––––––––
The pups didn’t survive. The everlasting winter killed them all off in the end, just like it killed my son.
Food is scarce, and there’s only so much that Silver and I could provide for them. I think that’s why she wanted me to follow her that day in the clearing.
She saw someone who was as alone as her. Someone who was clearly grieving from the loss of her tribe.
I always wondered why she was alone, too. Wolves are pack animals. Did her mate and pack die at the hands of humans? Just like how mine died at the jaws of wolves?
Life truly isn’t fair.
But how quaint that we both found some common ground. I was prepared to kill her once, yet now I couldn’t imagine my life without her. Considering that we’ve only been together for several weeks, I find that astonishing.
She truly is woman’s best friend.
Silver is gentle, and one of the sweetest animals I have ever met. Not many humans could hold a candle to her loyalty.
I don’t deserve her. Humans had ravaged her life, just as wolves had ravaged mine. But whereas I only had revenge in my heart, she had love and forgiveness.
One day, maybe our species can learn to work together. We hunt the same food. It only makes sense.
But as similar as we are, we are also very different. Humans make their weapons with stone and animal bone, but wolves are born with them.
Yet Silver has never once bared her fangs at me. And I have never once shown her my knife. Only when I skin a deer perhaps, but she completely trusts me, as I trust her.
With Silver, I am never alone.
We sit by the bank of a frozen lake. The moon is full as it reflects of the icy surface. It’s all so beautiful and serene, but this is not a happy occasion.
My companion is mourning the loss of her pups. I’m still mourning the loss of my son.
I reach out and pat her between the ears. It’s a strange thing to do to a wild beast, but the first time I tried, Silver openly accepted my hand. When I rubbed behind her ear, she even closed her eyes and held her head back.
Just pure trust.
“Don’t cry for them, Silver. You will see them again in the next life.”
That was what I told myself after the deaths of my son and husband. I know we will all be reunited again.
We buried her pups beside the infant son I lost, and now our children will nurture the same tree for years to come.
Silver lifts her head, peering straight at me, and I don’t look away from those amber eyes. They’re so intelligent. It’s like I can see exactly what she’s thinking.
It dawns on me then, and I suddenly feel ashamed.
She’s apologizing for the time that her mate attacked my tribe, killed my husband, and then chased me through the forest.
I always wondered...
Silver was the alpha’s mate. And I’m currently wearing his pelt as a coat. Yet she shows no resentment, only forgiveness.
She’s definitely a superior species to me. If the roles were reversed, I would have killed her instantly, and I’m too overcome.
Despite the horrors we have been through, we still formed an unbreakable bond, and I swear I will never let her out of my sight.
I know Silver is having the same thoughts, too.
“I’m... sorry too...” I cry.