By the time evening rolled around, the air had gotten colder. Luckily, with the help of her new furry friends and their thick fur coats, little Jessica had no problem's keeping warm. But, eventually, as most children do, Jessica grew tired. Upon noticing this, the adults of the traveling wolves convened on what to do.
"I will stay with her for the night," King offered, a comforting smile on his face as he looked to the little girl, who up until that point had been playing with the young Omega's of the group. " I don't think the humans will be able to get a recuse party out until tomorrow." After taking a moment to think, Sam reasoned that King's hypothesis was probably correct.
"Should any of us keep watch during the night?" he suggested clearly unnerved at the idea of adding a human girl to the mix of wolves under their protection. Feeling soft fur brush against his side, Sam looked to see his mate nuzzle her head under his chin as she spoke.
"It'll be fine, sweetheart," Terra cooed lovingly, "there's enough of us here that there shouldn't be an issue." Looking to the others, who all nodded there heads in agreement, Sam let out a sigh as a small smile came to his muzzle.
"Well then," he began, noticing the lateness of the hour, "we best get some rest. Lord knows we're gonna be in for an interesting day tomorrow."
With a nod of agreement, the adult's went to rejoin the rest of the group, plus one human, settling down as they prepared for sleep.
Moving to Jessica, King went around so that the little girl could rest her head on his side, curling his body around her as she did so. Before long, the small child had fallen asleep, her soft breathing music to King's ears. However, King's ears picked up the sound of footstep's walking toward him. Turning his head to the source of the noise, King was surprised to see Eve standing just feet away from him, the otters having already fallen asleep.
"I thought maybe Jessica might like some extra warmth," she said, her tail lightly wagging as her ears folded against her head.
"May I join you?"
After taking a moment to think it over, King realized he couldn't just flat out ignore Eve the whole trip. So, he may as well make the best of having her around. After receiving a nod of approval, Eve moved so that she was now laying opposite King, both their bodies now curled around Jessica as the girl slept, although unconsciously began to pet Eve's head when she felt the extra warmth on her body. After a few moments of awkward silence, Eve felt that she needed to clarify something to King, who at this point had rested his head on his paws so that he was facing away from her.
"You should know," she began, causing King's ears to perk, "I don't regret marrying Winston."
Upon hearing this, King clenched his eyes shut as a few tears threatened to fall from his eyes. Noticing King's ears flatten against his head, Eve knew she had done more to hurt this wolf than she realized. Swallowing a nervous lump that had formed in her throat as she continued to speak.
"I regret breaking your heart when I did so."
Upon hearing this, a surprised King finally turned his head toward Eve, a clear indication that she now had his undivided attention.
"There are times," Eve continued, "where I thought about what my life would be like if I had stayed with you. Getting married, mating, having children, having grandchildren." It was at that point, Eve took on a look of deep thought before she continued.
"But, every time, it always came back to what I already have. I have my mate, my daughters, their mates, my grandpups. And now I know you have thought the same, King."
Even thought he wanted to deny it, the now wide-eyed King knew he couldn't. Letting out a sigh, King decided to speak.
"You're right Eve," King admitted, "while I have thought about what my life would have been like with you, I can't complain with how it turned out. I had a loving mate, who gave me a beautiful daughter, who with my amazing son-in-law, gave me a precious granddaughter. I guess what I'm saying is, if it weren't for you, I wouldn't be the wolf I am today."
It was at that point that a now tearful Eve did something that caught King off guard. Leaning her head forward, Eve captured King's lips in a powerful kiss. After recovering from the shock, King slowly melted into the kiss, which lasted for a few seconds before Eve pulled away.
"I love you, King," Eve suddenly admitted, causing King's eyes to go wide with shock. "Even though I love Winston, I know deep down that I still love you."
Even though King was beyond excited that his first love still had feelings for him, he couldn't shake this feeling that he was betraying Winston's trust.
"But, what about Winston?" he inquired, resulting in Eve taking on a thoughtful look as she voiced a theory that had been swimming in her head since Winston sent her with the group.
"I think he might want this for us," Eve theorized, "he never said it when he sent me on this trip, but I could feel it in his words. I-I can't be sure, but I think that's what it is." Upon thinking it over, King realized that Eve might be right. It would make sense that a dying Winston would want his mate to find someone after he was gone. But for now, he felt it best not to dwell on it, as there were more pressing matters to attend.
"Let's not worry about it now," he said with a tender smile, "let's just focus on the trip."
Even though Eve was a bit disappointed with King's answer, she pepped up some when she felt a gentle lick on her cheek. Looking to King, Eve returned his smile as she laid her head down on her paws, sighing in content as King laid his head on hers. Before long, the two drifted off to sleep, unaware of the dark forces plotting their demise.
The Next Morning
"JESSICA! SWEETIE, WHERE ARE YOU?!"
The wolves awoke with a start at the sound of many footsteps approaching their position. Eyes, widening in panic, Sam knew what it was as soon as Jessica responded to the new voice.
"MAMA!" she cried happily as she got up from between King and Eve, who upon shaking the last bits of grogginess from their heads, bolted to join the rest of their group.
"The search party!" Sam said urgently, "we need to get out of here!"
"Right!" King agreed before helping the rest of the group get a good distance away from the impending danger. But, before he could get too far, King froze as he looked back at the little girl, who had paused in her tracks to look back at the retreating forms of the wolves that had helped her, tears forming in her eyes as it appeared that her new friends had abandoned her. Offering a sad smile, King, much to the confusing of the rest of the group, walked back up to the girl, who quickly latched her arms around his neck.
"Good wolfy," she mumbled.
"Take care, kid," King said as he pulled away from the girl, bolting with the others as Jessica's parents, accompanied by several police officers and park rangers, happily reunited with their daughter. As the reunion occurred, The group of wolves looked to King who, upon noticing their collective gaze, smiled sheepishly as they offered proud smiles all around.
After a minutes, the humans finally set off, a clear signal for the wolf party to do the same. before long, the group was on their way again to their destination. And by about midday, they arrived at where it all started;
Banff National Park.
As the two Alpha and Omega families entered the Banff territory, Humphrey began to feel like that something special was about to happen. While he pondered these thoughts, King sniffed the air to see if there were any wolves around. Sure enough, there were some near by. But then it hit the older Alpha, since Eve and him were starting to hook up, what would the two females who he had mated with think about that?
King hoped they would be alright with him getting back together with Eve.
"Hold it right there!" an Alpha shouted from a small hill, commanding their halt of movement.
"Who are you all?" the Alpha shouted as other wolves showed up.
King stepped forward.
"I am King, the champion of this pack!" he boasted with pride.
Surprised by this, the Alpha looked over at his shoulder at his pack leader.
"What do you want me to do, Rex?" he asked.
The gray Alpha smiled as he sniffed the air. There was a wolf he was so wanting to see and he could not hold back the tears. Rex looked at his second-in-command and whispered,
"Get everyone set up with a den, then have King and my son brought to my den."
The second in command nodded.
"It will be done," he said then went over the hill to welcome the group. Rex then went off to get himself ready, but first he had to doing something very personal.
After a few minutes, Rex arrived at his destination. Looking down at the fresh plucked flowers, he let a few tears drop.
"I know that being a pack leader is hard, but it's the only way I've been able to deal with all these feelings. It's just too hard to deal with this alone," Rex said, sniffling once in a while after the end of every sentence.
"I know that you have been my angel watching me from above, keeping me safe. I know you want me to move on, but I'm having troubles. There's motivation, but I can't let you go. If you could just give me some kind of a sign from heaven that your okay with me moving on, that your ready to let me remarry. Than please do. I'll always love you. I'll replace the empty feeling in my soul with life, and my new love, Jenna," he said with a few more tears falling down his face.
"I miss you Melody, and I wish I could put you back into this world, but a wolf can only dream. I'll see you in heaven someday soon." With that said, Rex walked away with his head low, only to stop and smile.
"Our son has returned and has a family of his own now."
He said looking at the grave of his late wife and Rex went on his way. When Rex was far enough away, Hench who had been spying on him, came out of the bushes with a two of his wolves.
With a cruel smile, Hench walked up to the grave, lifted his leg and peed all over it.
"Cain will have his revenge, then..." he hissed as the last few drops fell.
"King will meet his end."
"Not yet he won't," Cain smiled as he appeared beside Hench. "Wait for three days, then when King has let his guard down, strike hard. Strike fast. Go for the throat and don't let go until his heart stops beating."
Not far off was Eve, looking at the den she and King would be sharing. The beautiful golden Alpha then felt the presence of an unearthly force. Turning, Eve saw the spirit of the white wolf approach her. Able looked at her and she just looked back at him.
"Be ready for the Dark Wolf in three days," he warned, then faded away. Eve listened to his voice as it was carried by the wind.
"Only love and team work will bring an end to my brother's revenge. Three days Eve! Remember… Three days!"
Meanwhile, King and Humphrey slowly walked toward the pack leader's den. King was smiling, while the gray-furred Omega was having a mini-panic attack. He was panting hard and looking rather sick to his stomach. Humphrey had no idea why the pack leader wanted to see him, but whatever the reason was, he just went on with King to meet this new wolf.
"So..." Humphrey gulped as he and King neared the den. "Does this Alpha like Omegas?" he asked.
King nodded.
"Sure he does. Him and I had a good time with a pair of omegas, he is also getting married to one soon."
Humphrey froze and looked at King. The expression of shock and surprise was evident on the Omega's face. Had he just heard King confess to having a love affair with an Omega female of this pack.
No!
Humphrey tilted his head and leaned closer to the older alpha.
"Very funny, King," he laughed, thinking that King was playing a joke on him. But the look King gave him said otherwise. Humphrey stopped laughing.
"You...had sex with an..." looking around, he finished his sentence, "Omega?"
"I did," King confessed with since of pride. "And also had some fun with her best friend who was an alpha."
By now Humphrey was very confused. He knew King had changed his ways, but to go as far as mating with an Omega, that was something else.
"Let's just meet this friend of yours," Humphrey said as he walked on up to the den.
Inside, Rex sat quietly, eagerly awaiting see his son for the first time since losing him. His niece Elise sat next to him. Jenna, however, wanted to meet Humphrey after Rex and Elise had welcomed him in.
When Humphrey and King entered the den, the first thing that happened was Rex suddenly and without warning rushed to Humphrey. The young gray-furred omega looked at the gray-furred Alpha with worry.
"Hello my son" Rex said as he opened his arms.
Then Humphrey knew who this wolf was.
Memories of that fateful day played back in his mind. He could still hear his father shouting his name. And now, here he was.
Reunited with his father after all these years of being apart.
He stood there for a brief moment and let out a single tear as he jumped into his father's arm.
"DAD!"
After a few minutes, father and son pulled away from each other, the younger of the two noticing his young cousin Elise walking up to him.
"Hello Humphrey, welcome to our pack," Elise said as she let out a few tears as she and Humphrey hugged tightly. King watched in pure happiness as Humphrey was finally reunited with his blood family.
With a smile, Rex looked over at Jenna.
"Oh Humphrey, there is someone here you have to meet, your soon to be step-mother." Jenna walked up to him.
"Her name is Jenna," he said.
Humphrey, upon hearing this, pulled away from Elise, his eyes wide, him speechless, and unhappy.
"What happened to mom?" he asked his father.
Rex then quickly realized that King nor Sam had informed Humphrey about the passing of his mother.
"Well… I'll tell you." Rex sadly said