4 months later…

Kodi and Aleu have been enslaved for 6½ months now! For the last 4 months, they have been getting treated like complete trash. Steele broke his promise about not treating them like property.

Aleu is also 6 weeks pregnant (Dog pregnancies last ~ 9 weeks), and she has to do the harsh work she's always had to do. Her and Star have had to try multiple times. She is becoming less mobile as time progressed, and she didn't want her pups to get hurt. Even if they were forced, she was still going to be a good mother!

Kodi hasn't gotten a single spec of love from Steele since the first time he got back from Nome. What happened?

Steele has gone back to Nome every now and then to make sure Balto didn't lose faith in him. Steele continued to lie, and by now, damn near all of Nome thought Kodi and Aleu had mated and was staying out of town so they don't make it obvious.

Dingo is now at lead dog. With him running at the front, the sled team hasn't been late once. Most of the time, they ran early. Though Kodi was missed, they were doing just fine without him.

Dingo knows Steele is behind all this. He knows Kodi and Aleu didn't mate. Kodi's dead! Steele's disgracing Kodi. He's telling everyone BS so they don't miss him, just see him as a sick dog.

There have been so many nights that he has stayed up crying, not able to sleep. Not only was his closest brother dead, but his spirit was left in disgrace, and everyone disrespects him now. Poor Dingo doesn't know Kodi is just fine, just enslaved.

Jenna cries a lot herself.

Come on, you two! Please just come back! I don't care that you two mated! I just want to see my kids and help raise the pups! I love you two! Jenna pleaded.

Star, Nikki, and Kaltag have been watching Steele mistreat the two of Balto's kids. They surely were starting to get annoyed with it. They've been feeling bad for them since day one. Kodi hated their guts! They're traitors! They should go to hell!

Kodi went up to Aleu.

"Aleu, I'm getting real tired of this crap! We need to escape!"

"Yeah! But how?"

"Take out Star, Nikki, and Kaltag one by one, then double team Steele."

"Kodi, I'm pregnant! I'm very limited on my ability! I think Star, Nikki, and Kaltag can help u…"

"Forget those guys! They're not gonna help us!"

"Who knows, they might!"

"I'm not taking the risk!"

"You know, Kodi, there's still one thing I don't understand."

"What's that?"

"Why did you mate with Steele?"

Kodi planned on keeping this a secret, but Aleu knows now.

"Because… I… I grew a bond with Steele after we moved to this den. He wanted to be more than friends. I didn't get the hint until a little later. One night he brought me to his room to help keep him warm. I slowly got feelings for him, and we… mated."

Steele swatted Kodi.

"Stop talking and get me food!"

Kodi got up and went to hunt for Steele. God, he was fed up! This better end soon! He was obviously off the team by now. Steele just recently burned his mark into Kodi again. Star, Nikki, and Kaltag aren't any help! Those three traitors are nothing but cowards! They're following Steele's orders and not doing anything about it!

Kodi came back with some food for Steele. Star, Nikki, and Kaltag were the ones that usually fed Kodi and Aleu because Steele would intentionally eat all of his. Steele was going to use Aleu today, so Kodi is now with Star, Nikki, and Kaltag.

"You guys are still scumbags! You don't have any of my respect!"

"Kodi, this has been going on for 6 months. You and Aleu have both been completely mistreated!" Kaltag said.

"Showing mercy now won't help at all!"

"Youse dos realize that wes want to help youse," Nikki said.

"Help me with what!? Making my life more miserable!? You're accent annoys me!"

Nikki got offended, however, what Kodi said was completely understandable.

"What if we help you escape," Star said.

"You guys won't! You're nothing but cowards!"

"Kodi, please just hear us out! We're being blackmailed by Steele much like you are!" Kaltag said.

"Do you expect me to believe that!? You've been Steele's best friends for a long time!"

"Wes hate Steele's guts, dere!" Nikki said.

"Well, maybe now, but you used to be Steele's friends!"

Kaltag came closer to Kodi.

"Kodi, do you want to know why I was loyal to Steele? He gave me the option to become his right hand man. Because of that, I kind of had to be loyal to him. Do you want to know how I became his right hand man?"

Kodi backed away from Kaltag. It was uncomfortable with him being that close.

"What did you have to do?"

"You know what your mom and dad did to make you? I was in your mom's position."

"What the f… What… Are you…"

Kodi had to pace in circles to prevent an overload of shock from blowing up his brain.

"You're gay too?"

"Hell no! A man has to do what a man has to do to rise up in the ranks! I'll tell you, that is one of, if not, the biggest mistake I've made in my life!"

Kodi started to believe these guys now.

"What did he blackmail you guys about?"

"Make sure Steele isn't listening in!" Star said.

"Well, for me, he's going to tell everyone about that little incident," Kaltag said.

"He is going to tell Nome that I's plotted and tried tos kill Balto," Nikki said.

"What about you, Star?" Kodi asked.

"I became Steele's left hand man."

"What does that… oh."

Kodi wanted to stay mad, but if they're going through the same thing he is, he sure feels bad for them.

"I'm sorry to hear that, guys. If… if there's anything I can do to help then… why don't we just take him out?" Kodi asked.

"Steele is sneaky! You'd be surprised about trying to kill him. It'll be a failure. However… we can sneak you guys out of here!" Kaltag said.

"Really!? You'll do that for us!?"

"Kodi, I'm sure you're still mad at me about mating with Aleu. But… I kind of had to. I love her dearly. You're basically my brother-in-law. I'll do my best to help you guys," Star said.

"How are you going to sneak us out?"

"Chew up your line tonight," Kaltag said, "Then come out. I'll be scouting tonight. One of you will have to hit me on the head to knock me out. Leave a mark, because that's the whole point of that."

"If youse make it tos Nome in time, youse can prevent the blackmail on youse from taking effect," Nikki said.

Little did they all know that Steele told Balto, who told Jenna and his kids about it, who told their closest friends that promised not to spread the rumor, who spread the rumor, and it's all throughout Nome now.

"Alright, so when should we get this started?"

"As soon as Steele is in a deep sleep, chew and break the line that's holding you back. We'll tell Aleu the plan when Steele is done with her," Kaltag said.

Kodi nudged Kaltag.

"Thank you!"

He nudged Nikki.

"Thank you too, Nikki!"

He hugged Star.

"Thank you Star! I ask one more thing of you. That is to help my sister raise her pups!"

"It's a deal!" Star said proudly.

The day had come to an end. Star, Nikki, and Kaltag had told Aleu their plan. Kodi couldn't even sleep because he was so anxious about whether or not this plan will work. If it did, how exciting it would be to be back home. But there's that bad feeling that Steele can still tell everyone the news.

That was alright though. He had to remember to chew the line that was holding him back after Steele fell asleep. This had to work! None of them could afford to fail this!