

“No, he’s leading Klondikeand his group all over the place while weget Atka out”

Mya didn’t take the hint as we sprinted on. Once we reached the fence line, I skit to a halt, causing the others to almost hit me.

            “What do we do?” Inari asked nervously.

                        “Yeah?” Mya repeated.

“You’ve done enough for one night!” I snarled at Mya.

I studied the shack… Klondike had set this up to get me. So much for calling a truce. Well, only one thing left to do…

“Guess I better give Klondike what he wants”

            “What?!” several voices exclaimed at once.

I didn’t wait for an answer and stepped out into the yard. Balto whispered frantically for me to come back, but I ignored it.

“Agro!” I barked. “You wanted me, you got me”

At first, dead silence. Then paws scuffling across the creaking floor and opening the door. Agro, as shocked and scruffy as ever, stood stunned at the front door. It was as if he couldn’t believe I was standing there. Before he could do anything, I simply walked right up onto the porch. As soon as my paws touched wood, Agro barked. Footsteps thundered down the stairs.

The next thing I knew, I was being roughly shoved into some sort of small crate with a rope tightly wound around my neck. Using all four feet, I twisted out of the rope and quietly looked out of my cage.

“Hello?” came a small voice from the cage next to me.

“Atka? That you?”

            “Buck!Yukon and I were looking for-!”

“Shhhh”

The man’s footsteps approached and the door opened. Agro, followed by his human, entered the room and headed toward our crates. I backed as far into the back of my cage as possible and watched silently. The man’s feet walked toward Atka’s cage and I heard her shift uncomfortably. Then the man came toward my crate and peered in.

            “I thought you were a goner” the man’s raspy voice drawled. “You shoulda been dead”

I didn’t make a sound. Things began to come back to me… the night I had found Kaya after she had disappeared. I had only been that close to a human one time before I had come here. And I was pretty sure I’d just found him. He walked away but didn’t leave the room. Instead, he went over to the corner of the room and picked up a long, shiny stick. A gun. Chills raced down my spine but never again would I let feat or emotion stop me from helping my family.

            “I can still get that reward money. I jes’ don’t know what to do with ya ‘til then”

The human sat down in his rocking chair and kicked an empty glass thing across the floor, rubbing his scruffy chin. Agro settled down next to him, beady eyes on me. It was pretty clear I wasn’t going anywhere, so I settled down too and rested my head on my paws. We sat in silence for a few moments until Agro and his owner’s snores echoed in the room.

            “Buck?!” came Atka’s angry whisper, “Why are you here?! The only reason they got me was so they could get-!”

“Me? I’m not going to let another pack mate down”

            “That guy is crazy! And so is Agro! Leave it up to you to make enemies everywhere you go!”

“Do you know who he is?”

Atka didn’t say anything. Only silence.

“Remember the first day you were in the pack? The only other time I’d seen a human?”

Atka made a small sound.

            “Then we really need to get out of here. You do have some kind of plan, right?”

I silently thought. The cage didn’t look like it had a lock that was hard to break.

“We could try picking the locks” I suggested.

            “You don’t have any kind of plan?”

“We have a rescue party waiting outside”

Suddenly, snorting and stretching, the man stood up. Agro yawned and got to his feet as well. Sun managed to push through the dusty windows and fell onto the equally dirty floor. It was already morning. The man rubbed the back of his neck and cleared his throat, bringing my attention back to him.

            “Guess I should get ya some grub”

He shuffled out of the room, leaving Agro to watch us, and then came back with two dirty bowls filled with some kind of meat.

            “Eat up” he smirked, shoving the bowls in slots under the