hey all, here is chapter 3

Chapter 3 a sad past and secrets revealed

It was early morning, so early the sun hadn't even begun to crest the horizon. most of the wolves and the other animals that lived in Jasper park were still asleep safely tucked up in their dens, burrows, nests or holes in the trees, only the night patrols were still awake oh and Decca who was sitting on top of echo canyon still trying to figure out the best way to tell everyone that he had been lying to them their entire lives.

"This is defiantly not going to be easy" Decca thought "how do you tell your best friends that you're not actually their best friend and that they know nothing about you. Oh hi everyone, by the way I've been lying to you for one and a half years and you really know nothing about me only who I've been pretending to be but it's okay because I'm going to tell you why. Seriously this sucks" he inhaled deeply and let it out in a long drawn out sigh before he made his way back down to his den which was halfway up the canyon wall and consisted of a small cave that Decca had found when he first joined the pack and had since widened, he heard a couple of wolves howling in the distance "I almost forgot tomorrow is the moonlight howl" he mused as he gazed upon the moon which was fast disappearing over the horizon, the scenery and finally howling-rock the place where the moonlight howl was held once every month. He sat there staring at the beautiful sight before him, He liked it here it was nice, quiet and out of the way of the packs, he thought back to the last time he had been to a moonlight howl which was when he was a mere five month old pup "No! I mustn't dwell on the past" he said holding his head as if he had a headache. "might as well get it over with" he said as he finally made his way down a path in the canyon wall to his den.

back at the pack Kate's Pov

The sun had finally risen and the wolves had started to wake up, another peaceful morning just like any other but today there was a difference today there was a meeting of the pack leaders, herself, Garth, Lilly and oddly enough Humphrey. "Why is he supposed to show up he's an Omega. I mean sure so is Lilly technically but since she is now mates with Garth which makes her an Alpha or at least entitled to the same rights as one" Kate thought. Maybe after this meeting she would tell Humphrey how she felt, since she had never got a chance to in the week since the packs were united because Humphrey had been away with the eastern pack which was at least a day's trip away, even if you were to run the whole length of the trail that connected the two territories. Sure the packs had united but there were only so many places to build dens so they decided to simply stay where they were. Humphrey had apparently arrived home from the eastern territory late the night before and she couldn't wait to finally see him again.

Decca awoke sometime after dawn to a light cool breeze drifting over him. He was still half asleep when he remembered that he had to attend the meeting and tell everybody the truth. He walked out of his den and looked up at the sky seeing it was just a little before noon "I still have a bit of time before I have to go, maybe I'll get this dust out of my fur" he thought. He had to give Winston credit, telling him to use crushed up rocks to turn his fur from Black to grey was in-genius. He started walking towards the river, slowly at first but then he looked up at the sun "Crap it's later than I thought" he cursed and started running towards the river and jumped right in "at least the water isn't too cold" he thought as he started to remove the dust that had been there since he was six months old. "Ugh finally it's been forever since I had a clean coat. I wonder what they'll think of me when they see what my fur really looks like" he thought. The water had washed all the dust out of his fur revealing it to be black on top with light grey fur underneath, he also had crimson fur on the tips of his paws, ears and tail, the water had also revealed the three scars that ran down across his right eye luckily thou his eye hadn't been damaged. He stepped out of the river and proceeded up to the pack leaders den, on his way he was stopped by a Beta "What do you think you're doing up here, oh who are you, I haven't seen a wolf with black fur around here before" the Beta asked "That doesn't matter I'm here because I have things to discuss with Winston" Decca replied "YOU!, what would Winston want with you, I bet your lower than an omega aren't you" the Beta yelled, at this Decca lost it, he growled and tackled the Beta "That's enough both of you" a voice from behind them said causing Decca to get off the Beta who sat up when he realised it was Winston who had spoken, "What this wolf says is true I do have things to discuss with him. It's good to finally see you again Decca" Winston said. "you too Winston" Decca replied, "let's get going you have a lot to explain, especially to Kate" Winston said "don't remind me Decca retorted causing Winston to let loose a chuckle, then they started walking up towards Winston's den. When they reached the den Winston whispered to Decca "good luck kid" "well here goes nothing" Decca thought as he made his way over to the others.

Kate and the others had been assembled and waiting for almost half an hour already. Winston had gone to go and get Humphrey whilst they waited."That's strange what could be so important that my dad would need to get him for, I mean he's an Omega, if there's something important to say he should say it before Humphrey get's here. Shouldn't he" Kate thought. they waited another few minutes before anyone could be seen near the entrance, but what they saw shocked them all. There standing alongside Winston was a wolf that looked a lot like Humphrey except he was a bit more muscular, had black fur and had three scars running down across his right eye.

Humphrey walked into the den and slowly made his way over to where the others were gathered. He could tell they were all surprised from the shocked expressions on their faces, except for Tony that was who just wore his regular old smile which quickly turned into a smug smirk when Humphrey sat next to him.

"Hey everyone" Humphrey/Decca said, a small "Hi" was all everyone else in the den could manage at the time. Garth was the first to snap out of his shock "is that really you, Humphrey" he asked "yes and no" was all he got as a reply. "Wow! he looks amazing!" both Kate and Lilly thought, "I never knew an Omega could look so hot" Kate thought with a blush. "So, what did you call us here for dad" Lilly asked "actually it wasn't me it was Humphrey" Winston replied "Him!, he's just an Omega!, how does he have the right to call an alpha's council meeting" Garth shouted. "Now Garth, that is no way to talk to your cousin. Especially when he out ranks you" Tony spoke up, at this Garth looked at his farther like he was going crazy "out ranks me, how, I'm an Alpha he's and Omega, O-m-e-g-a!, how does he out rank me!" Garth exclaimed, "simple I'm not an Omega I'm a Zeta" Humphrey replied.

As soon as Humphrey said that everyone looked at him confused, "What the hell is a Zeta" Kate asked. Humphrey looked at Winston as if asking a silent question. "Go ahead Decca, tell them your story, all of it" Winston said, Decca nodded then turned back to others "If you want answers then you must listen to me, no interrupting, and no questions. I'll explain as much as I can to the best of my knowledge. Agreed" he said "fine" answered the rest of the assembled wolves.

Decca inhaled deeply and let it out in a sigh "now where to begin" he said.

"I am a Zeta, we are faster, stronger and more attuned to our surroundings than an Alpha. However because of how much power we represented, we decided it was best that we leave the Alpha's to lead the packs, we then retreated into the mountains and formed our own pack, only having limited contact with anything outside of our territory. And there we stayed. The Zeta's trained their pups from the time they could walk how to hunt, how to fight, how to kill. Any one of us alone could take on a bear and win however only three of us have been able to take on a grizzly and survive. One of them was the founder, the second was my farther and the last one is... me. Now before you say anything Kate, yes I could've taken on those bears we ran into trying to get back, but that would've meant my cover would've been blown and I would have a lot of explaining to do and at the time we didn't have time for any of that. I never even got to finish my training, my family, my friends, the entire pack was killed"

Flashback

Three pups played around in their den whilst their mother watched them with a smile on her face. Suddenly they heard growling and snarling coming from outside the den "stay here I'm going to see what's going on out there" the mother said to her pups who had looks of fear on their faces. She hadn't even made it out of the den when her mate Scarl came in, blood dripping from his muzzle and caked on his claws. "What's going on out there" she asked her Mate before she saw the savage look in his eye. She didn't even have time to scream before she was on her back with the wolf tearing her throat out. "Muuum!" the pups screamed standing there in shock at seeing their own mother killed right in front of them, It was Decca who recovered first and he instinctively stood in front of his older brother and sister, preparing to fight to the death to defend them. "Decca get out of the way I don't want to hurt you I only want to kill your weakling brother and sister" the pup's farther said. "If you want them you're going to go through me" Decca growled, he then whispered to his two siblings "you two make a run for it I'll hold him off" he said "Decca don't you'll be killed" his sister said "better me that you two, goodbye big bro, goodbye sis now run!" Decca said as he leapt at his farther who dodged his attack. Decca's twin brother and sister both ran out through the gap that their farther had made dodging their brother's attack. Scarl was about to run out after them when he felt a stabbing pain behind him, he turned around and found Decca had grabbed his tail in his jaws, and was biting down hard. Scarl roared in rage and swiped at his son knocking him into the den wall causing Decca to whimper in pain that echoed across the valley and left three gashes down the side of his face. Satisfied that Decca was never going to get up, Scarl then turned and went out to see if he could try and locate the other two pups. Decca watched his farther walk towards the entrance of the den and tried to get up but his efforts were in vain and eventually his world went black.

End of Flashback

"When I woke up I found my uncle, Tony in our den crying over the dead body of his sister, my mother. I was still only a young pup, six months old and already I had lost everything I had ever known and everything I cared about. After he heard my story Tony decided it was best for me to live in the Weston pack, a deal that had already been agreed to with my mother and Winston, in case anything happened to her and my farther, my mother arranged for me, my brother and sister to go and live in the Weston pack so that we would be safe. I was to live the rest of my life as an Omega, put on a cheery face every day, take peoples insults and just deal with it. Then it just so happened that I met you Kate and Lilly, I no longer had to pretend to smile and be happy, though I did still have to pretend to be an Omega. It still was never enough though, I could never fully forget who I was and what had happened that fateful day, I never could stop thinking about what happened to my brother and sister and wondering where they were and if they were happily living a new life in another pack somewhere. That is why I never went to any of the moonlight howls, instead I would go to echo canyon alone and just sit there howling at the moon for all the things I lost and all the things that would never be" He finally finished, "any questions".

"So that's how you were able to pull off all of those moves I could never even dream of let alone pull off" Garth asked. "Yep sure is Decca exclaimed returning to his old self for just a moment, "so sad" was all Lilly managed to say without breaking down right there. "So why are you telling us this now , what's so important about this" Kate asked, "well that's the bad news" Tony said , "what do you call what Humph...I mean Decca just told us" Lilly asked astonished, "a tragic story" Winston explained. "So what's the bad news" Garth asked, "my brother in law, Decca's farther, is back, he's the one that caused the stampede week ago" Tony explained. "Right we start preparations tomorrow but for now just relax and enjoy the moonlight howl" Winston said, with that everyone started to leave. Kate got up to go Decca tried talking to her but didn't get a single response, "Kate look I know you must be upset but it's not like I had much of a choice" Decca said "UPSET!" Kate shouted "upset! doesn't even begin to cover it. you lied to me for one and a half years, how else do you expect me to act". With that she stormed off, leaving Decca there hanging his head.

Tony noticed his nephew was upset and went over to talk to him. "So, now what are you going to do" he asked, "me, I've finally plucked up the courage to tell everyone my real story and successfully lived my life as an Omega, I don't know about you but I'm going to celebrate at the moonlight howl" Decca replied, "Still an Omega at heart I see" Tony said, "besides, who knows Kate might show up" Decca added, "you never give up do you" was Tony's sly comment, "nope" was Decca's simple retort.

So there we go chapter 3 and do I really need to say it, no?. Well too bad I'm going to say it anyway. As always please review/follow/favourite this story and my other stories also send me any ideas for future chapters for A Life Of Shadow and if you want to use any of my OC's PM me thx this is xXShadowTheWolfXx Signing off