Home -- Wolv book 3

Still Broken

"It's like in the great stories. The ones that really mattered.

Full of darkness and danger they were, and sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy?

How could the world go back to the way it was, when so much bad had happened?

...

...But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come, and when the sun shines, it will shine out the clearer."

                                                                       - Sam

         *         *         *         *

I couldn't speak.

"It's okay. It's alright."

I tried to open my mouth, but my voice died in my throat.

"Hey hey hey, shushhhh! It's over now!"

All I could do was cry. My vision was blurred to smears as black tears plastered my muzzle. My chest heaved, again and again, belting out sob after relieved sob. All of the words I'd imagined saying, all of the speeches I'd silently rehearsed, all of the heartfelt confessions floating through my mind had evaporated.

A paw massaged the back of my neck, and claws worked their way through my fur, splashing icy water on my body and washing off the soot clinging to me. My legs were shivering and shaking, but I didn't dare complain.

Nadie was bathing me.

"Hey, just calm down, alright?" she soothed. She, too, sat in the same shallow, frigid creek as I. "It's all over now."

Scooping up another pawful of water, she splashed the liquid down my muzzle, rinsing out my ears and neck ruff.

"Are you gonna talk to me or what?"

I blinked at her, reveling at the sound of her voice. I felt as though I was in some kind of a dream; could this really be happening? Was she really sitting across from me, grooming me?

"Please say something."

She was still Nadie. She was still beautiful. And she still cared.

I let my eyes fall down to her waist, and slowly drew my gaze back up, taking in every detail I could. Patchy and uneven, her brown winter coat was beginning to shed out--and unlike mine, her fur was clean and well groomed. Several narrow, pink scars tattooed her skin, furless and obvious amongst her coat. I frowned--how did she get those? I don't remember her having those before.

"Humfrey?"

Her eyes. Brown, sharp, and sparkling with life--just the way they'd been when I'd last seen her.

No.

When I'd last seen her, they had been dull and defeated, from months of walking in search of a home that never came. The way they looked now, the way she looked at me hopefully...it was much, much better than I remembered. She had filled out; rather than having a meager coat draped over a boney frame, her frame was now muscular and full--in sharp contrast to my own.

A large, unfamiliar paw pressed down against my spine, and somebody sniffed noisily at my ears. When the stranger spoke, they spoke with a flat, monotonous voice.

"I thought we'd lost you, Humfrey."

I craned my muzzle around, blinking the tears from my eyes.