The Runt, Part 7.
#8 of The Runt.
The Runt.
Chapter 7.
By: Wolfie Steel.
I wake up in the heavenly paws of my beloved Mason, the two of us just laying there, in each other's arms, at this moment our lives couldn't be more perfect, and yet buried deep within my mind are thoughts of my pack, my family.
Sure, I know that I had been banished all those years ago, but a large part of me wanted to just get dressed in all my new finery, jump into my Rolls and drive to my pack's den. Suddenly, as if Mason and I are tuned to the same wavelength, he stares me deep in the eyes and speaks.
"You want to go and rub your old packs faces in it don't you? Admit it; you want them to see the way that your life has turned around"
I couldn't deny it anymore; I just had to revisit the den where I was given life all those years ago. Mason continued to speak.
"Okay, we'll get dressed, have a bite to eat, pick up Commander Jones and then we'll head to your old den"
An hour later and Mason, me and Commander Jones are in my Rolls Royce and heading to my old pack's den. The journey would take us through the town where I first met Mason and further out by two hours, we turn off the main highway and drive down an old dirt road towards a rocky outcrop otherwise known as my birthplace.
As we draw closer to the outcrop, I see him standing on top of the highest rock, my twin brother Jeff. I stop the car at the entrance to the den, it's been so long since I was last here, but memories of my puppyhood begin to surface. I am the first to step from the car; I look up at the rock on which my brother is standing, same ole Jeff, just many years older, I call out to my brother.
"I know it's been thirty-two years Jeff, but surely you can find it deep inside yourself to come down from the rock and give your brother a hug"
Jeff stares at me with cold, threatening eyes as he makes his reply.
"Brother, I have no fucking brother, he died some weeks back, we found out from the papers of all things"
I stare back at Jeff, and my reply catches him off guard.
"I can prove to you that I am indeed from the same sire and dam as you, my full birth name was Maxwell Andrew Sloane, I know also that your full name is Jeff Alexander Sloane, you are older than me by just five minutes, you have a scar behind your right ear which I gave you when we were tussling whilst at the age of four. Now I can go on, but I would sooner do it face to face"
Jeff slowly made his way down from the rock, and after two minutes was now standing with his muzzle just inches from my own, he then does something that will prove to him that I am his brother, with Wolves being closely linked to the canine family, each pack has its own unique smell, so the way to tell if someone is from your pack, you gotta sniff their butts. Jeff takes in my scent it then seems as though his brain is processing the information, and then suddenly he stands before me again.
"Max? But how, you're officially dead, you drowned in the River Thames with that Billionaire guy Jake Black"
At the mention of my mate's old name I stand to one side so that Jeff can now see Mason.
"Jeff, the Rottweiler that you see behind me is none other than Jake Black, though like me he has undergone an identity change if you will give me a chance I will explain everything"
Jeff looked into my eyes, at first, I could tell that he wasn't quite ready to trust me, but then there was a sudden change, his head lowered and he made his reply.
"Ok Max, you can both enter the den with me, but please be quiet, our mother is weak and seeing you may have one of two effects on her, one, the shock will be enough to kill her or two, it may be the tonic that she needs"
The three of us enter the den and there in front of us, lay on a pelt resting on a flat rock is my paternal mother, Stride Sloane. Her breathing is shallow and laboured; I slowly walk over to the rock and gently kneel before her.
"Momma, it's me, it's Maxwell, I've returned home. Momma, I know that I was disowned by you and dad for being gay, and I don't want to make things any worse, I just wanted to revisit my roots, to show my new mate where I came from. I'm sorry that you had to find out about my supposed death through the media, but at the time it was the only thing I could do, I now have a new name and a new life"
Stride looks weakly up at me from her bed.
"Max? Is that you?"
She raises her frail body from her bed and looks at me, and then she continues to speak.
"Max, I prayed that I would get the chance to make my peace with you before I died, but when we were told that you were found drowned in the River Thames, I thought that I had lost my chance, I have now been given a second chance to put things right between us. Son, I don't want to die and leave a family still divided, even if it means accepting your new mate into the family, that is what I'm prepared to do, you're father wouldn't accept you, and in the end, it killed him. So, you say that you both have new identities, may I know them please?"
Mason now stepped forward and stood by my side; he then looked down at my frail mother and spoke.
"Ma'am, my old name was Jake Black, my new name is Mason Lane, and I don't wish to worsen a family feud, but I would feel very proud to have a son like Max or Sonny as he is now known, he saved my life, not once but twice, forgive me for saying this, but the pup that you threw out all those years ago has grown into one hell of a Wolf"
My momma's muzzle turned up in a bright and beaming smile.
"Mr. Lane, it seems that my son has really landed on his paws, and that makes me happy. I know that I don't have long until I take my final breath, so I ask this of you, please take care of my two sons, I know that they will be well looked after, I see Maxwell.....sorry I mean Sonny, standing before me dressed in the finest clothes, I just hope that my other son, Jeff, is as lucky in life"
Stride now looks at me and Jeff.
"Boys, please kneel by my side"
We both did as we were asked by our dying mother and knelt by her side.
"Boys, this is it, my time on this earth is at an end, however, yours is just beginning. Max, I know that being disowned by your family and being kicked out of the family home has hurt you a great deal, I just want you to know this, I'm so very sorry for not supporting you in your time of need, your father and I were fools to think that being gay was a curse, unfortunately, your father was too much of a proud Wolf to admit his mistakes, I on the other paw am not. With my final dying breath, I once again take you back into the family, boys I love you both so very, very much...."
Those were the last words to come from my momma's muzzle, her eyes then slowly closed and her chest finally stopped rising and falling. By now like me and Jeff, Mason was crying his eyes out. Suddenly the den felt cold and empty, whilst my mother was alive even barely, the place seemed to have a pulse, but now, there was nothing.
As the last duty to our now departed mother, Jeff and I wrapped her in one of the packs burial robes and carried her body to the site where our father was buried, we laid her body gently on the ground, then using just our forepaws, Jeff and me started digging the grave that would house our mothers body.
*-*-*-*-*-*
With our mother's body now gracefully buried, Jeff slowly filled in the rest of the grave with the leftover soil; we then arrange stones in the shape of our mother's name on top of the grave. With the solemn task now complete I stood at the head of both graves and was joined by Jeff, together we let out a loud and spine-tingling howl to mark the end of our pack.
With the burial and howling complete, I head over to Mason, as soon as I am within reach, he throws his paws around me and takes me in a hug, after two or three minutes, I pull away from the hug and look back at Jeff who was still standing at the head of the graves.
"Brother, there is nothing left here for you now, why don't you come back and live the rest of your life out with us? Sure the pack is now gone, but two fragments of it still survive, you and me, and as long as that continues then the memory of our pack will live on"
Jeff continued to look at the two graves as he made his reply.
"I will come back with you and Mason on two conditions. Condition one, until I'm ready there is to be no messing around with my sexual preferences, condition two, that I am allowed to visit the graves as often as I need"
Both Mason and I accept Jeff's conditions, and the three of us head back towards the car. It seems amazing to me how a day can start out with such a negative feeling and end up with a family reuniting.