A rough road trip

Humphrey's POV:

It's been a day since I decided to take a vacation with my daughter in order to get away from the packs and the heat that had taken over the females who had begun hunting me down in hopes of ending their heat. Heck, today alone I had to dodge four females who tried to jump me and another three who tried to follow us on our trip with Kate being included in the last group. Fortunately, I was able to lose them and made great time since I had to run most of the way with Bella being carried in my mouth to ensure she didn't get left behind. She didn't mind though since as she put it, she enjoyed the ride and was just happy to finally be going on a trip with me since the only trips she used to go on were working ones where she was forced around by the wolves who kept her and the other pup's captive.

Now though, we were making our way through the woods side by side as I made different animal calls which my daughter had to guess since I didn't tell her which animal I was calling. She enjoyed our little game since she said there wasn't much else to do besides looking around the forest and this part was just mostly trees, and she didn't want to play 'Name that tree' since she didn't know that many. I let out a goose call and watched as she thought about it before saying.

"A goose?" I nodded.

"Exactly, now what should I do next." Before I could think, the sound of a stomach growling came from Bella, and I chuckled. "Maybe I should save my animal calls for later and find us something to eat." She nodded and looked away blushing before I took a sniff of the air to try and catch the scent of something small since it was just the two of us but when I took in the scents, I knew we needed to get out of there. "We have to go." Bella tilted her head up at me.

"Why?" She looked a little scared. "Is something wrong?" I grabbed her by the scruff of her neck with my muzzle and said.

"I smelt bear and judging how strong the scent was, they're not far away from here and if they find us, then we'll have a bit of trouble since they're just as territorial as us wolves."

With that said, I took off down the path while holding on to my daughter for dear life and hoping that we didn't run into any bears who would take us being here the wrong way. For a few seconds things looked good with no bears in sight before I looked back to make sure we weren't being followed until a growl from in front of me drew my attention forward and I was brought to a screeching halt. I stopped only five feet away from a large brown bear who was glaring at us with a look that clearly told us that he was not the least bit happy to see us in the territory. To make that clear, he stood up on his hind legs and let out a loud roar before dropping down and getting ready to attack but before he could begin to charge, I took off in another direction as fast as I could, and it didn't take long for the bear to give chase.

For a few minutes, the only thing on my mind was escaping the bear and keeping my daughter safe with my mind so focused on escaping, I didn't realize the sound that was coming from ahead of us. When I saw the cliff ahead, I quickly planted my paws down and stopped, looking down the cliff and saw a long river below and knew swimming in it would be anything but easy, especially with a pup. I turned back and saw the bears approaching us fast and then looked down at the river but this time, I spotted a log floating down and had a plan that was both risky and the only chance we had since it was either the river with a slim chance of survival or an angry bear with an even slimmer chance of survival. I was brought out of my thoughts on which decision to make when Bella cried out.

"Daddy, the bear's getting closer." I turned to the bear and after seeing how close it was, all I could say was.

"Take a deep breath Bella."

She nodded and did so before I jumped into the river below, being pulled into the current the second we landed in the water before I surfaced and began trying to swim to the log that was approaching fast while also doing my best to keep my head and daughter above the water. The moment the log passed us, I tossed Bella onto it before grabbing onto it myself and holding on as tight as I could and then paddling as hard as I could to get to the side of the river but as we did, I looked back at the bear on the cliff and smirked when I saw it glared down at us. I just took a breath and turned to Bella as I said.

"Sorry for the rough beginning sweetheart, but I didn't think we'd need to avoid a bear." She smiled at me.

"It's alright since it was pretty fun but let's not do that again." I chuckled and nodded.

"You won't get any complaints from me hon." After that, I continued to padel towards the shore against the current until I was able to finally get us to shore and collapsed from exhaustion before fell to the ground making Bella gasp, but I gave her a smile. "I'm alright Bella, just give me some time to catch my breath." She nodded and hopped off the log before laying down next to me and cuddling into my side making me smile.

1 hour later

I was once again on the path to the waterfalls with Bella at my side and I am happy to say the only animal we've run into since our swim in the river are two rabbits who I made lunch out of for the two of us. After our meal though, we discovered that our swim was actually a blessing in disguise since the current had actually carried us pretty far and was actually taking us to the top of the waterfall which we would have fallen from if I hadn't gotten us to shore. Still I was grateful since it meant we'd be able to make it to the waterfalls long before nightfall which would give us plenty of time to find a den for the evening and some dinner. Now though we were sitting at the edge of a large lake which was being filled by the large waterfall, pouring down into it while it leaked into a large flowing river, creating a beautiful sight which Bella and I were enjoying and as luck would have it, we'd found a small den nearby. I looked down at my little girl before turning back to the lake and let out a sigh, at the sound of nothing but the waterfall, knowing that this was going to be what our normal day would be like for the rest of mating season. The reason was because he wouldn't have to constantly dodge heat crazed females, cover his daughters eyes and ears when some couples became more vocal in their mating, constantly check my den for females, sleep with one eye open incase they try to sneak in and of course, dealing with Kate. Ever since the beginning of heat season, she'd been at nearly every one of my hangouts, even the ones I kept to myself when I just wanted some alone time, meaning I never got the chance to just enjoy being by myself. With this in mind I closed my eyes and just took in the peace of my surroundings knowing that it may not last long with how things will go back with the packs.

AN: And here's another chapter for you all after so long but don't get used to it since it took a lot of effort to grind out this chapter since I'm still facing a block on where I want this story to go. I hoped writing another chapter might help but it didn't so don't expect another one soon but know this, the story is not dead, nor are any of my other stories as I am trying with all of them so keep an eye out and have a nice day.