Page 26 of Big Bad Wolf

Callie looked skeptical.

“Will you help me get him the rest of the way in there? Just for the night.”

“How do you know it’s a he?”

“He has a very masculine energy.”

Callie laughed again, quietly so as not to wake the wolf. “God, you’re nuts. I missed you.”

“The feeling is mutual. But, seriously, help me move him. I don’t want him out here when the sun comes up.”

Ruby’s closest neighbor was about a quarter mile down the road, but Mabel had a tendency to wander over and see if the girls wanted any of her latest sourdough experiments. Normally, Ruby was thrilled to have homemade bread in the house. Homemade anything was rare these days, but she couldn’t risk her neighbor stumbling upon a wild animal. Especially because if she did the entire town would know by noon and Ruby would rather not have this moment of her life become part of town lore.

Callie didn’t ask any more questions, just picked up the opposite corner of the rug and started pulling. And that was why Ruby had called her. Callie really was the friend you called when you needed to bury a body. Or in this case, hide a wolf.

They huffed and puffed as they dragged the animal across the lawn until they made it to the small garage that Lena and Ruby mostly used to store lawn-care equipment they never used alongside gardening equipment they never used and the snow removal equipment they used only when absolutely necessary. They typically just trudged right through the snow. Especially as they hadn’t had a working car since Aunt Millie’s finally bit the dust and they hadn’t found the money to fix it.

“Okay,” Callie said, panting from their strenuous task. “Now what?”

“I guess we could put him between the Miracle-Gro and the rock salt?”

“I mean, what’s your plan?”

Ruby frowned. “I hadn’t really thought past the getting him out of the yard part.”

All Ruby knew was she felt compelled to help this creature. Which was odd because she’d never been the type. In fourth grade when all the girls in her class were making save the sea turtle posters, Ruby hadn’t felt particularly passionate about an animal she’d probably never see in real life. And when that nest of baby birds had landed on their deck, Lena was the one who insisted they nurse them back to health. Ruby thought they were gross without their feathers.

But there was something about this wolf. She knew she couldn’t leave him there to suffer alone.

Except she also had no idea what she was going to do with him now.

“We could call the vet.”

“You really think that old Cecil who tends to people’s Pomeranians and house cats is going to know what to do with a wolf?”

Callie shrugged. “Do you have a better idea?”

Ruby worried her bottom lip with her teeth. She did not have a better idea. “Maybe he just needs to sleep it off.”

“He’s injured, not drunk.”

Callie was standing with her hands on her hips, looking down at the wolf. She was being remarkably calm about all of this even for her. It made Ruby think that Callie must have seen some shit while she was gone.

“Just help me get him situated.”

They dragged him further into the garage, and Ruby pulled the rug back affording them a better view. He really was enormous. After her frantic call to Callie, Ruby had Googled the average size of a wolf, and the one in front of her was definitely above average. Way above average.

Also, there weren’t supposed to be any wolves in Maine, but tell that to anyone in Maple Hollow and they’d laugh in your face.

He whimpered in his sleep, his front paws moving as though he was dreaming about chasing something. Ruby had the insane urge to crouch down and pet him. It already seemed crazy that she had touched him earlier in the night.

The whole thing felt like a fever dream.

Her walk home, the other wolf, the fight between them.

If he hadn’t been lying right in front of her, Ruby would have thought the whole thing was a nightmare.

Or one of her aunt’s terrifying bedtime stories. Ruby had always liked them, but Lena hid under the covers until her aunt made up something about a beautiful princess saving the day.