Balto cautiously stepped into the human's den and peeked here and there. Why did the wolfdog trust this human? Not even Balto himself could answer that, he simply did. The human chuckled at the hybrid's caution. "You're definitely not comfortable in here, are you?" he asked. Figuring he wouldn't get an answer, he reached into a weird box which had cold air spewing out of it when opened and grabbed something. "You're gonna have to wait for this to thaw out, unless you want to break your teeth eating it, so just relax for a while," the man placed down the frozen food on the counter and walked to hang up his coat.
How could a wild animal relax inside of a human home? Balto paced back and forth tirelessly, hoping that whatever he was waiting for happened as soon as possible. "Can't sit still can you?" Balto jumped when he heard the human's footsteps. A hand was placed on his head. "Can't say I blame you on that one," he continued.
The man sat down in a chair and sighed. "How about I tell you a bit more about myself? My name is Sean," he said. Balto sat down in front of the human, Sean, well, that was something to refer to him as for the short time he'll be here. A knock at the door made Balto jump again, he was never skittish, but being inside of a human den put the canine on edge. "I'm coming!" Sean said as he got up to open the door. "I recommend you hide behind my chair for a bit. If anybody else is to see you, they won't take too kindly to it," Sean instructed.
Balto did as told, then Sean opened the door. "Hey Sean," a man wearing a heavy coat and a musher's hat stepped into the room. With him was the same dog that Balto had fought. "Oh! Mr. Gunnar, what brings you here? Come in!" Sean led the new face to a chair across from the one Balto was hiding behind. Steele sat at the side of his owner. "I saw you coming home from fishing while the whole town was searching for a wolf that was seen near town," Mr. Gunnar said. "What of it? A man's gotta put food on the table somehow."
Gunnar smiled. "I know, but I've visited you many times in the past…" the man trailed off. "And I don't recall you ever owning a dog, yet one was following you out of the woods," Mr. Gunnar finished. "Must've been a trick of the eye, I went alone and came back alone," Sean responded. Steele got up, started sniffing the floor, and walked up to where Sean was seated, right where Balto was hiding.
"What are you doing Steele?" Sean said with a smile on his face. Steele peeked around the chair and barked. He came face to face with the wolfdog. "There you are lobo," Steele's grin looked less remorseful than a rabid wolf. To avoid being dragged by a mutt, Balto stepped out from behind the chair, sat down, and kept his eyes on the floor. "Sean, why do you have a wolf in your house?"
Sean shrugged. "I gave him some jerky after I got done fishing, and he seemed pretty friendly, and kind of thin. So I offered it some food and so here's the wolf," Mr. Gunnar started rubbing his chin. "That wolf looks way too small, even Steele towers over it..." Gunnar commented. "So you let a wolf inside your home, you're going to feed it, and then let it go?" Sean nodded.
"Please don't hunt him down as soon as I let him go, he's pretty friendly for a wolf, even lets me pet him, look." the man knelt down and urged Balto to come closer. Not long after, Sean started petting the wolfdog. "See?" Steele came over and stomped on Balto's paw, which made him grunt, and it sounded like a growl. Balto bared his teeth for a second as the malamute's claws dug into his paw.
"Hey! Why'd you growl at me for bud?" the wolf dog let out a whimper and looked down at his paws. "I don't think he's as friendly as you just made him out to be Sean. Think it might be best to take him to the vet's and put him down." Gunnar said. Sean looked down at the wolf dog's paw, which Balto had been looking at the entire time. "Well, that would explain why he growled at me," Sean pointed.
"Steele's been digging his claws into the wolf's paw." Sean moved the malamute's paw off of Balto's and started rubbing it. The human's hands rubbing Balto's aching paw felt amazing to the wolfdog, and so Balto started licking Sean's cheek as his way of saying "thank you." Sean laughed as the wolf's tongue caressed his face. "See? He's pretty friendly when there isn't a set of claws digging into his paws," Sean said.
Balto can't believe what he just did, usually licking another wolf meant you were either grooming them or greeting them, and Balto just licked a human's face of all things. It somehow felt natural. "Well alright then, I'll hold off on hunting him down as soon as you release him. Come on Steele." Mr Gunnar started walking to the door. "And Sean, talk to you later," Gunnar waved as he stepped out the door.
"This isn't over, lobo, I'll kill you before you even leave town," Steele threatened. "I'd like to see you try it."
"Hey buddy, your food's unthawed!"