Chapter 26

When no one spoke up, Kane nodded to John who began to hand out what appeared to be a map of the pack’s territory. Two areas were marked off in color. Elise studied it with interest. What was the significance of the colored regions? After the maps had been distributed, John began to explain.

“The next point on this evenings agenda has to do with Northern Oil. I’ve given each of you a map so you can see the exact areas in question. The section outlined in red indicates where Northern Oil wants to do its exploratory drilling. It’s close to several underground streams and could possibly result in the contamination of our ground water and thus our wells. In addition, in order to bring in the needed equipment, several large tracts of land would have to be cleared and temporary roads constructed. As you can see, it’s a significant area, despite their claims otherwise.”

“They’ve offered us a very large sum of money as compensation if we sell outright. Alternatively, they’ve pro