But the mayor pushed his luck, saying, “I know for a fact that the woods are safe. And I plan on going for a walk in the forest tonight, after this meeting, to prove it.”

“Sit down!” someone cried.

“Redstone might be better off if you went for a walk…and didn’t come back!”

“Who said that?” shouted the mayor.

At this point, Sergeant Martin rose from his seat and approached the podium. The hall settled down quickly to hear the RCMP’s take on the situation.

But before the sergeant spoke, he motioned for Garrett to join him. The ranger moved to the sergeant’s side.

“Ranger Brock and I,” he began, “are doing everything in our power to make Redstone safe. This is obviously a new situation for us and we need you to stay indoors and be patient.”

“We’ll give you some time,” Terry Houghton said. “But not much.”

“I ain’t gonna wait,” someone else said. “If I see a wolf, I’m gonna shoot it dead.”

The sergeant put up his hands to calm the crowd. “The last thing we need is for people to take matters into their own hands. If anyone here kills a wolf, it’ll be considered poaching and you will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”

“Lotta good the law did for my dog,” said Ernie Ilson. “I’ll tell you what…I’ve got a hunting rifle and I intend to do me a little hunting. I’ll be shooting for deer and rabbit, but if I end up hitting a wolf…” Shrug.

The crowd got to their feet, noisier than ever.

Amid the clamor, Garrett leaned over and said to the sergeant, “I’ve got a feeling this is going to get ugly.”

“Yeah,” the sergeant sighed. “And somebody in this room is going to get hurt before it’s over.”

* * *

The ride home seemed to take longer than it should have. The ranger sat silently behind the wheel, staring ahead at something far, far down the road. Every once in a while, he would move his hands on the steering wheel as if he were losing his grip, as if the car and everything around him might slip away if he weren’t careful.

No one dared to say a word. The pack had never seen the ranger like this.

Thankfully, it was the ranger himself who broke the silence. “I don’t want you running through the forest anymore,” he said, his eyes still focused sharply on the road ahead.

“Not at all?” asked Tora.