Lifting my head, I let loose a courtesy howl. We continued forward as we waited for a response. After coming across more markings, I howled again.
Maybe he left because of the hunters so close, Gregory sent me.
The hunters’ tracks around their cabin had indicated they’d been there for almost a week. These scent markings were only a day old. I doubted the pack keeping this territory had left because of the hunters, or they would have left right away.
I studied everything as we moved deeper into the claimed territory. The wildlife hushed when we passed, but seemed otherwise normal.
Several miles in, Grey scented blood and took off running. Gregory and I raced after him, arriving in the clearing moments after he had.
A man lay naked in the center of the clearing. A bullet hole gave the cause of his death. The heel of one of his feet had pushed back the leaves. Probably due to shifting. Behind him, his Mate and two cubs were on the ground. Each one pierced with a bullet near the heart.
Not far from them, lay a bundle.
The family had lived there. Their tracks were all over in the loam of the small clearing.
Grey shifted to his skin and went to check the female and cubs. It was pointless. They’d shifted. Proof they were dead. I went to the bundle and nosed it open. Human food lay within.
“Do you think they raided the human cabin?” Gregory asked. I glanced back and saw he’d shifted too and was checking the man.
I didn’t answer right away. Something felt wrong. How could all of them return to their den so seriously wounded? I went to look at the cubs with Grey. It was hard seeing their innocent, lifeless faces. My hatred for humans burned hotter. How could they so disregard life? Even if this family had stolen food, why did they all have to die for it? Were humans the only species with a right to eat? And why had the parents risked their cubs by taking them to raid the hunter’s supplies?
Grey gently closed the eyes of both boys. I looked away, too angry to see more. My gaze caught on a splintered section of a tree trunk further into the woods. I trotted over to it and sniffed. Metal and gun powder. My gut churned as I realized all my assumptions were wrong.
Shift, I commanded both of them. They immediately complied and trotted toward me.
We need to leave. Now.
I took off at a run. Grey moved to my left flank and Gregory my right as we silently raced through the trees. I kept my nose to the wind, scenting for any hint of trouble. Miles grew between us and the dead family; and still, I kept running.
In the distance, I spotted a rocky formation and veered toward it. The height would give us a view of our back trail and what may lay ahead.
We made no noise as we crept to the top then lay on our bellies to survey the trees below us. Spring was slowly budding the trees, leaving much open to our inspection. Nothing moved. I crept back then shifted to my skin and squatted low. Grey and Gregory did the same.
“What we saw back there…what we’re supposed to believe…it’s all a lie,” I said.
Gregory frowned, but didn’t look as concerned as Grey. Grey had likely already figured out what I had.
“What do you mean? They weren’t shot by those hunters?”
I slowly shook my head.
“The wolf we’d found had been poorly shot and left to limp off to die. The tracks we followed…the way the hunters had their cache of food tied up in a tree…it was obvious the wolf had gotten too close to their camp and they’d been worried about their supplies. That’s how humans always react when something wild gets too close to what they perceive is theirs. But that’s not what happened to that family.
“They were shot where they lay,” I said. “Kill shots. Whoever shot them saw them shift. But, there wasn’t any human tracks or scents. Just werewolf.”
“Six distinct scents,” Grey said. “There are a female and a male unaccounted for. The second female’s scent was all over the clearing. The male’s was only when we entered.”
“The cache had five scents. Four male. One female,” I said, and he nodded.
A family of five with a female cub and the scent of an unknown male wolf. A frustrated growl escaped me as I drew the logical conclusion. Females were growing increasingly scarce. An unMated male had likely scented the family, discovered the female, and had forcefully taken her.
“Males are growing desperate for Mates if they’re willing to kill a family and stage it to look like an accident,” Grey said solemnly. “We need to tell an Elder what we found.”
“How? We have no proof it was one of our own, and all the evidence points to human hunters we just sent a bear to kill.”
I exhaled heavily, regretting venting my frustration on him. Our kind’s numbers were already so low that we rarely saw families any more as we traveled. If we started killing each other, our species wouldn’t have a chance.
“You’re right. The Elders need to be aware of what might be happening. But, we need to find another way to let them know. We’ll head south and make contact with as many of our kind as we can. We’ll ask questions and gather information. Hopefully, we’ll find something we can share that won’t get us killed, too.”
Grey nodded once then shifted to his fur. Gregory and I quickly did the same.
We saw nothing out of the ordinary as we traveled that day or the next. The third day we stumbled into another male’s territory, but he was alone and hadn’t had contact with anyone in months. We hunted with him and stayed the night then left the following dawn.
Our slow progress south didn’t provide us with the information we’d hoped. We found a few old scent markings and scoured each of those territories for signs to indicate why the land had been abandoned. Given the vast expanse each territory covered, there was no guarantee we didn’t miss something.
As time passed and we found nothing further, I was sure we’d stumbled across an isolated incident. I worried about the girl who’d been taken and knew, if we didn’t find anything soon, we’d need to reach out to an Elder and confess everything regardless of our wellbeing. It was what I should have done in the first place.
When we stopped that night, I said as much to Grey and Gregory. Neither tried to defend my initial choice to find other evidence, and I knew they felt the same shame I did. With little choice, I reached out to Elder Jean.
We found the bodies of a Mated pair and two cubs. All were shot. A human cache of food was nearby as if the family had raided it. However, I don’t think they did. There was a scent of a second female, but no signs of the female at the Mated pair’s den. And, there was a unique fresh scent of another male. It didn’t seem familial, and it was on the cache of food. I believe a young female may have been taken from her family.
Did you track the male? he sent back.
Guilt-ridden, I admitted the truth.
Due to the shots, we did not.
Very well.
A minute later a call went out for any male with a young female to reach out to an Elder.
“What does he plan to do?” Gregory asked.
“He didn’t say much on the matter,” I said.
“And our part in this is forgiven?”
“I carefully worded our involvement and neglected to mention the part about the bear.”
Gregory grinned and clapped me on the back. We all rested easier.
****
“A human?” I said, arms crossed as I studied the man before me. A cold breeze swept through the trees and brushed my exposed flesh. Summer hadn’t yet reached this far north.
“That’s what I heard.”
The command that Winifred had sent the day before took on new meaning. At the time, I’d wondered why she’d bothered to Command something so obvious. Who would ever want to try to Claim a human female with or without Elder permission?
“Thank you for the information,” I said.
The man shifted back into his wolf and, with a nod, ran north. He was probably smarter than we were. Humans were scarce in the ice and snow of northern Canada, making the area safe for our kind to roam. We used to be able to say the same for lower Alberta and Saskatchewan. Now, there was a human at the sanctuary; it wasn’t safe anymore.
The female Elder’s pushes to get us to join human society had previously been subtler than this. She’d gone so far as to start wearing clothing and gain employment. We had fur for a reason. We were meant for the woods. And, humans were destroying our natural habitat.
Winifred’s welcome of the enemy in our sanctuary threw subtlety aside. She couldn’t force us to mingle with humans.
“What are you thinking, Thomas?” Grey asked.
I turned to my older brother.
“I’m thinking we need to find out what Winifred is doing. How is inviting a human to the only permanent place humans have no right or reason to trod in our best interest? Living among them has done something to her head. Her loyalties need to be questioned.”
“Careful,” Grey said. “I didn’t raise you and watch you grow to see you maimed by an Elder.”
“She’s in her position to protect us. When she starts making decisions that involve revealing us to humans, we have a right to question her.”
Without saying more, I shifted to my wolf. I shook out the fur that coated my skin and took off at a run. Snow crunched under my paws as I raced south through the dense woods. Glints of the moon broke through between the trees to light the way. Grey and Gregory followed.
Pacing ourselves, we stopped to hunt game and rest before dawn. We didn’t need much sleep. The sun hadn’t yet cleared the tree tops before we were running again.
The sounds and smells of the woods drove me to run faster. To run free. We belonged out here away from the dangers of civilization. Winifred had it wrong. Working and talking with the humans had messed with her thinking. Humans didn’t belong in the woods any more than we belonged in their world. Whenever they came to the woods, we died. Bringing one to our sanctuary could only end the same. But this time, it wouldn’t be a pelt laying on the ground. The human had to die.
I can feel your mood, Grey sent me. Talk.
The human needs to die.
And you’re going to make that happen when an Elder is supporting the human’s presence?
I could feel Grey’s annoyance just as he had felt my anger. Grey was my pack. He had raised me, successfully filling the role of mother and father. However, he did older brother best. When I was five, he’d changed our bond, relinquishing the role of pack leader to me. At the time, I’d thought he was doing it to be mean. There were moments it still felt that way. But I knew now he’d done it to teach me. To force me to take risks and conquer fear. To become strong and a survivor. To think.
The Elder won’t be a problem—Grey snorted—if the pack controlling the sanctuary doesn’t want her there.
We won’t be the only ones going to sanctuary.
I’m counting on that. We’ll increase in number because the others won’t want a human there either.