Tyrin

The final pup was born hours after his siblings, but as this son made his way into the world, both parents felt a cold shiver run up their tails.

A son, solid white, with a red mask: a near identical twin to the female Anamakee who took down the majority of the meat the pack feasted on; the same female Sabre had bred, then sold her pups - a son and daughter.

Their mating had been one of contract, not love, and though he'd enjoyed her pups (always hers, never his) they hadn't meant anything to him, shared blood or not. He'd placed them with what he thought was a good pack. He thought they were. He really did.

No, Sabre wouldn't let himself think of those pups. They were gone, never to be seen again. His pups were here. His son needed a name. But neither parent could clear the haunted look from their eyes.

"This pup I have no name for," Aiyomi whispered. Placing pups into other packs was commonplace in these territories, but Anamakee had cursed the Alpha and prayed a reminder of his sins in his next litter. Aiyomi didn't know how she'd react if Sabre chose to place their pups. Goddess had heard Anamakee's heartbreak and granted her wish. A litter of blessings all around, surely, but this reminder weighed heavily on Aiyomi.

"Tyrin," they heard from the entrance to the den. Anamakee, having come to welcome the pups and bring fresh meat to their mother, announced. A fresh carcass lay at her feet "For the son I never got to raise, and the daughter I never got to watch grow, name him this."

"We're not --" Aiyomi was cut off by Amamakee's glare. The more submissive she-wolf hunkered down in her nest.

"You took my son, Tulo, and then you took my daughter, Gabby, too. Did you know he named her, just like I know he did your pups? Did you know he had that same look of pride staring at them nursing from my body as he does yours? Where you lay, so once did I, Aiyomi. But you'll get to keep your pups. Mine might as well be dead, if they're not already," she said flatly. "Name him this, for me. Name your son 'in memory' in our tongue. And I will mentor him and treat him no different than the others. I will provide him with fresh meat and guide him."

She took a heaving breath. "You will name him this, so I know that each time you call his name, you never forget the son you took from me." She turned curtly and walked away from the pair.

"Tyrin," Sabre whispered.

"You can't honestly think of calling him something with such a morbid meaning," Aiyomi admonished.

"He's been named thus since he took his first breath. We just didn't know it. He will make a fine pup, " Sabre said licking his sons small face. "I'll let you relax now. Call for me if you need anything and I'll come running," he promised. He looked down once more at his family, a beautiful mix of their parents.

"Tyrin." He turned and walked out of the den, knowing that now the real work had begun.
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Tyrin didn't know why the pretty white wolf with markings just like his watched him so intently, but it was hard to go on adventures with the other pups while being watched. She barely spoke a word to him, but Tyrin could always feel her eyes following his every move.

Every time he asked Mama about it, she'd lick him behind the ears and tell him to ignore her. So he let it roll off of his back, like water off the ducklings he so loved to play with.