Ilena licked her pups. One was grey, the other brown and the last cream and brown. She and Jai were happy together, and now they were a propper family. Balto came through the dog-flap. He saw the puppies and smiled. He nodded at the creme pup.

"Sled dog. Mark my words, he'll be a racer." Balto declared. The brown pup whined.

"And him?" Ilena looked at Balto. He thought for a moment. "He'll travel." The grey puppy, the biggest of the litter, yawned. Balto didn't give an opinion.

"I don't know about him, I suppose we'll just have to wait and see..."

Three years later

"Hey! Wait up!" The three brothers ran and rolled on the sandy beach. Rusty, as usual, was way ahead of his siblings. Aleck was gaining on him though, but Ice was left far behind. He stopped running and took a break. "They won't notice me gone." he said to himself as he headed back towards the town.

It was fairly quiet, but it wasn't deserted. Ice made his was to the butchers. "Closed again!" he sighed. He sat down and watched the world go by. Nome became more busy throughout the day, and Ice saw someone.

She was a light-chocolate female with a tawny back. Her eyes were a dark, deep green and she had a pink collar with a white bone tag on it. The name on the tag was Tiala. Ice was smitten. As he walked over to her, a large group of dogs trampled him. They all crowded around the beautiful Tiala, she was talking to them all. Ice joined the group. Bit by bit, the dogs left, until there were only two more. Every boy wanted her attention, and when she said they weren't good enough, they left. Tiala took not much interest in the other dogs but completely ignored Ice all together! No matter what he did, she didn't take any notice. At long last, he was the only one left, but she turned and walked away. This angered Ice and out of nowhere he blurted out "Oi! I'm slaving away here and you are completely ignoring me!"

Tiala turned to him. Ice had a hope, but it was shattered when she looked around blankly, as if the wind had shouted the words. He wasn't invisable to anyone else, so there wasn't something crazy going on. She was just being difficult. Ice stormed away, mumbling some very rude words about Tiala.

"Uh, oh! Someone's in a bad mood!"

"I think it's because of his inability to run fast!"

"And impress women!"

Rusty and Alek were already inside and were teasing Ice. He glared at them. Alek faked a cough, spluttering "Loser!" He was rather nasty at times. Ilena walked up behind them.

"Leave your brother alone, or so help me I wil chuck you out in the cold!" she growled at them. Instantly, the two boys slunk into their baskets. She sat down with Ice. "Tell me all about it." she whispered. Ice told her about Tiala, how she minipulated the males, including him. "She ignored me! Even though I was jumping up and down right in front of her!"

"She does like you," Ilena chuckled. "Now, let's face it. You look more like a... a, wolf ... than me. She probably didn't want to admit liking you infront of everyone else. I know how high her standards are." She hoped her advice wouldn't hurt her eldest son's feelings but he understood perfectly well what she meant. "Try talking to her alone."

Ice suddenly woke up. The clock on the wall read 7 o'clock exactly. He remembered his mother's words from the previous night and slipped silently outside. It was spotting with rain but appart from that everything was still. Ice slowly made his way towards the boiler room.

The wind howled like a wolf and Ice was more than relieved to get inside the boiler room. Shaking the slush off his paws, he caught sight of a shadow in the corner. "Hello Ice," it said softly "Sorry about yesterday, it's just that, my parents, my friends,"

"You don't need to say any more." Ice cut in, rather sulkily. He knew it was Tiala. She got up and walked out of the darkness. She circled him, looking up and down. "You're better built than all of those huskies altogether. Why?"

Ice didn't know whether to metion his wolf genes or not. At last he said "I suppose I'm stronger." The female stopped. Tiala looked into his eyes. Ice felt himself melting a little bit, on top of that he was rather nervous. Tiala didn't waste any time. She flung her paws around his broad shoulders and kissed him. (It doesn't seem right for dogs to kiss, so I'll just say it was touching noses and licking.)

Once she finally let him go, he was as frozen as ice! He was in love, but quite frightened at how quickly this girl could change attitude. Tiala straightened her collar and whispered in a slightly threatening tone "Now you listen to me. You won't tell a soul." And she left! It was as quick as that! Ice curled up infront of the fire and went to sleep.

"Ice, Ice.... ICE!" He jumped up and saw mifa (Ilena's friend) standing over him. "Good morning! You were in a deep sleep!" she chuckled. Ice yawned. "What time is it?"

"Rush hour." This made Ice look up. He had to get back to his home, or else he'd be in big trouble. He thanked Mifa and ran back into town. On the way, he bumped into Tiala. "Whatch where you're going!" she snapped, but Ice caught her wink. He slunk away towards Rosie's house.Balto was now old and frail, but he still lived with Jenna. Rosie was now fithteen! She had taken a flight to New York to study and would return to Nome in the spring. Balto pricked his ears forwards at the sound of the opening door. "So you haven't disapeared?" he joked. Ice laughed, knowing that Balto would tell his mother he was there a lot earlier. The two of them ate and went to sleep.

When Ice opened his eyes he saw that Balto was gone and it was late in the afternoon. He stretched and padded outside. It was still buzzing with people but there were hardly any dogs around. There was Bea and June and an old dog that Ice didn't know. The sun was low in the sky and snow was begining to fall. He shook his head to rid a drop of water from the hanging iciles above and he walked off to the boiler room.

Tiala was there. She follows me... he thought, closing the door. As he did, a growl echoed around the room. "Leave my daughter alone..." It was Steele. Ice suddenly realised that his 'Girlfriend' was two generations back from him! What was worse, she was Steele's child. The malmute crept out of the darkness and stood infront of Ice, snarling all the time. Ice stepped backwards. Instead of hitting the door, he felt something soft.

"Don't make me fight you again, Steele." It was his dad, Jai. The door was open and a gust of freezing air blew out the fire and Steele ran, tail between his legs. Tiala followed her father, giving Ice a wink as she went by. He growled at her.

*

"Your girlfriend! Steele's daughter!" Ilena was pacing up and down the room giving Ice a good lecture. Over and over he tried to tell her he didn't know, but she didn't want to hear it. Ice was thrown out for the night as a punishment. He found his dad in an alley and slept with him in a cardboard box. The sunrise came early and Jai and Ice walked down to the butchers. But someone had beaten them to it...

"There you go little lady!" smiled the butcher. He flopped a ribeye stake onto a plate where a chocolate muzzle licked and chewed at it. Tiala. Ice's fur bristled. Jai looked at his son as if to say Her? Ice strolled away sulkily and lay down on the steps of Rosie's house. He had some thinking to do.

"I suppose I like her."

"But she told on you!"

"Well, maybe he bullied her into it, or it just slipped out."

"But she was there with him!"

"Why me?!"

He was just getting to terms with himself when a brown husky trotted up to him. She smiled and sat down next to him. Her name tag said Hannah.

"I'm Tiala's mother. I'm not mad with you, infact I'm here to appologize for my partner's behavior. And I'm sorry about how Tiala's acting. She's just difficult..." She sighed. A cloud drifted over the sea. "I think it's best for you to leave her. She never keeps relationships going and she can't treat people correctly. She get's it off her father!"

Hannah got up and walked away. Ice thought about her words. Who else, that wasn't comletely up the wall like Steele, could know Tiala as well as herself? He went to find his girl.

"Really? A race dog! How nice!" The female chuckled. The team gathered around her. They were all having a laugh with each other. The girl yanked one of them by the muzzle and kissed him. "Ooooooooooo!" hooted the dogs. Ice walked through the door.

"Tiala!" He shouted. Tiala pulled back from her prisoner and gaped at the sight of Ice. "Ice!"

"Oh. So you can see me?!" He was being very sarcastic. "I suppose these guys just work with you or something?"

"Heh, heh. Um...*tut* ... yeah?"

He growled at her. She was untrustworthy and unreliable. He stormed out of the boiler room, snarling and cursing. A creme and brown dog pricked up his ears. He ran after his brother.

"Ice!" It was Rusty. Ice kept going. Rusty pulled him around and spoke firmly. "I didn't touch her."

"Sure.........." Ice rolled his eyes. "Why don't you go and chat up some woman. I can't trust her because she was with you." Ice paused. "I'll Kill You!"

The two huskies rolled on the snow. Ice had gone insane. Rusty had no choice but to get involved in his brother's attacking. Ice ripped into his neck. Rusty let out a whimper of pain. He tried to run, but Ice got him by the leg. He pulled back and heard a crunch. He'd gone to far (excuse the pun). The huskies and Malamutes were at the door.

"Rust-I-Sty-Ice!" There was a mixture of barkings, most of them for Rusty. He reacted to their chants. Rusty dug his claws into Ice, let go of his leg and flipped him over. Ice lay panting on his back. He kept snuffing and spitting out blood. Rusty pinned him down and stood over his brother with pleading eyes to stop. For a moment the two of them froze, probably remembering the good times, when they were young and loved each other. Rusty became drained of his anger and eased off Ice.

The grey wolf-dog shot up and grabbed the sled dog by the throat. Even with the struggles and shaking, his enemy had no chance of suvival. Rusty began to gasp for air, in a ghastly, spluttering sound. He fell onto the ground.

"ICE!" Ilena and Jai raced over the hill. Ice realized suddenly what he had done. He stepped back and let go of the fallen dog's neck. Ilena bit him on the ear, the soft, silky part which is sensitive. She saw no sense in hurting Ice any more so let go. She could deal with him later. Right now what was important was Rusty...

*

The vet came out with a heavy face. "He might make it, but there's a greater risk he won't. But we'll do everything we can."

Rosie's dad nodded and left the centre. Ilena gave her son one last lick before padding back to Jai. She cried all the way back home. Ice was also crying, knowing that his brother could die, it being all his fault. When his mother and father came in, he stood up and walked up to them.

"Do what you want. I deserve it."

Jai cuffed him around the head and told him that he was far beond being punished. Ice had never been hurt by his dad. Now he was more angry than Ilena had ever been known to be, and she had a small attitude problem. Ice limped to his basket. He uncomfortably curled up, and he looked over to the empty bed next to his.

It was a week later and Rusty was back on his feet. Ice had almost made a full recovery and things had cooled down. The two brothers were friends again, but Ice had some sorting out to do. Tiala.

She was flirtying with some dogs when he turned up. Ice held his rage. Cheap tart... he thought as he walced up to her. The dogs were the ones there that night and they scarpered. Tiala turned around.

"I-Ice, I-"

"I'm angry, But I can hold that. I can't trust you. Whenever I turn my back you're with some other guy. It's over." He turned and walked away when the inner Tiala showed up.

"It never started!"

Ice spun around. There stood Tiala, the wind blowing at her coat, no dogs around her. She was alone. That was her, alone. They stopped showing a frown and raced towards each other. Tiala flung herself onto Ice and kissed him. Over? His relationship had only just begun.

They let go of each other and gazed into their eyes. A million questions whirled around in Ice's head. Was this right? Could she be forgiven? All of them had no hope of being answered for the time being. He would have to wait and see.

The pair of them walked slowly back through the street. Many males growled at the sight of a wolf dog getting the best girl. Steele cringed at the sight.

"Tiala. Get home, I'll ask you questions later!" Steele yelled as he hit his daughter.

"Don't touch her!" Ice shouted. Steele turned to him.

"Whatta ya' gonna do, hairball?"

"This." He clawed Steele down the face. Steele howled with pain. Tiala screamed at the blood. Ice got hold of her collar and led her away so she wasn't upset. She was a little shaky.

"I'm sorry I hurt him. I had to..." She nodded wierily. Ice took her to the boat. The sun sank, the moon rose and the stars appeared. They pointed out the constalations in the deep blue sky.

"And there's Agali attacking the Great Bear! Can you see him?"

"There!Yes! I can, Ice! I can!" Tiala cried. She pointed to some stars. "My mum said they were called the litter of seven. Sometimes you can see a lot more than seven, you can see thousands, but on other nights you can't see any more than four."

The two of them lay talking until they both went to sleep. The sun rose early in the morning and the birds began to sing. Tiala realized that her father would kill her if he found out she spent the night with Ice, and so ran off before he woke up. When Ice did wake up, he saw that Tiala was gone. Did she go for a reason? Or was she being difficult again?

Ilena was quite worried. She hadn't seen Ice for two days, and was beginning to wonder where he was and what he was doing. "Will he be alright?" she kept thinking. Her son was tough, he had proved that in the fight with his brother. There was a movement in the dog flap, and Ice's head apeared. Ilena sighed in relief. "Where have you been?"

"Out." Ice replied emotionlessly. Ilena knew he was hiding something, but she wasn't about to force it out of him. "Ok." she smiled, trying to sound as least concerned as possible. But inside she was crying, knowing that her own son couldn't tell her a secret.

*

Tiala pushed the door so it closed. Steele turned his head to her and walked over. He stood tall and broad, intimmidating her. It wasn't going to work. Tiala was tough, otherwise she wouldn't be there with Steele as her father. "Well?!" Steele snapped. Tiala lokked up, smirking. "I was spending the night with a friend." she grinned cheekily. Steele swiped at her with his paw. She just missed it.

"The last time I saw you, you were with that, that...." He growled fiercely. "Wolf!"

"Yeah, and?"

Steele wouldn't stand someone talking to him like this. He bit his daughter on the shoulder and dragged her to the floor. Tiala fought back but overall he was too strong. Hannah walked in.

"Steele!"

He looked up. Tiala skuttled away, bleeding from her wound on her shoulder. "How DARE you!" Hannah barked.

Some other dogs heard the comotion from outside the house. They stopped and listened in horror. Steele and Hannah suddely flew out the door and started scratching and pounding at each other on the snow. Ice heard the fighting, too, and rushed over to the circle of huskies. He pushed to the centre. Steele and Hannah were tearing at each other. Out of nowhere, Ice jumped in.

The first thing he felt was Steele clawing at him. Ice struggled over and stood up, pinning him to the floor. Hannah limped away and nuzzled Tiala. Steele lay panting, Ice wasn't going to let him up, that was the worst thing he could do. He heard men approaching and lightened off a bit. Rosie's dad yanked Ice away, which didn't take much as Ice wasn't trying to fight. But Steele wriggled and twisted in his owners arms. He shot round and bit his hand.

Ice was let go of and he went over to Tiala to lick her shoulder. She winced in pain as Ice lapped at the flesh. She'd gotten off very lightly, but Ice had more to come. Ilena had seen the commotion, and when she saw Ice apear from the battle ring, she was fuming. "ICE!" she yelled. It was the second fight in a week. He turned around from his lickng and saw his mother heading straight for him. Ilena was about to hurl words at him, when Hannah spoke up.

"It wasn't his fault, Ilena. He went in to stop Steele from hurting me."

Ilena frowned. She felt a little guily and rather embarrassed. "Um... well, that's okay, then..." she trailed off, walking away. Ice got back to Tiala's shoulder. She was fine now, but the experience had given her a shock.

*

A few weeks went by until Autumn began to apear, surounding the town with colours and sounds. Ice went to Tiala's place every day. Steele had been given a doghouse in the garden and he was chained to it from 6pm till 11am each night.

"Ice. I have to talk. Can we go to the boat?"

Ice nodded. He was a little nervous. Was she dumping him for another dog? But he took his girl to the boat and they sat down silently.

"I'm, I'm," Tiala didn't quite know how to say it. In the end, she forced the news out of her mouth. "I'm having puppies."

Ice's jaw dropped. There was no point asking how it happened, he knew, but what about everyone else?What would his parents say? Never mind them, what about Steele when he found out?

Tiala looked at him. She was stressed, tired, worried. He gave her a lick on the cheek. "It'll be okay." he whispered. Tiala made no reaction but she had heard Ice. They spent the rest of the day talking quietly. The atmosphere was tense, Ice was in slight shock.

Walking her home, Ice didn't say anything to Tiala. The other dogs would hear. Tiala left him from the doorstep. On the way back, Ice came face-to-face with Steele. Ice carried on walking, but Steele wouldn't let him pass.

"Let me go Steele, it'll mean I won't have to fight you."

"Pprffffff, that was nothing. Quite a set of claws you got there, pal." Steele sneered. He was right in Ice's face, intimidating. Ice backed away and walked in the other direction. He was fed up with tearing other dogs to pieces, he was begining to become hated. The other dogs would quiver with fright when he walked by, fearing being shredded. They did it with Steele too, and he didn't want to sink to that evil level. Dispite talking with his girlfriend all day, he needed space to think.

The boat was his favourite place. But someone was already there. Jai sat on the deck, as if waiting for Ice to show up. "I knew you'd come."

Ice decided that if there was one dog in the world that he could tell anything, it was his dad. He told Jai about the puppies. "It'll be tough, but don't expect me to fend of Steele!" He sighed and chuckled.

Months went by. Steele calmed down. He had no idea about the pups. Tiala stayed in the boat, the quietest place in Nome. Ice brought her food every day, until he had a suprise.

Tiala had given birth in the night. She was tired but happy. But when she saw Ice her eyes were watery. The bitch nodded at three hairy piles in the corner. "They didn't make it." she murmured sadly.

Ice was filled with anger. "It's your father's fault. He's the one who stressed you out and hit you. By Agali! There's no telling what I'd do to him if I had my way!"

"Calm down, Ice. We have to name them..." He suddenly realised that there were two more furballs snuggled up to Tiala's side. One was black, the other creme and black striped...

"Tiala..."

"I should have told you."

There was only one male dog in Nome that was light tanned. Wasp. His rival. But how could she? After all he'd done for her?

"I like Ebony for the black one, the girl. And for the boy I've always liked Jacob..."

Ice couldn't believe her. She openly admitted that the puppies weren't his, but she was straight away going to name them? Naming pups was the last things on his mind right now.

"...do you like Ebony and Jacob?"

Ice looked up, his eyes heavy and dark. "Call them what you want." he hissed, turning his back.

"Whe-wh-where're you going, Ice? Ice... Please tell me..."

Ice was slowly walking away, his heart dark and angry, his mind cursing and black. "I can't believe you, I can't even trust you... Goodbye."

"Goodbye?! Ice! Come back! Please come back!"

But she'd pushed him too far.