Sleepwalker Wolf

Part of the Pack

Travis

We told my parents what we found out at the hospital that same night, informing them that the next week we would travel to Libby. Mom warned us to be careful and Dad told me to stay cautious. Wolves are territorial by nature and can have a tendency to fight first and ask questions later.

The next day, Val, Trev, Eli, and I packed up her apartment. Some of her furniture we sold at a second hand shop, everything else we stored in the cellar. Trevor teased her over the cute little knick-knacks spread over her apartment. She would growl or chomp her teeth at him in warning, but I could see her bask in the brotherly interactions.

Val settled in wonderfully with my family, helping Mom weed, spending a few hours after lunch with Evie, and even helping us butcher in the shed. It was like she sunk into a niche that none of us knew was there. The ease of it laid to rest any worries I still harbored of this not working well.

Now it's Thursday morning, after breakfast, and Val and I are sitting in the living room. My head is resting on her lap as I read a book my dad had given me about balancing the books. It's his goal to have Trev and I take over once he retires in a few years.

Slender fingers twirl around my hair and the lovely scent of my girl surrounds me like a mist. Moments like this are my favorite, quiet and peaceful. Just us and all the attention a guy could ask for. Having Val get along with my family is wonderful, but sometimes I want all her focus on me and me alone.

"What's with the mounted deer heads over the fireplace?" Val asks, making me lower the book. "I mean, it makes sense, but why those ones specifically, some are only two or three pointers."

I place the book on my chest and grab her hand. "It's a kind of family tradition. The first kill each of us makes, gets mounted above the fireplace. Yours will be up there too eventually. A little differently since you only shift in your sleep. Once we get our own home, we'll take ours with us and start a new one with our kids."

"Wow. I like that. Which one is yours?"

Using my free hand, I point to a little four pointer just to the left of the middle. "That one. I was thirteen when I finally got up there. Trevor's is next, followed by Evie's and Eli's."

"When will mine get to go up there?" Val asks, slowly twining and untwining our fingers. My ears twitch and I tense as I hear footsteps behind us.

"How about we try today?" A voice behind us asks and I relax when I recognize Dad's voice.

Val's eyes light up with excitement. "How would we do it?"

"Know how to shoot?"

"Yes, Stan taught me a year ago, even bought me my own handgun."

"We got a rifle in the shed you can use. Travis will have to shift so one of us can sniff out where the deer are and you'll have to borrow some of Evie's clothes."

I groan and sit up so Val can run up the stairs to find my sister. Scowling, I pin my dad with a disapproving look. He chuckles and pats my shoulder.

"Sorry to cut your private time short, but I think having her place on the wall will help her feel more a part of the family."

Though I agree, I'm still sour that my time this morning got cut short.

***

Val and Dad are both dressed in camo with fluorescent orange vests. Dad carries the rifle over one shoulder as they follow me through the underbrush. Once we get closer they'll be able to smell the buck off in the distance, but for now, I lead them in my furside.

The excited sparkle in Val's hazel eyes has yet to dim as she and Dad chat amicably, mostly embarrassing stories about me as a child. Occasionally, I'll growl when Dad tells a particularly embarrassing one, like how I threw up on Thanksgiving as a toddler because I ate too much off of everyone else's plates. I tried to cut him off before he finished, but they both laughed when he told her I threw up directly onto the last piece of pumpkin pie Dad had been saving.

It wasn't long before they both fell quiet, catching the scent of the buck on the wind. I had made sure to keep us downwind of it, so it wouldn't be able to smell us. The leaves of the trees were just starting to yellow from the temperatures starting to dip at night.

"Okay, aim for the heart or the stomach, if you can't make the kill, don't try. Stay quiet and low," Dad instructs, handing Val the rifle.

She creeps forward through the brush, light on her feet, until she can clearly see the rather large buck a good hundred-fifty yards ahead of us. She nestles the rifle against her shoulder and clicks off the safety. Taking a few steadying breaths, she starts to aim.

Suddenly, the wind shifts and the buck lifts its head directly to where we are standing. In that same moment there's a bang that makes my ears ring, pulling a yelp from the throat.

I can barely see the buck leap a few feet into the brush before collapsing. Val shrieks in delight, furthering the ringing in my ears. I forgot my sensitive hearing as a wolf would worsen the sound of the rifle firing.

   Dad jogs out to where the deer lays to make sure it's not still suffering and to count the points. Val pulls some clothes out of a backpack and hands them to me after I shift. Dressed, I grab Val's hand and pull her over to where Dad is still squatting by the deer.

   The buck is large, a nine pointer by my count, a single clean shot through its chest. It's an impressive size for her first kill and a very clean shot.

   "You're a natural, sweetness. Good job," I tell her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

   "Are you jealous that mine is bigger?" Val teases, turning to look up at me with those pretty hazel eyes that look almost green in the sunlight.

   I snort and give her a squeeze. "We'll see whose is bigger later."

   She laughs lightly while I drop my arm. Dad helps situate the deer over my shoulders so I can carry it back until I'll need him to take over.

   Later my dad will stuff the head and mount it above the mantle. Valery will have her permanent place marked among my family. I can tell it makes her immensely happy, having a family. She's been brighter the last few days, subtle things like smiling just a bit wider and laughing a little louder. All of it makes my heart squeeze in my chest.

   I realize I'm falling in love with her.

   "Welcome to the wolf pack, Val," I joke as we begin the trek back home.