Male of the Species by Kate Steele

Author:Kate Steele [Steele, Kate]
Format: epub, pdf
Published: 2010-01-07T07:19:28+00:00

He walked down the hall, waited a moment while pocketing the envelope, then

departed, smiling as he walked away. He was sure Master Prudome would be pleased

with this information, and hopefully in the mood to reward his faithful acolyte.

69

Kate Steele

Chapter Eight

Over the next few weeks, Dev continued in his efforts to get closer to Ryan, but

Ryan was proving to be resistant to his overtures. Their growing familiarity appeared to

have put Ryan’s fear of him to rest, but he seemed determined to hold Dev and

everyone else at arm’s length. He was obviously trying to keep space between himself

and anyone who might get too close. Dev was determined to find out why.

He invited Ryan to dinner at the house, hoping to introduce him to Quinn, Nick

and the others but Ryan quickly came up with an excuse that he was busy to attend.

Dev was beginning to doubt his own charm and powers of persuasion when a problem

came up that neatly solved his dilemma.

A local rancher lodged a complaint about wolf predation on his cattle herd. Several

calves had been killed and the man was irate, to say the least. Upon investigating, Dev

could tell right away that it wasn’t the resident wolf pack.

“Dogs,” he told the rancher.

“Dogs? Bullshit! Look at those tracks!” the man exclaimed.

“I am looking at them,” Dev told him calmly. “That’s how I can tell it’s dogs. In fact,

it’s a pair of them.”

“I don’t believe it. There’s nobody lives around here who owns a pair of dogs that

could do damage like that,” he claimed, pointing at the dead calf.

“Maybe they belong to one of the vacationers,” Ryan ventured. “There are cabins

not too far from here that are rented out in the summer.”

“That’s a good call, Ryan,” Dev told him with approval. “I’ll have Boyd and Rich

check that out while you and I check on the current location of the pack.”

After leaving the rancher with assurances that they would do everything in their

power to prevent another attack on his herd, Dev and Ryan walked back to their jeep.

Once settled in and on their way, Dev asked Ryan, “Are you all right with spending

a couple of nights in the field? A few of the wolves have radio collars, so we’ll be able to

find the pack easily enough, it’s just that we’ll have to hike in to get close enough to

observe them. I want to make sure they’re all present and accounted for.”

“Yeah sure, that’s not a problem. I was hoping I’d get to see them. I think wolves

are fascinating. There’s something mystical about them. They seem to have a

preternatural intelligence—it’s almost eerie, but intriguing all the same,” Ryan told him,

then looked somewhat uncomfortable as though he’d revealed too much.

Dev gave him a reassuring smile. “We have something in common. I feel the same

way about wolves. I’ve long felt a…I guess you could say a kinship to them.”

70

Male of the Species

“I know what you mean,” Ryan replied quietly. “I’ve wondered sometimes what it

would be like to run with a pack, to be free and wild like that.

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