Noble stepped on a piece of the branch, making another snapping noise—this one louder than the first.

“You’ve got about two seconds to tell me who’s there, or I swear I’ll put a load of lead right into your ass!”

Certain he had the man’s attention, Noble stepped out from the woods and into the pool of light.

The man’s eyes grew wide, but his face registered no fear. Why should it? Noble was just a wolf, and the man did have a gun after all.

“Well, I’ll be,” he said with a hint of a laugh.

Noble stood still on all fours, trying hard to put the right expression on his face—curiosity and surprise, but only a tiny hint of fear. This was their home, after all, and the loggers were the ones who were out of place in the forest.

“You’re a good-looking fella, aren’t you?”

Noble resisted the urge to smile. He’d been told by many people that he was a handsome boy and the attention of all the girls at school supported that. As a wolf, however, Noble was merely average. His black-gray features seemed plain compared to the streak of white fur that ran down Tora’s back, and he was small next to Argus, who was easily the most impressive looking wolf in the pack, especially with one blue eye and one green.

He took a cautious step forward.

“Here boy,” the man said, as if he were calling a dog. It would have been cute if he hadn’t kept the barrel of his gun pointed at Noble the entire time.

Noble took a tentative step forward.

The gun jerked slightly and the barrel was now pointed at his head. It was a dangerous situation to say the least. No one would condemn the logger for shooting a wolf that ventured into their camp, and while a shotgun blast was survivable if there was no silver in the ammunition, at this range it would likely cause permanent damage to Noble’s face and brain.

Noble took a step to the side, as if he were going around the man.

“Bang!” the man said aloud.

Noble cringed and pulled back.

The man started to laugh.

Noble regained his composure and took another step to the side…another, and another. Soon he was around the man and the trailer, heading through the campsite.

Noble heard the man laughing heartily for a while until the sound was drowned out by the generator behind the trailer.