Chapter 6: Tainted Blood (written from February 2nd to February 3rd, 2022)

Third Person Point of View

April 15th, 2011

"I'm sorry, Jenny," Rocky apologized. He dropped the serrated leaves and dainty sticks from his mouth. Earlier, he had destroyed her sand structure she called her Flower Den. He felt that he had to in order to show dominance as an Alpha, but his mother, Kate, slapped him in the face. She had to teach him the ways of a proper Alpha. Now, he hoped, by offering Jenny more building materials, she would forgive him. Rocky loved his sister. He connected with her much more than their parents.

The family den was close to the Grand Lake, the large body of water serving as the pack's southern border. Rocky thought back to the new words Hutch had taught him. One of them was for the sandy space between the waves and the vine-covered pit containing the family den. The sandy space the family played in, where Jenny constructed her magnificent mound, was called a beach. And it was down the beach Rocky bolted, embracing his youth in front of the flaming waters as the sunset endured. Proudly opposing the wind, his tongue brandished from the left side of his mouth. After the Flower Den was rebuilt, the light grey pup thought he spotted something moving. An orange dot caught his eye. Running along the shoreline, the dot became a distinct shape. It was a creature, a doglike creature of some sort.

It was, in fact, a fox, but Rocky had never seen one before, and he did not have the word, "fox," in his vocabulary. To him, it was a strange-looking pup. It was roughly the same size as him. "Well, hi there!" Rocky greeted. The light grey pup slipped into a play bow. The fox turned around and giggled. Rocky was enthralled by her long fluffy tail. The vixen made it dance like the edges of a mighty blaze.

"Well, aren't you a cutie?" Her soft words made the wolf pup blush.

"Me? A cutie?" he replied. The fox approached him with an exaggerated walk. She grew a fervent smirk that persuaded Rocky to end his play bow.

"Oh, yes. You're a cutie." She giggled again as she walked in circles around him, rubbing her flashy tail against his flanks.

Meanwhile, Jenny had convinced Humphrey and Kate to add finishing touches to the Flower Den. The white pup made a circle of sticks on top of the mound that resembled a bird's nest. In the center was a patch of sand dedicated to her parents.

"Put your pawprints here!" She demonstrated by making her pawprint. While Humphrey and Kate followed her example, she realized her brother was nowhere to be seen. "Where's Rocky?" she asked.

"Probably off on his own again," Kate replied. "Rocky!" The tan she-wolf called for her son. Suddenly, there was a loud cry for help. It was not Rocky's voice. Humphrey and Kate looked at each other in bewilderment before chasing the sound. What they saw down the beach was difficult to forget.

The light grey pup was mounted on a fox. Rocky had the reddish animal restrained from escaping as he fiercely humped it. The vixen's scruff was squarely in Rocky's jaws, forceful exhalations sliding through his teeth. The adult wolves were horrified. Kate acted first and attempted to remove Rocky from the fox. She grabbed his scruff, but Rocky did not release his grip. "Rocky! Let go!" Kate ordered, but the pup was too deep in his euphoria to listen. He was now humping the air. Humphrey then aggressively bit the pup's paw, causing Rocky to wail. The bite gave him lacerations on three of his toes. Although the fox was freed, Kate was not pleased. "Humphrey! That wasn't necessary!" She placed the pup back on the sand and turned to the vixen who was hiding behind a dune. "We're so sorry, ma'am!"

"You need to keep that kid under control!" she snapped. She then disappeared into the forest.

"Rocky! Why did you do that?" Humphrey asked the pup. Rocky continued to wail.

"I don't know!" he sobbed.

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"I DON'T KNOW!" he repeated with a louder tone. Kate then lay herself down in front of him. Humphrey could already sense what his mate was going to do next.

"Kate, don't appease him."

"I'm not going to appease him, Humphrey!" she shot back.

"This is the fifth time he's assaulted critters like this! Other pups and their families won't go near us anymore! You have to punish him!"

"Baby, please, shut the hell up! Jenny can hear us!" The she-wolf then hugged her son whose wails almost overwhelmed their heated remarks. Humphrey sighed. The Alpha regained his composure.

"Kate," he said in a much softer tone. He wanted to express his growing concerns about Rocky. The pup was going to succeed Kate's father one day, and the incidents were not giving the Western Pack's citizens any confidence. Humphrey was worried that, when the time came for Rocky to take Winston's place, he would not be up to it. Rocky was a strange pup. His mind struggled to be consistent, and he would always act impulsively. Every urge seemed to take over him, especially sexual ones. Humphrey had tried to convince Winston to make him his successor, but Winston refused, for the old wolf was confident in Kate's teaching abilities. It was Kate, after all, who taught Humphrey everything he knew about Alpha life; however, Humphrey was not so confident in his mate this time. She was unwilling to give Rocky any severe punishments. The only reason Humphrey could come up with was that his mate pitied the pup. Rocky may be the heir, but he was not supposed to exist. Perhaps, Humphrey thought, being too nice to Rocky was her way of coping.

"Why did Dad bite me?" Rocky sobbed. He began licking his wounds. "I just wanna make friends... What did I do wrong?" Kate had the answer to his question, but she did not want Rocky to define himself by his flaws.

"Nothing, dear. You did nothing wrong. You just... need to stop trying so hard." Kate hugged the pup tighter. Humphrey shook his head in disapproval and returned to Jenny.

"Is something wrong with Rocky, Dad?" she asked Humphrey.

"Umm, yes. But you shouldn't worry about it."

"Why?"

"Because, Jenny, umm..." Suddenly, a radical idea came to Humphrey. "Because, Jenny, you will be an Alpha."

"I will? I thought I was supposed to be an Omega."

"It'll be our little secret, so don't tell your mom, okay? No matter what. Promise me."

"Okay," she replied meekly. "I promise."

"When winter starts, don't go to Omega School. Instead, go to Alpha School. When Winston dies, you will be made Pack Leader. And you will be the first female Pack Leader."

"Really? Gee, Dad, I don't think I can do it. I can't be an Alpha."

"Well, the first step of being an Alpha is accepting the fact that you must do all that you can for the good of the pack." Jenny began to tremble in fear. The immense responsibility intimidated her. Humphrey sensed it. "A least try being an Alpha. Could you do that for me?"

"I'll try."

"Thank you." Humphrey hugged her.

Present Day - December 21st, 2012 (Winter Solstice)

Unfortunately for Humphrey, Jenny would not stay at Alpha School for very long. Jenny would switch to Omega School, and at the same time, Rocky deserted the pack. Rocky, along with other Betas, including Dani and Briana, attempted to form their own pack. It failed due to infighting, and Rocky returned to an angry Kate, but despite the major setback, Rocky was still set to become Pack Leader after the Alpha School graduation. Humphrey and Kate, however, did not inform Rocky of his future role, for they feared that his awareness of it would provoke his unstable nature. Their hesitancy to tell Rocky the truth only led him to desert the pack again and befriend an outcast known as the Drifter, Rocky and Jenny's true father.

Rocky and the Drifter were dead now. Neither they nor Jenny or Kate occupied Humphrey's mind anymore. Humphrey was the Pack Leader of the West, the first one to be elected, and he had his work cut out for him. He was fighting a war on three fronts.

Before Humphrey killed the Drifter, the Drifter revealed that Matt was his father. It was the reason why the Drifter was allowed to live while Rocky was executed by the North. Matt hid information that would have allowed Humphrey to find Kate's rapist sooner. With this new knowledge, Humphrey declared war on the North. Meanwhile, the Eastern Pack experienced a coup. Tony and many of his top Alphas were assassinated, and a female wolf rose to power and proclaimed the creation of a monarchy. Her name was Adalynn or Queen Adalynn, and she sought to end the period of Eastern weakness that started after Tony and Winston's peace treaty. The Eastern Kingdom quickly allied itself with the North, effectively declaring war on the West. At the same time, the reborn Black Mountain Empire, a Rogue splinter group led by Antwon, was attempting to invade the entire Valley in order to eradicate the Omegas. Humphrey faced all of these opposing forces, and miraculously, his pack continued to survive. However, the war had stalled. For the last few months, things had been at a quiet stalemate.

"Nothing's changed, sir," said Humphrey's young Second-In-Command, Susie. Every day she was tasked with giving the Pack Leader updates on the war.

"As usual, we must hold positions," Humphrey replied. The two of them stood on the stone ledge near the summit of Mt. Victory. "Antwon will continue to attack the East and North. Eventually, one of them, likely the East, will surrender and beg for our help."

"What makes you so confident that that will happen, sir?"

"Only the patient hunters bring home their kill."