Ignoring all of them, I continue my search until I finally find a big enough branch, one that’s as big as my arm, and I return to the pup. “We need to bury him,” I answer distractedly as I start to dig. I know the guys carry portable shovels, but none of us have our packs, so the branch will have to do.
I’m so devoted to my task that I don’t even notice the three of them finding sticks of their own and joining me. I stop when they start to dig and I blink in astonishment as I watch them stab the end of their branches into the soft ground.
“You…you don’t have to help me. I know you think it’s stupid.”
“It’s important to you, so it’s important to us,” Zeke says. His gaze only meets mine briefly before he returns to the task.
After ten minutes, my arms are burning and I’m quickly losing steam. “How deep do you think—”
I’m interrupted again, but this time it’s by the rustling of the foliage behind me and the pitter-patter of little paws. My heart drops as I stand and spin around to see Remy and Rom scampering out of the bushes. “Shit,” I say with a gasp and wide eyes. “They followed us.”
The scrape of multiple sticks stops immediately as the pups approach.
They don’t seem to be paying us any mind with their noses low to the ground and their tails wagging.
Remy reaches my ankles first and I brace for an offensive nip, but all I feel is his fur as he passes me with Rom next to him.
I look down to see them sniff and nudge their brother who doesn’t respond.
Rom whines and barks a few distressed sounds while Remy sits back, tilts his nose up to the canopy and howls. Rom joins him a moment later. They’re still so very young so it isn’t a fully formed, coordinated sound, but it’s impossible not to feel their loss. Their pain.
When they’re howled out, Rom and Remy lie down next to their brother with their little heads on their paws and their solemn gazes peering up at me.
Seeing no other course since I can’t exactly console them, I go back to digging their brother’s grave. Only Zeke helps me. Khaliland Thorin decide to watch the pups closely for any sign that they might attack me.
Their vigilance puts me at ease, and Zeke and I are able to complete digging the hole deep enough that there’s no chance of another predator coming along and digging the pup back up.
“Um…how do we do this?” I ask when I stand and dust my hands off. Rom and Remy still haven’t moved away from their brother. Their brother who still doesn’t have a name. One comes to me easily enough, but mostly because I try to convince myself it doesn’t matter. “I don’t want to lose a hand putting Roman to rest.”
“You named them?” Khalil groans and pinches his nose. “Why am I not surprised that you named them already?”
“So what are their names?” Zeke points to the pups who are now growling at Khalil as if they understood him.
“That cutie,” I say pointing to the gray pup, “is Remy. It’s short for Remus. And that adorable lump of fur is Rom. Short for Romulus.”
“As in the brothers from mythology who were abandoned as infants on the shore of a river and nurtured by a she-wolf until a shepherd and his wife found and raised them?”
“Yup. Fitting, right?”
“Sure, but doesn’t the story end with Romulus killing Remus?” Khalil asks.
I roll my eyes skyward. “I didn’t say it wasperfect.”
Rom yawns, stretches his body, and stands before lifting his leg and peeing. The stream arches toward Khalil’s foot, who curses and quickly steps out of the way before any can get on him.
The rest of us smother our laughs to avoid startling the pups while Khalil throws Rommy a dirty look.
“Damn, he even has your manners, Khal.” Thorin tilts his head to the side and studies the black pup. “He kind of looks like you too.”
Khalil flips him off and then leans down, quickly grabbing Rom by the scruff. Zeke repeats his action, grabbing Remy the same way and lifting him off the ground. With the coast clear, Thorin lifts Roman from the ground and gently lays him inside the grave.
Thorin and I make quick work of pushing the pile of upturned dirt back inside the hole. Once we’re done and the grave is covered, I sit there for a few seconds and stare at the mound of dirt. I feel like I should say something, but I don’t know what. I never had a pet before, so I have no clue what to do when one dies.
Not that wild wolves should ever be considered pets.
After a few moments of floundering, my lips part and the first song that pops into my head spills free. Khalil, Thorin, and Zeke are all quiet around me as I sing “Over the Rainbow.” It’s times like these when I wish I could be as hardened as them. I wish it didn’t matter so much, but how could it not when death has become a constant companion?
“That was beautiful,” Thorin says when the last note is sung.
