Chapter 3: THE SHADOW OF THE PAST
Okay quick authors; note I wrote this while listening to "man in black" by Johnny cash during some parts and "boulevard of broken dreams" by green-day for others. Which I think influenced my writing a lot in this chapter so I recommend listening to them while reading.
Also I dedicate this chapter to my grandfather who lived his life by the edicts of "man in black" till the day he died. R.I.P. Grandpa.
"The lone wolf"=speech
'The dire warrior'=thought
It was early morning, so early that the sun hadn't even begun to crest the horizon. The wolves and other creatures of the forest-valley were all still asleep, except for Decca that was. He was up, still, just trying to figure out the best way to tell everyone that he had been lying to them for their entire lives.
'This isn't going to be easy.' he thought.' How do you tell your best friends that you're not actually their best friend? Oh, hi everyone, by the way I've been lying to you for eleven years and you really know nothing about me, only my disguise. But it's okay cuz' I'm gonna tell you why. Seriously this sucks'he inhaled deeply and let it out in a long drawn-out sigh. 'Might as well get it over with.' he slowly made his way back to his den from where he was in echo canyon but stopped when he heard howling in the distance.' I almost forgot tomorrow is the moon light howl' he mused as he gazed upon the moon, the scenery and finally howling-peak, the place where the event was held every month. He sat there staring at the moon, just wondering what it would be like to actually go to one. He had never gone before simply because he had no one to go with. 'I wonder what it would be like to howl with Kate'(A/N: in my story he has never participated in a howl or howled with Kate on the way back. don't like it? Well tough sh!t.)
Kate:pov; The sun had finally risen and the wolves started to wake, another peaceful morning, but not like any other. Today there was an emergency meeting of the pack leaders, herself, Garth and therefore Lilly, and strangely enough...Humphrey. 'Why is he supposed to show up he's an Omega. I mean sure, so is Lilly, technically, but she mated with Garth which makes her an Alpha. Or at least entitled to the same things as an Alpha' Kate thought. Maybe when this meeting was over she would tell him how she felt. She never got a chance to in the week since the day she was supposed to marry Garth because he had 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 sleep so they decided to simple stay where they were. He was finally heading home at last and arrived late the night before. She couldn't wait to finally see him again.
Humphrey awoke sometime after dawn to a light, cool breeze drifting over him. He was still half asleep when he remembered he had to attend the meeting.'And tell everybody the truth' he thought. He looked up at the sky and could tell it was just a little before noon. 'I still have a bit before I go maybe I'll get this dust out of my coat.' He had to give Winston credit, telling him to use crushed up gray rocks to turn his coat from black to a silver-ish gray was in-genius. He started towards the river, slowly at first, until he looked at the sun again.'Crap!' he thought.'It's later than I thought!' He raced towards the river and immediately jumped right in. 'At least the water isn't that cold.' Soon he was clean as ever, finally getting to remove this stupid dust that had been there since he was five.' Ugh, finally! It's been forever since I had a clean coat. I wonder what they'll think of me when the see what my fur actually looks like.' As he got out of the river he shook his fur to get any excess water out, leaving his coat a shiny black on top and storm cloud gray underneath then proceeded up the mountain to where the alpha caves were. On his way he was stopped by a Beta.
"What do you think you're doing up here, o- what rank are you? I have never seen a wolf with black fur before." the Beta asked.
"That doesn't matter, I'm here because I have things to discuss with Winston" Decca (Humphrey) replied
"You, what would Winston want with you. I bet you're lower than an Omega, aren't you!" he yelled
"That's enough, John." a voice from behind him said. "What this wolf says is true, I do have things to discuss with him. It's good to finally see you again, Decca." Winston explained
"You too, Winston" he replied.
"Let's get going you have a lot to explain, especially to Kate."
"Don't remind me." he said causing Winston to laugh. As they neared the entrance to the large cave that served as the pack leaders den. He could here Winston whisper to him
"Good luck, kid!"
'Well, here goes nothing.' Humphrey thought . As he made his way to the others.
Kate and the others had been assembled and waiting for almost half an hour already. Her dad had gone to go get Humphrey while they waited. 'That's strange what could be so important that my dad would need to go get him for. I mean he's an Omega, if there's something important to say he should say it before Humphrey gets here.' she thought. They waited another ten minutes or so before anyone could be seen near the entrance, but what they saw shocked all of them. There standing alongside her father was a pitch black wolf that looked just like Humphrey .
Humphrey walked into the den and slowly made his way over to where the others were gathered. He could tell they were all surprised, every one of them, from the shock-and-awe expressions on each of their faces, except for tony that was. He had on just a regular old smile, which quickly turned into a smug smirk when Humphrey sat down next to him.
"Hello, everyone." he said.
A small "Hi." was all they could manage at the time. Garth was the first one to get a hold of himself.
"Is that really you, Humphrey?" he asked. "Yes and no." was all he got as a reply. 'Wow! He looks amazing!' Kate and Lilly both thought.
'I never knew an Omega could look so hot! No he's not an Omega he's an Omega!'Kate thought with a blush.
"So what did you call us here for, dad?" Lilly asked.
"Actually it wasn't me, it was Humphrey."
"Him? He's just an Omega, how does he have the right to call an Alpha's council meeting?" Garth asked.
"Now Garth, that's no way to talk to your cousin. Especially when he out ranks you." tony spoke up
"Out ranks me? He is an Omega, o-m-e-g-a, omega! How does he out rank me?" Garth exclaimed. "I'm an alpha!"
"Simple, I'm not an Omega I'm a Zeta." Humphrey replied
"What the hell is a Zeta?" Kate asked "I thought there were only three ranks. Omega, Beta and Alpha."
"There are only three." Humphrey said.
"That's it! I have had enough of you and your silent 'I'm only gonna tell you the minimum' crap! I have never known you to be this somber and reclusive and-and- and not Humphrey like! I'm sick of it! Quite pretending!" Kate screamed.
Humphrey just looks at Winston as if asking a silent question. "Go ahead, Decca, tell them your story, all of It." he said.
Decca nods and turns back to the others. "If you want answers then you must listen to me, no interrupting, and no questions no nothing. I'll explain as much as I can to the best of my knowledge. Agreed?"
"We already know everything there is to know about you Humphrey." Kate said
"No, you don't, there's a lot you don't know about me, Kate"
"What are you talking about, I've known you for years"
"No, you just know who I've been pretending to be."
"Fine." they all said.
Decca inhaled and let it out in a long sigh. "Where to begin?"
"I am a Zeta, faster, stronger and more attuned to my surroundings than an Alpha. However, because of how much power we represented to wolves, we decided it best that we not rule the packs; that the Alphas rule instead. We then became a sort of 'black ops' among the packs, ferreting out spies from other packs, fulfilling assassinations in the dead of night and, most importantly, we were the packs primary military force. Any one of us would be able to take on a bear and win but only three have ever been able to take on a grizzly before and walk away. One of them was the founder, another was my father and the last one is...me. Before you say anything, Kate, yes, I would have been able to take on those bears we ran into trying to get back. That would have meant my cover would have been blown though, I couldn't let that happen. The Zetas trained their pups from the moment they could walk how to fight, and I was the best they had ever seen. But I never got to finish my training...because my father killed each and every member of our clan(A/N clan=rank) including my siblings, friends and even my own mother. And he made me watch, said he wanted to show me what the horrors of the real world were. And they were. They were the worst things I had ever seen. After he had killed the last Zeta he ran, he ran and ran and ran. Just trying to escape. It was then that Tony found me, at the time I only knew him as my uncle so I was still unsure. I was five, five years old and my entire world was taken from me. It was then that tony gave me a 'mission', my mission was to go live in the western pack as an Omega. It was already agreed upon by Winston after hearing what my father did to me and my clan. I was to live the rest of my life as an Omega, put on a cheery face every day, take every body insults and just deal with it. Then it just so happened that I met you, Kate and you ,Lilly along with salty, shaky and mooch. I no longer had to pretend to put on a smile though I did still pretend to be an omega. It still never enough though, I could never fully forget who I was. This is why I never went to any of the moonlight howls. Instead I would go over to echo canyon and just howl at the moon by myself of all the things I lost and all the things that would never be." he finally finished. "Any questions?"
"So that's it. That's how you were able to pull all those moves that I could never even dream of just to get to Kate." Garth realized.
"Yep, sure is!" Decca exclaimed, returning to his old self for just a moment
"So sad..." was all Lily managed to say without breaking down right there.
"So why are you telling us this now? What's so important about this?" Kate asked
"Well that's the bad news" Tony said.
"Then what do you call all that he just said?" Lilly asked, astonished.
"A tragic story" Winston explained.
"So what's the bad news?" Garth asked
"My brother, Decca's father, is back, he's the one who caused the stampede a week ago." the room fell silent.
"We'll start preparations tomorrow for now everyone is to relax and enjoy the moonlight howl tonight."
With that everyone started to leave. As Kate got up to go Decca tried talking to her but got not a single response.
"Kate, look, I know you must be upset, but-"
"Of course I'm upset, you've been lying to me for eleven years! How else do you expect me to act, you asshole!" with that she stormed off leaving Decca there hanging his head.
"So now what are we gonna do?" Tony asked
"Me? I've just completed my first mission! 'Successfully live your life as an Omega!' I don't know about you but I'm going to go celebrate at the moonlight howl!" he replied.
"Still an Omega at heart I see."
"Besides, who knows, Kate might show up." Decca added.
"You never give up do you?" was Tony's sly comment."
"Nope!" was his simple retort.
Wow! 142 lines and 2197 words that's the longest yet! Stay tuned next time for "the moonlight howl!"
Also check out my poll on my profile! Please review! Also huge thanks to my beta, IanTheShaff!
