Chapter 3

The morning came as a blessing to Balto and he moved his sleepy eyes from his pups and out to the sun that now was beginning to peek over the sea. One by one the pups began to stir as the light brushed against their faces and stretched out their still sleeping joints and muscles. Kodiak was the last to stir and as he rose, Balto kept a careful eye on his every move. Kodiak didn't appear to have changed any, but it was still a very real possibility. Balto did his best to wipe the worry from his sleep derived face with a meek smile.

"Good morning daddy," Alue piped with a wag of her tail.

"Good morning pups," Balto replied, "how did you all sleep?"

"Well we slept fine until he started freaking out last night," Saba answered gesturing over to Kodiak with her eyes.

Kodiak turned his head to face his sister and father.

"Wait, what? Did I…" Kodiak began.

"You mean you don't remember?" Balto asked with a glimmer of hope.

"Remember what?" Kodiak asked confused.

"Nothing son, you just had a bad dream last night is all."

Kodiak studied his father for a moment then smiled. Balto was relieved. If he didn't remember then that meant he was fine; at least for now anyway. From here on out though, he would have to keep a sharp eye; another attack was an almost guaranteed occurrence. It was just a matter of when.

- The midday walk back to Jenna's house was one of the hardest he would ever have to make. The whole way he thought of nothing but how he was going to tell Jenna about the events of the previous night; and each time he would get somewhere with his explanation, he would trash it and come up with a new one. The pups played and rolled over each other as Balto let off a low howl. Not but a moment later, the large door opened and Rosie's small figure appeared.

"Hey boy, come on in."

She moved out of the doorway and Balto stepped into the quaint house. The pups looked up from their folly and saw their father's tail disappear into the house and scrambled in shortly behind him. Once the last of the pups was in Rosy latched the door shut. Not long after the door was shut there came the sound of claws. Balto looked up and saw Jenna effortlessly glide down the stairs and come to a stop three feet in front of him with a welcoming smile.

"Mamma!" the pups cried in unison and danced happily toward her.

Jenna nuzzled each one and then gave Balto a lick on the cheek. When she drew back her head she saw just how tired Balto looked with the many bags under his eyes and the way his eyelids hung down halfway shut.

"Balto, you look so tired; is something wrong?"

"Well, Jen, I can't say."

He looked down at the pups that were busy wrestling with each other.

"Why don't you all go and play with Rosy," Balto said as more of an order than a suggestion, "Your mother and I need to talk."

The pups all scrambled over to Rosie's feet and she reached down and patted them playfully. Balto gave Jenna a meek smile and led her outside.

"So what is this about," Jenna began once they were safely out of the house, "Has Alue…"

"No," Balto cut in sharply, "It's Kodi."

"What happened," Jenna asked worried

"Well, last night he had a fit."

"So, we'll just give him a lecture on…"

"No, I mean he had to fight for himself last night."

Jenna looked shocked.

"You mean?"

Balto gave a small nod.

"He seemed okay this morning so I asked him if he remembered anything."

"Well, did he?"

"He told me that he didn't remember a thing, so that means that the wolf is pretty well contained as of right now; but…"

"But what?"

"I'm just afraid that this problem will come back later, and far worse."

"So what you are trying to tell me is that our son is a bomb waiting to go off?"

"I don't know, Jen, but for now we have been lucky."

"Should… we tall him?"

"I'm afraid not," Balto began, "If we did it could be very bad."

"Elaborate," Jenna demanded, slightly annoyed with Balto's bluntness in his last sentence.

"Well, just think, Jenna; dogs and wolves have been at war ever since the first wild dog decided to walk along side man. That very same war is going on right now inside of Kodi as we speak."

Balto paused and watched Jenna carefully. She still looked as if she hadn't a clue where he was going.

"Okay, picture this." Balto used his paws and pushed the fine dirt beneath them into a pile that vaguely represented a wall. "So imagine that this is a dam and that Kodi is on one side and that the wolf half of his nature is on the other."

Jenna nodded.

"Now, pretend that my paw is the wolf." He began bulging the wolf side in on Kodi's. "This is what is going on inside of our son's mind. The wolf will continue to press and fight his way through the wall." As Balto's paw slowly pushed through the dirt, small clumps began to landslide down to the ground. "As the wolf continues to hit the wall, small parts of it will be blown out, and then changes of unmeasurable proportions will occur. The more and more the wall crumbles the more of the wolf will bleed through until," he slammed is paw through the rest of the way, "Kodi becomes completely consumed by it. Last night was a prime example of the wolf's attempt at Kodi's mind."

Jenna was shocked.

"Can… it be prevented," She asked desperately.

"I'm afraid I don't know, Jenna."

- Kodiak lay asleep on his belly away from his siblings and Rosy, tired from his play and wanting nothing more than to close his eyes and drift away into his dreams. There was a chill that ran down his spine and just barely out of his control; he began flexing his little claws on the floor.