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It was not a dog It was a wolf And noas less than ten metres away

The as al about those yellow eyes that stared at the Hannah noticed — or, rather, felt through her whole body The wolf’sand thin next to the thickness of its fur, which puffed out in the cold,it look alangly, or aard But it didn’t look like that here Here, it looked like what it was: the apex predator, top of the food chain

She abandoned the draginto the snow and stopped the sled without ceremony; Peter lurched forward and Hannah sla her breath for a moment

All four dogs knew that this was no dog, and certainly no friend The gangline slackened just a little bit as they faced the wolf, drawing together into an even sey, the closest to the wolf, had his ears flat to his head, and the lips of his wide brown o to reveal all of his teeth and ums Beside hi her entire back was raised She lacial pace that there was al a step forward

The wolf swung itsits throat Rudy exploded, screa, his inhales hooked with hate and the instinct to kill or be killed Only Nook was silent, her bodythe wolf’s in an easy, half-relaxed stance Interested Deciding The wolf dropped its head and took a few steps toward theht crouch like Sencha, and baring her teeth like Bogey

The wolf’s gaze flickered over to Hannah It doesn’t look like it’s scared, she thought as the wolf stared at her, unblinking It looks like … like it’sthe odds

Beside Nook, Rudy was throwing hiet at the wolf Each jump forward caused the sled to lurch and thrust the brake up painfully into Hannah’s foot She was already at the liht into their harnesses like that, she wouldn’t be able to hold it back

Hannah took one ar hoarsely, the cold air and her dryher voice to crack She waved her ar, but was conored for her troubles

The wolf flicked its eyes over her again, and over the sled and the shiny blanket that encased Peter, and then it went back to staring at the four dogs It kept its head the saht, extended at the shoulders, for a few secondsone last,away across the hipped snow, only occasionally breaking through For all its s, Hannah realized No one fed this wolf specially preparedShe suddenly had the disturbing thought that, to the wolf, she was just a war around, and only the size of her pack had dissuaded the wolf fro a different decision She was not a threat; only the dogs were She felt light-headed

The whole episode had lasted less than athrough her already exhausted body told her that what the encounter had lacked in length was made up for in intensity

Peter had not even spoken, but as the wolf disappeared, she heard him let out his breath in a whoosh “Holy crap,” he said

Hannah shook her head “That was a wolf, right?”

“Oh, yeah,” he confir to be a coyote Beautiful, wasn’t it?”

Mentally, she tried to stick the word beautiful between calculating and killing machine

“It was soht the moose was scary”