The winter had set in deep in the land freezing all life where it stood, yet Garius used it to his advantage to become stronger. Running on ice, hanging from trees and tearing old branches down. In his mind every tree was a bear to be tackled as he was teaching himself how to overcome every obstacle that stood in his way. Nibelski was in awe of how much stronger he had become with his wounds now almost fully healed. He truly was a king among wolves as he inspired her to strengthen herself as well.
Garius noticed her improvements along with her growing strength. She looked good in her white coat and he noticed she was starting to have a more wolf-like appearance to him. Was it in his mind, her newfound strength, or was it something else. He decided to test her today with some winter mousing to see who could catch the most. It would be a good test of speed so he told her to pick one side of the field and he would take the other to see who could catch the most mice before the sun set.
She took off at full speed and he found in himself an impulse to chase her so he quickly turned away and got to finding mice on the other side of the field as quickly as he could. He knew she was a tough mouser and she was more agile than he was so he tried to get things done as quickly as possible.
Walter sat inside watching them run around in the winter fields. He thought they were playing or maybe just keeping their hunting skills in top shape. They looked fantastic together and in their white coats they were almost scary since they could vanish into the background with only eyes and teeth looking at you. Their friendship had also come a long way as Walter found he was now able to occasionally pet them, albeit very brief, but the contact was nice. The wolf was fully recovered and was incredibly strong to Walter. He almost seemed to stand taller, even the fox looked larger over the months that had passed. It felt like family and Walter knew they would be leaving come the Spring, it was a sad feeling to him, but he knew they needed to return to their home in the wild.
They worked their way through the fields, always returning to one spot to drop their kills. The dusk was quickly approaching and Garius called out that they were done and they would present their kills. He happily shouted out "Seven!"
"Ten!" she yelled back at him.
"What?! That is not possible." he said, racing over to her to verify her count. Eight, nine, ten. She had killed ten. "Well your field obviously had more mice. If I had worked it then there would be a pile of twenty there."
'You don't like losing do you?"
"Who lost?" I gave you the field with more mice because I knew you needed the help." He lied, but he felt it was a good lie.
"You really think I'll believe that?"
"I hope you do." he said lowering his head.
"Ok, we will try a different game tomorrow. What about all these mice?"
"We will put them on the edge of the field for others who may be hungry and we'll leave one for the human."
"Got it" she said as she snapped up a mouse, ran over and left it on the human's house as Garius proceeded to quickly run and clean up the rest.
The running in the snow had been good for his recovery as his legs felt more powerful than ever. He enjoyed his new found strength as it gave him more speed as well and he was back at the shed quickly. He found her inside eating some meat as she lay on the bed. It was a good day and she was getting stronger too, yet the price for that strength was a good night's sleep that they both needed.
He ate his food, had some water, then he surrounded her with his body getting ready for a good nights rest.
"Can I ask you something about wolves?" she said.
"You know you always can, it is important to learn."
"You said you marry for life and if the other one dies then you marry no other."
"That is correct. Our pack stands by this rule and many others for proper conduct and strength."
She looked up at him "Would you marry me?" she paused looking down. "I mean, I don't want any other and I don't want someone to think I would be interested, but if we marry then if you die I am left alone as a widow. I would like that."
He looked at her and found his heart was racing. It sounded technical, but to him it was so much more. He thought about the idea about protecting and providing for her, how it would shield her from other wolves' interests and how if he died she would not be bothered for marriage. He decided to joke to deflect this serious subject "you want me to die so you can be free?"
She bit his paw, making him howl. "No, it just is all so nice and safe with you and I can't imagine any other. I just feel..."
"I feel too" he stopped her. "It is a serious subject and I will give it much thought, but your points are very important and I will take them under consideration." He rubbed her with his nose, "You are very important to me."
She rubbed him back "You are important to me too."
"Plus you're a fox, woof" he said playfully.
"I am going to kick your butt tomorrow."
He buried his mouth in her ear, "We will see little one." It sent chills down her back, chills that she liked as she snuggled into him and fell into a peaceful sleep. He sat there for a while watching her sleep as he thought about her request. He liked the idea of them working together and them not having to find mates. They could remain friends through it all and stay together, that made him happy.
Walter went outside to collect his mouse and he was happy to be included in their hunts. It was great to be thought of, even if it was a mouse and he would hide it for Grace who could collect it and take it away to town as Walter did not want his guests to know he was not eating it, yet they already knew as they could smell it on her when she was leaving. They thought it was very nice of Walter to give her such wonderful gifts. Walter was expecting Grace for a short visit tomorrow to check on his guest, but her visit had become more of a social call now to chat with him and pet the animals. He enjoyed her visits very much, as did the wolf and fox.
Grace spent her evening going over and over the letter she received from France and the professor that she mailed over there. She was excited to share the news with Walter and she did not pack much to take with her to examine the wolf as he had fully recovered and was doing so well. She would do a basic checkup and spend most of the day sharing her news with Walter before coming back home. She folded the letter and placed it on her desk as she grabbed her lantern and went to bed. She decided to hike up early in the morning to see Walter so that she could get back home before dark. She couldn't wait to share the news with him.
Before the sun had even touched the land she was finishing her coffee and was getting fully dressed for the winter outside. She grabbed her bag, put on her boots, then headed out the door latching it shut behind her. While still quite dark she made her way across town to find the path to Walter's house as she was used to making this trip. She headed between the two large trees that revealed the trodden down path to see her favorite clients and her good friend. As she vanished into the woods, the man who had been hiding on the side of the general store emerged and lit a cigarette.
Bill had noticed Grace leaving on the weekends and had started to become obsessed with her activities as he wondered if they were related to that photo. They must be related to the photo. In his mind she was hiding things from him, things he had a right to know. He enjoyed solving problems and this one pushed him to his limits. He would do anything to get his answers so he grabbed his box then headed over to her house. She had installed a new latching system on her door, but that didn't bother Bill as he preferred the side windows which was out of the sight of prying eyes.
He threw his cigarette into the snow then made his way around the side placing his box under the window. Standing on it he looked back on his footprints and remembered to clean them up. He removed his boots outside, left them on the box, then he easily climbed into her window landing on the floor by her desk. He grabbed a small lantern of hers, lit it, then started to look around her desk. Medical books, bullets in the desk drawer, "Interesting" he noted to himself closing the desk up. A folded note was sitting there and he memorized its position down to the exact detail of how it was folded then he took it and opened it in the light. His eyes grew wide as he read the contents of the letter. She lied to him and now he knew that he was right in all his thoughts. He vowed to take the steps needed to find justice against her.
After putting the letter back he killed the light and climbed back out her window missing the box on the other side and landing on his back in the snow as his legs hit the box throwing his boots in the snow. He cursed and struggled to find his boots in the darkness of the morning. Once he did find them, they were full of snow so he worked quickly to clean them out and get them on his wet freezing feet. Now he had a race against time to clean up the area, remove the evidence he was there and to take his box home before his feet froze. First he used the box to close her window, then he drug it through all the impressions in the snow that he had left making sure there were no prints even leading to her house. He cursed again running to his house with the box only briefly stopping along the way to look at the two trees she had vanished between. He would get warm then come back to examine her path. He knew only he was smart enough to hide his trail, these other people could never see beyond their own simple actions. He smiled then quickly made his way home to warm his feet by a nice fire.