Chapter 17: Betrayals (written from May 7th to May 8th, 2020)

Not long after Rocky exited Shadow Forest, he came across his mother with a limping dark wolf he had never seen before. Upon seeing Rocky, Kate went and hugged him.

"Thank goodness you're alright! What the hell happened?!"

"A group of zealots kidnapped me, and they were trying to force me to read the Pack Leader's Oath. If I became pack leader, they said they were going to use me as a puppet for their own plans." He dropped the bone at her feet. Douglas picked it up.

"Where are they now? I'm gonna tear them limb from limb!" Kate vowed.

"Well, somebody already did that."

"What?"

"They took me to Shadow Forest, so they could force me without anybody around, but two other wolves were there, and they saved me! They beat the shit out of 'em! That's how I was able to get here."

"Who are they?" Kate asked.

"Just some wolves named Shadow and Sasha. How is Dani?"

"Is that your friend? She's at the Pack Healers' Den for She-Wolves. I don't know her condition. I was busy looking for you."

"Well, thank you," said her son. He never thought he would ever be satisfied to see his mother. "Where's Dad?"

"Soon to be in hell. Not only am I gonna tear those zealots limb from limb but your father as well."

The three wolves traveled to the old family den where a mess lay before them. As Kate made a summoning howl to get Humphrey, Douglas tried to fix the wall. He pushed all of the rocks and dirt away from the center of the room and attempted to reassemble the wall piece by piece, but some of the damage seemed too extensive.

"This looks compromised. Some cracks have made it to the ceiling," Douglas informed. "I can't say with confidence that this den will last much longer. A good enough rainstorm may cause a cave-in."

"You're a den builder?" said Rocky.

"Aye, one of the many talents I wish I did not have."

"Well, good riddance. I hate this place."

"Speaking of hate," said Kate. Humphrey entered the den.

"I see you've found Rocky."

"I have found other things too," she added.

"Like what?"

"Well, I guess one of them would be... that you tried to make me think that Rocky was dead, so I wouldn't find him." Kate could see her mate freeze and take a big gulp of air.

"...Now, Kate... don't be making crazy accusations..."

"Oh, I would never make a crazy accusation if it weren't for the play bone Douglas saw you take!" After glancing at Douglas, Humphrey closed his eyes and directed his head toward the ground. He attempted a straight face in order to hide his guilt. "This is like unforgivable territory! You were willing to keep our son away from me and lie to me about it!"

"Okay... Okay... I'm sorry! But please try to understand..."

"Enlighten me! How can you possibly justify that?! He's our son!"

"An adult son who can live on his own!"

"He's still our son, Humphrey!"

"Kate... He's not our son. We've talked about this..."

"Yeah, in conversations where I'm always shut out! You know how much fucking pain I went through grieving! You literally hurt me! You hurt me, your mate!"

"Well... that's what you get for being attached to him! Of course, you're going to get hurt!" Humphrey yelled.

"Oh, yeah, why on Earth would I be attached to our own son?! Pfft! Silly me!"

"For the last time... HE IS NOT... OUR SON!"

Suddenly, three Alphas came to the mouth of the den. They all smelled distinctly Northern. Kate tried to meet them, but they entered and walked past her.

"Umm, excuse you! You can't just walk into our den!"

"Actually, we can," one of them answered. "The treaty with Winston allows us to reasonably search and seize anything and anyone who we deem as a suspect."

"Is somebody here accused of something?" asked Humphrey. They pointed at Rocky.

"Excuse me? Of what crime?" said Kate.

"A pregnant she-wolf has been killed within our borders. It was likely a rape." Douglas, Kate, and Humphrey all gasped. "Two individual scents were found on the corpse. Our pack leader has reason to suspect that Rocky is one of those two individuals."

"Holy hell!" Humphrey exclaimed.

"I know Rocky. He would never do such a thing," Kate replied. "I assure you that Matt is mistaken."

"We have the ability to know if that's true." The smallest of the trio walked up to Kate. "This border patrol discovered the body and knows the scents. He is here to confirm Matt's suspicions. It'll only take a second."

"By all means," said Kate.

The small border patrol approached Rocky and took a whiff. It took less than a second for the wolf to be conclusive.

"It's him. No doubt."

"What?! I demand that a Western smell the corpse!" Kate insisted. "How do we know you aren't here just to frame my son or something?!"

"No," said Humphrey. "That fake burial you saw, Matt did that for me. If he thinks Rocky is guilty of something, he means it. I think these guys are legit." Kate then turned to Rocky.

"Did you kill her?"

"No! I don't quite know what they're talking about!" said Rocky

"What do you know then? What have you been doing while you were away? You know a crime like this is punishable only by death! If you did this, I can't fucking protect you!" Rocky thought to himself. He remembered Alabaan mounting Vyni before he got captured by the Western Alphas. They had to be talking about Vyni, and if Vyni was dead, he was sure Alabaan had something to do with it.

"I'd like to point out that his scent was found inside the vagina," said the border patrol.

"No! It's not what you think!" said Rocky. "What we did was consensual! It's the other guy! He did it!"

"Both scents were equally fresh. Also, we have caught the 'other guy,' and he says you did it, and if Matt believes him then—"

"That's a fucking lie! You gotta be kidding me?!"

"It doesn't matter anyway. He and you are the only ones connected to the crime. Further investigation of the scene places you just as close as he is to the body. Whether you were the main actor or not, you are still going down."

"What?! Mom, do something!"

"There's... nothing I can do, son," said Kate. She was flabbergasted. "What have you done...?"

"You don't actually believe this bullshit, do you?"

"The evidence against you is pretty damning... The fact that you would even associate yourself with this 'other guy' astounds me."

"This 'other guy' that he's referring to," a Northerner added, "is a criminal we've been trying to catch for a year. He's been directly involved in more crimes than anyone ever has in the North. There's no way Rocky would not know that, thus we believe Rocky knowingly took part in this particular crime."

"Tell me," Kate said to Rocky. "Did you know some of his crimes?" Rocky froze. His body language gave an obvious answer, but Rocky tried to deny it.

"No, I didn't..."

"You did, didn't you?! Oh, my goodness, Rocky! What the fuck were you thinking?! THIS IS FUCKING DEATH WE'RE TALKING ABOUT!" Kate screamed.

"But... I'm telling you! I didn't do the crime that the Northerners are saying!" Kate felt betrayed. It was like her mate was right all along about Rocky. She didn't believe him. Earlier she had mourned his death which turned out to be fake. Now she mourned a different kind of death, the death of her concern for him. Rocky had become a stranger to her.

The Northerners came to Rocky and took him away. Douglas watched Kate fall to her stifles and cry. He was going to console her, but her mate beat him to it. The grey wolf felt that he was vindicated.

"There, there, Kate," he whispered.

"You were right, Humphrey," said Kate. "And I was about to make him pack leader..."

"He's the son of a vile wolf. It's in his nature. It was inevitable that all of his behavioral issues would culminate in this."

"But... Jenny?"

"She's an Omega. She lacks the will to act on grisly thoughts. Rocky, on the other paw, was an Alpha, or at least he was supposed to be. He was taught under you, and he still couldn't break from his hereditary obscenity." Humphrey wiped her tears off and nuzzled her mane. With his paw, he reached out and rubbed her slit. Although Kate moaned, she shook her head. "It's not too late," Humphrey continued, "to restart..."

"No!" Kate replied. "I kissed him..."

"What...?"

"I kissed him..."

"Kissed who?"

"Douglas..." Promptly, Humphrey struck Kate in the eye. The blow knocked her off her feet and profoundly frightened her. Humphrey, the once fun-loving Omega, gave her a black eye... It was like a whole new wolf appeared.

He glanced at Douglas. The former Rogue became as submissive as possible. "Humphrey... don't be mad at him!" said Kate. She held a paw on her eye and backed away from him.

"I'm not... I can tell... You did it willingly! You unfaithful bitch! Everything I've done... EVERYTHING... I did, I did it for us! I lied... for us! Yes, I kept Rocky away, but I did it for us! Every time I argued with you... I did it in the interest of us! I did all of this because I loved you! I wanted things to be perfect! Because you were perfect! On that train where we howled, you were perfect! But I was far wrong... I did my sins in the interest of us. You did yours in the interest of yourself! I was trying to reinscribe our story, to right the wrongs of the rapist, and you spit in my face for doing that?! FUCK YOU! I cried and cried every night about the fact that we couldn't have the family we were supposed to have. But we have a chance in this mating season to start over! We could try for a Claudette, a Derrick, or something. And I kept trying to push you because our own family is what we desperately wanted! And right when it seems the rapist's pups have left us for good, you pull this shit on me?! I can't take this stress anymore! You were never worth it, Kate! NEVER! All that pain I went through for a whole year! GET OUT! GET OUT OF MY DEN! NOWWW! WE ARE OVER!"

Kate and Douglas ran out. Humphrey collapsed and cried. Just at that moment, the den's ceiling collapsed, and dust was launched into the air. Luckily, most of the rock and dirt missed Humphrey. He was left with no scratches. The light of the morning sun reached the floor for the first time, and Humphrey lifted his head from the puddle of tears. With the weight of Kate and her pups off his shoulders, his mind became clearer than ever.

As dust and dirt swirled around him, he pressed a paw against the side of his abdomen where he was still bleeding from a scrape he received after one of the beefy Alphas knocked him down. He spread the blood across his chest. He needed a defined identity as an Alpha. Without Rocky, there was no heir. Kate couldn't hold her legitimacy for long. It seemed only natural that Humphrey would take her place.

He had some campaigning to do...

(With the addition of this chapter, Desires 2 is now longer than the original Desires)