anymore, and neither are they,” Kaltag finished before starting to walk towards Steele.

“What are you doing?” Steele said.

“Something I should have done a long time ago,” he replied, before headbutting him full force, knocking him to the ground. “You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do that to you.”

Nikki and Star came over as well to look at their disgraced leader. “Steele, you’re no champion of ours. You don’t even deserve that fancy collar,” Star said, and in one motion, grabbed the collar in his jaws and yanked it off Steele’s thick neck before tossing it off to the side.

Finally, all the collective anger that had been building up boiled over as every dog started screaming their own thoughts.

“String him up!”

“Bite his head off!”

Doc tried to restore order, but everyone was shouting and barking at the same time, he could barely hear himself over the din. Finally, Balto let out a piercing howl that grabbed everyone’s attention.

“Alright, I know everyone’s angry - I know I am too, but we need to decide what to do next.”

“I know what we should do next. We should tear Steele up for trying to kill those kids!” a large malamute shot in. Most of the room clamored in agreement. Balto looked over at Steele, who was now lying on his belly with his tail tucked underneath him. Balto thought of letting the dogs have their way with him - it would serve him right for what he had done. But there was something else too; Steele was whimpering.

In all the time he had known him, he never seen Steele whimper in fear. Seeing his enemy broken and humbled like this affected Balto. It reminded him of that day one year ago when he wanted to get revenge on him. Since then, he had regretted that day, and swore he would never let anything like that happen again. He would not allow any more pain to occur because of their feud.

“The only way for it to stop is for you break that cycle.”

“Lets get him!” Kaltag started, but Balto stepped in between him and Steele.

“No. This has to stop.”

“No? Why not Balto? He deserves it.”

“Maybe, but would hurting him change what he did? Would it make us any better than him? At one time I may have agreed with you, but not today. Today, I’m stopping the violence.”

“Balto… I-” Steele started, but Balto cut him off. He may be willing to save his life, but after what he had done, he was not going to let him off easy.

“Steele, I want you to walk away,” Balto growled. “Walk away from this town. Walk away and never return.”

Steele couldn’t believe it. Balto was actually evicting him from his own town. “And if I don’t?”

“Then let’s just say that I don’t think I can stop all of them if they want to take a chunk out of you,” Balto replied, indicating the other dogs. “Just be grateful I gave you this mercy.”

Steele realized that he was truly trapped. Fighting would mean death, staying would mean death. They didn’t want him anymore and so he was being tossed out in the cold. Without a word, he stood up and left the room, breaking into a run when he got outside. He didn’t care which way he went, just that he got as far away as possible from the wolfdog that had ruined his life.

----------

After Steele had left the town, one by one, the dogs left the mill until two remained: Balto and Jenna. Balto’s shoulder was still wounded, but the bleeding had stopped and it was already starting to heal over. He had lain down in front of the boiler and Jenna snuggled herself into his side.

“I guess the mill was a good call after all,” Jenna said, giving him another nuzzle and Balto hummed in agreement. His eyes were closed as he let the radiant heat wash over him. “Balto, why did you let Steele go?”

He looked over at her. “Someone had to stop the fighting, the constant cycle of revenge. No one else would, so I took charge,”

“Well I’m proud of you Balto. Most dogs wouldn't have been so forgiving.”

“Hey, I did make a promise to you didn’t I?”

----------

One year earlier

Balto ran through the streets following Jenna, trying to get her stop and listen to his side of the story. She tried to lose him in an alley, but it was a dead end. She turned and saw Balto approaching her.

“Jenna wait-”

“You stay away from me!” she screamed. He tried to explain himself, but she was still hysterical. “How could you?! How could you do such a thing?” she shouted.

“He deserved it,” he replied, but that only made her angrier. In one motion, she raised her paw and slapped Balto across his face.

“That’s not good enough! You almost killed him!” she screamed at him, and he stood there, shocked by her strike. That one slap knocked him back to his senses and the full gravity of what he had done hit him head on. She was right; he had tried to murder Steele. Balto could still taste the blood in his mouth and it made him sick. "Oh... I... almost... Oh my god, what have I done?!" he cried out and started to panic.

"You almost became a killer, that’s what," Jenna replied. “Why… why would you do something like this?”

"I-I don’t know. They-they were chasing me. Always chasing me,” he stammered. “We started arguing, and then I-I snapped. I-I couldn’t take it anymore. No matter what he would always come back. I would always run, but I could never escape. I-I just wanted it all to stop," Balto finished before collapsing into a sobbing heap. “I just wanted him to stop!”

As she watched him sob, Jenna finally understood what he meant. Steele had been tormenting him since day one, never ceasing with his brutal treatment. Balto would always run, but he could never escape Steele’s torment. This made him feel trapped, and like any trapped animal, Balto lashed out in an attempt to protect himself. Unfortunately, Balto felt so threatened, that he thought he needed to kill Steele to protect himself. Steele had always called him a dangerous wolf, and he had become just that.

"Oh Jenna, I... I almost..." he stammered.

"I know Balto, but you stopped. You stopped before you could do anything truly horrible,” he didn’t respond, and covered his face with his paw. “Balto?”

“It’s okay Jenna, you can say it,” he replied. “I’d understand why you wouldn’t want to be around me anymore. I’m nothing but a dangerous wolf.”

“No you’re not Balto. You are not dangerous.”

He removed his paw and looked up at her. “How can you say that? You saw what I did, so why would you still care about me?“

“Because I know you. You may have gotten into fights with the other dogs, but it was only because you were provoked. You never attacked for no reason.”

“I guess… but Steele is never going to forgive this. He’ll come back and keep hurting me. It will never end.”

“Maybe, but Balto, no matter what I’ll always be on your side,” she replied.

“Really?” he asked.

“Of course. I’ll always stick up for you, as long as you promise me one thing.”

“Promise you what?"

“Promise me you’ll never do anything like that again. Promise me you’ll never hurt anyone like that again. Please, just promise me.”

“Alright, I promise you Jenna,” he replied, and she gave him the biggest smile he had ever seen.

“I promise you Jenna…”

----------

Present Day

“I promised you that I would never do anything to harm another dog and that's what I did,” Balto said. “They did push me around more because of what I did to Steele, but no matter what, I just walked away from them. Even if they had me cornered, I would never lash out. When Steele knocked me down when I offered to take the medicine, I just got up without fighting back. And today, I didn’t fight him, even after he had beaten me up. I kept my promise.”

“And I kept mine,” Jenna continued. “I have always put in a good word for you. Even though it sometimes got me some funny looks, I still vouched for you.”

Jenna laid her head down and Balto rested his on top of hers. Both rested in silence, finally together in peace. After all they had been through together, there was only one thing left for him to say.

“I love you Jenna.”

“I love you too Balto.”

----------

Epilogue

Steele stumbled through the dark streets, weak from constantly traveling. He had been wandering for days, unable to find food or warm shelter. He had no idea where he was, only that he was in another town. Finally he collapsed from exhaustion, unable to go any farther. As his vision blurred, he thought it was the end of him, but fate would be on his side that night.

As he came to, he could feel warmth all around him. He opened his eyes and saw that he was lying near a boiler in a small room. Against one of the walls were several sled dogs of various breeds. Some were sleeping, while others were talking with each other. When one of them saw that he was awake, he came over to Steele.

“Where… where am I?” Steele weakly asked.

“You’re in the town of White Mountain. Can you tell us who you are?” the husky responded. Soon, more dogs came surrounded him, curious about the