Thirty minutes later, they were up in the meadow that they’d camped in months ago. Luc spread a blanket out and they had their chicken picnic. Meg was stretched out on the blanket relaxing and enjoying the sun as well as the breeze when Luc touched her shoulder.
“Look very slowly to your left,” he whispered.
Meg slowly moved her head and for a minute, she didn’t see a thing. Then out of the low bushes, she saw movement. She and Luc held absolutely still. Finally, a wolf cub appeared, and then another and another. Three of them played at the edge of the meadow for probably ten minutes and then there was a sharp yip. The three little cubs sat up and then out of the shadows appeared their mother. She was lean from nursing. She looked right at Luc and Meg then disappeared with her cubs into the bushes with her babies.
When they’d gone, Luc turned to Meg. “That was cool!” he said.
“Do you think that was our little wolf who bumped the tent?” Meg asked.
Luc sniffed the air, thought a moment and then nodded. “I think so. That was so neat. Are you done with the chicken?” he asked.
“What?” Meg asked wondering what he was thinking.
“I’m going to give it to them. She’s a little lean,” he said.
“Go ahead if you’ll think they’ll eat it,” Meg said.
Luc just gave her this dumbfounded look and then laughed. He scooped up the chicken and headed towards where the cubs had first appeared. He was back in a few minutes.
“I found the den and left the chicken nearby. They’ll find it,” said Luc.
“Shall we go?” asked Meg. She was getting uncomfortable and the ride down would be bumpy.
“Yeah. We can take a drive instead of a hike if you’d like,” he suggested.
“That would be great,” said Meg and gave him a kiss.
They packed up and were almost done when Luc nudged Meg and pointed towards the edge of the meadow. Meg turned to see a wolf cub run across the edge of the meadow with a piece of chicken held high as his litter mates chased after him.
The two of them laughed and got in the car for the drive home.
***
“News Journal and Reporters Fined $15, 000, 000 for Fallacious Journalism!” read the headline in the morning papers. Luc smiled and Ginny literally bounced with happiness as she flitted around the office. She even brought in maple doughnuts for everyone. Hopefully now they could all breathe a sigh of relief. The intense media attentions were wearing thin on everyone. Especially the shifters. None had dared shift for fear of some idiot with a camera lurking in the bushes. Now, maybe they might relax.
Luc had left the courthouse the day before with a feeling of grim satisfaction. At the suggestion of one of the lawyers, all the companies with ‘wolf’ in the title joined together to file suit against the reporters and the newspapers who had perpetrated the break-ins, vandalism and stories to stir people up. It had taken a month, but today saw all of the victims earn a final reprieve. The newspapers and the reporters got reamed. Fines, injunctions and a few got jail time. They were the reporters that had gotten caught on the security cameras at Alpha Wolf and two other companies.
Each of the companies got a payment for damages. Luc put part of his towards paying for the rental of Buttercup and Fezzik. The rest he put in the bank. Now to get back to work without worrying about what was lurking in the bushes or painted across his signs. He reviewed his schedule, grabbed his tool bags and headed out the door.
“See you later!” he hollered to Ginny as he left.
“Bye!” she called. “Don’t forget the picnic tomorrow night!”
“I won’t!” he called back over his shoulder.
*
Angie and George were sitting on the back porch of the B&B. They had ‘buried’ Buster on Friday. After a month of ‘Buster’ getting more and more fragile, they had faked a trip to the vet and had him put down and cremated. At least that’s what they told everyone. A few had brought flowers by for Sam. A couple had offered Angie and George a free beer in honor of ‘Buster’. Otherwise, it had gone without a hitch. No reporters, no newspapers, nothing. The court case Luc had just finished up helped immensely.
“It’s going to be nice to sleep with you all night long,” said George.
“Yeah. And it will be nice not to have to sweep wolf fur out of the bed,” Angie teased him.
“Bigger question is what now?” asked George.
“I’m not sure. I know what I’d like to do, but is it fair? Is it the right choice? Or, are we just avoiding the inevitable?” Angie asked.
“I don’t know,” said George as he stretched out on the deck. He was sore and tired. He’d spent the afternoon removing Buster’s house. He’d taken it apart rather than destroy it and had stored most of it in the shed where Sam kept the snow plow blade, the snow blower and the gardening tools. The corner looked empty.
“You know, the more I look at that corner, the more I think it needs a tree or landscaping of some sort,” said Angie.
George blinked to wrap his brain around the total change of subject and looked over at the empty corner. “Hm… I think you’re right. Guess we’d better ask Sam,” he said.
“Ask Sam what?” said Sam who’d walked up behind them just then.
Angie turned around and smiled at Sam. She was holding up better than any of them had expected. “I told George that the corner of the yard needed a tree or a bit of landscaping,” she said.
Sam thought about it for a moment. “Yeah. One of those Canadian Maples,” she said and walked back into the house.
Angie and George looked at each other and laughed.
“Shall we get in the truck and head down to that landscape center, or go clear into the city?” Angie asked.
“Let’s go clear into the city. That will help us with the other decision too,” he said.
Angie thought about it for a moment and then nodded in agreement. They grabbed their things, got a shopping list and money from Sam and headed out.
*