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

And that ended the discussion.

Not long after that Audry went back to her room. She sorted out a few things, hopped to the dining hall to get a plate of that Moroccan Veggie Delight, ate for a bit, then returned to her quarters where she prepared to go outside again.

Marching down the stairs, collecting her camera, backpack and putting on her snow boots, Audry wrapped her scarf around her neck and head, tucking in the corners so that no air could slip in. She pulled on her gloves and tugged her hood up. She was about to go out, but she looked around the room one last time. Several of the staff had gone home or out to enjoy the snow and ski themselves so the room was mostly empty. As she prepared exit the back door, one of the remaining kitchen staff whispered to her, "In case you want to avoid him, I saw Mr. Deacon go out also. He was claiming he was going to inspect the grounds."

Audry nodded. "Thanks."

Audry looked to the window. It was already dark. She wondered what he could possibly inspect at night. But she didn't want to run into him. The guy irked her. 

Audry stepped to the door.

"Going out?" Mrs. Gruber called to her while standing next to another pot of cocoa she was brewing for the night skiers.

Audry nodded, getting hot in all her things.

"Stay to the lit areas," Mrs. Gruber said. "Though I don't think there will be a snowstorm tonight, you might run across more wildlife out there and you don't want to startle them."

That took Audry aback. Not once had Mrs. Gruber given her such advice before. She usually minded her own business when it came to Audry's project as Audry had told her when she first started that she was a trained animal rescue worker. But to remind her, she said, "I'm an expert, Mrs. Gruber. I know what I am doing."

Shrugging, Mrs. Gruber sighed with unusual resignation. She sounded worried.

Audry then looked to the coat rack again to make sure she had everything. She saw that Rick Deacon's coat was still on the hook. And so was his scarf and gloves. In fact, all of his things were untouched. She turned back, confused. "Uh, his coat is still here."

Blinking at it for a moment, registering that Audry was right, Mrs. Gruber uncomfortably nodded. "So it is."

"He must have forgotten it," said one of the staff.

"It is freezing out there." Audry shook her head, knowing exactly how biting the cold was. "No one forgets their coat in weather like that."

"He only went out for a bit," Mrs. Gruber offered, returning her attention to the cocoa. "He probably just walked around the building to the front. He's weird that way."

But somehow that rang false. Audry didn’t know why. Something in Mrs. Gruber's tone, maybe. It sounded rehearsed. And Audry could see she was definitely tense and trying to hide it. It wasn't her usual demeanor. Not her genuine self.

"Riiight." Audry shook her head opening the door and going through.

"Let’s hope he sticks to the lodge," said one of the last staff still there.

Mrs. Gruber nodded. Yet she continued to be anxious, biting her lip and looking to the window.

Audry stepped completely out, closing the door behind her

Outside in the frigid air, Audry gazed at the darkening sky, then up at the moon which was waxing large and getting larger. Only a tiny sliver was blackened. In the moonlight she could see the entire white terrain behind the lodge, the shadows deep. Nearby in the chicken yard shivered one lone hen who fluffed out her feathers and pecked about the seeded snow like a sacrifice to some winter beast. It felt so pagan that for a moment Audry imagined she had heard a wolf howl in the distance.

But she had work to do.

Trudging to her snowshoes, Audry strapped them on, then stepped atop the white spread powder with greater ease. Per routine, with pack on shoulder, she went directly to her first station where she had a time lapse camera in operation. The night view of the land was almost as breathtaking as the daytime, but because of the moon she could not see all the stars. Yet the moonlight illuminated everything in such an ethereal way that Audry soaked it in, the hushing of the wind like music.

Another wolf cry lifted. This time Audry was sure she had not imagined it. It sounded lonely. Almost sad, like it was weeping. The sound of it made Audry's heart ache.

She also wondered if Mrs. Gruber was also psychic. Her advice was starting to make sense. Foxes were one thing. A wolf was quite another. And though wolves were shy creatures who usually avoided humans, a desperate wolf would do whatever it needed to survive.

Audry took her tranquilizer gun out from her kit and made sure it had a dart in it. She always felt guilty for keeping a gun on her, as her aim was impeccable. It was tool, she told herself. It was for the animal's protection just as much as hers. But--and Audry felt this excruciatingly--shooting a living creature felt like half a murder each time, even if it didn't die. Normally she used it to put them to sleep so she could treat their wounds. However, she wasn't an idiot. She also used it for self-defense. It was better to be prepared than to become food for a desperate predator after all.

As she went further on--the wolf cries rather sparse and distant for a time--Audry came across her first wolf tracks. They were beautiful. Just the size of them were impressive. An adult wolf.

Audry took pictures of them in the bright moonlight.

Then she followed the tracks in hopes to also find droppings for her study. This journey took her up a hill she rarely traveled, leading her near the tree line she only visited on occasion. Not far was an abandoned den buried near a fallen tree where she had another station which she only visited in the day because at night it was most likely occupied. She kept some motion sensor equipment in that den with time lapse cameras to track any animal traffic in and out. Previously she had seen foxes take cover in there, raccoons and a few other creatures. The den itself was manmade. The rangers called them sanctuaries which the Deacons had arranged to be built to accommodate any animal that needed it. It was a brilliant idea which she supported. It made her think a little higher of them.

But as Audry looked in that direction, she realized that perhaps that sanctuary was not vacant that night. The wolf was probably using it. It might have even been born there, though she didn't see any signs of a pack. She didn't think it wise to check on the shelter. She also didn’t think it was wise to follow the tracks further. A cornered wolf was also a threatened wolf.

Backing away, Audry turned and went back to her usual circuit for checking her equipment. She visited the fox den, and on her way back passed the rabbit warren. As she headed back to the lodge, Audry looked up toward the illuminated hill where she had thought she had seen some movement.

Like an elegant shadow, a wolf's silhouette rose over the crest and jogged across the snow. It paused once and gazed straight at her. For a moment, Audry stiffened, thinking it might come toward her. But then it continued on its way.

It was on the hunt.

For some stupid reason, the words of that Duran Duran song echoed in Audry's skull. "...Stalked in the forest, too close to hide, I'll be upon you by the moonlight side. Do do do do do do do do do do do do do do..."

When she returned to the lodge, Audry vowed to call Harlin and ask him why he chose that song as his ringtone.

Chapter Three

Though her bed was great, Audry had a restless sleep that night. Her dreams were beyond weird. It started out great. Harlin was on the Eiffel Tower proposing to her, telling her that he was a fool and that he had seen the error of his ways and he wanted to marry her. But then he brought along that French woman she had seen with Rick back in Paris, the one with the cobalt eyes and a face akin to Amelie Poulain, and said she was his other wife. And with her was her two friends from French club wearing the same clothes as in their selfie back then. They were all excited about being part of a haram.

Of course dream Audry protested the very idea of becoming one of Harlin's many wives. To which he said to her, "You were the one who wanted an old fashioned relationship. Well, this is as old fashioned as it gets."

Audry woke up screaming, "I am not going to wear a burka!"

That was when reality came back to her. She was in her room at the lodge in her pajamas.

Her body ached. She had pressure wrinkles in her skin from sleeping tight in her blankets. It was so weird, because normally she didn't dream much. Dreams only came when something upset her and her mind was in overdrive. Apparently her situation with Harlin was bugging her more than she had realized.

Getting out of bed, she stuffed her feet into her slippers to head downstairs for some breakfast. She shuffled out her door. Stepping quietly onto the creaky wooden steps in the narrow stairwell, Audry went down, still half asleep. The back rooms had always made Audry think of old movies like Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights for some reason. The kitchen itself had that old-world-ishness to it. Some days she half expected to see someone in Empire style clothing march in and make some remark about marrying their cousin.

Audry shuddered. The whole cousin marriage thing freaked her out a much as the haram dream she had.

Audry could see into the kitchen long before reaching the bottom floor. Her eyes first latched onto the mussed up auburn hair of Rick who was just sitting at the table in his pajamas eating a plateful of meat. Bacon. Eggs, sausage, and a bit of toast. His back was to her, and he looked like he had hardly slept.

As she took another step down, his head perked up like an animal as if he smelled her. But it was more likely he had heard her. He looked in her direction, blinking at her. The expression on his face as he drew in another breath was peculiar. Audry got the strangest impression that he recognized her smell. He pointed at her with his fork. "Cynical Audry whom I had bumped into in Paris."

He finally remembered, if barely. But what was the trigger? Her scent? Unbelievable. And what was with the tag 'cynical'? She wasn't…

Audry checked herself. Ok, maybe she was cynical—especially near him.

Mrs. Gruber, thankfully, wasn't in the room to comment. But the staff who were present exchanged looks. 

She stepped fully into the room. "What jogged your memory?"

Rick immediately blushed, surprisingly tongue-tied for a second as he muttered,