Chapter 5 - The Wolf’s Call
A pack of timber wolves, starving and desperate, began to circle the cabin. Their howls were constant, a haunting reminder that they were not the masters of this mountain. Silas spent his nights by the door, rifle in hand, his nerves frayed to the breaking point.
One afternoon, little Mia wandered toward the wood-shed, drawn by a stray cat. Silas was in the barn, and Sadie was in the cellar.
She heard the snap of a twig—a sound so out of place in the howling wind that she froze. She bolted up the cellar stairs, bursting through the door just as a massive, gray-furred beast lunged toward the toddler.
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Sadie didn't think. She grabbed a heavy iron fire poker from the hearth and swung it with every ounce of strength she had cultivated from years of manual labor. The iron hit the wolf’s snout with a sickening crack, and the creature yelped, retreating into the swirling snow.
Silas rushed in, rifle raised, only to find Sadie standing over Mia, the poker shaking in her hand, her eyes blazing with a feral protection that made even the mountain man pause.
