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Chapter 1: Meager Moments

Kate was both grateful and bitter about her father's decision to send Humphrey away to Alpha School, and for quite obvious reasons. Reason one, was that, while they had been courted to each other for quite some time now, the two hardly had any time for each other as it was, due to Kate's duties as an alpha of the pack; and now that Humphrey was to be sent away for the winter, that meager amount of time that they had for each other after dark would all but diminish until his return, and she worried that in his time of absence they would grow distant.

She knew that Humphrey was apprehensive as well, for he had never considered the thought of actually possessing the ability to take another individual's life, or to fight, or to hunt, and on top of that, she could already foresee the awful treatment that he would receive from both the instructors and students alike. If she thought that seeing the cruelty done upon the weakest alpha student was bad, she couldn't bear to even imagine what kind of prejudice and depravity he would be forced to endure, being an omega and all. Even further into the negative, was bearing the knowledge of her sister's alpha mate, Garth's father, Tony, having been killed in a tragic hunting accident under the young wolf's lead. Because of this, Garth had become reclusive to the society of the allied Central Pack, to Lilly especially.

He would not say a word to her, nor would he even hardly regard her presence whenever it was that she would try to speak to him. This in turn broke Lilly's fragile heart, and who else to seek counsel from than her big sister? On countless occasions had Lilly decided to stay the night in her parents' den, or when she needed to talk, Kate's, and it seemed that no matter what, nothing would be able to cheer the snowy omega's shattered spirits. Needless to say, Kate had a full plate in front of her and not the appetite to have to digest such matters.

Now, on the other side of the spectrum, there were the positives to this situation. Though Humphrey would be away from home for months, and she would miss him dearly, he would return in the spring as a fully recognized alpha; and though they had not considered such actions as of yet, he would return more than capable of being able to care for Kate whenever it was that the two would decide that they were ready to have pups. Another benefit in this situation was the likelihood of the pair being assigned corresponding duties, meaning that they would get to see each other more often, which would in turn strengthen their relationship once again.

That was definitely something that she was looking forward to; and on top of all of this was the knowledge that once Humphrey made his return, he and Kate would then become eligible to assume the High Alpha positions in lee of her parents' retirement; not that they were entirely ready to accept such great levels of stress and responsibility, but they were still grateful that they would be trusted with such an extraordinary honor.

Today was the day that Humphrey was to be leaving with the next generation of alphas, and Kate, though upset that it was time for him to depart, was quite felicitous that she was at least dismissed from her morning duties so that she may see him off. The morning air was laced with dew as was the tall, green grass in the fields, which reflected the rays of the amber morning sunlight radiantly, giving the earth an iridescent glow that illuminated her face beautifully. This was just one of the many gifts which the fall had to offer to Jasper Park as it was gently stirred from its nightly slumber.

However, these tiny details slipped Kate's collective mind on this morning, for she had focused all forethought on her mate and just exactly how they should spend their final hours together before Humphrey would be taken away and the lovable omega she had fallen for would be demolished and then rebuilt into somebody completely different. She hoped, though, that at least a few of his features, such as his goofy grin and his corny jokes that could make her laugh even on her hardest days, would remain intact. She was not generally looking forward to knowing how much her life would change if he did, but, oh well; what could she do now besides let nature take its course and hope for the best? The time of departure was not for another two hours, but Kate knew just how quickly that allotted time would dwindle away from them, so she was looking to make the most out of the every meager moment that they had left.

The two of them padded side by side through what used to be known as the Western Territory before the unification of the East and West a couple months back, chatting casually with each other, laughing, asking each other questions, trying to do anything they could to avert their minds from the inevitable deadline that loomed above their heads. However, intertwined with all of these emotional factoids, were Humphrey's inescapable apprehensions and they bled through his every action despite his greatest efforts to keep his mate oblivious of their presence.

His laughter was quite a bit more forced than Kate was used to, and hidden behind his smile was an inescapable fear. Kate could understand such feelings from him, knowing of his stature, and was more than capable of sensing such emotions; but decided not to spoil the moment by keeping Humphrey in his zone of relative comfort, thus allowing him to maintain hold on his fallacious perception of her incognizance. The wind that whispered softly across the land was fitting to Autumn in Jasper Park, the breeze being effusive, while carrying with it a subtle crispness that foreshadowed the coming winter; and it was this breeze that brushed softly through the pair's fur, causing it to sway lazily across their bodies as they strolled together for what would be their final time in what would feel like forever.

Both alpha and omega carried themselves on heavy paws, for said paws allotted their affliction with the owners of the seemingly dense appendages. Humphrey's tail tip twitched restlessly behind him, a trait that was involuntary for him and only occurred during times of great emotional disposition, and the entirety of his body was shaking as it fought so perilously to keep itself composed. It tortured Kate to see him like this, but she knew that in his current state, there was little to nothing that she could say that would be beneficial for him.

Humphrey would remain a nervous wreck until the day he mastered his training, and there was nothing to be done in the meantime to help him ward off his anticipation. However, Kate knew of a trick that always seemed to calm Humphrey whenever he became ridden with anxiety, though she had never attempted the action while her mate was this tightly coiled; but there was no harm in at least trying, right?

Humphrey had just finished explaining in a less than steady voice, the things that he would miss the most about being an omega, and Kate only answered him with a curt nod, one that showed interest in his words, but also betrayed a wandering mind. Humphrey was no stranger to absent-mindedness on the behalf of those that he spoke to, having learned early in life that alphas didn't generally care about what omegas had to say; but was able to detect no sense of apathy from his mate. Instead, she seemed more so to be lost deep in the recessions of her thoughts; but what exactly it was that she had on her mind had eluded him, further adding to his initial befuddlement.

"Kate?" he asked her inquiringly.

The amber she-wolf returned from the void in her mind and allowed her eyes to once again focus on her mate.

"Yes?" she answered him.

Humphrey shifted his paws and lowered his eyes.

"If I'm... getting on your nerves, all you have to do is tell me and I'll shut my mouth," he said to her slowly.

These words crushed Kate and she immediately let her tail and ears fall limp.

"No, Humphrey," she pleaded to him, "don't think like that."

She turned her body so that she stood in front of him and she looked deep into his eyes.

"You know that I love you and that there is not a thing in this world that could drive us apart."

The sincerity in her tone was almost surreal, and it was because of this that Humphrey was able to brighten up a bit. He would need that knowledge to help him fight his way through the hell to which he was certain he was being sent and he let an unpretentious grin steal upon his lips. Kate noticed the smile and mirrored it with one of her own, allowing her ears and tail to return to their natural positions on the top of her head and end of her spine. It wasn't long, however, before Humphrey's smile slowly retreated from his features, being replaced once again by a troubled scowl.

Kate's face slowly deepened with his and she sighed. It was now or never if she was going to cheer him up before he had to leave; so, pausing briefly to collect herself, Kate arched an eyebrow and let a mischievous smile crawl across her lips. Humphrey took heed of this and he gave her a look which betrayed confusion. Kate saw this and she let her smile broaden, looking off to her left. Humphrey was still in the throes of confusion and henceforth his look of bewilderment became even more predominant upon his face. Kate only chuckled.

"Oh come on, Humphrey," she began in a tempting tone, "I know you can't possibly look at that hill over there and not be tempted to find yourself a hallowed log."

Kate stepped closer to him, composing herself in a manner that over exaggerated her general excitement.

"What do you say we get a few last runs in with a log sled before you go?" she asked him, nudging his shoulder playfully.

Humphrey considered as he rocked back into place. It did sound like a fantastic idea, but he just wasn't sure if he felt up to it. After all, strenuous activity and sporadic motion can be hell when one's stomach is balled up into knots. He sighed.

"I- I just don't know if I can," he answered her flatly, letting his eyes fall to his paws.

Kate's face fell into one that was empathetic and she laid a gentle paw on his shoulder, causing Humphrey to lift his eyes slowly.

"Come on Humphie," she said in a soft tone, letting her amber eyes take the fashion of a begging pup's, "for me?"

Humphrey sighed in exasperation. He just couldn't say no to Kate whenever she used this tactic and he knew that she was well aware of this, but even with this knowledge, he still found it impossible to resist her. He loved her too damn much to tell her no, plain and simple and because of this, he caved, letting his eyes drop again.

"Okay," he finally answered her, lifting his eyes back to hers.

Kate smiled and nuzzled the side of his neck quickly.

"Oh come now," she said to him, catching onto his indecisiveness, "it'll be fun. Just you and me. One more day of play."

Humphrey smiled softly.

"That sounds like a good plan to me," he said to her in subtle agreement.

Kate smiled.

"Well then, what are we waiting for?" she asked him excitedly, "Let's go."

Humphrey nodded and began to walk off to his right, toward the hill that Kate had pointed out and his mate followed, falling in at his left shoulder. Once again silence encased the pair as they made their way toward the hill, scoping through the forest for any kind of log that they could use for their endeavors. Kate knew that, despite her efforts, Humphrey was still laced with doubts and uncertainty, and that if she allowed this to continue to build inside of him, the stress just might kill him. She had to keep him talking; she had to keep him calm.

"So Humphrey..." Kate began slowly, searching her mind for anything, any topic of discussion that would avert his attention from reality for a moment.

Humphrey moved his eyes slowly over to her, but much like Kate had done, he let his mind remain in the depths of his imagination. Kate noticed this, but she took no heed; instead she only continued as though she hadn't seen it.

"You never did tell me how you can tell whether or not a log is in prime condition for log sledding," she inquired, hoping to appeal to his personal interests.

Humphrey looked over to her and then around the forest like he was continuing the search without even bothering to answer the question.

"Well Kate," Humphrey began slowly, catching something in his peripherals that called to his attention.

He then turned and began to make his way over to the object in mind and Kate followed him, sighing for she had inferred that he was trying to stall, or at least this information was derived from her assumptions anyway. At last Humphrey arrived at the foot of the object that he had seen and paused, sweeping some grass aside with his paw to reveal half of a log. Kate saw this and smiled, thinking that they could forget about the whole business pertaining to the condition of the logs and get on with the fun, but she was deterred when Humphrey spoke.

"This here is a perfect example," he began, making a sweeping motion over the entirety of their visual field of the log with his paw.

He then moved to the center of the left side.

"You see this right here?" he asked, pointing down at the inside "rail."

Kate moved to the other side from which he stood and leaned her head in close to his side and squinted her eyes, searching for what Humphrey was pointing out; but she couldn't see it.

"See what?" she asked confused, drawing her head back so that she may look Humphrey in the face.

Humphrey pointed again and began to pull on his side, causing a rather long, but very thin, fracture to appear along almost the entire length of the sled, said fracture twisting every which way until it ended down in the bottom of the back end of the log. Kate was amazed, for she couldn't comprehend how he had even seen that in the first place, and she looked up to him, her shock evident on her features. Humphrey noticed this and he smiled.

"See, if we had missed this crack, this log would have broken to bits just as soon as we got up to a decent speed," he explained to her, "and if that happens broken bones are the least of your concerns; so it always pays to keep an eye out for even the slightest detail when it comes to choosing your sled."

Kate had listened to him speak his lecture and she looked up to him in amazement.

"But what I don't understand is how you even saw that in the first place," she said to him in a slightly raised tone, "I mean, even after you pointed it out to me I couldn't see it."

Humphrey chuckled.

"Trained eyes baby-doll," he mocked to her, flashing her one of those renowned, lopsided grins of his that she loved so much as he rounded the log and came to a stop at her side, "which I'll help you get as well so that if you ever get bored or need to relieve some stress you can come out here and do this by yourself without getting yourself killed."

He finished this off by giving her a playful bump with his shoulder, causing her to shunt to the right a brief distance.

"Gee thanks," Kate laughed in mock sarcasm and used her momentum as she rocked back to knock him sideways with her hips, causing his body to swing off of its point of proper equilibrium.

He laughed as he slid back into position and this in turn caused Kate to smile.

Yes! It was working! Humphrey was finally starting to forget about having to leave! Kate kept these thoughts to herself, though, because she didn't want to tarnish the moment of happiness that they had now placed themselves in, and she turned her head back down to the log.

"Alright, so this one is no good," she inquired, moving back toward the topic of log sledding, "are there any others?"

She turned her head back to her side and every which direction behind her as she spoke, searching for another log. Humphrey fell into scoping out the vicinity as well, squinting his eyes against the glare of the ascending sun and flattening his ears against his skull. Kate let her eyes narrow against the lustrous light as well as she continued to scan the surroundings, but she could see nothing aside from the hills and the grass.

"I don't see any here Humphrey," she said finally, catching his attention.

Humphrey straightened his ears and looked over to her.

"Yeah me neither," he answered, "let's keep looking."

Kate nodded in agreement and together the pair circumnavigated the log and continued through the forest, searching every nook and cranny for a useable sled. Kate was next to spot a log and when she did, she promptly requested Humphrey's attention.

"Humphrey," she called, nudging him.

Humphrey stopped and turned to her.

"Yes?" he asked.

Kate smiled.

"I think I found one," she informed, altering her direction to the right and fixing her eyes in the near distance.

Humphrey turned and followed her gaze until he was looking at what she had seen and he immediately stopped Kate after she had only taken a few steps.

"This one's no good either," he informed, evoking a displeased "humph" from Kate.

She turned herself around and looked to him questioningly.

"Can't ride on a rotten log, silly," he told her in response to her silent accusation.

Kate smiled in embarrassment, though her patience was beginning to wear a little thin, for being wrong twice in one day was not something that she was used to. However, she kept her attitude positive because she had grown up enough to know that something like that was not worth letting herself get worked up over, and besides all of that, Humphrey was the wolf she had chosen as her mate and she was not going to do anything to compromise that; so her annoyance she buried and moved her eyes beyond Humphrey.

And it was then that she saw it.

Up on the crest of the next hill, tilted over onto its left side, was the tail end of a log sled, this being the only visible piece for the rest of it lay just over the horizon of the elevated earth. She studied it quizzically. It looked alright, but she would need an "expert's opinion" so they say, in order to confirm that this log would be suitable for use. However, Humphrey caught her gaze and once again he followed it up the hill to the log and when he saw it he smiled.

"This one actually doesn't look too bad," he informed excitedly, "come on Kate, let's go check it out."

Kate smiled and nodded and Humphrey began to walk up to it with Kate following close behind, and it was noticed by Kate that Humphrey even had a bit of a skip in his stride. This made Kate smile and she followed him, arriving at his side just as they arrived at the foot of the hill and began their ascent, arriving at the top only a few seconds later. Humphrey and Kate ran their eyes over the log and Kate could tell that with each passing second that Humphrey studied the log, his excitement would grow. He rounded the log twice, keeping his eyes scanning intently over its entire vicinity and finally, when he reached the section near where the back end jutted out over the hill, he stopped and looked up to Kate with a broad smile on his face.

"Yes, I do thin-"

His smile suddenly melted and a pained look overcame his features which in turn caused Kate's face to fall as well.

"Humphrey?" she asked in a concerned tone, "what's the matter?"

Humphrey sighed and only continued to stare out at the land before him, letting the sadness shine pallidly out of his eyes. Humphrey remembered that mountain. He remembered that makeshift ramp down at the bottom, and as he continued to stare, his sadness only grew until he could feel tears stinging his eyes.

Kate did not understand. They were having such a good time, and then just like that, the moment died, much like it had never existed in the first place. What could possibly have happened to cause such a peculiar occurrence? Humphrey's eyes remained fixed on the land before him and the longer he stared, the more evident his sadness became. Kate inferred that she could maybe better understand her mate's pain if she were to turn and look at whatever it was that he saw, so she turned her body around slowly and ran her eyes out over the land beneath them.

It was then that it hit her, the cruel and extirpating irony of the given situation, for she knew what it was that they were looking at. It was the same hill that she and Humphrey had said their final goodbyes on this day a short year ago. Kate sighed sadly and let her ears and tail fall limp as her joy was quickly jettisoned from her body and replaced promptly by the same moroseness that had enveloped Humphrey, for such an irony was simply too much for her to take.

This time it would be her watching him leave and it would be her worrying about him. She silently cursed and strained to keep the tears from her eyes, but the damage had already been done. She knew that now there was no way to reinstate happiness between them, even if they were to turn around and leave, for they were far too devastated emotionally. Kate blamed herself, for she should have known better. She should have known that this was a bad idea to begin with.

The pair did not know how long it was that they were standing atop the hill before they sensed another presence amongst them. They turned their heads to see Winston arrive wordlessly between them. Tears began to flow from Kate's eyes and Humphrey felt his heart sink right out of his chest.

It was time to go already? But they had hardly had the chance to say goodbye to each other! Winston swiveled his head slowly between them, locking his gaze with Humphrey's for a brief moment, wordlessly telling him what he needed to do. Humphrey only nodded with a slow sigh then moved to Kate's front and paused a short distance before her. For an eternal moment, the two simply stared at one another, unsure about what they should say, if anything at all; and what they should do. And despite all of this, Kate did what she was certain to do. Silently, she stepped forward and embraced Humphrey in a deep hug, nuzzling her face deep into the fur on his right shoulder. For a moment, Humphrey remained motionless, but after a span of a few seconds, he returned it, slowly draping his own paws about his mate and pulling her in close. He breathed in her scent, taking in the rich, sweet smell and closed his eyes. Kate sniffled and finally pulled herself away, looking Humphrey in the eyes.

"Be careful," she stated evenly to him, letting a faint smile creep onto her face.

Humphrey licked the side of her muzzle and pulled her in for another hug.

"Always," he whispered into her ear.

Humphrey felt a paw land gently on his shoulder and he pulled away, turning back to see Winston standing behind him.

"We must be going," he said to Humphrey gently.

Humphrey nodded and pulled Kate in close to him one final time.

"I love you," he whispered.

Kate pulled him in tight and returned her words of love and the two separated. Humphrey looked her over for a brief moment then turned wordlessly away from her, for he knew that if he said one more word he would never leave. Winston turned with him, but stopped when he felt a paw land on his shoulder. He pivoted his body back around and gazed upon his daughter with empathy, for he knew how hard this must have been for the two of them.

"You take care of him now, y-a hear?" he heard Kate say, seeing the tears beginning to well up in the bottoms of her eyes.

Winston smiled to his daughter and licked the tears from her cheeks.

"Don't worry about one thing honey," he condoled to her, "I promise that I won't let anything happen to him."

With this said, he gave her an assuring smile and turned away, joining Humphrey down at the bottom of the hill. Though Kate could not make out what they had said, the two engaged in brief conversation as they turned and Kate watched from atop the hill as they slowly disappeared from her sight.