Part 6
One of the smaller wolves came at Caleb from the fence side. He braced the cedar against the post and drove it forward. The animal struck the wood and recoiled. Bruno lurched upright on three sound legs and barked into its face.
One female darted toward Will’s flank. He drove her off with a short rush, then returned to the leader. Each time Will turned, Bruno filled the gap with noise.
The animal near the sheep gate rushed Bruno while Will was turned. Caleb swung the rail too late. Bruno met it with his good shoulder, caught fur along its jaw, and drove it sideways before his injured leg collapsed again. The wolf backed toward the breach with a strip of black fur in its teeth.
Will feinted toward the leader’s bitten side. When the older wolf turned to protect it, Will changed direction and struck low. The torn-eared male lost his footing on the ice and went down.
Both animals were bloodied, their breath tearing into clouds. Will nearly went down with the leader but found his balance first.
Will closed his jaws around the fur at the leader’s throat.
The pinned wolf kicked once, then lay rigid beneath him. Will tightened his stance without shaking or tearing, holding the other animal against the snow.
For one suspended second, Caleb feared the grip would turn into a killing shake.
The leader’s throat struck the snow, and the four remaining attacks broke apart. The female checked her rush. The wolf Will had thrown was already limping near the breach; it used the opening first and backed through the fence. The gate-side animal followed.
Will shifted his weight forward. A growl traveled through his closed jaws, and the torn-eared male stopped kicking. The smaller wolf that had struck Caleb’s rail turned after the others. The female circled once beyond Will’s reach, then slipped through the breach. The killing shake never came.
Only then did Will open his jaws and jump back. The torn-eared male remained down for a breath, then rose with one forefoot sliding. Will gave him room but stayed between him and Bruno. The leader crossed the broken rail and disappeared after his pack.
No howl followed them.
For a moment Will watched the trees. Then he turned away from the pack and came to Bruno.
He sniffed the old dog’s shoulder and ribs, nosed carefully along the leg that would not bear weight, and touched Bruno’s muzzle. Bruno licked once at the blood on Will’s cheek. His tail moved weakly across the snow.
Still seated against the fence post, Caleb put his arms around Bruno first, feeling the dog’s breath shudder against his coat, then laid one bare hand against Will’s neck.
The fur beneath Caleb’s palm was hot and damp. Will’s head came around sharply, and Caleb froze, aware that pain could change even a familiar animal’s response. After one hard breath, the wolf lowered his muzzle and allowed the hand to remain.
Will leaned into him.
“All right,” Caleb said, because anything larger would have been false to the yard they stood in. “We’re going in.”
The sheep were alive. Caleb could hear them settling by degrees inside the barn, their hooves no longer battering the boards. The fence could wait until daylight.
Caleb rolled onto his good knee and crawled the twelve feet to the porch, dragging the bad leg. Bruno hobbled beside him on three sound legs. Will kept to Bruno’s injured side, matching each step. Near the bottom stair, Caleb uncovered the rifle, opened its action, removed the remaining cartridges, and left it against the porch post.
He used the post and rail to haul himself upright. The knee shook but held while he pulled a folded blanket from the mudroom and worked it beneath Bruno’s chest as a sling. Supporting himself on the rail, he helped the old dog across the threshold. Will limped after them without being called. Only after all three were inside did Caleb bring in the unloaded rifle and bar the storm door.
Under the kitchen light, the damage looked frightening but not final. Bruno had punctures along one shoulder and an injured foreleg he would not bear weight on; Will’s right shoulder was torn but his weight stayed on it. Caleb cleaned what he could, wrapped the wounds, and kept pressure where bleeding persisted.
When the telephone line answered, Caleb told the emergency dispatcher in Morrow about his knee, the breached fence, and two wounded animals—one of them a wolf. Help would take time over the drifted road. He was told to stay off the knee, control the bleeding he could reach, and give the wolf distance if pain made him agitated. Caleb asked that whoever reached the farm call from the road before approaching the house.
Caleb hung up and looked at the two injured animals already leaning toward each other. He placed a folded quilt between them as a boundary. Bruno pushed his muzzle over it; Will rested his chin on the other side.
His own knee swelled beneath his pants. He braced it, fed the stove, and placed the telephone within reach before lowering himself to the floor between the animals. At first light the road crew would begin opening a way in, and all three of them would be examined. For now, the storm door was barred and the pack was gone.
Bruno lay on his good side. Will settled facing the mudroom, still listening, until Caleb drew Nell’s old wool blanket over both of them. The wolf sniffed it and rested his chin beside Bruno’s paws.
Caleb did not sleep. He watched the windows pale and listened to two different rhythms of breathing stabilize in the room.
By sunrise the cold had sharpened the tracks outside. From the kitchen window, Caleb could see where five wolves had come through the fence and where five had departed toward the forest. A separate trail crossed the yard from the porch, cut into the churned snow around Bruno, and ended at the kitchen door.
Help was still somewhere beyond the drifted access road. Caleb had time before anyone arrived, and there was one decision he would not let pain, relief, or another person make on Will’s behalf.
Will was awake when Caleb lifted the bar and opened that door.
The wolf rose stiffly and stepped onto the porch. He lifted his muzzle toward the tracks leading north. The woods stood blue and quiet beyond the broken rail, open to him as they had been after the blizzard.
Behind Caleb, Bruno shifted on the blanket. His nails scratched once against the floor.
Will looked toward the trees for a long time. Then he turned, passed Caleb at the threshold, and lay down beside the old dog.
Caleb closed the door against the cold but did not fasten the bolt. He added a split log to the stove and set two bowls of water within reach. When he lowered himself into the rocker, Bruno’s tail tapped the floor, and Will’s gray shoulder remained pressed to the black one beneath Nell’s blanket.
Outside, the winter went on. Inside, the fire settled around the space all three of them had chosen to keep.