Lone Wolf Read Online Free PDF

current. Faolan paused and peered down at the gleaming surface. Thunderheart came up beside him, wondering if he had found more fish. Both their reflections quivered on the surface of the dark water. I look nothing like her, nothing like any animal I have seen. Why are my eyes so green? Why is my face so narrow?
    Thunderheart's face is huge, wider than my chest. Her fur is so thick and dark. My fur is too bright.
    ***
    They returned to the den. Out of habit, Faolan clamped on to Thunderheart's teat. As he nursed he looked gravely into her eyes, and she saw a question in the deep green pools of light. Why am I not like you? She growled softly and licked his nose in answer.
    Love, she thought, love is all that matters. But she did not say these words aloud. Bears, being solitary creatures, had great reserve and did not often give voice to their most powerful feelings. It was as if to utter such thoughts aloud was to diminish them. But she looked into Faolan's eyes, and he, who had learned the ways of the bears, met her gaze. Engulfed in the deep amber light of Thunderheart's eyes, the wolf understood that he was different. And he knew he was loved, as if he were her own cub.
    He would not be able to nurse much longer, for Thunderheart sensed that her milk was drying up. She was happy that they had been successful with the fish, but knew that she must now teach him to go after the real meat, the red meat. This might be easier than she  had thought, for it was Faolan who had first sensed the mother grizzly and her cubs. He must have picked up their scent. And if so, he had done it faster than she had. A good thing for hunting red meat.
    They both slept through the rising heat of the day and into the late afternoon.
    ***
    Thunderheart thought she smelted the bear coming. But she could not move. Her limbs felt heavy. It was as if she had sunk into cold sleep. This is not winter, she told herself. I must move. My cubs... my cubs. Yet if it is cold sleep it is not mating time. So why should I have scent marked? Why am I so confused? Was there time to scent mark? She could hardly lift her head, let alone rise to her full height and mark the trees near the den. A torrent of blood slashed the perfect blue of the sky as the great male grizzly ripped open the back of her cub to its bone. Thunderheart rose up, roared, and charged the male. She tore at his arm. A deep gash. He screeched in pain and ran off. But was it a mortal injury? She feared not.' He would be back.. .. He would be back....
    ***
    Thunderheart woke up from the horrific dream with a violent shake that spilled the wolf pup from the lap.
    "Urskadamus!" she muttered. Faolan blinked at her in alarm. He pulled back his lips in a grimace of fear, the hackles on the back of his neck rising as he tucked his tail between his hind legs. The grizzly huffed nervously. The time was coming when she knew the males would be feeling the urge for her company. If she could scent mark before she was fertile and before such a male came into her territory, it would be good.
    She knew that wolves scent marked as well. This might truly confuse other bears. She had no inclination to mate. Faolan was her last cub, and she was determined to do the best possible for him. No male was going to harm him or run him off.
    But could he learn to stand up and walk, even run like a bear? He could jump quite high when he wanted a ride on her hump. He could almost reach her shoulder and she knew he could scent mark. He had certainly urinated in the area around the den, but more scent marking was needed; the other special kind that she had sometimes caught wind of when she passed wolf territory.
    This was a practical lesson. Unlike the notion of love which could not be expressed in words, this one could be  spoken, with very clear actions to accompany the words. Faolan's language skills had grown. Thunderheart had heard wolves and owls speak on occasion and at the time thought the words were so different from