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“As will Clay and I,” Grace added. “Is there anything you need from us?”
“Yes, can you tell Jud, Clay and Ivy the backstory, and make Clay promise to put on extra security until…” she almost saiduntil I’ve killed Samir,but caught herself in time and said instead. “Until it’s over and I know there’s no danger.”
“How will you know when that is?” Grace asked.
This time Oakley didn’t hold back. “When Samir is dead.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Oakley checked the coordinates before slowing to make the turn onto what looked like an old dirt road, perhaps an abandoned logging road. Half a mile later, she saw the truck parked on the road. On the tailgate sat a man, a handsome man.
She stopped, turned off the truck and climbed out, calling to the man through the opened window of the door. “Matt Brickman?”
“Yes, ma’am.” He slid off the tailgate.
“One second,” she held up a hand, then opened the back door. Both wolves sat at attention on the seat, ears perked and alert.
“Friend,” she said and signed. “Friends.”
Both wolves gave a soft woof, the equivalent of an acknowledgement, then hopped out of the truth. Oakley closed both the truck doors and started toward Matt, with a wolf on either side of her.
“Now there’s something you don’t see every day,” Matt commented. “And tell me I don’t need to get back in my truck.”
“No, you’re safe,” she replied and stopped about ten feet from him. “This is Ba’Cho and Nashoba. They’re not yet a year old, but are about eighty-percent grown. They need a pack.”
“Or a pack needs them,” he commented. “Those are some magnificent wolves. Gunner said you wanted to train them like you trained K9s in the service?”
“I did,” she agreed, but because she needed to be honest, added. “But then I realized what a disservice that would be to all wolves. They’d been hunted, exploited,and all for nothing. Look what they did for the park after being hunted to near extinction, and then brought back. They saved in ways man never could.
“These guys need to integrate with a pack, to learn to be part of one and possibly one day lead. Whatever the case, they deserve freedom from being caged or hunted. I’m going to stay with them until we find a pack and they are accepted.”
“And what keeps the pack from doing away with you, Major Rising Wolf?”
“Who said they would try?”
“Do you believe you can walk with wolves, ma’am?”
She smiled and gestured to the wolves. “You tell me.”
“Good point. Okay, what do you want from me?”
“Is this the place to begin our trek into Yellowstone?”
“It is.” His gaze flitted to the wolves. “Okay, if I grab a map from the truck?”
“Of course. They won’t hurt you.” Oakley signed to the wolves as she commanded, “Friend. Say hello.”
Oakley gave credit to Matt. Aside from his eyes opening a bit wider, he didn’t give away any other signs of nervousness. Oakley walked over to him with the dogs and offered her hand. “Friend.”
Matt shook her hand, and when he released it, Nashoba moved closer and sniffed his hand. Matt remained motionless until Nashoba and then Ba’Cho smelled him. When their tails wagged, he smiled. “This is amazing. I’ve never been this close to a gray wolf.”
“How did you know that was their breed?”
“Yellowstone. I tracked a pack last winter for the park to prove they’d not left and hadn’t harmed cattle.”
“I think you may have just graduated from helpful friend to hero,” she smiled. “Grab your map.”
He did and spread it out on the tailgate of the truck. “Here’s where we are,” his index finger came down onto the map, then moved his finger to the right. “Here’s where you’ll have the most luck finding wolves – in the northern range, likely Lamar Valley.”
