The inside of the plane was as massive as the outside was, even with the amount of cargo packed within it and strapped down with rope. Kate quickly hopped off her perch and dashed to the back of the plane before the humans could come in to finish strapping down the last of their shipment and see her.
Kate sighed with relief as she hid between two crates. Her heart was beating a mile a minute. She settled herself to the hard metal floor, prepared to get some much needed rest after her long night hike, when a strange 'mooing' sound came from behind her. Kate jumped up in fright and whirled around expecting to see a human or something ready to take her down, but all she saw was the containers.
"Ya sure are jumpy one, aren'tcha?"
Kate gasped as a large, square, and pink nose poked out from a gap between one of the wooden crates. That's when she noticed the smell. While it wasn't a scent she recognized, much like everything else around her, this one had a distinct animal fragrance only obtained from spending time in nature. Kate crept slowly closer to the crate, her nose twitching, detecting the sweet smell of a lactating female. No, several lactating females. She narrowed her eyes, peering into the darkness of the crate and saw the nose was connected to a big black and white head.
"What the. . . What are you?" Kate asked.
The animal gave a hearty laugh. "Have ya nevah seen a cow before, dear?"
Kate shook her head.
"Well, I suppose that's fortunate cause I've seen plenty of your kind before."
Kate blinked, unsure of how to respond to that comment.
"Oh, yes, I've seen wolves. Plenty of them too. They like tah eat mah friends."
Kate swallowed, glancing behind her to where the humans still worked. She looked back to the cow suspiciously. "Are you going to give me away?"
"Now why should I go and do a thang like that?"
"You've been marked by humans." Kate gestured to the yellow tag attached to the cow's flappy ears.
"So? What does that got tah do with anythin?" The cow said nonchalantly.
"You just said that wolves ate your friends. . . and I'm a wolf. I wouldn't be surprised if your loyalty lies more with humans." Kate felt like she needn't have pointed this out but the cow apparently forgot the last five seconds of their conversation.
Again, the cow laughed. "Those thangs are both true, but you didn't eat mah friends. So, why should I hold a grudge against you for somethin you didn't do?"
"But I could." Kate said simply, allowing the threat to hang in the air.
"You could." The cow allowed. "If you can get through all this wood."
Kate stayed silent. Distrusting.
"Look honey, it gets pretty borin bein on this plane squished with gals that are higher than kites right now. So, I'll make ya a deal. Ya answer mah questions and I'll keep mah blatherin mouth shut. Deal?"
Kate considered the offer for a moment, but she knew there really wasn't much of a choice. She couldn't leave this plane and by rejecting the deal, she was risking her security on it. With a sigh, Kate nodded her agreement.
"So, why not start with your name, sugar?"
"Kate." Kate didn't bother returning the question. Their flight wouldn't be long and she was sure she would never see the strange animal again.
"Well, Kate, what brings ya tah this fine neck of the woods? I gather wolves don't usually hang around in cargo holds often."
"I needed a fast ride to Wyoming."
"Well, that would've been a clever idea. . . if this plane were goin to Wyoming."
"Wait. . . what did you just say?" Kate blinked at the cow, unsure she heard right at first.
"This plane ain't goin to Wyoming, honey."
Kate scoffed with incredulity. "If not, then where is it going?"
"Why the silver state, Nevada, of course." The cow answered proudly.
"Nevada? Why is it going to Nevada?" Kate wanted to scream in frustration but the human chatter going on in the background reminded her she still needed to keep it down. No matter where this plane was headed, she was not going to get anywhere if she were caught. She wondered briefly is she might have mistakenly gotten onto the wrong plane but she was certain they had said the blue and yellow striped one and there had only been one plane like that.
"Because we're being transported there." The cow said as if that explained everything for her.
"I'm going to eat Marcel for dinner." Kate muttered to herself as she paced the back of the plane, completely ignoring the black and white animal now. "Then Patty for dessert. Those two unreliable bird brains!"
"Who are Marcel and Patty?" The cow questioned, her eyes following the fuming wolf back and forth.
"They were my friends."
"You befriended birds?"
Kate sighed. "It's a long story."
"I have time." The cow said cheerily.
Kate stopped her pacing and scowled at the floor beneath her paws. She was still furious but unless she got off this plane now which was not an option, there would be no strangling the two fouls for another few hours. So, deciding she could use a little distraction, Kate settled back down in her hidey hole between the crate and wrapped cargo and looked to the cow still ogling her with curiosity.
"I met Marcel and Patty when Humphrey and I got wolf-napped by humans and relocated from Jasper Park Canada to Sawtooth Range Idaho. They helped us find our way back home."
"Who's Humphrey?"
Kate opened her mouth to answer, then paused. After everything that they went through, they were friends. Partners in crime more like, but after his leaving. . . now, she wasn't so sure. "He's my, uhm. . . he was my-."
"Oh!" The cow's ears perked, coming to her own conclusions. "I see. He's your sweetheart? Or. . . how do the kids call em these days. Lover? Steady? Gladis, help me out. What does yer calf refer to her boyfriend as?"
"Her squeeze?" Came a slurred voice from the dark.
"No, your other daughter."
"Oh, uuh. . . her baby? No wait, it was the abbreviation of that. 'Bae' I do believe."
"Is that it?" The cow looked to the ceiling as if it would provide her the answer. She shook her head after a moment's thought and said, "Well, whatevah it is, I'm sure ya catch mah drift."
Kate chuckled sadly and shook her head. "No. No, he's nothing like that. He might've been at one point."
The cow gasped. "Oh, goodness me and mah ill-manners. Did he cross the Rainbow Bridge?"
"The what?" Kate blinked, then realized what she was talking about. "Oh! No. God, no. He's not dead. At least. . . I hope not."
"Ya don't know?"
Kate sighed. "He ran away."
"Like a stray dog?"
Kate laughed. "Kind of. He left the pack to become a lone wolf."
"Now, why would he go and do a thang like that and leave such a pretty young thang like you all alone?" The cow inquired hotly.
Kate awkwardly bit her lip with a fang, her eyes drifting to the side. "I uh. . . might've told him I was going to marry another wolf?"
The cow stared at her as if her head had just popped off and was rolling across the floor now. "Nevermind him, why on God's green Earth would you go and do a thang like that?"
Kate smiled as she retold of her adventures with Humphrey to the engrossed animal; starting with her father's deal with the Eastern wolves and ending with her grand confession to the entirety of the two packs that she was in love with an Omega.
Kate finally fell silent and waited for Agnes's-there was no avoiding overhearing her name-final reaction. The cow shook her big head and scoffed. "Gladis, why do these newest generations love tah make things a soap opera?"
"A wha—" Kate was about to ask before she was interrupted by Gladis somewhere hidden in the crate.
"Tell me about it. I nevah experienced such drama when I met mah hunky bull."
"Oh yes, that brings me back to mah days with Herb. He was the stallion of the bulls, I'll tell you what. My farmer brought him out to the ladies' field to choose his mate and what do ya know, he comes struttin his stuff right tah me and declared to all that I was the one for him. And then, we mated."
"Right in the middle of the field?" Kate gaped in surprise.
"Most romantic night of mah life." Agnes sighed happily.
Kate stared at the floor, her mind trying to envision doing something so bold but just the prospect was too outrageous. "I can't even imagine doing something like that and with the first guy I met?"
If that was the case, she would've been with Garth long before she realized what a catch an Omega could be. Just the thought made her shudder.
"Honey, life is too short for 'maybes' and 'what ifs'. If you love a man and a man loves you, you go ahead and take him. Ain't nothing should be complicated about that." Agnes stated with a firm nod of her great head.
"Agnes is right, dear," Another cow pushed her nose through the wooden slots of the crate. From what little Kate could see, this new cow was not black and white but solid brown. "After that lovely story you strung, this gentleman sounds like the real deal. Ya don't come across one of those very often. If ya don't hurry up and snatch him real soon, I bet ya anything another gal will get wise and snatch him up first."
Kate was startled at this prospect, never having thought of it herself. After all, he thought she was married and completely unavailable now. What would stop him from moving on and finding another mate?
Kate sat up quickly and glanced out the window but she couldn't see Marcel and Patty anywhere. How badly she needed them to find Humphrey and tell him to wait for her. That she was still single and she was coming for him.
"Oh, will you stop that Clarissa! You're making her worried." Agnes snapped, shoving her friend to the side with her big body. There was a cluster of complaints and clops of hooves in the crate as the animals readjusted themselves.
"She should be worried!" Clarissa huffed insistently. "All that socialization deficiency and lack of companionship can really get tah a guy. Why, the first swing of a pretty tail that comes his way and he'll be a goner in two seconds flat, believe you me."
"You really think so?" Kate asked meekly.
Agnes gave a noise of disgust. "No, I don't think so at all. The way you described your wolf, he is not the type to simply move on to the next available female. If he loves you the way I believe he does from what I've heard, he'll be there waitin for you when you get there."
Kate gave a wary smile.
"Maybe in Agnes' fairytales but these wolves have proved they can marry simply for convenience sake. If your wolf is out there trying to survive on his own, he's going to realize very soon that surviving is much easier with a partner. Love or no love." Clarissa finished her spiel with a nod and a snort.
Kate's smile fell as this new information sank in. Could Humphrey already be married now to some random trollop out of desperation? What was worse was that she couldn't even be mad at him for it, if he did. Even if marrying Garth meant saving her pack; Humphrey marrying to save his own life wasn't much different.
"If you don't hush up this instant, Clarissa, I'm gonna kick you so hard, you'll fly through this wooden crate and I'm not gonna stop the she-wolf if she decides she's feelin a bit peckish."
"Fantasist." Clarissa spat at her companion and squirmed her way around so her rear end faced the crates slot.
"Pessimist." Agnes snapped back.
"Realist." Clarissa clarified.
Agnes rolled her eyes upwards before she closed them and shook her head, reigning in her temper. When she opened them again, she gave Kate the gentlest of smiles. "Oh honey, don't ya worry your pretty little head over such thangs. Love finds a way. It always does. Even mah macho man Herb believed in that."
Kate gave the cow a reassuring smile, lifting her chin and puffing her chest in a determined appearance. "You don't need to convince me of that. Even if he does decide to marry, that isn't about to stop me. Unless he tells me straight to my face that he loves her instead, I'm not going to give up. I never give up on what's mine."
Agnes cocked her head, giving the wolf a once over in appraisal. "I can see what he sees in you, honey and trust me, he isn't going to give that up anytime soon."
Kate was grateful for the reassurance. "It would certainly save me a lot of effort."
Agnes glanced out the window. "Looks like we'll be takin off soon. Why don't ya go try tah get some shut eye. We got a long flight ahead of us."
Kate did exactly that, but sleep seemed beyond her now. Her mind in too much of a whirlwind, her perfect little family picture she kept in her head slowly corrupting with what Clarissa painted her instead. She wouldn't allow it to worry her though. For if Humphrey had been willing to try even after she told him about Garth, she would try her damndest too.
Humphrey ran as far as his shaky, uneasy legs could take him. Glancing back every few seconds to see if he was being pursued yet but saw no other signs of the humans since they watched him flee like a scared bunny. He didn't even begin to feel safe however, until he reached the opposite side of the lake and only then he stopped because his legs actually collapsed from underneath him and he went skidding face first into the ground. He sputtered and coughed up dirt as he blinked open his watery eyes, his cheeks and nose stinging from road-rash.
The grey wolf laid there, panting and staring off into the distance, his mind still blank from shock that he managed to escape such an impossible situation. He noticed movement in the trees out of the corners of his eye; little black creatures flying about but he paid them no mind as he thought back to five minutes ago when he was sure his life was ending.
He really couldn't believe it. Not only did he make it out of there alive, but with all four limbs attached! A heavy feeling of relief that he would not need to chew off his own leg, hit him with the force of stampeding caribou. After all the horror stories he had heard from his pack, of members getting caught in hunters traps and never returning, he had thought for sure he was a goner. Even if he had escaped through means of sacrificing an appendage, he doubt he would have survived much longer then. Most disabled animals hardly do. A bullet to the head would not have been the worst way to go.
Craning his neck, Humphrey sniffed curiously at the white cloth, now spotted with red, that bundled his left leg snuggly. The scent that came from it was strong and nose tickling with a pungent sort of crisp, sourness to it that made the eyes water. Underneath it though, Humphrey could barely make out the human's scent, the one with the scruffy face that liked to pet him and speak soft and gentle nonsense.
Despite his weirdness though, Scruffy had made the bleeding stop and the pain go away. Well, there was still a dull throb but Humphrey would have been in far worse pain had the human not bothered to do whatever it was he did.
Why would he do that though? Humphrey pondered sleepily. Now that's the million-dollar question, isn't it?
Was it not their trap? Were they not hunters? Had they been minding their own business and just happened to randomly stumble upon an injured wolf in dire need and they felt compelled for some reason to be his hero like a couple of saints? Or was it actually their trap and there was another motive behind it all?
The more Humphrey thought about it, the more questions popped up until a headache had formed behind his eyes.
What does it matter? The grey wolf reasoned with himself. Fate had decided to give him a second chance. The real question was, what was he going to do with it?
If anything, this incident taught him he needed to start getting his act together. Already he had brushed by deaths door multiple times. There was no telling how many more times he was going to get before someone answered. He needed to start adapting to his surroundings. He needed to change the way he thought. He needed to become an Alpha.
Alpha . . . Alpha. Think, Alpha. Humphrey contemplated this for a while. How do Alphas think?
Humphrey looked around him, recalling many moments where Alphas constantly challenged each other and fought. He growled at many of the critters but the forest paid him no attention, too busy with their own survival to care about the crazy canine below them.
"What are you doing?" A voice from behind Humphrey startled him. He whirled his head around, ears flattening against his skull in embarrassment.
"Nothing. What are you doing?"
"Watching you being a moron."
Humphrey scanned the trees for the source of the voice and met the ebony eye of a midnight black raven scrutinizing him from a branch about eight feet above his head. "What and you got nothing else better to do than moron-watch?"
"Apparently not."
Humphrey scowled with annoyance. "Well, hate to interrupt the show but I best be on my way."
"What, you got something better to do?"
"As a matter of fact, I do. Now, if you'll excuse me." Humphrey got up, hiding a wince at the soreness the action caused. He needed a new place to sleep tonight. Not only was he alone now, but he was tired and injured and that would surely attract plenty of predator's attention. Evidently, it already attracted the scavengers, Humphrey thought as he glared at the collection of the black birds sitting together on a branch ahead of him. Eyeballing him like he was about to drop dead any second.
"Will you guys get lost? I already told your pal that there's nothing to see here."
Humphrey continued on his way but he still felt the sensation of being watched crawling all over him like a million bugs. It gave him the heebie-jeebies' as if the Grim Reaper were on his tail with that Scythe poised and at the ready. Humphrey knew he wasn't going to die, but damn if they weren't good at nearly convincing him otherwise.
The grey wolf ignored them as best as one can as he searched high and low for another perfect hiding spot but like before, there wasn't an abundance of them.
It was a shame, really, for such a perfect spot as was the one below the birch tree to go to waste. Humphrey knew it was probably a death trap at this point. Sure, the humans may have not been blood thirsty killers as he first assumed, but there was no telling if they reset the trap again now that they knew that wolves were in the area. Maybe they had set him free because that wasn't what they were hunting, but who would ignore a wolf who kept getting himself caught? No, Humphrey was not about to test to see if lighting struck twice in the same spot.
"No more unnecessary risks for me. Nu-uh, no sirree bob. They call me Humphrey the Paranoid. Humphrey the Vigilant. Humphrey the—"
"How about Humphrey the Annoying?" The raven's voice interrupted.
Humphrey jumped again. Then snarled at the carrion bird. "If it's so annoying, then why keep following me, hm?"
"Touche." The raven smirked. "But I'd be lying if I said it wasn't entertaining watching an overgrown Chihuahua slowly dip into madness."
"Hah! Please, everyone knows Chihuahuas are already mad." Humphrey snorted. "I've been called way worse, so you're going to have to try harder than that to insult me."
Brushing past the raven, Humphrey eventually settled on a narrow, shallow crevice located on the face of a cliff where a waterfall flowed above into the lake it overlooked. It was far from ideal, but his energy was quickly running too thin to keep house hunting tonight.
Humphrey barely fit, having to duck and crawl on his belly to avoid bumping his head and when he laid down in a curled position, both his front and back brushed against the rock walls. There was also no way for Humphrey to see if there was an intruder approaching until it was halfway across the lake. If one were to catch his scent and snuck out on the ledge towards the crevice, Humphrey would not know he was there until he turned the corner. He would just have to hope he could smell him first before he reached him for he couldn't even hear over the roar of the waterfall.
The only benefit he got out of this shitty hole was the fact that he couldn't see the ravens watching him from the trees. The falls like a curtain that shielded him from their ravenous gazes. Giving him just the reprieve he needed to fall asleep however restless.
We got a few OC's being introduced lately. Had so much fun with developing Agnes who morphed between three different stages before she ended up into the motherly southern-belle she is now. Would like to hear your guy's opinions of them so far!