Chapter 3 - Lost and Found
As Balto crawled onto the rough bed and tried to sleep, he thought of Aleu and how she was doing as a leader. He missed her dearly, and he wished on a star every night that she would return. There were so many thoughts racing through his head that sleep simply would not come to him.
Balto also thought of his past children. How were they managing with their humans? Were they being taken care of properly? Did they miss their parents and their other siblings?
And what about the dreaded Steele? Would he ever return to haunt Jenna? Has he left for good? What if he has hurt one of their family members?
Then there was his mother... where was she? Is her spirit watching over them, keeping them safe, blessing them? Is that how they got through to the cabin, or was it pure luck? He was then rescued from his troubling thoughts by Jenna's soft voice.
"Balto? What's the matter?" she asked worriedly. She looked down at her puppies to make sure they were asleep before getting up to jump onto the bed with her husband.
"Oh... nothing, Jenna, nothing."
Jenna gave him a knowing look and said, "Balto, I always know what's wrong with you." She then paused for a brief moment and changed her voice back to an understanding voice and said slowly, "Now... please tell me what's wrong. I'm the only one here who can help you."
"Hey, I can't help him?" Boris asked sarcastically as he waddled towards them.
"Do you think you can?" Balto asked. Boris thought about that for a minute, shrugged, and turned around and walked to the door.
"Hey, Boris, where are you going?" Jenna asked him as he headed to the door.
"Little Goose's room," he said, giving them a toothy grin as he crawled outside through the doggie door.
"So, Balto... where were we?" Jenna asked as she laid down and placed her paw on his.
"I don't know, Jen... there's just so many things going on in my mind right now."
"Well, like what?" she asked as she cocked her head and looked into his eyes.
"I'm thinking about just about everything that's been going on in my life."
"You mean, like... Aleu, and Aries"
"Steele," Balto said. "You forgot Steele." At the mention of his name, Jenna gulped hard and looked out the window, but soon turned her attention back to Balto.
"Well, honey, what have you been thinking ab--" She was interrupted by a wolf howl, and it sounded close. Too close.
"Jenna, I'm gonna check this out... go get the puppies and hide under the bed with them until I say it's safe."
"Bal--"
"Please, just do it. I don't want to lose another member of my family." Jenna looked at him sorrowfully and did as she was told quickly.
Balto jumped out of the doggie door quickly and looked at his surroundings. He stuck his nose up in the air and sniffed around. Suddenly, he caught a familiar smell flowing through the wind and went after it.
As he turned the corner of the cozy cabin, the smell started to speak.
"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" the girl's voice said. Balto turned to look at her and he put on a grin so wide you could've seen it from space.
"Have ya missed me?" she asked him.
"Dog, yes, I have!" Balto shouted. Then he remembered who else would like to see her. He then smiled and motioned for her to follow him into the cabin.
"Jenna? You can come out now! Someone's here to see you," Balto said as he peeked his head under the bed.
"Are you sure it's safe?" Jenna asked.
"Of course I am. Now come on, get outta there!"
Jenna smiled and crawled out. What she saw in front of her made her ecstatic.
"A... Al... Aleu?" Jenna asked in disbelief. Aleu smiled and rushed to her mother.
"Mom!" she yelled as they hugged tightly. Tears were streaming down their faces and Balto rolled his eyes. 'What's with women?' he thought.
"Oh, Aleu, dear, what have you been doing these past few years?"
"Well... my pack decided to break away from me... we're all going off on our own. But most of them went off with their mates or their own little friend groups."
"Oh, well that's just too bad, dear!" Jenna said. Balto agreed and shook his head up and down.
"Who are you with"
"Oh..." Aleu blushed. "My mate. Say hello to Saint." Then a beautiful wolf walked through the doggie door. He was jet black with yellow eyes that shone like stars. He came and sat beside Aleu and she rested her head on his neck.
"Hello," Saint said politely as he shook Jenna's and Balto's paws.
"Nice to meet you, Saint," Balto said as he smiled.
"Yes, nice to meet you," Jenna added.
Then Aleu heard little whimpers coming from under the bed.
"Mom, I think the bed is alive," she said, backing up to the wall. Saint stepped forward, ready to protect Aleu from any danger.
Jenna laughed and said, "Don't worry, it's... family." Aleu furrowed her brow and stepped forward.
"Family?"
Jenna nodded once more before placing the puppies, one by one, out on the wooden floor of the cabin. Aleu's face lit up and she instantly nuzzled the puppies, one by one.
"Aww! They're so cute! What are their names?" Aleu asked.
"Well, the reddish-brown one is Rosie, the brown one is Rascal, and the white one is Anaiu," Balto said proudly as he lowered his nose down to Anaiu. Her tiny nose touched his and Balto cracked a small grin and licked it before Saint asked, "Why Anaiu? And how is it pure white? It's very unusual for a puppy to be pure white if its parents are brown and red."
Balto sighed, squinted his eyes, and looked up at Saint. "I named her after my mother." Balto then rushed outside and sat in the snow.
"Oh, no... what did I do, Aleu?" Saint asked worriedly. Aleu shrugged.
Jenna sighed and said, "Saint, it wasn't your fault. You see, he's... he's a wolf-dog. His father was a dog, and his mother, Anaiu, was a wolf. His mother died in a fight... he hasn't quite gotten over it. She was all he had. He lived by himself until he could talk, and then he ended up getting adopted by a goose named Boris, whom is with us at the moment outside."
"Wow. Long story," Saint said.
"Yeah, I know. But it's sad when you think about it."
"Oh, mom, Boris is here? I wanna see him!" Aleu said excitedly as she ran around the cabin looking for him. "So where is he? I'm gonna rip his head off!" she said playfully.
"He said he had to use the little goose's room," Jenna said. "But that was quite a while ago... he hasn't come back yet."
"Maybe he's outside with Daddy," Aleu suggested.
"Yeah, probably," Jenna said. "I'm gonna check just in case, though."
"Okay, I'll watch my new sibs!" Aleu said. "And you're going to help me," she said to Saint, softly hitting his neck with her paw.
When Jenna came outside and saw Balto sitting on the edge of the mountain that was in the back of the cabin, she ran over to him and sat down beside him and rested her head on his.
"Balto, what's wrong?"
"Nothing... there's just a lot on my mind."
"Honey, I know... but Aleu's here now, that should take one thing off of your mind."
"Yeah, it did... but one's not enough to cure the pain."
Jenna frowned and said, "Balto? HAve you seen Boris anywhere?"
Balto's eyes grew wide. "Oh my dog, no! I completely forgot about him!"
"Me, too... what should we do?" Jenna asked worriedly, standing up. Balto did the same.
"You're going into the cabin to look after the pups. You tell Aleu and Saint to come help me look for him quickly."
Jenna nodded her head and ran inside.
About two seconds later, Aleu and Saint came sprinting out the door to assist in the search. They yelled out his name and looked everywhere they thought of looking. Aleu, the brave soul that she was, even looked in the smelly outhouse. But it was no use. Boris was nowhere to be found.
End of Chapter 3
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