Yellowstone - John Duttons daughter

Tall drink of water

Two-year-old Tessa trailed behind John and a few others, two being Lloyd and Rip. Tessa on the small buckskin pony.

"Fan out wide from here." John ordered after the crossed the small creek, stoping on the top of a hill.

The all went separate directions, Tessa following after John.

"Kick that horse faster." John ordered, Tessa gave the pony a gentle kick.

"He's got tiny legs." Tessa defended, compared to Johns horse Teddy was tiny.

"Daddy." Tessa pointed to the cow, her stomach half eaten. "Wolfs aren't good." Tessa stated as a gunshot went off.

Tessa and John rode towards where the sound had come from, Rip had also found a cow half eaten.

"Wolves." Rip stated as the all got there, "Tracks lead west. Got a cow and calf down over there. Picked the calf clean. Just ate the stomach out the mama. Can't find the rest of the herd anywhere."

"You see any cattle?" John asks

"Not one." Rip replies

"Maybe it's dogs if they're not eating 'em." A wrangler suggested, "Those wild dogs pack up, they can be fierce."

"It ain't dogs..." Lloyd disagrees, "Don't know how they got here so quick. Just released them in the spring. A hundred miles from here."

"I don't think it's a wolf." The wrangler replied

"You ever see dogs this big?" John asked as he placed his hand next to a track. "I haven't."

"Thought they weren't supposed to leave the park." Rip looked to John

"Well, guess they didn't bother telling the wolf that." John replied climbing back on his horse, "If they did... he ain't listening.

***

"I'll Chuck you on Teddy." Tessa tells Hugo, the boy on her hip, "you ridden your grandpas horses before?"

"Sometimes." The boy nods as they pass Carter siting in a stall with a calf.

"I think he likes me." Carter smiles as he feed him a bottle.

"Of course he likes you." Tessa chuckled, "You're feeding him. He thinks you're his mama."

"What about when he gets older?" Carter asked, "Gonna ship him out with the rest?"

"No, we'll use him to practice roping. Or babysit next year's bottle calves." Tessa tells him before continuing to the yards to get Teddy.

She paused in the barn doorway as a national park truck and float pulled up.

"Fuck." Tessa muttered, "Morning." Tessa nodded as two officers walked over to her.

"Morning." The both replied

"Can I help you?" Tessa asked

"Fished a radio collar out of the Yellowstone River. GPS shows the animal was on a portion of your ranch for roughly three days before returning to the park and then ending up in the river somehow."

"That a fact?" Tessa asked, "What kind of
animal was the collar on?"

"A wolf." One of the officers replied, "Seen any wolves around lately?"

"I mean, they're around but we don't see them very often." Tessa replied

"You calving?" He asks

"Yeah, we, uh... we finished last month." Tessa tells him