By the time evening rolled around, it was very clear that the rain wasn't going to let up. So, the group decided it was best to hunker down for the night and, hopefully, resume their journey tomorrow. After having a lite dinner of berries from nearby bushes, one that involved a lot of tension between Eve and King, the traveling party of wolves prepped themselves for sleep.
"Rest up, everyone," Sam announced with a yawn as he laid down beside his mate who had already started drifting off to dreamland, "we got a whole lot of walking to catch up on tomorrow."
With that said, Sam rested his head atop Terra's, his eyes closing a she succumbed to the restful sleep he needed.
All throughout the makeshift den, the others did the same.
After kissing each other goodnight, much to the chagrin of he parents, Claudette and Fleet fell asleep as well, closely followed by Humphrey and Kate. At the same time, Magril silently, but nervously, inquired to Stinky if she could sleep next to him. With a blush, Stinky agreed. Meanwhile, Anna, after sending Runt a flirtatious smile while batting her eyes, snuggled in next to her parents. Runt, after recovering from the very deep blush that shown through his fur, joined his parents as a dopey smile spread on his face.
As he watched the others drift off to sleep, King prepared himself to join them when he noticed that Eve had moved to the mouth of the den, watching the rain fall as a breeze flowed into the den. When that happened, King noticed that Eve let out an involuntary shiver. Even though the tension between them was so thick a bear could swipe it with it's claws, King thought it would be ungentlemanly not to check on Eve's physical well being.
Walking cautiously toward the golden Alpha, King couldn't help but admire her still physically fit body. And while she had put on some weight since he left Jasper, he felt that they added to her naturally curvy frame. Shaking those thoughts from his head, as those thoughts had gotten him in to his current predicament to begin with, King reached the mouth of the den, sitting a good few feet away from Eve so as to give her space. For the first few minutes, the pair sat in silence. But, eventually, King couldn't take the silence anymore. Wanting to strike up a conversation, King didn't know what to talk about.
"My mate and I would always do this after we had a fight," he suddenly blurted out.
Casting a sideways glance to Eve, King let out a quiet sigh of relief as he saw her face relax, even turning her head slightly so as to look at him. Taking this as a good sign, King decided to continue.
"Yeah, she would always sit at the foot of the den, acting like I wasn't there. I would sit beside her, just sitting in silence. Eventually, we would start inching closer to each other..." To emphasize his point, King began to cautiously scoot toward Eve, a hopeful smile on his face. The smile grew larger when he saw Eve do the same, sporting a small smile of her own.
"...until," he continued, "I finally felt her rest her head on my shoulder."
And it was at that moment that King felt Eve do just that. With a smile, King nuzzled his head into Eve's, the latter giggling as he did so. At that point, Eve felt she couldn't stay angry with King. Letting out a sigh, Eve began to reminisce about all the good times she and King had in their youth.
"Whatever happened to us King?" she inquired with a giggle.
Even though she meant it to be lighthearted, she instantly regretted asking that question as she felt King tense up, a low growl escaping his throat.
"Winston."
It was at that moment Eve, after moving away from King after he began to growl, that she instantly remembered exactly what HAD happened, the memory even more painful as she saw King's face change from one of anger, to one of sorrow.
"I LOVED you, Eve," King said in a pained whisper, tears forming in his eyes as he spoke, "I loved you so much that I was willing to do anything for you. But then, Winston came along, and it was as if I suddenly meant nothing to you."
It was at this point that King's tears began to fall down his cheeks, a pained sob escaping his throat as he clenched his eyes shut, desperate to stop the tears that fell. The clear heartbreak on his face made it clear to Eve how badly she had hurt this wolf, tears of grief and guilt falling freely down her cheeks.
"K-King," she quietly sobbed, "I-I'm so sorry. I didn't know..."
"Well now you do," King interrupted, his voice now cold as ice, tears still falling as he sent a hard glare toward Eve, who shrank back in submission, a lite whimper escaping her as she cast her eyes down in guilt. Having grown tired of the conversation, King began to walk to the center of the den. But, before he did, he sent one last jab to Eve's conscious.
"By the way, the night you chose Winston over me, was the night I was going to ask you to be my mate.
I hope it was worth it to you."
With that, King plopped down hard on the ground, facing away from Eve, mainly because he didn't want her to see his cold demeanor break as fresh tears fell from his eyes. Said female, at this point, was sporting a shocked expression. But, the shock soon faded as the weight of her actions came crashing down on her.
"I wish it was," she silently admitted before returning to the center of the den as well, keeping mind to give King his space as she drifted to sleep, unaware that an unknown presence had heard the whole conversation.
"You disgust me King," the unknown wolf spat to no one on particular, only for a devilish smile to form on their muzzle. "But don't worry, you will suffer more pain until I finally decide to put you out of your misery."
By morning, the storm had subsided and the sun was shining bright. After a quick caribou breakfast, courtesy of Sam and Kate, the group set off. Although one thing was clearly certain to Terra and Kate. As they observed, King was keeping his distance from Eve, hints of pain and sorrow evident in his expression. The same could be said for Eve, as she seemed to lag behind the group a little bit, her head low as she would cast occasional glances in King's direction.
"You seeing this to?" Kate whispered to Terra, an uneasy expression on her face. Terra nodded, her face scrunched up in suspicion as she looked between her father and Eve.
"Something is definitely up between those two," Terra whispered back, earning a nod of agreement from Kate. But, for the time being, the two females decided to let it go as the group continued on their journey, all while their uninvited guest stalked close behind.
Before long, the sun warmed King's body, although his heart still felt rather cold toward Eve. The golden Alpha had the same feeling toward him as well, but she didn't want that to be. Truth be told, Eve wanted to mend the gap between her and King. Deep down, both wanted the same thing.
As the group pressed on, Sam kept hearing something. Stopping for a brief minute, the sound he heard became clear. It sounded like somebody was crying.
"Hold up," he shouted, the group halted. "Someone's in trouble!"
Terra watched her mate run off into the woods. She followed a second later, then the rest of the group followed.
Sam kept his ears up as he followed the sound of crying. As he pushed through some bushes, he saw the source of the crying. There, sitting alone under a tree was a little girl. She was crying and from from what Sam could tell, she was clearly lost.
"She must have lost her family during that storm," Fleet hypothesized as he looked at the small child.
It was clear that the wolves had no idea what to do. A part of them wanted to leave because trusting humans was a bad idea and the fear of being trapped and sent to another park was something they wanted to avoid. But then again, this was child that was in need. As the wolves talked among themselves, King slowly walked toward the child.
"King! What are you doing?" Humphrey asked the Alpha.
King didn't stop or answer Humphrey, instead, he walked up to the crying child and sat down in front of her. When the little girl looked up, she saw King looking at her. She cocked her head, puzzled as to why this wolf hadn't attacked her yet. King wagged his tail and put on the friendliest face he could.
When the little girl saw that King was friendly, she went over and pet him.
"Good wolf. My name is Jessica," Jessica said to King.
"My name is King," the Alpha replied, but Jessica couldn't understand him for what he said; Jessica could only hear barking from him.
Seeing that Jessica was no threat to them and that King had seemed to calm her down, the others came out of hiding. Jessica smiled as the wolves began to give her comforting licks on her hands and cheeks.
"Disgusting!" growled the unknown wolf as he watched King and the others care for Jessica. "You were right Cain. King is weaker than I thought."
At that moment, the spirit of the dark wolf appeared beside him.
"Yes, see what happens when you let your heart do the thinking," Cain smiled as he began to float around the wolf. "Also, remember that King's fucking Omega son-in-law has made him lose the will to be a mighty Alpha like you."
"I see what you mean, Cain," the unknown wolf nodded. "If I can sneak into the group while everyone is asleep, I could kill the child and frame them for her death. That way the humans that are looking for her will hunt and kill in retaliation."
"No! You will not harm the child!" Cain shouted. The unknown wolf looked at him. Shocked and confused as to why Cain wanted him to do his plan. Cain smiled down at his new partner.
"I never thought I would die so soon. Life was cruel to me, but I see a glimmer of potential in you..." he smiled then stared to sing. "I know you desire blood— but pay attention!"
The unknown wolf sat up straight and followed Cain with his eyes only.
"It's clear that you seek vengeance, but biding your time's the way to go." Then with the power he had Cain transported a bunch of rouge wolves around the unknown wolf.
"Just who the hell are you?"one of the rouges then asked.
Cain smiled down at him.
"The one who shall give you everything you desire!" he said with a sickening smile.
"Follow my dark path, and you'll be rewarded." then he flew around the group of rouge wolves.
"What is your plan?" the unknown wolf asked.
"To kill King and all his family!" Cain shouted.
"Now we're talking," a Rogue named Tex laughed, "Lets get this party going."
Cain suddenly burned bright with dark fire. He then turned to the unknown wolf.
"Lead them well...Hench! And you will be a great pack leader like me."
All the Rouges and Hench cheered.
"Long Live Cain"
It was now clear that Cain had been planning to have his revenge ever since he had been killed by King that fateful day. Now, he was leading a group of new wolves who had now proclaimed Hench to be there leader. With all of them working together, King and the others would be no more.