(A/N: This is a brief lul in the action, but setting the stage for something else to happen... And here's a little pronunciation guide for the names:

Miki- Mickey (pretty much)       Ataneq- A-tan-eck            Michelo- Mee-shay-low           Akiak- Ah-kee-ack

Sakari- Suh-car-ee                Yakone- Yuh- cone- ay             Nilak- Nee-lack            Saghani- Suh- gahn- ee

I also took some liberties with Balto's age...)

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I was awoken by distant howling. A response immediately went out from nearby. On opening my eyes, I found my sun-lit spot of ground was now covered in shade and figured I must have been asleep for some time. Sakari was walking toward me from the direction of the main den.

“Hey, you’re up.” She grinned. “The others are on their way back from the hunt. You should probably wait by the rest of us if you don’t want to be ripped apart when they stumble upon a stranger in their home.”

I gave a wry smile. “Don’t have to tell me twice.” Gathering my shaky legs beneath me, I managed to stand and hobble after her. The wolves had surrounded the clearing in front of the den as they waited for the appearance of the rest of their pack. I sat by Sakari, but set myself further back than the rest of them. If my goal was to remain unnoticed, River managed to completely obliterate it.

The little pup dashed over to me, yipping excitedly. “Hey, hey! Balto, right? I’m River. Thanks for saving me. I had been playing by the water and I slipped- and oh! This is my sister, Sky.” I barely had time to process what he’d said before another pup was crawling all over me.

“Hi.” I said, looking at Sakari for help.

“They like you.” She teased.

“No kidding?” I could see Miki, the alpha, watching with amusement while Akiak pretended not to notice, wearing a deep scowl. Michelo was lying in her same spot, prying into my soul again with her piercing eyes. I quickly looked away from her, focusing on one of the pups who had taken to gnawing on my tail.

“Sky.” Sakari scolded.

The tawny pup guiltily dropped my tail, licked it once in apology and trotted off toward her mother. River stuck around, careful not to bug me enough to catch Sakari’s attention, but still managing to do a fine job of driving me crazy without actually touching me at all. Under normal circumstances, I might have shooed the little one away, but I found myself actually appreciating the attention for once, as borderline annoying as it was. I had been around very few pups, but they always seemed to push past those normal limits and still win your heart.

It wasn’t long before the scent of more wolves reached my nose. They appeared not long after, dragging the carcass of a caribou along with them. River immediately decided that food was more interesting than me and sprinted off to meet the hunting party. Miki greeted who I had to assume was the other alpha, a muscular red and gray male with deep brown eyes.

There were three other wolves with them. Another male who looked identical to the alpha except for his lean build, a petite, dark female, and a dark gray male with sharp yellow eyes. They all greeted each other happily until they realized they had a guest. The alpha male noticed me first and I could only assume it was because his bouncing son had told him I was there.

Miki whispered something to him and they both approached me. I lowered my head in respect, but that only brought me just below eye level to the burly alpha that stood slightly shorter than I.

“You saved my son?” He said in greeting.

I kept my eyes on the ground. “Yes?”

“Then you are welcome here.” Was that a smile I heard in his voice? Risking a glance upward, I indeed saw him beaming down at me. “I am Ataneq.”

“Balto.”

“Well, Balto. Come eat with us. You look as though you haven’t had a good meal all winter.”

With the approval of both alphas, the other wolves seemed content to leave me alone, with the exception of Akiak of course. Fortunately for me, his brief show of dominance was immediately reprimanded by his sister and I was allowed to eat my share in peace. Ataneq was right. I hadn’t eaten this well all winter.

After stripping the caribou down to little but bones, the wolves all found their respective resting places and settled in for a nap. Having already slept, I watched from the outskirts of the clearing. Sakari soon found me and sat down nearby. “You have the disposition of an Omega.” She said suddenly.

I raised an eyebrow as I looked up at her. “Well I thought it was the best way to approach a pack. I haven’t exactly been in one before.”

“Well if you don’t want to take Yakone’s position, I suggest you show a little more backbone.” She teased.

“Who’s that?” I asked, lifting my head from the snow.

“Ataneq’s twin brother. Granted, omega isn’t such a bad position in this pack. Ataneq protects Yakone when he thinks the others are being too rough with him.”

“What’s your position?” I asked. “You seem to have your own brother under your paw.”

“Well he acts tough, but the both of us are still juveniles. We’re just somewhere in the middle with the pups. You have the scraggly look of a yearling yourself, which is probably why no one is asserting their position on you except for Akiak.”

“I’m not that young.” I argued, though I guess I was. Growing up alone just made it irrelevant.

Sakari scoffed. “Oh please. This is your first winter, I bet.”

“Second.” I snapped, though that wasn’t right either. “Well, I don’t know. I remember another winter. But I was young.”

“Ah, so you had the same fate as these pups. They were born long before they should have been, in the middle of winter. They lost three other siblings. It’s lucky that even these two survived. Akiak and I were born very late in the season, with the first snows. Even we lost two siblings.”

“So who are the other wolves in the pack?” I asked.

“Saghani, the dark one, is the beta female. Nilak is the beta male. Michelo is the mother to Miki. We recently had three others leave our pack. One was Saghani’s brother. The other two were my own brother and sister.”

“Why did they leave?”

“Who knows.” Sakari sighed, showing a frown for the first time since I had met her. “Saghani’s brother was of age and wanted to start his own pack I guess. Suka was always restless here. She never adjusted to the pack well and Arrluk just wanted to keep an eye on her. We thought he would be back… We’ve suffered for it. The hunts have been more difficult.”

“Why weren’t you two out helping then?”

“Akiak.” Sakari smiled. “He got in trouble with Nilak for being the pig-headed trouble-maker he is, and Nilak refused to let him come. I was off trying to find River with Miki when they left. You any good at hunting?”

“I’m not terrible, though I’ve never tried to bring anything as big as a caribou down before.” In fact, I think the biggest thing I had ever caught was a salmon- a big salmon, mind you, just not the size of a caribou, or a small dog even…

“Well I wouldn’t expect you could without a pack. You haven’t told me why you were alone yet.”

I rested my head back onto my paws. Of all the wolves, I was guessing Sakari would be the least likely to judge me and yet I was hesitant to tell her the truth. My short life had conditioned me to expect certain reactions from others. For instance, if faced with blaming a star racing husky or a part wolf with crime, the wolf dog always lost. Also, dogs and people recoil, run, or become violent on learning I had a wild animal for a parent. My limited, or actually non-existent, interactions with wolves left me unaware of their opinions on matters concerning part dogs.

Then again, judging by Sakari’s enthusiastic reaction to learning I had been named by humans, I could only assume she wouldn’t care in the least if she knew I was part dog. The others however, I couldn’t be so sure of. Saghani, up until the moment her eyes fluttered shut to sleep, watched me with a wary eye. I already knew Akiak didn’t like me, and while Michelo seemed to enjoy my presence, she still unnerved me.

Although not planning on staying for more than a couple more days, I didn’t want to accelerate any hostilities that would eventually get me run out or killed. So despite my trust in Sakari, I refused to answer any more questions about my origins or the events that had brought me here. In her usual good nature, she humored me.

The rest of the day passed uneventfully. Still somewhat drained from my swim in the river, I was content with observing my new surroundings and watching the interactions of the others. River, however, was hardly happy with that arrangement. He had adopted me as his chew toy and surrogate play-mate. I still couldn’t bring myself to shoo him away, mostly because I was amused by him instead of annoyed. His sibling, Sky, was more wary of me, only having enough courage to keep nipping at my tail. I playfully kept trying to move it out of her reach.

“Sky, River, it’s time to head in for bed.” The voice came from directly over me.

Startled, I jumped and rolled to the side, looking for who had spoken. Miki raised an amused eyebrow at me as her pups scampered off to the den. “Relax, Balto. Most of us don’t bite.” She smiled.

“Heh.” I gave an embarrassed grin in reply, as my heart painfully pounded in my chest. “Sorry. I’m just…jumpy today.” -an understatement. Simply being startled had sent my flight or fight response into overdrive. It was an uncomfortable reminder of why I was here in the first place. After everything that had happened, it had almost completely slipped my mind. It was apparent, however, that my nervous system had not forgotten.

“Well, jaunts in a frozen river tend to put you on edge.” Miki smiled, oblivious to the real reason of course.

“Yeah,” I laughed nervously as she stepped around me to follow her pups.

I was an idiot for accepting Sakari’s offer to stay with the pack. I wished rivers of ice were my biggest concern, but no. I had hunters calling for my blood- hunters who might eventually pick up my trail again and follow me straight back to this innocent pack. I don’t know why it took me that long to consider myself a danger simply by being here. Maybe it was because I secretly hoped I could actually put my past behind me. If worst came to worst back in Nome…maybe I would have a home here.

I shook my head. No, Balto. You’re running away from the problem again. What is with you? I mentally slapped myself. I’d put myself ahead of these generous strangers, simply for a few hours of carefree relaxation. I’d told myself that the hunters were long gone, but how did I know that? If they were angry enough about Rosy’s attack, they might follow me to the end of the world just to make me pay.

I looked longingly in the direction of the den before I climbed to my feet and headed off into the woods, in the opposite direction.

“Where are you going?”

I jumped again, but quickly calmed this time as I spotted Ataneq ahead of me. “Hi…Look, I- I shouldn’t be here. I really do appreciate your hospitality, but I’d be ungrateful if I stayed.”

Ataneq gave me a quizzical look. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m putting you in danger by being here. I have to go.” I explained, taking a few steps away from him and deeper into the trees.

“Stop.” His commanding voice instantly caused me to freeze, foot hanging in the air as I stared at him in surprise. The powerful wolf approached me, studying me with his brown eyes. “Sit.” Like an obedient house pet, I obeyed. “Tell me what you mean by that.”

I swallowed, carefully averting my eyes as I started speaking. “I mean…I have hunters after me- human hunters. If they find me here…” I trailed off, staring at the dirty snow under my feet.

Ataneq was silent for a minute. “And why are they after you, exactly?”

“They think I attacked one of their young.”

“You didn’t?”

“No!” I answered a little too forcefully. I lowered my head even further.

“Well, Balto, if they haven’t found you by now, I doubt they ever will. I think you should seriously consider staying.”

My ears perked up. What did he say? I looked up at him in shock. “But, what if-.”

“I’ve found that “what ifs” are hardly worth their trouble to consider. But,” He took a few steps toward me, “if we ever run into hunters, you should know that we wouldn’t hesitate in protecting you as you protected my son.” The words didn’t match the tone in which he said them. I barely caught the glint in his eye through my brief sensation of panic.

He was playing with my head, and he was thoroughly amused by it. “Anyone would have. It was just one thing-.”

The wolf raised an eyebrow. “Would you like me to chase you off? Actually don’t answer that. You’re staying. I can tell, Balto, you are not like everyone else. Not everyone has a heart like yours. It may have been one act, but it says much about who you are.”

I was at a loss for words, but managed a soft “Thank you.”

He smirked, a sparkle in his brown eyes. “Nonsense, this is me being selfish. We could use someone like you around.”

A nervous smile made its way to my otherwise stunned face.

“Lighten up, Balto. You’re with family now.” Ataneq said as he trotted past me and back to the den.