A/N: Ok! The sequel to Garth and Lilly's Successors story is here! And here's a head's up: this chapter is basically a prologue. It is the only chapter that takes place before Garth and Lilly.
Kate loved her family. It was so perfect. She was reminded of it as her mate, Humphrey played with their pups in the snow surrounding their den. Kate smiled, wanting to just jump into the fun. But she was tired from hunting for her family. The snow had come early this season, so it had been twice as much work to hunt as before. Also, tomorrow she would be traveling to Alpha School to teach her pups and other packs' pups to be Alphas, so she needed to rest.
Humphrey rolled on his back as Hayden pounced on his belly, and tried to tickle him. Leah tried to chew on her father's forepaw while Jake sat a few steps away. He was focused on his father's tail, preparing to pounce.
Kate sighed, putting her head on her paws. She remembered telling her family how only a few of them could be Alphas and one or two would be Omegas. Considering Kate was born an Alpha, she wanted more of her pups to be Alphas then Omegas. But one would still have to be the low-ranking comedian.
Luckily, the decision wasn't messy. Kate and Humphrey both wanted Leah to be an Alpha. The oldest pup needed the Alpha School's discipline to fix her temper.
But the younger pups, Jake and Hayden, had a more interesting affair. Jake had a lean, muscular build, which was typical for an Alpha. Hayden was clumsy and small for her age. An ideal Omega. But when Jake overheard his parents talking about this, he told them that he wanted his sister to go to Alpha School instead of him. Apparently some wolves would pick on Hayden, and unaware all pups of Head-Alphas became Head-Alphas, he wanted her to become an Alpha, so they'd learn to respect her.
Kate smiled, feeling blessed to have such a thoughtful son. She told herself he inherited it from his dad. And Leah, with her temper—
Eve. Without a doubt.
And Hayden was like Kate's sister, Lilly. Shy and small for her size. Kate didn't know how she felt about Hayden going to Alpha School instead of Jake. Could Hayden pull off the alpha acrobats and responsibility?
It doesn't matter! Kate shook her head. Jake refuses to go instead of his sister. And maybe he's right. After all, I don't want Hayden to be bullied.
"Gosh, those little ones are so cute." Kate nearly leaped out of her pelt with surprise when Humphrey came up beside her and sat down. He was panting. "But they really know where to hit ya where it tickles, if you know what I mean," he winked at her.
Kate laughed. "That's why you should do what I do. Lie when they ask you where you're most ticklish."
"I wish I was that smart," Humphrey flicked his tail.
The two wolves watched their pups playing with a pair of squirrels, Leah trying to ask them if the berries they had were stolen from her Aunt Janice and Aunt Reba.
Humphrey turned to Kate. "Whatcha thinking about?"
"Tomorrow," she confessed. She raised her head a few inches to look at her mate. "How did we end up having such a sweet pup like Jake?"
Humphrey shrugged. "Hey, he's your pup. Of course he's going to be all responsible and stuff."
"But should we let Hayden go?" Kate lowered her voice, so the pups wouldn't hear. "She's pretty small for her age and Jake has more…I don't know, agility?"
"Hey, he doesn't want his sister to get picked on. And I'm not showing favoritism to my pups or anything, but Hayden's really smart. Sure, she doesn't look like an ideal athlete, but I'd rather have an Alpha who can think with her head, not with her opportunity to do a fancy flip."
"You make a good point, Humphrey," Kate blinked.
"Thank you," Humphrey pricked his ears, not used to having that sentence and his name together. "If you think about it, Hayden will grow into her pelt, but Jake will never have as much logic as her. I don't doubt them. It's Leah I'm worried about."
"Humphrey, we talked about this. Leah needs the discipline."
"I agree. But it's not Leah I'm worried about, it's you! She's a tough, smart-mouthed pup!"
"Oh stop joking like that Humphrey!" Kate chastised. "She's a good girl."
"Yeah, yeah, I know," Humphrey stood up. "But if you're going to have two of our pups to yourself for a whole winter, I'm going to save the moments!"
And with that, Humphrey padded towards his pups who wolf-piled him almost instantly.
Kate sighed. Humphrey made a lot of jokes about his pups, but he was a good dad.
My family is the best one I could wish for, Kate thought for the fifteenth time all day.
The next morning, Kate left for Alpha School, along with Garth, Troy, Leah, and Hayden. The good-byes took a while, since this year was one of the biggest classes the Western and Eastern wolves had. Then all the young Alphas and the parents that volunteered to teach left to the Alpha School territory, where wolves from not just Jasper Park, but wherever that was close by would gather and train the youngsters.
The winter went by, and things ran smoothly. Kate was nervous about teaching, but the fact that her main students were her own daughters made things a bit easier. She trained them the way she remembered her parents trained her and felt proud of her girls as both a mother, and a teacher. She even learned how to use stories to help Hayden with learning her flips.
So the season passed by, and soon it was nearing the end of winter. There were only a few weeks left, and all the students were excited to return to their packs as young adult Alphas.
Hayden was also counting down the days until they went home. She was usually a selfless female, but couldn't help but feel proud of herself for returning to her pack and rubbing her new skills in the noses of her now Omega tormentors.
Leah was still sassy, but was better at responsibilities and seemed to have matured like Kate and Humphrey had hoped. She especially enjoyed having her sister as a hunting partner. She couldn't wait until her Head-Alpha training started so that she could help give Jake pointers and hunt with him.
Now if you thought about it, both of them couldn't stop talking about going home. They missed their Omega friends and family, but were really excited. Leah really looked forward to leading the pack. She trained for hard and long hours to perfect everything, even though it was all just simple stuff. She didn't know there was a bunch of new Head-Alpha moves that she would learn and these would look like simple squirrel chases in comparison.
Today was a review over hunting techniques. These took place in separate places throughout the territory. Leah, Hayden, and a friend Hayden had made, Lyra, were practicing in the same hunting team. Leah, being the oldest, was leading. Because two out of three of them were a future Head-Alpha to their pack, they were assigned moose, which was tougher for wolves their age, considering they were bigger than caribou.
The young females crouched in the snow, waiting as Leah studied the assigned prey. She had heard moose tended to have a blind spot, and was trying to figure out where it was so they could use it to their advantage. However, it was easy for her to take her time, since her fur was a light gray color, with white where her mother had white and white socks on her legs. Lyra was a light cream color, which blended with the snow, but only when the sun was hitting her. Hayden was the most nervous about hiding, since she had her mother's gold fur, her father's black ears, and a gray patch over one of her brown eyes.
Leah crawled forward a few inches. "Psst! Lyra, Hayden," she hissed to her teammates. "I think I have a plan. Lyra, you go around the moose and frighten it. Hayden, you and I will take it by surprise and kill when it comes for us."
The other two nodded. Lyra crawled around the two sisters, trying not to send too much snow sliding. Since the moose was searching for food and not actually feeding, it was less distracted.
Lyra leaped out of seemingly nowhere, pretending to attack the moose's left flank. The large animal panicked, rearing on its hind legs and making a moose-screaming noise. It whirled around on its hind paws and charged towards where Hayden and Leah were crouched in hiding.
Leah hadn't realized how heavy this particular moose was. She got scared, and force of habit made her jump out of the way.
That was her mistake.
Hayden yelped with surprise as she was nearly trampled and scrambled backwards. The two sisters saw their prey run off. It halted, hearing the sounds of another group successfully making their own kill. Getting freaked out, Leah and Hayden's moose turned around again and ran back the way it had come, yelling as it did. The moose's cries were heard by some other moose that no one had been assigned to kill. They all assumed the crying moose was close by. If he was close, than so would the danger. The small group ran away from the invisible danger, looking for their distressed friend.
Leah saw the first panicked animal before her sister did. "Lyra-Lyra run! Now!" she yelled.
Her tone made Lyra feel scared, making her freeze. Lyra stumbled, but eventually managed to run away.
"Hayden! Hayden?" Leah looked around for her littermate. She gasped. A foot or two behind the moose they were supposed to kill were its friends. It wasn't a whole herd, eight or nine at the most, but it looked like a lot at the moment.
Something gold flew over Leah's head.
"Hayden!"
The first moose had kicked her little sister!
Hayden landed on her side many feet away from her sister. Her eyes were closed and she didn't move.
Leah whimpered.
The group of moose were about to pass by her. Leah decided to act quickly to save her sister. She started running, the first frightened herbivore almost right on top of her tail.
All logical thoughts left Leah's head. Hayden raised her head and shook it, looking dazed and confused when Leah jumped on top of her, covering her body almost completely.
The first moose didn't bother jumping over them. It probably didn't see them. Its hooves hit Leah right on the small of her back. She yelped with pain. She only had a few seconds before the rest would come, and Hayden knew it.
"Leah! You'll be killed!" Hayden yelled over the sound of thundering hooves. "You need to get off me!"
Leah only shook her head. Two more moose hit the back of her head and neck.
"Leah! Please get off!" Hayden pleaded desperately as she watched more hooves pound on her sister. "I might get away in time, and even if I don't you need to let go of me!"
Leah looked at her sister sadly.
"Let me go, Leah," Hayden gave one last plea.
Leah started breathing hard, her eyes tearing up.
Maybe Hayden was right. Leah had to have faith they could both get out of there in time. Leah braced herself to run from that spot as fast as she could until—
The oldest sister let out a high-pitched howl of pain as one moose hit her right on top of her head. "Nooo!" Hayden wailed as Leah went limp on top of her.
Three or four more hooves beat up Leah before the mass of snow cleared away. All that was visible was the light gray and white fur, something trying to escape from underneath it. Hayden squirmed and wriggled, finally managing to crawl out from underneath the limp body.
"Leah!" Hayden looked at Leah's bruised form. "Oh no, Leah, no! It can't be!"
"Hayden!" That was Kate! Kate was running towards her pups, Lyra following close behind. "Hayden! Leah! Are you alright? Lyra said you were in trouble!"
Hayden didn't want to face her mother. She couldn't. It was her fault this happened to Leah!
Hayden backed away, whimpering. She flattened her ears and tucked her tail between her legs as Kate approached. Hayden panicked. She whirled around and ran.
If only I had been quicker to get out of the way! Both me and Leah would've escaped in time. Or if I was stronger, I could've pushed her off of me and taken those blows myself!
Hayden started to cry as she heard her mother's heartbroken wail that echoed in her ears. She flattened her ears, trying to block it out. She closed her eyes as she cried harder.
And that was how she ran into somebody. She heard her surprised yelp mixed with a male wolf's.
A huge headache greeted Hayden. She shook her head and opened her eyes to find herself on the ground. Her cousin, Troy was close by, rubbing his nose. It looked like her head left a tiny bruise. Behind him were some friends he had made with their kill. The two Northerners were a brown and white wolf named Nick and jet-black Justin.
"Hayden!" Troy complained. "Look when you run! What's the hurry anyway?"
Hayden didn't get up. She just looked at her aunt's pup with watery eyes.
Troy noticed this and all humor went away from his expression. "Hayden? What's wrong? Where's Leah? Is that Aunt Kate crying…?"
Hayden only replied with a sniffle.
Troy looked at his friends and signaled with his head to take their assignment to their trainer. Once they were walking in the opposite direction, he tried to comfort his cousin by nuzzling the tears away. "Hayden…?"
Hayden decided she had no one else she could say it to. She sniffled and took a few loud, shaky breaths before finding a voice.
"It's my fault…" she managed.
They tried not to make the funeral to big a deal. After all, she hadn't even graduated. A few wolves cried, Lyra and Kate said a few words, they howled mournfully, and then Leah was buried where she had been killed.
Kate went back to her home territory to tell the rest of her family the news..
Everyone's reactions were typical. Humphrey, Leah's father, went into denial for an hour or so. Leah's cousin and best friend, Luna, was in denial for the rest of the day. Eve cried for her granddaughter and Winston tried to stay strong for her and Kate. Lilly, who had a son who died at one minute old, had empathy. Hutch, Humphrey's father, did the same thing as Winston.
Garth stayed to help Hayden continue her Alpha lessons for Kate. Hayden claimed she didn't want to leave because it was what Leah and Jake both looked forward for her. She wanted it to be like Leah hadn't died, but he still went easy on her, since her depressed mood made her mess up a few times.
However, it wasn't depression that distracted Hayden. It was the guilt and fear that karma would come to bite her on the tail. She would sometimes have nightmares about Leah being mad and then getting revenge with the one thing Hayden was scared of more than her grandma Eve: water.
You see, near what was called the birthplace of Humphrey's famous log-sledding game, was a waterfall that led to a large lake. Hayden was playing by herself a few days after she first began exploring past her parents' den. She chased one of her Aunt Reba/Aunt Janice's squirrel friends all the way to the waterfall. The squirrel ran for its life up a tree, and Hayden thought she could go up after it (she was a baby pup after all). The tree had a few roots that poked out of the ground and Hayden tripped on one. Of course, where else could she land but in the water? Hayden's fall was about half the waterfall's length, but she was still too young to know how to swim. It took what felt like hours before her father came and fished her out with his teeth in her soggy scruff. Ever since then Hayden believed three things.
1: karma will get you if you scare the living daylights out of another creature.
2: all squirrels would be forever mad at her for starting the bad habit of chasing them at such a young age.
And 3: Every time you fall into a body of water, you'll drown.
Back then, Leah had bitten Hayden's tail every time she ever let her fear of water cloud her thinking. Now, Hayden knew was no different. She allowed herself to move on and not wallow in guilt for the rest of her life.
So Hayden grew into a healthy sized wolf. Her family mourned for Leah for a long while, but let life go on. Hayden graduated Alpha School. She went home pretending like she thought Leah never existed. She would have a nightmare about the event here and there, but she went on with life like everybody else. Jake missed Leah until his heart hurt. But he never regretted letting Hayden go to Alpha School instead of him. He was a funny Omega and was in expert in calming down friends who were panicking. He even once joked, "It's like someone molded my brain to behave like my dad's!"
The siblings grew up with Luna and Troy and had plenty of adventures in Jasper Park. They were satisfied with their lives. And eventually, Kate was satisfied with the family she had again. She had a mate, and two of her pups. Two was better than none right?
Life went on.
But it didn't slow down.
Dun dun dun!
Can't wait to hear what y'all think ofthe cliffhanger. Next chapter should be there already. Merry Christmas fanfic. readers!
