Humphrey's POV
The cold air blew against me as I walked away from my den and towards the stream to get some water since my mouth was dry. It felt ghostly out here with the low hanging clouds, leafless trees, and snow on the ground. Only the evergreen pine trees showed color against the pure shades of white and grey that surrounded me. The only sound I could hear was my own breath and my paws crunching down on the soft snow. No birds were out singing for they either went into hiding to keep warm or left this place to come back in the spring. Winter was a good time for those just looking for some peace and quiet, because it was all around them.
As I approached the bank of the small stream I found that someone else was also here, in fact they looked just like me almost. Of course it was my brother who I was surprised to see up this early, the sun had barely just come up by the time I left my den a few minutes prior.
"Good morning Leo" I greeted joining next to him before taking a drink.
"Good morning Humphrey" He greeted back as I drank for a few moments.
"So what brings you here so early?" He asked as I lifted y head back up and sat next to him.
"Just woke up thirsty and came to get some water" I replied "How about you"
"The same reason" He replied
I nodded my head "How'd you sleep last night?" I asked making small talk
"Fine, it's much colder here then it is back at home" He said
"Yeah we had a good storm to by a little while ago and threw up into winter real quick." I agreed "I take it winters with your pack are warmer then this?"
"Not really, we get snow as well but it tends to come later in the season." He replied
"Ah I see, so where do you live?" I asked deciding that now would be a good time to catch up with him. I had no alpha duties today which was nice and meant I could spend more time with family.
"Our pack is called the Hamber Pack because we live in a place called Hamber Park, its a few days walk south of here and somewhat looks the same as Jasper. The pack has around twenty wolves in it including me so you could say it's pretty good in size." He replied
"Very nice, do you have a mate, girlfriend, or someone you're interested in?" I asked wondering
"Oh no, I haven't really been looking for someone yet" He replied sounding a little caught off guard.
"That's fine, you got plenty of time ahead of your for that" I said
"Yeah, I'm just not ready you know?" He said looking at me
"Oh yeah I know, I've been in that spot before when it came to starting a family. Give it time and I'm sure it'll start to grow on you and who knows, you could meet 'the one' before you even know it." I said
"Thanks man" He replied
"So you've heard what I've done since I last saw mom and dad, what did you do during their absence?" I asked
"Well I'm only an omega like you once were so I mostly just laid around and helped with what I can in the role or my rank. I have two friends who I spent a lot of time with just talking, making jokes, playing games, and helping each other out. We're all pretty close since we've known each other since pups, they both have girlfriends already but as you know I'm not ready for that kind of stuff yet." He replied
"Sounds a lot like my three omega friends that I've known since my first days here." I said seeing the similarity.
"Cool, but yeah I haven't been doing as much as you have in life however I'm enjoying the time I've spent being an omega." He finished. I thought he would have had a lot more to share but he was just living the normal omega life. Spend time with friends and yourself, and having nothing in the world to worry about other than keeping wolves from fighting within a pack.
"Hey my life was like that too until Kate and I got wolfnapped to Idaho." I said
"Do you still hang out with your omega friends now that you're an alpha?" He asked, I was guessing that his pack still held the alpha over omega law so he must have thought it was kind of the same over here even though the law was gone.
"Of course! It isn't as much as it used to be but I spend a good amount of time with them every week." I replied
"That's good, I thought being an alpha you were busy working all the time." He said
"Not really, due to the amount of wolves in our pack their isn't much of a demand for alphas, so I have every other day off including today." I replied
"Huh that is nice, over at my pack most alphas have some sort of work to do each day, but for you it makes sence cause you have a mate to look after now since you're expecting pups." He said
"Yup, that's one of the reasons I became and alpha in the first place. So that I could provide for not only her but also our pups, not to mention I've always been interested in hunting." I said
"You must really love her don't you?" He asked after hearing that I would go through all of that for her.
"With all my heart" I answered smiling
"Man I hope one day when I'm ready I will find a love like that" He said looking up at the cloudy sky as if he was day dreaming.
"We all find someone special in or lives including you, just some people find them earlier than others." I said looking up as well
He silently nodded his head before continuing to look up above, I lowered my head and drank some more water before feeling ready to head back to my den. However a new idea came into my head for something fun to do with my brother.
"So Leo, have you ever been log sledding before?" I asked after a few minutes of sitting silently.
"I don't think I have, is that some sort of game you play with you're friends?" He asked curiously
"You could say that, come on I'll take you too my favorite spot to do it at which is not too far from here." I said before getting up and starting to walk away.
He followed me as I took him up to the top of a small hill that was in my opinion the best one to go down in a sled. It wasn't very steep, their wasn't any obstacles, and it was practically a straight shot down from the den area all the way to the valley floor. Along the way we walked silently through the soft snow, but as we reached the top Leo began to grow curious about how this whole thing works.
"How exactly does log sledding work?" He asked while walking along side me
"It's pretty simple actually, first we find a hollowed out piece of bark which we use as a sled to go down this hill." I replied smiling
"Wait, you mean we're going down this hill in a piece of bark?" He asked to make sure while looking down below the way we came.
"Sure are" I simply answered
"Is it safe?" He asked looking back at me
"Well it's not the safest thing to be doing but I guarantee you won't die with me controlling because I've gone down this hill plenty of times." I said reassuring him
"Alright as long as you don't kill me, I sort of have things to live for.
"Yeah? So do I!" I said in a jokingly way when in reality I had my pups and mate to live for.
We reached the top and thankfully I had left one of my sleds up here since the last time me and the guys went down the hill together. I pushed it into position which was making it nearly teeter on the edge of the drop, I hopped into the very back and told Leo to sit in the middle. He did as he was told and I quickly got seated right behind him and stuck my paw into the snow to keep the sled from starting its decent.
"Alright, you ready for the time of your life?!" I asked
I always enjoyed taking other wolves for their first ride in a log sled. It was always funny to see just how scared they would get while flying down a hillside with no brakes what so ever. In fact one of the best times was when I actually managed to get Garth to go for a ride, he was reluctant but I ended up getting him to agree. Lilly was at the bottom of the hill and I swear Garth was literally freaking out the whole way down. Garth! Of all wolves, scared of a little scenic ride down into the valley, sure I was scared the first time I did it but not as much as he was. When we got the bottom he tired to quickly get out but found that his claws were stuck to the bark of the sled. Lilly and I were pretty much rolling on the ground with laughter by the time he managed to become free. Needless to say he wasn't happy with me and hasn't gone on a log sled since.
"Let's do it!" He replied sounding excited but also slightly nervous.
I release my paws grip into the ground and the sled slowly began its way down the hill but gained speed rather quickly. The snow helped a lot when it came to steering and speed, which was nice since it didn't require a lot of effort to steer. I gave out commands for him to help in leaning with the turns, the hill was mostly clear of trees and shrubs but a few did get in the way. He had no problem in following what I told him and actually he seemed to be enjoying the ride. The whole ride took a good three minutes or so but we were flying down the hillside as all we left was a trail of powder behind us. The cold air blew against our faces and fur as I got ready to slow us down in the valley. I brought the sled into a tight and sudden turn which caused us to start going sideways, this in turn slowed us down to a stop real quick. We were both laughing and full of energy as we got out and stood out in the valley.
"I've never experienced something like that in my life!" He said looking at me "Where did you learn it?"
"My friends and I came up with the idea while we were bored one day as pups, ever since we've been working on our skills at it." I said
"Man I can't wait to show my friends that, do you think you could teach the basics about doing it?" He asked
I laughed after seeing how excited he looked "Of course, it really isn't too hard as long as you don't get in over your head." I replied
"Sweet!" He said happily.
"But now its time for the boring part of log sledding, and that's taking the sled back up to the top." I said going grabbing onto a side of the sled.
"Oh that's no problem, you got me here to help anyway." He said grabbing the other side
"That is true" I said
We both began to pull the sled back all the way to the top of the hill again, however I was thinking about just bringing it to my den to save time. I'm sure he was hungry for some food as was I, not to mention Kate and everyone else might already be up. It took around ten or so minutes until the entered the feeding grounds and I was surprised to see Kate already there and heading towards us.
"Well I see you boys had some early fun" She commented walking up to me and nuzzling my neck.
"Yeah I decided to show him log sledding since we were both up early." I replied nuzzling her in return.
"Nice, how was it?" She asked looking at my brother
"It was pretty fun" He replied
"Cool, glad you like it" She said
"So what are you up to?" I asked looking back at her
"I was coming to get us some breakfast back at the den, Leo can join if he was as well" She said
"Sounds good to me, I'm sure mom and dad will be sleeping in anyway, we have done a lot of walking lately." He said
"Yeah I'm pretty hungry myself, we'll meet you at the den then dear." I said
"Alright see you there" She said before walking away towards the pile of food nearby
Leo and I continued on pulling the sled the rest of the way through the den grounds before finally reaching my den. I placed it directly behind the den so that it was out of the way, I would have to take it back to the top of the hill again later. It was always good to have just one sled already up there incase any of my friends and I weren't in the mood to drag one up there. We heading inside and sat down waiting for Kate to return which wasn't a very long one. She came back with a large chunk of meat but enough for all three of us to split together, as we ate I thought about what to do for the rest of the day whenever my parents would wake up.
A/N: Woo got this one out quick! Turns out Humphrey's brother really has taken a liking to log sledding, perhaps its cause their related, either way he's excited about showing his friends when he goes back home. Also I'm excited about the fact that this story is over 100,000 words long, including Runaways of course, and that is a major milestone right there!