The doctor stroked the animal from head to tail, as if treasuring the chance to be in such close contact with a wild animal. “She’s lucky none of her bones were broken. I don’t think she would have put up with a cast long enough for her leg to heal.”

“How soon can we let her back into the forest?”

“How on earth should I know?” Doctor Katz said. “I’m a veterinarian, not a fortune-teller.”

“Would you hazard a guess?”

The doctor lifted his hands and shrugged. “She might want to leave as soon as she wakes up, or in a day or so after she’s had some food and clean water…Since you’re not letting me take the animal with me, and I can’t be sure of my schedule in the next few days, I’ll leave it up to the wolf.”

“The wolf?”

The doctor nodded. “She’ll let you know when she’s strong enough to leave, but if I had to guess, I’d say that if there’s no sign of infection, you could probably set her free on Friday.”

“Friday’s good,” said the ranger. While the werewolf behind his house seemed patient enough now, he wondered if it might still be that way once the wolf was up and walking.

“Let me help you get her into the pen, then I’ll be on my way.”

“We can manage,” the ranger said. “You’ve been kind enough already, coming out here and letting her stay with us. We’ll carry her outside. You get back to your family.”

“If you insist,” the doctor said, packing up his bag.

“I’ll walk you to your car,” said the ranger. He escorted the doctor out of the garage and shook his hand. “Thank you,” he said.

The doctor sighed. “It is my job, but you’re welcome just the same.” He then tipped his hat and walked down the driveway to his car.

When Ranger Brock heard the doctor pull away from the house, he called the others into the garage to help him carry the wolf to the pens out back.

“Is she going to be all right?” Tora asked, as the ranger and the pack grabbed the edges of the blanket and lifted the wolf off the hood of the car.

“The doctor said she should be fine,” he grunted, while wrestling with the weight of the animal.

“How long before we can let her go?” Harlan asked.

“A day or two.”

They were outside now and Phyllis ran ahead to open the gate of the first pen.

“Careful,” the ranger said, as they eased the animal onto the ground. “As close to the fence as possible.”

They all pulled together until the wolf was directly against the fence.

“Now what?” Noble asked.

“She should be waking up any minute now. We’ll put some food out and…well, wait, I guess.”