Page 14 of Tracking the Alpha
“As mentioned before, the orders are to bring it in alive.”
“And if I refuse?”
“Either you succeed or you die.”
A cold thing to say. “That isn’t a choice.”
“Never said you had one. Capture the wolf. That is the only option you have.”
“Or you’ll kill me.”
“Not me. If you fail, it will be because the creature bested you.”
This kept getting better and better. “This wolf… I assume you have images of it and a map of its roaming area?”
“It’s a wolf. Pretty sure you know what they look like,” the dry reply.
“You want me to find a specific one, so, yes, I want an image so I don’t waste my time tagging the wrong one.”
“It’s the only wolf left in the area. All the others were culled by earlier hunters.”
“Exactly how many have tried to capture it?” How many had failed…
“A few.”
“How many?” she reiterated.
“Not counting the inexperienced soldiers we initially sent out? Three.”
Her mouth rounded in shock. “You’re telling me this wolf took out three experienced hunters?”
“The wolf only killed two. The other was just badly wounded.”
“Just?” she squeaked. Not one for hysterics, Tanis couldn’t help the tight panic building in her chest. “Exactly what did the military do to this wolf to make it so hard to capture?”
“I told you, it’s smart. We tried sending out squads in the beginning to recover it. It picked off the soldiers one by one. That’s when the general decided we should use those experienced in dealing with wolves. The beast outsmarted them as well.”
She noticed his use of the word “it,” but earlier he’d referred to the wolf as a “he.”
“It’s a male?”
“Yes.”
“How old?”
“Not relevant.”
Probably not, but still annoying that the major kept refusing to give her information. “Size?”
“Larger than your usual wild wolf. This one is approximately one hundred and ninety pounds, about eight feet in length from nose to tip of the tail, and about forty inches to its shoulder.”
Once more she couldn’t stop her jaw from dropping. “That’s huge.” The average wolf in Canada hit a hundred to 130 pounds and measured only about thirty inches high. “I assume it’s larger size is because of what the military did to it.”
“That’s class?—”
“Classified, yeah. Whatever,” she muttered. The major didn’t need to confirm for her to know she didn’t deal with an ordinary specimen. A most likely illegally genetically modified wolf in the wild. No wonder he was hellbent on getting it back. “I have to say, not sure what you think I can do. Sounds to me like you might have to give up on the plan to capture.”
“We are following the general’s command.”
