A/N: Glad to hear you all like the story, here's chapter 3 as a reward.
Humphrey's POV
I opened my eyes to see that the sun had already risen outside, I began to stretch my body out when I pressed up against something soft. I turned my head around to see Kate sound asleep right next to me. I smiled before carefully getting up on my paws to not wake her. She always managed to look so beautiful even while sleeping and it made me smile. I decided to head outside to see what the day had in store for us, hopefully no storm is rolling in suddenly on us. I expected it to be mid-morning but to my surprise the sun had only just risen over the mountain peaks. The sky above was clear and cloudless and it looked like it was going to be a nice sunny day.
I walked over to lake shore which was a stone throw away from where we slept. I sat down and waited for Kate to wake up which knowing her she wouldn't be long being an early riser. I knew that today I had to tell her the truth of my feelings because Jasper was only a day away at most. We will be walking most of today and since Jasper is so close I expect her to be itching to get there quick for reasons I do not know. I began to wonder more on what could be so important, I knew I could easily ask which seemed like a good idea once she woke up. Before we got captured everything seemed fine to me in the pack, no abnormal violence, food shortages, or talks of war. Although why was an eastern wolf at a western moonlight howl? I've seen the eastern leader there before but not any other wolf. I was of course refereeing to Garth or 'Barf' as I like to call him since he 'tried' to howl with Kate that night.
He also seemed to already know Kate so maybe there's something going on here that I'm just not seeing. My thoughts were interrupted when I could hear something walking towards me, I looked over to see that it was Kate "Well you're up early" She said sitting next to me facing the frozen lake "Yeah decided to come out and look at the view early" I said "I don't blame you" She agreed.
I decided that now was a good time to ask her what was on my mind "So Kate I've been thinking, what's the reason you want to get home so fast? I can understand if you miss being there but there must be something else I'm not seeing." I said looking at her. She took a breath before answering my question "Well it's because if I don't get home by the end of this full moon our pack and the east will go to war." She said looking at me as well.
I was shocked, a war how can this be? I was going to ask just that but she did it for me "We have had issues with the east hunting in our territory as I'm sure you can figure out from watching my first hunt. And it's come to a point where if we don't find a way to unite as one pack we will go to war. This is where I come into this mess, you remember Garth right?" She continued, I nodded my head yes "Well we're so post to marry in order to unite as one pack and the wedding was so post happen yesterday. Meaning that yes our pack might be in a war as we speak..." She finished. I was speechless, I had no idea how to feel a whole new door had opened for me, our pack was going to be in war unless Kate married Garth meaning that she was taken. I was upset that she never told me and slightly angry at the leaders for doing something like this. My worst fear had become reality I didn't even get a chance to tell her how I felt and now it was pointless since she was going to be married as soon as we got home. A few moments of silence passed as I sat looking out at the lake thinking my life was over as I knew it.
"I don't even want to marry him, I barely even know him..." She said sadly. This puzzled me, she seemed so keen on getting home to marry him but at the same time she doesn't. I do recall from when we were in Idaho that she said it was about responsibilities which just must be why. She was forced to sacrifice her love life for the good of the packs, I've never heard of anything so cruel before. I felt so bad for her, and I was so deep in thought that I almost missed what she said next. "I want to marry you instead..." She quietly said looking down at the ground
it was at that very moment that time itself stood still 'Did she just say what I thought she just said?" My mind was suddenly on fire from going through so many emotions at once. "Marry me?" I asked looking at her making sure what I heard wasn't just my mind playing a trick on me. "Yes Humphrey you, I love you and would rather spend my life with you then with some wolf I don't know." She replied looking straight at me with tears in her eyes.
Once again I was lost for words, the wolf of my wildest dreams just said she loves me, ME! An omega that had no chance being with her. My heart felt like it was put back in place and on the inside I was jumping up and down with glee. It wasn't even me who said it first which was the biggest shock, all this time thinking of what to say and she beats me to it. I was silent this whole time and right when I was going to say I love you back she cut me off "But it can't be since their forcing me to marry him and you and I are different ranks." She said starting to cry. I wanted to cry as well we loved each other but we couldn't ever be together, what kind of harsh trick was that? It made me feel upset and angry inside that we were so close to being together yet so very far.
"I love you too" I finally replied after a prolong silence. She immediately pulled me into a hug which I gratefully returned happy that at least we could share this moment of love before heading back to Jasper. She pressed her face to my chest as she cried into it, all I could do was just hold her and shed a few tears of my own as well. After what seemed like ages of hugging I lifted her head up from my chest with my forepaw and pressed my nose against hers giving her the very first real kiss I've ever had. It felt amazing to be kissing with a wolf that I so dearly loved and so wished I could be with. A love that was not to be... It was at that very moment when I realized something. Maybe we could be together, but that would mean not returning to Jasper and living on our own.
It was a sacrifice I was willing to take to be with her, but was she willing to do the same? It all felt so sudden but unlike her I didn't have any family in Jasper just friends, I didn't expect her to agree with this idea. We pulled out of our kiss and looked into each other's eyes, I couldn't help but let a huge smile grow on my face which she returned as well. "Oh Humphrey, I wish we could be together... But now knowing you love me back is just going to make things harder on me once we get back home." She said sadly "But maybe we can be together" I said knowing that she could not agree to the idea I had in mind.
"What do you mean? Even if I didn't marry Garth we still can't be together because of pack law." She replied. "You're right, but what if we don't go back" I suggested "Are you saying we run away from Jasper?" She asked knowing where I was going "Yes and live on our own as mates" I said, it still felt so new to me to be saying 'mates'.
"But Humphrey what about my family and your friends, they are all wondering where we are and maybe in a war as well." She said just as I imagined "I know and it's something I'm willing to lose to be with you." I said "I understand if you say no, you actually have family there unlike me who was taken in." I was fostered into the pack by my parents who were lone wolves and wanted me to have a safe life in a pack. "This is all happening so fast that I just feel like falling down and doing nothing." She said still keeping eye contact with me.
As much as I wanted to be with her though my idea I didn't want to force it upon her, I would rather see her happy more than anything else. "I just want you to be happy, and if going home is where you want to be then I won't argue, I'll be happy if you are." I said "This is one of the reasons why I love you, you're so caring to other wolves and to me." She said which made me feel good inside "So what do you choose?" I asked.
She looked at me with a slick smile before giving me a quick kiss "Does that answer your question?" She replied smiling "I love you" I said back "I love you too, but we will go back to Jasper to let everyone know we're still alive in a week. As much of a hard decision you gave me I'd rather be with the guy I love then go home to be with family but marry someone I don't love." She said "As long as you're happy then I am always remember that" I said receiving a nod from her.
'Wow this has been one emotional trip of a morning' I thought to myself as we sat close and looked out into the frozen lake that we had been in front of for the past hour. In the end I'm glad that my dream has come true, Kate loves me back and we can be together. I couldn't be any happier right now and I was surprised that she actually chose to run away and be with me. But if she changed her mind I would still be there one hundred percent because I love her and always will.
"Well where should we go as a place to live" I asked starting to think of places "As much as this place right here is pretty I don't like the cold as I'm sure you noticed" She said raising her eyebrows at me referring to me sharing body heat with her last night "It was the best I could do to keep you warm" I said innocently lightly blushing "Hey I didn't say I didn't like it" She said, now knowing that she was just messing with me, all I did was smile to which she giggled.
"Anyway somewhere warmer would be nice like say at the bottom of these mountains wherever that is." She said "Yeah I agree so how about we head across the lake and see what we find on the other side of the mountains over there." I said pointing out with my forepaw. "Sounds great but not today, I'd like to spend our first day together, well, together. Although we've been together for the past days but you know what I mean. Besides that emotional trip we just took drained all my energy." She said resting her head against mine "Yeah same here" I said back.
We sat like that there for most of the day, just enjoying each other's presence. Honestly I still had trouble believing this was real life, here I was sitting with the wolf of my dreams and was in love. But it was all very real and I couldn't be any more happy. I wanted to punch myself for thinking we had no chance and yet here we are. As the day drew to a close we retired to our temporary den had another pair of squirrels before we cuddled up together for sleep, tails intertwined. I was excited for what was to come tomorrow, adventure.