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Chapter 2: Good Times, Bad Times.

Humphrey's P.O.V.

In the days that followed our first meeting, I found that no matter how I tried, I could not get her out of my mind. I would see her eyes every time mine closed. Every night I would find my dreams illuminated by her radiant smile, and though our meetings since that day were sparse, I would still catch a glimpse of her from afar as she trained and find myself enraptured by her tantalizing grace. At the time, I could not explain the way she made me feel or why, but what I did know was that I wanted to spend every waking moment I had with her, so I may bask in some of the light that she cast every time she passed by and allow her elegant glow to displace the darkness in my mind. However, her training often made being able to spend time with her impossible, so I was left to simply admire her aura from afar and dream of the meager moments that we would share when her father forced her to take a break.

In the moments between, however, my distant admiration of her did not go unrecognized by the other pups and they were quick to confront me with harsh denigration. I won't go into detail about the horrible things they said to me, but I will say that the altercation eventually devolved into a brutal beating of which I was the sole recipient. I remember screaming, crying, and pleading with them to stop, but since this was the first instance in which most of them had ever heard my voice, it ultimately seemed to inspire greater malice among them and henceforth, the situation was further exacerbated to a point at which I was afraid for my life. When I realized that my assailants would not cease their brutal assault on my body, I turned to calling to the remainder of the pack for help, but it seemed as though my desperate pleas for aid fell upon deaf ears, as, in unanimous accord, they all averted their eyes and feigned ignorance toward my dire dilema

But then, from out of nowhere, a voice that commanded respect roared like thunder over the chaos and all at once, the cruel paws that fell so viciously upon me were suddenly restrained. From my position on the ground, I watched through swollen eyes as she shoved her way through the ones who had beaten me and stood firm between us.

"What is wrong with all of you!" I heard her scream.

A brief commotion followed as some of the other wolves attempted to offer excuses or dissenting opinions, but then a larger, much more powerful voice rang out above the chatter and they were immediately cast into silence. The sea of wolves around me separated as Winston, our pack's proud Alpha, moved through them and then stood before me.

"Kate, take Humphrey to Amina," he instructed calmly as he turned to her.

"But, dad, I-" Kate dissented, but Winston commanded her silence with a raised paw.

"Take Humphrey to Amina," he ordered again, this time with venom in his tone, "I'll take care of them."

A palpable silence filled the atmosphere in this moment and all at once the pack took a step back as Kate assisted me to my paws.

"Come on, Humphrey," she groaned under my weight as she began to lead me away, "let's go get you cleaned up."

I grimaced as she heaved my aching body off the ground, but as I felt her deposit my weight along her side, the pain seemed to immediately fade and an inexplicable warmth emerged to fill its place. So many words whirled and whipped through the fabrics of my mind in this moment, but no matter how I tried, I could not seem to organize them in a fashion that would truly express how I felt, so I allowed a simple "thank you" to pass my lips.

Upon hearing my expression of gratitude, a soft smile was born upon her lips and she turned to me as she continued to lead me along.

"Don't worry about it," she replied under the strain of my weight, "We're friends. We look after each other."

I felt my heart swell in this moment, because in all the time that I'd spent here in Jasper, the idea that I would one day be able to call somebody "friend" seemed like nothing more than a distant dream. But with Kate, and through her, I had finally found exactly that for which I had so desperately longed. With Kate, I was a wolf, not just some freak from another world. With Kate, I was everything I had ever wanted to be. With Kate, I was home and there was no greater feeling in the world. She opened so many doors for me that I had never even thought possible at the time.

Though I protested at first, she slowly started including me in her life little by little and forced me to break free from my shell. It started with a simple dinner with her family, which nearly devolved into a disastrous outcome on account of my lack of social skills at that time. However, just when I was about to talk myself into a hole out of which I could never climb, as I often did in these situations, Kate, with the sumptuous grace of an angel, swooped in and saved me yet again, and it was in that moment that I vowed to one day return the favor. Though that moment would not present itself to me for a long time, I remained ever-vigilant as I awaited the moment in which I could repay her for everything that she had done for me. She was always so selfless every time she was actually able to squeeze me into her absurdly demanding schedule, and though this did not seem to happen often, the already extensive list of ways in which she helped me only seemed to grow with each day that we shared.

In fact, I have her to thank for my friendship with the three other omegas that I've come to call my brothers over the years. And though we lost Shakey to Victor and his cretinous cronies, he will forever remain inside of my heart as such. I'll never forget the day that we met, but when I reflect upon that memory now, my heart is heavyset with grief as it is reminded once again of the night that I found him in the field. I don't know what happened in his final moments. I don't know if he died fighting, or if he died pleading... I spent so many days and nights wondering how he spent his final moments. It tore me up inside, knowing that Shakey's death was a personal affront to me, and that his only crime was being my friend. I fucked myself up, constantly wondering how things may have changed had I not allowed him to get so close to me, or had I been there to fight by his side... For the longest time, I allowed my grief to consume me, but eventually, I had to come to the conclusion that I didn't want to know what happened. This was quite possibly the hardest decision I've ever had to make, but, given the way he looked when I found him, I realized, with bitter contempt, that some things were best left unknown...

I'm sorry... I'm rambling now... of course you guys don't need to know about how they carved his face off of the bones beneath it and hung it from a tree for the world to feel. You don't care about how they peeled the corneas out of his eyes, or how they turned his guts inside out and shoved them down his throat... this story is about me and Kate. Not the debilitating guilt that ceaselessly threatens to destroy me. So let me take a moment to get out of my head, and then once I've found my center again, we'll continue. I'm sorry...

Kate's P.O.V

When Humphrey and I were young, helping him was... work. Hard, grueling work, but for some reason I just couldn't seem to help myself. To this day, I still don't understand why I was so driven to help him. I know that the pity I felt for him every time I saw him dodging glances around the park was definitely a factor, but that wasn't it. There was something... more, some underlying reason dwelling somewhere in the back of my mind, but somehow remaining just out of my reach. I've spent days upon days wondering what would have happened had I never decided to reach out to him and essentially force him into my life, or tried harder to force him out of it whenever I was still in that phase in which I seemed to subconsciously know that what we had was incredibly toxic for both of us. We would definitely have a much different pack, that's for sure...

I probably would have gone through with marrying Garth and uniting our packs at a great sacrifice to my own happiness and our two social classes would more than likely remain segregated to this day. I cannot say for certain what future he and I would have had together, or if we would have ever actually been able to make that relationship work. I love Garth like a brother since he married my sister, but the two of them are, and always have been, perfect for each other, because together they have each been able to bring out the best in each other and free themselves from the shackles of their insecurities and doubts. I just don't think I would have been able to do that for him because at that time, I was too selfish, and he was too busy trying to impress me with that overly-confident facade that covered up the mountain of insecurity that he had buried beneath it.

On top of this, had we married, there's no way to say with certainty whether or not we would have successfully conceived pups together. He and Lilly spent years trying, but eventually they called it quits because the years of failure and disappointment had taken such a toll on their relationship that it nearly brought it to an end. Accepting that they wouldn't have pups together was probably the hardest thing they've ever had to face, but in the end they came out so much stronger as a couple because of it. Now, there's no way to determine who was at fault for their inability to conceive, but if it turned out that he was sterile and we were together, our already tumultuous relationship would not have survived.

Having pups was not only an essential role of the Alpha Pair; it was also a necessity for me, personally. Since as far back as I can remember, the thought of being a mother has always thrilled me, and even though Humphrey and I did not work out in the end, and the road to that end was long, ugly, and painful, I would not wish our pups away for anything. I would also never stand to see the Alpha Law dissolved because I've seen it bring such a positive change to the park. So even though the life that Humphrey and I had shared ended up being soul-shattering for the both of us, the amount of good that we created in the four years we spent together is enough for me to say that it was worth it in the end. But I'm getting a little bit ahead of myself here. So I'm gonna backtrack just a little bit to shortly before I left for Alpha School so this whole thing actually makes sense.

By this point, Humphrey was essentially a normal wolf. He was happy. He had friends, and he was well on his way to actually being an accepted member of our pack, but then again, Humphrey could never really be considered "normal." Even though he and I were close friends by this point in our lives, he was still... different than the rest, and that made being with him a little bit discomforting at times. His problem with social anxiety had improved so much by this point, but there were still so many social cues that he didn't seem to understand, and he also had a tendency to be very clingy. Yes, he had friends and he would spend great deals of time goofing off and coming up with all sorts of crazy stunts with them, but in spite of this, he seemed to always make it a point to seek me out at least once a day.

I can't recall the amount of times I had to ask him for a little bit of personal space, and this even spanned into our married life, but at the time before I left for Alpha School, I couldn't really blame him. I know I was his crutch, and I had accepted the fact that I had made myself that. However, this fact still didn't make it any less annoying, and I often found myself deliberately avoiding him because of it. I know it sounds mean, but I don't like having somebody constantly underpaw, and part of the reason why I worked so hard with him, I guess, now that I'm thinking about it again, was because I had hoped that he would one day become independent and not have such a desperate need for me to be around. I have no idea how he fared in my absence while I was away at Alpha School, but it seemed that our time apart was actually good for him. At least, that's what I thought, anyway...

-Well guys, here we are yet again at the end of the chapter. This chapter in particular was fun for me to write, because I really like the parallels that each point of view shares with the other, but also how they blatantly contradict each other. Hopefully reading this was an enjoyable experience for you guys. if it was, please remember to click or tap that little review button down there and let me know what you thought about it! as always, I hope y'all have a great day, and I look forward to posting the next chapter. Until then, happy trails.

-MTOW.