The image froze in her mind. Shadow, always with her. Not only here, but home as well. No parting when summer ended. No good-byes she could hardly bear to imagine.
Would it be so impossible? He was already tame, with her. She was sure he’d never hurt anyone. And he loved her; she knew it more than anything in the world. He loved her as she loved him. They could go on long walks in Golden Gate Park; she laughed, thinking of Eric Mickleson’s face when he saw Shadow next to the Rottweiler he was so proud of.
They could run along the beach, and she could show Shadow his first glimpse of the ocean. And the redwoods.
Alex imagined it all. It wouldn’t be so hard. Shadow would follow her back to the cabin if she wanted him to. He’d let her put a collar on him; Mother could arrange a way to get him back to San Francisco. Alex would just have to convince her, and Alex knew she could do it. Anything Alex had ever truly wanted she’d been able to get.
She got to her knees and threw her arms around the wolf, fighting off the strange niggling shame that didn’t want to go away. Shadow would be happy with her. She knew it. He wouldn’t miss his family; he would rather be with her. And they could come back every year.
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you, Shadow?”
A low growl answered her.
Alex looked up, clutching Shadow’s fur. Shadow whined in his throat, straining toward the two great wolves that stood only a few yards away.
One of them was massive and black—pure black, without even the streak of white that marked Shadow’s chest. The other was gray, smaller, beautiful and slender. They stared at Alex with ears pricked and tails raised; she stayed absolutely still.
She knew. These were Shadow’s parents. As if they sensed her thoughts, they’d come to reclaim him.
For a crazy moment Alex almost defied them, almost rose to her feet to drive them off. Wolves were shy creatures. They would run away, and she’d still have Shadow.
Then Shadow broke free of her arms. He bounded toward the wolves, with the playful, sideways lope that begged for play. He thrust his muzzle against the black male’s, squeaking and whining with obvious joy. The gray female licked Shadow’s ear with a gesture of unmistakable tenderness.
Alex sank down to the ground. It wasn’t wolves she was seeing now, but a boy and his loving parents, glad to be with them again, belonging with them. Just as she belonged with her mother and father and friends back in San Francisco.
Ignoring the tears on her cheeks, Alex hugged herself tightly. “You’re right. Shadow. I couldn’t take you back with me. I couldn’t stay here with you and never see my mother again, either.” She looked at the gray female, whose sharp gaze turned suddenly to meet her own. “But the summer’s not over yet, Mother Wolf. Won’t you let him stay a little longer?”
Three pairs of lupine eyes fixed on her. “I won’t take him away from you. I promise.” The gray female nuzzled her mate’s ear, almost as if she whispered to him. She shoved Shadow’s rump with a turn of her shoulder, and Shadow loped back to Alex, grinning from ear to ear.
Alex buried her face in Shadow’s fur, wiping away the tears. “For a few more weeks, Shadow.” She looked up. “Thank you,” she said solemnly. “I’ll take good care of him until—”
But the wolves were gone. Shadow licked her face, and she sprang to her feet.
“Let’s run, Shadow. Run until we can’t run any more.” And they did, leaving the world behind them,
* * *
Shadow wasn’t coming.
One of autumn’s first bright leaves spiraled gently down from a maple sapling, coming to rest inches from Alex’s scuffed sneaker. She snuggled deeper in the hollow under the fallen tree and stared around the special place.
This day of all days Shadow wasn’t coming. The last day she would have with him.
Summer had gone too fast; Mother and Father had come to collect her and take her home to California. They’d arrived early this morning, before she had time to say good-bye to Shadow. So she’d run away. She’d never run away before, and now it was all for nothing.