In the Negative

by RevieRev

Disclaimer:

I do not own Balto or it's characters. I also make no money from this fan fiction.

Chapter Three

It'd been three days since she had last found out that she was part wolf, since she'd spoken to Kaltag, and since she'd talked with her mother that night about this wolf thing. It was a lot more than Aleu felt that she had asked for from the world. It was just one thing after another and being in heat and moody about everything never helped.

She wouldn't have said that she was settling into this wolf nature of hers but she'd grown curious and wanted to explore what she really was and get some more answers. Her father wanted to "protect" her as he'd said and wouldn't help her learn about herself so she'd just have to do it on her own.

Today Aleu found herself in the forest. It was mid-day and the white specks from the winter storm beforehand had built up to throw a couple of inches of snow on the ground. She didn't mind this at all, she took it in as that natural wolf thing. Although, almost every dog in Nome enjoyed the snow; without it they wouldn't have their sled dogs.

Her ears pricked forward to an unusual sound in the brush. Light blue eyes caught sight of a rabbit trying to pick for food through the snow. Excitement ran through her, now she could test her hunting skills. Luckily, she'd always been the one to have the more natural strong prey drive.

Naturally with ease, her body lowered itself towards the ground, bringing her as low as she could to hide but still be able to see her target. She slowly crept forward, ears alert, and ready to sprint at any second to go after this small mammal.

Stealth wasn't on her side today. Having not watching her steps, she snapped a twig under her weight. Freezing, she watched the rabbit carefully to see if it would run. Soon, the white hare stopped her and bolted.

As quickly as she could, Aleu gave chase, sprinting though the snow as quickly as she could to try and keep up. She had stamina but she was no experienced hunter and lost sight of her target.

"Man," she mumbled to herself, disappointed that she couldn't even catch something as small as a rabbit. She'd be making a fool of herself if she were to try and go after a mouse. That was pup's play and she was a full grown adult.

With her tail twitching in annoyance, she sat there, trying to think of how she could improve her next chance at hunting game. She thought about it for a few moments and maybe fish would have been a better option. Those polar bears could help her but then again, they weren't the brightest.

After a few minutes, she decided to continue on to a river, assuming she could find a spot that wasn't frozen to attempt fishing. As soon as Aleu was about to make a move, she was stopped by a voice behind her.

"That's not quite the best way to catch a meal, doll face."

Aleu spun around to lock eyes with the one the voice had emerged from. Before her was a black wolf with a dark gray toned underbelly. His burning golden eyes locked with hers. He was athletically built and just under the average size for a male wolf but she could see small scars on his face from battle. She looked at his massive paws; it was obvious he was still much larger than her father. In his pearly white fangs, he held the white rabbit that she had chased earlier.

Not one to just easily trust strangers, Aleu kept her guard up but didn't make any threatening gestures as she had to Kaltag days before in the building. Yet what made it stranger to her right now was that this wolf was alone and had no pack. She was sure she would have smelled more of them, had they been around.

"What do you want," she questioned him, suspiciously.

The wolf raised a brow at her response. He set down the rabbit, nudged it towards her. Slowly, he began to walk around her, circling her, ready to make any sort of move if she did.

"Now now, that's not a very nice way to say, 'hello' Aleu," he replied back to her, artfully.

"How do you know my name," she sharply barked back at him.

"Word travels quickly. I've heard of your father, Balto. That was a very courageous thing he did to save those humans, wasn't it?" He was simply mocking her.

"What of it?" There was a poison in her tone now.

"Oh how rude of me. I apologize, my name is Sevrim," he responded like a gentleman.

"Pleased to meet you," Aleu sarcastically replied.

Sevrim scoffed at her, and then stopped when he was directly in front of Aleu. He began to step forward and with every step he made, she made home to move backwards while still facing him. A smirk was carved on his face.

"That's not very lady like, Aleu. You should respect you elders a bit more, eh?"

"Whoever said I was a lady?"

It was true that she was intimidated by his size. She didn't know how she'd put herself in danger like this, at least he felt like a threat to her. Keeping her blue eyes locked with his golden ones, she kept a steady pace with him.

He was careful where he made his steps as well. He was directing her to a certain area even though she was unaware.

"What do you want," she growled back at him again. Finally, she stopped, deciding that she would hold her ground against this wolf. She couldn't allow him to push her around as if she were just a pup anymore.

His response was simple. "You..."

Aleu had stepped back in surprise. An ear piercing howl of pain was released from the wolf dog that echoed through the valley. She'd stepped in a steel wolf trap, triggering it. The teeth on the trap came back up three and a half inches on her left back leg, with one hundred pounds of power released from each spring when it was set off.

How had she missed it? Aside from being concealed, it was covered in human scent and she, being one that interacted with humans on almost a daily basis, had just gone right over the scent. Sevrim on the other hand, knew the scent, and knew where the trap was.

"Oh hush now doll face, it doesn't hurt that bad," the black wolf replied. He could see where the teeth punctured her legend where the blood was beginning to stain the snow but did nothing about it. Now he had this wolf-dog where he wanted her and he would claim her as his.

Aleu struggled to free herself from the trap and began to panic, pulling on it, just making her injury worse. All of her attempts to free herself proved to be futile as the trap was chained to a log to keep any animal from being able to run off with it and escape.

"Help me, please," she cried back out to the other canine but her pleas fell on deaf ears.

Sevrim walked back over to the wolf-dog and stood behind her. He went to her backside as Aleu helplessly stood there, sure of what would happen now. The black and gray wolf stuck his nose at her entrance and inhaled deeply, taking in her scent. It was obvious to him that she was at a stage in her heat cycle now where she was almost close to being breedable, even if she wouldn't willingly accept him.

"Sorry doll face, but you're mine now."

Author's Note:

Oh what shall happen next?

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