How to Howl
Dean sat glumly on the couch with his head resting on his front paws, his ears down, and his tail tucked underneath his little body. For the whole day, Dean had been like this just sitting forlornly on the couch, staring into space and nothing Seth or Roman said or did could snap him out of it.
Roman and Seth eyed him from the dining room as Seth walked back towards Roman after his latest attempt to cheer Dean up had failed.
"Well, I've tried everything," meowed Seth softly so as not to be overheard by Dean, "That puppy has the major blues."
"I wonder why," barked Roman quietly as he rolled his eyes at Seth, "Just give him some space. Dean has been through a lot in the past 48 hours."
"So have I!" meowed Seth indignantly, "I nearly had a heart attack when I looked out the window yesterday and didn't see him anywhere in the backyard. For a moment, I had a horrible thought that a falcon or eagle had swooped down and carried him off. And then to hear his cries in the distance and to see him surrounded by Punk and his gang made my fur stand up on edge."
"Seth, calm down," Roman gruffed, "your hysterics won't solve anything. Give him a break, the puppy is only three and a half weeks old after all."
"I know, I know," sighed Seth sitting down beside Roman in the corner of the dining room that was always warm, "It's just…Ro, I just want to see Dean happy again with his little ears perked up and his tail wagging up a storm."
"Yeah, me too," agreed Roman as he gave Seth a big, wet lick.
"Ewww, gross Roman!" shrieked Seth as he pounced back to his feet and began to furiously rub the dog's saliva off of him, "Great, now I'm gonna smell like dog for the rest of the day," grumbled Seth as he glared at Roman with narrowed eyes.
"Sorry, Seth," barked Roman although he didn't sound apologetic whatsoever, "Why don't you go to your favorite scratching post upstairs to take your mind off things and I'll see if I can't get Dean to talk to me?"
"Fine!" meowed Seth as he gave his fur one last shake, "But you're still on my shit list for this, Ro! You should know better than to lick me! I oughta scratch you! But, luckily for you, I'm in a generous mood today," finished Seth as he made his way towards the stairs with his tail high in the air.
"You're a saint, Seth," barked Roman sarcastically as he rolled his eyes again at the cat.
After Seth had made his way upstairs just like Roman had suggested. Roman stretched and slowly made his way over to the sad, little puppy on the couch.
"Hey, pup," greeted Roman as he jumped onto the sofa next to Dean.
"Hey," mumbled the puppy, his eyes still fixed on the carpet.
Well at least he said one word to me, thought Roman, that's some progress.
"Whatcha doing?" asked the big dog nonchalantly as he nudged Dean's head ever so slightly with his nose, trying to get the pup to at least look at him. Roman got his wish as Dean lifted his head up finally and gazed at the bigger dog with somber, blue eyes.
"Not much," yipped Dean finally as he set his head down again on his front paws.
"You haven't moved from this spot all day," pointed out Roman gently as he nudged Dean for a second time.
Dean muttered something incoherently.
"What did you say," barked Roman as he licked the top of Dean's head comfortingly, "I didn't quite catch that last part."
"It's s…s…safe here," yapped Dean as he tried to curl even further within himself.
Roman sighed and laid his head down by Dean's body. Both dog and puppy stayed like that for a while. Roman didn't want to rush or pressure Dean into talking, but, at the same time, he really wanted to know what was bothering the puppy so much. If only I knew what was making him so sad then perhaps I could fix it, thought Roman.
Finally after what seemed like forever to Roman, Dean spoke.
"I…I couldn't bark, Ro," admitted Dean as he put his front paws over his eyes in shame obviously thinking that the older dog would judge him for his failure.
"How did that make you feel?" asked Roman gently now beginning to understand part of the problem.
"Ssstupid," whimpered Dean as a big tear came rolling out of his eye. "Then…then…they laughed at me, Ro."
Roman's anger grew at those cats. Punk better pray that I never run into him, thought Roman viciously, because if I ever see him again that cat is going to feel my wrath!
"Why couldn't I bark, Ro?" asked Dean innocently as the turned his tearful eyes towards the dog.
"Well, you are still very young, Dean," began Roman, "although, I'm not sure. Because you're part wolf, you might not be able to bark," finished Roman trying to break the news delicately to Dean.
Dean cringed at Roman's words and looked even more miserable.
"But I know for certain that you will be able to howl beautifully," barked Roman quickly trying to console the wolfie.
"Howl?" asked Dean cocking his head at Roman.
"Yes, howling," nodded Roman, "in fact, between you and me, it's much better than barking. Howling can strike fear into the hearts of your enemies even from a great distance. Plus, I've always thought it's a better sound than barking."
"Teach me! Teach me!" yapped Dean springing up onto all fours, his ears starting to perk up.
"Well," Roman wasn't quite sure how to put this, "I can't because I don't howl, Dean."
Dean's good mood vanished as quickly as it had come at Roman's confession.
"But," barked Roman trying not to discourage the pup, "what I do know is that howling is instinctive. When the time comes, you'll know what to do. A husky explained it to me once that it comes from deep within you. It's a feeling that rises inside of you and you know that it needs to be let out. Am I making any sense?"
"No." yipped Dean as he sat back on his haunches, but Roman could tell that Dean was thinking about Roman's words to him.
"Just because you can't bark, Dean doesn't mean you're a failure," said Roman as he leaned forward to lick the pup again, "Those cats should never have laughed at you. What they did was cruel and mean."
"They wanted to kill me, Ro," whimpered Dean as he leaned into the older dog's touch.
"But they didn't, Dean," whispered Roman soothingly as he brought the puppy closer into himself, "you survived. Seth dealt with them and he and I will do our best to make sure something like that never happens again to you."
"Can you promise it won't happen again?" whispered Dean to Roman.
"No, Dean, I can't promise," Roman muttered, "but, remember, Dean, you won't be this little for much longer. Pretty soon, you'll be bigger than Seth and then in a couple more months, you'll be bigger than me. I will teach you how to protect yourself and one day you might even need to protect Seth and myself from other animals. You will be a force to be reckoned with Dean."
Dean perked up a little bit at Roman's words. He tried to imagine him being bigger than Roman, right now to the little pup, that idea sounded sort of ridiculous.
"Promise me one thing though, Dean," breathed Roman.
"What?" mumbled the puppy, his eyes beginning to grow heavy.
"That you will never pick on another animal for sport like Punk and his gang did with you. There will be times in your life where you will need to hunt, but killing another creature just for fun is wrong. Promise me you will never do that, Dean," barked Roman firmly.
"I promise," yipped Dean solemnly.
"Good boy," muttered Roman as he laid his head down and the two dogs drifted off into a dreamless sleep.
"Ahhwhooooo…Ahhhwoooooo…Ahwhhoooooo…"
The next night both Roman and Seth were startled awake by that sound.
"What in cat's name is going on?" meowed Seth sleepily as he rose his head up from the doggie bed that he and Roman were sharing tonight because it was cold.
"Ahhwhoooohoooo…"
"Shh," gruffed Roman to Seth, "It's Dean. Look at him."
Seth blinked a couple times to clear his eyes and turned around to see what Roman was looking at. It was a full moon tonight and it could be seen from the bay window in the living room. Dean was sitting directly in front of the window, staring at the moon with a far off look in his eyes and was howling in his little, puppy voice. Granted these howls weren't as powerful or loud as a full grown wolf or husky's would be, but they were unmistakingly howls and for such a young wolfie, they were pretty good.
"That's nice," mumbled Seth not really getting the importance of this moment for Dean, "now make him stop, Roman, so I can get back to sleep."
"I most certainly will not and neither will you," barked Roman quietly at Seth. "This is an important step for Dean in his development and we will not hinder it for him by telling him to be quiet. He'll get enough of that from our master to be sure. Besides he needs to howl, so let him be."
"Ah, fine," hissed Seth as he put his paws over his ears, "I guess I'll just need to invest in some good earplugs."
"I find it soothing," remarked Roman as he smiled at Dean who was still howling away and had not even noticed that he had woken Roman and Seth up from their slumber.
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