Page 16 of Running with Direwolves
“They’ll be hunting you as well as him, Sienna, but he can hide in his human form. It will be harder for you.”
“I know.” She nodded, the image of her zoology certificate being ripped up suddenly flashed before her. But that was only a bit of paper and this was real life. This was a chance to truly help an almost extinct species. “How many of you are there?”
“Not many, numbers are dwindling. We need more babies born. Grady would make a great father.”
“Babies? Do you mean wolf pups?”
“No, our children are born as human, they don’t shift until they hit puberty.”
“Okay, I get it.” She blew out a breath. His words hadsealed the deal in her head. These were people first and foremost and people did not belong in a zoo. “I’ll find somewhere to hide out, lay low, until it blows over. Always fancied Costa Rica to be honest.”
“What? Are you crazy?” He turned to her with wide eyes.
“No, the wildlife is great there and—”
“You’re coming with us.” There was steely determination in his voice.
“With you?”
“Yeah, if you’re on the run because you’ve helped us then you come with us. No one gets left behind. We’ll protect you, provide for you, show you our life away from the city.”
“Go with you?”
“It’s not up for debate.” He released her and turned back to the zoo. “You think Ted will be a problem?”
“No, I can handle him, he trusts me implicitly. As does everyone else in the zoo.”
Once more she used her security pass to gain entry.
Ted looked up, surprise crossing his features. “You’re back?”
“Yeah, I had an idea to shut the grays up. Thought it was worth a try.”
“Anything is worth a try.” He looked at Tarl. “You better sign in again, buddy.”
“Sure thing.” Tarl reached for the pen though his attention was on the grainy black-and-white screens on Ted’s desk.
“Come on,” Sienna said, leading the way.
Soon they were in the canine “staff only” section.
“The grays will stop howling as soon at Grady’s scent is gone,” Tarl said. “He’s encroached on their territory and they’re anxious that he’ll attack and claim it for himself. Even on his own he could take out most of them, even more so becausethey’re soft captive wolves.”
“So that’s what it is?” She nodded. “I thought so.”
“They’re scared, real scared. The fear has been passed down through generations. Direwolves have been known to eat a gray if hungry enough.” Tarl reached up and knocked a camera to face the wall.
“What are you doing?”
“Let’s just do this quick. We don’t want anything on camera if we can help it.” He rushed up to the direwolf cage. “Grady, come here.”
The direwolf slunk from the shadows looking even thinner than before and his eyes dull.
“I told you to eat!” Tarl said.
The direwolf shook his head and then looked at Sienna.
“She knows everything, and she’s going to get you out,” Tarl said, dropping his rucksack to the ground. “And I have clothes for you, so hurry up and shift and we can get the hell away from here.”
