T. A. Chase

Wolf’s Survival

Wolf’s Survival copyright c. 2010 T.A. Chase

Part Two-

Belle bounded through the door, or she tried as best she could with her pregnant belly. Jacob knelt, allowing her to wash his face with her tongue. Rumbling low in his chest, he let her know it was time to leave. She settled back on her haunches, tongue lolling out, and practically grinned at him.

“She seems eager to leave.” The girl commented.

He didn’t remember her name and didn’t really care to know it. “She doesn’t like towns anymore than I do. Thanks for taking care of her.”

Straightening, he gestured for Belle to heel and they left the vet’s office. He never put his dogs on a leash. As well-trained as they were, they knew better than to run away. The Border collie trotted at his left side, bright gaze watching everything around her. That was one of the things he liked about the breed. They were highly intelligent and always paying attention.

Privacy was important to Jacob, so he didn’t have a lot of humans running around his ranch. He used the dogs to help keep his herd of sheep in line. Belle and Ben were the senior dogs in the pack and the ones he had the longest. They kept him from getting lonely as well.

They weaved their way through the people and Jacob didn’t make eye contact with any of them, discouraging them from getting the idea of stopping to talk. When he came to town, it seemed more and more congested. It was becoming easier to spend all of his time in his wolf skin than being human.

After arriving at his truck, he helped Belle into the cab before climbing behind the wheel and driving over to the grocery store. He’d already picked up his order at the feed store. Now it was time for his own needs, though he could hunt in the hills if he wanted to. He ordered Belle to stay, leaving the windows rolled down as he turned the vehicle off and headed into the store. No one would touch his truck, even without Belle being there.

Most of the people living in Red Cliff steered clear of Jacob. He’d proven on more than one occasion that he didn’t welcome any friendly overtures. And on the rare nights when the loneliness got to be too much and he came into town to the bar, he’d proven he could take all comers when some drunk asshole messed with him. He had a low tolerance for bullshit and everyone learned that the hard way.

“Hey Jacob.”

He wiggled a few fingers in Cotton Ballou’s direction. Cotton was the oldest resident of Red Cliff, not counting Jacob, who had been around before the town ever existed. No one knew that though, and he wasn’t about to announce it and take Cotton’s title away from him.

As he pushed his cart through the store, he tossed things into it without really paying attention. His mind wandered back to the one topic everyone was talking about; wolves returning to Idaho. Little did anyone know that they never really left. Well, there was one remaining wolf, but he never showed himself to any human if he could help it.

Having figured out the hard way that humans couldn’t be trusted, he’d retreated further into himself every year until some day, the human part of him would disappear and there would only be the wolf.

High pitched childish laughter cut through his melancholy and he smiled. Rushing footsteps alerted him and he paused at the end of the aisle. A little blond boy barreled around the corner and ran into Jacob’s leg. Jacob leaned down to catch the kid before he fell over. Bright blue eyes met his and widened in surprise.

“Wow.”

“Are you okay?” He supported the boy until he got his feet under him, and then straightened.

“Holy schmoly! You’re huge.”

“Bobby, that’s not nice to say.”

The words spoken in a soft mellow voice trickled down Jacob’s spine like warm water and he looked up into blue eyes that matched the boy’s. Yet there was nothing particularly childish about the man staring at Jacob like a kid in a candy store and Jacob was the biggest lollipop the guy had ever seen.

“It’s okay. He’s right.” Jacob ducked down to meet the kid’s amazed gaze. “I’m big because I eat my vegetables.”

Bobby screwed up his nose in a disgusted expression. “I hate vegetables.”

“Well, if you want to grow up big and strong like me, you need to eat them.”

Tilting his head, Bobby studied Jacob, determining whether the man was conning him or not.

“What kind of vegetables?”

“Green ones.”

“Really?” Bobby still wasn’t sure about the whole thing.

Jacob nodded. “Just like Popeye, green vegetables are great for growing big.”

A muffled snort drew his eyes back to the man standing behind Bobby. Laughter twinkled in the man’s eyes and Jacob couldn’t help but grin at him. Shock raced over the other man’s face, plus a hint of heat.

“Popeye’s not real. He’s a cartoon.” Bobby crossed his arms over his chest and glared at Jacob.
“That’s true, but still I eat green vegetables and look at me.”

“Why don’t you go and find your mother, Bobby? Try to talk her into buying some green beans.” The man ran his hand over Bobby’s blond curls.

“Okay.” Bobby raced off, down the wide aisle to where a curvy brunette stood, looking over the fruit.

Jacob straightened, not sure what to say to the man. He never had trouble talking to kids. For some reason, his big size never bothered them and his wolf’s instinct was to protect them. His wolf wanted to do something else to the man standing in front of him.

“Thanks for talking to Bobby. He can be a handful at times.” The man stuck out his hand. “My name is Oliver Wingate.”

He gave the elegantly slender hand a quick shake and mumbled, “Jacob Tasker. Nice meeting you. I have a dog in the truck, so I need to be going.”

Jacob whirled around and rushed toward the check out lane. His pride wouldn’t admit he was running away, but something told him that Oliver was a temptation he needed to get away from before his wolf tried something, like licking every inch of the man. Something else told him the man’s wife wouldn’t like that at all.

Thursday, March 18th, 2010, by , Filed under: Uncategorized| | 18 Comments

Wolf’s Survival

Wolf’s Survival copyright c. 2010 T.A. Chase

Part One-

Ignoring the stares of the townsfolk of Red Cliff, Idaho, Jacob strolled into Marci’s Diner and took a seat in the far booth. Only a half hour into his monthly visit to town and he already wanted to go back to the ranch.

“What’ll you have, Jacob?”

He looked up as a chipped coffee mug appeared in front of him filled with steaming liquid. The owner of the diner, Marci, stood eyeing him, her bouffant hair sporting more gray than red these days.

“Whatever’s the special, I guess.”

He winced along with Marci. His voice sounded like five miles of bad road. It’d been a while since he talked to anyone besides his dogs.

“One special coming up.” Marci winked before she headed back to yell his order at her husband.

Jacob wrapped his hands around the warm cup and inhaled the rich scent of coffee. He’d heard the footsteps make their way through the crowd, and recognized their owner, so he was ready when Von Hausling plopped down in the seat across from him. He barely managed to refrain from snarling at the man.

“Good to see you, Tasker. I wanted to talk to you about some stuff. Was considering a drive up to your place.”

Snorting softly, Jacob rolled his eyes before meeting the man’s gaze. He disliked this generation of Von Hauslings as much as every previous one starting back to when Jacob was a pup.
“What do you want?”

Anything the jackass wanted, Jacob was sure to go against, more on general principal than any true conviction on Jacob’s part.

Von Hausling never seemed to grasp Jacob’s disgust. He was often like an eager puppy trying to get the Alpha dog to notice him.

“There’s a big meeting over at the town hall tonight. Some team from the Department of Fish and Game are here. Seems they want to do some investigating.”

“If they’re interested in poaching, you might want to watch your back.”

The man’s eyes went wide. “Don’t know what you’re talking about, Tasker.”

He set his coffee down and leaned forward into Von Hausling’s personal space, letting his upper lip curl. “Sure you do, and if you take another deer off my property again, I’ll make you pay.”

Von Hausling paled and shot to his feet. “Fuck you.”

They both knew Jacob’s threat wasn’t an idle one. He could make the other man pay without anyone ever finding out. Accidents happened all the time up in the hills around Red Cliff.

“You scaring people again, Jacob?”

Mari set down Jacob’s food after dodging Von Hausling’s hasty retreat.

“Only the ones who deserve it. He trespassed on my land and took a doe. Left behind a little one.”

She shook her head, knowing the orphaned fawn’s chances were slim. She’d be right if Jacob hadn’t found the baby and dropped it off at an animal refuge in the next county.

“What’s this meeting idiot boy wanted me to attend?”

Marci had all the gossip. She wrinkled her nose and sighed. “The government’s squawking about transplanting a couple breeding pairs of wolves in the hills by your place.”

After taking a sip of his drink, he shook his head. “Is it that time of year again?”

The diner owner laughed. “Does seem like they’re on a regular cycle, doesn’t it?”

She wandered off to wait on another customer, leaving Jacob to eat his meal in peace.

Bringing wolves back to the hills? Just so humans could kill and wipe them out again. Jacob had been around for the first slaughter. He didn’t want to be around for the next one.

He finished his lunch without another interruption, paid Marci and headed out. As he wandered back to the vet’s office, his acute hearing picked up snatches of conversation.

“Damn government. Coming in to tell us how to live our lives.”

“Wolves are terrible creatures. They’ll kill our cattle.”

Were they more upset about the government trying to tell them what to do then they were about the wolves? It was hard to tell. Jacob kept his head down. None of it concerned him. Whether wolves came back to the country or not, Jacob would be there, surviving on his own like always.

Checking his watch, he figured Doc. Smith would be finished giving Belle her check-up. He strolled down the sidewalk, not acknowledging the people who dodged out of his way. At his size, Jacob was used to intimidating humans, and it worked out well since he didn’t want to talk to any of them anyway.

Being the last of his kind made it easy for Jacob to become a recluse. He saw no need in becoming friendly with creatures that would turn on him in a heartbeat if they ever found out what he was. He’d seen too much of that when he was young, and he didn’t want to go through that kind of pain again.

He pushed open the door and drudged up a half-smile for the perky receptionist behind the desk at Doc’s office. She gave a frightened squeak, but pulled herself together by the time he drew closer to her.

“Is Belle ready to go?”

“Yes, Mr. Tasker. Doc Smith gave her a clean bill of health and said the puppies look good. You can expect them to arrive in the next month or so.”

She rang the buzzer and Jacob nodded, waiting impatiently for whoever had Belle in the back to bring her out.

“I’m glad to hear that.” He handed her the check for the appointment.

“You have Doc’s number, right? That way if Belle has any problems, you can call and Doc will be right out to your place in a hurry.” Her smile held a little bit of fear and a hint of attraction.

“Yeah, I got it. I’m not worried though. Belle’s an old hand at puppies. She’ll be fine.”

He was the one who would be a nervous wreck until the last one was born and breathing. He hated like hell to lose one of the little ones before they even had a chance to breathe. It broke his heart sometimes, even though he understood it was nature’s way.

Tuesday, March 16th, 2010, by , Filed under: Uncategorized| | 16 Comments