Page 6 of Twisted Howlidays

“Remember to keep your nose open for any indication that bears are in the area!”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m just enjoying this crisp clear mountain air! Isn’t it per—"

Her wolf’s words trailed off in her mind mid-sentence.

“What is it? Bears?”

Her wolf stopped in her tracks, sniffing the air. “No. Something better. Something perfectly delectable. A wolf. I’ve never caught a scent like this. He’s far away though. Can’t quite—"

“Seriously? If you want to sniff wolves, we can go back to Calder’s. Run! We need bear signs.”

Her wolf growled before lunging forward, determined to find the source of the wonderful scent she’d detected.

Nearly two hundred yards away, she spotted movement. A nearly white wolf was sprinting up the slope, quickly disappearing over the ridge. She chased after him, desperate to catch his scent.

“What the hell are you doing? Calder said to stay within Twisted Tail territory!” This was exactly why she didn’t let her wolf take control very often. Because when Kendra finally gave in, her wolf never listened to a damn thing she said.

“That wolf! It must be the one! I just want to follow him for a mile or two. Besides, how do we know that ridgeline is the edge of the territory?”

‘We don’t know for sure. Which is precisely why we aren’t taking a chance of disobeying the Alpha. Got it?” Kendra put her foot down. The last thing she wanted to do was to find herself in trouble with the Alpha because her wolf was too damn stubborn to listen to her.

“Lame! I’m telling you. That wolf…there is something special about him. I need to find out what it is. There’s a chance—"

“Yeah, a chance all right. There’s a chance we’ll screw this up and get kicked out of here without a single bear photograph.” Her wolf had tried pleading with her, but Kendra didn’t want to hear it. She had been given explicit orders by the Alpha of Twisted Tail. She wasn’t about to disobey him on her first solo outing. Calder seemed nice enough, but she remembered being overwhelmed by the power emanating from him. She absolutely did not want to get on his bad side all because her wolf had a hunch about some stray wolf. She was noping right the fuck out of that situation.

Her wolf let out a frustrated howl.

“Well, with that, we’re done for today. So much for finding anything now. Maybe tomorrow.” Thanks to her wolf’s howl, she had no choice but to call it a day. If anything had been out in those woods, the howl would have scared them off instantly. They needed the element of surprise and her wolf had tossed that right out the damn door.

Back at the cottage, she appreciated the fully stocked pantry and refrigerator. Running for miles through the snowy mountains left her starving. But once she settled down with a nice ribeye steak and a warm fire, she went online and checked her trail cameras.

She nearly choked on her food when she spotted the large wolf. Almost completely white, with symmetrical patches of light grey on his sides and face.

“That’s him! His scent was almost magical.”

“Relax. It’s just another wolf. It’s not like we get much exposure in the city. We have to remember we’re in an active wolf pack territory. I bet there are lots of them, whole families of them.”

Still, Kendra was intrigued by the images of the large wolf. And even though she wanted to dismiss her wolf for acting foolish, she couldn’t deny there was something special about him, even if he had been far away and his scent had been too faint to pin down.

The next week was spent the same way, moving cameras, scouting for bear tracks, and running. Twice more, she caught a glimpse of the elusive wolf, but she continually failed to successfully pin down his amazing scent.

* * *

“You’ve got to be kidding me! Tree Hugger is a wolf?” Ryan was flummoxed by the turn of events. The woman who had nearly killed him on the road wasn’t just any old tree hugger. She was indeed one of his kind.

“Not just any wolf. Can’t you tell? I think she is the one.” His wolf was practically foaming at the damn mouth and ready to take charge.

“The one? The one? After all this time looking, we’re just desperate. Stop already.” There was no way his wolf was right. She couldn’t be their mate.

“We have to close in on her, I need to get a good look, and a good scent to be sure.” His wolf was not letting up. His animal was certain this woman was the one. Could she be?

“Okay, she seems special, from a distance. I’ll give you that. But are you kidding? Do you want to hit on Calder’s guest? He’d use us as a rug. Hell, he’d probably toss our dead and skinned corpse right in front of his fireplace and think nothing of it.”

Despite Ryan’s misgivings, he relented to his wolf’s persistent demands. What else could he do if his wolf wouldn’t let it go?

Day after day, he attempted to shadow the mysterious new wolf. But she proved to be a particularly elusive hunter. She was skilled at concealing herself. He could only catch glimpses of her from a distance.

“What is she hunting for up here? The deer and elk have already moved to the valley for the winter. Maybe she isn’t as smart as she seems.”

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