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‘ A re you sure about this?’ Simon muttered under his breath.

Jon had told them to wait outside while he locked up and got the tracking device. The air was cool under the trees and the wolves, Jon said, were not too far away.

‘I’m a scientist,’ answered Andrew. ‘I’m working on a hypothesis.’

‘It feels like an experiment,’ muttered Simon.

‘It is an experiment. That’s how you test hypotheses. You know that. The trouble is, you’ve started believing in your own hype. The presenter who can read the animals’ minds, feel what they feel. ’

‘I never put myself forward as that, but now it’s true.’

‘It isn’t. When you’re transformed, you’re just a human whose DNA has a migraine. You don’t agree? Well, tell me how a wolf feels?’

Simon grunted. ‘How can I? I’m always under sedation.’

‘Sorry what?’ said Jon, coming up behind them.

‘Nothing, I’ve been a bit under the weather.’

‘Oh, sorry to hear that. It’s interesting what you’ve asked Dr Ford.’

‘Andrew, please.’

‘Andrew. We’ve been observing the pack for several months as you know and the one you mentioned, the young female, has always displayed unusual behaviour.’

‘Like what?’ said Simon.

‘She sometimes detaches herself from the pack and goes off on her own. We tagged her the same as all of them, but when she goes off alone, the tag stops moving for a few hours. We hadn’t really correlated all the data until this week.

It’s odd. Something you said last time you were here, Dr Henderson—’

‘Simon.’

‘Simon. You asked if we’d noticed any difference at full-moon.

The data about the young female made no particular sense.

The tag didn’t always stop at the same place, it wasn’t stationary for the same period.

Sometimes she was a long way from the pack and sometimes quite close.

Then we looked at the dates and times. It’s always connected approximately to full-moon-rise.

Last week was odd though, she appears to have moved only a few yards from the rest of the pack and then stopped moving completely.

Well, anyway, she stopped moving around moon-rise but unusually, she started moving again before moon-fall.

The pack, however, had got closer to where she had stopped.

There may be a connection. We’re considering the feasibility of some kind of camera attachment. ’

‘No!’ exclaimed Simon. Startled, a bird took off from the branches above them. ‘I mean, I hate seeing wild animals with things attached. Besides, they might get tangled in undergrowth and get injured.’

Jon blinked. ‘Well, as I say, we’re considering the feasibility. Their welfare is our concern too. It’s not just about research. Well not at the expense of their welfare. Going back to what Dr… Andrew said, the reason we looked into the data more closely was that she appears to be unwell.’

‘Sky?’

‘Sorry, what?’

‘The young female. I, we named her Sky in Denmark, because of her eyes. Blue.’

Jon frowned and turned back to Andrew. Andrew smiled. ‘Don’t worry, it’s a production thing. It makes better TV.’

‘I’m not keen on anthropomorphising animals,’ said Jon. He seemed hesitant.

Andrew stared into the trees. ‘Nor am I, nor is Simon, but you can’t help getting attached.’

‘Can’t you?’ After a second, Jon moved forward and went ahead of Andrew, listening to the tracker and directing their travel.

‘You were saying the young female seems unwell,’ said Andrew.

‘Mmm, yes. She does. She’s been lethargic before, depressed perhaps. She was one of those who took least well to being transported. But she’s losing weight, sleeps more than she should. We’re worried about her. We took some blood samples a while ago, and your lab was analysing them for us.’

‘It was?’ whispered Simon to Andrew. Jon frowned at him again.

‘That’s why I’m here,’ said Andrew. ‘We think there’s something wrong with her immune system. I’ve got something which may help. A sort of retrovirus.’

‘Retrovirus?’ said Jon. ‘Has she got something she can transmit?’

‘Only by reproducing. ’

Jon relaxed a little. ‘Well at the moment that’s unlikely.

Without another pack, she’s no one but close relations to breed with and the leader usually puts a stop to that.

Besides, the males seem wary of her.’ He paused.

‘Wary’s the wrong word. But she’s certainly a little isolated.

Mind you, the whole pack seems on edge at the moment. They were very restless at full-moon.’

Jon’s voice dropped and he indicated through the tree-trunks. One of the wolves was standing on a stump watching them. It showed no particular concern, raising its nose to gain their scent and settling on its haunches.

‘Were you here at full-moon?’ asked Simon.

‘Yes, on my own. The others went to some shindig in town. Then there was a power cut.’

‘Must have been eerie, being out here alone.’

Jon paused and shrugged. ‘There’s a generator, it kicked in after a bit. It was just a bit strange. Full-moon, so not completely dark. I was concentrating on worrying about whether everything was backed up.’

‘Could you hear anything?’

‘Just the usual: a bit of rustling then the wolves howling. They were some distance away but I could hear them.’

‘Eerie,’ repeated Andrew.

Jon shrugged again and led the way deeper into the forest. ‘Peaceful,’ he said. ‘Nobody talking all the time.’

The wolf on the stump jumped down and loped ahead of them. ‘Sentinel,’ said Simon.

In a clearing, the pack lay scattered. The leader sniffed the air but made no particular move. The young male came up to Simon again and rollicked round his legs. Simon scanned the undergrowth.

There was Sky, lying a little apart, her snout on her paws.

She opened her eyes and looked at them, flicking her gaze between the three men.

They stood still. Sky got up and stretched.

Jon was right, she was thinner. She walked towards them slowly as if she felt unstable and then sat down at Simon’s feet.

He crouched down at her side and looked into her eyes.

She looked away, then leaned ever so slightly towards him.

He lifted his hand and then dropped it again.

She was a beautiful wolf, but she was a wolf.

He had never touched her as a wolf. She yawned and looked up at Andrew.

He crouched too and took a syringe from his shoulder bag.

‘Good girl,’ he said softly. ‘Don’t worry, this won’t hurt.’ She looked into his eyes and held the gaze.

‘I’m not sure…’ started Jon. ‘This isn’t normal protocol.

’ He held his walkie-talkie poised, scanning the pack.

Their attention was focussed on Sky, but they seemed unconcerned.

She leaned against Andrew and turned her muzzle up to him.

In seconds, he lifted the skin of her neck and injected it.

She flinched and whimpered once. The pack tensed.

Sky shook herself and padded back to her previous spot and lay down again, watching them with her nose on her paws.

‘I can’t believe you did that!’ hissed Jon. ‘She could have attacked! They all could have attacked!’

‘But they didn’t,’ said Andrew. ‘I know what I’m doing. I know that wolf.’

‘How? You’ve never been here before.’

Andrew paused. ‘I met her in Denmark. Anyway,’ he slung his arm over Jon’s shoulder, turned him away from the pack and started walking back to the base.

‘What I need you to do is keep an eye on her. Not with a camera, just the tag monitor and visual observation. Let me know if she shows any signs of improvement or… no change.’

‘I don’t remember you being in charge of this project.’

‘I think you’ll find I’m consultant to it.’

‘Are you?’ whispered Simon.

‘Yes, Simon.’

They walked in silence back to the base, Jon slightly ahead but peering back from time to time at the pack. The sentinel followed them for a while and then stopped as if it had seen them off the premises. Jon muttered to himself.

At the door of the office, Andrew caught his arm.

‘Jon, I’m as concerned about those wolves as you are. I’m sorry that you didn’t know what I was going to do. I’ll make sure it’s communicated properly if I have to do it again.’

‘She should have been sedated. She should have been kept safe and separate. It could have been… I don’t even want to think about what could have happened.’

‘But as you saw, she trusted me.’

‘I’m going to report this.’

‘That’s OK. I understand. But I’ll keep in touch and I’ll be back next full-moon.’

‘I’m not sure I…’

‘See you then, Jon,’ Andrew raised a hand and got into his car with Simon .

As they left the compound, Simon said ‘That was the most dangerous thing you could have done.’

‘What? Wind Jonny up?’

‘No, inject Sky like that. She’s a wolf, not a human. You’ve met her once. Just once.’

‘No, I met her in Denmark too. She may not remember because she was barely unconscious. But I gave her something to ease her pain, so perhaps somehow she knows that, as a wolf, she can trust me. You have to trust me too.’

‘What if it doesn’t work?’

‘If it doesn’t work then she’ll carry on only being able to shift at full-moon and I’ll have to concentrate on enabling you not to.’

Simon stared out of the window as they drove down the forest track to the main road. ‘I’m worried about her losing weight. She was fine before.’

‘She’s anxious, that’s all. The other evening was a bit weird, like Rose said. I expect if they’d been observing her properly, they’d have noticed this happens after every full-moon. I don’t reckon Jon would notice without a gadget.’

‘I don’t think that’s fair.’

‘Maybe not.’

‘Stop worrying, Simon.’

Simon became silent, thinking about those blue eyes looking up at his, then turning away. She was a beautiful wolf. He could barely remember her as a woman.