Hey guys I'm back and I know I promised I would get this chapter out sooner, but I had problems with the first version of this chapter and had to re-write it. Anyway, it is here now, enjoy.
Chapter 10: the first sparks of friendship
It was very late when Lilly made it home, as she entered the den she found Tony and Garth in conversation with Winston, she had not seen Garth since the wedding and seeing him again brought back all the sadness and the heartbreak then she reminded herself the promise she had made to get over it. The others turned round and noticed her, "We will finish this talk later" Winston said before Tony strode past Lilly and out of the den with Garth in tow, he seemed very angry about something. "What was that about?" Lilly asked "my goodness, where have you been?" Eve asked, Lilly wasn't sure whether to lie or tell the truth, surely she could trust her own parents, right? She decided to tell the truth "oh...um I was just playing with Humphrey", Winston raised his eyebrows as if he knew something, yet said nothing, "So what did Tony and Garth want?" Lilly asked, "Oh they just wanted to discuss things with us, nothing you should be worried about though" Lilly decided that now was probably the best time to tell her parents about what she had been thinking of on the way to the den "dad, when I was playing with Humphrey today he talked about taking a break from the pack and doing some travelling for a while and he asked me if I wanted to go with him", both Winston and Eve looked at each other and sighed, "We both knew that it would only be a matter of time before one of our daughters wanted to see the world beyond the pack boarders, very well, we shall discuss this more tomorrow" Winston said as he led down. When Lilly woke up the next morning, she found both of her parents had gone and there was a note scribbled into the floor of the den near her was a note which read "Me and your mother have just gone to visit an old friend of ours who has finally returned to Jasper after all these years"
**10 minutes earlier**
The early morning sun streamed into the den where a black furred wolf was sleeping. Humphrey groaned, opened his eyes and quickly shut them again as the bright sunlight slammed into them, after a while he got used to the bright light and pulled himself to his paws. He began wondering if Lilly had thought about his offer yet, he knew that she needed a break away from Kate and Garth as much as he did. Ah Lilly, he started thinking about the events that had led to his first meeting with the beautiful white wolf and her tan furred sister.
**Flashback, Humphrey's POV**
I woke up and opened my eyes but quickly shut them again as a blinding light shone into them. My body felt sore all over, especially on my back so that meant I wasn't dead, so where was I then and how had I survived?. I blinked quickly a few times to get used to the light before keeping them open and taking a quick look around, I was surrounded on two sides by stone and the light was coming from a gap directly in front of me, well it was obvious that I was in a den, half of me hoped that somehow Felix had found me and brought me back to his den, but this den didn't smell like Felix. Ignoring the pain tried to get up and take a look around but a paw gently landed on my lower back and carefully forced me back down "whoa there little one, I've just put a fresh mixture of herbs and leaves on the wound to help it heal, you must rest and regain your strength, I'm lucky I found you when I did" a caring feminine voice rang out from behind me and a tan furred female wolf stepped round from behind me, "Winston, he's awake, you may come and see him now" she called, there was a soft patter of paws as a male wolf with fur that was black mixed with several different shades of grey stepped into the den and sat beside the tan furred wolf. "greetings, I am Winston, pack leader of the Western pack and this is my mate Eve, she found you on the northern border of our pack and as she tells me, just in the nick of time too. Now might I inquire your name?" The grey wolf introduced himself, I was always good at reading other wolves from the way they acted or spoke and I could tell that both of these wolves meant me no harm and just wanted to help me, so I decided there was no harm in telling them my name. "hmm, Humphrey eh, that's a nice name" Winston said, "so, how did you end up out here alone and with injuries like this" Eve asked, well I decided that the best idea was just to tell them and I started to tell them what had happened, when I had finished the two adult wolves sat in silence before Eve broke it. "Poor thing, do you know where the wolves that did this to you are so I can go and rip their tails off and beat them to death with them in person?" Eve said in an overly-friendly voice to hide the hint of anger as she spoke, none of which was directed at me. "Eve that's enough of that, he's too young. Can I discuss something outside with you?" Winston scolded as he moved to the entrance of the den, "of course" Eve answered as she followed behind him.
The two wolves sat down at the entrance of the den and began whispering to each other, I knew I shouldn't, but I was curious so I shuffled forward so that I could listen in on their conversation. "We can't just keep him hidden away up here all his life, he needs to be able to interact with others of his age" Eve whispered, "I know, but you know as well as I do what the Eastern pack would do if they got word of him and what Tony would do to him if he ever found him here, especially with him being a pup" Winston replied. I suspected that by him they were referring to me, but who was this Tony and what would he do if he knew I was here, I had sickening feeling that it definitely wouldn't be saying hi or asking to play tag. "So what does happen to him?" Eve asked with concern evident in her voice. Winston looked back at me for a second and I pretended to be asleep, "hmmm, wait, I think I have an idea" I heard Winston whisper to Eve.
**Time skip two weeks**
I had to give Winston credit, his idea was quite cunning, now that I had healed and I was back to full streangth, I was to use dust and mud to disguise my fur as the typical Western pack grey and become simply another orphaned Omega pup living in the pack, no one would suspect a thing. I disliked the idea of having to to be an Omega, of having lots of restrictions placed on who I could befriend and what I could do, but unfortunately Winston told me that the same pack law that put all kinds of restrictions on omegas also prevented outsiders from becoming anything but omegas, which was a terrible rule and completely unfair. Winston and Eve though had both been very kind and caring towards me, especially Eve who sometimes stayed with me the entire night and always made sure that I had a warm and dry place to sleep for when it got especially cold. She told me that her and Winston had two beautiful pups, she also told me that she was very worried when she found me as she didn't know whether or not I would survive the night and that for while it looked like I wouldn't. Today Eve and Winston were taking me to meet the rest of the pack, I was really nervous, what if they didn't accept me? What if they just discarded me like everyone else?
**POV End**
Winston and Eve brought Humphrey down to the feeding grounds where lots of other wolves were roaming around. "Now you wait right there, we'll just go and get our daughters." Winston instructed to Humphrey as the two adult wolves headed up a slope on the opposite side. Humphrey hadn't been sitting there long when he heard a harsh voice behind him "you lost your mum little runt?", he turned to find that the voice belonged to another pup of about the same age but half his height backed up by two other pups, "oh wait, I bet your parents abandoned you because you're a useless, pathetic Omega runt right?" the pup continued. Normally Humphrey wouldn't react, but he was sick of being treated this way, "if I was that small pal, I wouldn't go barking the wrong way up the food chain" he retorted, he knew as soon as he said that, that he had struck a nerve. The smaller pup twitched and then launched into a frenzy, "you better take that back or have some muscle to back up your mouth outcast". In response, Humphrey lunged at the pup and managed to pin him, "retreat!" the two other pups screamed as they ran away instead of helping their leader, this distracted Humphrey enough that the smaller pup was able to throw him off. Both pups got up, stared at each other and prepared to attack again, before they could, both wolves were picked up by the scruff of the neck and a adult male wolf with black stripes under his eyes who Humphrey knew as Hutch walked up to them. "Cando, how many times? We've told you, stop picking fights with everyone you meet" he said to the smaller pup who looked down at the ground. The wolf then turned to Humphrey, "I apologise for him, he does that with everybody, however this isn't a very good start to life in a new pack is it?" Hutch asked, Humphrey reluctantly agreed, "okay, off you go Humphrey, just try and stay out of any more mischief today please" Hutch continued.
Eve and Winston were bringing their daughters Kate and Lilly down to the feeding grounds, both of whom were very excited, especially since their parents had told them there was a new pup they could play with. "Listen...This pup has suffered more than either of you two could imagine, just be gentle with him...Ok?" Eve said, "we promise" the two pups replied. Once at the feeding grounds Kate and Lilly ran off to try and find someone to play with. They headed towards the lake that was the usual hangout for the pups. When they got there, they found it busy with adult wolves and a few pups following their parents around, Kate and Lilly couldn't see any of their friends though, but they did see a pup of about the same age sitting by the water's edge staring at the ground as if he had found an exceptionally interesting piece of dirt. "he looks lonely" Lilly observed, "so, let's go and ask him to play with us" Kate said, dragging her younger sibling behind her. Humphrey heard the sound of paw steps behind him, "great, some more wolves come to pick on me" he thought, not that he cared anymore, so he was shocked when one of them spoke up. "Hello, what's your name? I'm Kate and this is my sister Lilly" a voice from behind Humphrey said, he turned around to find two beautiful (was that the right word to use?) pups. Humphrey stuttered, he wasn't used to talking with others of his own age "my...my name is um...Humphrey" he said, mentally cursing himself for stumbling in front of these two potential new friends (yep, despite everything he had been through so far, he still believed he could make friends without them being torn from him). "Humphrey? awww, that's a cute name. Do you want to play with us?". Humphrey was surprised that they asked but quickly regained his composure, "sure, so what did you have in mind?" Humphrey asked.
**Time skip 5 minutes**
Humphrey was wishing he hadn't asked, the girls' idea of fun consisted of chasing him all over the forest. Luckily it looked like he had managed to lose them, then something hard impacted his side. Humphrey closed his eyes as he hit the ground and rolled several times along with whatever impacted him. When he opened them again, he found himself staring down at Lilly with their noses touching, who groaned and slowly opened her eyes, Humphrey found himself captivated by their beauty, the two pups heard giggling coming from the side of them and they looked over to find Kate in hysterics, Humphrey and Lilly blushed and both untangled themselves.
**Flashback end**
Humphrey chuckled to himself at the memory, however his reminiscing was brought to an abrupt end by the sound of paws outside his den. Humphrey got up into a defensive stance just as Winston entered the den. "Oh Winston, it's you, tell me, what brings the leader of the Western pack all the way out here?" Humphrey asked, sitting down. "Did you really think we would let you leave without saying goodbye?" Eve said, walking in with Hutch just behind her. "So Lilly told you then?" Humphrey asked. "Yes she did, also I know everything that goes on in my territory including the little chase yesterday, you caused quite a stir amongst the eastern pack, I only just managed to stop Tony and Garth from sending out parties to search the whole territory and hunt you down." Winston replied. "And I'm guessing that Tony and Garth are the ones who should be more glad that you did" Humphrey commented, almost reading Winston's mind. Winston, Humphrey and Hutch all chuckled before Winston spoke again, "Humphrey, we're all glad that we could watch you grow up into the fine young wolf that you have become. Lilly really does like you, I think deep down she always has and I know you have a soft spot for Lilly". Humphrey nodded nervously, not quite sure where Winston was going with this or what exactly Eve would do, "Listen, Lilly told us you were going travelling for a while and asked us if she could join you. Personally there is no one I would rather trust with the safety our daughter and I feel that both of you could use a break, just make sure to keep her safe and visit from time to time. Ok?" Winston continued. "Thank you sir, I won't let you down, I'll guard Lilly with my life if need be" Humphrey said. "it's okay, just make sure you don't go causing any more trouble with the Eastern wolves before you go" Winston chuckled, "Hey, I didn't even hurt a single one, I think I at least deserve praise for that much" Humphrey joked
Well, that's all for chapter 10. This is xXShadowTheWolfXx signing off.