hey all, here is chapter 3. I again just want say thank you to Kurama for letting me write the first version of this story, as well as Ghost machine for helping me come up with some of the updated Chapters.

Chapter 3 a sad past and secrets revealed

It was early morning, so early the sun hadn't even begun to crest the horizon. most of the wolves and the other animals that lived in Jasper park were still asleep safely tucked up in their dens, burrows, nests or holes in the trees, only those animals whose interests were nocturnal and the night patrols were still awake ,although even they were tired and wanted only to rest. But there was one who had no trouble keeping sleep at bay, as his mind was in such turmoil as to make restful slumber impossible. Decca was sitting on top of the ridge of echo canyon still trying to figure out the best way to tell everyone that the Humphrey they knew had been a complicated facade to hide him from those that were still hunting for him. How could he face them and especially Kate, when he had been lying to them their entire lives, even though it was forced upon him and he had had no choice in the matter.

"This is defiantly not going to be easy" Decca thought "how do you tell your best friends that you're not actually their best friend and that they know nothing about you? How do you even start? Oh hi everyone, by the way I've been lying to you for almost six and a half months and you really know nothing about me, only who I've been pretending to be, but it's okay because I'm going to tell you why and then everything will be alright and just exactly like it was". "yea right" He scoffed "Seriously this sucks, why did those two even have to put me in this position? Did they ever think about the effects it would have on me and my life? It's hard enough for me to make friends as it is without this threatening to destroy what few friendships I have. Although I guess that's just my life, having every friend I make being torn from me and being treated as an outcast, just because I'm different." He inhaled deeply and let it out in a long drawn out sigh before he made his way back down to his den which was just below the ridge of the canyon and consisted of a small cave that Decca had found when he first joined the pack, the opposite canyon wall was much lower and so he got glorious views of some of the rest of the pack territory from. It had been nothing more than a small, oblong hole just below the top of the canyon when he first discovered it. Heaven only knows what it was before he decided to make it his home. If he had to guess, it probably belonged to some type of predatory bird and acted as its nest. however there was nothing living in it when he had found it and he had since widened it and made it his. He paused for a moment on the narrow ledge which led to the mouth of his den before he slowly entered and led down. With a huff, he deposited his head onto his paws and flattened his ears, but when he heard a couple of wolves howling in the distance his ears perked and he lifted his head. "I almost forgot tomorrow is the moonlight howl" he mused as he gazed upon the moon which was fast disappearing over the horizon, his thoughts migrated to howling-rock, the place where the moonlight howl was held once every month under the full moon. He sat there staring at the beautiful sight before him, He liked it here, it was nice, quiet and out of the way of the packs, he thought back to the last time he had been to a moonlight howl which was when he was a mere five month old pup "No! I mustn't dwell on the past" he said holding his head as if he had a headache. "might as well try and get some rest before my life is ruined for good" he said as he finally laid his head down and fell asleep.

back at the pack

The sun had finally risen and the wolves had started to wake up. Another peaceful morning just like any other, but today there was a difference, today there was a meeting of the pack leaders, Kate, Garth, Lilly and oddly enough Humphrey. "Why is he supposed to show up he's an Omega. I mean sure so is Lilly technically, but she is the daughter of one of the pack leaders and anyway, she is now mates with Garth which makes her an Alpha or at least entitled to the same rights as one" Kate thought. Maybe after this meeting she would tell Humphrey how she felt, since she had never got a chance to in the week since the packs were united because Humphrey had oddly enough been away with the eastern pack which was at least a day's trip away, even if you were to run the whole length of the trail that connected the two territories. Sure the packs had united but there were only so many places to build dens at the moment, so they decided to simply stay where they were until other arrangements could be made. Humphrey had apparently arrived home from the eastern territory late the night before and she couldn't wait to finally see him again. Seeing as how Tony and Winston had agreed to allow marriage between Alphas and Omegas (with a little persuasion form Humphrey/Decca) maybe now her and Humphrey could be together, just like Garth and Lilly were. Kate also had several questions to ask Humphrey, mostly about what Tony had said. Was it true? Was he really Tony's nephew? She tried asking her father or anybody else who may have known, but she never got any answers, but in light of the events following the stampede, she guessed that it might make sense. Why else would he spend nearly a week in the Eastern Territory?

Decca awoke sometime after dawn to a light cool breeze drifting over him. He was still half asleep when he remembered that he had to attend the meeting and tell everybody the truth, not that he was looking forward to it. He walked out of his den and looked up at the sky, seeing it was just a little before noon "I still have a bit of time before I have to go, maybe I'll get this dust out of my fur" he thought. He had to give Winston credit, telling him to use crushed up rocks to hide his true fur colour was ingenious. He ascended to the top of the canyon and then started walking towards the nearby river, slowly at first, but then he looked up at the sun. "Darn it, it's later than I thought, I had better get moving if I want to get this out in time" he cursed and started running towards the river and jumped right in. "At least the water isn't too cold" he thought as he started to scrub the dust and dirt from his fur that had been there and carefully maintained since he was six and a half months old. "Ugh finally it's been forever since I had a clean coat. I wonder what they'll think of me when they see what my fur really looks like" he thought. The water had washed all the dust out of his fur revealing it to be black on top and his legs with light grey fur on his underbelly, most extraordinary though were the patches of crimson fur on the tips of his paws, ears and tail. Such markings were non-existent in most wolf-packs, at least they had been for a very long time, they were the reminder of a forgotten group of wolves and a forgotten pack. Decca stared down at his true form for a moment, his gaze wandering to the right side of his face, where the water had also revealed the three scars that ran down across his right eye. He knew that he was lucky that had not been blinded by the incident, and even more so that he had managed to escape with his life. There weren't many who managed to escape when he decided that he wanted them dead. He shook himself out of such dark recollections and stepped out of the river. He paused for a moment on the river bank and shook his fur dry and proceeded up to the pack leaders den. He had to admit that he wasn't that comfortable walking around like this, if he encountered any wolves on his way up to the meeting, he wasn't sure how they would react, as if to test his theory, he was stopped by a Beta. "What do you think you're doing up here? Oh, who are you? I haven't seen a wolf with black fur around here before" the Beta asked getting into a combat stance "Who I am doesn't matter, I'm here because I have things to discuss with Winston" Decca replied "YOU!, what would Winston want with you, I bet your lower than an Omega aren't you?" the Beta sneered. He tried to keep calm, but when the Beta threw out another insult, Decca lost it, he growled and tackled the Beta ground, pressing down on his throat with his paw. "That's enough both of you" a voice from behind them said causing Decca to get off the Beta who sat up and averted his eyes due to the humiliation when he realized it was Winston who had spoken. "What this wolf says is true I do have things to discuss with him" Winston confirmed, the Beta nodded and slinked off to nurse his wounded pride. "It's good to finally see you again Decca" Winston said, turning back to Decca. "you too Winston" Decca replied, "let's get going you have a lot to explain, especially to Kate" Winston said "don't remind me" Decca retorted causing Winston to let loose a chuckle, then they started walking up towards Winston's den. When they reached the den Winston whispered to Decca "good luck Decca, everything will be fine, I'm sure everyone will understand and treat you no different" "that's comforting, well here goes nothing" Decca thought sarcastically as he made his way over to the others.

Kate and the others had been assembled and waiting for almost half an hour already. Winston had gone to go and get Humphrey whilst they waited."That's strange what could be so important that my dad would need to get him for, I mean he's an Omega, if there's something important to say he should say it before Humphrey get's here. Shouldn't he?" Kate thought. they waited another few minutes before anyone could be seen near the entrance, but what they saw shocked them all. there, standing beside their father was a wolf who resembled Humphrey, but was of the wrong color, and bore scars over his right eye.

Decca felt small beneath their astounded gazes as he and Winston walked into the den and slowly made their way over to where the others were gathered. He could tell they were all surprised from the shocked expressions on their faces, except for Eve who already knew who he was and Tony who just wore his regular old smile which quickly turned into a smug smirk when Humphrey sat next to him.

"Um...Hey everyone" Humphrey/Decca said, a small "Hi" was all everyone else in the den could manage at the time. Garth was the first to snap out of his shock "is that really you, Humphrey?" he asked "yes and no" was all he got as a reply. "Wow! he looks amazing!" both Kate and Lilly thought, "I never knew an Omega could look so handsome or cute" Kate thought with a blush. "So, what did you call us here for dad?" Lilly asked "actually it wasn't me, it was Humphrey" Winston replied. "Him! He's just a stupid Omega!, how does he have the right to call an alpha's council meeting!" Garth shouted. "Now Garth, that's no way to talk to your cousin. Especially when he out ranks you" Tony spoke up, at this Garth looked at his farther like he was going crazy. "out ranks me? How? I'm an Alpha he's an Omega, O-m-e-g-a!, how does he out rank me!" Garth exclaimed, "simple. I'm not an Omega I'm a Zeta" Humphrey replied.

As soon as Humphrey said that everyone looked at him confused, "What the hell is a Zeta?" Kate asked. Humphrey looked at Winston as if asking a silent question. "Go ahead Decca, tell them your story, all of it" Winston said. Decca nodded then turned back to others. "If you want answers then you must listen to me, no interrupting, and no questions. I'll explain as much as I can to the best of my knowledge. Agreed?" he said, "fine" answered the rest of the assembled wolves.

Decca inhaled deeply and let it out in a sigh. "Now where to begin?" he said.

"I guess I should start off by telling you that my real name isn't Humphrey, it's Decca and as I stated before, I am a Zeta. Zeta is not only a rank, it is a species of wolves, the last descendants of the dire wolves that once roamed these lands. Zetas are larger, faster, stronger and more attuned to our surroundings than normal wolves. The Zetas used to live in small family groups, or clans among the normal wolf packs, however, because of how much power we represented, it was decided it was best that we leave the Alpha's to lead the packs, we then retreated into the mountains and formed our own pack, only having limited contact with anything outside of our territory. And there we stayed. The Zeta's trained their pups from the time they could walk how to hunt, how to fight, how to kill. Any one of us alone could take on a bear and win however only three of us have been able to take on a grizzly and survive. One of them was the founder, the second was my farther and the last one is... me. Now before you say anything Kate, yes I could've held off those bears we ran into trying to get back, but that would've meant my cover would've been blown and I would have a lot of explaining to do and at the time we didn't have time for any of that. Anyway, as for where I come in. My Farther was the leader of the Zeta pack and he found my mother who was Tony's sister injured near the pack boarder, he took her in and nursed her back to health, he fell in love with her and I was born, part Zeta, part normal wolf, a half-breed. I never even got to finish my training, my family, my friends, the entire pack was killed"

Flashback

Three pups played around in their den whilst their mother watched them with a smile on her face, but she could not escape the nagging feeling that calamity was imminent. She did not know why her nerves were on the fritz, but even normal activities put her on a razor's edge. As was consistent with every other day, her mate was out serving the pack and her three pups played around in their den, but she watched them with great scrupulosity, almost as though the horrible incident she feared somehow involved them. Each giggle or snarl cut into her like a knife, and each time one of them was pinned to be "killed" her paws trembled a little more violently, until finally she couldn't stand anymore. "Alright you three, that's enough! Knock it off!" She yelled. Their mother's sudden outburst shocked the pups and their folly immediately ended. Slowly they untangled themselves from each-other and sat apart from one another staring at the ground guiltily, almost as though they had done something wrong. Their mother realized immediately what she had done and she sighed. "I'm sorry, you didn't do anything wrong, I shouldn't have yelled, I'm just a little bit on edge" she apologized. One pup lifted his eyes to speak, but suddenly they heard growling and snarling coming from outside the den, making the pups panic. "Stay here I'm going to see what's going on out there" the mother said to her pups who had looks of fear on their faces. She hadn't even made it out of the den when her mate Scarl came in, blood dripping from his muzzle and caked on his claws. "What's going on out there? By Fenrir! are you alright?" she asked her Mate when she saw the state he was in. She then saw the savage look in his eye and her blood turned to ice. She didn't even have time to warn her before she was on her back with the wolf tearing at her throat."Muuum!" the pups screamed standing there in shock at seeing their own mother killed right in front of them, It was Decca who recovered first and without thinking he instinctively stood in front of his older brother and sister, preparing to fight to the death to defend them. "Decca get out of the way I don't want to hurt you I only want to kill your weakling brother and sister" the pup's farther said. "If you want them you're going to go through me" Decca growled, he then whispered to his two siblings "you two make a run for it I'll hold him off" he said "Decca don't, you'll be killed" his sister said "better me that you two" Decca said. Scarl uttered a soft, evil laugh, "very well Decca, I had thought that you would see my point of view, but have it your way, perhaps I can convince these other two instead". There was a growl then in a flash, Scarl leaped at Humphrey and pinned the young pup up against a wall, however, he then noticed the other two pups moving past him and slid round to the entrance to cut them off, letting go of Decca who slid to the floor coughing. Scarl seemed to have them trapped, but Decca wasn't finished quite yet. He struggled to his paws and leaped at his farther who noticed him and dodged his attack. Decca's twin brother and sister both ran out through the gap that their farther had made dodging their younger brother's attack. Scarl was about to run out after them when he felt a stabbing pain behind him, he turned around and found Decca had grabbed his tail in his jaws, and was biting down hard. Scarl roared in rage and swiped his paw at his son, knocking him into the den wall and causing Decca to involuntary whimper in pain that echoed across the valley, the young pup was left with three deep gashes down the side of his face. Scarl watched the youngest pup for a few seconds, then satisfied that Decca was never going to get up, Scarl then turned and went out to see if he could try and locate the other two pups. Decca watched his farther walk towards the entrance of the den and tried to get up but his efforts were in vain and eventually his world went black.

End of Flashback

"When I woke up I found my uncle, Tony in our den crying over the dead body of his sister. I was still only a young pup, six months old and already I had lost everything I had ever known and everything I cared about. After he heard my story Tony decided it was best for me to live in the Weston pack. It was a deal that had already been agreed to with my mother and Winston, in case anything happened to her and my farther, my mother arranged for me, my brother and sister to go and live in the Western pack so that we would be safe. I was forced to live the rest of my life as an Omega, put on a cheery face every day, take other wolve's insults and just deal with it. Then it just so happened that I met you Kate and Lilly, I no longer had to pretend to smile and be happy, though I did still have to pretend to be an Omega, which I hated, but had no choice in doing. It still was never enough though, I could never fully forget who I was and what had happened that fateful day, I never really did feel like I fit in around here and I couldn't stop thinking about what happened to my brother and sister and wondering where they were and if they were happily living a new life in another pack somewhere. That is why I never went to any of the moonlight howls, instead I would go to echo canyon alone and just sit there howling at the moon for all the things I lost and all the things that would never be" He finally finished, and a silence fell over the den, "you can ask me any questions and tell me how much you hate me any time now".

"So that's how you were able to pull off all of those moves I could never even dream of, let alone pull off?" Garth asked. "Yep, sure is!" Decca exclaimed, returning to his old self for just a moment. "That's awful" was all Lilly managed to say without breaking down right there. "So why are you telling us this now , what's so important about this that you're only telling us now?" Kate asked. "Well that's the bad news" Tony said , "what do you call what Humph...I mean Decca just told us?" Lilly asked astonished, "a tragic story" Winston explained. "So what's the bad news?" Garth asked, "my brother-in-law, Decca's farther, is back, he's the one that caused the stampede a week ago" Tony explained, "we can only assume that he's caught on to the fact that at least one of those that he is hunting down is hiding here and so has come to finish what he started" Winston concluded. "Wha...What are we going to do?" Lilly asked nervously, " we start preparations to defend the packs from any possible attack tomorrow, but for now just relax and enjoy the moonlight howl" Winston said. "But what about Scarl? If he's out there with unknown intent, he could hurt somebody. We should warn everyone" Garth said, "we do not know if he is still around, besides, the last thing we need is to create a pack-wide panic" Winston explained. With that everyone started to leave. Kate got up to go Decca tried talking to her but didn't get a single response, "Kate look I know you must be upset, but please try to understand that if it had been up to me, I never would have hidden the truth from you in the first place, I had no choice. Tony and Winston with some help from my dad practically forced this..." Decca started. "UPSET!" Kate shouted "upset! doesn't even begin to cover it. you lied to me for six and a half months, how else do you expect me to act. And don't even try telling me you had no choice, your secret would have been safe with me!". With that she stormed off, leaving Decca there hanging his head in shame.

Tony noticed his nephew was upset and went over to talk to him. "So, now what are you going to do?" he asked, "me? I've finally plucked up the courage to tell everyone my real story and successfully lived my life as an Omega, I don't know about you but I'm going to celebrate at the moonlight howl" Decca replied, "Still a wolf at heart I see?" Tony said, "besides, who knows Kate might show up, even if she doesn't want to see me again, I can at least try and hope for the best" Decca added, "you never give up do you" was Tony's sly comment, "nope" was Decca's simple retort.

So there we go chapter 3. Thankyou for reading this story and more will be on the way soon. until then, this is xXShadowTheWolfXx Signing off