Taming the Wolf King novel · Chapter 13 of 32

Chapter 13: Calling the Wolf

"It's a fence scar," Caspian said.

"Half the wolves in Vermont have one."

"On the back of the right foreleg?"

"Fences don't pick a side."

"Shaped like a half-moon?"

He stood up so fast the frost cracked under his bare feet.

"My father is dead, Sally. My uncle watched him go over the ridge. I stood at the funeral with an empty box."

"I know."

"Then don't."

His voice broke on the last word.

He walked down the hill toward the barn and didn't look back.

The Grey slept on with his leg through the wire.

I crouched by the fence and looked at that scar for a long time.

I'd watched wolves for fifteen years.

I knew what a fence did to a leg.

A fence tore a ragged line.

This was neat and curved.

We drove back to Greyling with Caspian's knees against my dashboard and the radio off.

He didn't say a word for fifty miles.

Then, at the college gates, he said, "Teach me."

"Teach you what?"

"Whatever you do with them. With the lost ones. I don't want to be a man you have to kneel in front of."

So on Monday at dawn I took him down to the meadow by the lake.

Frost on the grass.

Nobody around but a heron.

"Here's your problem," I said. "Every time your wolf comes up, you fight him. You clench. He hates being held down, so he comes up harder."

"So what do I do? Let him out?"

"Call him."

He stared at me.

"On purpose," I said. "Before he's ready. Then you send him back on purpose. Grandpa does it with the yearlings. Call, reward, release. Over and over, till coming and going is a habit and not a fight."

"I'm not a yearling."

"You're a big yearling."

He folded his arms.

"What's the reward?"

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