Hey there! It's been way too long, but since I was on vacation for the past 2 weeks I had heaps of time to work on my chapters! At last, the next chapter is almost ready of this story and my other stories, Enjoy!

Humphrey's Pov

"Humphrey, wake up" I heard faintly as I started to wake up.

"Kate a few more minutes" I said pulling her closer to me and sniffling her pelt when a different smell hit my nose, I opened my eyes and saw Sparks in the place where Kate should have been.

"Sparks!" I said releasing him and jumping up.

"Humphrey relax, I'm sorry" he said getting up and sitting down in front of me, looking towards the ground.

"No it's okay, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have freaked out like that" I said sitting down as he started looking away.

"Uhm…I'll go for a walk, you got a little issue" he said getting up quickly and walking outside.

"Ugh…seriously" I said as I looked down myself. I walked to the back of the den and lied down putting my head on top of my paws.

Where's Kate at she should have been here but she still hasn't arrived, now I'm really starting to worry and with mating season so close I have to protect her, also I need to go and look how Garth's doing and how can I forget about Lilly, Kate must be over there comforting her sister, she must be devastated.

"Sparks!" I called as I walked outside and saw him sitting in the distance.

"Yes Humphrey?" he asked walking up to me.

"Let's go up to Winston, I'm starting to get worried over Kate she should have been back last night" I said walking towards the leader's den.

"She probably had to fall in for a sick alpha at the border" he said walking beside me.

After walking for a few in silence we arrived at the alpha's den.

"Winston, you there?" I called into the den waiting outside with Sparks but we didn't hear any motion so I started to walk inside.

"Hold it!" I hear a wolf call from behind me.

I looked back and saw Hutch coming up the slope so I walked back out and sat down next to Sparks again.

"Hutch, where's Winston?" I asked lowering my head to show respect as did Sparks.

"Humphrey, follow me" Hutch said as he started walking down the slope.

I looked at Sparks and he looked back as confused as me but we followed Hutch to where he was going to take us. After some walking we arrived at the border that separated the eastern and western packs, I spotted both alphas and Gust, the beta of Tony.

"Why are we here Hutch" I asked slowing my walking pace.

"Winston will explain it to you Humphrey" he said walking on and ushering me to following him.

"Humphrey… and Sparks, I'm glad you could make it, I did not know you would be joining us" Winston said looking at Hutch sternly only for Hutch to lower his head in apology.

"My apologies for being rude Sparks but you need to leave, Hutch will take you back" Winston said walking up to Sparks.

"No its okay Winston… I mean sir" Sparks lowered his head as he noticed his mistake.

"I'll see you in a bit Sparks" I said waving at Sparks and smiling as he waved back and started to follow Hutch.

"So Humphrey, what I called you here for" Winston said addressing me, I sat down in front of him with Tony sitting beside him and Gust sitting beside Tony.

"First I need you to promise me you will stay put despite of what I tell you" he said looking straight into my eyes, I felt something was wrong but I know Winston wouldn't get me all the way here if it wasn't for my own good, so I mentally prepared myself and nodded staring back into his eyes.

"Humphrey… Kate got injured today-" he abruptly stopped and put his paw on my shoulder staring deep into my eyes.

"Don't worry son, she's fine…but why I called you down here is cause we need to know something" he said lowering his paw and looking towards Tony.

"Humphrey, we found Kate at the hunting grounds by herself unconscious, she has some injuries but will be fine, we suspect she got attacked by a male caribou as they tend to attack if you're not with at least two wolves hunting" Tony said questioning.

"What Tony's getting to is, what was Kate doing there by herself Humphrey" Winston asked me.

"Last I can remember was at our den sir, Hutch came and said you needed to see her urgently, I haven't seen her since then" I said thinking back as hard as I could.

"And she did not tell you or indicate to something" Winston asked looking into my eyes.

"No sir, she did not or else I would have said something or talked with Kate about it" I said with my heart racing, I wanted to go to Kate so badly and ask her what she was doing there.

"Okay son, you can go and head to the healers den" he said, I gave a quick look at everyone there and nodded before getting up and running with all my might towards the healers den.

I couldn't help it but tears started escaping my eyes and got carries away with the wind as I ran frantically, avoiding a fallen tree barely on time and stumbling towards the ground as more tears escaped.

"This can't be happening, first Garth and now Kate" I got up and decided to slow my pace to a fast walk cause I always forget how clumsy I am with that cast on my paw.

I arrived at the healers den and halted in front of the entrance and stared inside only to stare at the den wall stopping myself from getting a look inside, having to see Garth and Kate lifeless on the cold floor is something I can't handle.

"You're afraid…afraid of what you might see?" I heard Janice say as she walked up next to me from behind. I nodded and kept looking ahead.

"Well let me assure you Humphrey, she's fine… come on in" Janice said walking into the den and ushering me inside.

Followed Janice inside and saw Garth lying on the left side of the den with Lilly lying down next to him, sleeping. I looked to the back and saw Kate lying on her side sleeping, my heart started racing as I took a long breath before hurrying to Kates side and nuzzled her with a tear escaping my eye.

"I'm so sorry Kate… for not being there f-for you... for being a bad mate that doesn't know what he wants… for being confused… I-I… I don't know what's wrong with me…"

I didn't have the strength to say more as I lied down next to Kate nuzzling her and crying softly.
My life was fine, no, my life was good but now I don't know why I'm feeling so distanced, alone and confused… I closed my eyes and hoped for a better day tomorrow.

The next day…

I opened my eyes and first thing I remembered was being in the healers den, I looked beside me and saw Kate still sleeping, I looked to the other side and noticed Lilly left as Garth was lying alone, still sleeping. I need to find Lilly to know what Kate was doing when she didn't come back after her urgent meeting with her dad.

"I will be back Kate" I said nuzzling her one last time before storming off towards Lilly's den.

As I passed by the feeding grounds I noticed Lilly walking towards the den area.

"Lilly! Hold up!" I yelled as she looked back and noticed me.

"Yes, Humphrey?" she said quietly.

"Hey, you doing okay?" I said as I sat down close to her.

"How do you feel… with Kate being in there now…" she said slowly, I think I see tears forming in her eyes as she looks down to the ground.

"To be honest Lilly…I feel miserable, I feel like a failure for not being there for Kate or Garth, I blame myself for all of this, if I wasn't there…none of this would have happened… I-I… I should be there in G-garth's place-" I said with tears forming in my eyes.

"NO! Don't say that Humphrey, I don't blame you for what happened to Garth…I know Garth, he'd risk his life for anyone in this pack. I'm angry at him for always risking his life but most important of all, I'm proud of him, putting others before him is not what you see every day" she said sternly and proudly.

"You're right Lilly, thank you" I said moving forward and hugging her tightly with her doing the same as tears flowed down our muzzles.

"And why was Kate in the healers den?" she asked as she sat back down from our hug.

"That's what I came to ask… do you know where Kate was last night?".

"Kate stayed the night with me, when I woke up this morning she was gone" she said which made me wonder what got into Kate to go hunting alone.

"She didn't mention anything the night before about what she was going to do?".

"Well, she did say she was looking into the caribou incident because she felt like it didn't make sense" she said, how couldn't it make sense?

"But the caribou that escaped probably startled the others and together with the growling going on it seems like we were unlucky they decided to make a run but to be honest I never stood still on that thought much as stampedes occur every so often during hunts" I said shrugging my shoulders.

"Same here Humphrey but Kate wanted to look into it, probably to find a way to prevent them in the future? I'm not sure" Lilly shrugged her shoulders.

"Okay, thank you Lilly, if you need anything let me know, I'm here for you" I said as I hugged her tightly.

"Same Humphrey, see you later" she said with a warm smile as she pulled back and headed back to wherever she was going.

I need to know what Kate was doing at the hunting grounds by herself and what she is on to, I can't go there alone or I'll end up as Kate or worse…I could ask Sparks and since he's an alpha he could help me find whatever I'm looking for.

Humphrey is on a quest for answers it seems, we'll see how that goes. Let me know what you thought of the chapter and see you in the next one!