What It Means To Be Me

I Never Meant To Hurt You.

Thump.

Thump thump.

I heard a whine, then felt another annoying thump. Darn it, something was smacking my chest.

Mmm, go away.

I was still really tired. Which meant a certain big-pawed butthead needed to go away.

Coleee, the bus will be here soon, woof!

Okay, the woof his wolf added to his thoughts was almost cute, but not enough to make me wanna get up yet.

I can just trudge up the stairs when it gets here, can't I?

But Coleeeeee.

Noooo.

Woof woof woooooof.

He added a few extra whimpers and an audible woof for good measure.

"Darn it, fine."

I rolled over and slowly let my eyes blink open. When my vision finally cleared, I noticed that I was nearly nose-to-nose with a fuzzy pup, and okay, I couldn't help but let my tongue dart out and lick the tip of his wet nose. He actually looked surprised at the gesture as his ears flattened and he took a step back, tilting his head in confusion.

"What? I can't play a little, too?"

He gave a slight tail wag and a quiet bark, which made me grin before getting myself up into a sitting position. I was in the middle of stretching, arms over my head to loosen up my back when he suddenly jumped into my lap.

"Wh-What are you doing?" I asked, glaring at him. Tanner gave another grunting bark and nuzzled my cheek before I shoved him off.

"You weigh a ton, ya big oaf."

He dropped to his front paws on the bed right as he landed. Oh no, no playing right now. I might have messed with him a bit, but my energy was definitely low upon just waking up. The only reason I'd gotten him running around the day before was because I had been awake for a while and wanted a fuzzy outlet for my energy.

When I ignored him, he nudged me again, but I just scooted to the edge of the bed, still kind of asleep. Well, that was until his wolf got up on my shoulders and started doing something that had my former alpha wolf bristling with anger. It took over immediately and threw Tanner off into the headboard, then tackled him with a loud snarl of anger. I was about to let my wolf bite him a few times to teach him a lesson... but then I remembered what his mother had said. He doesn't know how to control himself yet. Hmph. I guess I can't really attack him for that then. His teeth were bared, but he wasn't moving to attack me back, so I carefully got off of him and he immediately rolled over onto his belly to show that he wasn't submitting; obviously, I wasn't either.

Mate, woof!

I want to speak with Tanner, let him have control again, I told the wolf with a sincere voice.

Woof!

I know you can. Now be a good boy and let Tanner come back.

His pup whimpered as I padded over on the blanket and licked his nose gently.

I'll play with you soon, I promise.

He thumped his tail hard against the blankets a few times, then quickly let Tanner have the reins back. The pup had the cutest look of sadness I had ever seen on his fuzzy face.

I'm sorry. That was really rude of me, Cole.

His voice was nearly whimpering in my mind. Poor guy, at least he understood that humping the back of someone's head was wrong. While I nuzzled his muzzle to tell him it was okay, I thought back to how his wolf had acted yesterday. We ran around a lot, and then he was stimulated with that peanut butter toy for a good while. Maybe that was it. Maybe his wolf just needed more exercise to be controllable. If the bus was going to be there soon, we might want to get his hyper pup a little worn out.