Before she could decide, she heard the familiar rumble of his truck approaching and grinned. That’s great timing. She ran outside to greet him but seeing the look on his face had her smile dying on her lips. “What’s wrong?” She heard herself ask.“ The tracking chip I put in Henry went dark. I don’t know where he is.” He said quickly. “Well can’t you just-“ she waved her hands around, gesturing to his body, “shift into something and track his scent.” “I tried that. With the fresh snow all the scents are muddled, I can’t find anything to go off of. I just came to tell you that I’m going into the wolf habitat again. I need to find him; I might be in there all night.” “Then I want to go with you.” Rebecca said but Luke was shaking his head. “I’m going to be in here all night, Rebecca, it’s going to be dark and cold and it’s no place for you.” “Don’t you dare say that to me. Just because I can’t do what you can doesn’t mean I can’t help or that I don’t want to help.” She said. “There’s tents in the medical center, we can set up a base center in the clearing where we released Henry and his mother.” “It would be easier if I-““No!” She yelled. “You’re being stubborn right now and you’re not thinking. We can set up a base camp with food and water and medical supplies. What if you find him hurt? You’re going to take him back to medical alone and in the dark?” She took a deep breath. “Look, I know you’re worried, but we need to be smart about this. You’re going to have a place to come back to eat and drink or warm up if you get too cold. I’ll stay in the tent and when you find him, I’ll be there and waiting for whatever he needs.” He was quiet for a long moment. “It’s going to be cold.” “Lucky for me, I have a warm coat.” She said and grabbed Luke’s flannel off the peg. Luke drove her to the medical center and together they loaded a tent, sleeping bags, basic medical supplies, and a portable camp stove into Luke’s truck. Rebecca ran into the main office, letting Maggie know what was going on.
After explaining the situation twice to the frazzled woman, she went into the staff kitchen, raiding the cupboards that Maggie kept well-stocked. She carried the bag of food and water back to Luke’s truck. “Done. That was the last thing we needed.” She told him, barely having time to buckle herself in before Luke was speeding towards the wolf habitat. “There’s eighty acres.” She said. “How long will it take you to cover that much ground?” “Hopefully I won’t have to cover half of that before I find him.” Luke said and Rebecca jumped out of the truck to open the gate, closing it after Luke pulled the truck through. The drive to the clearing was short and tense, Luke not bothering to say much as they went through the motions of setting up the tent. Rebecca put her hand on his arm as he hammered the last stake into the ground. “ Listen, I can take it from here.” She told him. “Go find him.” Luke grabbed her face, pressing a firm kiss to her forehead. “Thank you.” He breathed and started tugging off his clothes, leaving them in a pile on the snowy ground which Rebecca quickly scooped up before they could get too wet. “Stay warm.” He told her and then his body was changing.
Thick black fur began to grow rapidly from his skin, his teeth elongating and sharpening in his mouth while the cracking and popping of his bones as they shifted and changed shape set her teeth on edge. When it was done, a familiar black wolf stood in front of her, his glowing amber eyes staring into hers. She felt a wet tongue lapping at her hand before he was sprinting off into the trees. “Luke!” She shouted after him, making a face as she wiped her hand on her jeans. She heard him bark once in answering before the sound of him faded completely, leaving her alone in the clearing, snow falling quietly around her. She could feel the chill starting to sting her face, so she quickly finished setting up the tent. She made a makeshift bed out of layers and layers of sleeping bags they had taken from the medical center and dragged the camping stove into the tent, turning it on to try and get some heat. She set up a folding card table in one corner, setting out the medical supplies until it resembled a medical station. Lastly, bringing in the bag of food and water, she zipped up the tent, hoping the warmth from the camping stove would stay in her little cocoon. She hoped that the propane from the flames wouldn’t gas her out until it warmed up the tent, she had never had to use a camping stove as a makeshift heater before. She crawled under the sleeping bags, turning off the stove when the smell of propane got too strong for her to stand any longer. She lamented that she didn’t bring anything with her to do and considered going out and doing her own search for the wolf pup before deciding against it. The last thing Luke needs is me stumbling around out there getting my scent all over while he’s trying to find Henry, she thought. Instead, she decided to grab her satchel and see if she could start working on any of those reports she needed to finish about the tiger enclosure. The hours slowly passed as she worked, she turned the camping stove on and off as needed, trying to keep the temperature in the tent above freezing. When the afternoon melted into evening and it got too dark to write, she pulled the miniature flashlight she kept tucked inside her satchel and decided to go through the food she took from the staff kitchen. She didn’t know if Luke was even going to come back tonight, but she knew if he did he’d probably appreciate something warm to eat. She found half a loaf of bread and a package of pre-sliced cheddar cheese and decided that she could make some simple cheesy toast. So she turned on the camping stove on low, setting the bread directly on the burner and put a slice of cheese on top. The end result was a piece of slightly charred bread covered in bubbly cheese that wasn’t quite melted in the center. It certainly wasn’t the best thing she had ever eaten but it was warm and filled her grumbling stomach. Half-way through her second piece, the zipper to the tent door was yanked down and Luke was falling inside through the flap. He was naked and dripping with melted snow, panting hard. “Luke!” Rebecca cried and jumped up. She quickly zipped up the door of the tent, trying to save the heat before focusing her attention on Luke. Her heart dropped as she noticed he didn’t have the wolf pup in his arms but didn’t let herself focus on it. Instead, she pulled him up and off the floor, shrugging off Luke’s flannel to pull off her shirt, trying to pat him dry with it. We should have brought some towels, she thought, shivering as the cold air hit her bare skin. Once he was as dry as she could get him, she yanked on his flannel again, and pulled Luke to her nest of sleeping bags. “Get under those, you need to warm up.” She said and busied herself making him a few slices of cheesy toast. Between them, they finished off the remaining bread and cheese, Luke shoving the food into his mouth as if he were ravenous. “He’s not in the north plot.” Luke said once he was finished eating. “There’s no sign of the pack there either.” “Well, that’s a whole area you won’t have to search again.”