I'm deeply apologize to keep you guys waiting for more than a week, and I hope that you will enjoy this chapter. Thank you for your patience!
Chapter 24 : Death Wish(Part 2)
Humphrey choked on the last word for a moment which puzzled Lavender and Lynx and he finally managed to spit it out after a few seconds.
'It's… Lex…'
Lynx and Lavender's eyes widened in shock, as expected by Humphrey and Kate, and began to weep over Lex's skeletons. Humphrey and Kate were depressed at the sight of it as they know what Lynx and Lavender was going through; it was already saddening for them to know about Rex's death and witness his corpse at this time of the day, and now seeing Lex's remains just makes it worse. They decided not to waste too much time as there are other wishes that needs to be attended to and Humphrey placed a paw on Lynx's shoulder, so as Kate on Lavender's, and both of them met their watery eyes.
'My mate and I don't mean to be rude, but there are wishes that required us to attend to. You can weep as long as you like once we're done with it.' Humphrey said and Kate nodded.
'Al-alright.' Lavender sobbed, and she and her mate took a last glance at Lex's remains before moving away from it and sat beside them.
'I'll howl for someone to come and bury his remains next to Rebecca.' Humphrey said sadly and the sad couple nodded slowly as they cried, and Humphrey let out a long, sad howl for help.
A few minutes later, Rad, Sam, Winston, Tony, Eve, Lilly, Garth, Aren and Alexa arrived along with a few alphas and found Humphrey and Kate comforting Lynx and Lavender. They assumed that Lynx and Lavender were still mourning over Rex's death, which was proven to be wrong when Garth asked about the call for assistance and Humphrey motioned towards the dug hole.
'I need you to collect those and bury them next to Rebecca's grave.' Humphrey said and with curiosity, the arrivals walked towards the hole slowly and their eyes widened in shock when they caught sight of the dirt-stained skeleton that was lying on one side with its hollow eye socket staring at them coldly, struggling to tell them how dreadfully he had suffered before his slow and painful death that sent shivers down their spine.
'Wha- Are those… wolf bones?' Alexa said in fear.
'Wh-Who's skeleton is this? How come I'm not informed about this long ago?' Aren asked, his mind completely blank about the identity of the dead wolf, but Lilly was the first to answer before the other United wolves who already had all the puzzle pieces given by Humphrey and Kate; all they had to do is to piece it up to make the whole portrait of the whole event and search for the answer within it.
'It's… Lex.' She said and lowered her head in sadness.
Being caught off-guard, Alexa and Aren widened their eyes once again and lowered their head in guilt for mistaking Lex as the wolf who was raping the female wolves in their pack.
'I'm sorry for judging you as the rapist, Lex. You were noble and brave like your brother all along, and had been sincerely loyal to our pack. I'm deeply sorry…' Aren said apologetically and Humphrey placed a paw on his shoulder and their eyes met.
'It's not your fault. Everyone would make the same mistake as you; Lucas and Lex are twins, so Lust took advantage of that to deceive everyone in order to reach his goal.' He reasoned and Aren let out a depressing sigh.
'If only I had taken suspicion of him before all this; I've already notice some unusual behavior from him, but I was foolish enough to not investigate into it. How can I be so careless? This has never happened to me in my entire life... until now.' He said still completely upset and guilty.
Seeming that he wouldn't be able to do much and must not delay on one wish, Humphrey looked towards Alexa as Aren lowered his head back down and she nodded when their eyes met as she understood that she's the only wolf who can comfort him; she's his mate after all.
Humphrey walked away from him and sat beside Kate and watched as Alexa sat beside her mate. She lifted his head back up and their eyes met.
'It's okay, honey. Everyone makes mistakes.' She said and Aren received nods from every wolf present as he turned towards them and back to his mate. 'Do you still remember the time when I've mistaken you as a deer calf when you're sitting in the grass due to the color of your pelt?' And he chuckled.
'I was resting for a moment before returning to our den and you pounced at me from behind. You almost gave me a heart attack.' He replied with a slight smile, just what she wanted to see.
'Yeah, and that never happened now, did it?' He shook his head and she smiled. 'I learned from my mistake and it never happened again, same as the situation here. Don't feel bad about yourself, honey. I'm sure Lex forgives us. He might be watching us from above right now.' Both of them looked up to the glittering night sky and Aren now felt better than before.
He placed a paw on hers and it caught her attention as their eyes met once again.
'Thank you, darling.' He smiled and she replied the same, and they shared a quick kiss.
The others watched with a smile as he finally cheered up, and Garth popped up a question which caught everyone unexpectedly.
'How did you guys found this?' Garth asked curiously as it's impossible for anyone to found the remains of a dead wolf randomly unless being told by someone who knows the location of it and everyone's ears perked up as they're curious of it too, except for Lynx, Lavender, Humphrey and Kate.
'Rex told me.' Humphrey smiled and it wasn't very surprising until Kate added.
'In his dreams.' And everyone stared at him wide-eyed, as expected by Humphrey as he rolled his eyes.
'You're joking, right?' Garth chuckled, hoping that this was a joke, but only received an honest stare from him.
'No, I'm not. He really did come to me in my dreams.' He replied and Garth stood in shock.
'How are you sure that it's real?' Lilly asked curiously and Humphrey blushed under his fur in embarrassment as he has to reveal his humiliating secret to them in order to prove Rex's existence in his dreams, well, initially.
'Well, remember when I asked if we were going to arrive here today at night time and you said yes?' And Lilly nodded cluelessly. 'To be honest, I-'
'Oh, right. You're not so good in counting time.' Lilly interjected and Humphrey's eyes widened in surprise as only him, Kate, Lynx and Lavender knows his secret.
'H-How did you know that?' He asked, eager to know her answer and she shrugged which surprised him even more.
'I just made a wild guess.' And she recalled what his reply was and looked back with her mouth wide opened. 'Wait, what I'd said was true?'
Humphrey began to blush even brighter as it's quite humiliating for an omega to not know how to estimate the time of the day and everyone's eyes were fixed on him, waiting for an answer.
'Yes, it is true.' He replied with his head lowered, hiding his blushing face while the others laughed, and he lifted it back up to reason with them. 'Hey, I'm trying my best to learn, okay? And I know you can't count time too, Garth, so don't even bother laughing at me.' He smiled and punched Garth on the arm and he stopped laughing.
'Yeah, I can't count time too.' He frowned and laughed along with everyone.
Humphrey and Kate were happy to see that everyone was lighten up a bit from this secret, and Humphrey felt that it was worth it; making people smile and lightening up their mood is his job and habit after all.
'He wanted me to say his goodbyes and thanks to you all since you didn't get the chance to do so back at our pack territory.' He said as he recovered from his laugh and everyone smiled instead of frowning, which was good.
'I'm glad that he's in a better place now.' Winston said as he looked up at the night sky.
'Not just yet.' And Winston looked back at him with a puzzled look. 'He won't be with Rose yet, not until his wishes are fulfilled, which is what I'm doing now.'
'Well, there's no time to loose then.' Tony said and Humphrey nodded before turning towards Lynx and Lavender who were feeling better than before, so as everyone.
'Do you still remember the way to Lucas's parent's den?' He asked with slight smile.
'Of course; I maybe old, but my memory is still as good as my younger ages.' He replied.
'Great.' And Humphrey turned towards the others. 'Lavender, Lynx, Kate and I will be heading out of the pack border for a moment for another one of Rex's wishes. I'll need to take Lucas's corpse along with me.'
'Alright.' Winston said as Humphrey caught all of their attention and Rad stood forward.
'Do you need me to drag the corpse for you?' He asked politely and Humphrey shook his head.
'It's fine. I'll drag it myself. After all, you guys need to help the other Northern wolves in preparing Rex's funeral.' He replied and they nodded, and Kate placed a paw on his which caught his attention.
'Are you sure you can, honey?' She asked unconfidently and he smiled.
'Of course I can. I can already take down a Caribou, so doesn't it proves that I'm strong?' And she smiled as his reason actually made sense.
'Right. I'm sorry for doubting you.'
'It's fine. I can never be mad at my beautiful alpha.' He nuzzled her and she giggled before giving him a kiss on the cheek.
'Alright, I think that's enough for the romance stuff.' Tony interjected with a smile and everyone giggled. 'I believe you told us that you'll be heading out to Lucas's parent's den?' He looked towards Humphrey and he returned a smile.
'Yes. Well, I won't be delaying any more time, although I did.' He said and chuckled, so as everyone. 'I'll go and get Lucas's corpse. Where is it by the way?'
'It's still back at Rose and Rex's den.' Rad said, motioning towards their first destination.
'Thanks. We'll see you guys later.' And walked towards the direction of where Lucas's corpse is along with Kate, Lynx and Lavender and everyone watched as they walked away and waved at them.
'Good luck!' They chorused and Humphrey smiled as that gave him the confidence he needed for his difficult and challenging test.
Lucas's corpse was indeed still on the log close to Rose and Rex's den when they arrived and Humphrey put on the vines which drags the log and nodded towards Lynx and Lavender for them to start leading them towards their destination. Within a few hours, they were already outside the pack border and trotting in the dark shadows formed by the woodland. Their journey was pretty silent as everyone was in their own trail of thoughts about how the results of this current wish's gonna be, but Humphrey was sure that he's prepared for this; since Rex has entrusted him in this special wish that Kate doesn't know initially.
After what seems like an endless walk, they finally stopped beside a giant tree that has claw marks of a bear and a dried pool of blood on the ground, but Humphrey and Kate was uncertain if they had arrived at their destination until Lynx cleared that doubt.
'Here's where I found Lex when he was a pup. We're just passing through here, but I decided to show you about this place first before moving on.' He said as he stared from the claw marks towards the giant ruptured hole beneath the tree. 'This is starting to bring back some bad memories.' And Lavender nudged her mate to comfort him and they shared a hug.
Humphrey's mind was acting strangely as his eyes were shifting between the bloodstains, claw marks, and the ruptured hole, and his mind was fixing the puzzle pieces together, but he hasn't had all the pieces yet. Fortunately, he knows where to find the rest, and that was entering the dark hole. He got out of his train of thoughts when Kate nudged him.
'What's wrong, honey?' She asked as he noticed his stern glance on the tree.
'My mind's somehow trying to reconstruct the whole event of this bear attack, which is unusual.' He replied with his eyes still shifting. 'I should go in that hole and investigate something.' And Kate stared at him in shock.
'Humphrey, we don't know what's inside that hole; there could be other wolves, or a bear living in there. We can't protect you if you're attacked.' She reasoned and did have a point on this dangerous act.
Before he could make a careful decision, a male voice began to echo in his head which causes chill to flow down his spine.
Go in there…
He looked around his surroundings for a moment to see if it was someone else who was whispering into his ear, and found no one; Lynx was standing a bit far from him along with Lavender, and it's impossible for Kate to mimic a male voice as he knows she can't. Plus, the current objective that they're doing now is very important, so no one will be fooling around at this time. The voice once again repeated its command.
Go in there…
Who are you? He asked in his mind, but received the same reply from the voice.
Go in there…
His mind was full of questions as he sat down and fixed his eyes on the dark, gloomy hole, but only one question stands out from all of them.
Can I trust this voice? He questioned himself, and snapped out of his stare when Kate waved a paw infront of his face and looked towards her.
'Are you okay, honey?' She asked worriedly as he went unusually silent for a moment.
'Someone's speaking to me inside my head… a male voice.' He replied and Kate froze in fear, lost in words.
'What does it say…?' She questioned as she managed to find some.
'It wants me to enter the hole.' And she stared at him wide-eyed.
'Are you sure that you can trust this 'voice'?'
'Well, it's in my head for a reason, so why not.' He smiled and began to walk towards the hole slowly, and he knows that the others were coming along with him due to their footsteps.
When they stepped into the hole, they found no animal residing in this old den, not even a bear, but what lied infront of them surprises them the most; it was the skeletons of two wolves, which they clearly know who they are.
'I'm surprised that it's still here.' Lynx said as he walked towards them remains and examined them. 'Well, I guess I'll give them a proper burial.' And received a nod from his mate before turning towards Humphrey and Kate. 'Lavender and I will go out and dig holes for their funeral. Are you going to stay here?'
'Yeah. I'll be with you in a few minutes.' Humphrey said and watched as Rex's parents left the den.
He began to inspect on the dried pool of blood on the ground and claw marks on the roots of the tree, receiving more puzzle pieces that he required to reconstruct the whole event. Kate sat next to the entrance and watched as he circled around the den several times until he sat beside her and close his eyes.
'What have you found, honey?' She questioned curiously, but he seemed to be deep in his thoughts due to his silent reply.
His mind was busy piecing up the puzzle with all the clues he had received, and his face lit up when he successfully reconstructed the event and watched as it played in his mind.
The sky was dull grey with dark clouds, about to pour heavy rain over the green land. Two male identical newborn pups lied asleep in their mother's embrace as she looked at them with her beautiful light blue eyes and grew a charming smile across her face. She looked out of the entrance for a moment to see if there is any sign of her mate; he went out a few minutes ago to hunt for their meal, and should be back by now. She let out a relaxed breath and rested her head next to her pups, cuddling with them and they made cute squeaking sounds that made her smile grew bigger. She decided to rest her eyes for a moment while waiting for her mate's return, and raindrops began to sound outside her den which caused her to drift into sleep easily. Unfortunately, the booming of thunder awoke her and she opened her eyes with her ears perked. She raised her head and look out to find heavy showers pouring over the woodlands; she must've been asleep for a few minutes before the dark clouds releases an outrageous storm. What surprises her was her mate's absence till now, and she began to grow worried as it's difficult for anyone to see under this storm with the rain blurring their vision. She got up slowly as to not wake up her pups, kissed them on the forehead, and walked towards the entrance of the den.
She sat there and search for any silhouettes or signs of her mate, fearing that he could be in danger.
I hope you're okay, darling. She thought with her eyes darting from left to right of the dark-looking trees.
She searched for a few minutes, but there's still no sign of him. She let out a breath of defeat and began to turn away, but something caught her eye before she could do so. There, a few distance away from her den, was a dark silhouette that she couldn't make heads or tails out of it due to the heavy rain, but it gave her hope that it could be her mate. She stayed at her place and watched as the silhouette began to grow bigger and closer, but her eyes widened when she noticed that it wasn't the size of a wolf, but bigger. Fearing that the unknown creature might come after her once at sight, she immediately trotted back to her pups and sat on four legs with her pups behind her, and waited and see if the creature has any intentions of trying to enter her den. She waited with her eyes fixed on the entrance, her heart beating at a high rate and prayed for her mate to return on time. A minute passed and nothing came in her den, so she relaxed her tensed body and let out a deep breath of relief, but it was too soon when footsteps grow close to the entrance in a sudden which caught her off-guard. Her eyes widened when a huge brown wet-furred paw stomped into her den and a back figure that has a structure of an animal's head entered next, and her body froze when their eyes met; it was a bear. It must be seeking shelter from the storm, but unfortunately, it found an occupied den.
She growled at it to indicate that this is her den and want it to leave her in peace, although she knows that challenging a bear is a foolish idea, but it's the only choice she has as there was no way of escaping; her pups were born a few days ago, and would catch a cold easily under the rain which can be fatal for a pup, and the entrance's sealed with the bear in the way. The bear growled back and moved towards her, making an attempt to attack its enemy. It swing its large claws at her and she managed to dodge it with the speed of a cheetah, and the claws landed on the tough roots of the giant tree, but another swing from its other giant paw caught her unexpectedly and slashed her across the shoulder and chest, spilling fresh blood on the ground and her to shriek in pain. She collapsed due to the force of the bear's massive paw and as the bear made a step towards her, it stopped and turned around to find itself stuck; the hole was too small for the bottom part of the bear's body to fit in. She watched in fear as it struggled to pull herself in and after several attempts, the sound of cracks caught her attention and she knew that if it succeeded, it's the end for her and the pups. She closed her eyes and prayed for a miracle to happen, hoping that God will pity her and would give hope for her pup's survival. Finally, the bear succeeded and turned its attention towards her instead of the pups, and she spoke her last words with her eyes closed.
'Goodbye, my love. I guess I'll be leaving this beautiful world first before you and our pups.' And smiled at her sad fate.
Surprisingly, the bear roared in sudden pain which puzzled her as she opened her eyes and she watched as the bear walked backwards and out of the den with its teeth seething angrily. She limped weakly towards the entrance as blood was flowing continuously out of her open wounds and leaned against the wall to keep her balance and smiled to find her mate returned and on the bear's back, clenching his mouth onto the bear's nape. While trying to keep his grip on the bear, he noticed serious wounds on his mate's chest and shoulder which shocked him and furious at the same time. He growled angrily and sank his canines deeper into the bear's nape until his tongue tastes fresh blood. With the bear's last defense, it swung its massive claws at its back and landed at the side of his body and shoulder, and sent him flying towards the den. He rolled into the den and growled in pain when the momentum stopped. He got up slowly as his severe wounds was rapidly firing pains through his whole body and stared at the bear as it swung its claws wildly as its spinal cord was damaged. It landed its claws on the tree before collapsing in defeat and died.
He turned towards his mate and limped towards her slowly and leaned against the wall. Both of them looked at each other's wounds and knew there was no way of patching themselves up at this time, and cried as they know what their end's gonna be. They limped slowly towards their pups and watched as they slept soundly, as if they're separated from the problems of this world, and smiled at such beautiful sight. They lied on the ground with their pups in between them and shared a long, passionate kiss before hugging their pups and kissing their forehead. They close their eyes and waited as they bleed to death.
'Goodbye, my love. I hope we'll be a couple again in the afterlife.' The female wolf said as she began to feel sleepy, so as her mate.
'Goodbye to you too, my beautiful. I shall hope the same in the afterlife.' The male replied, and they drifted into an eternal sleep.
A few minutes later, one of the twin pups began to cry as a thunder boomed while the other was in a deep sleep…
A drop of tear rolled down Humphrey's face as he couldn't hold back his feelings towards the poor couple, and this puzzled Kate greatly as she's been calling out his name for the past few minutes.
'HUMPHREY!' She shouted and it finally worked as he shook his head and blinked his eyes before looking back at her.
'Huh? Wha-What happened?' He replied, completely clueless about what had happened while he was away in his thoughts.
'I've been calling you for about five minutes, and you didn't reply me. Are you okay?' She questioned with extreme worry in her voice as she placed a paw on his shoulder.
Five minutes? But it felt like hours in my thoughts… He thought as his eyes fastened on hers.
'Um, yeah I'm fine,' he replied and felt that she needs to know what was in his mind that made him emotionless for the past ten minutes. 'But I think you need to know why I've been silent the whole time.' And she edged her head closer towards him in curiosity and nodded eagerly.
He let out a nervous breath, knowing that she would freak out at his next words, and clenched both of her paws tightly and stared into her eyes.
'I saw… what had happened to Lex and Lucas's parents… in my mind.' He confessed and she stared at him in shock.
'The whole event?' She questioned and he nodded. 'Wow…' And an idea came to her that relates to the voice and she gasped in surprise. 'Could the voice be… your instinct?'
'By how I managed to see the whole event of their deaths, most probably it is.' They smiled as Humphrey has gained instinct that is as powerful as Rex's, but it was pretty surprising for them to find it as a voice.
'Come on. Lynx and Lavender's done moving the remains out of the den and digging the holes, and they're waiting for us to attend the funeral.' Kate said as she turned towards the entrance of the den.
'How did they move the remains without using their mouth?' He questioned as he knew gripping the remains of a wolf with their mouth is disrespectful and would hurt the dead wolf's soul.
'They moved it with their backs. Lavender places some bones on Lynx's back and he walks out of the den carefully, not to drop the bones, before setting it down beside the dug holes. They moved both wolves' bones separately, so they won't get mixed up.' She explained with a smile.
'That's great. Well, let's go.' And they left the den together.
Although the whole event only lasted for a few minutes in reality than in his mind, but Humphrey knew that what he had witnessed will be buried in there forever.
So, Humphrey's instinct is a voice? That's interesting. This chapter was suppose to be very long, but I had to cut it in half for you guys; I don't think anyone would want to read a 10,000 words long chapter, but who knows? I hope you're not confused in this chapter; I was actually confused in working on this chapter for some unknown reason. Now, I won't confirm that the next update will be after a week as I may be busy with my schoolworks or projects or some other stuff, since my late updates had now happened twice, or more, I'm not sure. So, there'll be one more chapter before the end. Anyways, thank you guys for the supports so far. I really appreciate it and as usual, leave a review/follow/favourite. It means a lot to me and p- wait a minute. I think I noticed something on my story. Hmm... What the- *Author flew off his chair in shock and crashed on the floor* 5800 views?! Oh my god! Thank you guys so much! You guys are amazing and have an amazing day! I appreciate every single views and I love you all! I'll be off to bed now. Peace out. -LoverWolfs1121
*Corrected this chapter in a confusion between Lucas's step-parent's den and Lucas and Lex's parent's den*