A sleek rust and cream female husky wandered along the snowy streets of Nome, trying to find a small place with a few other dogs.  She had just moved to the small town with her owner the previous day.  Wanting to get away from the hectic new house, she had decided to go about the town.

She shivered slightly as the cold snow started to hurt her sensitive pads, wondering to herself why her owner had wanted to move here of all places.  There was nearly nothing to do here.  So far she had not even seen another dog.

The female let out a huff of air as she shivered again.  Glancing down at her golden dog tag which read her name, Belle, she saw the reflection of the furry body of another dog.  Looking up with slight shock, she slowly followed the canine. 

Belle stayed a good few feet away, not wanting to attract the other dog’s attention.  She knew that any dogs around would know she was new around anyway and did not see the point in making herself center of attention in any way. 

She watched as the dog disappeared through a door, hesitating slightly before slowly following, curiosity and loneliness getting the better of her.  As she walked through the door, she was immediately met with a blast of warm air against her face.  She slowed a little more, letting it warm her up before continuing on.

Soon she saw that by following the other dog, she had just came to the one place she had not really wanted to go to.  The whole room was filled with dogs and as she stumbled slightly, all their heads turned toward her.

Belle smiled nervously.  “Umm… Hi…” she said, glancing around at all of the eyes staring at her.  She was not sure what to do and stood completely still, hoping one of the dogs would say something to her or that they would just forget she was there allowing her to slip back out. 

After a few minutes of awkward silence, a gray colored female husky stood to her paws with a welcoming and friendly smile across her face.  “Welcome to Nome,” she said, motioning around the room.  “I can see you found your way to the boiler room.  This is the main ‘hang out’ for all the dogs in town.”  She took a few steps forward, looking around at all the other dogs, narrowing her eyes slightly as they just sat there.

Getting the hint, a red male stood to his paws, walking up to Belle, who stood there still, quite uncomfortable.  The male smiled, reassuring her that it was okay that she was there.

“Excuse everyone for how they are acting,” he told her, his tone as kind as his body language was.  “It’s just that we don’t get a new dog around here every day.  So everyone is still kinda’ surprised.”

Belle nodded slowly, still feeling slightly unsure of herself.  She noticed that all of the females had gone back to what they had been doing, but most of the males still had their eyes glued on her.  She shifted her weight, trying to think of something to say. 

“My name is Belle,” she told them, her soft voice more quiet than usual.  She could still feel the gaze of the dogs on her and she looked away slightly, wishing herself to become invisible. 

The red male nodded, taking a step closer to her.  “I'm Kodi.  And this,” he motioned to the grey female, “is Dusty.” 

Belle looked up at him, her chocolate brown eyes conveying her gratitude for going out of his way just to make her feel welcomed.  She curled her cream colored tail above her back slightly and looked around once more, feeling a little less nervous, but not by much.  She still would almost rather have not found the boiler room.  The only good thing she saw from it at the current moment was that it was warm and she had met two dogs that seemed nice enough.

She thought about sitting down, but was not sure if she wanted to do that or leave.  Kodi and Dusty had sat down by her.  Glancing around, she saw a black and white husky that hadn’t taken his eyes off of her since she entered.   She held his gaze for a few seconds then broke it off, looking past him at the wall.  “Hello,” she said, trying to keep the nervous tone out of her voice.  “What’s your name?”

The larger black and white husky stood to his paws and walked over, a large grin across his face.  Kodi shot Dusty a slightly worried look as the other male walked over.  He sat a few inches away from her, looking her up and down.

“The name’s Steele,” he said, his voice gruff.  His grin grew a little as he moved a little closer to her.  Belle shifted nervously, but didn’t say anything.  She shot a side-long glance at Kodi and Dusty who shook their heads with a subtle movement.  Kodi knew what Steele was up to, but Belle did not.

“It’s nice to meet you, Steele,” the rust colored female said slowly, trying to understand what Kodi and Dusty were attempting to communicate to her.

Steele grinned and moved a little bit closer to Belle again.  “What do you say we ditch this place and go out to the woods where we’ll be all… alone?” he whispered to her, stressing the last word.  Belle’s brown eyes widened a bit and she looked at him.  Something was telling her not to even think about going with him, but another part of her told her to.  Standing to her paws, she nodded slowly.  The black and white husky smirked and led her out of the boiler room.

The black husky led her towards the edge of town and into the woods.  Belle followed him, glancing nervously around.  She really was not sure why he wanted her to go with him, but she did not want to surpass the opportunity to make a friend.

A screech of an owl caused the rust colored female to jump slightly, rushing to Steele’s side for protection.  Steele looked away and smiled to himself, glancing at her out of the corner of his eyes.

“What… what are we doing out here Steele?” Belle asked, a very nervous tone taking over her voice.  Every little sound made her jump and she could feel her body tensing up more and more.  She glanced at Steele again.  “Please,” she said, “can’t we just wait to come out here tomorrow?”

Steele’s footsteps stopped and he turned to look at the beautiful husky before him.  “How about I ask you a little question,” he said to her, smirking.  Belle backed up a few steps and slowly nodded, starting to wish she had never followed the black and white husky out into the woods at night.

He leaned forward and whispered something in her ear.  She stumbled back in a mixture of shock and horror at what he had just said.  Her chocolate eyes were wide with fear as she looked for a way to get away.  It did not take long for her to see that she was stuck there.  Belle had no way of escape unless she wanted to run right past Steele, which she knew would be a bad idea.

“Please Steele…” she said, her voice pleading.  “Please don’t do this…”  Belle backed up a few more steps, praying that Steele would just walk away and leave her here.  As he advanced on her more, she clamped her eyes shut.

“This is your last chance to say ‘yes’,” the large husky said, his muzzle inches away from Belle’s, his teeth bared.  She let out a small whimper and looked into his cold eyes, immediately regretting it.

Belle took a deep breath, trying to calm herself.  Glancing away, she muttered something to quiet to hear.  With a swift movement of his paw, Steele forced the rust colored husky to the ground and growled.  “No,” she said, her voice barely loud enough to be heard.

Steele let out an angry huff of air, his hackles raising more.  “If I can’t have you… no one can,” he snarled, lunging at Belle.  The female yelped in terror as the stronger husky’s jaws closed around her throat.  She attempted to push him away with her front paws, but it did not even deter him.

It seemed like only seconds passed before Belle started to feel light headed.  She could tell she was losing blood fast and if nothing stopped Steele, she would be dead.  In a desperate attempt to make him back away, she latched onto his paw that was closest to her muzzle.  The bitter and metallic tang of blood seeping down her throat made her shudder. 

Seconds ticked by and Belle could feel her strength leaking out of her as Steele kept his hold on her neck.  She could feel the warm blood seeping down the fur on her neck.  She clamped her eyes shut and opened them again, her vision blurry.  Her breathes where coming in short gasps farther and farther in between. 

“Let her go Steele,” a male’s voice growled.  Belle tried to look in the direction it came, but could only see a blurry red and white dog standing a few feet away.

The black husky let go of the female and turned his blood stained muzzle toward the other husky, growling.  “What are you going to do about it half-breed?” he snarled.

Taking a few brave steps forward, the other dog growled, equally as menacing as Steele’s.  “Do you really want to question me?  You know who my father is.  You know he beat you as can I.”

Steele snorted, turning away slightly.  “The only reason I'm leaving is because I’ve had my fun with her, Kodi,” he growled, spitting out Kodi’s name and ripping at Belle one last time before bounding away into the snowy forest.

Kodi did not waste any time worrying about what the other male was going to do now.  He simply dashed over to the wounded female.  She was laying in a growing pool of her own blood, her beautiful coat coated in the sticky blood.  Her breathing was more labored and her chocolate brown eyes had started to glaze over.

“Belle…” Kodi whispered, leaning toward her.  “It’s okay.  Steele is gone now.”

The female looked up at him, smiling as best she could.  “Thank… you… Kodi…” she said, her voice so soft the red husky had to lean even closer to Belle to hear her words.  She tried to lift her head up off of the blood soaked ground, but it feel with a thud to the ground.

Kodi laid himself down next to Belle, wrapping his body protectively around her.  He glanced around the woods, hoping that he could see someone that could go get help.  But Kodi should have known better than to be hopeful.  He glanced at Belle with worried eyes and tried to smile bravely.  “It’ll be all right,” he whispered to her.

Belle coughed slightly, shivering.  She could feel her eyes getting more and more heavy.  The female tried to keep her head up, but finally it was no use.  She gave up and let it roll back, her tongue lolling out of her mouth slightly.  Belle fought to keep her eyes open.  She was not ready to let go yet.  But soon she knew she could not fight it any longer and they slowly shut.  The last thing she saw was Kodi curled protectively around her.

The red husky nudged Belle gently, one thought crossing his mind.  He knew he had to pay back Steele ten times worse.  It was the only thing to do.  He looked into the sky, his eyes narrowed in sorrow and pure hatred of the black and white husky.  Titling his head back, Kodi howled so loud the starts themselves seemed to quiver.

To be continued...