Partners in Crime by EmperorStarscream

Partners in Crime

EmperorStarscream, Alpha, Canine, Clean, Feral, Kate, Lilly, Lion, No-Yiff, Read this now, Romance, Wolf, alpha and omega, garth, humphrey, omega

An alternate ending to the movie where Kate and Garth did get married and Humphrey and Lilly both leave the park out of grief. Full Story.

Chapter 1

A/N: Hello everyone, this is my first Alpha and Omega fanfic. This story is an alternate ending where Kate had married Garth. So this is what I think might have happened if she had. Hope you all like it.

Humphrey was panting after running all the way back into Jasper from the train as he looked down into the valley at wedding ceremony. He had gotten there just in time to see Kate and Garth's noses touch. The sight tore him up inside, even more than he thought it would. Humphrey closed his eyes as he looked away.

"I don't know why I even came back," he mumbled with a bitterness that was so unlike him as he turned back around and started walking back towards the train tracks.

Down in the valley, Lilly sat beside her father. Everyone was looking at Kate and Garth, so nobody noticed how miserable she was. A tear fell down Lilly's face as she watched Garth's and her sister's noses touch, but it was not a tear of happiness. She closed her eyes, unable to watch anymore.

After what seemed like hours of suspense, (although it was actually a few minutes) Kate sucked it up and reluctantly connected noses with Garth. They opened their eyes as they heard the crowd of wolves around them began to cheer and applaud, celebrating the now official union of the packs. Unknown to anyone else around them, they both felt horrible on the inside. They were now married, to someone they weren't in love with, and when they both had feelings for someone else.

Later that afternoon, while everyone else was out celebrating the union, Lilly was back in her family's den, crying. She felt as though Garth had stolen her heart, and then stomped on it.

Ever since the ceremony, she had actually found herself really considering running away. She didn't want to stay in Jasper anymore; not when she was in love with Garth, but knew she could never be with him.

It didn't take her long to make up her mind. She was leaving. She got up and walked out of the den and, making sure no one would see her and try to stop her or tell her parents, she started running away from the only home she'd ever known.

Humphrey was walking along the railroad tracks away from Jasper Park. He had missed the train. It was no biggie. He would simply catch the next one going his way.

Here he was, on his own. Humphrey, the lone wolf. He would have thought it had a nice ring to it if he wasn't feeling so miserable. Kate, the only girl he had ever loved, was married to somebody else. It wasn't fair. For the first time in his life he felt true loathing. Loathing for the pack social structure and rules. They were stupid. They were just plain stupid.

Suddenly he heard a shout behind him. "Humphrey?"

He stopped walking and looked behind him. To his surprise, it was Lilly, Kate's sister.

"Lilly?" he said, turning around as she ran up to him. "What are you doing here?"

"Same as you, I guess," she said as she came to a stop in front of him. Her expression was sullen. "I'm leaving Jasper Park."

"What? Why?" he asked, confused and concerned. He couldn't imagine why Lilly would want to leave.

"I have my reasons," she said. Humphrey could detect a hint of sadness and anger in her voice. "Hey, want to travel together?"

"Are you sure you want to do this, Lilly," he asked. "It's gonna be rough out there."

"Hey, if you can do it, so can I."

Humphrey thought for a moment. He had no idea what could have happened that would make Lilly want to leave Jasper Park, but what ever it was, she was obviously really upset about it. And besides, who was he to stop her from leaving if she wanted to. Plus, it might be nice to have a traveling companion. "Alright, lets go," he said.

"Where you heading?" asked Lilly.

"Anywhere but here," said Humphrey.

"Sounds good."

They turned and continued walking along the railroad tracks together.

'So much for lone wolf,' thought Humphrey to himself.

Chapter 2

"So why did you decide to leave?" asked Lilly after they had been walking for a few minutes.

"Because... I just wanted to do some traveling," said Humphrey. He didn't feel like telling her about his feelings for her sister.

"Then why do you seem so unhappy," she asked.

"Who, me? I'm not unhappy. I'm... I'm great," said Humphrey.

"You don't look very happy," said Lilly.

"Look, would you knock it off?" said Humphrey, becoming annoyed. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Okay," said Lilly.

They didn't say much else after that. Night fell as they continued walking for the next few hours, until they heard the sound of an approaching train off in the distance.

"Sounds like our rides coming," said Humphrey.

In a few moments they saw the train approaching. They backed away from the tracks and got ready to jump onboard.

"Now!" said Humphrey as the train came roaring past them. They ran and jumped into an open car, both landing clumsily, but safely, on the wooden floor.

"Well, it looks like we're on our way," said Humphrey.

"Yep," said Lilly in agreement.

The train wound through the night. Lilly lay on the floor with her head on her paws while Humphrey sat by the open door of the car, staring outside into the night. The moon was rising into the sky. Lilly knew back in Jasper everyone was probably heading to the moonlight howl right about now. Garth and her sister were probably howling at the moon together in a duet. She forced those thoughts out of her head. She didn't want to think about it. But it was too late. She could already feel tears welling up in her eyes.

Humphrey suddenly heard quiet sobs coming from Lilly. He looked over at her. He couldn't believe it. She was crying.

"Lilly, are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said as she wiped her tears with her paw. Of course, Humphrey didn't believe her. He still couldn't believe that sweet, innocent Lilly would want to leave Jasper Park like this. Concerned, he walked over and sat down next to her.

"Lilly, I'll make you a deal," he said. "If you tell me the real reason you're leaving Jasper, then I'll tell you why I am. Deal?"

She hesitated a moment before she nodded her head. "Okay," she said. She sat up and took a deep breath. "I left because... I'm in love with Garth."

"Garth?" exclaimed Humphrey in surprise.

"While you and Kate were gone, him and I spent some time together and... it just happened," said Lilly. "But I can't be with him because he's an alpha, and I'm..."

"An omega," Humphrey finished for her, feeling really sorry for her.

"So I just felt I had to get away for a while," Lilly continued. "And I don't know when or if I'm going back."

"I know how you feel," said Humphrey, sympathizing with her. "I'm in love with Kate."

Lilly looked at him in surprise. He and her sister had always been really good friends, but she didn't know Humphrey had these kind of feelings for her.

"That's the reason I left," he said as he looked away with a look of deep sadness on his face, and stared back out the open side door. He didn't say anything else. He didn't have to. Lilly understood perfectly. They had both ran away for the same reason. They were heartbroken. They were both in love with someone who they couldn't have and was with someone else.

"The law that alphas and omegas can't be together sucks," said Lilly.

Humphrey nodded. "Arranged marriages suck too," he said.

"Life sucks," said Lilly as she leaned her head against Humphrey's shoulder and began to cry some more. Humphrey put his right paw around her and let her.

Meanwhile, back in the park, Eve and Winston had interrupted the moonlight howl to find out the whereabouts of their youngest daughter.

"Where is Lilly?" demanded Eve. She hadn't seen her white furred daughter since the wedding and was now seriously worried. "Has anybody seen her?"

"Um," said a female voice. It was Reba, one of the two vegetarians. "Janice and I saw Lilly earlier today after the wedding. She was running towards the railroad tracks."

'Oh no,' thought Garth as he stood next to Kate.

Eve was getting angry now. "AND YOU DIDN'T STOP HER?" she yelled at the vegetarians.

"We didn't know we were supposed to," said Janice as they cowered in fear of the alpha.

"Everybody search for her," shouted Winston. "I want my daughter found."

As everybody began splitting up into search parties, Garth felt horrible. Something that doesn't go unnoticed by Kate as she glimpses a pained expression on her new mate's face out of the corner of her eye.

Chapter 3

Humphrey was the first to wake up the next morning. He yawned and squinted his eyes at the morning sunlight shining in through the door.

He looked over at Lilly. She was still asleep. He couldn't help but think that she looked really cute, like Kate, when she was sleeping.

He got up and stretched, then he went over to the open side door and looked out. Forests and mountains as far as the eye could see. He knew they were far away from Jasper by now.

Lilly woke up a few minutes later.

"Morning, Lilly," said Humphrey.

"Morning, Humphrey," said Lilly as she yawned and stretched. Then she walked over and sat beside him and looked out the open door. "Any idea where we are?"

"Somewhere south," said Humphrey. "Were probably getting close to the United States."

"America," said Lilly thoughtfully. "You were down there before. What's it like?"

"Pretty much like it is up here," said Humphrey. "Only, a little more dangerous."

At about noon, the train was beginning to slow down as it was approaching a station at a small town.

"Looks like this is our stop," said Humphrey.

He and Lilly jumped out of the car before the train reached the station, and quickly darted into the woods. Once within the cover of trees, they began looking for something to eat, as they were both hungry.

"I've never hunted before," said Lilly.

"Me neither, but it shouldn't be too hard," said Humphrey. "Besides, we don't need to bring down anything really big like a caribou. We can just stick to small game."

It wasn't long before they spotted a pair of squirrels collecting acorns in their mouths. It wasn't much, but at least it was something. Humphrey and Lilly recalled their basic knowledge of hunting and what the alphas did. They quietly sneaked around the squirrels, staying out of sight of them. The squirrels didn't suspect a thing.

When they were ready, the two wolves pounced. The two squirrels looked up when they heard the wolves about to come down on them and squealed in terror. Unfortunately, Humphrey and Lilly had both jumped a little too high and they collided headfirst into each other. The two omegas landed on top of each other next to the stunned squirrels, which quickly darted up into the nearest tree.

"Ow, my head," groaned Humphrey as he lay on his back. Then he realized Lilly was on top of him. They both opened their eyes and found the others staring back at them, their noses touching. Embarrassed, Lilly got off of Humphrey and he got up, both of them blushing a little under their fur.

Their minds didn't stay on that awkward moment for long as they both heard laughing from up in the tree. They looked up and saw the two squirrels they had been about to kill laughing and pointing at them from the safety of a high up branch.

"Come on," said Humphrey to Lilly optimistically as he noticed a discouraged look appear on her face. "We'll just try again."

"We've followed her tracks and scent to here," said Hutch as he led Winston, Eve, Tony, Kate, and Garth to the railroad tracks. "We've also found that this is where Humphrey's trail ends as well. We think they probably jumped onto a train together."

Eve snarled. "If that boy has done anything to her, I'll rip his heart out of his chest, shove it down his throat, and watch him choke to death on it."

They all stared at Eve wide-eyed.

"Mom," said Kate. "Humphrey wouldn't do anything to Lilly. You said it yourself, he's a nice guy."

"Well, I just don't understand why my daughter would just leave like this," said Eve. "She never showed any indication that she was unhappy."

"I don't know, dear," said Winston. "But I'm sure wherever she is, she's okay."

"We could ask Marcel and Paddy for help," suggested Kate. "They're a goose and a duck who helped Humphrey and me get home. I'm sure they're still around here somewhere."

"A goose and a duck?" said Tony as he raised an eyebrow.

A little while later, they found the two golf playing waterfowl doing... what ells... playing golf.

"So you say your sister left with your friend on a train and you want us to find them for you?" said Marcel.

"Please," said Kate. "You two can fly."

"But that is impossible. Humphrey got on a train hours before you say your sister left," said Marcel.

"Unless he missed that train," said Paddy, "in which case he would have had to wait for another one."

"That's true," said Marcel.

"Will you help us?" asked Kate.

"Of course we'll help you," said Paddy.

"Thank you," said Kate. "And could you also tell Humphrey that I miss him and I wish he would come home too."

"Right," said Marcel with a smile. The two waterfowl took off to go in search of Lilly and Humphrey.

When they were gone and Kate and Garth were alone, Kate turned to Garth and said with a suspicious tone, "You've been awfully quiet, lately."

Garth sighed. "Kate, there's something I need to confess."

Chapter 4

"The only reason I married you was because I had to to unite the packs," said Garth. "I was never really in love with you. No offense. The truth is, while you were gone, I fell in love with your sister."

"Lilly?" said Kate, surprised. 'Was that why she was acting so strangely before the wedding?' she suddenly realized.

"And," continued Garth, "I think that's why she ran away. She looked pretty hurt the last time I saw her."

Kate could hardly believe it. "Garth, I didn't want to marry you either," she said.

"You didn't?" asked Garth.

"No. I was in love with someone else, too."

"You were? Who?"

"Humphrey," Kate confessed.

"Humphrey?" said Garth, shocked. "You mean the coyote? Why?"

She shot him a look. "Well, because he's cute, and funny, and... sweet."

"Oh. Well, who am I to judge," said Garth with a slight shrug.

"Well, this is just perfect," growled Kate, frustrated and wishing she had spoken up during the ceremony, like she had wanted to. "We're married and we're both in love with someone else."

"So what do we do now?" asked Garth. They both knew that when they had rubbed noses, they became mates for life. And by law, that's exactly what it meant. There was nothing that they could do now. They were mates, and they would be mates until one of them died.

"I don't know," responded Kate as she rested her head against Garth's shoulder, closing her eyes and gritting her teeth in frustration. Garth let her. He knew exactly how she felt. They both knew they were bound by the law and their responsibilities, but that still didn't stop them from thinking, trying to come up with some way, any way, that they could fix this and be with the one that they truly loved.

Humphrey and Lilly had continued to travel through the forest for the rest of the day. Night had fallen and the two were still hungry.

They walked through the woods until they emerged from the trees at the top of a hill. Down below them was a wire fence containing a herd of sheep. Further away, on the other side of the fenced area was a farm.

"In the mood for lamb chops?" asked Humphrey. He was so hungry he was willing to risk going onto that farmland.

"What if the farmer spots us?" Lilly asked nervously.

"I don't see anyone around. He's probably inside the house eating dinner or something. We can do this."

Humphrey and Lilly quietly ran down to the fence. The sheep were still completely unaware of their presence.

"Here's the plan," whispered Humphrey as they crouched low behind the fence. "We have to separate an old weak one from the rest of the group, and then I'll go for the throat. Piece of cake."

"Okay," whispered Lilly, looking around at the sheep. "How about that one over there," she said, pointing at an old ewe that seemed to be walking with a slight limp.

"Perfect," said Humphrey. "Ready?"

"Ready."

"Now!"

They sprang and leaped over the fence. The sheep began panicking and running away, bleating loudly. Humphrey and Lilly proceeded to separate the old one from the rest of the herd. Together they drove the old sheep into a corner. Then they both leaped in and Humphrey got a hold of the sheep's neck in his jaws while Lilly bit down on its left hind leg, bringing it to the ground. The sheep thrashed but it was no match for two wolves, even omegas. Humphrey bit down as hard as he could, sinking his fangs into the sheep's throat. The sheep soon became silent and lay motionless on the ground.

Humphrey and Lilly felt such a thrill at this accomplishment.

"Awesome," said Humphrey. "Our first kill. Two points for omegas. High-five," he said as he lifted up his right paw.

Lilly high-fived him and the two started tearing open the carcass.

Suddenly they heard noises coming from the house. First dogs barking, and then a door opening. Looking over, they saw a middle aged man holding a shotgun and two dogs running towards them.

"Uh-oh," they both said in unison.

"Lets go!" said Lilly. She turned and started running away. Humphrey looked at the carcass. It seemed a shame to waist such a perfect kill.

"Humphrey, come on," said Lilly from the other side of the fence.

Humphrey quickly tore off as big a hunk of meat as he could carry in his jaws from the dead sheep and then hurried after Lilly.

They jumped as they heard a gunshot behind them. Fortunately neither of them got hit. Humphrey didn't know if the farmer had been trying to hit them or had just fired his gun to scare them off. Either way, he and Lilly were out of there.

As they ran back into the forest, they heard one of the dogs shout, "YEAH, YOU AND YOUR GIRLFRIEND BETTER RUN. AND DON'T COME BACK!"

'What? She's not my girlfriend,' thought Humphrey as they kept running.

They ran until they were deep in the forest. Humphrey lay down the hunk of meat he had been carrying. "Woo, that was close," he said.

"I don't want to do that again," said Lilly.

"At least we have dinner," said Humphrey.

The two wolves bit into the meat and proceeded to eat.

"You know, I think the meat tastes better when you kill it yourself," said Humphrey.

"Mm hmm," agreed Lilly, red blood coating the white fur around her mouth. Humphrey also had blood around his mouth, but it just stood out more on Lilly's white fur.

When they were finished with their meal and their hunger was sated, they went to find someplace to stay for the night. After a while of searching they found a small cave and lay down inside it.

"Well, all in all, I'd say this was a pretty exciting first day, don't you think?" said Humphrey as they cleaned the blood from their muzzles with their tongues.

"Yeah," said Lilly. "Lets just stay away from farms from now on, okay."

Humphrey nodded. "Got it."

Suddenly Lilly yawned and then said, "I'm exhausted."

"Me to," said Humphrey. "We should get some sleep."

"Goodnight."

Chapter 5

Humphrey was back in Jasper Park. In front of him was Kate, looking away from him.

"Kate," said Humphrey.

Kate turned and glared at him. "What are you even still doing here, Humphrey. No body wants you here, especially me. So why don't you just go?"

"But Kate... I..."

"I'm perfectly happy with Garth. He's a real wolf. You're just pathetic."

"You tell him, babe," said Garth as he suddenly appeared next to Kate. He leaned into her and shoved his tongue down her throat. Kate moaned in approval.

Humphrey could only watch, the pain in his heart practically physical.

Suddenly Kate and Garth transformed into the image of a giant, feline head made of flames. It roared an earsplitting roar...

Humphrey suddenly bolted awake. He panted heavily as he looked around him. He was back in the cave. Beside him was Lilly, still fast asleep. It had all just been a dream.

"What the heck was that?" he said to himself.

He looked out of the cave. It was early morning; the sun wasn't even up yet. He lay back down and tried to go back to sleep. A little while later, after getting a bit more sleep, he woke up again. He could see morning light shining into the cave entrance. He got up and stretched. He looked over at Lilly. She was still sleeping soundly. Not wanting to disturb her, he walked outside and went to a nearby stream to get a drink.

Lilly woke up and didn't see Humphrey. She walked out of the cave and found him approaching it.

"Oh, good morning, Lilly," he said.

"Good morning, Humphrey," said Lilly. "Sleep well?"

"Yeah, fine," he said, not wanting to tell her about the nightmare he had had. "How about you?"

"Pretty good," she said.

"So what do you want to do today?" he asked. "Keep traveling? Just have some fun? Both?"

"Lets keep going and see what we find," she answered.

"Both it is," said Humphrey.

After Lilly got a drink of water, they both set off again southward. As they walked they told jokes and played verbal games to pass the time.

"Here's one," said Humphrey. "A frog went to a psychic and asked what his future holds. The psychic tells him, "You are going to meet a beautiful young girl who will want to know everything about you." The frog is thrilled, "This is great!" he says, "Will I meet her at a party?" "No," says the psychic, "in her biology class."

Lilly laughed. "That's a good one," she said. "Hey, want to play twenty questions?"

"Sure."

"I'm thinking of an animal."

"A turtle," said Humphrey.

Lilly was surprised. "How'd you know?" she asked.

"Lucky guess," said Humphrey, knowing how much she liked turtles.

"Okay," she said. "I've got another one for you. I'm thinking of... something."

"Is it alive?"

"Yes."

"Is it a mammal?"

"No."

"Reptile?"

"No."

"Bird?"

"No."

"Fish?"

"No."

"Bug?"

"Yes."

"Um... can it fly?"

"Yes."

"Is it a bee?"

"No."

"Is it a mosquito?"

"No."

"Is it a butterfly?"

Lilly smiled. "Yes."

"Okay, I've got one," said Humphrey as he began a new game. He was glad Lilly finally seemed to be cheering up. He was feeling better himself, even though that dream he had had that morning had been a little unnerving. This road trip seemed to be just what they needed. Yes, that's what it was. A road trip. He enjoyed hanging out with Lilly. He wondered why he had never hung out with her before. She was fun and friendly and... beautiful. He had never really noticed before, but Lilly was actually pretty hot.

They continued playing while they walked until they came to a house by a dirt road. They spotted a couple of garbage cans by the side of the house.

Not seeing anyone around, Humphrey said, "Come on, lets go see if we can find some breakfast."

They walked up to the trashcans and managed to get the lids off with their claws. They found half a pepperoni pizza inside one of them.

"Who throws out half a pizza?" said Humphrey.

"Who cares? It looks tasty," said Lilly. They both grabbed a slice of the pizza in their mouths and started eating.

After eating two slices, Humphrey suddenly heard a noise coming from an open window nearby and, curious, walked over and peeked inside. A teenage human boy was sitting on a couch in his pajamas eating a bowl of cereal. He was staring at a large black box with sound and moving pictures on it. Humphrey was intrigued. The human was mostly turned away from the window, so Humphrey decided to stay and watch.

"What'cha looking at?" asked Lilly.

"Shhh," Humphrey hushed her as he pointed to the human inside.

"Oh," she whispered. She looked at the black box with Humphrey and was also fascinated by it.

The words 'Doctor Who' appeared in big bold letters on the screen. The next thing Humphrey and Lilly knew, they were watching the antics of a strange man called the Doctor who traveled around in a little blue box with some woman as they traveled around time and space, fighting monsters and weird, saltshaker shaped things that shouted, "EXTERMINATE!" a lot.

"Whoa," whispered Humphrey. "I don't know what this is, but I like it."

"It's weird, but exciting at the same time," whispered Lilly.

When it was over, the boy got up from the couch. Humphrey and Lilly ducked to avoid being seen.

"I think we should go," said Lilly.

"Yeah," agreed Humphrey. They left the house and went back into the woods, but not before grabbing the last few slices of pizza.

Chapter 6

Later that evening, Humphrey and Lilly came across a drive in theater.

"Hey, a theater," said Humphrey. After having experienced the wonder of human video media earlier that day, they were both interested. "Want to catch a movie?" he asked Lilly.

"Sure," said Lilly. "But won't we be seen?"

"Don't worry," said Humphrey. "We'll just hide underneath one of the cars. The humans will probably be too distracted by the movie to notice us."

They snuck into the compound and found a list of the movies that were playing.

"What do you want to see?" Humphrey asked Lilly.

"Um, The Sorcerer's Apprentice sounds like it might be good," she said, intrigued by the title.

"Sounds good to me," said Humphrey.

They snuck in amongst the parked cars in front of the enormous screen and crawled underneath one that was close in the front. Luckily, the previews were still playing, so they were actually right on time for the movie. They lay on their bellies beside each other and watched as the movie began.

The movie was about a guy named Dave who met this old guy who tells him he's a sorcerer. So throughout the movie, Dave is struggling to balance his studies to become a sorcerer, and his social life.

At one point Humphrey got up and left to go to the bathroom. When he came back, he was carrying a small red and white paper bag with little yellow puffy things in it. "Hey, I found this," he said as he crawled back under the car.

"What is it?" asked Lilly.

"Its called popcorn. Its some sort of snack." He took some out with his paw and popped them in his mouth. "Mmmm. They're actually pretty tasty," he said with his mouth full. "Want some?"

"Sure," said Lilly, taking a paw full of popcorn herself and tossing them in her mouth. They were crunchy, but sweet and buttery. She reached into the bag for some more.

The movie came to a romantic part. While Humphrey and Lilly were watching the movie, they both reached into the bag of popcorn at the same time and their paws met. Humphrey and Lilly looked at the bag and then at each other, and they quickly pulled their paws out of the bag, chuckling awkwardly. There cheeks went red under their fur.

They had eaten all their popcorn by the time the movie ended. As the credits began rolling, Humphrey and Lilly began hearing cars starting.

"Come on," said Humphrey. "We better get out of here before the cars start leaving.

They crawled out from under the car and started to quickly sneak out of there. They got about halfway off the lot before they heard someone suddenly shout, "Look! Wolves!"

A man was pointing at them out of his car window. Humphrey and Lilly gave up sneaking then and broke into a run. Other people began shouting and pointing at them, some out of fear, but most out of interest. Humphrey and Lilly didn't look back as they ran back into the cover of darkness.

As soon as Humphrey and Lilly were far enough away from anything human, they stopped and rested on a small ledge of a hillside to catch their breath. They both began laughing.

"Whoa, what a rush, huh," said Humphrey.

"Yeah," said Lilly.

"We're like partners in crime," said Humphrey. "Sneaking around, having fun, steeling food from pesky humans to give to the poor, which would be us."

Lilly laughed at that one.

Suddenly a cool silvery light lit up the area. The moon had come out from behind the clouds. It was so big and full and beautiful. Humphrey couldn't help himself. He stood up and walked over to the edge of the cliff, tilted his head back, and began to howl.

"Humphrey?" said Lilly as she walked up next to him. "What are you doing?"

Humphrey stopped howling. "Oh, its just... the moon, where we are... Oh, come on, Lilly. Howl at the moon with me." He began to howl again, his strong and beautiful howl filling the night.

Lilly was surprised. She hadn't expected Humphrey to start howling, or that he would be this good!

'Wow, his howl is so beautiful!' she thought, totally enthralled by the sound. She couldn't resist. She tilted her own head back and began to howl with him.

The two wolves howled together in unison, their howls mixing to form a single rich and beautiful song. They were in perfect harmony. The sound was so full of emotion, so full of passion; they closed their eyes and let the song immerse them.

When at last their song ended, they stayed quiet for a moment as they gazed at each other, looking into each other's eyes. A whole bunch of emotions were running through them right then. Their hearts were beating so rapidly.

Humphrey was the first to speak. "I, uh... I guess we should find someplace to sleep for the night."

"Yeah," said Lilly as they broke eye contact and then walked back away from the ledge they were on.

They found a small cave underneath a tree and went inside to sleep for the night. But neither of them went to sleep very quickly that night. As they lay in the cave facing away from each other, their minds were too preoccupied by a thought that wouldn't go away.

Humphrey realized he was starting to fall in love with Lilly. And on the other side of the cave, Lilly realized she was starting to fall in love with Humphrey.

Chapter 7

Humphrey woke up the next morning to find that he and Lilly had turned in their sleep and were now lying facing each other, nose to nose. As soon as his mind processed this, he quickly got to his feet and took a few steps back from her.

He looked down at her sleeping there. She looked so peaceful and adorable like that.

He turned and walked out of the cave. He stretched, feeling the warmth of the morning sun on his fur. He sat down in front of the cave and looked at the sunrise. The big yellow ball was just over top of the mountains in the distance, coloring the sky in beautiful shades of red, orange, and yellow.

'I can't fall in love with Lilly. I love Kate,' he thought to himself, but then he thought, 'but I can never be with Kate, and I really like Lilly. Should I forget about Kate and move on? I don't know if I can.'

Lilly blinked her eyes open as she woke up. She noticed Humphrey wasn't next to her. She got up, stretched her legs, and looked outside. There was Humphrey, looking at the morning sun. Lilly got a funny idea and quietly walked up behind him.

"Morning, Humphrey," she said, a little loudly.

Humphrey yelped and jumped a little in surprise and then turned around and saw her smiling at him.

He chuckled. "Hey, don't sneak up on me like that!"

"Sorry," she giggled. "So what are we gonna do today?"

"Well, what do you want to do today?" he asked.

"Well, I think we should keep going," she said.

"Sounds good to me."

They left the area and began heading southward once again. They soon found themselves trekking up into some mountains. At least, they thought they were mountains. The temperature was getting cooler and it looked like there was some snow higher up.

"Are these small mountains or really big hills?" asked Lilly.

"I don't know," said Humphrey. "At what point does a hill become a mountain?"

"That's a good question," she answered thoughtfully.

A few seconds later, Humphrey said, "Wanna race?"

"Okay," said Lilly.

They took off towards the top of the mountain, Humphrey a little bit ahead of Lilly. They laughed for no other reason other than they were having fun. Little did they know, they were being watched.

Suddenly, two male wolves jumped out from behind a rock in front of them. Humphrey and Lilly stopped dead in their tracks. The two new wolves growled at them. One was a gray wolf with a white under belly. The other was a red wolf with a white underbelly. Humphrey and Lilly heard more growling behind them and looked to find some more wolves walking up behind them. They had them surrounded.

The gray one in front of them spoke. "What's a couple of wolves like yourselves doing here?"

"Oh, we're not a couple," said Humphrey.

"No," said Lilly in agreement.

"Yeah, were just two friends on a road trip together..."

"Shut up!" yelled the wolf in annoyance. "You're trespassing in our territory."

"We're sorry," said Lilly. "We didn't know this was your territory. We didn't smell any territory marks."

"That's because the size of our territory is always changing," said the red wolf. "We don't have time to keep marking our borders."

"Look, fella's," said Humphrey. "Come on, there's no reason to make a big deal out of this. We'll just leave your territory and be out of your hair."

"Come with us," said the gray wolf, completely ignoring what Humphrey had said. "We'll take you to our leader. He'll decide what to do with you."

Humphrey and Lilly heard some of the other wolves chuckle. They didn't like the sound of it.

"Try to escape and you're dead," said the red wolf.

The wolves led a reluctant Humphrey and Lilly further up the mountain. They came to leveled out spot and saw a bunch of other wolves there. It was a creepy place. There were sharp gray rocks and boulders all over the place, animal bones littering the ground, and the other wolves in the pack didn't look very friendly either, except for a couple of pups they saw wrestling playfully with each other near their mother.

Humphrey and Lilly were escorted to a cave entrance in the side of a rockface on the mountain.

"Wait here," instructed the gray wolf before he walked inside the cave.

Humphrey and Lilly did as they were told, not that they had much choice with the other wolves surrounding them.

Half a minute later, the gray wolf returned. "The king will see you now," he said, gesturing for them to enter.

'King?' thought Lilly and Humphrey at the same time as they entered the cave. Inside they saw a creature they had never seen before. It was like a brown cougar except it was way bigger, and it had a dark mane on its head and neck. It was devouring the carcass of a bull moose while two female wolves sat behind him on either side of him, not really doing anything.

The red wolf suddenly yelled at Humphrey and Lilly, breaking them out of their staring. "Bow before his majesty, King Nuka."

'What the hell?' thought Humphrey.

A/N: In case you were wondering, no, this is not the same Nuka from TLK2, so this is not a crossover, however, this character is based off him.

Chapter 8

"Bow before his majesty, King Nuka," the red wolf yelled at Humphrey and Lilly.

Fearful for their lives, they did as they were told and lowered their heads to the ground.

The large feline stopped eating the dead moose and sat up and looked at Humphrey and Lilly, licking the blood off his face. "Well, what do we have here?" he said in a surprisingly irritating voice. "Who are you, and why were you trespassing in my territory?"

Humphrey spoke. "I-I'm Humphrey, and this is Lilly, and we didn't mean to come into your territory, sir. We didn't know."

"Oh, really," said Nuka. "How do I know you're not spies from one of our rival packs, or raiders sent to steel our food?"

"We're not spies or raiders," said Lilly.

"Yeah," said Humphrey. "We're just two omegas."

"Omegas?" said Nuka. "So you two are just playful peacekeepers?"

They nodded.

"I assume you're funny then? All right." He lay down on his side as if to get more comfortable and rested his head on his right paw. "Amuse me."

"Uh..." Humphrey and Lilly quickly tried to think up a funny joke or impression.

Humphrey thought of one. "What did the teacher say when it rained cats and dogs? Be carful not to step in a poodle! Heh heh."

Nuka simply stared at him. His expression didn't change.

Lilly tried next. "Um... what am I?" she said as she fell flat on the ground with her tongue hanging out of her mouth. After a few second she said, "I'm turtle road kill."

Nuka's expression still didn't change.

"Well, Garth thought it was funny," muttered Lilly to herself as she got to her feet.

"What is it with you and turtles?" asked Humphrey.

"I like turtles," said Lilly.

Suddenly Nuka chuckled. "You two are omegas, alright. Anyone this pathetic must be an omega."

"Oh... uh..." muttered Humphrey as he and Lilly glanced at each other. They didn't really know how to respond to that.

"But tell me, what are two omegas doing so far from their pack?" asked Nuka.

"We left our pack," said Humphrey. "We wanted to do some traveling."

"Romantic getaway?" asked Nuka.

"What?" Humphrey and Lilly exclaimed at the same time. They looked at each other and then looked back at Nuka, both of them blushing under their fur.

"No, no, we're not a couple," said Humphrey.

"Yeah, we're friends," said Lilly.

"Yeah, just friends."

"Oh, my apologies," said Nuka. "So why did you leave your pack?"

"We... we just wanted to get away," said Humphrey, remembering why he and Lilly had left Jasper.

Nuka must have detected a hint of sadness in his voice because then he said, "Did something happen at home? Were they not treating you right? Just couldn't stand it there anymore?"

"Y-yeah, something like that," said Humphrey, a little creeped out. 'Why does this guy care so much?'

"Hmmm," said Nuka as he rubbed his chin in thought. "I'm still trying to decide whether or not to kill you two."

Lilly and Humphrey both swallowed in fear, wondering how they had gotten into this situation.

"We'd prefer not to be killed," said Humphrey shakily. He hadn't been this scared since his and Kate's encounter with the bears several days ago. "Hmmm, I suppose you two are no threat. I guess I'll let you live."

Humphrey and Lilly both sighed with relief.

"Thank you," said Lilly.

"So, we'll just be going," said Humphrey as he was about to get up.

"What's your hurry?" asked Nuka. "Please, stay for a while. I'd like to talk with you some more."

Humphrey and Lilly looked at each other. They more than anything just wanted to get the hell out of there, but they definitely didn't want to offend this guy. They looked back at Nuka.

"O-okay," Humphrey said.

Nuka looked at the gray wolf and the red wolf, who were still standing behind Lilly and Humphrey. "Leave us," he said.

The two wolves bowed their heads and then walked out of the cave, both of them looking a little confused.

Chapter 9

Nuka turned back to Humphrey and Lilly. "Here," he said. He ripped of a large hunk of meat from the dead moose and tossed it in front of them. "Have a bite to eat."

Lilly and Humphrey looked at the bloody slab of meat hungrily and then began to dig in.

"Um, excuse me," said Lilly to Nuka after she had swallowed her first bite, "but... what are you?"

Nuka grinned. "I am a lion," he said proudly. "I'm not surprised that you've never seen one of my kind before. We come from Africa. It's a continent practically on the other side of the world."

"How'd you get here?" asked Humphrey.

"It's a long story," said Nuka. "I was born and raised in an illegal traveling circus. The humans there taught me tricks and made me and the other animals perform in front of hundreds of people. It was a very undignified life, but it was all worth it for... her." He seemed to start staring off into space.

"Her?" asked Lilly.

"Jasmine," said Nuka. "She was a lioness who was also in the circus, and she was the most beautiful thing I had ever laid eyes on. I was madly in love with her. I would have done anything to be with her. But what did she do? She tore out my heart and crushed it, that's what. She married my older brother Ghalib, instead of me. Of course, he was the older, stronger, charming one, while I was the scrawny runt." He sighed. "She broke my heart."

Humphrey and Lilly felt sorry for the large feline in front of them. It was also kind of weird, feeling sorry for something that looked so ferocious.

"I know how you feel," said Humphrey. "I was in love too."

"So was I," said Lilly. "We both had our hearts broken."

Nuka looked at them. "Hmmm, we have much in common, don't we?"

Humphrey and Lilly didn't respond.

"Anyway," said Nuka. "I escaped from the circus one night while they were feeding us. I ran into the woods and I eventually met this pack of wolves. They weren't much. They were weak and starving, but they were the closest thing to a pride that I had ever known. So I made a deal with them. If they made me their new leader, I would solve all their problems for them. And now, thanks to my help, we are the most powerful pack in the area."

Humphrey and Lilly were amazed by his story. They were beginning to not feel so afraid and starting to relax a little.

"It has not been easy though," Nuka continued. "Large game is scarce in these parts, and getting scarcer. Most of our rival packs have even moved away in the hopes of finding new territories with more food. How was the food situation where you're from?"

"Well, we had plenty of caribou back in Jasper Park," said Humphrey. "Our pack almost had a war with another pack over the territory because it was so good."

"Jasper Park?" asked Nuka.

"Yeah," said Humphrey. "Its up north in Canada."

"Canada? You two have traveled a long way then," said Nuka.

"Well, we hitched a ride on a train," said Humphrey.

"Train?" asked Nuka.

"Yeah, the Canadian Express," said Humphrey. "It's a bunch of miles north west of here."

"Really," said Nuka. He thought for a moment. "Then we shall make Jasper our new home."

"What?" said Lilly, she and Humphrey confused.

"We are going to travel to Jasper Park and take it for our selves," said Nuka. Then he pointed and Humphrey and Lilly. "And you two... shall help us."

"What? No!" exclaimed Humphrey. He couldn't quite believe what he was hearing.

"Don't tell me you two still care about your pack," said Nuka. "You left them. Why should you care what happens to them?"

"They're still our pack," said Lilly angrily.

"Yeah. We can't let you do this!" growled Humphrey.

"Don't be a fool," laughed Nuka. "Why die defending them, when you could join me and live?" He looked directly at Humphrey. "I like you, Humphrey. You remind me of myself, or at least what I used to be. I can tell what kind of person you are, Humphrey. People like you and me; we don't get the pretty girls, Humphrey. We're the losers. The geeks. The rejects. So you can settle for a less than ordinary life, or you can use that anger to rise up and accomplish great and terrible things, like me."

Humphrey continued to stare at him. The two female wolves behind Nuka had scooted back further into the cave and were huddled together in a corner, shaking with fear. This guy wasn't just crazy. He was a freaking' psycho.

Nuka continued. "Humphrey, you don't realize the potential you have. Join me, and we can concur the entire country together!"

"Never! I'll never join you!" said Humphrey.

"Me neither!" said Lilly.

"Wrong answer!" shouted Nuka, as he raised his right paw above his head and unsheathed his razor sharp retractable claws. He was about to bring them down on them.

"LILLY!" shouted Humphrey, as he quickly shoved her out of the way. Nuka's paw came down and whacked Humphrey in the side, sending him hurtling across the cave.

"HUMPHREY!" shouted Lilly in worry.

Fortunately, Humphrey was not hurt too badly and quickly got to his feet. "COME ON!" he shouted to Lilly as he bolted for the exit of the cave. Lilly was right behind him.

"STOP THEM!" roared Nuka to his wolves as Humphrey and Lilly dashed out among the pack.

Humphrey and Lilly dashed for the slop down the mountain, but were cut off by a group of Nuka's wolves, snarling at them. The two turned back around, but were faced by a wave of more wolves and Nuka himself approaching them. Humphrey and Lilly turned again to run, and in doing so, they almost ran straight off a cliff.

Humphrey and Lilly now found them selves backed up against the edge of the cliff, with the pack blocking their only escape and quickly closing in on them. They were trapped.

Chapter 10

Nuka and his pack were closing in on them. Humphrey and Lilly had nowhere to run. They were trapped.

"Give up," said Nuka menacingly. "There's nowhere to run."

Humphrey looked back over the edge of the cliff. He saw that way down below them was a slope, but it was to far down and he knew falling down there would kill them. He desperately scanned along the cliff wall to find a way that they might climb down. That was when he noticed an old log sitting by a tree stump on a ledge just a few feet below them. He got an idea.

"Lilly," he whispered to her. "On my signal, jump into that log down on that ledge below us." He gestured with his eyes off the cliff behind him.

"What?" she muttered back as she glanced behind her at the log on the ledge.

"Just do it. Trust me."

Nuka and the gray wolf and the red wolf beside him moved forwards towards them.

"Now!" Humphrey whispered to Lilly. He and her leapt backwards of the edge, and down onto the ledge below, landing in the log.

"Hang on tight," Humphrey said behind Lilly.

Lilly let out a scared whimper, as she finally understood what Humphrey was doing, and fearfully gripped the edges of the log as tightly as she could.

Above them, Nuka and his pack looked down over the edge of the cliff at them.

"You're crazy!" said Nuka.

'Look who's talking,' thought Humphrey as he pushed off with his foot and launched the log-sled over the ledge.

"Aaaaahhhh!" Lilly and Humphrey both screamed as they plummeted down toward the slope below. Their stomachs got that upset feeling one gets when going down a rollercoaster. Lilly leaned back so far that her back was touching Humphrey's chest. Humphrey prayed he had made the right decision.

They crashed onto the slope below and began sliding down the slope. The log protected them from the hard ground.

"Yes!" laughed Humphrey. Lilly was still screaming, but was gradually quieting down. Humphrey looked behind them. Nuka and his pack were still at the top of the cliff, watching them speed away.

Nuka growled as he watched the two omegas disappear out of sight down the mountain.

"Shall we search for them, your highness?" asked Tom, the gray alpha next to Nuka.

"No," he said. "Let them go. We don't need them anyway. They already gave me all the information we need." Nuka turned away from the edge of the cliff and walked over to a large rock and leapt up on top of it so the whole pack could see him. "My loyal pack members," he shouted. "Prepare to leave the mountain, for I have learned of a new home for us. A home rich with caribou. Prepare to travel north, and prepare for war!"

"Humphrey, are you sure about this?" yelled Lilly back to him.

"Don't worry," he shouted reassuringly. "I do this all the time."

Humphrey saw they were heading straight for some boulders. "Angle left," he directed, showing Lilly how to move the board with her paws. She did, and they slid past the boulders.

The trees were coming up fast, and Humphrey and Lilly were still a long way from the bottom of the mountain.

"Roll left!" Humphrey shouted. They shifted left and sped past a tree. "Roll left again!" They dodged in between two trees. "Now roll right." They did.

They continued sliding downhill, dodging trees and boulders as they went. They were starting to slow a bit now, as the land was beginning to level out, much to Lilly's relief.

Suddenly a stump came up in their path. Lilly saw it before Humphrey did. "STUMP!" she shouted.

It was too late. With a crash, the log-sled smashed into the stump head on. The log flipped up and over, sending Humphrey and Lilly flying.

"Aaahh!" They both screamed as they flew through the air. They landed on the ground next to each other with a thud. The log twirled overhead of them until it crashed into a tree.

They both groaned as they got to their feet.

"Are you alright?" Humphrey asked Lilly.

"Yeah," she said shakily. Then she let out a weak laugh. "That was actually kind of fun," she said.

Humphrey grinned, glad that she had enjoyed his favorite sport, and also glad that they had gotten away from that psychotic lion and his pack.

Suddenly Humphrey winced in pain. That was when Lilly noticed bleeding claw marks on his side where Nuka had hit him.

"Humphrey, you're hurt!" said Lilly, concerned.

"I'm alright," he said, grabbing his side. "It's not that bad."

Lilly was amazed that Humphrey had pushed her out of the way to save her from Nuka's attack and took the blow himself. She was becoming more and more attracted to him.

Then Humphrey remembered. "Oh, no," he said.

"What?" asked Lilly.

"Nuka and his pack are going to attack Jasper Park," said Humphrey.

Lilly gasped as she remembered too. "Oh, no."

"Errr," Humphrey growled in frustration as he realized that they had even unintentionally told him how to get to Jasper Park. The railroad northwest from where they were. It passed right by Jasper. "And because of us, he now knows how to get to Jasper," he said.

"What are we gonna do?" asked Lilly.

Humphrey realized they were the only ones who could do anything about this. It was up to them, two omegas, to try to save the day. "We have to get back to Jasper and warn the pack," he said, "before it's too late."

Lilly was doubtful. She didn't know if they would be able to get back to the pack before Nuka and his pack got there. She was also torn about going back to the pack after she had run away. On one hand she missed her family, but on the other hand she wasn't looking forward to seeing Garth, the alpha who had broken her heart. Humphrey felt similar to Lilly about Kate, but they both knew that the matter at hand was way more important than their personal issues.

Lilly nodded in agreement.

"Come on," said Humphrey, as he turned to start heading northward.

"Humphrey..." said Lilly.

He stopped and turned back to look at her.

Lilly spoke. "About what Nuka said back there in his den. It's not true. You're not a loser. You're not a reject. You're a really great guy. And don't ever think otherwise."

Humphrey smiled. "Thanks," he said, glad that she thought so. An awkward moment passed between them as they gazed at each other. Then Humphrey remembered their situation. "Uh... we better get going."

"Right," said Lilly.

They took off and started heading northward as fast as they could.

Chapter 11

Marcel and Paddy were flying over seemingly endless forests, still searching for Humphrey and Lilly.

Marcel groaned. "My gawd, it's like looking for a needle in a haystack," he said.

"More like two needles in a haystack, sir," said Paddy.

"We've been searching for days. They could be anywhere."

After a few seconds of silence, Paddy suddenly pointed up in front of them with a terrified expression. "DUCK!" he shouted before diving down towards the forest.

Marcel looked where Paddy was pointing and saw a bird of prey rapidly diving towards them. "That's not a duck," said Marcel plainly. "It's a... FALCON!" Suddenly realizing the danger they were in, he dived down towards the forest along with his caddy, narrowly avoiding the bird of prey's deadly talons as it flew over where he had just been.

He and Paddy flew down in amongst the trees to take cover. Above them, the peregrine falcon was turning around to fly in for another strike.

"Over here," said Paddy, pointing to a nearby tree. They landed on one of the branches and hid themselves behind the trunk away from the falcon. The bird of prey soared above the trees for a few seconds looking for them. Then he shrugged his shoulders and flew off.

"Do you think he's gone?" asked Paddy, breathing in heavy gasps.

"I don't know," said Marcel, also breathing heavily. "I think we should wait a few minutes just to be sure."

Humphrey and Lilly were running through the forest as fast as they could. They had been heading back up northwest for a couple days now, trying to get back to the railroad that headed up to Jasper before Nuka did. Unfortunately, the situation was beginning to look hopeless, especially when at one point they smelled Nuka's pack's sent and found their paw prints in the dirt, indicating clearly that Nuka was ahead of them. By how far, they didn't know.

Humphrey and Lilly ran until they came to a small creak. They slowed to a stop, their tongues hanging out as they panted from exhaustion.

"Can we rest hear for a bit?" said Lilly. "My paws are killing me and I need a drink."

"Same here," said Humphrey.

They walked over to the running water and dipped their heads down for a drink. Their bodies rejoiced at the feeling of the cool water flowing down their throats.

Meanwhile, further north, Nuka and his pack were resting in the forest, also taking a breather.

Nuka lay on the ground, eating the carcass of a doe that his alpha's had caught earlier that day. Suddenly, a winged form landed right in front of him on the body of the dead doe and instantly stuck its head right up in Nuka's face. "Boo!" it said.

"Ahh!" Nuka shrieked and practically jumped a little in surprise. Then he became angry and growled. "Lance, I told you to stop doing that!" he spat at the falcon, ignoring the stares of his wolves as they looked at the scene.

Lance the falcon chuckled evilly. "Sorry, did I scare you? Well what can I say, I'm a scary guy."

"You're report," demanded Nuka impatiently.

"Hey," said Lance. "Don't forget our deal. I keep an eye out from up there for you, and you give me part of your food. Come on, I haven't eaten all day. Can't a guy eat a little first?"

"If you don't give me your report, I'll eat you," threatened Nuka.

Lance obliged. "Alright. Yeah, I saw your two wolves a few minutes ago just about a mile or two south from here. They were running northwest toward the railroad tracks."

Nuka turned to his pack. "Lets move! We'll ambush them before they can make it."

Nuka and his pack moved out.

Chapter 12

Humphrey and Lilly were still resting a few minutes later. They weren't alphas, so they weren't used to all the running and exercise they were getting.

Suddenly they heard childlike giggling behind them. They spun around and saw two bear cubs sitting on a log, looking at them.

"Awww," said Lilly at how adorable they looked.

Then one of the bear cubs spoke. "Hey, I know you," it said, pointing at Humphrey.

"You do?" said Humphrey. Then with a start he recognized the little bear cub. It was the same one he had met back when he and Kate were trying to get home to Jasper. "YOU!" he stated, pointing at the cub. 'Oh, this is very bad!' he thought.

"You know this cub?" asked Lilly.

Humphrey never got to answer her because suddenly the two bear cubs looked up behind Humphrey and Lilly and began playfully growling and clapping.

"Oh no," said Humphrey, suspecting the worst. His suspicions were confirmed when he and Lilly looked behind them and found the cub's mother standing up on her hind legs, looking down at them with rage in her eyes. Apparently, she recognized Humphrey too.

"RRROOOAAARRR!"

"Aaaahhh!" Lilly and Humphrey screamed in unison. They turned tail and ran as fast as they could away from the angry momma as four more fully-grown bears appeared behind her and began chasing them.

"Not again," moaned Humphrey as he and Lilly ran for their lives.

Nuka looked on as he and his pack sat in a small clearing, waiting for Humphrey and Lilly to appear.

'It's a shame," thought Nuka to himself as he waited. 'I liked that omega. Oh, well.'

Suddenly, Lance spoke from Nuka's right. "I see movement. Gray and white. They're coming."

"Take them," ordered Nuka. He and his pack ran forward, ready to catch and rip apart the two troublesome wolves.

Just as Lance had said, Humphrey and Lilly came running out of the forest into the clearing. For some reason, they were looking back over their shoulders, so they hadn't even seen him or his pack yet. Nuka grinned evilly. 'All too easy,' he thought as he bounded towards them, claws unsheathed and ready to kill.

A split second later, five angry full-grown grizzly bears emerged from the trees right behind Humphrey and Lilly, chasing after them. Nuka's and his pack's expressions all suddenly switched to horror as they slammed on their breaks and came to an abrupt stop, surprised and terrified at the appearance of the unexpected bears heading right towards them behind Humphrey and Lilly.

Humphrey and Lilly glanced back in front of them and gasped in shock and horror at what they saw. Nuka and his pack were just a few feet in front of them. But it was to late for them to do anything about it. Panicking, they both kept running to try and get past Nuka's pack.

Freaking out, a whole bunch of Nuka's wolves, as well as Lance, turned tail and ran away in different directions away from the approaching bears.

"YOU'RE ON YOUR OWN!" shouted Lance as he took off into the air away from the scene.

At the same instant, one of the wolves shouted, "ATTACK!" and the rest of Nuka's panicking pack ran forward and attacked the bears, leaping onto them, snarling and biting them continuously. The bears turned their attention away from the escaping Humphrey and Lilly and began fighting back against this new threat, roaring and whacking at the menacing pack of wolves. It was a wild scene of snarls, fighting, and blood.

During the commotion that followed, Humphrey and Lilly were able to zip past Nuka and his pack without much problem.

"Well that worked out better then I expected," said Humphrey half jokingly after they were past the battle.

Lilly grinned and nodded in agreement as they kept running towards the railroad tracks.

Back at the battle, Nuka roared at a bear that was advancing upon him and slashed at its stomach with his claws. Red scratch marks appeared on the bears stomach. It bellowed in pain and rage just as a wolf pounced on its back and bit into its shoulder. The bear swatted the wolf off with a wave of its massive arms and roared at it.

With the bear's attention away from him, Nuka roared as he leapt out of the battle and ran after Humphrey and Lilly towards the railroad tracks. Now he was pissed.

Chapter 13

Humphrey and Lilly kept running toward the railroad tracks. Suddenly they came to the edge of a cliff and stopped. Way down below them was the railroad. Now all they had to do was find a way down there.

"We made it!" said Lilly joyfully.

They turned around to find a way down to the tracks. Suddenly they heard an angry roar to the left of them as Nuka burst through the trees and tackled Humphrey, pinning him too the ground with his right paw.

"HUMPHREY!" shouted Lilly.

"Gotcha, you little termite," said Nuka as he pressed down on Humphrey's throat.

As Lilly watched Humphrey being choked to death, she knew she had to do something. Mustering up all of her courage, she leapt at Nuka, but he spotted her out of the corner of his eye. Without removing his paw from Humphrey, Nuka effortlessly swatted Lilly aside with his other paw, sending her flying. Lilly landed with a grunt several feet away.

Nuka turned his head back to Humphrey. "I'm going to kill you," he said with an evil grin, taking heavy breaths through his clenched teeth, "slowly and painfully. And then I'll do the same to your girlfriend."

Humphrey would have growled in anger right then if Nuka hadn't been crushing his throat with his paw, cutting off his air supply. Panicking, Humphrey tried to struggle, but his efforts did nothing but tire him quicker, his movements slowing. His lungs were burning for air and he could feel himself beginning to pass out.

Lilly got back on her feet, grunting a little from when Nuka hit her. Despite her fear of Nuka, she was determined to help her friend. She ran back over at Nuka and leapt up onto his back and bit down hard on his neck.

Nuka roared in pain. Humphrey gasped for air as Nuka took his paw off of him and whirled around, trying to shake Lilly off. Lilly tried to hold on for dear life. She tasted blood on her tongue as her fangs dug into his flesh. Nuka threw his head back and Lilly lost her grip and she fell to the ground. She only just got to her feet when Nuka swung his paw and whacked Lilly in the side, sending her crashing headfirst into a nearby boulder.

"LILLY!" shouted Humphrey, as she lay motionless on the ground by the boulder, a nasty gash on her forehead. The sight of Lilly getting hurt like that sent Humphrey into a rage.

Humphrey saw Nuka begin to approach Lilly. He couldn't let that happen.

"GET AWAY FROM HER!" yelled Humphrey angrily as he leapt up onto Nuka's back and sank his fangs into his neck. Nuka roared and forgot about the white wolf he had been about to kill. He swatted at Humphrey with his paws and knocked him off. Humphrey quickly got up and leaped in between Nuka and Lilly. He faced the big cat, snarling, fangs bared, muscles tensed. The two stood there for a few seconds growling at each other. Humphrey felt as though his blood was boiling from all the recent adrenalin pumping through his veins.

Nuka spoke. "You should have joined me, Humphrey. We would have made a great team."

Humphrey said nothing. He had to try to stay focused. He was terrified, but he knew he had to protect Lilly, no matter what. He knew he was no great fighter, but he also remembered what Nuka had said about himself being the weak one back in the circus. So maybe he had a chance. Right?

Nuka made a move. Without thinking, Humphrey leaped forward and bit down on Nuka's front leg. Nuka roared and swatted at him with his claws. Humphrey tried to jump backwards, but he wasn't quick enough and Nuka's claws slashed his right shoulder, leaving four deep scratches. Humphrey yelped in pain and fell on his face, but he tried to keep his mind on the fight. Nuka darted at him. Humphrey quickly got up and pounced up onto Nuka's back and then back down behind him. He then spun around and bit down on Nuka's hind leg. Nuka angrily kicked Humphrey in the jaw with his hind legs, causing Humphrey to release Nuka's leg, spitting a bit of both Nuka's and his own blood out of his mouth. Before Nuka could spin around and bite down on Humphrey with his jaws, Humphrey jumped up onto his back and began clawing at his face a few times before Nuka whacked him off his head with his claws. Humphrey grunted as he hit the ground hard, realizing that he was in way over his head.

Just as Humphrey got back on his feet, Nuka whacked him with his front paw and sent him flying. He landed on his back just inches away from the edge of the cliff, moaning in pain.

"Ow. My... everything," he moaned softly.

Humphrey opened his eyes and watched with terror as Nuka leaped at him, claws extended and fangs bared, going for the killing blow. Humphrey knew he was definitely about to die. Then, with a last desperate move of anger, Humphrey kicked his hind legs up with all his strength into Nuka's stomach as he came down on him, just barely managing to toss him up over his head and send him tumbling over the edge of the cliff.

Nuka screamed as he fell to the rocky ground far below. His screaming ceased on impact.

Humphrey groaned loudly as his legs ached from what he had just done. After several seconds he got to his paws and looked over the edge of the cliff. Nuka's body lay lifeless far below him beside the railroad tracks, a pool of blood slowly forming around him.

'He's gone,' thought Humphrey with relief. Then he remembered Lilly. He limped over to her as fast as he could, legs still aching.

She was still lying unconscious beside the rock. Humphrey gasped when he noticed a small puddle of blood around her head, coming from the gash in her forehead. She had hit her head pretty hard. He desperately hoped that she would be okay. He couldn't stand the thought of loosing her.

He leaned forward and started nudging her with his paw. "Lilly? Lilly, come on. Please wake up."

She didn't move.

Humphrey kept trying. "Come on, Lilly. Please. Please, wake up. I love you." Even as the words were out of his mouth, he knew they were true. He loved Lilly.

Lilly groaned and slowly blinks her eyes open. She felt a throbbing pain in her head. The last thing she remembered was seeing Humphrey attacking Nuka before she blacked out. "Ow, my head," she moaned.

"Lilly!" Humphrey sighed with relief. He leaned in and nuzzled her. "I was worried there for a minute."

Lilly glanced around them. Nuka was nowhere insight. She looked up at Humphrey. "What happened?" she asked.

"Nuka's dead," said Humphrey. "He fell off the cliff."

Lilly sighed with relief. Then she put a paw to the wound on her forehead. Feeling something slippery on her paw, she looked at it. Her eyes widened when she saw it smeared with her own blood.

"I better take a look at that wound," said Humphrey. He carefully moved some fur on her head to look at the gash. That was when he saw both of her violet eyes without her fur in the way.

"Wow!" he involuntarily gasped.

"Is it that bad?" she asked.

"No, it's just... your eyes. They're beautiful!"

She giggled. Even though what he said brought back some memories of Garth, who had said the same thing to her back in Jasper Park, she was flattered by Humphrey's words and blushed under her fur. After all the time they had spent together, after all they had been through; she fully realized that she loved him.

Lilly tried to sit up. She began to sway and almost fell over, but Humphrey pressed his good shoulder against her side to help support her. They were both covered in scratches, bruises, scrapes, and cuts from their fight with Nuka.

Suddenly they heard footsteps approaching. At that moment, Nuka's entire pack appeared and walked towards them, surrounding the two wolves.

Humphrey and Lilly looked at the glaring pack, terrified but trying to remain calm, even though they knew they probably weren't going to get out of it this time. Humphrey stepped in front of Lilly, ready to defend her.

"Where's Nuka?" growled the gray wolf in Nuka's pack.

Humphrey swallowed nervously and pointed over the edge of the cliff. The gray wolf and the red wolf went over to the cliff and looked down, gasping at what they saw.

"He's dead!" said the gray wolf, looking back at them.

The rest of Nuka's pack began to whisper among themselves.

"You killed him?" asked the red wolf.

"Well, sort of," said Humphrey in a pleading voice. "It was self defense."

Then something happened that took Humphrey and Lilly completely by surprise. Nuka's pack didn't look angry. Instead, they looked overjoyed.

"Hail, Humphrey and Lilly! The big cat is dead!" shouted the gray wolf.

"Hail, Humphrey and Lilly!" all the other wolves cheered with glee.

Humphrey and Lilly looked around them with confusion and relief, but mostly confusion.

"Uh... wait... you guy's didn't like him?" asked Humphrey.

"We hated him!" said the red wolf as he and the gray wolf walked over to them.

"But... he said he helped you," said Lilly. "Expanded your territory and got you more food."

"Well, yeah, he did," said the gray wolf. "At first we were grateful to him. But after a while he started taking most of the food for himself and leaving us with barely enough."

"He made us worship him like a king," said a female wolf in the crowd. "But we were all to afraid to stand up to him."

"We may have gained power, but we lost our dignity," said the gray wolf shamefully. Then he said, "Humphrey and Lilly, we would be honored if you would join our pack, and be our new alpha leaders."

Chapter 14

"Humphrey and Lilly, we would be honored if you would join our pack, and be our new alpha leaders," said the gray wolf.

Humphrey and Lilly stared in shock. Alphas? Leaders? Them? They looked at each other. As tempting as the offer was, to be an alpha and be on top for a change, they both knew they couldn't be leaders. Neither of them knew the first thing about being a responsible alpha. They were fun loving omegas... and they didn't mind one bit.

They looked at the pack, who were anxiously awaiting their response.

"Uh... that's a really generous offer..." began Humphrey.

"Really generous," agreed Lilly.

"But, uh... we're gonna have to decline."

The pack looked at them with disappointed expressions.

"Are you sure?" asked the gray wolf.

They both nodded.

"Yeah," said Humphrey. "Lilly and I, we're omegas. We're just... not leadership material."

"You killed Nuka," said the red wolf, trying to tell them that that took leadership skills.

"I got lucky," said Humphrey with a shrug. "I just pushed him off a cliff."

"But still, you two stood up to him when none of us did," said the gray wolf.

"Well... yeah, but..." Humphrey felt like he was running out of excuses.

"We're sorry, but we can't be your leaders," said Lilly. "We have our own pack."

Humphrey nodded.

The gray wolf hung his head disappointedly. "But then... who will be our new leader?"

"Why not you?" suggested Humphrey.

The gray wolf looked surprised. "Me?"

Humphrey stepped towards him. "Yeah, you seem like a take charge kind of guy. I think you'd make a great leader."

"He's right," said the red wolf next to him. "You would make a good leader."

The rest of the pack began speaking in unanimous agreement.

The gray wolf appeared speechless. "I-I don't know what to say."

"Say yes," said Lilly.

He smiled. "Alright... yes," he said loudly and proudly.

The entire pack began cheering and howling happily. Humphrey and Lilly joined in.

Then the new leader turned back to them. "I realize we haven't been properly introduced," he said. "My name is Tom."

"And I'm Jeremy," said the red wolf.

"Nice to meet you," said Lilly.

After a little bit of celebration, the pack decided to start heading back home down south. With Nuka gone now and not eating all of their food, they would be able to provide for themselves from now on.

Before they went their separate ways, Jeremy put an arm over Humphrey's shoulders, pulled him off to the side, and said quietly so that no one else would here, "Hey, buddy, a word of advice. If you like that girl there, you should just go for it, man. Tell her."

"Uh... thanks," said Humphrey, a little uncomfortable.

"Anytime, buddy," said Jeremy. He let go of Humphrey and rejoined his pack.

"Good luck on your journey," said Lilly to them.

"Good luck on yours too," said Tom.

The pack turned and began walking away, leaving Humphrey and Lilly alone. The two sat there watching them go.

"You know, they're actually pretty friendly when they're not being ruled by a psychotic dictator," said Humphrey.

Lilly giggled. "That's for sure."

Humphrey glanced at Lilly. They were alone now. He was thinking about Jeremy's advice. He wanted to tell Lilly how he felt about her, but he was nervous. What if she didn't feel the same way? Then the rest of their trip would be really awkward. But he wanted to be with her. So, taking a deep breath, he decided to tell her right there and then.

"Lilly, um, there's something I want to tell you, and I wanted to wait until we were alone," he said.

She looked at him. "Yes?" she asked.

"Lilly, um, we've been through a lot together on this journey, haven't we?"

"Yeah," she said.

"And during this time, I've really come... to care about you... a lot."

Lilly gazed at him, waiting for him to continue.

Humphrey was struggling to find the right words. "What I'm trying to say is... what I mean to say is... I..." he took another deep breath, "I love you." He waited nervously for Lilly's reaction.

Lilly's face lit up. She was practically grinning from ear to ear. "I love you too, Humphrey," she said.

Humphrey's heart leapt for joy and his tail started wagging involuntarily as he grinned. He and Lilly leaned forward and nuzzled each other's heads and necks. In that instant, neither of them was thinking about Garth or Kate anymore. All that was on their minds was each other. They pulled apart and rubbed their noses together, closing their eyes. They had both finally found true love, and nothing could be better.

Meanwhile, up in the air, Marcel and Paddy had resumed their search for the missing duo.

Finally, after days of searching, they spotted two wolves; one gray and one white, and realized it was Humphrey and Kate's sister Lilly. "I see them," he said to Paddy. "We've finally found them."

Then they saw Humphrey and Lilly touching noses. Marcel and Paddy glanced at each other when they both suspected what was going on, their eyes wide with surprise.

They turned and flew down towards the two wolves.

Suddenly Humphrey and Lilly heard the flapping of wings beside them. They quickly broke apart and opened their eyes to see two waterfowl land right beside them.

"Well what have we here?" said Marcel with a slight chuckle to Paddy. They both had sarcastic, irritated expressions on their faces. "Paddy, we seem to have caught them at a bad time."

"It would certainly seem so, sir," said Paddy.

Humphrey chuckled uncomfortably while Lilly just stared at them awkwardly.

"Marcel! Paddy! What are you guy's doing here?" Humphrey asked.

Lilly looked at him. "You know them?"

Humphrey realized Lilly had never met Marcel and Paddy. So he introduced them. "Oh, uh, Lilly, this is Marcel and Paddy. They helped Kate and me get home to Jasper." He looked at the two birds. "Guy's, this is Lilly, Kate's sister."

"Oh, nice to meet you," said Lilly.

"My, goodness!" exclaimed Marcel. "What happened to you two? You both look like you nearly got mauled."

Humphrey and Lilly looked at themselves. There was dried blood in different spots in their fur as well as some visible gashes and cuts. Not to mention that they both ached all over.

"It's a long story," said Humphrey.

"Well, anyway, we're here because Kate asked us to find you two," said Marcel. "Lilly's parents are worried sick about her and want her to come back to Jasper Park."

Lilly looked down at the ground in shame. She felt terrible for running away from Jasper and leaving her parents without a clue of what happened to her. She had just been too upset at the time to say anything to them. Plus she wouldn't have even known what to say to them. How do you tell your parents, especially your over protective mother, that you're running away because you're in love with your sister's mate but you can't be with him and you're jealous of your sister and angry at them for causing all this?

"Oh, and Humphrey," continued Marcel, "Kate also wanted me to tell you that she misses you and wishes you would come home."

Humphrey thought for a few seconds. He was still a little upset about Kate marrying Barf, but in the long run, he was over it. He had moved on.

He looked at Lilly. She smiled. She felt exactly the same way. "I think I'm ready to go home now," she said.

Humphrey smiled back. "You know what, so am I," he said.

"Well then you better hurry then because the train should be passing by any minute now," said Paddy.

At that moment they heard the whistle of an approaching train. Humphrey and Lilly looked at each other in shock and then hurried to find a way down to the train tracks. Marcel and Paddy helped them find a walkable slope from the air and the two raced down it. They made it just in the nick of time, as a train was about to pass by. They spotted an open boxcar and leaped inside. They groaned in pain from their injuries as they landed clumsily on the hard wooden floor.

They looked out the boxcar door at the scenery as it passed by. They were going home.

Chapter 15

Humphrey and Lilly slept cuddled up together that night, their bodies pressed up against each other, Humphrey's right paw lying over Lilly's back. Happy expressions were on their faces.

Outside the train, Marcel and Paddy flew up next to the car and looked inside at the sleeping couple.

"Bonjour, you two!" said Marcel loudly.

Humphrey and Lilly blinked their eyes open and glanced up. "Huh... what?" said Humphrey, groggily. Then they saw Marcel and Paddy flying along side the train.

Humphrey and Lilly were both a little annoyed at being disturbed like that while they were sleeping. Reluctantly they sat up. "What are you guy's doing here?" asked Humphrey.

"Jasper Park is just a few miles up," said Marcel.

"We didn't want you to miss it," said Paddy.

Humphrey and Lilly nodded.

"Thanks," said Humphrey.

Bam! Suddenly Marcel and Paddy flew right into a billboard. Humphrey and Lilly cringed after they saw it.

"You're welcome!" they heard Marcel yell as the train sped further and further away.

"You think they're okay?" asked Lilly.

"Well, they were the last time," said Humphrey.

Minutes passed as they waited for their stop to come.

"Well, were almost home," said Humphrey.

"Yep," said Lilly. "I don't know how I'm gonna face my parents. You know, Humphrey, if it wasn't for you, I probably wouldn't have even come this far. I probably would have chickened out before even jumping onto the train leaving Jasper."

"Hey, come on, Lilly. You're pretty brave," said Humphrey.

Lilly nuzzled her head against his neck. "You're really brave, too," she said affectionately.

Before too long, home came into view. It was still very early morning. The sun wouldn't come up for a while yet. Most of the pack would still be asleep. Together they leaped off the train and headed into the park. As they walked, Lilly moved her hair out of her face, wearing it up.

Humphrey noticed. "Your hair..." he began.

"Yeah, I'm wearing it up," said Lilly. "What do you think?"

"It looks nice," said Humphrey.

Suddenly, a gray wolf came out of nowhere and ran up in front of them. They stopped instantly. It was Hutch, obviously on patrol.

"Lilly? Humphrey?" he said excitedly. "You're back!"

Hutch escorted Lilly and Humphrey to her parent's den. Inside, Winston, Eve, Kate, and Garth were all asleep.

"Sir," said Hutch loudly as they came in front of the entrance of the den.

Winston stirred and opened his eyes. "What is it Hutch?" he asked. Then he noticed Lilly and instantly bolted awake. "Lilly!" he exclaimed. He quickly woke up his wife. "Eve, wake up! She's back! Lilly's back!"

Eve awoke and when she saw Lilly she burst out of the cave and nuzzled her daughter, followed by Winston. "Lilly!" she shouted. "We were so worried about you! First Kate disappears, then you. Oh, I'm just so glad you're home."

"I missed you, mom, dad," said Lilly.

Kate and Garth woke up from the noise and looked outside. When they saw Humphrey and Lilly, they too bolted awake.

"Lilly! Humphrey!" said Kate as she and Garth hurried outside to see them.

"Where have you been?" Winston asked Lilly.

"I left with Humphrey on the train," said Lilly.

Eve glared at Humphrey and growled. Humphrey took a step back.

"But why?" asked Winston. "We've been so worried about you."

"Oh my, gosh," said Eve as she noticed Lilly's and Humphrey's injuries. She reached up and inspected the healing wound on Lilly's forehead. "What happened to you?"

"I'm sorry mom and dad. It's... it's a really long story," said Lilly.

"Lilly, why did you run away?" asked Winston.

"Because..." She glanced over at Garth, who was standing beside Kate. She sighed. "Because... I was really upset about something."

"What?" asked Winston, wanting to know what would make her so upset.

"It doesn't mater now," said Lilly. "I'm okay now. Humphrey made me feel better."

"Lilly..." began Eve.

"Eve, she'll talk about it when she's ready," said Winston calmly. "Besides, I think I already know. It was the wedding, wasn't it? You were upset because your big sister was getting married."

"Uh... yeah, that was it," said Lilly. It was sort of the truth.

"Lilly, did Humphrey ever act out of line with you?" asked Eve.

"No, mom," said Lilly, a little annoyed, but not surprised, that she would ask something like that. "He wouldn't do anything like that. We looked out for each other out there. Humphrey even saved my life."

"And she saved mine too," said Humphrey as he stepped up next to her. Lilly smiled at him.

Eve smiled. "Just making sure, dear," she said.

"We're just glad you're home," said Winston.

"I'm sorry," said Lilly again. "It won't happen again."

"We'll talk about it later," said Winston. "Why don't you come in and get some rest."

"Wait. Mom. Dad. I have something to tell you," said Lilly a little excitedly.

"What?" asked Winston.

Lilly looked at Humphrey and then back at her parents. "Humphrey and I have decided to become mates!"

Kate and Garth gasped. Winston and Eve's eyes went wide, but soon their expressions changed to happy ones.

"Lilly dear, that's so wonderful," said Eve as she nuzzled her daughter. Now both their daughters would be married.

Kate and Garth stared at the new couple, heartbroken. They were shocked. Humphrey and Lilly had never expressed any interest in each other before... as far as they knew. Kate felt tears welling up in her eyes and fought to hold them back. She didn't want anyone to see her cry.

When Eve finished nuzzling Lilly, Winston spoke. "We wish you both the best of luck," he said. "You have my blessing." Then he looked at Humphrey. "You know, I always liked you, Humphrey."

Humphrey grinned. "Thank you, sir."

"We're so happy for you, Lilly," said Eve.

"Now come get some sleep," said Winston.

"I'll be in in a second," said Lilly.

Winston and Eve turned and walked back into the den and Hutch walked away while Lilly turned to say goodnight to Humphrey, but before she could, Kate and Garth walked up to them.

"Mates?" said Kate in shock. "You two are getting married?"

"Yeah. Surprised?" said Humphrey. He and Lilly were a little uncomfortable around their former crushes.

"A-a little," Kate stuttered.

"Well, we fell in love with each other while we were gone," said Lilly.

"Uh, c-congratulations," said Kate, trying her best to sound happy. Then she glanced at Garth. "Right, Garth?" she said, elbowing him in the side roughly to get his attention.

"Err-yeah," said Garth, faking a grin.

Lilly yawned and turned back to Humphrey. "Well, goodnight, Humphrey," she said.

"Goodnight, Lilly."

The two nuzzled each other and then Lilly went into her family's den to get some sleep. They felt a little sad, as this would be the first time in days that they wouldn't be sleeping next to each other. But it was okay because soon they would be married.

Humphrey turned back to Kate and Garth. "Oh, uh, sorry I wasn't there for your wedding," he said politely. "So... pack leaders now. How's that going for ya?"

"Really good," said Kate.

"Good," said Humphrey with a nod.

Suddenly they heard, "HUMPHREY!" They looked to see Humphrey's three best friends, Shakey, Salty and Mooch, running over towards him.

"I'll just let you two get back to sleep," said Humphrey. He turned and hurried off to see his friends.

Kate watched Humphrey go. Even though she was terribly upset inside, she was happy for Humphrey and Lilly that they had found someone. Garth, on the other hand, didn't exactly feel the same way.

"I'm gonna kill him," he growled with rage.

"Garth," Kate snapped at him and placed a paw out in front of him, blocking his way. She glared at him angrily. "You're not going to do a thing."

Garth looked at her in surprise. "Come on, Kate, I know you can't stand it either."

"Look. Maybe so," said Kate sincerely. "But if you really care about Lilly, you'll want her to be happy, right? Well did you see her? She's happy."

Garth stared at Kate, defeated. As much as it tore him up inside, he knew she was right. There was nothing he could do now that wouldn't just cause more problems.

He hung his head. "Damn you, Humphrey," he cursed under his breath. Then he added, "Take care of her."

"WOLF-PILE!" shouted Humphrey's three friends as they all jumped on top of him. Humphrey couldn't help but laugh with them as they climbed off of him. He had missed this.

"Hey, guy's," said Humphrey.

"You're coming, you're going, you're coming, you're going. Make up you're mind, buddy," said Shakey.

"Don't worry, I'm sticking around this time," said Humphrey.

"So what happened?" asked Mooch.

"Well, guess what, boys?" said Humphrey. "I've got a girl. And we're getting married."

The three of them looked at him with stunned faces. "Lilly?" said Salty.

Humphrey nodded.

"You sly dog," said Salty, to which Mooch and Shakey chuckled.

Chapter 16

The next morning, Humphrey sat next to a puddle, using the water to help groom himself. He wanted to look decent for his and Lilly's wedding. The sun was shining bright, the sky was clear, and he was marrying the girl he loved. Everything was right with the world.

Marcel and Paddy had even shown up earlier to congratulate him and had told him they would be there for the ceremony.

"Wow! Grooming yourself! I guess this is serious."

Humphrey turned around. Shakey, Salty, and Mooch were walking up to him.

"Of course it is. I'm getting married," said Humphrey, answering Shakey's question.

"So you're definitely through drooling all over Kate?" said Mooch. "We're not gonna hear about that anymore, are we?"

Humphrey grunted in annoyance. As much as he had constantly denied it, he knew that those three had always known about his previous crush on Kate. Still, for old time sake, he decided to keep denying it. "Guy's, I never was in love with Kate! We're just friends! That's it!"

"Sure, buddy, what ever you say," said Salty, sarcastically.

Humphrey got back to grooming himself.

"Hey, Humphrey, after you and Lilly are married, you'll still hang out with us, right?" asked Shakey.

"What? Absolutely!" said Humphrey. "No girl is ever gonna keep us apart. Friends for life, remember?"

"Yeah!" They all agreed, patting each other on the backs.

"Speaking of girls, I better go find Reba and Janice," said Shakey. "I'm going to invite them to the wedding with me."

Salty growled. "Dude, we told you before, you can't date both Reba and Janice," he said.

"Why not?" said Shakey.

"Because then you'll have two girls while some of us don't even have one," said Mooch.

"Well, then get yourselves some girls," said Shakey.

"What do you think we've been trying to do?" said Salty. "And besides, you can only have one mate, so you're going to have to choose between Reba and Janice. So I say, choose one of them and let me have the other one."

"Hey, what about me?" said Mooch.

"Oh, go find your own," said Salty.

Humphrey sighed as he watched them argue, resisting the urge to snicker at them. The three of them were ridiculous, but boy did he love them.

Meanwhile, Kate was helping Lilly get ready for her wedding, combing her fur with a pinecone outside her family's den, like Lilly had done for her.

"Thanks for helping me get ready, Kate," said Lilly.

Kate took the pinecone out of her mouth for a second to talk. "Sure, Lilly. What are sisters for?"

Kate resumed combing her sister's fur.

Lilly was nervous, but excited at the same time. She and Humphrey would spend the rest of their lives together, mate with each other, and raise pups together. Sure, he wasn't as big or as strong or as handsome as Garth. But Humphrey was sweet and charming and funny and cute, and he loved her. And she loved him.

When Kate was done, she spat the pinecone out and asked Lilly, "So, how did you and Humphrey fall in love?"

Lilly thought back. "Well, we left together on the train and ended up traveling pretty far. I think we were down in America like you and him were. Anyway, we had a lot of fun together. I think the moment I first started to fall in love with him was the night we howled together. I had no idea he had such a beautiful howl."

'Tell me about it,' thought Kate to herself, feeling, for the first time in her life, jealousy towards her sister. She knew first hand how entrancing Humphrey's howl was.

"And then," Lilly continued, "we ran into this pack lead by this evil lion named Nuka, I'll tell you and mom and dad all about that later, and Humphrey saved us from him. But by then we found out that Nuka and his pack were going to try and attack Jasper Park, so we were heading back here to warn you, but Nuka ambushed us and I was injured, and Humphrey risked his own life to defend me. And after that... I knew for sure that I loved him."

Kate was amazed by her story. "Well, you defiantly made a good choice," said Kate, "because I can honestly say that I actually used to have a bit of a crush on Humphrey."

Lilly was surprised. "You did?"

"Yeah," said Kate with a sigh. "But, you know, I'm better off with Garth," she lied. Lilly stared at her for a few seconds. Kate wondered if Lilly had sensed a lack of sincerity in her voice. Kate decided to change the subject as quickly as she could. "Well, we're all done here," she said with a smile. "You look stunning. Humphrey is going to drop dead when he sees you."

"You think?" asked Lilly as she looked over herself.

"Absolutely," said Kate. "Now, come on, you have a wedding to get to."

Chapter 17

That after noon, they gathered in the valley for the wedding. Salty, Mooch, and Shakey, Reba, and Janice were there, along with a bunch of other Omegas. A few Alphas were there, including Winston, Eve, Kate, Garth, Hutch, and Candu. Marcel and Paddy were there too. And of course, Humphrey and Lilly were there.

Lilly looked at Humphrey as she approached him. It was perhaps the first time she had ever seen him with his fur well groomed. He looked really sharp. If she had had any doubts about marrying him before, they instantly went away when she saw him.

Humphrey thought Lilly looked gorgeous. Her fur nicely combed, her hair up out of her beautiful eyes, her white coat gleaming in the sunlight. She was like an angel. He felt his pulse begin to race and had to fight the urge to start panting.

Humphrey and Lilly walked onto the flat rock where Kate and Garth had married.

"You ready?" asked Humphrey.

Lilly nodded. "Yes," she said.

They were both taking deep breaths. Both of them could hardly believe this was actually happening.

"Nervous?" asked Humphrey.

"A little," said Lilly.

"Me too."

After a few seconds of gazing at each other, Humphrey said, "So, you ready to begin?"

"Yeah," said Lilly.

She and Humphrey stepped closer to each other to begin the ritual. They leaned in close, sniffing each other to show they were accepting each other's scent.

When they were done sniffing each other, Humphrey then give Lilly a gentle nibble on one of her ears. Lilly giggled softly and when Humphrey was done, she gave one of his ears a gentle nibble.

Then they both took a step back, until they were looking into each other's eyes. It was time for the last step. Rubbing noses. Once they did that, they would be mates for life.

Humphrey and Lilly closed their eyes as they leaned in towards each other. Their hearts were racing. This was it. Everyone was practically holding their breaths. After what seemed like a long time, they felt their black noses make contact, and then affectionately rubbed them together.

They were now mates.

The wolves around them howled and cheered happily for them. All except Kate and Garth, who simply looked on with mixed feelings.

Kate had made her decision to marry Garth, she had known what she was accepting and giving up, and now she had to live with what was. It had been her responsibility, even if it didn't seem fair. And Kate figured being married to Garth wasn't the worst thing in the world. Like Lilly had said, he was big, brawny, he wasn't perfect, but his howl had gotten a lot better thanks to Lilly, who Garth had said had helped him out with that. And anyone who liked Lilly like he did couldn't be that bad.

And Garth figured being married to Kate wasn't so bad. After all, she was totally hot, and she was an awesome Alpha.

Humphrey and Lilly opened their eyes and smiled as they looked at their new mate, their noses still touching. This was the happiest moment of their lives. The two turned and walked over towards their family and friends, who gathered around them and showered them with congratulations and well-wishes. As the crowd began to walk away, Kate and Garth stayed behind, unnoticed.

Kate sighed and then looked at Garth. "Well, we're stuck with each other. We might as well make the best of it." She gave him a small smile.

Garth sighed. "I guess you're right," he said. He put an arm over his mate's shoulders. Kate basically thought to herself, 'what the heck,' and nuzzled up against him.

"So what do you want to do now?" Humphrey asked his new mate a little while after the wedding, once the celebration had died down and they were alone.

"Well, I have an idea," Lilly said mischievously.

Several minutes later, they were both log-sledding down a mountain, enjoying the thrill of the ride.

"You're getting good at this," Humphrey complimented her over the sound of the wind.

"Thank you," said Lilly back to him.

Shakey, Salty, and Mooch watched as the couple zoomed past them on the hollowed out log, the two of them screaming with excitement.

"Dude, I totally thought they were talking about something else," said Salty to Mooch and Shakey as they watched them go.

Epilogue: "And so kids, that's the story of how your mom and I got together," said Humphrey to his and Lilly's three children, Duncan, Heather, and Violet as they all sat in their den one night. He had just finished telling them their bedtime story, and he could tell by the looks on their faces that they had enjoyed it. However, he had left out the parts he and Lilly didn't know about, like what had been going on with their aunt Kate and uncle Garth in Jasper while they weren't there.

"That was a great story!" said Duncan, their gray furred son.

"Can you tell us another one, daddy? Please?" asked Violet, their white furred daughter.

"Yeah, I want to hear the story of when we were born!" said Heather, their tan furred other daughter.

"That's a story for another time," said Lilly. "Right now, its time for bed."

The three pups moaned in disappointment.

"Listen to your mother, kids," said Humphrey, "or else we'll get grandma."

The three pups instantly stopped moaning and settled down.

Lilly playfully bumped her elbow into Humphrey's side at his joke and gave him a look. Humphrey grinned.

Duncan, Heather, and Violet curled up against their mother's side for warmth and closed their eyes. Humphrey lay down beside Lilly and cuddled up with her and the pups.

"Goodnight, Lilly," said Humphrey.

"Goodnight, dear," said Lilly.

And with that, the happy family went to sleep.

The End

Back to search