Chapter 148

The beast paused, sheltered by the huge Ponderosa pines. It hated to leave the comfort of the cave it had found in a notch in the mountains, but the blood hunger was rising again. The small animals it had managed to catch had barely taken the edge off. But hunters were crisscrossing the vast snow-crusted area and the devil beast knew enough to stay away from them.

At night when it had been out searching for prey, another danger had presented itself. It had spied a wolf in the area, racing through the darkness. Oh yes, it knew what wolves were. Some wolf blood ran through its veins. But this one had a completely different scent, as if it too was a mixture of breeds. And the beast had sensed danger in its presence.