Chapter 7 - The Wolf That Came CloseGrant stopped letting Noah out of his sight.
Noah hated it.
“You left me alone all night last week.”
“I was wrong.”
“So now I can’t cross the yard?”
“Yes.”
“That makes no sense.”
“Most parenting doesn’t.”
It was almost a joke.
Almost.
Sheriff Briggs searched for Earl.
His red pickup was found abandoned.
No Earl.
Rumors said he crossed into Montana.
Another said he was hiding on his brother’s ranch.
Briggs checked both.
Nothing.
Meanwhile the sheep still needed care.
Predators did not pause for criminal investigations.
Three nights after the arrests, a lamb disappeared.
This time the gate remained locked.
Tracks appeared in soft soil.
Canine.
Large.
Noah stared.
“Wolf?”
Grant nodded.
A real one.
The irony felt cruel.
They had spent days proving wolves were not responsible for earlier thefts.
Now an actual predator had arrived.
Grant contacted wildlife officials.
They recommended nonlethal deterrence first.
Lights.
Human presence.
Guardian animals.
The ranch could not afford a trained dog.
Then Noah remembered Duke.
An old livestock guardian dog Grant had sold to Roy Benton, a neighbor eight miles west.
Noah begged.
Grant resisted.
“We sold him.”
“Ask.”
“You think Roy gives back a dog he paid for?”
“Ask.”
Grant did.
Roy listened.
Then said:
“Borrow him.”
Duke returned that evening.
Huge white Great Pyrenees mix.
Older.
Slower.
Still immediately alert around sheep.
Noah knelt.
The dog remembered him.
Tail moved once.
Grant watched.
“Your mom loved that dog.”
“I know.”
That night Grant stayed in the pasture too.
Noah noticed.
“You scared?”
“Yes.”
The answer surprised him.
“Of wolves?”
Grant looked at his son.
“No.”
Noah understood.
Grant was afraid of failing him again.
They camped near the flock.
Duke patrolled.
Around midnight a howl sounded from the ridge.
Noah’s body reacted before his mind.
Same cold sensation.
Same memory of opening his eyes against Martha.
Grant noticed.
“You okay?”
“No.”
“Want to go back?”
Noah looked at him.
“Are you going?”
“No.”
“Then neither am I.”
They waited.
The wolf never approached closely.
Duke barked several times.
The flock tightened.
By dawn, all sheep remained.
Grant made coffee on a camp stove.
He handed Noah a cup.
Noah took it.
For several minutes they watched sunrise.
Then Grant said:
“I told you I’d kill you if one sheep was missing.”
Noah stared into the cup.
“Yes.”
“I need you to know something.”
“I know you didn’t mean it.”
“That isn’t enough.”
Grant looked at him directly.
“You should never have had to decide whether your father meant that.”
Noah said nothing.
Grant continued.
“I was cruel.”
The word felt heavier than “angry.”
“I thought fear would make you responsible.”
Noah looked toward the flock.
“It made me scared of you.”
Grant closed his eyes.
“I know.”
“No. You know now.”
“Yes.”
Noah appreciated the correction.
A howl sounded again.
Far away.
This time neither moved.
Duke stood facing the ridge.
Grant said:
“Your mother used to tell me sheep don’t need a man who scares them. They need somebody they trust enough to follow.”
Noah smiled faintly.
“She was talking about you?”
“Usually.”
Morning light spread across the grass.
For the first time since Laura died, Grant told Noah stories about her without becoming angry afterward.
Then Duke suddenly barked toward the road.
A vehicle approached.
Sheriff Briggs.
She got out quickly.
“We found Earl.”
Grant stood.
“Where?”
“Hospital in Billings.”
“What happened?”
“Car wreck.”
“Is he alive?”
“Yes.”
Briggs paused.
“And he’s asking to speak to Noah.”
Grant immediately said:
“No.”
Noah looked at him.
Briggs continued.
“He says the boy is the only person he’ll tell where the missing sheep went.”
Grant’s jaw hardened.
Noah stared toward the road.
Earl Maddox had spent months stealing their animals.
Possibly watching him.
Maybe planning something worse.
May you like
Now he wanted the fifteen-year-old to come to him.
And Noah wanted to know why.
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