Humphrey's POV
I awoke in my den from the bright beam of sunlight that had managed to shine its way into my den. I squinted my eyes as I looked at it before rolling over to face away from it. I found Kate sleeping next to me with her back up against mine, I quickly recalled the events of last night. Proposing to her under the full moon with all of her beauty above me was amazing, and of course she said yes. Meaning we would soon be married and ready for a future together. Thankfully all the major problems that arose during the past week are now all resolved and life has resumed to normal. My life couldn't be any better right now, I got the one thing I desired most and that was Kate. The sunlight in the room suddenly vanished, I looked outside to see a clouds rolling by blocking the sun. From the way things looked it might possibly rain today, I loved the rain. I stretched out my back and legs before getting up, I wasn't sure if there was anything planned to do today. Kate might have alpha duties or she could be training me, I decided to wake her up to start our day. It had to be at least mid-morning considering how late we were up last night.
"Hey, Kate wake up" I said softly pushing my paw on her shoulder to rock her awake. Her eyes flashed open to look up at me "Hello sleeping beauty" I said smiling. She giggled before rolling over to face me "Good morning Humphrey" She replied giving a smile as well. She then looked around me to see that it was daytime outside "How late did we sleep in?" She asked. "Well I haven't been outside yet but it looks like its mid-morning maybe." I said looking outside from where I sat. "Why, did you have alpha duties?" I asked looking back at her "Not at all, but I do tomorrow" She said getting up and giving me a good morning kiss. She let out a relieving sight before sitting next to me "Just think, soon we will be married and then who knows what happens next." She said "Yeah, I'm excited" I agreed "Me too" She said.
We sat there for a short while, I was sure she was still trying to wake up before we would head outside to see what was happening today. "Do you want to go talk to your parents about planning our marriage?" I asked. "That's a great idea, hopefully it can be in the next few days." She said. We got up and walked out of our den before heading in the direction of her parents den, well actually our parents den, I keep forgetting that. I didn't see much activity from the pack as we walked, it seemed like everyone was still asleep while some alphas were out hunting early. Upon arrival to the head alpha's den we found Winston and Eve sharing the leg of a caribou for breakfast. "Hello mom and dad" Kate said was we walked inside, they looked up at us "Hello you two" Eve said while Winston resumed eating. "What brings you here?" She asked as we sat across from them. "Well Humphrey and I are engaged now" Kate said happily putting her paw on mine while she said it. "That's great! When's the wedding?" Eve asked, Winston reminded silent but had a smile on his face telling me he was glad as well. "That's what we came to talk to you about" I said "Yes, we came to see what day works best. Preferably in the next few days." Kate added.
"Any day works Kate, all I have to do is cancel alpha duties for everyone which is no problem. We got enough food as it is for now." Winston said "Okay, well" She began before looking at me "You pick" I thought about and decided that it would be nice to keep a space between the previous wedding and ours. Just so everyone could recover from the crazy party of last night "How about in two days" I suggested. "That's perfect" She agreed "Alright I'll hold a meeting later this afternoon and tell everyone there's no alpha duties that day due to your wedding." Winston said. "Great" I said glad that it would happen much sooner than I thought "Until then, Kate you have no alpha duties until next week." He said. "What are you sure?" She asked surprised that her dad would do that "Yes, you can spend more time with Humphrey since you're both getting married. I do this for all the other couples as well, mostly alphas." He said. This was another example of why Winston was such a well-loved pack leader.
"Thanks so much dad!" She said excited about spending more time with me and not having to hunt or patrol. I too was excited, even spending just a minute with her was great in my book. He laughed from her reaction "Go on you two have fun, I'll signal you when the meeting is going to begin" He said. We said our goodbye before exiting the den, I was wondering what we could do to pass the time since the afternoon was many hours away. I thought about playing some games but I wasn't really in the mood, this was odd since I was always in the mood for fun. "So what do you want to do today" I asked Kate as we walked past the feeding grounds. She thought for a moment before speaking "How about we go explore the eastern territory?" She suggested. That did sound like fun, it would be interesting to see what it was like over there. "That sounds like fun" I said.
"Awesome, let's do it" She said before changing our direction towards the old eastern border. The territories had combined to become a much larger one, in fact it doubled in size from what I heard. The eastern territory covered the opposite side of the valley before ending at the base of the distant mountains. There was the great possibility of finding something amazing and new in that area. The sound of the tall waterfall could be heard as we neared the small river. We crossed the river and were now in what used to be the eastern territory. "I wonder what kind of cool things we will find in here." I commented as the two of us passed under the tall pine trees. "I'm not sure, but that's what exploring is all about, not knowing what's around the next corner." She said.
"Yeah remember we're Kate and Humphrey world adventures!" I said in an announcing kind of tone, "That's right!" She replied laughing. So far nothing out of the ordinary had made itself visible to us, just natural forest. I knew from reference that the eastern packs den grounds were in the center of their territory, much like how the western's was. And we were heading straight towards it since I could smell the scents of other wolves get stronger. Some time passed until we came up on a clearing full of tall grass, within this clearing was the dens that made up the eastern pack. It was perched upon the top of a small mountain overlooking the valley and the rest of the territory. We walked our way around since we didn't see the need to get any closer. I could see a few wolves around, most having a piece of meat which they were eating. After completing a half circle around the edge of the meadow we continued eastward toward the growing mountains. They were snow covered and served as an amazing background when looking at them from the valley.
Many clouds were hanging along the slopes slowly moving. They were all a shade of grey, a sign that it might possibly rain later today if they pass over us. So far it did look that way which made me excited since I loved the rain, but lightning and thunder not so much. We came up the too top of another small mountain and we stopped to take a break. Looking behind us I could see that we were now above the eastern den grounds and had a much better view of the valley. I could even see all of the western territory as well "Wow you can see everything from up here" Kate commented "Yeah I can even see our den" I said leaning closer to her and pointing to it with my forepaw. "Your right, wow we got pretty far from there." She said, it had been well over two hours since we left from our parents den. "Too bad there hasn't been anything cool we've found yet." I said "You know that now you said that we are going to find something" She said looking at me. "I hope so" I said
"Perhaps if we could ask Garth when we get back home" She suggested "Yeah that way we don't have to wander around this whole place" I agreed. Ten minutes passed before we got up from our spot to continue up will to reach the end of the territory. It couldn't be much farther because the trees were beginning to thin out as the ground became rockier. Suddenly we came up on another clearing and found something that was actually interesting. We stopped at the sight of a dark opening much like a dens. However this was not a den, I had never seen anything like it but I was told before that it was called a cave. "See now what did I tell you! I knew we would find something" She said. "Yeah, who knew it would be a cave, come on let's check it out" I said walking ahead toward the dark entrance.
My curiosity had taken over, I was determined to see what a cave looked like. I already had a general idea of what it would be like but lacked the physical factor of seeing one in person. Kate walked close by my side seeming just as interested in it as I was. Walking through the entrance the amount of light began to diminish until we could only barely see what lie ahead. The ground was soft dirt that was nice to walk on, I expected it to be mostly rock. The walls were a dark grey giving me a feeling of isolation from the outside world. I noticed that there were flowers that lined the wall which seemed very odd. "What's with the flowers?" I asked, there were all picked from the ground so they couldn't of just grown there. "I'm not sure" She said "You don't think this is some sort of burial ground do you?" I asked. It seemed like the only explanation since most wolves had some flowers placed on top of their graves by loved ones. "A cave seems like the most unusual spot for graves to be" She said. "Yeah maybe so" I replied continuing deeper into the cave. I could suddenly see what seemed like daylight along the cave walls, it seemed to be around the next bend. We rounded the corner and what I saw was just amazing, a pond of water glistened from the sunlight that was shining through a large hole in the top of the cave. We had stopped in the entrance of the large room, both taken aback by the sight. There was a mix of grass and moss growing on the ground and walls. There was also an assortment of flowers as well "Wow" We ended up saying at nearly the same time.
"This defiantly isn't a burial ground" I said "It looks more like a place to swim in seclusion" She said. A rock jetted out into the pond much like a platform, I could see that the cave continued further on the other side of the water. I stopped on top of the rock and looked all-round the room, gazing at its beauty. Pine trees grew overhead and their roots could be seen coming through the roof around the skylight. I looked over alongside the pond to see Kate walking along a small ledge just above the water. It looked like it led all the way around before turning to head deeper into the cave. "This is just amazing!" I explained, my voice echoing off the dart grey stone walls. "Yeah, I can't believe I've never heard of this place." She agreed "Might be because it's kept a secret" I said, there was a swimming pond back in the western territory that was only known by a few. Kate and I knew about it since we found it upon accident while playing tag as pups. "Possibly, much like our own swimming hole" She said continuing along the thin ledge.
"Be careful, it doesn't look like a very sturdy path" I said watching her concerned that she might slip and fall down into the water. "Relax, what's the worst that can happen" She replied stopping to look across the pond at me. As if on command the path on which she stood began to slide down with her going along with it. She yelled out in surprise before making a big splash into the water. I immediately reacted by jumping into the water and swimming towards where she landed. A moment later she resurfaced laughing, I slowed down my mad rush of swimming over to her after seeing that she was laughing about it. "Looks like I jinxed it" She said as we met in the center of the pond. "You had me worried for a minute there" I said "You got nothing to be worried about, I don't put myself in danger on purpose." She said looking at me. "And who had to save you from that flash flood?" I questioned. "Alright good point, but that was only because I was mad at you for losing our ride." She said.
Surprisingly the water was fairly warm and felt very soothing "Perhaps it was fate, because if we didn't lose the ride in that car we probably wouldn't be where we are now." I said "That is true, and I'm glad it did happen because we wouldn't be together like we are now." She said bringing her face up close to mine. I couldn't help but laugh before our noses touched, I embrace her in the water as our kiss continued. We pulled away after a short but satisfying while, I continued to hold her as we floated in the calm water. She had a smile on her face "What?" I asked after watching her looking back into my eyes, not that it was a bad thing. "Nothing..." She said innocently before she quickly jumped up pushing me under the water. I resurfaced and saw her laughing next to me "Oh so it's a water fight eh?" I said pushing a wave of water over her. Her laughing stopped as she got drenched from the water. Before I knew it a wall of water was heading straight at me. We were both laughing now as we splashed and playfully pushed each other around in the water. This continued for severely minutes which only felt like seconds from the fun I was having. "Alright do we have a truce?" She asked after I sprayed her with yet another splash of water from my forearm. "Yes" I said letting my guard down only to be splashed by her. Just as I was about to splash back she shook her head "I don't think so, you agreed to a truce" She said sporting a smile. "No fair!" I said laughing her joining as well.
We swam over to the shore of the pond and got out of the water. I shook myself off getting rid of all the water as did she but she began to laugh looking at me. "What?" I asked not knowing what she could be laughing it this time. "Your fur, it's so fluffy" She said making me look at myself only to see that all of my fur was standing on end. I laughed as well before trying to flatten it all with my paws "Here hold still, let me help you with that" I heard her say before walking up next to me. I just sat in place as she sat behind me and pushed down my fur with her paws. This worked much better than I could ever do on my own. "Thank you" I said after she had finished turning my back to normal. "Anytime, but you did look very cute with your hair like that" She said happily as I turned around to face her. I smiled from her compliment and have her a quick kiss as a thank you. "I love you" I said " I love you two" She replied back "Come on, I'm sure the meeting will be starting when we get back home" She said getting up "Alright" I said before following her out of the cave still amazed about finding it.
A/N: Two more chapters to go!