Wolf at Heart

Chapter Five: Remembering Them

Brooke, Ray, and Jerry were waiting for us when we got back. The sun hadn't even risen yet, so I had no clue why they were up so early.

Ray smirked. "So where have you two lovebirds been?"

"I...what?" I said, totally bewildered.

Dakota, extremely red, said, "It's not like that guys!"

They all laughed and Jerry and Ray pulled Dakota to one side. I heard him say again, "I told you guys, nothing happened! Leave me alone!"

Brooke gestured me over to help take down the tens. She did the work in her usual cheery manner, muttering "boys" when she looked over at them. The two older Lupine were mercilessly teasing Dakota, pestering him for non-existing details.

We were almost clear of the forest and insight of the mountains. By the end of the day, we should make it into the plains in front of the mountains. It was out in the plains that we were the most vulnerable, though, with no tree cover. Plus the tall grasses could hide anything from natural snakes to tribeless thieves.

As of now, the trees were still great in number and we saw plenty of deer bound away, frightened by our many numbers and noise.

Resting after a couple of hours, we stopped by a small river about as wide as a few full-grown Lupine were tall.

Jerry and Brooke shared a look, but I didn't think anything of it before water splashed on my back.

"Hey!" I yelled, surprised, and turned, getting another face full of river water.

Sputtering, I took off my jacket, threw it over a branch, and raced after them into the water. Floundering after them, I used my hands to send a wave of water, soaking them. Laughing loud and hard, soon the whole pack was splashing in the shallow river. Their excited, joyous shouts rang up and down the water.

Tired and wet, but exuberant, we stumbled onto the shore. Drying off in the sun, I wolfed down some deer caught earlier. Get it? "Wolfed," cause I'm a...you know what, never mind the bad pun.

The sun was still in the middle of the sky, so we packed up and moved on. Leaving only paw prints in the soft river mud, we'd cleaned up everything else as to not attract any unwanted attention.

Jerry was rambling on and on about goats and how delicious they were.

"When we get to camp I'm going to hunt one down and cook it. Their meat is so tender and good, I can't wait!"

Dakota and Ray were looking more and more annoyed and scampered off to play chase while keeping up with the pack. Only Brooke seemed to be actually interesting, asking questions and such. Makes sense, since she was a chef.

I just trotted along, half listening to Jerry and sometimes seeing Ray or Dakota causing disarray among the pack.

By the time we reached the edge of the woods, the sun was low on the horizon. We were camping here, our last night under the trees' protection before venturing into the plains. The sea of green and gold seemed like the woods. Endless.

After helping to set up camp, I climbed a tall oak to watch the sunset. Leaning back on the rough back in my little niche, I allowed myself to wonder about my brothers one last time.

As the eldest, Erin did always have the most responsibility. Even so, he never lost his calm, kind, understanding ways. He was like Jerry: carefree, not letting anything get to him. Not even my constant flow of questions bothered him.

And then there was Mike, my overly serious brother, who was a year younger than Erin and two years older than me. He was always the one who got things done when the rest of us goofed off. It was hard to get him to crack a grin or even more rarely laugh. Mike was warm on the inside though, even if you couldn't see it. Sort of like Dakota.