So we know Age is a little on the weak side, but a pretty girl just said yes to going on a date with him, how else would you expect a shy wolf like him to respond! But Kate still hasn't been found, and the mysterious dead wolf is drawing attention from the wrong crowds. Seems that Humphrey won't be the only one who's in edge a little bit, trouble is certainly near.

Better Than This

Chapter 4

Thick Red Tree Sap

Humphrey and Garth were prowling all over the back areas of Jasper. Garth had mostly been the one who did the sniffing and scoping, Humphrey just sat back and tried to help in any way that he could. But more than often he would just trip over a root or sniff out something that made him hungry. Garth was frustrated by Humphrey's constant fall overs but he knew that Humphrey was an Omega. After a point, Garth actually started thinking it was funny. The way Humphrey kept trying to be on the prowl, it made Garth laugh on the inside. But soon, Garth thought that he was trying too hard, and that he might hurt himself if he went any further.

"Humphrey…what are you doing?" Garth asked raising his eyebrow at Humphrey with his nose straight on the ground.

"I'm…trying to…inhale the scents." Humphrey managed to say, but it was much muffled. Garth scoffed at Humphrey attempt to try and track.

"Humphrey, pick your nose up. That way you can actually take in the smells; you never played some weird Omega game that heighten your sense of smell." Garth asked, still curious as to how Humphrey could have some minor Alpha skills by just playing pointless Omega games. Humphrey shot Garth a dumb look and responded, in what he thought was a proud manor, but really was just making him look washed up.

"Of course I have bro. All during the winter, we hid berries around the park and tried to find them without our noses going numb from the cold. I usually found the most, it's really hard to find the smell of berries when there's cold winds left and right, not to mention a bunch of other slight conflicting smells." Humphrey recalled out loud. Garth still didn't understand it, but at the moment he didn't care.

"Find then, use that to help me find Kate; I figured that should've been enough to make you try." Garth commented on Humphrey's logic.

"Well I tried it already and I couldn't find a thing, that's why I was doing this…" He said and pawed the ground, "I was trying a different tactic."

Garth was still rendered speechless by Humphrey, his new brother-in-law was still an Omega, but he had a false sense of when to give up. To Garth it made no sense what so ever. Garth and Humphrey then continued to sniff the ground in their respective ways and followed the scent of whatever they found. Kate's recognizable scent had long been gone, so now, the two were just taking the leads they could manage to sniff out, regardless of what it was.

"I sort of wish Age was here." Announced Humphrey out of nowhere, "He has some real acute senses; he could probably help us find Kate no problem."

(Back with Age passed out outside the head den)

"Hmm…" Age mumbled in his sleepy stage, "It was the best, she howled with me, and hugged me…and then we even kissed. It was the best date ever…" Age was rudely awakened by a loud howl that carried through the park. "What…huh?" Age yelled as he was thrown back into life. "What was that?" Age asked himself, there was no one around. Age picked himself up and rushed over to the den he was near, and when he looked in he saw Winston. "Winston, what's going on?" Age asked scared, the sky was red and orange still, and it wasn't helping the mood.

"There's been a murder in the park my boy, come with me." Age shook once more, and followed Winston down into the canyon. Every wolf in the pack was there, and there were dozens of wolves. Age kept next to Winston's side and soon, Tony came up to them.

"We have a pack law murder here, come take a look." Tony brought Winston, around the canyon wall, but before they were around, Winston stopped Age.

"Stay here son, if we need your sense of smell, I'll call you. For now help Eve not let anyone past this point…" He said and pointed to a low stone platform that looked like an altar to him. "I got a feeling this isn't going to be pretty." Winston finished and walked around the canyon with Tony. Age turned around and Eve was waiting for him.

"Alright sweetie, no one goes past here; you cover that side I'll keep an eye on this one, more Alphas should be here shortly to help us out." Eve instructed him, and then assumed her post. Age then walked over to his spot, and all the sat in front of him was a crowd of mumbling wolves. After a minute or so of awkward stares between him and the crowd, Winston came about by himself and called,

"Age, think you can see this? It's a bit gruesome, but Tony and I can't figure it out." Age just slowly nodded his head, he was nervous of whatever this was. But he wanted to make a good impression, so he followed Winston around the canyon wall, and he stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the dead wolf, but here, it was not one wolf, but three.

The three wolves had been skewered and shish-kabobed on a leaning pine tree up on a ledge on the canyon wall. Blood from the top wolf was slowly dripping down from its body, onto the next and onto the last. Age could barely look at the sight to being with, the sight of the red liquid staining the bark of the tree and leaking in and out of the other bodies make him quake in fear. Not to even mention the loose organs hanging out of the bodies from being impaled so hard. Age could look no more, no wonder they didn't let the public see this, he turned away and covered his eyes with his paws, the image of the gore he just saw wouldn't go away for a long time.

"Take a good long look kid; this is the work of someone serious. Whoever did this, they're not messing around, and they mean business. And it's our job, to stop them before they strike again." Without looking, Age managed to respond to Tony.

"You want me to go up there and sniff that? Are you Alphas out of your minds?" Age complained to them.

"Age you've got a better sense of smell then we do, if there's any smell to be found, I'm sure you could find it. We've already tried, we couldn't find anything. Please my boy, for the pack." Tony told Age, secretly, Tony was just saying that so Age would do it, he didn't believe Winston when he said Age's senses were seemingly great than the average wolf.

"Alright, fine, but if I vomit, it's your fault." Age really didn't want to do this, but if it stopped innocent wolves from getting killed he'd put up with it.

Age jumped up onto a series of rocks and ledges until he got to the ledge with the tree on it. He pulled away in disgust at the smell of the corpses, but turned back around and got very close to it. He held his breath and sniffed the blood on the bark, the hanging organs, and the grass and dirt beneath the tree. He then climbed up the tree using the branches and sniffed the individual bodies one by one. Once he reached the top, he inhaled one more time and sniffed the inside and out of the top carcass. He was about to move down when he thought he caught wind of something, and when he pushed the body up a little to get in closer, he found a word clawed into the bark. Who…Age read the word in his mind. Curious, he climbed down to the middle body and pushed it up a little, he had to almost go around the tree, but he found the next word also torn into the side and stained red. Is…he thought. Who is…Age wondered. Fearing what the final word might be, he went to move the body at the bottom, and once he did, it ripped in half and fell on the ground, spilling blood everywhere and letting the wolf's organs lie loose on the ground. Horrified and scarred by what he just saw, he looked at the final word with a single eye, next. Who is next…that's what it read as. The killer was going to strike again, and he maimed these three wolves and left them to drip and tear to their deaths on this pine tree. It was a sign to Age, a sign of fear, and a sign that everyone should be afraid of.

Age quickly hopped down, he couldn't take anymore and scampered over to Winston and Tony. "Well, did you find anything?" Winston asked him. Age nodded his head, in a very slow and frightened manor.

"All I really found was that all of their scents are on each other. So they must've been hanging around together when this happened." Age explained to them, wanting to save the 'Who is next?' for last. Tony turned to Winston, and asked in a suspicious voice,

"The wolf that was killed earlier today, it was of blood loss, and his friends said it was because of some wolf with a funny voice right?" Tony asked and Winston nodded. "Would it be possible that that wolf is here, and so are his friends? That the killer skewered the one he killed on this tree, and then killed the other two and placed them here as well?" Tony tried to put the pieces together. But Age was the one who solved the mystery with a single question.

"That depends sir, how many friends did this wolf have?" Age asked.

"Two…" Breathed Tony.

Age then dropped his head to the ground and squeezed his eyes shut. Just before he spoke, he felt something wet touch his paws. He looked at what it was, and it was stream of blood coming from the wolf that broke of the tree and torn in two, Winston and Tony backed up, but Age stood still and let the blood stain his left paw.

"If he had two friends, and there's three here, along with all their scents on one another…then there's no question. These are the three friends, and the one on the bottom was killed first, that's why he fell off the tree so easily. Then after the other two reported who the attacker was, the killer snuck up on them and killed them, then put them out here because they said too much. He did it as a warning, warning that no one should mess with him…and he means no one. But that's not all…" Winston was intrigued the most of all, for all three of these wolves were from the Western Pack side. "He left a little message under all the bodies. Under the first one on the top, he clawed the word 'who'. The underneath the one in the middle, I found the word 'is', and last after the one on the bottom fell off and hit the ground, it revealed the word, 'next'."

"Who is next? That's what it said?" Winston said putting it together. Age nodded, and Winston shook in fear, "That means whoever is responsible for this ruthlessness is going to strike again! Age, was there anything else?" Winston frantically asked.

"No sir, sorry that's all I found." Age confessed his sorrow that he couldn't help more.

"Well then…thank you, you're dismissed." Winston said to Age, returning to his serious look and walking off with Tony.

Age backed off and ran up the canyon the minute they were gone. He hurried up into the brush and began crying his eyes out. He asked himself what kind of a monster would do this. But after he began sobbing, and small scent caught his nose, he stood up, and he didn't want to believe whose it was. It was that of J-Dog, he ran after the smell, running through the woods and jumping over rocks. It was late at night when he found the source of the smell coming from the inside of a cave; Age guessed he was far away from Jasper. As he crept inside, he noticed there was only one thing inside, a single, young tan wolf crying.

"Are you Kate?" Age asked her, and she jumped up at the sudden voice. But she sat back down and wiped her eyes.

"Yes I am." She responded.

Kate did it? No, there's no way, she's too nice and loving for an act like that! But then why would J-Dog's scent lead to her? Good questions, but all will be answered later, goodbye for now.