A/N: This ended up being longer than I expect so I'm splitting it into two chapters meaning that you get an extra chapter!
Humphrey's POV
Everything was quiet in my den, I had just woken up and was sitting in the entry way of the den. The early morning sun was hanging in the sky above and not a single cloud be seen. It looked like it was going to be a perfect day, but this day was already guaranteed to be perfect. Today was the day Kate and I would officially marry and become husband and wife. The joy I was feeling inside me was hard to contain, I couldn't help but smile. The reason everything was quiet was because I was alone since Kate had to stay away from me for all of today. The reason for this was because of the old tradition that it was bad luck for two soon to be mates to see each other before their wedding. I didn't really believe in that tradition but Kate's parents insisted that we do it anyway. Besides it's only for half a day anyway.
Our wedding was scheduled to begin this afternoon in a very special location. Instead of marrying at the valley just like Garth and Lilly did we decided to get married in the cave we discovered a couple of days ago. Kate and I had asked Garth about the cave and it turned out that they used it for their weddings, just like how we did ours in the valley. Upon hearing about this Kate wanted to have ours in this cave and I didn't blame her. Sure the valley was a beautiful place but come on, how many wolves can say they have been married in a cave. It just sounded cool and unique. We talked to Winston and Eve about the change in location and they agreed but had to check with Tony first considering it used to belong to his pack. Tony had agreed and liked the idea saying that it had been many months since the last wedding at that spot.
The cave was small and wouldn't fit many wolves inside for the ceremony, but this didn't matter. Our wedding wouldn't have as much whiteness as Garth and Lilly's did. The reason theirs was bigger was because it united both packs so every wolf from both packs was there for it. Ours would only have our family and friends and whoever else wanted to come from either pack. This was perfect to me, I didn't want a huge gathering or fuss over our wedding. Just a quiet, peaceful, and memorable experience that I will always think back on and just smile from the memory.
I had nothing planned to do today, just wash and clean up before heading over to the cave and waiting for everyone and Kate to come. I could just relax and enjoy some time alone for once in a long time. Yes I loved having Kate's and others company but sometimes I like to just go somewhere alone and be by myself. Maybe it was just a trait I got from my parents considering they were lone wolves, or just one of my own. Either way I enjoyed having it every now and then. I let out a yawn before getting up from where I had been sitting for the past half hour. My stomach was growling at me telling me that I needed some food. I walked out into the sunshine feeling it warm up my fur, it has slowly gotten hotter the past few days since summer was soon beginning. I have dealt with summers before of course and most of my days were spent in the water keeping cool from the hot sun.
I passed by a few wolves on my way to the feeding grounds, everyone had the day off today because of our wedding. Some said good morning to me which I returned saying good morning as well. Upon arriving to the feeding grounds I saw Lilly heading towards me with three squirrels dangling from her mouth. "Good morning Lilly, how's Kate?" I immediately asked, Kate had spent to night in her and Garth's den. She managed to laugh while still holding the prey but ended up dropping it. "Missing her already I see?" She said stopping in front of me "You could say that" I replied smiling. "She and Garth are still asleep so I decided to get food for the three of us before they awoke." She said.
"Alright, well tell her I said hi" I said, I would have talked longer but my stomach told me otherwise. "I will" She said laughing again before picking up the squirrels and walking past me. I laughed at myself before continuing to the pile of caribou carcasses. It had only been eight or so hours since I last saw Kate and I was already asking others how she was. I knew I could handle not seeing her until our wedding but that didn't mean I didn't want to know what she was up to.
I walked up to a dead caribou and ripped off some of its side muscle and fat. I didn't take much since I knew I didn't need a lot of food to fill me up. I found some shade under one of many pine trees and sat down. I could hear wolves talking amongst each other asking how they had been. I sat alone and just ate, after this I would head over to the river and wash up for my wedding. I still had many hours until it started but being early is better than being late. Suddenly I saw my three friends Salty, Shakey, and Mooch walking over to me from the den grounds. "Hey guys" I greeted happy to see them "Hey Humphrey" Shakey greeted back.
"What brings you here?" I asked curious as to why they showed up "Well since today is your big day we figured we would help get you cleaned up for it." Salty said with the other two nodding. "That's nice of you guys, but you don't need to do that for me." I said. I was perfectly able to straighten my hair myself, I've done it plenty of times before. "No we insist, you only get married once and besides, don't you want to impress Kate?" He said. He did have a point, I did want to impress Kate since I knew she would be doing the same, somehow. She always managed stay beautiful to me even when her fur was a mess, and I was interested and excited to see how she would look at the wedding. "Alright you got a point there" I replied agreeing to let them fancy me up.
I had already finished my meal and was sitting talking to them. Eventually we left the den grounds and headed east towards the river where I would wash up and let them straighten out my fur. It felt odd that they were doing this for me and I would have to owe them something probably. At the same time I was thankful I had friends like this, we were friends that went out of their way to help each other. We had been this way ever since I met them as a pup, together we worked as a team when it came to keeping the alphas in line. The same was true when we got into trouble or needed help. They had helped me live through being alone in this pack since I had no true family here. Teaching me the basics to being an omega which ended up making me the leader of all omegas in the pack, below Winston of course.
The sun was reflecting off of the waterfall that ran down the tall cliff side before coming to a dramatic splash in the river below. It was peaceful here, the birds were singing and the trees swayed in the light wind. We came to a stop on the bank all sitting down on the soft dirt. "Alright go wash up while I find a pine cone and a few other things." Salty said before walking through some bushes. I got up leaving Shakey and Mooch and headed into the ice cold water that made me shiver from the feel. I did my usual routine when it came to bathing, a simple dunk of my whole body underwater and some scrubbing afterword.
After I had finished with that I turned around and exited the water heading back to my friends. Salty had already retuned with a pine cone and some other assorted things. I knew that the pine cone was for combing my fur but the rest I had no idea. Salty had agreed to do all of the brushing and whatever else he plans of doing so that I would impress Kate. The others would be there as support saying what looked good and what didn't. To be honest I had no clue how he would make me impress Kate. She had already seen me with my fur clean and straight so what more could I do? But Salty was always full of surprises so this should be interesting to see what he does.
I sat down in front of them with my back facing at Salty who was already ready with the pine cone in his mouth. I talked to Shakey and Mooch while I felt Salty begin combing my back before getting to my mane. "I'm sorry Mooch but I forgot to ask you about how the howl went for you and Tasha." I said wanting to know if my little match making test worked out. "It went better than I expected, we talked for a while after you left getting to know each other. Then we howled after that, but we haven't really talked since that night." He replied. At first I was happy that I got my friend to howl with someone but that went away after he said that they hadn't talked after that night. "It's alright man, maybe it wasn't meant to be, you know?" I said giving him some comfort "Yeah maybe, but I'm just going to see how things play out for now, I don't got any hard feelings about it." He said.
"That's good" I said glad that he wasn't taking any of it personally. It became silent between us after that but it didn't take long before Salty had finished with the brushing. "Alright that should do it" He said stepping back "Go check it out" I got up and headed towards the water since I could see my reflection in it. I expected to see me with straight curl free fur but what I saw was the complete opposite. My fur was fine but my mane had been spiked up on end making it look two times bigger than it normally was.
"Ahhh!" I yelled jumping back in surprise at what I saw looking back at me. I could hear the three of them laughing behind me, I turned around and have them an angry look. I took my forepaws and push my mane back down to normal, it looked like I was going to being doing the rest myself. By then they had stopped their laughter and sat looking back at me "Man the look on your face was priceless" Shakey said. "Yeah well worth it" Salty agreed "But enough joking around, now to do it the right way" He said as I walked back up to them.
"You better" I said sitting where I was before getting up. Luckily I wasn't too mad since there was still plenty of time left before the ceremony. Plus they were only pulling a joke on me which I should have expected being that we were all omegas. Several minutes passed by as Salty fixed the mess he purposefully created, making my fur look the way it was so post to be. I continued talking with Shakey and Mooch during this. "Alright NOW it's good to go" Salty said putting emphasis on the word 'now'. I had turned so that I could see all three of them as Salty dropped the pine cone and looked at the other things he brought.
He picked up some berries and some flowers which confused me 'He better not decorate my mane with that...' I thought to myself, the last thing I need was looking like I got into a fight with mother nature at my own wedding. He turned back towards me "Uh... What are those for?" I asked. "Well since you want to impress Kate you need to stand out in more than one way." He said. I was still confused by what he meant but decided to go with it, this must have been where the fact that he was full of surprises came into play.
"So by rubbing the scent of these flowers and berries on you will make you more appealing to her." He said explaining what they were for. I was amazed by his idea, I would have never thought about making myself smell good on top of being visually appealing. "I say this all the time but you really are full of surprises" I said. "I know" He replied back before proceeding to rub the flowers down my fur. I expected the berries to end up staining my hair like most did do but it turned out that the juice of these berries was clear. It bended in perfectly with my fur and I could already smell the sweet aroma that was originating off of me.
"Ta da! Kate would be a fool not to think you look absolutely amazing right now." Salty said. I smiled before walking back over to the river to inspect the work he had done. This time I saw no flaws, just the normal but sharp looking me, I had to admit he did an amazing job with fancying me up. "Great job guys, thanks a million" I said walking back over to them. "Anytime Humphrey" Salty said which the others agreeing "I guess I'm going to owe you big time for this" I said sitting back down I front of them yet again.
"Not at all, it's yours and Kate's big day and you deserve to have it memorable." Shakey said, I smiled "Thanks guys" Was all I replied. An hour passed and the sun was now straight above the four of us, we had been talking this whole time telling jokes and sharing funny stories like we normally did. I decided that we should begin heading towards the cave so that we would be there before everyone else. They all agreed and I led the way as we headed eastbound for my soon to be wedding. The excitement and anticipation I felt inside slowing increasing with every step I took.