When the female was well again—and somehow he knew that the man who lived here could make it so—he would take her and his pack deep into the forest, where his newfound abilities would make him a better leader. His pack would prosper and he would never need to get so close to man again.

The silver-gray werewolf’s eyes remained closed and its head lowered. It drifted off into a shallow and fitful sleep, its mind haunted by thoughts of deathsticks and survival…And getting as far away from man as it could.

* * *

Doctor Katz was an older man with a slight build, thinning salt-and-pepper hair, and an infectious smile. He’d been the veterinarian in Redstone for close to forty years and had treated generation after generation of the town’s pets, livestock, and wildlife. He’d seen everything, or so he thought.

“First time I’ve ever treated a wild animal on the hood of a car in someone’s garage,” he said, wiping at the wolf’s hind leg with a clean cloth, then injecting her with a sedative to keep her still. “Why is it you had me come all the way out here instead of bringing the animal to my office?” he asked.

Doctor Katz had already asked that question, but Ranger Brock wasn’t about to tell the doctor the truth, no matter how hard the man fished for it.

“I thought the animal was badly hurt,” he said, not mentioning the huge werewolf hiding out in his backyard. “And I didn’t want to risk moving her. With the condition of some of our roads, I was convinced the ride into town would kill her.”

Doctor Katz looked at Ranger Brock for several long moments. The ranger had always felt that the doctor was aware of the pack’s secret and that he asked questions in an attempt to discover the truth. If the doctor saw any signs of deception on the ranger’s face, the ranger would never know. The doctor merely muttered an “uh-huh,” then focused his attention on the wolf.

“There’s a lot of buckshot here,” he said, sliding his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “I stopped counting after fifteen.”

“Can you get them out?” the ranger asked.

“It will take some time and a little digging, but I think so,” the doctor responded.

“So it’s not as bad as it looks?”

The doctor took out an electric shaver to cut back the wolf’s fur and give himself clean patches of skin to work on. He handed the end of its cord to Harlan, who was standing by along with the other members of the pack. “Plug that in, please,” he said.

Harlan plugged the shaver into an extension cord and then uncoiled the cord until it reached the socket by the side door.

“Doctor,” Ranger Brock said again. “So it’s not that bad? The wolf’s going to make it?”