Whitetooth Mountain (#Book1) The White Wolf Trilogy (Complete #Wattys2014)

Chapter 3; The Threat Of Poachers

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Chapter 3; The Threat Of Poachers

Doing the craziest thing ever and forgetting all of my teachings to the other natural grey wolves, I swiftly took off after the scent. There was only my uncle's ranch situated all the way out here for miles around, so I knew no other humans should be within the vicinity or anywhere near the valley.

The scent wasn't one that I recognized, though it was defiantly human. My pack didn't follow me either, and in a way, I was happy that they hadn't. Maybe my teachings to the pack about avoiding the humans were actually starting to rub off.

Moving across one mountainside and into the next, I pushed away my fatigue, pushing it deep down inside of me. My peeked interests had caught a hold, intriguing me and pulling me towards the strengthening scent.

The scent was becoming stronger, more spaced and spread out. If I was to guess, then I would say that there was definitely more than one human, - two, maybe three at the most.

Why was there humans scouting the mountains? I searched my mind, but I didn't have a clue. My uncle hadn't even mentioned to me that there might be visitors passing through the land, especially so closely to the ranch.

If I didn't know any better, then I would say that these humans weren't supposed to be all the way out here at all. But unless they actually stepped foot onto my uncles ranch, - well, then they weren't actually trespassing or breaking any of the laws in which I knew of.

It was still pretty early in the morning, maybe an hour or two away from sunrise. No human should be out here, moving and tracking within the darkness. Not unless, - they were poachers.

Hunting was illegal within the northern reaches of the peninsula area, but that didn't stop people from trying, especially when their luck was down or food was scarce.

Slowing my pace, so I could search and track the scent before me more thoroughly, caution was the action I was taking and needed to take. Moving through the wild out lands, a small cascading stream soon blocked my path.

The stream was moving swiftly and I knew that lower within the valley, the stream would eventually turn into a large meandering river. Taking a minute to sniff around, I knew that the humans had come this way and had probably crossed over the stream.

Leaping from one boulder to the next, I crossed the tumbling stream without even getting my paws wet. Once I was over to the other side, I quickly re-picked up and followed the scent. I hadn't been on this side of the valley before; well, not that I knew of, I was too high up to be able to tell or to recognize any of the surrounding land.

The scent of more wolves was definitely evident and overpowering, as I continued to push myself forward. But even with my confrontation with the other pack of natural grey's just a few hours earlier, my interests with the humans was too strong, pulling me continually on.

With my interests peaked and my fatigue long forgotten; a light up ahead came into my view, as I nervously neared the humans campsite. The light flickered and wavered within the wind, so I knew that it had to be a campfire that was giving off the light, which I could see through the gaps of the trees.

The land was still thickly cloaked within darkness, but as a wolf, my eyesight was greatly heightened within the dark. Even when I was within my human form, though my eyes hadn't physical changed, my sight definitely had.

Lights had become a lot brighter, darkness had become more like a constant twilight. My eyes seemed to absorb every ounce of light, even where there was none. I could also see over further distances and things more up close, I could see within perfect minuscule detail.