I loved it.
And him.
But I couldn’t say it. The words stuck in my throat.
So I hoped he felt it in my scent. Because that was all I could give.
It should have stopped there. That should have been the end of this terrible day.
It wasn’t.
Other words found their way from my throat, saying the very last thing I should have said.
But I was buried then. In anger. In grief.
So I wasn’t thinking about what could happen.
Just what I wanted.
I said, “He took from us.”
I said, “He took part of our pack away.”
I said, “He hurt us.”
I choked, “He took my mom.”
Joe began to growl.
I said, “He’s gone.”
I said, “We have to find him.”
I said, “We can’t let this happen to anyone else.”
I said, “We can’t let this happen again.”
I said, “We have to protect the others.”
I said, “And we have to make him pay.”
And that was it. Later, I would realize that was it.
That was the moment we began to say good-bye.
into the bones/losing you
I STILL didn’t see it coming.
Maybe I should have.
But I didn’t.
THEY LEFT us. After a while.
The strange wolves. The ones I didn’t know.
They left back to wherever they came from.