Foreword

This is it - the wait is finally over. I've tided you over with a couple shorter stories such as "An Average Day" and "His Brother's Jealousy", but now it's time for the main event. The highly anticipated sequel to "Protecting Their Own" is finally here and I promise you it will bring as many, if not more twists and turns than any of my stories yet. It's been a long process not just for me, but for my beta reader Omnitrix12/Dragon Tamer as well, but it's all been worth it. All that's left is to release it to the masses and see how you, the readers, will enjoy it.

When we last left our band of heroes, they'd barely escaped from a total catastrophe. Balto attempted to broker a peace deal between the dogs of Nome and a wolf pack whose territory was being infringed. Despite a few bumps along the way Balto pushed on, determined to protect the town he cared about. It looked like victory would be at hand, but that victory would be cruelly snatched away when the alpha female of the pack was shot by humans before she could be returned safely to her home. Tikani, the alpha male of the pack held Balto responsible for her death and vowed to never forget it. By the time of this story, a month has passed and our favorite half-breed has been looking over his shoulder, wondering if - or how - Tikani would strike next. The answer to that will come soon... but it won't be the answer he thought it would be.

These events took place in my last big story - "Protecting Their Own" - so you can take a look at that one too if you wish. I'm sure by now you've seen enough of this blurb, so I'll take my leave and let you enjoy my latest story - "The Road Home".

Chapter 1: The Calm Before the Storm

"Are you sure you don't want me to wait for you? I can always go out another day."

"You don't have to put this off because of me. I'll be fine; you go have fun with your friends."

If anyone happened to be passing by a small shed that morning, they would have heard that exchange… if they were a dog that is. If they were curious enough to poke their head inside, they would find - along with a multitude of garden tools, a cushioned basket and other odds and ends - two canines. The first to speak was a scruffy, brown furred male with a concerned look in his amber eyes. His concern was directed at the red and cream female with him, who didn't see any need to worry.

"Balto, it's just going to be for the afternoon; I'll be fine. Besides, you said yourself that you promised to see Maska today. I'd hate to think that you wouldn't keep a promise to a fellow wolf," she replied. The reason she used the phrase 'fellow wolf' was because Balto wasn't all dog. While she was a purebred Siberian husky, Balto was a wolf hybrid, with the wild traits mingling with his husky side. Some saw that as a reason to ridicule him in the past, but she always saw more. He didn't have any reputation to start out with, so she let his actions do the talking for what kind of dog he was… but at the moment, his actions were making him look overly anxious.

"I know… but it's you and I'd hate to leave you alone like this Jenna," he replied, shuffling his large paws a bit.

She smirked. "I know you care about me, but if I could hold up for days while waiting for you return with the medicine, then I'm sure I can hold up for my day with the vet."

He smiled as his tail gave a slight wag; she was always able to put things in perspective. "Okay, you got me there," he replied. "But it's not just because I care about you – it's because I love you and I want you to be safe."

If one looked at their pasts, they would see that Balto and Jenna had feelings for each other from when they were very small. Those feelings grew as they did, but Balto was seen as an outcast for most of his life. This stigma prevented them from spending the time they wanted together, and it wouldn't be until a recent crisis that they would get the chance to grow closer. Diphtheria broke out among many of the town's children, including Jenna's girl, Rosy. Determined to help those he cared about, Balto set out and returned the medicine to the town. For his great deed, he was hailed a hero and most of the prejudice against him faded away. Thanks to this, they were able to finally admit their feelings, growing much closer to each other in the past two months than they could have in the at least two years they knew each other.

Despite his sentiment, she still thought he was making a mountain out a snowdrift. Rolling her brown eyes, she sighed a little. "Good grief, you're making it sound like I'm having an operation but it's just a check-up. I have them all the time; it's part of being a house dog."

"Yeah… and to be honest it's not exactly a part I envy," he said sheepishly while looking off to the side. That was the big difference between them: Jenna got to live the easy, accepted life of a house dog while Balto was still a stray, providing for his needs himself. He didn't get all the privileges she enjoyed, but recent months made him appreciate some of the extra freedoms that living 'off the leash' afforded. One of those was freedom from visits to the vet; the last time he'd been to a doctor was during his short stay with Jenna's family as a pup. The thing he remembered most vividly from that visit was the shots – the multiple shots – and from then on he hated the idea of those cold, sharp needles poking him. She chuckled at the irony of this. He had raced to deliver life-saving medicine to sick children, but when it came to seeing a doctor himself, he always turned skittish. That anxiety was what was making him antsy about her going as well.

"They're not my favorite thing in the world either, but it's always over before you know it," she assured him.

Their ears perked up when they heard the creaking of metal hinges and saw a small red-headed child opening door, with her mother standing nearby. This kid was Rosy and she beamed brightly when she saw her four-legged hero. "Balto! Jenna! Come here you two!" she called, and they happily obliged, bounding over with wagging tails to lick and nuzzle her face.

"I know you want to play with them but we have to get going Rosy. The vet is waiting," the older one said to her daughter. "Though, at the rate we're going we may have to start telling him we have two dogs to look after."

"Maybe we should. I'd love it if Balto could live with us, and I'd bet he would too, right boy?" Rosy asked, and he wagged his tail happily at the thought. Her mother chuckled because they'd been down this road before. Rosy had taken such a liking to Balto that she'd tried more than once to get her parents to take him in and make him part of their family. They were still a little hesitant to take in a wolfdog who had lived wild for most of his life, but even she was starting to warm up to the affectionate half-wolf. Above all, they just wanted to make sure that he would be safe in their home.

"Well, if we were to do that we'd have to make sure he's caught up on all his shots first," her mother replied, and the mention of shots made Balto's entire body stiffen and go on alert.

The needles… the sharp, piercing pins that sank into him and left a lingering sting. He was in no rush to be re-acquainted with them, so now would be the time for him to take his leave. "WellyouhaveagreatdayI'llseeyoulaterIloveyouJenna," he said swiftly while nuzzling her. Before Jenna could get a reply in, he had bolted away from them and any mention of the vet, leaving the slightly confused family behind.

"Or maybe later," Rosy's mother said as they watched him depart at lightning speed. He let himself slow down once he was a few blocks away and at a safe distance from any mention of getting shots. Besides, Jenna was right; one day away wouldn't hurt him. There were times in the past where he'd go weeks without seeing her... but that was back when he was still an outcast.

Back then, Balto rarely strayed out onto the streets. That would have only attracted attention from the dogs and humans that despised him, and encounters with them rarely went well. For most of his life he had been restricted to using alleys in order to travel safely. Delivering the medicine and ending the diphtheria outbreak, put him on the good side of those in town, allowing him to walk the streets freely. The town was bustling with it's usual daily activity. Adults went to and from the different shops and businesses as part of their daily errands, while children played in the streets, chasing each other or throwing snowballs as part of their games. With the human residents, there were also many dogs, some walking by their owner's side, with others just roaming of their own will, alone or chatting with their friends. Being a northern town, the majority of the dogs were working sled dogs, but there will also some unique breeds in the mix, kept by their owners as pets and companionship.

As he turned a corner, he heard a cheery voice call to him from across the street. "Balto! Hey there!" He turned and saw it was a grey-furred female husky who called for him. He stopped to let her catch up and they walked together side by side along the street.

"Kari, I haven't seen you around in a little while. How are you doing? Is your team still going out?" he asked.

"I'm okay, and so is the team," she replied. "And we did go out and even managed to find some game."

"That's good to hear. Maybe you'll soon find another good spot for your owner to hunt," he replied.

"Maybe… but the area seemed pretty empty when we looked. It's nothing like where we found that herd near… that pack," she said, hesitating with the last two words. Her ears fell flat against her head and her cheer immediately fell with the memories that started to surface.

About a month ago, Kari's team had started hunting game in a valley that was within the borders of a pack led by a wolf named Tikani. He reacted to what he perceived as an invasion by attacking the dogs, and later Nome itself. On one of their raids, they abducted Kari as a demonstration of what they were capable of. While that was a big blow to the dogs, they also had an instance of good fortune. Tikani's mate Kisa had been knocked out and left behind in the fight, and that led Balto to devise a very ambitious idea. He wanted there to be peace between them, and he now had something to bargain with. He went to Tikani and got his attention long enough to start brokering a deal with him. It went well, with them actually reaching an agreement and preparing to return everyone to their home. However, it was in this moment of glory that everything fell apart. Balto couldn't stop Kari's brother Spitz from breaking Kisa out to try to save Kari himself. Kisa was seen and shot by the humans, and when Tikani found out he went ballistic and blamed Balto. They were very close to losing their own lives but a quick intervention by Maska and his own pack saved them. They got home safely, but they weren't able to save the deal Balto put so much effort into.

After that, Kari's team never tried to enter the wolves' territory again, meaning they would have to go elsewhere to hunt food to support themselves and their owners. Try as they might, they couldn't find anywhere else that had the abundance of game that Tikani's pack held. They were barely getting by and it showed; Balto couldn't help but notice that Kari - along with everyone else on the team - were much leaner than a month ago. Despite the hardship, they were still grateful for Balto's efforts to help them.

There was a pause as Kari tried to push the memories of that incident out of her mind and return to he present. "So, where are you headed?" she asked, changing the subject.

"I'm off to see Maska today. You can come with me too if you're free," he offered.

"Um… I'm not sure," she replied, her expression giving away her apprehension. She wasn't admitting it, but he could see that the experience with Tikani's pack had shaken her up quite a bit. She stayed quiet after that, staring off into space as they walked. When they reached the edge of town she stopped, looking out at the forest attentively while shuffling her paws. She looked ready to bolt away from anything that might run out of the woods at her.

"Are you sure you don't want to come with me? I don't think Maska would mind," he suggested, but she only let out a small whimper.

"No, it's okay. I should be getting back home anyways. It was nice to see you again Balto." she replied quickly. She turned back into town, still taking nervous glances behind her shoulder.

Balto watched her depart before starting to trot across the open tundra towards the woods that lay beyond town. He couldn't help but feel for her because of what she went through. Not only was she taken away from her home by force, she was faced with certain death and then the closure of any deal that would have helped them. He wanted so badly to be able to help them, but so far nothing came up. Despite their gratitude, he still felt that it was his responsibility to help them - anything less would be failure.

It didn't take him long before he passed through the treeline and into the pine forest. As he let his thoughts mull, he took in the scenery around him and let a contented smile cross his muzzle. It was a clear day in early April, and the snow looked like it had run its course. Birds chirped in the trees, and in the distance he could hear the faint tricking of a stream starting to thaw. Very soon, the warm weather would come and free Alaska from winter's icy grip, bringing the freshness of spring. He soon found the path he used and trotted along it, venturing deeper into the woods. His destination was the territory of a pack led by a wolf Balto befriended named Maska. He offered Balto a place in his pack when he was having some trouble adjusting to the town, but he opted to stay near the town after Jenna tailed him and convinced him to come back. Despite living near the town, Maska still made Balto and Jenna honorary members of his pack, giving them the same friendship he gave to the wolves that followed him.

After a couple of hours trotting through the woods, Balto knew he was getting close. Coming up over a hill he knew to be their southern border, he saw a familiar red-brown she-wolf sitting in the snow. Usually, she was the type to sneak up on him, but this time he wanted to turn that around. Crouching behind the brush, he circled around her as quietly as he could. She didn't react as he crept up behind her, so he assumed she didn't know he was there. He'd gotten behind her and was only inches away from the back of her head when she suddenly said, without even turning towards him, "I know you're there Balto so don't bother trying."

He groaned when he realized that once again, she had the upper hand. "I don't know how you do it Anya. How long did you know I was here?"

"A few minutes before you started sneaking around," she replied, turning to face him with a cheeky grin. "If you don't want to be found, always tread softly on the snow well before you see someone."

"You should also approach from the downwind side. It'll prevent your scent from giving you away," another voice put in. Over the brush stepped a large, brown-furred wolf. This was Maska, and he was one who knew he what he was talking about. While Balto had found Anya, he had no idea that Maska was waiting for him as well.

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind. I hope I'm not too late for today."

"Don't worry; we don't run on the sharp schedules the humans force on themselves, so there's no such thing as too late with us. As long as you're here, that's all that matters," Maska replied before the three of them set off deeper into the territory. The range Maska's territory lived on contained mostly tree cover, with low hills, a couple of streams and a ravine on the eastern border. It was a rather humble piece of land, but it was one that Maska and his pack were proud to call their own.

"So, how is Jenna doing back in town?" Anya asked.

"She's doing fine. She's got a little appointment with the doctor today and I made sure to say goodbye before she went," he replied.

"Doctor?" she asked, tilting her head in curiosity. The term was unfamiliar to a wild wolf like her because they did not have doctors to care for them. If they got sick or injured, they had to hope for it to heal on its own… or they would perish.

"A doctor is a human whose job it is to help the sick and the hurt," Balto explained. "If you fall ill or hurt yourself, you can go to a doctor. They help you get better using medicines and other tools." At this, Maska and Anya wore very concerned looks, but Balto knew how to reassure them. "Don't worry, she's fine. Sometimes you also go to have yourself looked over. They check to see that everything's working fine, while looking for anything that might not be easily visible. She's just having her regular checkup."

"That seems odd; one would think you'd know if you were okay or not just by how you felt in the morning," Anya said.

"Maybe, but it's how the humans like to do things. There isn't any harm in double-checking," Balto finished. He knew that there would be a few culture gaps between dogs and wolves. Just as how Maska and Anya could explain things about wolves to him, he could explain things about the humans to them. That was part of why Balto was here; he wanted to learn more about the wolf side that he only recently embraced. It was quite an experience for him, but there was still that part of him that wanted to be comfortable in a human home, with a family.

"Other than that, how well is everything going in town?" Maska asked.

"It's been pretty quiet," he replied. "I saw Kari today. She and her team are doing okay… but they haven't been able to hunt as much as they would like. You wouldn't happen to have anything that could help them would you?"

"I'm sorry but we don't," Anya replied. "Anything we found was either too small for long-term hunting or too far away to be practical."

"Darn… there has to be some way I can help them. I have to find something…"

"I know you want to be the good guy here, but there are some cases where nothing can be done," Maska urged. "Yes, it's hard to take, especially when it's something beyond your control, but when it happens, all you can do is minimize the damage."

"Except I could have controlled this. Everything would be okay if it weren't for one small, stupid oversight on my part. I have to make this right."

"For the umpteenth time, stop beating yourself up for it," Anya retorted, glaring at him sharply. "You can't change the past. Sometimes you don't find the solution yourself… sometimes the solution finds you when you're not looking for it. At the very least, you should be glad that we've gone this long without seeing any sign of Tikani."

"That's true; I'm glad not just for the town's sake, but mine as well," he replied, his ears falling flat at the thought.

"I won't forget what you've done to me."

"You've known him longer than me; is he the type to hold a grudge?" Balto asked.

"I wish I had a better answer for you, but I don't know. Nothing like this has happened before… but I doubt that he'd drop this easily. The bond between mates is the strongest in the pack and if it's lost, it's never forgotten," Maska replied. "There's no doubt that he hates you now… but whether or not he will act on that hate is a different question. Here's what I do know: None of my scouts has seen anything out of the ordinary on their borders. If he's brooding, he's doing it privately… I prefer to think that no news is good news."

"Maybe it is," Balto mused while glancing to the side. They could see that he was still a little down and if there was one thing that Anya hated, it was moping, so she shifted gears to get his mind off what was troubling him.

"Going back to earlier, I think it would be good if we showed Balto some tricks to help him move a little stealthier," she suggested. "I'm sure that he's starting to get tired of me constantly one-upping him."

"Ah, I think I know what you're getting at," Maska continued, nodding as he caught on to her intent. "He does need to learn to move more like a wolf and less like a bear."

"I do not move like a bear!" he protested.

"Sure you don't," she teased, giggling a little.

With that, they spent the remainder of their day showing Balto various ways to make himself less obvious in the woods, from stepping quietly and tracking wind direction to minimizing his prints and keeping his stride down to a jog instead of a full run. The last one proved to be more difficult for Balto because he was part racing dog. His instinct was to stay ahead of whatever was chasing him, but Maska told him otherwise. "The main aim is to stay quiet and conserve your energy," he explained. "Only when you really need to should you break into a run… then you can unleash the full potential of your sled-dog side." Balto took it in quickly, and while he still needed much refinement, he quickly got the basics down over the course of the afternoon.

Before he knew it, the sun was descending towards the horizon. Jenna would probably be finished with her appointment by now, and Balto wanted to get home before it got dark. He knew better than to be out alone at night, and he also had the hope of spending the night with her. With his head full of everything he'd learned, he bid them goodbye and promised to see them again in a few days. He wanted to go alone, but Maska still saw it fit to assign one of his scouts to accompany him home. They may not have seen any sign of Tikani for a month, but it was still better to be safe than sorry. The trip home stared out well, but as they passed out of Maska's territory, neither Balto nor his escort noticed the forms moving in on them from the east…

Everything was dark, blurry. His head was throbbing from… something. The last thing he remembered was walking home, but something came at him so quickly that he never saw it coming. There was noise behind him… voices? All his senses seemed to be stuck in a haze, but it passed as he woke. The blurred shapes became more visible and the voices became clearer to his ears. He was in a cave and there were two others having some sort of argument. He couldn't easily make out who it was because of the low light - this quickly told him that it was night by now. He didn't know how, but he'd been knocked out for a few hours.

"I'm not trying to go against you on this. I'm just saying that this carries a lot of risk. Once they realize he's missing, they will come for him in force," the first voice said.

"Then let them come. Go and put the pack on alert," the second voice replied.

"But we might not be-" Balto groaned as he started to stir, catching the first voice mid-sentence. "Look, he's starting to wake up."

"It's about time. As for you Atka, you have your orders," the second replied. There was the sound of snow crunching as the owner of the first voice dashed off while the second padded over to him. "Glad to see you're finally awake. Despite my beta's reservations, I'm glad you're here." Balto tried to focus on the voice; it was familiar, but he couldn't put a pin on it. "Oh come now, where's the hello? Don't you remember me?" the second voice taunted.

Finally Balto got the strength to raise his head enough to see who was talking, but when he saw who it was, he wished he hadn't. "No… you… anyone but you," he said to the dark-furred wolf before him.

"Oh yes, it's me," he taunted. "I told you I'd never forget what you did to me." This wolf was the absolute last creature that Balto wanted to see, even more so than his former enemy Steele. This wolf was far worse than any of the antagonistic dogs; he was actually malicious, and Balto was at his mercy.

"Tikani…"