The Cynic and the Wolf by Julie Steimle (ebook voice reader TXT) 📕

be honest, Audry hated being in the middle of them. The angry hunting types would be looking for someone to blame. The self-defense types… well, they had a better argument. Unfortunately, word could have spread over who had told about the hunters being on the grounds. And if that were the case, some barbaric-minded jerk who actually thought violence was acceptable behavior might try to hunt her down.

"But hunters had been caught, last night. So they are beefing up security."

"I heard they were beefing up security because one of the owners is here."

"Same difference."

"Fine," one of them retorted. "But I don't like being searched."

"Nobody likes being searched."

"I wanna know who finked on the hunters!"

"Finked? There is no hunting on this land! What if somebody got shot?"

Audry rose, doing it discretely. She picked up her dishes, not even looking at them so it would not look suspicious.

"That rat should have minded their own business."

"This is a reserve! It is most definitely important that hunters are stopped on this land!"

"I don't want someone shooting guns where I am skiing!"

"What’s the matter with you?"

"These premises are gun free unless registered with the manager of the establishment and given exclusive permission to carry. It is in the contract. You should—"

Audry stepped into the kitchen with her lunch, carrying her bread bowl to the table.

As she set them down, she noticed Rick lying on the back bench near the wall. His eyes were closed. His arms were crossed, and he was sleeping with Mrs. Gruber's knit shawl tightly wrapped around himself. One of his legs was draped over the arm and the other leg hung down, touching the floor. For a second it was like looking at pet dog who had crawled onto the sofa and just crashed there, refusing to move.

"Why isn't he using his fancy suite?" she murmured.

"His friends have raided his room," Mrs. Gruber whispered.

Audry looked up, seeing her.

Putting a finger over her mouth to indicate to Audry to be a little quieter, Mrs. Gruber continued, "…enjoying the space—and he wanted privacy."

Audry looked back at him. Here was one of the richest men in North America, and he was sleeping in a kitchen rather than tossing his friends out of his family suite. Seriously, he was weird.

"Is there garlic butter on that?" Mrs. Gruber sniffed the air, trying to detect it.

Audry nodded. "Yeah. And pesto."

Nodding, Mrs. Gruber sighed. "Can you… take it upstairs to your room? Howie is allergic."

"To garlic?" Audry stared at her then the sleeping man who looked like he was catching up on the sleep he lost last night and was starting to breathe hard.

"And honey, if you have forgotten." Mrs. Gruber then shooed her away, as if it were life and death that the smell not even reach his nose. "Please take it out or upstairs."

Feeling pushed out, Audry carried her lunch up to her room.

Setting her lunch on the desk, Audry snapped on her computer again and started to go through some of her footage. She had time after all.

While perusing one set, she noticed the wolf passing by the fox den. It was sniffing a trail. It got close enough for her see that it was a male wolf—a healthy one, though some of his fur showed he had scars from fights. But the wolf did not see the camera at all, unlike the foxes, and he nearly passed by. But before it went into the area entirely, his ears perked up and he ran off. He never did go near the rabbit warren. But then she was sure he could smell the hunters and was avoiding them.

When she finished her lunch, Audry decided to take a nap herself.

 

She had another weird dream.

This time a rabbit hopped into her room much like the white rabbit from Alice in Wonderland. It knocked on her door, then spoke to her politely—at least at first. But then it said the room was now his, and she had to go outside with the chickens. Then a door opened up in the wall—one that was not actually there—and the rabbit pushed her out. But instead of falling down to the ground from a high floor, she was already ground level in the snow. Standing next to her was one sacrificial chicken who looked larger than normal, and for some reason was wearing a scarf. It was standing next to a campfire, fluffing out its feathers, clucking a song which sounded a bit like that old gospel song Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen. The next second, the chicken vanished and it was her warming herself by the campfire with no coat on. The chicken's scarf was there though.

Grabbing it, Audry marched to the chicken wire fence to climb it, but it seemed forever tall, no end to it that she could see. So she tried to squeeze through the holes, which for some reason looked bigger. Just as she was about to go get through so she would go to the kitchen and demand her room back, the wolf stalked up.

He was larger than a normal wolf. His eyes were fixed on her, shining almost red in the firelight. As it got closer, his teeth bared. Audry braced for the attack as there was nowhere to run and she was stuck in the chicken wire. Yet, just as the wolf came up to bite her in the jugular, it seemed to go to normal size and it kissed her on the cheek, whispering, "Thank you," in Rick's voice. "You save my life."

Immediately after, it dashed to the kitchen door where it burst through. And it ran upstairs to her room where she assumed it would hunt the rabbit. Audry chased after it, breaking through the chicken wire as though it had always been nothing, stumbling up the stairs—only to find the wolf online writing a blog and talking with the rabbits over what he should put into it next.

 

Audry sat up, rubbing her eyes. Her dreams were just getting weirder and weirder.

Getting out of bed, Audry looked at the clock. It had only been thirty minutes, but she must have been really tired to have dreamed that deep.

Freshening up, Audry then went downstairs for some water.

Rick was gone.

His friends probably had hunted him down and had taken him somewhere. They seemed to be needy like that.

Audry took her lunch dishes to the sink and washed them out, setting them in the nearly empty drainer on the counter. After a quick restroom visit, Audry went out again for her afternoon circuit.

Once more out into the snow, Audry drew in a deep breath. Her eyes automatically went to the chicken yard. There was no chicken there yet, but the yard had been raked over so that there were no incriminating paw prints or chicken prints. Putting on her snowshoes, Audry prepared for the long haul.

As she began to make her rounds once more, Audry noticed that the rangers were more visible. In fact, there seemed to be more of them on the grounds, especially near the borders. When she crossed to the rabbit warren, one of them spotted her and called to her.

"What are you doing over there?"

"I'm always here," Audry called back. She lifted up her id tag. "I've got special permission from the Deacons themselves."

He skied over. She didn’t recognize him at all. He must have been a new recruit or perhaps someone on reserve from another location. He looked over her id then called into his radio to confirm the information to verify it was not a forgery.

<< Audry Bruchenhaus? Yes. She's on our files with permission to walk the lot. In fact, she is the one that identified the hunters last night. >>

The ranger peered at her and handed back her id. "Ok. All good." He then saluted her. "Keep up the good work."

Bushing, Audry chuckled, nodding.

She marched on.

The sun was covered by clouds and the air was damp feeling. It probably was going to snow that night. Not the best situation for night skiing. It was a shame, since Audry wanted to go skiing once she was all done that night.

Audry checked out more locations, paused to take photographs of fox tracks and deer tracks then moved on. As she was approaching one wooded area, her cell phone rang.

"Hello?"

<< Audry. Are you almost done? I miss you. >>

Moaning, Audry was getting a little tired of having to explain when she was going to be done to her boyfriend. His calling was not going to rush anything. "Harlin…"

<< Hey… what's with the tone? I just wanted to hear your voice, >> he said. << You know, each second you are away, I ache inside. >>

That sounded like a song lyric. Audry sighed.

"Harlin, that's sweet, but I am busy right now," she said.

<< You don't miss me at all? >> He sounded hurt.

Sighing, Audry shook her head. "I do miss you. A lot. But, I have to keep focused on my research."

<< You seem married to your research. >>

"It is the only thing that seems to want to marry me," she said.

He went silent.

She didn't add to it either. It just came out, and she didn't want to retract it. It was what she really wanted after all.

<< Back at that old thing again, huh? >>

"That old thing?" Audry felt her insides stiffen. "Marriage is important to me."

<< I thought you wanted our relationship to go forward, >> he said.

She clenched her teeth. "That is our relationship going forward, Harlin. How else can it go forward?"

<< I thought you were a progressive woman, >> he said. << I thought you understood us. >>

Audry leaned back on her ski pole, realizing that he had not changed one iota. He had expected her to have given up. "I understand that you don't value what I think is important."

<< Oh my g— >>

"No! You have no right to be exasperated with me!" she snapped. "If you actually respected me, you would respect that one wish."

<< Marriage is a manmade farce. We don't need it. I thought you loved me. >>

Audry paled. She whispered, "What are you saying?"

<< I have needs. >>

Groaning, Audry snapped, "It isn't my job to supply your needs. We are not married, but only dating."

<< That is so backward. What era are you from? >>

"Not the caveman era, that's for certain!" Her face was getting hot. "Everybody is right about you. You are nothing more than a player just trying to get laid."

But he laughed. << Oh? This coming from a tease? >>

Audry blushed. 

<< Real women aren't afraid of sex, >> he said. << You need to sort out her priorities and get with the real world. >>

Bristling, fuming, Audry shook her head as she growled back into the phone, "I need to sort out my priorities? Nu-uh. I know what my priorities are. And I owe you nothing. My priorities are quite sorted. I wanted proof that what we had wasn't some temporary fling. That's why I want marriage. It is the best sign of commitment. And I am not going to let some guy bully me into sex."

<< Bully you? Stop imagining things. I have waited and waited and waited for you to wake up. But I realize now that you are nothing more than a right-wing, evangelical prude. >>

 Gasping, Audry wished he was there so she could throttle him. "Prude? You big jackass! You can't shame me into sex either. If you love me, you'll marry me."

<< If you really loved me, you'd prove it without all those puerile demands. >>

That was it. Bristling, Audry said, "We’re through. It’s over."

He was speechless for a second. Then he said, << You're over there cheating on me, aren't you? >>

Huffing, Audry began to sing, "You don't own me. I'm not just one of your many toys. You don't own me. Don't say I can't go with other boys—"

<< So you are seeing someone! You cheater! >>

"And don't tell me what to do! Don't tell me what to say! And