Heat

"Alex, please wake up! I-I'm sorry! Just please wake up!"

Siku is sitting in front of Alex's motionless body, crying. Some of her tears are falling onto his muzzle, causing steam to form.

Blaze, with tears of fire starting to form in his eyes, he looks away and shouts, "Elders, is he in the spirit world?!"

One of the elders, a black wolf with eyes of fire, shakes his head. "No my pack leader, he is still with us. His spirit is strong. He will survive."

Blaze smiles and turns his attention towards Alex. 'Please wake up! Please wake up!'

A single movement that went unnoticed by all except one; Siku. She frowns at his body, thinking she might have been imagining it, when his right leg twitched. She hears a slight whimper escape his maw and her tail starts to wag.

"He's waking up! He's alive!"

Balto and Huayra smile, though Huayra soon frowned afterwards. Rusty sighs heavily. "Well, at least he's alive."

Slowly, but surely, Alex's eyes open. He then climbs to his feet and sits, looking at Siku.

"What… What happened?"

Siku smiles and jumps on him, pinning him to the ground. "Oh Alex! You're alive! I thought you never going to wake up!"

Alex is shocked. He wasn't expecting to get jumped on, nor was he expecting her to be licking his face.

"Yeah… I'm glad to be awake. Um… can you move your left hind leg? It's um… well… it's… uh…"

Siku cocks her head. "What?"

"Um… as a male, I am anatomically correct. So your leg is… well… crushing the one thing you weren't born with."

Siku starts to blush and she moves her leg off of his crotch.

He smiles and releases a heavy sigh. "Under different circumstances, hell, a completely different situation, this would be rather exciting."

Realizing what he just said, he starts to blush along with her. "Um… I didn't mean it like that. I meant… uh… well… I didn't mean it like that though… I'm going to shut up now."

Siku chuckles slightly and climbs off of him, letting him stand up. "Um… yeah, I missed you a lot. I… I thought you wouldn't wake up again. I… I just didn't like it when you looked so… so…"

"So what? So dead? So vulnerable?"

"Yeah, so vulnerable."

Alex smiles and looks at Balto. "Siku mentioned a journey you were going on. Well count me in. You can use the firepower."

Rusty shakes his head. "No, we're all full and-"

"Then you tell me how you'll travel through the frozen lands without heat. Tell me how you'll go through the shadow lands without light. Tell me how you'll travel the mountains without a fire wolf when a bunch of air wolves jump you. Tell me."

Rusty sits down and sighs. "Fine, I give up."

Balto rolls his eyes and smiles at Alex. "We're glad to have you along Alex."

Blaze approaches Balto and sits in front of him. "You are brave for coming to us. We will do whatever you ask."

He then turns to Alex and sighs. "Inferno… or Alex, I am sorry for what we did. You have proven us wrong. Go with our blessing."

Alex smiles and says, "Thank you Alpha Blaze. I will never forget you or this pack, even in death."

Balto and the others turn and head out of the fire wolf territory, followed by their new member, a fire wolf.

End of Book One