One of Runts

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Deaths of all kinds

        My front paws hang over the edge of the cliff as the cool air rushes around me. My ears are pinned to my skull to bring some resemblance of warmth to them. I look down the cliff at the lake and my nostrils flare.

        The air, though it smells cold, is fresh and amazing up here. I can smell the fresh water from the lake and the earth surrounding it. The scents of various mammals and other creatures bring life to the cool air.

        I take in a few deep breaths, my mouth opens to better scent the air. My grief calms slightly as I continue to breathe in and out. My heart calms and the sting of pain in my leg becomes more apparent.

        "You probably shouldn't have run away," a familiar voice echoes through my mind. I ignore him and continue staring out at the sky and the trees below me. There's fog coating the ground so I can't even see the dark green of the grass.

        "Probably not," I finally tell him as he lays down next to me. I shiver as his warmth sinks into me, making me realize how cold it is. Despite the thick fur covering my body, I shift closer to Azrael, my smaller body warming up next to his larger one.

        "You okay?" he tentatively asks me, his voice filled with warmth. The warmth and calmness of his tone slowly melts me into a calm of my own. My mind stills as I just focus on the view ahead of me and the large wolf pressing against me.

        Out of the corner of my eye, I see him look towards me, his head cocked to the side slightly. "I'm fine," I tell him, my voice calm. "It's the anniversary of her death, that's all." I had forgotten about the anniversary of her death until Conner started talking about the squadron and what we do.

        "What was she like?" Azrael asks me, looking away from the cliff. I look up at the moon as I think the female wolf. I smile softly.

        "She was like my sister," I tell him, watching the stars in the sky twinkle and shine. "We did almost everything together ever since we met. We met a year before she died when she first joined the trackers." I let out a wolfish chuckle at how we met.

        "We were in the same class even though she was a beginner. She was in her first year while I was in my last. I was never jealous of her. I was inspired by her.

        "I remember seeing this small two-foot tall wolf circling around a stump. It was one of the stumps that stumped, no pun intended, most wolves on the tracking test. Hell, I even got confused with it. We were to scent what wolf had stood on it, while other scents covered theirs.

        "I didn't get it until my third try while others got it on their fifth or sixth. But this small white wolf. This small beginner. She got the scent just like that. It only took her about three minutes. The best time there was for it. It even beat my time.

        "A group of female wolves had offered June to joint them, and honestly, I thought she would. It was just like high school. The popular girls got the cool new girl. June had turned them down, though." I shake my head at the thought of this tiny runt, half the size of the other wolves, refusing to join the popular group.

        "Instead, she walked over to me and plopped her tiny tail down. I remember giving her one of the oddest looks. She just looked at me and grinned. And that's when I knew that we would be friends for as long as possible." I turn my gaze down to the soft waves in the lake caused by the wind that's ruffling my fur.

        We're both quiet for a few moments, just watching the waves of the water that reflect the image of the moon. I breathe out a long slow breath, not surprised with the fog that builds up in front of me.

        "She sounds amazing," Azrael tells me, looking over to me. I stare back into his pale green eyes, my own golden ones filling with sadness.

        "She was." We're quiet as we look over the foggy landscape.

        "When my parents died, I didn't know how I would survive," Azrael says out of no where. I look at him, my ears alert in interest. "I was only five years old." My ears tilt back at the statement. He was so young.

        "Even though I was young, I understood. I knew they were gone. I felt the ache in my chest when our bonds broke." Parents and pups have bonds where they can feel one another. "But then Rosy and Carter stepped up as my guardians even though my uncles or aunt could have cared for me.

        "These two wolves cherished me as if I were their own child. And in truth, I am. Their two children had died when rogues attacked, so they cared for me and kept me close. Both of them made me realize that just because my parents were no longer there to care for me, it didn't mean that I was alone.

        "They made me realize that you'll never be alone and that sting of grief and sorrow will leave." His voice is soothing as I listen to him, and despite the subject of his parent's deaths, I don't scent any grief in his scent, nor do I hear it.

        I nuzzle against his cheek affectionately and he nuzzles me back. I lay my head down and he puts his heavier one on top of mine. "Thank you," I softly whisper to him, the aching in my heart lessening.

        He just presses himself against me and my ear somehow ends up pressed against his chest. My eyelids droop slowly at the sound of his steady and loud heartbeat. My breathing matches his and I believe my heartbeat begins to beat with his.

        His neck presses against me more and it warms me. My breathing slows and I feel myself being drawn to sleep.