Ike McSwain slowly approached the injured female wolf. Her hind leg was caught in a trap and she'd been gnawing at it in an attempt to free herself when he came across her.
Her warning growls had startled his horse, Paver, who'd reared up and nearly thrown him. Only his skills as a horseman kept him from losing his seat. He'd reined Pacer in, spending a few moments to quite the unsettled gelding, before leading him to a nearby tree.
Once his horse was taken care of, Ike returned his attention onto the female wolf. He couldn't leave her trapped. He could see that her teats were swollen and hanging down, which told him she had a litter of pups somewhere nearby.
He wasn't going to leave her trapped and unable to care for her brood. Still, it wasn't like he could walk up and just free her. He didn't even know if she'd let him get close enough to help her.
Her warning growls became more vocal the closer he got. He tried to be as less threatening as he possibly could, inching ever closer to the trap. Finally, he was close enough. Slowly, he reached out to place his hands on either ide of the trap, and the she-wolf lunged at him.
He fell back, out of reach of her snapping jaws, as she alternated between snarling at him, crying and whimpering in pain. She settled into a heap, panting hard. Ike moved back into position and saw she was exhausted by her earlier struggles to free herself and this last lunge at him.
Keeping a cautious eye on her the entire time, Ike grasped hold of either side of the trap. He gritted his teeth and then pulled on both sides, tugging them open wide enough to free her injured leg.
He sat back on his heels, watching and waiting to see how she would react now that she was free. She licked around her bleeding, injured paw before scrambling cautiously onto all fours. She let out another whimper, growled at Ike, and loped off ton three paws, through the prairie grass away from the express trail.
Ike hastily rose to his feet and keeping a safer distance behind the She-Wolf, followed her a short distance away. She saw her disappear inside a bush. He heard the sound of happy yips and smiled. The mother was reunited with her pups and that made him happy. He returned to where he left Pacer, mounted the gelding, and kicked him into a gallop down the trail toward Sweetwater.