Chapter 9
The wolf had been flying through the forest, his vision at night so acute that he never had to hesitate, dodging around trees and bushes with no hesitation. He was on his way to the den to help move the cubs to a lower location since the nights had grown cold, but out of the night came the scent of blood. Stopping his forward flight, he stood nose in the air and sniffed, filtering through the normal smells of the forest to single out what he’d detected moments ago.
Then it was there again, subtle but unmistakable to him. Pointing his nose to the air, he howled a signal to his pack, as the alpha they’d respond no matter where they were. With one final yip, he began to follow the scent, stopping every now and then to sniff the air. As night turned to day, the scent grew stronger and he continued to follow, stopping occasionally now to signal the rest of the pack.
By night fall the scent had grown strong enough that he knew he was close, and when his pack mates joined him they followed him silently through the forest. Each knew that soon they’d have a meal that would sustain them for weeks, the salvia beginning to run in anticipation of the taste of warm flesh. When they finally came to the source of the scent, the wolf stopped and paced in the woods assessing the situation.
The fire glowing brightly scared him, but the temptation of fresh meat was more tempting, and with a silent signal to his pack, began to move in on the moose. Moving silently on the pads of his feet, he used the forest for cover, sticking to the trees until the last possible moment, then sprang out, his pack behind him snarling loudly. He went straight for the moose but suddenly there was a human standing in his way, and then everything went black for a moment.
Julie swung the branch at the wolf screaming for Sam to shoot it, while the moose fought the restraints they’d put on her to keep her with them for the night. She felt the branch connect with his head, but as soon as he went down there were more wolves silently moving toward her. Their eyes were glinting in the firelight and for a moment her terror was so great that she couldn’t move, couldn’t think.
Then Sam yelled, “Julie, catch!”
She came abruptly to her senses and caught the pistol he’d thrown to her. She fired a shot in the air hoping that it would scare the wolves off, but they continued to close in on her and she knew she’d have to shoot one of them. Bringing the gun up, she scanned the wolves, unable to decide which to shoot, but before she could fire a shot the biggest wolf was on his feet again and lunging for her, his teeth gleaming in the firelight.
Just as his teeth came down on her arm, she fired the gun and the wolf fell to the ground with a whimper. The rest of the wolves, seeing their leader fall, scattered into the woods like ghosts into the night making Julie wonder briefly if she’d been dreaming. But the body of the big wolf was heaped at her feet, and the searing pain in her arm told her that it was real. Staggering a few steps away from the wolf’s body, she sank to her knees, cradling her injured arm against her body.
Sam was there then, wrapping his arms around her and rocking her. As the adrenaline drained from her body she began to shake, each tremor making the pain in her arm worse. “It’s okay, you’re okay,” Sam said, over and over until she began to calm down, the sobs that had suddenly come leaving just as suddenly.
“I didn’t even hear them…They were just suddenly there…” She tried to tell Sam what had happened but was still too shaken up.
Sam took her face in his hands. “Julie, look at me,” he said forcefully enough to get her attention. When she finally looked at him, the tears running down her cheeks, he kissed her. “You’re fine and the moose is fine.”
“But the wolf,” she sobbed, horrified that she’d killed it.
“It would have killed you, if it hadn’t, one of the other ones would have. You did what you had to,” Sam said, pulling her to him so her head rested on his chest.
Julie listened to Sam’s heart beating in his chest and began to calm down. “Now let me see your arm,” he said when she’d stopped sobbing and hiccupping.
Julie held out her arm which now that the adrenaline had drained away felt like it was on fire. Sam tried to roll up her sleeve but it was too tight, so he helped her out of her leather jacket and shirt then gently held her arm up to the light from the fire. “The skin’s broken but I don’t think it’s very deep, the bruising is going to be the worst part as long as it doesn’t get infected. Let’s get you to the tent and I’ll clean this up and put a bandage on it, you need to see the doctor as soon as we get home,” he said, helping her to her feet.
Julie took one last look at the wolf’s body, then let Sam help her to the tent. She laid down on their sleeping bag, the throbbing in her arm beginning to recede since she’d stopped moving. When Sam put antiseptic on the wound it was all she could do not to scream in pain, it felt like her arm was on fire, but she gritted her teeth as the tears streamed down her cheeks.
“I’m sorry, I know this stuff hurts, but it’s all I have. Hang on, it’ll be over in a minute,” Sam said, gently patting the wound dry with gauze.
As the pain began to recede, Julie began to shake again, her body rocked with tremors that she couldn’t control. Embarrassed, she tried to wrap her arms around her knees but realized that even moving her arm made it hurt as a fresh wave of pain washed over her. “I’ll be right back.” Sam said, then waited until she nodded her head, speech impossible through her chattering teeth.
When he came back he had a cup of coffee, when she took a sip it burned all the way down, and she smiled gratefully at him because he’d laced the coffee with a generous shot of whisky. After a few more sips of the hot brew, the shaking stopped and she could finally speak.
“I’m sorry, Sam. I didn’t mean to fall apart. It doesn’t hurt so much anymore,” she said, realizing that her words sounded slurred. “What did you put in that?”
“A big shot of whisky and a painkiller,” Sam said, gathering her to him on her good side.
“I think I should be upset that you mixed the two but right now I don’t care,” she said, as her eyes drifted to closed.
When she awoke the next morning her arm was throbbing, making her want to cry, but Sam was there with a painkiller and soon she drifted off to sleep again. She slept through the day, waking only to eat and go to the bathroom, which Sam had to help her with, much to her embarrassment. But on the second day when she woke up her arm didn’t hurt as much and she was able to get up on her own.
Hearing a big commotion in camp, she hurried out of the tent. Her arm throbbed every time she moved it, and she was a little unsteady on her feet, but she managed to push through it and emerged from the trees to find Jake, Owen, and Flynn just arriving. Sam must have called them for help, and she was glad because the way her arm felt right now, she wasn’t sure she’d even be able to ride, let alone help with the moose.
Her eyes immediately went to the moose who was happily grazing in the marshy area where she’d been pinned, looking at the moose brought back memories of the wolf attack, and her eyes went to where the body had last laid. Sitting down in a chair heavily, she tried to slow her breathing, it had happened but it was over, she’d done what she’d had to.
Sam came rushing over, having just seen her sitting by the fire, her face drained of all color. “Julie, what are you doing up? How’s your arm? You look really pale.” Sam was fussing over her like a mother hen.
Jake, Owen, and Flynn came over and sat down with her. “I hear you had quite a scare the other night,” Jake said, giving her an opening to tell them what happened.
Julie hesitated, but Sam squeezed her hand, and she began to tell the story. Not even Sam had heard what had happened, having woken up only in the end, just in time to throw her the gun. It had been driving him crazy the whole time she’d been sleeping, but he’d known not to push her, she’d talk when she was ready. He hoped that she was ready now, the longer she held it in the harder it would be to talk about it.
Taking a deep breath every now and again, Julie recounted the story of her encounter with the wolf, the telling easing some of the fear she still felt. It would be a long time before she was completely comfortable in the woods again, that she was sure of, but the wolf was quickly changing from a monster to an animal doing what came natural. And that was when the guilt set in, she’d killed an animal, one that had only been doing what instinct told him to do.
Sam had her head pressed against his chest and didn’t see her face, but Jake did. “Hey, don’t start feeling guilty now. That wolf would have killed you, the person responsible for all this is the one who shot that moose,” Jake said, pointing to the cow who was calmly eating.
“I know what you say makes sense, but I just can’t help it. Where is he?”
“I moved him. We’ll take him back to the lab, maybe we can learn something from him,” Sam said, gently.
“He’s not the only wolf in the canyon, I know for a fact that there are pups,” Jake said, with a shrug.
Julie perked up, “How do you know?”
“We’ve been watching that one for a few years, he takes about three sheep a year, but I figure that’s not enough to mess with him,” Jake explained to Julie and Sam’s astonishment.
“I’ve never met a rancher with that kind of attitude,” Sam said, respect in his voice.
Jake looked up at him as if he’d forgotten Sam was there, then said, “Our father taught us to respect the land and all its creatures,” putting more emphasis on the word father than was necessary.
Sam winced a little bit, but Jake was the only one to notice since he was watching Sam carefully. “He also taught us that there’s a fragile balance out here and our being here can upset that balance. Letting the wolf take a few of the sheep helps put things back in balance, I figure it’s a small price to pay to keep what we have here.”
Jake’s little speech resonated through the forest and Julie immediately felt better. “I wish I hadn’t had to kill the wolf, but it’s good to know there are more.” Then she took Jake’s hand in hers. “Thank you, Jake. With people like you and your brothers in this world we might just have a chance to save it.”
“I’m glad we can help, but right now I think we better see about getting you and your moose home. Do you think you could ride with Sam?” Jake said, getting to his feet, the softness in his voice gone as quickly as it had come.
Sam didn’t hear Julie’s answer, his mind was on the words his brother had just spoken, words that had been for Julie’s benefit as well as his. The more he got to know his brothers the more he wanted to tell them who he was, the lure of finally having a family almost more than he could resist. But telling them was a risk, if they rejected him how would he ever be able to stay in the canyon with them not only living a few miles from him, but as members of the board of directors and his bosses.
It could be a complete disaster to tell them, maybe it was better to just enjoy being their friend, a role that would be easy enough to play. But then he ran the risk of them finding out on their own which could be even worse, the options kept swirling in his brain, until Julie got his attention.
“Sam. Are you okay?” she asked, for the second time, concern in her voice.
“What? I’m sorry. I guess I’m still in a little off kilter,” he said, to cover his silence.
Julie laced her fingers through his and squeezed. “Hey, I’m okay, the moose is okay and we’ve been rescued.”
Sam let out the breath he’d been holding, her words soothing at least part of the stress he’d been feeling. The truth was that he was exhausted, taking care of both the moose and Julie had worn him out, he knew that he couldn’t go on much longer without some sleep.
“You’re right, I guess I just needed to hear that. Let’s go home,” Sam said, picking her up and carrying her over to his horse.
It took them a long time to get down the mountain between Julie’s arm and Sam exhaustion, they moved slowly. But late in the afternoon they finally made it to the ranch where Jake had insisted they go. “You both need rest, Chloe’s got rooms ready for both of you and she’ll call the doctor to look at Julie’s arm as soon as you get there,” he’d advised as they were leaving.
Chloe met them on the porch, firing off orders as she helped them in the house. Sam was practically stumbling when he got inside, but he was more concerned for Julie and her arm. He hadn’t been brave enough to really examine it, but he knew that there could easily be broken bones under all the bruising.
“We need to get her to the doctor right away,” he said, barely able to stand.
“The doctor is on her way. You need to get some rest yourself. I’ll take care of Julie, you go shower and get something to eat. The doctor should be done by then,” Chloe ordered, pointing down the hallway to an open door. “That’s your room, there are clean towels and a change of clothes on the bed.”
Sam opened his mouth to argue, then looked at himself he was filthy and so was Julie who was watching the entire exchange with a bemused expression on her face. Deciding that it was easier to give in that fight and that Julie was clearly in good hands, he trudged down the hall to the room Chloe had pointed to, he’d shower but food could wait. But when he got out of the shower, there was a tray heaped with food sitting on a little table by the window and he couldn’t walk away from it.
By the time he’d polished off the entire meal, he felt better, still exhausted but not the bone deep exhaustion of an hour ago. When he walked into Julie’s room, she was sitting up in the bed, a tray of food next to her, most of it was gone and she didn’t look as pale as she had when they’d gotten there.
“You look better,” he said, smiling at her.
“And I smell better,” she said, laughing.
Sam was happy to see Julie laughing and a huge weight was lifted from his heart, with a little time she’d be fine, both physically and mentally. He moved the food tray onto a table and sat down on the bed next to Julie and took her good hand in his. “I’m glad you’re feeling better. Has the doctor been here yet?”