The Rogue Winter Wolf

Chapter 2: The Wolf

Chapter 2: The Wolf

Todd showed up the next morning to introduce himself.

Amanda had, admittedly, had a secret fantasy about running into a cute, single local and starting a torrid winter love affair, but she hadn't expected hot singles to be showing up at her door on day two. Needless to say, she was pleased.

Todd had floppy brown hair and warm hazel eyes, and a smile that made a little dimple appear in the right corner of his mouth. He was exactly as expected of the area; sturdy workboots, jeans, and flannel.

“You're Amanda, right?" His handshake was firm and warm. “I'm Todd."

“Demetri told me about you," she said. “I'm sorry, I wasn't expecting anyone to stop by, I would have made coffee." And she would have been wearing something other than sweats and a baggy T-shirt.

He laughed. “Hey, no worries, I'm the one intruding. I just wanted to check in on you. Demetri told you about the wolf?"

“Yeah. He gave me your number and the game warden's."

“Good, good. I wasn't sure he'd have time to call you before he caught his flight and just wanted to make sure you were aware. A lot of out-of-towners don't know the rules, so I just wanted to check in and warn you not to leave food outside and to keep your trash locked up."

“Animals will go through the trash?"

“Yeah. Especially this year; the winter has been really harsh. There's almost no food. We've even put a hunting ban in place for the area because the bears will start coming into town if there's no food to scavenge."

“Bears?" Amanda groaned. “I thought the wolf was the problem."

“Well, yeah. The bears are usually the real nuisance, but they're not really that dangerous if you just leave 'em be. This wolf on the other hand…"

“Yeah," she wrapped her arms around herself, chilled by the cold gust blowing in through the open door. “Do you want to come in?"

“Rain-check?" he asked. “I have to get to town for chicken feed, the store closes early on Sundays. But if you need anything, I'd be happy to grab you some things."

She beamed at the excuse to return. Unfortunately, she couldn't think of anything she needed; Demetri had stocked up on groceries, and it wasn't as though she had any animals to feed. “I'm good," she said. “But don't be a stranger. I'm here all winter, and I'll go crazy without human interaction."

“Maybe we'll have to get coffee sometime," he said with a smile.

“I'd like that!"

With another cute little smile, he started down the steps. “Sounds good, Amanda. I'll catch you later." He gave a small wave and was off towards the F350 sitting idle in the driveway. Amanda watched as he climbed in and started off, feeling her smile grow when he waved again on his way out.

Though her phone didn't get service, she'd connected to the wi-fi. She closed the door and checked her cell for any emails or chats. Leeanne, her best friend, and a fellow illustrator at Reading Adventures, had sent her a video, but she'd actually seen it before, so she quickly sent off a few laughing emojis. With nothing else to do, she returned to the living room, where the windows and sliding glass door revealed an unfettered view of the woods beyond the house.

She settled down to paint.

The forest was still and coated in a fine powder of snow. There was a bluejay in a pine near the house that she eagerly captured on the canvas, really feeling that Demetri had been right about a snowy forest being the right move for Little Red. She painted a path into the forest with plenty of mysterious shadows, careful to keep it from being spooky, but making the scene somewhat uncertain. She added a deer beneath one of the trees, though she had to look one up on the internet for reference since she had yet to see one in person.

She'd just begun to rabbit-hole into the whitetail versus mule deer debate when movement beyond the window caught her eye.

The wolf was outside.

Amanda felt her heart stutter before kicking into overdrive.

He was huge. She'd been imagining it as the size of a large dog, but the wolf would have easily come to her shoulder. He was completely stark white, fur sleek and untangled. It seemed to stare straight through the glass at her, even though it was yards away. It had unnervingly intelligent golden eyes.

Amanda scarcely felt like she could move, its gaze pinning her to her stool and rendering her frozen.

It turned to look behind it.

Unfreezing, Amanda startled, dropping her phone and completely shattering the screen protector against the hardwood floor. She nearly slipped in her haste to run for the kitchen but managed to catch herself before bolting. She grabbed the phone from its cradle in slightly shaky hands, tip-toeing back to the living room to lean around the corner and peek out.

It was still there.

She'd already programmed the game warden's number into the contacts. Her finger hovered uncertainly over the call button.

The wolf wasn't really doing anything, after all. The forest was his home.

But no. He'd killed a human being. He was dangerous.

She'd just made up her mind to call when two wolf pups came scampering into view. Amanda gasped, watching as they stumbled around the white wolf's legs, nipping playfully at each other and rolling in the snow.

“You have babies," she murmured. She bit her lip, looking down at the phone again.

What if he'd just been protecting his pups? Maybe the hunter had been threatening them.

It was a ridiculous thought. And yet…

The two pups were small; startling so in comparison to the huge white wolf standing over them. She realized that all three were skinny for their sizes and remembered what Todd had said about the lack of food this year.

If bears only came out to scavenge through the trash if there was no other easy access to food, then surely wolves were the same. It wasn't their fault they were being forced closer to civilization because they were hungry, after all.

She knew it was stupid. Humans were the ones she really needed to worry about protecting, but the sight of the two wolf puppies playing in the snow melted her heart completely. She turned around and put the phone back in the kitchen, returning to her spot in the living room. The white wolf seemed to notice her again, somehow, and nosed the pups along, quickly shepherding them over the hill and out of sight.

Amanda set down the painting she'd been working on and picked up another canvas. His image was burned into her mind. She started to paint the white wolf.