Before you begin to read this chapter, let me make something clear: By the title, 'A Delivery To The North(End)' it doesn't mean it's the end of the story, but the end of the chapter, 'A Delivery To The North', alright? Anyways, hope you enjoy this chapter!
Chapter 21 : A Delivery To The North(End)
Meanwhile, back at the dark cave, a young tan brown female wolf which was sleeping separately from the group was awaking from her slumber, and she looked around her surroundings with her charming golden eyes. The group was still asleep, with neatly-tied bunch of roses a few inches away from them, except Eve who was examining Rex's corpse, and noticed Rad and Humphrey's absence.
Now where did Humphrey go? I think Rad must've went to hunt for the group, but I'm not sure if Humphrey followed him to help him out; he usually sits here and does nothing till I wake up, but I guess he'll be able to hunt for his second kill if he did, since he killed the first one well. She thought curiously and got on her four feet and stretched her muscles.
Her groans caught her mother's attention and Eve walked towards her with a smile.
'Good morning, darling. How was your sleep?' She asked politely.
'It's fine, mom. Thanks for asking. Do you know where did Humphrey disappear to?' Kate asked curiously.
'Oh, he went out on a hunt for us with Rad. They just went out a minute ago, so they should be back by now. Or else, I'll be hunting for us myself.' Eve looked out at the small glare of light forming behind the snowy mountains a distance away.
'I'm pretty sure they will be back as fast as you think.' She smiled which her mother returned the same. 'Anyway, is there any clean water around here? I better not drink those little rainwater puddles as they taste pretty bad, and I'm extremely thirsty.'
'Well, luckily I found a pond a bit deeper in this cave and don't worry, I've checked it and it's clean.'
'Thanks mom. You're the best.' She hugged her mother which she returned it happily and went to where her mother had pointed to.
The cave was pretty dark indeed when she went deeper, and she watched her step as not to trip on anything. Finally, she caught sight of the clean water reflecting the glorious light from a hole at the side of the cave, making it look stunning and desirable. Without any second thoughts, she took several gulps from the pond, feeling the cool water soothing down her parched throat, and sat in it for a while to cool her hot body down before trotting back to the group. When she arrived, the others are already awake and lying down with the two leaders facing towards them and having an important discussion relating to the two corpses.
'So, the corpses are frozen solid now?' Garth asked with Lilly beside him, her head rested on his shoulder.
'Yeah. The rain really did hit pretty hard last night, now the corpses are as stiff as a trunk. But they won't last long once we set out again.' Eve said.
'But what we should discuss now was what are we gonna do if we couldn't find any ponds or lake on our way to the Northern pack to keep the corpses cool?' Tony asked and the others nodded in agreement.
As the others began to give their suggestions, Garth noticed that Lilly was still sleepy; judging by the times she had been struggling to lift her heavy eyelids to listen to the discussion. This made him smiled as she looked really cute in that state, and he nudged her to get her attention.
'You didn't sleep well last night, honey?' He asked and she nodded tiredly.
'Yeah. The wind was too cold even when we gather up to share heat.' She said.
'Well, you can go back to sleep for now. I'll sleep with you since I also didn't sleep well anyway.' He looked to his father who looked back curiously. 'Could you wake us up once Humphrey and Rad returns with our breakfast?'
'Sure son.' Tony replied with a smile which Garth returned the same.
Both Garth and Lilly rested their head close to each other and he placed his arm around her, allowing her to snuggle into him and give her a warm embrace. Tony watched with a smirk as his son and daughter-in-law drifted to sleep, and recalled about his dead mate who died giving birth to Garth.
Flashback
Dark clouds formed above the initial blue sky, giving it a dull-grey appearance and showering heavy rain on the territory of the Eastern pack, accompanied by the roaring thunder. Deep in the sound of the rain sliced through the shriek of a female wolf like knife cuts butter, who was giving birth in the pack leader's den. She gripped her mate's paw tightly as she use her full strength to push their newborn offspring out, her dark chocolate pelt completely soaked with sweat. Winston was there, watching in horror as Tony's mate struggled to fulfill what she and Tony always wanted to have; a family. Tony's mate gripped his paw and squeezed it like a toy, transferring all the pain she was suffering into it which he tried not to scream in pain. But what she had done to Tony was less painful to what Eve had done to him; she clamped her mouth on his hand with brute force while giving birth, causing him to cry in pain till it's over. Now she was in their den, breastfeeding their two a week old daughters, Lilly and Kate, and his bitten hand was still under recovery; it's wrapped with herbs and he took some painkillers before arriving Tony's den.
'You're almost there, Lyra! Keep pushing!' Their pack healer shouted as he checked for any sign of the newborn's body part from her vagina.
'I AM TRYING!' She roared in pain, tightening her grip on Tony's paw which causes him to whimper.
'You can do this, Lyra! Look at me!' Tony said as he tried to calm her down and her emerald eyes met his wood-brown eyes. 'Now relax. Follow me, alright? Breathe in,' She did what she was told and Tony continued. 'Breathe out. Breathe in. Now push!'
She made her final push with a loud scream and the cries of a newborn offspring could be heard. Lyra panted heavily as she successfully gave birth and the pack healer cleaned the offspring in a large shell of water before presenting it to them.
'Congratulations, you two. It's a boy.' He said and an uncontrollable grin grew across the couple's faces.
Their pup has the mixture of their pelt's colour; he has a flaming brown pelt with a white underbelly, and that was the most beautiful moment for the couple to see. Tony and Lyra shared a passionate kiss before both giving a kiss on their pup's forehead.
'So, what should we name him?' Lyra asked as she gently nudged her pup.
'Hmm. How about… Garth?' He said after a few moments of thinking and decision-making.
'Garth. I love that name.' They both smiled and it was her last glance at their pup before losing consciousness.
Being caught off-guard, Tony's eyes widened in shock and began to call out her name.
'Lyra?! LYRA!'
The pack healer immediately checked her pulse and backed away slowly in horror, an expression that Tony was afraid to see.
'Sir, she's… she's…' He said in shock and Tony began to shook his head slowly.
'No… no… she's not dead! SAVE HER!'
'I can't sir! I can't do anything to get her back!'
At that moment, Tony's anger rose to its limit and he dashed towards him and landed a fist across his face, staggering him a little and causing a little blood to flow out at the side of his lips. Luckily, Winston has another fine arm to hold Tony back from killing the healer, and shouted without hesitation.
'RUN! NOW!'
The healer immediately ran out of the den without any second thoughts and Tony shouted in anger even though he doesn't know how far the healer had already run.
'DON'T YOU EVER COME BACK, YOU USELESS PIECE OF SHIT! I'LL TEAR YOUR FACE OFF IF YOU DARE!'
A few minutes later, Tony collapsed to the ground in exhaustion and cried in pain for the loss of his mate. Winston just stood there and watched as his old friend mourned and pitied him for what he was suffering.
'I-I didn't even- get-get to- say good- goodbye…' Tony sobbed as he was able to catch a breath.
'I'm sorry, Tony…' Winston said as he lowered his head.
'Please… leave me alone for now…'
Seeing that he required privacy, Winston got up and stood at the exit of the den before turning back to him.
'If you need anything, just howl. We'll be here for the burial.' He said and left the den into the pouring rain.
Ever since that day, Tony never known the cause of Lyra's death, which caused him suffered a terrible pain in his chest that he soon got over with. Winston and Eve tried their best to comfort him, but Tony rejected and said that he could get through this himself, and told them not to worry. Thinking back from now, Tony was glad that his emotional pain didn't last as long as Rex's, and he was beamed with pride as his son has now found his true love.
How I wish you could see this beautiful moment, Lyra. I know you would be as proud as I am. He thought as a sudden tear dripped off his cheek. I'm glad that I didn't make the biggest mistake in my life that will cost the future of Garth, and that is not removing the stupid Alpha-and-Omega marriage rule. I promised you to take good care of him, but I've been a bad father ever since he's a month old of not socializing with him which deeply burns my heart. But now I'm glad that I have a chance to change that conclusion.
'Tony? Tony!' Winston called and Tony got out of his train of thoughts.
'Wh-what?' He stuttered.
'Are you crying?'
He was clueless about his question until he realized the tears flowing down from his eyes and immediately wiped it off.
'Oh, um, nothing. I was just thinking of a really funny joke.' He faked a laugh, but it was too unreal to be believed.
'Alright, I'm not curious about what you were thinking, but the plan for the corpses so far is to hope that we will pass by any ponds or lake to keep them frozen. Do you have any ideas to suggest?'
'Um, no so far.'
'Okay, but if you have any in mind, please do let me know. I fear the sun may be too hot for the corpses to resist.' And Tony nodded.
'I think that's the best idea we can have.' Kate interjected in with her ears perked, catching all their attention. 'I don't think there's any other way of keeping them cool from the sun.'
'Yeah. I'll take some water from the pond deep in the cave and pour it over the two corpses to keep them cool once we're under the sun.' Eve said as she picked up a medium-sized bark that she found during her inspection on the two corpses; it was just beside a tree close to the cave and she brought it in and broke it in half so anyone else can assist her in doing it.
Before she could leave for the pond, the rustling of leaves caught their attention and they turned towards the entrance of their temporary den, and were shocked at the unexpected movement infront of them. It was Humphrey, dragging a Caribou by the scruff all by himself with no sign of Rad. They stared in awe as he entered the den and dropped it infront of Kate before panting for air, his pelt half soaked with sweat. He turned towards them and felt awkward as their eyes were all fixed on him.
'Um… did I miss anything?' He asked awkwardly.
They remained silent for a while and he scratch the back of his head, puzzled as he couldn't think of any clue of their actions, until Garth spoke up.
'Did you just…' And Humphrey raised an eyebrow.
'Hm? What is it?' He asked curiously.
'Did you just… dragged this Caribou all by yourself?' Garth ended his sentence.
'Um, yeah I did. Is there something wrong?' He was completely clueless until Kate gave him one.
'Since when are you muscular enough to handle a Caribou, Humphrey? I never knew you could do that.' She said in awe.
Humphrey's eyes widened as he come to his realization and he tenses his hand muscles to reveal the answer, and he was shocked to find his originally small and weak deltoid muscle to be huge and hard without his expectations. The four female omegas shriek in love and amazement as Humphrey's muscle makes him look 'hotter' than before before losing consciousness and collapsed to the ground in a row while Lilly giggled at the sight of it with Kate next to her rolling her eyes. Humphrey stared his muscles from top to bottom, completely lost in words at the results he earned from the trainings given by Rex, until he managed to find some.
'So… I'm stronger than before now?' He asked and the others nodded. '…Cool.' He smiled as he checked his thighs and the rest of his body.
'Is this the only kill that you and Rad made?' Garth asked, ignoring Humphrey's new body appearance.
'No. We actually killed two, and he's dragging the other one back here.' Humphrey motioned to where he came from.
'And where is he?' Eve asked curiously.
Another rustling of leaves caught their attention and they looked towards the motioned to find Rad dragging his kill slowly, grunting as he tried to exert as much strength that he has to move the beast. Clearly understanding that it's gonna take more than three minutes for him till he's able to set foot into the cave, Kate walked towards Humphrey and placed her paw on his which caught his attention and their eyes met.
'Humphrey darling, why don't you help him out? You've already dragged in yours anyway.' She said with a smile at his new charming appearance.
'Sure. I'm pretty hyper right now actually.' He replied gleefully and ran towards the struggling wolf.
Rad dropped his prize for a moment to catch his breath and shook off the sweat absorbed in his pelt until he heard footsteps behind him. He turned around and found Humphrey strolling towards him with a smirk and he doesn't the reason why, but just pushed his thought as he has to deal with his objective first. Humphrey stood beside him and greeted him gleefully.
'Need a hand?' He asked as he motioned at his kill.
'I do ever since the time when I start dragging it.' Rad replied a bit displeased.
'Sorry dude. I thought you can handle it yourself.' He slightly lowered his head in guilt.
'Nah it's fine. Just lend me a hand earlier next time.'
'Thanks.' And Humphrey gripped the Caribou by the scruff and start dragging it under Rad's assist on the leg.
They dragged it into the cave in less than two minutes and dropped it infront of the two leaders before dividing themselves in two groups of seven and began their feast while having a pleasant conversation at the same time, telling jokes and hilarious moments in their life. As the hemisphere of the sun rose from the snowy mountains, they were all set; they were waiting for Eve and Rad to soak the corpses wet so they won't be dried up under the sun's heat.
While waiting, Kate was curious as she has not seen where the rose seeds were placed ever since back at their pack territory as she was distracted by something else. Eve and Rad had poured water all over the corpses and placed it on the log in case they needed its usage again, and just when they picked up the eleven bundles of roses and was about to leave, Kate spoke up.
'Um, before we head out, may I know where are the rose seeds?'
'It's in between the roses, darling.' Eve said with a smile and Kate looked at the bundles of roses.
'Won't that destroy the seeds?' And that caught them off-guard.
Without hesitation, Winston turned towards his selected alphas in a flash.
'Take out those seeds now.' Winston commanded and untied the bundles with his selected alphas, Eve, Tony and Sam as they're the ones who's been carrying them during the beginning of their journey.
They picked out the rose seeds and placed them all in a group and checked every seed before letting out a breath of relief as they're not crushed. They sat down and think of a safer way of carrying it without causing any harm to it, and Rad was the first wolf to come up with a solution as his face lit up like a light bulb.
'Wait here.' He said and rush out of the cave in a hurry.
They watched curiously as he returned with a leaf the size of an adult human hand and two sharp wooden splint in his mouth and he began to create something out of it when he sat infront of the seeds. After a minute of flips and folds, it turned into a bag that humans called 'purse', where they store their shiny, thin and circular disc with variety in sizes that they use to purchase foods, and he swept the seeds into it and sealed the top of the purse with a wooden splint.
'There we go. All packed and done.' He said in a beam of pride.
'Where did you learn that?' Humphrey asked in awe as he never seen anyone in the pack tried or know how to create human inventions.
'I've seen a female human demonstrated this to her pups a few months ago, and I've practiced making one myself since then.' He smiled.
'Oh, those small little green bags that you store your gathered medicines in at your den are this?' Eve asked upon coming to her realization and he nodded. 'Wow, I'm impressed.'
'Alright, let's not waste any more time. Is everyone ready?' Winston said as he picked up his bundle of roses and they all nodded. 'Let's move out.' He muffled and they set out for the Northern pack.
And so, the group of eighteen members continued onwards to their destination for the burial of the fallen warrior and a rapist who was once a kind and noble wolf whose soul can only receive its rest there. Surprisingly, they've encountered lots of ponds and lakes on the way which surprises them greatly, and couldn't help but feel lucky upon this strange activity. Kate looked up at the orange-dyed sky and smiled.
Thank you, God. She thought.
They made a short stop at every lake or ponds to recover their parched throat, to cool Kate's in-heat body and re-soaking the corpses before proceeding. The sun did its duty of the day, and it was faster than they expected until it descends in turns of the silver moon. They stopped at a lake with a thick layer of canopy above them, and they took several huge gulps of water before gently placing the two corpses in for its overnight-freezing. They have to lap up as much as they can now from the pond so it isn't required tomorrow morning, ignoring the thought of having the urge to pee in the middle of the night, unless they would like to try pungent water. Lilly looked at the clear night sky from an opening of the canopy, staring at the stars that twinkles and the moon shines for admiration and estimated it to be around eleven o'clock.
'It's pretty late now. We should go to bed.' She said as she turned towards the others.
'Yeah. We should wake up a bit earlier tomorrow. Rad, help me out in placing these two stones on the corpses. It's starting to float.' Eve said, motioning at the two rocks infront of her.
'Yes ma'am.' He replied and did his given objective with her.
Sam assisted Eve as she was quite old than before, but her temper never ages. They placed it on Rex and Lucas's body, leaving them submerged for the whole night, and they lied under the trees in separate groups; the four female omegas, the five alphas, Sam with Rad, Tony with Winston and Eve, Lilly with Garth, and Kate with Humphrey. As they cozied themselves, a cool breeze blew towards them gently which makes it easier for them to fall asleep. Kate and Humphrey watched as the others laid their head and drift to sleep before turning to each other and shared a quick kiss. They didn't lie with their bodies close and laid their heads on the ground with Humphrey's paw on hers.
'Goodnight, Humphrey.' She said as she closed her eyes.
'Goodnight, Kate.' Humphrey replied, and took a glance at the rock that kept Rex's body submerged before closing his eyes.
Was that our last meeting, Rex? Or there's more that you need to let me know? He thought and lost consciousness…
Well, now Humphrey's all muscular and handsome now, eh? He's already handsome since the beginning of the movie; don't think of me as a gay. I'm straight. Anyways, hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and as usual, leave a review/follow/favourite. It helps me out a lot and I'll see you in the net chapter. Peace out. -LoverWolfs1121
P.S: Check out The Lightning Phoenix's story,'Detrimental Reasons'. I'm currently reading that and also another story by Kyuubi99's 'Young Love'. Both stories are amazing!