AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Shoot.
Bears are normally pretty docile. We need to keep them out of our trash, but they’re not aggressive.
Not unless you’re standing between a female bear and her cub.
Just like I am now.
To my right, there’s a steep stretch of mountainside. To my left, there’s a roaring cataract.
I have no idea what to do.
I hike with bear spray, but it’s not going to do any good against a sow who wants to be next to her cub. Plus, I don’t want to damage the baby bear’s nose at all. Bear spray is essentially highly concentrated pepper spray, and I don’t know what that will do to him.
“Hi, Mama Bear,” I whisper, hoping that my voice will sound soothing.
She snorts.
Clearly, it does not.
I’m definitely going to be mauled by a bear. The sow snorts again, dropping to her feet. The baby bear bleats again behind me, and I wince.
Yep. This is it.
At least I’ll make a nice last meal for them…
A growl rips through the air.
The mother bear rears up again, looking surprised. She’s glancing over my shoulder still, but I’m too afraid to turn and look.
A warm body appears next to me. Cautiously, I turn my head.
Then I snap it right back.
There’s a wolf next to me.
But this is not just a wolf. There is no way. An adult male gray wolf, even one of the big ones from Canada or Alaska, is about two and a half feet at the shoulder.
This one is four feet. Easily. Because I’m five foot three, and its shoulders come up to my chest.
Holy. Shit.
The wolf is brown, a kind of cinnamon color that seems unusual for the wolves around here. The color, however, doesn’t seem to matter.
The fact that given its size, its teeth are probably the length of my forearm, is the problem.
The wolf’s head is low as it stares at the bear. Its shoulder blades are pinched together, like its stalking forward.
The bear looks between me and the wolf. She’s clearly distressed; she looks between the wolf and the cub, who is still grumbling and grunting behind us.
She makes a distressed grunt, and the wolf growls again.
Without thinking, I snap, “Oh leave her alone. She just wants to get her baby.”
To my complete shock, the wolf turns around and looks at me.
Looks at me.
My heart gallops in my chest. “Um,” I don’t know what to say.
