What It Means To Be Me

Nothing Left To Stay For

"Grrrrr...."

I weakly swatted somewhere, hoping to get whatever was messing with my left ear to stop. Whatever it was did so for a moment, but then switched to the other, making me roll over in order to try to swat them away again.

Play!

Play? It was way too early to play. I always slept in if I could, and I was pretty sure I didn't have anything overly important to do that day.

Plaaaay, Tanner!

There was a sudden thump on my muzzle, making me snort and grumble with annoyance. I still wasn't ready to get up, though, and quickly rolled back over into the grass to curl up... except the butt-face bothering me then grabbed my tail and began to yank, hard.

Hey!

Alright, someone was gonna get bitten. With a frustrated growl, I jumped up and ran after the black wolf who had been tugging at my ears and tail. But, uh, he bolted away, only to drop onto his front arms and wiggle his butt in the air. Seriously? He was bugging me this whole time just to play like a puppy? I wasn't a huge fan of playing, and it was way too early in the morning for it since I'd sneaked away the night before with my mom to retrieve my stuff from the hotel in Cole's hometown and leave my rental car at the business I'd gotten it from.

When I flopped back down and stretched out in the grass, the other wolf sauntered away. Good. I realized that it was Cole, but I still needed a few more minutes... just a few more. A minute later, a squeak had my ears abruptly perking up, then my head lifting when the sound was made again. What the heck was Cole holding between his teeth? Was that a... a...

Ball!

My wolf whined loudly as it jumped up and dashed after the ball.

Ball. Ball. Ball. Ball.

We raced around the yard, me chasing Cole, who was holding my real target. Why didn't he slow down?

Ball!

Gotta come get it, Tanner, he chimed playfully through my mind. I was trying to get the darn thing. Giving a gruff growl, I picked up my speed as we blurred around the pool and back out into the thick grass. Then we edged around the fence to return to the pool. My mind was focused completely on the ball, and when it went up, I jumped to catch it... only to realize that Cole had just tossed it over the swimming pool. A loud splash rang through the quiet morning air as I caught the ball, then dropped into the chilly swimming pool directly below. I got one good squeak in before making the plunge. It was one hell of a wake-up tactic, but I immediately snapped out of my sleepiness and scrambled to the stairs. When I finally got out, I could hear a certain bastard-wolf snickering off to the side.

Oh? You think that is funny? Well, I have the ball.

With a squeeze of my jaws, I squeaked the ball and lunged, head-butting him in the side just hard enough to send him over the edge and into the icy water, even though he clawed at the side to try to halt his imminent swim. I could hear Cole grumbling in my mind at the cold but was much too busy playing with my awesome new squeaky ball. I mean, come on. Whoever thought of adding a squeaker to a tennis ball was a fuckin' genius. Of course I felt like a soggy doggy, and also probably was beginning to smell like one, but again, no caring. Ball!

"Tanner. You have a phone call from a guy named Ryder."

Awww, poo.

I quickly shifted and shook off before taking my phone and flopping down into a lawn chair by the pool, the ball clenched tightly in my free hand. I could also see an angry soaked pup glower at me from the edge of the pool, but my attention was generally on what Ryder was saying.