Next episode starts ch3 If you have questions ask away and I'll try to answer 10/6/2012. Thankiez for anyone who read, and those who took the time to review. Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in Alpha and Omega. Except for the O/C's.
It was brought to my attention by (Country Wolf-Dog) that I had short changed the chapter for its true worth. After re reading it and comparing it to the next chapter it made no sense. So I re-edited the part in and I thoroughly apologize t any reader that felt as though it could have been better.
Humphrey the Lone Wolf
Part 1 Valley of Grey
Chapter 2 The Alpha
:Scattered Tracks:
A bolt of lightning had just flashed by, startling him as he ran through the unfamiliar land.
Humphrey's fur had been soaked by the storm and was slowing down his already nonexistent pace.
"I can't believe she just took off like that." He yelled at himself, fighting against strong gusts of wind.
'I have to find Kate and fast.' He felt every drop of rain as if it were a tear for him and how he felt about her.
Kate had just ran on ahead of him after his recent fluke. He had caused them both to miss out on a very easy way back home.
'I have to set things right.' He told himself this constantly, he had to show Kate that he was someone special.
During the whole car ride he had wanted to tell her, that he loved her. Part of him wanted their journey to continue, even if it were just for him to buy time to build the courage to tell her.
A flash of light interrupted his thoughts and she came into view, trying desperately to hang onto the side of a slippery cliff.
"Hold on Kate, I'm coming." He ran to the cliffside and skidded to a halt.
She was a mess, covered in slick mud and clawing at the wall, trying to make it to the top without slipping into the mudflow of the chasm below.
He knew he'd have to act fast, he had to save her from his mistake, but how.
"Let me think, let me think" His eyes darted around, frantically looking for something of use.
She was far away, any use of a log-sled or something of the sort would be pointless.
'I can't jump that far,' He thought, he was an omega after all, he wouldn't make it past the first rock without falling 'If only I could get higher."
That's when it hit him, and he looked further above her. Long cords of vine came into his view, he just had to get there.
He grinned and dashed over to the tree they hung from. Thankfully enough it was angled enough to where he could climb without much difficulty in the weather.
'Yes,' He thought, dashing towards it without a moment to spare.
Aiming for the lower half first he jumped, nimbly climbing up the tree in search for the spot he saw the vines in.
When he had finally caught sight of them he found them on a branch sturdy enough to hold his weight and then some.
He carefully crawled up to the vines, stopping at the longest set in front of him.
He reached down with his paws and got a hold of it enough to bring it to his moth and pull more of the vine closer to him.
His preparation was complete, all he had to do now was swing over to her. He took one glance down to where to the muddy river and his countenance sank.
'I-i can't do this.'
He was scared, having never done something this dangerous before he shuddered in fear. He turned to Kate and his fear melted away when he saw her sink her claws into the muddy rocks once more.
Kate's life depended on him, He couldn't turn back now, he wouldn't loose her.
He grasped tighter on to the vine, shuddering in anticipation "Here goes-"
He took in a deep breath, closed his eyes and leaned to the side letting gravity take control.
He felt the snap of the vine as it was extended to its full length, and the gentle, subtle raindrops greeting him as he swung.
He felt the rush of wind blowing by him and his stomach flip from the sheer fall.
Though he had his eyes closed the thing that took his mind off of the danger was Kate and he was getting closer.
"Humphrey." He heard her call out for him.
At the mention of his name he shot his eyes open.
"Humphrey!" He heard again, but it wasn't Kate's voice, it was somber and much deeper tone.
"Hngh?" He saw the figure of a wolf flood his vision, looming over him with an outstretched paw weighing heavy on his side.
"Kid, come on, get up."
He felt himself being shaken by the wolf, forcing any sign of sleepiness out of his figure.
As he was being shook his eyes adjusted to find himself not trying to save Kate, but back in the alpha's den.
"Ugh, I'm up, I'm up." He blurted out jolting up and wincing from the slight pain in his paw.
As pained as he was a distant light gleaming just beyond the wolf stung his eyes causing him to stumble back.
While he was coordinating himself Humphrey heard the wolf chuckling for some reason.
"You must be a heavy sleeper, huh?"
"Is it morning, already?" He mockingly yawned.
"It's been morning for hours now kid," He said matter-of-factly as he turned and walked to the dens entrance.
"Its noon, and its time to leave."
"Noon?" It couldn't be that late already, it only took him five minutes tops to find Kate.
"Yes, noon, are you hard at hearing kid?" The wolf called back to him.
He shook his head "N-no."
"Alright, let's get a move on." The alpha said in a deep voice and trotted out of the den "Oh, and you made a terrible mess of that rabbit."
Humphrey looked around, the carcass was nowhere to be found, but tufts of hair lat strewn across the floor randomly scattered about.
He had eaten it, most of it last night, but he had a hard time picking through what he didn't like in the dark.
'I guess he took the rest then.' He was sad, but grateful. He had a place to ease his worries if only for a night. But as the morning sun had risen his time here in the den was soon to be gone.
Humphrey sighed in disappointment, he didn't really have much of a plan in mind except to head back to the other den 'Yea well it's either that or back home.'
He shook his head of the idea and loosely followed suit to his host.
(This is the part I left out, once again I apologize)
Humphrey limped across the den to outside, feeling a warm gentle breeze pass by when he crossed the open entrance.
It was bright outside; the storm had gone and left only its memory on the terrain, leaving the air fresh and clean.
The bushes that were blocking the entrance of the den were still standing, dancing in the new and vibrant sunlight they were given.
"Come on kid." He heard the alpha calling from just beyond the bushes.
Humphrey took heed to the words and pushed his way through. Unlike yesterday when he had almost fought with the bush, it he parted through the side with no problem.
The moment he passed through his paw struck the ground; it was much differently textured from what he remembered.
It was soft, and cool to the touch, whatever remained of the rain had long since soaked into the ground.
"Woa." He gasped in astonishment at the view from just beyond.
The lake he had passed last night shimmered brightly casting the reflection of the sun on any shadow.
Everything tree that stood by the lake waved to and fro dancing with every passing breeze.
What caught his attention the most was the mountain he saw. High above the valley; covered in a sparkling mist with a single cloud that gracefully flew atop its magnificent peak.
Everything around him was shining with life.
"I know that look," Humphrey turned and saw the alpha sitting under one of the many trees in the area with his head cast toward the open sky with a wide grin on his face.
Humphrey had never gotten the chance to see the wolf in a clear view before, he only got fleeting glances of his rustic fur color.
Curious to finally meet this mysterious wolf he hobbled close to his left side and sat, pretending to observe the scene while identifying the stranger.
He was somewhat different from what Humphrey had originally thought; he expected a much bulkier and heavily set alpha, but in front of him was this almost scraggly wolf.
Though not emaciated he was clearly thinner than what his own body projected for him to be, just possibly underweight for his size.
Even when sitting he was still slightly taller than Humphrey, constantly twitching his ears to the slightest noise. His left ear when he moved it revealed a deep bite mark on the inside.
He had deep reddish grey fur with several long streaks of auburn smoothly blended in running down his chest and back, all twisting to his slender; dark-grey colored tail.
From the grey spots on his mostly brown mane Humphrey could tell he was at least an adult wolf.
He didn't say anything, nor move aside from his deep breaths and occasional flickering of his tail and ears.
Humphrey felt a bit awkward, he wanted to thank him for the place, but he had other things in mind.
"So I'm guessing you're an alpha huh?" Humphrey asked curiously, just trying to pass the time before he was sent away.
He shook his head "Nope," and continued to stare into the open sky.
He was a bit taken back by the response, but he supposed he could guess again.
"You're a beta then?"
"Pup, let me set things straight," The wolf said to him, sitting proudly, the smile on his face washed away by a stern look of annoyance.
"Ranks are for packs." At that moment he brought his gaze down from the sky to face Humphrey.
Humphrey's mouth jarred open from what he was staring at.
The wolf's left eye; soft, and deep gold glistened in the afternoon sun. His right eye, however, was blankly staring at him, no color, no focus, nor any life to it, it was grayed out.
"I'm a lone wolf." He called out, with an expressionless tone, snapping Humphrey out of his stare.
Humphrey looked away as it would hide his thoughts. This stranger was a lone wolf, but what was his reasoning.
Sure Humphrey left, but even he had a motive behind that. Well, he did have a motive, but now, what would he do?
"So, kid, where you from?" The wolf sighed, possibly angered by Humphrey's insensitive gesture.
"Oh, I-uh," He stuttered out his words having been cut off in his thoughts.
"I'm from Jasper Park, Canada."
"OH, Jasper huh?" He said nonchalantly "Well, if you're heading back there you've got a long ways."
'You shouldnt've stared like that' He scolded himself. He didn't mean to stare, but he hadn't seen a half blind wolf before.
He didn't know weather he wanted to go back home or now, if he could even bear to call it that anymore.
Against his better judgements he decided to ask for some kind of direction. "Um, what part of Sawtooth is this?"
"What?" The grey-eyed wolf reared his head back questioningly "Sawtooth?"
"Yea, you know Idaho?" Humphrey waved his paws around, as if he were drawing a picture of the area.
"Hah, you must be joking; Idaho, heh"
Humphrey raised an eyebrow at the tone, there was something he was missing, something big.
"If this isn't Idaho, then where is here?" He asked hesitantly.
The wolf just sat there for a moment, turning away from Humphrey and looking just up ahead to the lake. "This here kid... is Silver Glance Lake, Utah."
"U-What?" Humphrey yelled back.
The wolf shook his head and reached out forward into the empty air "Let me spell it out for you."
He proceeded to mock spell the letters.
He curved his arm, dipping it and bringing it back up "U, as in, you're nowhere near Idaho."
From there he swiped his paw once across and then down "T, as in, Takes a long time to get there."
With every word and motion Humphrey felt a sting in his heart and a misty haze form in his mind "A, as in, Canada's far away eh?"
Lastly the wolf traced two parallel lines and cut across them, finally staring back at Humphrey with a stern look "H, as in, Have a nice trip."
Humphrey looked down, he still had no idea of where that was.
"Look, kid" The wolf said, seeing him in a downtrodden state "Go north a couple hundred miles and you can get there."
Humphrey couldn't take it, small tears started forming in his eyes
"But-but I was only on the train for a day!" He said, trembling from grief and being homesick.
He heard the wolf shift next to him, but didn't bother turning to see what was going on.
"Kid, you must be a heavy sleeper then," He heard "It takes about five days to get here by train from here."
'Five days?' He knew it couldn't be true. He never missed out on anything for so long, but for him to have been on a train for five days.
Through his tears he didn't bother to want to hear anything that was said, if there was anything that needed to be said at all.
He fought back tears and carefully picked himself up. He didn't know where to turn to , but he had to leave.
Before he could take a step forward he felt a paw on his shoulder.
Humphrey turned to see figure of the wolf sitting in front of him with his paw outstretched.
"Wait, where are you headed?"
Though he couldn't make out any facial expression of the wolf, from his tone he seemed clearly concerned.
He took a moment from his sniffling to answer "T-to the one who gave me this."
He lifted his cast a bit hoping that he got his point across.
The wolf growled a little after hearing mention of cast "Those wolves, the ones down river?"
He nodded "I-i don't know of anywhere else to go."
He felt the paw being taken off his shoulder and heard the grass around him rustle "Humphrey; those wolves, they're-"
'Great, what now,' Humphrey wiped several tears away, trying to figure out what else could happen.
The wolf spoke again "They aren't as good as you think."
His voice trailed off, distant and full of deep sorrow.
He couldn't believe it, there was no way such a sweet girl would do something harmful.
"What about the one that did this?" He rose his cast once more in protest to the statement.
"Look pup, they have; hidden motives behind what they do." The wolf answered.
Humphrey finished wiping some of his tears away having re-welcomed his eyes back to the warming sunlight.
Humphrey heard the wolf mumble something to himself and rise to his feet.
He shook his head and started walking away "You're staying with me until that leg heals."
"What?" Humphrey tilted his head and felt himself more at ease though on the verge of tears.
He didn't even turn back but only walked further away from Humphrey "If you believe that you can survive out there without help then go on ahead."
Humphrey got the idea quick and followed suit. The wolf was a bit faster than him, but he managed to catch up, remembering something else on his mind.
"Oh, I never caught your name."
"Huh?" The stranger stopped and turned around with a puzzled look on his face.
Humphrey thought back to the way he was asked about his identity earlier "You have a name,right?"
The wolf started chuckling, and soon it turned into a deep laughter that defied all of his features.
"Ha, been so long since anyone asked that." He began, looking towards the mountain.
Humphrey's eyes trailed along with him landing on the peak. The sun had carefully crept its way there, resting atop the mountain, the misty-haze turned into a radiant orangish glow.
The wolf stared there, standing tall and proud.
"My name, is-" He took a single breath and from the corner of his golden-yellow eye He saw Humphrey, sitting bright eyed and patiently awaiting the answer.
The wolf smiled warmly "Earnest."
Once again I apologize for not putting all of this in, it made more sense in the long run. (Once again thank you Country Wolf-Dog.)
A new poll is out on "Things you may have missed in A&O" vote if you wanna see what I've dug up.
A new project idea is out "Alpha and Omega: The Series" is up, check out the forum or community to see how to join.
I'm reworking "Alpha and Omega: The Week After" for its soon coming sequel.
Thank you to all of the readers for sticking with me through 25 chaps. If you liked this story and have time please post a review. If you want to keep up with the story fav or follow. Questions, comments, concerns, feel free to pass me a P.M... More to come soon. Till Next Time DLW.