A Wolf

 Everything had gone still
All I could hear
was the trickle of the creek from across the meadow
and the mocking staccato croak of a raven

Slowly I lifted my foot
If I stepped into the thicket
I might see her
I hardly moved
when the bush in front of me erupted

I saw the wolf’s head
it’s snarling teeth
pink gums with yellow eyes
It was lunging at me through the bushes
I jumped away in fright
She was looking right at me as I fell back

She was about twenty feet away
curling her lips and growling
I could see a rainless cloud of coloring
Beautiful
Shaded faintly along her back and shoulders
with specs of gray fur

She tried to make another lunge
I could see her eyes
They were a pale greenish yellow in the sunlight
From a distance
she appeared white
But up close
she was a combination of browns, blacks, even a tinge of red
Almost fully thickened for the coming winter

Slowly
I retreated into the meadow soundlessly
always keeping my eyes on her
Gorgeous
Deadly
All at the same time
My fears reminded me of this

An Alpha female
A killer
A wolf.

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