Lynx Northern Shifters 3

with no claw marks—classic lynx tracks except they were too big, even for their snowshoe paws. Cat shifters were rare and usually cougar in form. So what were the chances of a lynx shifter? Let alone a giant lynx.
    Trey was fascinated and excited, as if he were about to discover a whole new continent. Still, it was important to think this through. Animal or werecat, the creature might be dangerous, vicious. A terrible shame if it was the latter, but a possibility he had to be prepared for as he followed its trail.
    His tracking was slower than he liked. The snow was too soft, too deep, for his paws. He could have stayed human and used snowshoes so he didn’t continually sink into the powdery snow. But human form meant more thinking than he chose to deal with on vacation.
    The wind increased, and more than once he almost lost the trail as it got covered at times by blowing snow. The lynx was moving quickly now; its huge paws kept it mostly above the drifts. After a while, the hunt became exhausting and if Trey wasn’t careful he’d get in trouble, so he paced himself and kept alert.
    Farther on it became evident that the lynx had become aware of him. Its route turned convoluted as it backtracked a couple of times and used some tree-climbing as a diversion.
But this show of intelligence wasn’t the only thing that had Trey’s anticipation growing. As the area became sheltered by the huge rock face, he finally gained on the lynx and picked up its scent in the prints it left behind. And though he’d never before identified a lynx shifter, this one did not scan as pure animal.
Trey stopped and threw back his head to howl. Whether the shifter would recognize it as a greeting, he didn’t know, but there was no harm in trying to say hello before they actually met up.
The sun’s dim light faded and dusk was almost upon him before Trey reached the cover of the rock face and the snow no longer blew past him. He was close now, so he paused to gather the rest of his energy. His excitement at finding a new kind of shifter had to be balanced with some caution. Even if lynxes were known as shy creatures who hid more than they attacked.
    The wolf had, of all things, turned the tables and was stalking him. Early in the day, Jonah had come upon it and enjoyed watching it, as he did much of the wildlife around him. To his mind, wolves were particularly beautiful creatures.
    He hadn’t wanted to get too close and rattle it—lone wolves had enough worries. But then its progress had slowed significantly in the late morning, and he’d wondered if it was injured. While he’d been worrying about its state of health and keeping an eye on it, the wolf had suddenly disappeared. So he’d shrugged off its injury and his losing its trail, and figured the wolf was fine after all. As Jonah headed home he slowly realized it was tracking him . Now this wolf was almost at his front door.
    The about-face made Jonah feel strange. This switch was outside his experience. Wolves were smart, sure, but this was quite extraordinary. And truth was, apart from Eliza, wolves steered clear of him. He made them edgy, probably because they sensed he was not quite human, not quite beast.
    So Jonah hurried home, went inside and shifted to human where he’d be better able to deal with any problematic wolf, or make friends if it was so inclined. Though he recognized this was wishful thinking more than a realistic possibility. Older wolves were suspicious creatures.
    Jonah got dressed and, armed with a knife, waited outside the cave. Sure a wolf might attack a human, but only if it were rabid or mentally deranged, which was unlikely given this one’s intelligence—he hadn’t been able to give it the slip.
    Jonah had once befriended a she-wolf pup with a broken leg and she’d become a pet. His one friend in recent times, Jonah thought rather grimly, but Eliza had abandoned him for a mate and the life of a wolf. Though she visited occasionally, usually in the summer, to show off her new pups.
    Jonah blinked, shrugging off the memory as he became a little appalled at his eagerness to befriend this older male that was obviously healthy. Oh well. He was lonely. What was new about that?
He spent too much time alone so any encounter was welcome. Just accept that reality. As long as he was smart, it would be fine. He turned his knife blade up, touching its edge to bring the point home. Yeah, he wanted to greet the wolf, not kill it, but if killing somehow