Balto took a step away from Jenna. "I'd prefer it if you don't get too close," he said. "Oh, sorry," Jenna backed away from him as her owner's father tried pulling her away from the hybrid. "It was nice meeting you, Balto," the husky said. Balto didn't say anything as he started walking deeper into the forest. It's not that the hybrid didn't like Jenna, he really didn't, but he did not want to live in that den. Especially with not only two dogs knowing about its location, but also some humans know about it as well.
The wolf dog was lost in his mind as he wandered around the forest. There really wasn't anything holding Balto down to anywhere, could've tried giving that human family a chance, but they probably think he was a purebred wolf, and chances were they still wouldn't like him anyways. Other wolf packs would probably chase Balto away, or even kill him. Wolves usually never killed pups, which was how he even lived for as long as he did with the first pack, but now that he was full grown, he'd likely be killed.
Maybe being a lone wolf wouldn't be too bad, it'd only take getting used to not being able to hunt a caribou with a group backing him up. Balto snapped out of his thoughts when he bumped his head into a tree. His vision blurred for a second and saw the face of once of his pack in that split second, only for his vision to clear. Balto sighed, and sat down. Maybe this is where he would live, it wasn't much, but it wasn't like he would find himself a new wolf pack any time.
All he needed now was a den.
The wolfdog came face to face with a human, staring right at him, only a few feet away. In his hands were some fish, and a net. He didn't have a gun, as his attire was fairly similar to what Rosy's father had on. Balto got down low and began growling as he started to back away, the human started approaching the wolfdog, his catch and equipment on the ground. "Didn't expect to see a wolf today," the man said. He dug around in his back pocket as he approached the growling animal.
"Now cut your growling, I'm not going to hurt you," he tried to assure Balto as the wolfdog backed up into a tree. The hybrid was going to have to fight his way out of this one. The man crouched in front of him at arm's length, and extended his hand out with something in it. "Are you hungry?"
Balto stared at whatever was in this human's hand, it smelled like cold caribou, but was more like a small strip of it. "It's jerky, give it a try pal," the human coaxed. Was this guy up to something? There was no way a human would offer him food of all things, especially one he's never met. Balto sniffed at the jerky for a solid minute before deciding to take a bite of it, being careful not to bite the human's hand. If the human was friendly, it wouldn't hurt to be friendly back.
Surprisingly, the jerky tasted pretty good, it was far from enough to fill up a wolf, or wolf dog, but Balto enjoyed it. The human offered him some more jerky, which Balto happily took. As the wolfdog chewed on the last strip, the man made an attempt to pet him. Balto's instincts started fighting against each other, the dog part of him told him to let the man pet him, the wolf side of him was telling him to back away. Finally, the hand made contact with Balto's head, and the man was smiling.
"You're probably the friendliest wolf I've ever seen," the human looked over Balto as the wolfdog leaned into the caressing hand. "Probably the smallest wolf I've seen as well." he lifted his hand and started rubbing his chin as he stared at Balto. "I'm willing to bet that jerky didn't fill you up, did it?" the wolf dog stared up at the human for a second. "How about I take you home and give you a proper meal?" Balto backed away for a second. Being a human's pet? Well, this one was nice, but the wolfdog simply couldn't let himself be a man's pet.
"I'll let you go when you're full, how does that sound?" the human placed a hand on Balto's head and ruffled his fur. "I know I probably can't keep a wolf, let alone take care of one, but I'm willing to bet you can't let down a free meal can you?"
Balto sighed, it was only for the food, when he's done, he's gone. The wolfdog started following the human after he picked up his fish and net.
Not too long after Balto started following the human, he came face to face with the very town he had just left. "Just stay by me and nobody will lay a finger on you, you have my word," the human instructed. The wolfdog almost scoffed at the idea of following a human's orders, but figured it would be best to listen. One wrong step and he was dead meat.
Off to the distance, Balto could see dogs sniffing around the outskirts of town along with some humans. Probably were trying to find the wolfdog to kill later on.
The first into town was jarring, and terrifying for Balto. There were so many humans and dogs in one place, each one gave him a weird look as they passed by. On the other paw, everything around him was so much bigger. Sure, wolves in his pack had been taller than he was, but not by much. Here, humans were much taller than he was, including the one he was following, and the buildings around him made Balto feel tiny.
"Well, here we are, I'll lead you out of town when you're done eating."
The door had opened and Balto followed the man inside.