Chapter 4: The Escaped

RORY POV

The walls of the hallway were covered in wolf paintings. I was impressed. As I looked over each painting, I noticed they were in the Dark Romanticism style. I'm sure they were worth money, and each image was framed in an elaborate, gold, ornamental frame. I paused over a particular painting, one of a large white wolf. I looked at Oliver and felt tingles everywhere. I tried to stay focused.

"This one reminds me of the wolf that scared off the others earlier. Did you see that wolf? The large white one," I pressed.

"Yes, he ran off when I walked up," he said absently. I noticed he avoided eye contact as if the talk about the earlier fiasco made him uncomfortable.

"I practically live with wolves, and I have never seen them act like that. It was so weird. They avoid humans like the plague usually," I said, glancing at the painting. I turned to him and watched him for a moment. I found it odd his hallways were covered in wolf paintings. It was almost too coincidental.

"Does your family like wolves?" I asked finally.

"Sure," he said smiling, "you could say that."

"Do you see them around here often? I never see them around Wayford, and the wolves that come to my sanctuary are usually brought in from miles away, sometimes from different counties."

He nodded and turned, and I got a look at his behind; it was perfect. I could feel myself blushing, so I turned to the side slightly in case he turned around. I was still trying to figure out why he made me feel so strange. It was the combination of wanting to push him on the bed and make love to him mixed with the urge to curl up in a fetal position in his arms and never leave. I couldn't tell whether I was attracted to him or oddly obsessed with him. Or maybe both. I didn't believe in love at first sight, and I didn't even believe in lust at first sight, so there was a new occurrence for me.

As he crept towards the foyer, I figured it was probably time for me to give him my thanks and be on my way home. I wondered if he would still give me a ride home on the quad. As I walked into the entryway, I noticed he had taken a jacket from somewhere, a leather one, and had put it on.

"Come on, and I'll give you a ride back to your sanctuary. You never know. There could be wolves lurking."

***

We pulled up to the sanctuary, and I directed him to the back gate. There were two entrances on the property, the front gate for the public and the back gate for emergencies. As we pulled up to the back gate, I scanned the metal fence for abnormalities. I was used to doing that since animal and public safety was my priority. I would hate for one of my animals to get out and for something to happen to them or something to happen to an unsuspecting nearby human.

Oliver stopped the quad and turned it off as I hopped off from the back of it. It had been a fun and short little ride down the mountain and a backroad to the sanctuary, no more than half an hour. He lived closer than I thought, but considering he had dodged through the uncharted forest, often using hunter's trails and unknown paths, I knew there was no way I'd be able to find his house even if I wanted to.

I was about to turn and thank him when I could hear someone walking towards the back gate from inside the sanctuary. It had to be my mom since no one else would be inside. I turned to see her opening up the back gate and waving to me.

"Hey, Mom."

"Hey, Rory! I was about to send a search party after you," she said, laughing. I couldn't tell if she was joking her not. I noticed she was in her "work" clothes, the classic cargo shorts and sanctuary T-shirt. Her grey hair was pulled back in a tight ponytail. She waved to Oliver.

"Hi, I'm Oliver," he said, shaking her hand politely. What a gentleman. I noticed a slight change in his voice as if he was using his professional voice with her.

"Hi Oliver," she said, grinning at me, "nice to meet you. I didn't know Rory had a new friend."

"Uh, Mom, we just met," I said quickly, "like today." I decided to save the near-death experience for another time. It would just worry my mom anyway. I didn't want her to worry.

"Well, it's nice to meet you. Rory," she said, turning to me, "I have some bad news. I noticed earlier we have a hole in the fence. I did a headcount, and it looks like we lost some wolves."

My face fell. This was the first time any animals had escaped the sanctuary, and it wasn't good.

"How many?"

"Four."

"Where do you think they went?" Oliver asked. My mother and I both looked at Oliver. It was somewhat of a strange question. My mom was fighting back the tears, so I took her in a hug.

"I don't know, it's strange, really. The hole was quite large."

"Was it manmade?" I asked.

"I can't tell. It must be. It just puzzles me. Who would cut a hole in the fence? I checked the security footage, and it's so strange. The hole appeared out of nowhere. Maybe the camera glitched or something. Otherwise, it doesn't make sense. Things don't just appear out of nowhere."

"The wolves all have collars on them," I said, pulling away from my mom and rubbing her back with reassurance, "while they don't have tracking devices, they will have distinct markers on them if someone sees them."

"I knew we should have put tracking devices on their collars," my mom said quietly.

"Yes, we should have, but they were expensive. It would have easily been a thousand dollars to put trackers on all the wolves. They shouldn't have gotten out. This fence was supposed to be sturdy." Our fences were put in by a company that specialized in fence installation. They had been recommended to us by one of the wildlife management specialists who had helped us build the sanctuary. It even had a bottom cable to prevent any animals from burrowing in or out, and the top of the fence was a barbed wire to prevent anything from coming in or out. It was also electrified.

"Is the electric still on?" I asked.

"Yes, I believe so. I managed to turn it off, and Brian helped me patch the hole in the fence, so the hole was taken care of, but the wolves still found it and got out. They must have squeezed their way through because the hole wasn't that big. It was barely big enough for a wolf body to shimmy around.

"That's a high fence," Oliver said observationally, "how high is that?"

"Thirteen feet," my mom said, nodding. "It's thirteen feet high to prevent any animal from jumping."

"Right, since male wolves can jump about twelve feet."

"Exactly," my mom said, looking at Oliver perplexed, "you work with wildlife?"

"No."

I looked at Oliver, expecting him to elaborate on his crypto work, but he remained silent. My mom was sizing him up in an odd manner, looking him up and down.

"I lived here a while, and I have never seen you before, Oliver. You new here?"

"Yes, I moved here a few weeks ago."

"Do you live in town?"

"Mom, I think Oliver probably has to get back home," I interrupted, "he was nice enough to give me a ride on his quad, and I'm glad he did. Oliver," I said, turning to him, "thanks for the ride. I really appreciate it. Maybe I can repay you sometime? We should get coffee in Copper Creek."

"I'd like that," he said smiling, "do you have a phone number I can text you at?"

I shot a look at my mom. I couldn't believe he asked me for my number in front of my mom. I shrugged. I was twenty-six. I'm sure my mom wanted me to date. We exchanged phone numbers while my mom stood there awkwardly. I was hoping she would go back inside and let Oliver and I spend the last few moments alone together, but she stayed.

As I watched him ride off the property towards town on his quad, my mom approached me cautiously.

"Be careful, Rory. I don't trust him."