again. Funny how history repeats itself, isn’t it?”

“Are you sure you want that to happen Steele? I remember that day didn’t turn out very well for you,” Balto replied.

----------

One year earlier

The two canines faced off in the old building, their hate burning in their eyes. Steele was covered in cuts from Balto’s first attack, but he was built to take a lot of punishment. Balto had a few bruises from impacting the wall, but the adrenaline surging through him dulled any pain. Steele had tormented him all his life and Balto had finally broke under the strain. Nothing else mattered to him except hurting Steele as much as possible.

“I’ve got to get out of here!” Steele thought. “Wait, what am I thinking? I’ve never run away from anyone, and not going to start with this mutt,” Both charged at each other, colliding head-on. They exchanged blow after blow, with neither side ceasing their attack. All of the rage pent up in Balto had exploded out, taking over him and turning him into a rampaging wolf. Balto had already inflicted several injuries on Steele, and they were starting to weaken the husky. Balto made one last charge at Steele, pushing him back and smashing his head into the iron stove.

Anger still coursed through Balto's body, even though his enemy lay there defeated. Steele had hurt him since he was a small pup. No matter how many times he ran and escaped, Steele would always come back to torment him. Steele coughed as he started to stir. Once he would get up, it would be right back to the same old routine. No matter what, Balto would never escape from him. In his enraged state, Balto could only think of one way to ensure Steele would never come back to hurt him again.

You see, Balto was now under the influence of an emotion more powerful than anger: fear. Balto was afraid of Steele. He was afraid that he would keep hurting him, afraid that he might even kill him. This fear surrounded Balto, and he hated it. He hated living in fear. He wanted the abuse to stop, and his tormented mind could only think of one way to accomplish that. He thought he was doing the right thing, when in fact; he was going to do something far worse than anything Steele had ever done to him.

Before the husky could get to his feet, Balto grabbed his neck in his jaws and started to squeeze. Steele swung his paws to try to knock him loose, but Balto barely felt the scratches in his adrenaline-fueled rage. Balto pressed harder with his jaws, biting into his flesh and constricting the windpipe. As he gasped for air, Balto could feel his enemy growing weaker. Soon, Steele wouldn’t be able to hurt him anymore.

"Balto no! Stop!" he heard a voice cry. Balto let go in shock and looked up to see Jenna standing in the doorway with a look of pure horror on her face, "Balto, how... how could you?"

“Jenna?" Balto said, starting to break from his rage. She had started crying and it crushed his heart. She started backing away from him. “No, Jenna wait!” he called out, but she dashed away from him.

Balto forgot everything about Steele as he ran after her. “Jenna, wait! Come back!” he shouted, but she kept running from him. “Jenna, please stop!” She was his oldest friend, and he couldn’t bear to lose her. He wouldn’t let Steele be right.

“Jenna!”

----------

Chapter 7: A Promise

Present Day

Steele bitterly remembered that day; it was the first time Balto had utterly beaten him. "Alright, you did beat me that day wolfdog, but you didn't have the sense to finish what you started."

"Steele, if I had any sense that day I wouldn't have started in the first place," Balto replied.

"Heh, you still cling to your good-boy ideals do you?"

"And you still cling to your selfish ego," a voice shot out. Steele looked back and saw that his own team, along with most of the town’s dogs were gathered around the doorway to the cabin. "It's over Steele," Jenna called out. "We've got you now."

“No. It won’t end like this,” Steele growled. He was not about to lose to Balto. Snarling, he grabbed Balto by the scruff of his neck and tossed him across the room, slamming his injured shoulder into the hard iron stove. Balto collapsed from the pain and Nikki, Kaltag and Star stepped in to help him. "You three back off! He's mine!" Steele growled.

"No Steele, we've backed off for too long now," Kaltag replied, standing to face him directly. "We're going to help him out and if you want him, you'll have to go through me first!" Steele couldn't believe it. After all this time of being on his side, why was he suddenly standing up for the wolfdog?

"And me!" Star cried, "If you want him, you're gonna have go through me too!"

"Yeah!" Nikki replied, also putting himself between Steele and Balto.

"Me too!"

"And me!"

Encouraged by Nikki, Kaltag and Star, other dogs also stood up for Balto, putting themselves between him and Steele. He may have been able to fight through one or two of them, but not all of them. He was vastly outnumbered, but he still refused to admit defeat. "No!" he growled as he tried to launch himself through them, but the second he jumped, every dog was on top him. Soon, he was trapped in the massive dog pile.

He could feel the others biting and grabbing a hold of him, dragging him away. No matter how hard he struggled, the mob was much stronger than him and he soon found himself being dumped onto the wooden floor of the old mill. He got to his feet as the dogs surrounded him in a circle. Over their heads, he could see Jenna and Kaltag help Balto limp into the mill. He tried to charge at him, but every time he would be pushed back by the crowd.

Finally, Steele gave up and sat down in the middle of the room. Every single eye was trained on him. "Well, well Steele. You sure do have a lot of explaining to do,” Doc said to him. "Let's start with why you refused Balto's help." Steele didn't respond and only spat at the old dog. "Steele, it's either this or face the crowd." Steele looked around and was reminded how hopelessly outnumbered he was.

"Fine. I wasn't about to let any wild wolf take my team,” Steele growled.

“Even though you were lost and time was running out for the children?” Doc asked.

“It was my team. Besides, they were the ones that abandoned me out there!” He turned towards his old team. “Why did you leave me back there?!”

“Well, you weren’t exactly willing be on the same team as Balto,” Kaltag replied.

“And if we waited for you to smarten up, it may have been too late for the kids,” Star continued.

“Next question - and this is the most serious one: why did you sabotage the trail?” Doc asked.

“Yeah Steele, why did you try to send us the wrong way. You almost got us and those kids killed!” Balto shouted.

“You’re right, I almost did get you killed wolfdog. Too bad I didn’t succeed.” The room fell deathly still after he said that. Steele could tell by their faces that he was in for it now.

“So it was all to get rid of one hybrid wasn’t it?” a female Samoyed spoke. Balto recognized her from the previous night as the one who had called Jenna a ‘lobo lover’. “The medicine and the mission didn’t matter to you at all did it? It didn’t occur to you that those kids were dying?”

“It was my race and I should have been the one to win it!” Steele shot back. “I’m not going to lose to some mutt!”

“A race? That’s all you thought it was?” It was Spitz, another dog who had given Balto a hard time the night before. “Good lord Steele, this wasn’t a race for glory or trophies. This was a race for people’s lives. The stakes were much higher.”

“My little Danny almost died last night!” the female Samoyed screamed. “Didn’t you care?”

“I… uh… ” Steele stammered. His mind drew a complete blank as he struggled for an answer.

“My kid’s my best friend,” another husky put in. “I trusted you to bring the medicine and save him. I trusted you to help him but you didn’t!”

“I… don’t believe you guys. I can’t believe you’re siding with this wolfdog,” Steele growled. “Spitz, I know you don’t like Balto, so why are you siding with him?”

“You’re right, I don’t like him, and I don’t think I ever will,” Spitz replied. “But he didn’t try to send the medicine the wrong way.”

Everywhere Steele turned, he got a similar response. No one wanted to help him out and some purposely looked away from him. Finally, he reached Nikki, Kaltag and Star. “Guys, you’ve always helped me out. You’ve got to give me something.”

“Sorry boss. This time, you’ve gone too far,” Kaltag replied.

“But I’m your lead dog!”

“Not anymore. A true leader would have gotten us home. A true leader would have been willing to admit they were wrong!” Kaltag shouted. “A true leader wouldn’t have lied about what happened! You’re no leader! You’re nothing but a fraud!”

“How dare you…”

“In case you haven’t noticed Steele, I’m not afraid of you anymore, and neither