Page 13 of Lion Conquers All
All three stared at the three large grey and reddish-colored wolves standing no more than fifteen yards away, up the ridge only a little way from their position.
“I’ve never seen wolves this close before.” Oscar’s words were a light whisper. “They typically avoid people.”
Aarav took a deep breath.Natural or Reylean?
They looked big—Reylean big—but the wind was wrong. He couldn’t get a scent to be sure.
“Let’s wait. They’re not acting aggressive.” He knew the Tribe had a trio of juvenile wolves that roamed Denali. They had chosen not to assimilate into the human population as of yet. He’d been informed they were originally a part of Knox’s pack, but now under Col’s authority. They had shifted and spoken long enough to swear allegiance to the dragon, but they mostly kept to themselves.
So why were they showing themselves now? He hadn’t met them personally. They almost never came to the cabins.
Minutes dragged by.
Aarav could hear everything. Every crunch or rustle of a leaf. Every chirp of every bird. Every chitter of a nearby squirrel.
Still the wolves didn’t move.
Minutes dragged by. He and the boys stayed still and stayed facing the wolves. “Just stare at them.”
“We know. We’ve encountered wolves before. We grew up camping on this mountain, Deputy.” Darren spoke slowly and quietly, but never once dropped his gaze from the threat.
Aarav wasn’t worried about the wolves in the least, natural or not, but if these were the three Reyleans who roamed, maybe they had seen the missing kid. With Oscar and Darren there, he couldn’t ask them.
Then the wolves turned and left the ridge, disappearing from view.
“You know, they were way up there, but those guys werehuge.” Oscar straightened his stance, and twisted back and forth, stretching his back. “Gabby would’ve called Twilight-wolf-huge.”
“I know, right.” Darren laughed. Then followed suit, stretching until his back cracked audibly. “They had to weigh several hundred pounds each. Easily twice the size of a typical wolf, right?”
“More like three times.” Oscar put an arm behind his head and stretched. Then looked squarely at Aarav. “What do you think, Deputy?”
Aarav frowned, but nodded reluctantly. “They were larger than normal.” He should’ve realized how big they were from the start, but he hadn’t seen a natural wolf in person or in a photo, so he didn’t have anything to base their relative size against. He’d seen dogs. But he’d been told wolves were bigger than most dogs.
“Ready to start again?” Aarav tipped his chin toward the trail up the hill. Both boys nodded and they resumed the ground-eating muscle-exhausting jog. They got to his squad car ten minutes later. No other wildlife encounters.
“You boys sure you’re good to get back to the site?”
“Oh yeah, those wolves are long gone. They were curious. If they were after us for real, we wouldn’t have seen them coming and they would’ve surrounded us. They were checking us out the same way we were watching them. See you round, Deputy.”
“Very good. Thank you, boys.”
They turned and walked back toward the marked trail at the edge of the parking area.
Aarav stood next to his car until he couldn’t hear their voices or their footsteps any longer before getting into his car and leaving. They were fine. They were right, the wolves weren’t interested in them. They were Reylean teenagers, probably just curious about the human group of boys out having a good time.
About halfway down the road back to town he dialed the Roberts.
“This is Deputy Di’Rham.”
“Did you find him?” Mr. Roberts asked immediately.
“No, sir. I’m sorry. He wasn’t out with the Tragher’s. They thought that he might be with his girlfriend. So I’m headed over to the Hardisty’s to speak with Gavin.”
“Hardisty? He’s seeing Gretchen again?”
“That’s what Oscar and Darren said.”
“They broke up a year ago. She broke his heart and left him after her mother passed.”
