Reaching Out

Chapter 1

As a cool breeze swept across the rocky hills and green plains, the wide fields of tall grass waved and rippled like a vast, placid lake disturbed by a single stone. Mixed in with the rush of grass and trees was the roar of water cascading hundreds of feet down an immense waterfall and crashing violently on the rocks below.

Gazing out upon the natural beauty that was Jasper Park, a solitary wolf sat silently atop a hill, drinking in the quiet scene before him with calm, relaxed, reverence.

This wolf appeared to be nothing special, he was of average height, the fur on his back a medium-dark brown, quickly shading up towards off-white as it reached his chest, stomach, and paws. His tail, topped the same color as his back and undercut the same as his belly, curled off to his right and rested on the warm dirt, cool grass, and soft moss. His eyes, an intense hazel, smoothly glided over the trees and grass, the mountains and valleys, the shimmering waters and clear blue sky.

The wolf silently listened to the soothing whisper and low rush of the world around him. His ears twitched as he heard the faint noise of voices far off in the distance, and he turned his head to face the commotion that was taking place down in the valley. He watched as two wolves at the center of a large circle of others walked towards each other and proceeded to sniff each other, nibble each other's ears, and finally rub noses, joining themselves in marriage.

As he looked closer, the wolf recognized both of those in question. The one on the right, a grey and somewhat disheveled male, was Humphrey, while the one on the left, a lean and golden-tan female, was Kate. He had heard about the two quite a bit lately, which was to be expected since they were the first couple in pack history to have ever been between an alpha and an omega, and had brought about the end of an age old law forbidding such a marriage.

As he watched, a second couple came forth from the crowd and performed the same ritual of marriage. These two he had also heard about, the male, tall, strong, with reddish-tan fur, was the alpha Garth. With him was a smaller figure, a stunningly white female who he recognized as the omega Lilly.

The moment both couples had finished the ceremony, a chorus of loud cheers, cries, and howling rang out from the crowd, in celebration of the joyous event.

The wolf, sitting alone on his hill, turned his eyes away, feeling loneliness and pain battle with pride and happiness for control of his heart.

After a couple more hours of silent sitting and watching, the wolf quietly padded down towards where the others from the celebration had gone, back towards the dens.

The wolf eventually came upon the crowd of happy, loud wolfs, the air filled with loud talking, low murmurs, and joyous cheers for the two newlywed couples who sat in the middle of it all. Humphrey and Kate were constantly nodding their heads and thanking the many lookers on who wished to congratulate them on their marriage and say how lucky they were to have found each other. Garth and Lilly were doing much the same thing, Garth happily accepting the praise and congratulations while Lilly, seeming somewhat uncomfortable with all the attention, stood slightly behind and off to the side of Garth with her head tilted a little down and her eyes, semi-hidden beneath her hair, flitting between garth, the delighted congratulators, and the ground.

The wolf, greatly disliking crowds, stood a short distance from the mob of wolves, watching the two happy couples as the crowd began to dwindle from Kate and Humphrey, and move over to Garth and Lilly. Humphrey appeared to be getting tired, his posture faintly more slouched, his ears just a little wilted, and the happy glint in his eyes somewhat subdued. Shortly, Humphrey noticed the wolf sitting apart from the rest and pointed him out to his new wife Kate, whispering in her ear something none but they could hear. Missing this exchange, the wolf waited, preferring to stay back and watch from the comfort of a shady tree rather than join the press of wolfs

The moment the last congratulator had left, Humphrey and Kate walked toward the aloof wolf who, noticing their attention, stood up and began to walk in their direction. Seeing the wolf had perked Humphrey up , leaving a little more bounce in his step and bringing the cheerful gleam back to his previously tired eyes.

"Hey Connor, why are you sitting way back here and not joining in the fun" Humphrey asked the wolf, a slight frown of concern on his face.

"Oh, you know me, I hate crowds" Connor replied with a small shrug and a glance at Kate as she walked up next to Humphrey.

"Hi, I'm Kate", Kate said as she shook Connor's paw, "Connor right? Humphrey has told me about you a couple of time."

"Yeah, that's me, the guy who got lost when you came back from Alpha School and the whole Idaho thing happened" Connor replied with an ashamed and embarrassed expression on his face.

"Yeah, well I guess you had your own little adventure while we had ours" Humphrey said, nudging Connor jokingly.

Connor quietly chuckled and said "anyway, congratulations you two, I'm glad I at least got see the wedding."

Humphrey looked up to the sky with a groan "like I haven't heard that enough for a lifetime."

Everyone chuckled and Humphrey asked "Hey, I don't think I actually saw you at the wedding, where were you?"

"I was up on my hill when it happened, just watching and listening to Jasper" Connor said with a far off glance toward the hill from which he observed the world. "Best seat in the house..."

Connor snapped back to reality and asked "I'm surprised I didn't see Natalie down there, do you know what happened to her?"

"No," Humphrey replied "I saw her earlier, but I don't know what happened to her."

"Oh, I talked to her," Kate said "she said she wouldn't be able to make it because of some family stuff."

"Well that sucks, it was a nice wedding." Connor said, wondering what could have been so important to have caused Natalie to miss something as important as a wedding.

"That's fine, she'll probably have a ton of questions about it I'll have to answer" Kate said with a slight smile.

"Well, it was nice to see you two, I think it's about time I go back to my den and get some sleep" Connor said and wave as he walked off.

As he walked, Connor listened to the faint patting of his paws on the ground and the swish of wind through leaves in the trees, feeling both happiness and pride to know that his best friend had finally gotten to marry the girl he had been in loved with his entire life, and pain and loneliness that he did not have anyone in his life to make him so happy. When Connor entered his den and lay down to sleep, these emotions still tossed and turned in him as he slowly fell asleep.