His Wolf

Chapter 10

Anton didn't want to wake up. His dream was way too vivid to be a dream anymore, but he didn't care.

His eyes slitted open to register the soft morning light falling through the window glass. Tiny particles were illuminated in the golden light before his vision blurred and turned white.

With a groan his head flopped back down onto the pillow and watched the dust particles float through the beam.

Ida's excited yip drew his eyes back to her blue lakes. She was licking her lips and her eyes had a happy glaze cast over them.

"You're going to be the death of me, love." His voice was a rough whisper, not yet used enough to be smooth.

A wolfish grin had spread over her face and he laughed at the funny sight.

As if a switch was flipped inside him, he sat up with lightning speed and circled Ida in his arms. Without wasting his advantage of surprise, he flung his body weight back to flip her under him.

It was his turn to tease her.

Big hands moved over the large wolf, fingers wriggling and twitching. His wolf began to buck under his ever moving hands.

Ida had no luck however in freeing herself.

Joyous laughter and animalistic huffs of entertainment could be heard through the thick walls of the homestead.

Anton finally got bored of tickling his wolf. His stomach answered him in agreement with a loud growl that could be mistaken as Ida's.

Leaving the wolf on his bed, Anton got up and dressed. His jeans covered his legs in no time and a green flannel shirt would do for now.

Making his way to the kitchen, his bare feet had to traverse a minefield of hair balls; wolf and caribou.

Today had to be clean up day. The caribou carcass had to be dealt with and the vacuum cleaner needed to show Anton it's worth. More firewood needed to be carried inside and possibly another tree felled for him to make into more later.

Breakfast was still first on the list. He took out a plate of steaks and the last of the bird eggs he'd scavenged from a fresh nest mere days ago, before his trip into town.

The sizzling steaks brought Ida out of the bedroom. Her form found a spot on the couch from where she could observe Anton easily.

The steaks didn't take long to cook. Both were nearly raw anyway. For Ida it wasn't healthy to eat cooked meat and Anton preferred his bloody.

The eggs were left for Anton to eat alone.

When both were done, Ant got Ida to follow him into the bathroom. "I know you don't like it, but if you want to stay with me you need to at least smell good."

Their teeth were quickly brushed and then the clean up began. Anton had opened the front door for Ida and told her to be back by nighttime. A loving kiss to her head and a lick to his cheek and she was off.

He closed the door, knowing she'd be safe out there.

The carcass was the first thing he dealt with. After the hide was stripped, he carved the muscles into steak sized portions. After bagging them up, they came into the big freezer chest outside. When you lived on a mountain in Alaska, freezing things wasn't really a problem.

The hide was still intact and would make a warm blanket once cured.

Next came the vacuuming which didn't take long at all. And lastly he went outside to bring the wood in where Ida found him carrying the last load inside.

Earlier she had bounded over the snow dunes, now she appeared exhausted and slowly walked through the thick layer. He tongue lolled out of her maw and big plumes of stream puffed into the cold air with each breath.

It had been a cloudy day with no more sunlight after morning. In the mountains that meant more snow was yet to come. There would be no spectacular sunset today and so Ida and him would enjoy the evening in each other's company.