Silver-White (The Great North Woods Pack #1) (16 page)

Eli and his wife, Sarah, Evie had known
from a distance. Both were gray with dark saddles and light bellies; Sarah was
beautifully light-faced and slightly fluffier-coated than Eli. The others were
non-blood pack members, who she learned were brother and sister, David and
Emmy. David was a rich brown color—almost German Shepherd-like—dark-saddled,
with lighter, buff-colored belly and legs, and red-amber eyes. Emmy was very light
gray with silver highlights, white-bellied and white-faced, with brilliant ice-blue
eyes. Her build was sleek and beautiful like Evie’s, fast-seeming even when
standing still.

After a short exchange of greetings Evie
recognized the girl within the she-wolf. In fact it was not their first
meeting; Emmy was a slightly older friend of Erica’s from the small home school
circle, and in more recent years had been the outgoing cashier at Ludlow’s
Convenience store. The happy recognition excited Evie all the more. She could
not hold still after the greetings, and was greatly relieved when she heard Eli
speak.

“Run with us,” he said. “To the east is
good land. Dark woods and wide trails. We waste time here.”

“Safe trails,” Sarah added quickly. “Our
favorite!”

“Our favorites,” agreed David and Emmy.
“Come on!”

Evie looked back to the white wolf once
more. He was descending the hill calmly. She yelped her goodbye, turned quickly
on her hind feet, and sped off with the young wolves in chase of Eli in the
lead.

The small pack yelped its elation,
panting their laughter as they sliced between trees and leapt dark obstacles
with ease. To show off to one another whenever the chance arose was a great
sport among them, and although Evie had no clue where she was, she could not
have been having more fun. This was
real
cross country. Even the most majestic of deer would have looked silly beside
the long jumps of her and her companions.

After a time of this playful maneuvering
they picked up a trail. The trail was actually an old logging road, used now by
snowmobilers. Leading northeast toward Maine, it was wide and smooth, nothing
short of a wolf highway—at times they could run five-wide with adequate space
between them. On this trail they quickly reached full speed, with “Run!” as
their battle cry, and soon Evie was a full body length in the lead, following
the trail without concern of destination. For the next few miles the other
wolves gave their all to match her pace. But try as they may, even the nimblest
of them, Emmy, failed to overtake the silver-white speed demon.

Evie let up only upon hearing a warning
from Eli.

“Slow. Here we turn,” he said.

The area was dense with tall evergreens.
As they trotted from the ghost light of the trail, breathing happily from the
run, the woods became very dark under the cover of the heavy trees. With racing
hearts, in excitement they all began talking together.

“Balsams,” Sara said with a wolf smile.

“The hotel,” Eli added.”

“Guests,” David barked.

“We scare,” Emmy whimper-laughed. “We
scare them!”

“We are allowed?” Evie questioned, ears
pricked, her head tipped sideways.

“Only with voices,” Eli said.

“Only voices,” others repeated.

“Stay hidden,” Eli told her.

“No show,” Evie nodded.

“They pass on the trail below,” her
cousin explained. “Follow my lead.”

The four wolves quieted and followed Eli
under the dark evergreens until a trail came into view. Beyond, through the
woods, they could see the many lights of the large resort. A few dozen yards
from this trail they all crouched under the foliage, whispering with whines,
waiting for the first clip-clop sounds of the horse-drawn hay rides full of
resort guests to pass by.

“I feel bad,” Evie laughed. “Scaring
poor people.”

“No,” Sarah said. “They love it.”

“Love it, love it,” the others agreed.

“Why else take a hay ride?” Eli said. “A
thrill for them, harmless fun for us.”

“Harmless fun,” the two females assured
her. “No harm.” And then in turns they all began telling her stories. Evie lost
track of time listening to their accounts of past scares and adventures. In
hushed tones they laughed and conversed, sometimes crouching and sometimes
rolling onto their sides and stretching. For how long this went on, Evie lost
track of, until the first signs of a horse-drawn-sleigh reached their ears.

“Listen,” David said with his dark ears perked.

“Horses,” Eli said. “I smell them too.”

“The wind shifts,” Sarah said. “Ready?”
she asked Evie, crouching close beside her.

“Yes,” Evie laughed low.

Suddenly one of the horses neighed nervously
from the trail. The wooden wagon shook as the horse stomped nervously, and the
guests on board made various sounds of agitation, gasps and laughter.

“The wind betrays us to the horses,” Eli
said. “Howl and run! Howl and run!”

The five wolves lifted their heads and let
their voices soar. To them the song was merry—made merrier by the knowledge
that it would set the humans to shaking in their boots. They stopped briefly to
hear the responses from the wooden wagon, laughed, and sang one more short song
before drawing back to the snowmobile trail. In parting, David offered a quick
series of growls and snarls, to which there was at least one clear human scream
in response. Panting and shaking with laughter, the five trotted down the trail
away from the hotel.

“Did you hear her?” Evie laughed.

“Funny scream,” laughed Emmy.

“Most only laugh,” said Eli.

“Makes them shiver,” David said.

“Never grows old,” Sarah said.

“Where now?” Evie asked Eli.

“Stay east a few miles. Turn south at the
fork. The long way home.”

“To the fork?” Emmy challenged, trotting
alongside Evie.

“Race,” Evie said.

The two sleek wolves made eye contact to
signal the start. Then they turned their heads forward, laid their ears back,
and darted forth shoulder-to-shoulder from the trotting pack. Picking up speed
like drag racers, roost flew from their paws as they tore the ground. For the
first minute or so they tested one another, neither revealing her absolute top
speed. And with the others behind slowly losing ground, the two speeders
gradually neared their peaks, their mouths smiling, eyes narrow as their hearts
pumped furiously.

For a mile or two they ran dead even
this way, until, after a slight turn in the trail, Evie lost a step from being
on the outside of the turn. As the trail straightened again she dropped the
figurative hammer, surging forward at her absolute full speed, her long torso
stretched fully with every stride. They were soon even once more. And just as
Evie was poised to take the lead, the strangest feeling she’d ever felt came
over her.

Although Evie felt with certainty that
she could win this race, could find one last gear and pull slightly ahead, the
drive of rivalry seemed to fall strangely away from her intentions. The vessel
of snarling anger she’d been earlier in the evening had been softened by kindness,
tempered with new friendships. She was in every way still herself, confident
and sure. But at the same time, she no longer felt the need to prove anything
to anyone, least of all the sweet-natured creature at her side. The magnificent
body enveloping her was blissfully under her control, and her heart—caught up
in the spirit of companionship overflowing within this small band of fun lovers—pumped
only gladness now through her veins. She did not wish to
beat
her new friend, she wished simply to run beside her.

So for the first time in her life, Evie
threw a race.

“Fork,” called Eli from behind.

The two racers let up, smiling and
panting and praising each other’s speed. The three slower wolves fell in around
them, and the elder of the group, Eli, took the lead.

“We will drink from the oasis,” he said
to Evie.

“So thirsty,” she replied, her tongue
lolling.

From the fork in the trail they headed
south a few hundred yards at a trot. Then, cutting in suddenly on a narrower
trail, Eli led his cousin to the spot known as the oasis—a house-sized clearing
where several springs bubbled up into pools and trickling brooks, the ground
was mossy soft, and the twinkling stars reflected on the flat pools of cold
water. Each wolf picked a spot and drank their fill, and after, they rolled in
the springy moss and stretched their bellies upon it. For a long time they
lingered there, feeling lazy with being full of water, and basking carelessly under
the glow of the rising moon.

“So beautiful,” Evie said.

“Serene,” said Emmy. “And sweet water.”

“Love it,” Evie said.

“The best around,” the others agreed.

“But now I starve,” Evie admitted.

“Have you permission to hunt?” Eli asked.

“No. Mature wolves only.”

“To wait for Grandpa is best,” Eli said.
“I am mature, but it is not my place to teach you, or allow a hunt. Our laws
are good.”

“Let’s run more,” Evie said. “At home I
can eat.”

“That is best. The human requires much
less.”

“Let us run,” Emmy said, standing
excitedly and then bowing into a deep stretch. The other wolves stood and stretched
also, and in a single file they left the oasis, moving out onto the main trail.

“Lead us south,” Eli said to the young speeders,
pointing in the right direction.

At once the speeders made eye contact, understood
one another, and sped off down the southbound trail, the moon rising over the
trees as they ran. But now the speeders did not race. Instead they ran
comfortably, shoulder-to-shoulder, panting happily as old friends, each with
great respect for the other.

Evie was new. She did not know that this
occurrence happened sometimes between common wild animals. It was the instinct
of brotherhood—or in this case, sisterhood—that sometimes bridged the gap
between otherwise close rivals and various opposites. It was the spirit of
union that sometimes caused odd friendships among animals, even the adoptions
of the helpless young between differing species. In wild wolves it was the
spirit that enabled new packs to be formed, and old packs to reunite after long
summers apart, moving down the bloodlines through centuries, and rising to the
surface now in the hearts of two more young wolves. If Evie had been pressed to
put a name on this wild, friendly spirit she sensed hovering in the space
between their two bodies, she would have simply called it love.

Miles went by in a blur. All that
stopped the two speeders was an unexpected visitor. Running fast, ahead of them
a black shape suddenly lumbered out onto the trail, surprising them both so
that they scratched to a hurried stop. With all their focus being on the run
and each other, they had failed to scent this visitor through the dense brush.

Standing back on two legs, the fat black
bear rose to his full height and roared a deep warning to the small pack.

“We startled him,” Eli told Evie as he
walked up beside her. “Do not trouble him. These bears do not trouble us.”

The fat bear lowered himself again to
four legs. As he did, Evie realized that he had understood Eli’s message. After
a few short growls of annoyance—unless Evie’s ears deceived her, she could have
sworn she heard him grumbling something about youth always being in a rush—he
lumbered off into the darkness under the trees, resuming his tireless quest for
wild berries.

Evie looked quickly around at the others
wearing an expression of shocked confusion. “Did I … Did
you
?” she stammered.

“We understand many animals,” Eli said
over the laughter of the others, “if they choose to speak and we listen
closely. But sometimes they do not; we are not natural to them.”

“Grumpy old bear,” laugh-panted Emmy.

Evie could only laugh along. She’d never
dreamed of conversing with bears, grumpy or otherwise.

The five wolves started off at a trot
together. At Emmy’s suggestion the two fastest wolves darted off in the lead
once more. They only ran a short time, less than a mile, to reach yet another
fork in the snowmobile trail. The slower three came along, panting as they
slowed.

“They show us up,” David said, shaking
his scruff as he looked at his sister.

The speeders panted wearing proud expressions.
From all of their mouths went up plumes of steam into the cool night air.

“Is it time?” Emmy asked.

“The moon travels fast during fun,” her
brother told her.

Emmy dropped her beautiful head.

“Nash Stream?” Eli said to David.

“Is she allowed?”

“It is no hunt.”

Emmy began bouncing and whining
excitedly, “Yes! We play more.”