"Now?" Humphrey asked, fear making his voice squeak, "What do you mean, now?"
"What do you think I mean by now?" Kate growled at her mate, "I mean right now!" Kate whimpered as another spasm racked her body.
"Humphrey, go speak to Winston. I will handle things here." Eve spoke calmly as to not frighten him any more than he already was.
Humphrey nodded and padded over to Winston, "Oh, my god. Not now, this can't be happening now."
"Calm down, Humphrey." Winston soothed, "Kate is a strong girl, she'll pull through. By the end of the day, you will be a father; and Kate will become the leader of the packs."
Humphrey's head shot up at this comment, "No, you can't die now. This is when Kate will need you the most. You have to be here to help her with the pups!"
"Humphrey, promise me that you will protect Kate and the pups with your life. You know what it is like to lose the one you love, but losing your pup is much worse than that. Promise me that you will protect them, my son." Winston begged.
"I will never let any harm come to them, dad." Humphrey swore with tears in his eyes.
Winston nodded, closed his eyes one last time, and passed peacefully into the next world.
Humphrey then rushed over to Kate's side, trying to help Eve in any way he could. Kate screamed as more spasms racked her body over and over again, making Humphrey feel scared and useless. Humphrey had just stepped out of the den to get some fresh air when Hutch skidded to a stop beside him.
"Humphrey, sir, there is a band of southern wolves headed straight for us. What are your orders?"
Humphrey growled with anger, "I will take our five best fighters and stop them, you stay here with the rest of the wolves and protect Kate at all costs. Tell Eve where I've gone." Hutch nodded and raced off to gather all of the pack to defend the main den...
Humphrey, Garth, and four other wolves raced to the place where Hutch's patrol party was being attacked. Humphrey's rage had continued to build until he felt nothing but blood-lust for the ones who would harm his mate and pups. His rage was such that he had run so far ahead of his patrol, they could no longer see or hear him. He leapt into the clearing and crashed into a southern wolf so hard, that it was slammed into a tree with back-breaking force. As all the wolves in the clearing froze in fear of the waves of murderous intent rolling off of Humphrey, he turned toward the southern pack, "Who wants to die next?"
The patrol party, sensing their safety, fled back to the main territory. The rest of Humphrey's patrol was still far behind him when all of the southern wolves jumped at him as one. For a moment, he was covered by a mass of fur and flesh; but he broke free and started slashing the wolves with a deadly rhythm. Humphrey had taken their numbers down to half of what they originally were before he was taken down by three southern wolves that had snuck up behind him. Noticing that he was weak now, the rest of the wolves began to close in on him; but Garth and the rest of the war patrol stopped them in their tracks. Candou helped Humphrey escape the three wolves that had ambushed him before joining the Garth looked back at Humphrey, all he saw was a bloody mass of gray fur lying on the ground. Garth ran over to him, placed Humphrey on his back, and began to run back to Eve's den...
Kate was still whimpering in agony as Garth returned to the den, carrying a heap of bloody fur. Eve snapped her head up at the scent of blood.
"What happened? Who is that, Garth?" Kate managed to whisper.
"Kate, I'm so sorry. I couldn't stop him, he just ran ahead of all of us. When we got there, he was buried under three southern wolves and surrounded by the bodies of twenty more." Garth explained.
Kate gasped, "Humphrey!" she tried to get up, but screamed at the pain.
"Kate, you must stay still. If you don't, you could kill yourself. Don't worry about Humphrey, he'll be fine." Eve tried to calm her daughter's racing mind, but only made it worse.
"What do you mean, 'Don't worry about Humphrey'? He is dying because I wasn't there to help him!" Kate shrieked.
"Kate... Eve is right, I'll be... fine. I'm just a little... tired is all." Humphrey stood up and began to limp towards his mate. He rubbed his nose against her muzzle before he fell to the ground, never to rise again.
"Nooo!" Kate screamed as she saw him die right before her eyes. She screamed again when the first pup began to emerge from her belly. Blood pumped from her body as Eve pulled the pup out of Kate's body.
"Garth, get me something to stop this bleeding. If we don't stop it soon, she might not make it." Eve ordered.
"It doesn't matter anymore, he's gone." Kate whispered solemnly.
"Just a little longer my dear, and all the pain will be washed away." the warrior spirit spoke to Kate in her mind.
Kate took a deep breath and pushed with all her might. When she opened her eyes, there were three small wolves lying beside her. Kate smiled as the world around her went dark.
"Kate, don't you dare close your eyes!" her mother ordered.
She did not heed her mother's orders this time and slowly began to pass into the void, following her beloved to the very Gates of Death...
A paw grabbed her shoulder and spun her around. It was the warrior spirit, "Kate, my dear, you have braved the ultimate sacrifices. You have proved to the council that you are worthy of their blessing."Kate made an attempt to smile at the kind spirit, but it came out as more of a scowl.
"I know that you are hurting, but soon you will be reunited with all those that you have lost."
A deep, booming voice joined in with the warrior spirit's, "It is time for you to go back, back to the beginning."
A white light enveloped Kate as she lay down to sleep. Her dreams were filled with visions of Humphrey bleeding out in front of her and of her father wasting away before her very eyes.
"Kate," they said in unison "we are so proud of you. We love you more than we could ever put into words."
Kate ran towards them, screaming their names, as they began to fade away...