It had been a week since the funeral. Everyone was moving on. Some a little slower than others, but still managing. Liam made it a mission to spend time with Al every day, offering comfort when he could, either in the form of soothing words, gentle nuzzles, or lite kisses. But this did not go unnoticed by a certain wolf, who just couldn't help but smile at the tenders moments shared between the two young wolves.
Later that day, on one of the many cliffs overlooking Jasper, Sam sat with beautiful mate, Terra, as well as her father King as the warm afternoon sun bathed them in warmth as they looked over the main valley of the territory. Before long, King, closing his eyes as he allowed the warm rays to heat his pelt, let out a long sigh before looking lovingly to his daughter.
"You know your mother and I would always do this," he said with chuckle, gently nuzzling his daughter who giggled in response, all while his son-in-low smiled warmly at the sight as King continued to speak.
"It's one of my favorite memories of her. But, having you here with me, is just as good. I love you sweetheart."
With that, King gently kissed his daughter's forehead, who quickly returned the favor by lovingly licking his cheek.
"I love you too, daddy," Terra responded with smile.
King chuckled once again as he pulled his daughter into his side as Sam also chuckled at the display. However, the moment was quickly interrupted at the sound of approaching paws. Turning to the sound Sam smiled as the form of his father made his way toward the group, the alpha's brown eyes lighting up as he saw his son.
"Dah," Samuel called in his lite Irish brogue, rising to his feet just as his father reached him, "what are you doing here? I thought you and mom were going to visit Anna."
"I told your mother to go on ahead," Alan responded with a smile.
"I wanted to see me boy."
Sam merely rolled his eyes with a smile while his father chuckled.
"I think Terra and I will leave you two alone for a bit," King butted in, as he and his daughter took the hint that Alan wanted to be alone with his son. Shortly after the two had left, both father and son took a seat on the cliff, both sitting in silence as they took in the scenery and the wolves below. After a few moments of sitting and silence and enjoying each other's company, Alan finally spoke up.
"I know it's been a while since then, but it is still good ter have ye back son," Alan began, earning a small hum from Sam.
"I still can't imagine what it was like fer ya...being away from home for so long."
Upon being reminded of what he went through with this one sentence, Sam's for stiffened as a tear threatened to escape his eye.
"It was hard Dah," he finally rasped out after a few more moments, "and I'll be honest, there were many times I thought I was going to die."
Upon hearing this, Alan turned to his son, a pained expression on his face at the very thought of his son dying before he or his mate could see him again.
"But, I made sure that you all would have found out if it happened."
This peaked Alan's interest.
"How?"
Sam smiled at his father before answering.
"Terra was my closest friend while I was in King's pack," he began, "and I knew I could trust her to get my message to you as quickly and discretely as possibly without King our the leaders of Jasper knowing."
"What did you tell her?" Joseph asked in a hushed tone, eager to hear what would have been his son's final words. In response to his father's question, Samuel, with tears in his eyes, began to tell his afther what he had told Terra.
"To tell you that I didn't run or hide. That I lived each day as if it were my last. Tell you not to cry for me, and that I loved you so much."
As Sam finished relaying his now irrelevant message, he looked toward his father with tear stains on his cheeks, only to see to his surprise that his father was in the same position. Without a word, both father and son found themselves in a tight embrace as tears silently fell from their eyes.
"I love you Dah," Sam rasped out as he cried into Alan's chest.
"I love ya too Son," Alan sobbed as he held his son close, "Heaven knows I do."
Nearby, King and Terra, who had been secretly listening in on the conversation, found themselves in a heartfelt embrace as tears fell from their eyes.
"I love you daddy," Terra sobbed as she felt King's tears land on her head.
"I love you too sweetheart," King responded in a pained whisper, "and I always will."
Later, the evening, the summer air was ripe with the smell of flowers and pine needles. A gentle breeze rustled the leaves high in the trees as the sound of singing birds drifted in the air. In fact, all seemed perfect in the world, especially to the bubbly male strolling along one of the many paths in the Western Pack of Jasper Park.
Liam was beaming from ear to ear, for today was the day he would finally build up the courage to tell his father about him and Al. Truth was, after the death of Tony, Liam was reminded that life was too short to live in fear. Besides, if the rest of his family accepted him, then his father would too. Well, that's what they had been telling him the whole time, yet he must have been too afraid to really listen.
But that was going to change today.
However, his train of thought was soon interrupted by the sound of playful growling and giggling off to the side of the path. Peeking through some bushes, Liam saw his parents speaking with his father's old friend Humphrey, who was with his mate Kate. The latter two were accompanied by their eldest children, Claudette and Stinky, the latter preferring to go by Andrew, having grown weary of all the childish teasing. And by both siblings were their mates, Fleet and his sister Magril, respectively.
"No fair, Marie!" a voice said, bringing Liam's attention to the area where he had heard the giggling.
What he saw was truly an amusing site.
There, playing with Nia, was a young male pup who seemed to share the same markings as Magril, thought with his father's blue eyes, and another female pup looked almost the spitting image of her father.
These two pups were Koda and Marie, the children of Stin-…ANDREW and Magril.
"Totally fair, Koda," Marie replied, laughing at her brother as she pinned him to the ground.
"Pinned ya!"
Marie's brother in return playfully growled as he successfully reversed the pin tackled his sister to the ground, only for her to pin him to the ground…again.
"Pinned ya again," Marie responded with a sly smile, only to let out a yelp as Nia tackled her off of her brother.
The three pups rolled around and giggled as the adults stopped their conversation to laugh at the little group having such a good time. Liam himself, at the thought that it wouldn't be too much longer before his nephew or niece would join in on the fun, couldn't help but laugh, albeit a bit too loudly as all eyes were soon on him, or rather his head that was peeking out of the bushes.
Sam smiled brightly at his son.
"Well, look who it is," he said warmly. Liam, realizing he had been caught, sheepishly left the bush to join the others. He was soon tackled by the overly excited pups who lapped away at his face.
"Alight, alright," he laughed," it's good to see you guys too."
After finally freeing himself from the young pups' onslaught, Liam turned to find his gaze meeting his fathers, only for an all-to-familiar feeling to take over.
Anxiety.
"Dad," he began hesitantly, sneaking a glance at the rest of the adults, who each gave him an encouraging nod and smile.
"Yes son?"
Liam's attention as immediately brought back to his father, who held a warm, loving gaze, which to Liam's surprise, did not help a familiar feeling of anxiety building in his stomach.
REALLY! He thought to himself, I WAS SO READY!
Almost immediately Liam got tongue tied. The four adults looked at each other knowingly, Sam's own amused expression being unseen by Liam. Truth was, Sam knew what Liam wanted to tell him, Terra having confirmed it when he voiced his suspicions to her, but he wanted his son to feel like he could tell him on his own.
Which, as he observed, he was finally building the courage to do.
"I wanted to tell you something. I-I…um…I am…d-dat…"
SHHHHHHHH!
The moment abruptly ended, however, at the tell-tale sound of radio static coming from a nearby clearing.
"All Rangers, we have a severe storm warning in affect for the area," they heard.
Peeking through the bushes of the clearing, the group of wolves noticed a ranger, dressed in typical brown boots, green pants, and tan shirt, although the tie and green jacket made it clear he was a high-ranking officer. Holstered on his belt was an m1911 pistol. However, the group of wolves recognized this ranger, as he would always takes the same path on his morning and afternoon patrols, often dropping little treats like jerky for them to enjoy.
Reaching for the radio on his belt, the ranger answered.
"Captain Scott here, what do you have for me, Marcus?" the ranger replied in the gruff voice they had heard several times, removing his hat to reveal thick, light brown hair that was neatly parted to one side, as well as sunglasses.
There was a moment of silence before a voice sounded over the radio, obviously the "Marcus" that the captain had referred to.
"We have a huge system coming in from the northwest, Cap. The boys up at Willmore say they're having gale force winds and torrential downpour that doesn't look like it's gonna let up anytime soon."
The captain nodded his head, although the hidden wolves were the only ones to see.
"Alright," he answered, "when can expect it to hit?"
"That was about an hour ago, the system moved about seventy-seven, seventy-eight miles, so pretty fast… I'd say about forty-five minutes, hour tops," Marcus responded over the radio. The captain, after replacing his hat on top of his head, answered.
"How busy are we today?" the captain inquired.
"Standard run of the mill Tuesday guests. Should be able to clear out in about half an hour."
The captain let out a content sigh, indicating that his job should be easy.
"Alright," he finally responded, "once that's done meet me back at the station, we'll board it up and get out of here."
"Roger. John over and out.
"Eli over and out."
Just as the ranger began walking in the direction that more than likely lead to the station, the group of wolves looked at each other with concern.
"We should probably let the pack know," suggested Terra, earning a nod from her mate.
"Yes," Samuel agreed, "They'll want to have everyone stay in their dens till this all blows over."
"Oh yeah," piped up Humphrey, "the last thing we need is a bunch of critters flying around the place."
The other adults, along with Liam, nodded in agreement.
Before long, the wolves of Jasper were running to their dens, mother's comforting their frightened pups as the tell-tale sound of thunder rumbled in the distance, the wind picking up speed as tree limbs were whipped around, the heavy gusts bringing the black clouds closer and closer by the minute. At one point, some wolves reported to Kate and Humphrey that trees and branches had started falling due to the wind.
And before long, the rain came.
A lite drizzle quickly turned into a heavy downpour; any wolf unlucky enough to be caught in it becoming drenched within seconds. Though at that moment, that was least of Humphrey and Sam's worries, as the two friends worked tirelessly to ensure that everyone was in their dens. With the help of King, Liam and Marcus, the pack was now hunkered down and ready to ride out the storm.
"ALRIGHT!" Sam yelled over the pouring rain and howling winds, "LET'S GET GOING!"
But, before the group could even think, a desperate cry sounded through the chaos.
"HELP! SOMEONE HELP!"
Looking in the direction the call came from, the group of males could make out the form of a rusty-furred female, her blue eyes squinting to keep the rain out. Making their way to the clearly distressed female, Sam, who was ahead, quickly recognized her.
"CANDY?!" he called, "WHAT'S WRONG!"
"IT'S SWEETS!" Candy responded. "WE WERE ON OUR WAY BACK TO OUR DEN WHEN A TREE BRANCH FELL! SHE'S PINNED UNDERNEATH IT!"
"WHERE IS SHE?!" Liam shouted, quickly receiving an answer from Candy.
"DOWN BY THE RIVERBANK!"
Eyes going wide in alarm, the group quickly bolted past Candy, who was soon following close behind as they made their way to the riverbank. Almost every wolf in the group knew that if they did get Sweets out of the bank, she could be swept away by a flash flood.
Before long, the group made it to the riverbank, their search surprisingly short as they made out the drenched and muddied cream-colored fur of Sweets, her bottom half pinned beneath a sizeable branch, and her mane so drenched that it clung to her face, some of it even getting into her brown eyes. Wasting no time, Sam, after ordering the others to stay at the top of the bank to pull Sweets and him out of the ten-foot-deep crevice, began to move down to Sweets, who appeared even more distressed than Candy.
"HANG ON SWEETS!" Sam called as he reached her, his grunts and groans quickly filling the air as he tried to move the branch that was easily twice his size. But, at one point, the task became surprisingly easier. Curious, Sam looked to his right, to find to his surprise Liam on the other side, the young wolf straining under the weight of the branch. But, with shear grit and determination, the father and son were able to lift the branch off Sweets. Unfortunately, the great triumph was short lived as they noticed something very alarming.
The water was rising…quickly.
Sam's eyes widened at a very startling realization.
"FLASH FLOOD!"
"SWEETS!" Liam bellowed, his own eyes wide with alarm as he addressed the now terrified female, "GET UP NOW!"
After taking a moment to pull herself out of the shock she was in, Sweets made a pitiful attempt to leap out of the bank, only to fall back onto Liam and Sam, the two males fumbling to get back to their feet as the water continued to rise.
And then, everything happened at once.
It started as a soft rumbling, only to grow it a massive roar. Looking down the riverbank, the three wolves saw to their collective horror a massive torrent raging towards them. And at that moment, Sam looked up at the others, who had seen what he was seeing, each quickly making a move to get down into the crevice and help their friends…
Only for Sam to send them off.
"GET TO HIGHER GROUND!"
And just as he said this, Sam pulled Liam and Sweets close to him, putting himself between the wave and the other two wolves in his grasp.
The next moment…he felt like he was being hit by a freight train, the air being knocked out of his lungs, only to be replaced by muddy water. For several minutes Sam used his hind legs to kick for the surface, Sweets and Liam still in his grasp. Finally, with a great gasp from the three of them, the trio broke the surface, finding themselves in cloudy, brown water filled with floating debris from fallen trees.
Luckily, Sam was able to find a sizeable chunk of wood that would keep the three of them afloat. Swimming toward the life-saving piece of wood, the three clung to for dear life, taking the moment of rest to catch their breaths.
"SAM!"
"LIAM!"
"SWEETS!"
After hearing a chorus of voices calling their names, the trio turned to see their friends running along the riverbank, desperate to catch up, only to notice their eyes go even wider with alarm. At first confused, the trio turned their attention to what the others were looking at.
"Shit," Sam softly swore before the three were submerged and buffeted around by a series of treacherous rapids, their friends quickly losing sight of them in the raging foam. In all the chaos, Sam lost track of Liam and Sweets, his mind only focusing on each rock he was slammed into to.
And the last thing he remembered was slamming his head against a rock before everything went black.