“Shit.” I stepped closer and his lips peeled back from his teeth.
I pulled out my gun and pointed it right at him and he stopped.
Smart wolf.
My mind raced a mile a minute. Did I shoot him and put him out of his misery or try to get him some help? As messed up as it sounded, it was encouraged to cull the wolf population here in Idaho. They were reducing the population of elk and deer, which was frowned upon. It was something as an animal lover I didn’t agree with.
Wolves didn’t die from leg wounds though, right? It looked like clean puncture wounds. Maybe another animal had bitten it? But the flesh wasn’t hanging off, so it could be repaired. I considered calling Dr. Gassly and seeing if he would stitch him up but dismissed the thought immediately. Gassly wouldn’t treat a wild wolf; he would probably say it had rabies.
“Dammit,” I growled as the situation tore at my heart. I couldn’t kill a wolf. Wolves were freaking badass. Bears too. Deer carried Lyme disease so I was totally okay busting a cap in their asses, but wolves…no.I couldn’t, wolves were like giant puppies with rage issues.
My gun was for idiot drunk male humans, not injured wolves. Beautiful wolves with golden honey eyes like this one deserved to live. I reached out and the wolf froze.
“Don’tbite me,” I told him, and touched the fur on his back with my fingers. If I could just test his nature, maybe if he were docile, I could...
He snapped at me and I withdrew my hand, shoving my gun in his face. “I’m trying to help you!”
He looked at the gun and growled.
Okay, maybe this wasn’t the best way to get him to trust me.
Don’t be stupid, Averly,I told myself as I put the gun down in the grass.
The wolf tracked my movements and I found it odd that he was so responsive. Genius wolf.
“Friendly neighborhood bartender Averly here,” I told him and reached out with my free hand again.
He stilled, but let me rake my hands over his uninjured back.
Hmm. He was pretty docile when I wasn’t waving a gun at him. “I wonder if you’d let me give you stitches,” I mused aloud. “I’ve done hundreds on a banana and I’m getting really good.”
I might only be one year into my schooling but I was a quick study. He cocked his head to the side as if this interested him or he found it humorous or something. But that was stupid because wolves didn’t understand English. This wolf must have been a pet; he was way too comfortable around humans, but that might work in his favor. It was frowned upon, but I knew a few people up in Bonner’s Ferry who kept wolves as pets and bred them with dogs. Wolfdogs fetched a lot of money around here, maybe he was one of those.
I was just figuring out how I could get him to my house when leaves crunched behind me. The hackles on the back of the wolf raised into a mohawk, and his lips peeled back as a low growl rumbled in his chest.
Oh crap.
I yanked my hand back and turned, while simultaneously reaching for my gun on the grass. My eyes fell on another wolf coming right for me. He had black fur and a menacing snarl, and shock ripped through my body. The wolf sailed through the air and landed on top of me, knocking me backward and out of reach of my gun. My head cracked against something sharp and hard, and dizziness washed over me. The wolf walked over me like I was a minor inconvenience as he tried to get to the grey injured wolf behind me. There was blood on his lips and I wondered ifhehad been the one to attack my new grey wolf friend. An unexplainable possessive urge reached up inside of me and I lifted my leg at the last second, connecting with the black wolf’s gut and flinging him sideways. He was giant and I wasn’t that good of a kicker, so all I did was force him to awkwardly land on me.
Awesome.
Growls and snarls rang throughout the forest and the hairs on my arms stood.
My head whipped to the side and I gasped.Holy crap, there were more. An entire pack.
The black wolf leapt off of me and lunged for my new friend. I threw my arm up to punch it in the face, but instead I just inserted it into his snarling mouth. The sound of crunching bone registered before the sharp hot pain ripped through my right forearm. An ear-splitting scream tore from my throat as the wolf fully bit down on my arm. I reached up with my free hand and punched him in the side of the neck. He detached from my arm and leaped onto the grey injured wolf.
Mother fricker!
He bit me. A wild wolf bit me. Now I’ll probably get rabies. Peering out into the open forest, I saw half a dozen shadows stalking forward.
Okay, this had gone far enough.
This little furry bastard was about to cross the rainbow bridge. My love of animals only extended to ones that didn’t bite me or attack others. Rolling over, careful not to move my injured arm too much, I scooped up my gun and clutched it tightly in my left hand. Reaching over with my injured arm, I winced at the pain it caused to cock it backward.
The black wolf was tearing into the grey wolf; now I was going to have to shoot them both. One to kill the rabid psycho, the other to put the nice grey wolf out of his misery.
I stood on shaky legs and hovered over the vicious snarling creatures.
