The Promise 2
Prologue | Lilly

Humphrey and I had been away from Jasper for about two weeks. Kovu and Hailey were nice enough to share their den with us. We were glad that it was large enough for two extra wolves. It wasn't much of a problem, with me and Humphrey cuddled together each night. I enjoyed not only the thought of cuddling with him, but I also enjoyed the body heat that we shared with each other.

"Hurry up, Lilly," Humphrey yelled to me. "We're going to miss it!"

We had been at the river, getting a drink when we had heard the howl. The wedding was starting soon, and we were pretty far away. We absolutely had to make it in time for Zak and Allie's wedding. It was starting any second, and I won't know if they were going to wait on us or not. I hoped so, because we were almost there. The two of us found ourselves standing at the top of the large hill. This hill led down to the main area of Glacier pack territory. I looked down the hill. Pushing the fur away from my left eye and putting it on top of my head, I sighed. Humphrey groaned and said, "I thought we were closer than this..."

I looked at him, hoping he had an idea. He was definitely thinking of one. That's when I saw it. A large piece of tree bark hanging off the tree to Humphrey's side. "I've got an idea," I said. He backed up as I passed him. I grabbed the log-sled and put it down in front of us.

Humphrey looked at me, to the log, and back at me before asking, "You're seriously going to try this again after last time?"

"This hill is different," I contradicted. "There's no trench at the bottom of this one."

"Yea but—"

I interrupted him with a lick on his cheek. "You talk too much," I chuckled. "Just get in. We're already losing time, as it is."

I knew I had him figured out. He'd do pretty much anything I said after I kissed him or licked his cheek. I could tell he liked it. I watched Humphrey climb into the log and grab the sides of the log. I quickly climbed in front, taking hold of the sides once I realized we were already moving forward. I scooted back to lean against Humphrey before grabbing on to the sides as tight as I could. Then Humphrey kicked us forward. I may have been scared the first time, but this time... This time was no different. We gathered way too much speed, way too fast.

The powerful breeze of the wind pushing our fur back may have been enjoyed by Humphrey, but all it did to me was heighten the fear, making it feel like we were moving even faster than what we really were. A tree was coming straight for us. Responding to my natural instinct, I leaned right. I could feel that Humphrey had leaned that direction as well. We continued down the hill, and I was beginning to wonder if there was even an end to this slope. Even though I had been scared, I still wished that this would never end.

That's when I realized that I had stopped screaming. I wasn't even feeling scared anymore. I was enjoying this. Maybe it was from the fact that I've done this before, and I knew what it felt like. I guess I was getting used to the feel of it all. I tried not to remember what it felt like dangling from Humphrey's paw in that trench. I focused my mind on Zak and Allie. On Hailey. Kovu. Linda. Aleu. Chloe. Most importantly, Humphrey. My heart somehow started beating faster than it already was. It felt like my chest was about to explode.

I leaned back against Humphrey's body for more comfort. I was sitting far enough in front of him that, when I leaned back, my head was on his chest. I looked up at him. He was looking me in the eyes. I smiled, looking at his blue eyes, and calmly said, "Don't you dare think about taking us up a jump." The way I said it reminded me of how calm my mother sounded whenever she made a threat.

All he could do was laugh. I knew why. It was the jump that made my first log-sled ride a terrible experience. I thought I had been scared, but at least my eyes had been open before the jump. I looked back ahead of us, and leaned left. Our sled moved left, barely dodging a boulder. I looked back, surprised we actually missed it. "Too close," I said. "Way too close."

I looked back in front of us to see the bottom of the hill finally approaching. I looked farther ahead of us to see the crowd of wolves coming together. The wedding was going to start any second, and we were almost there. We were going to make it!

Then we crashed into a boulder that neither me or Humphrey had seen. The two of us went tumbling down the rest of the hill, our two bodies a mix of legs and grey and white fur. It reminded me of when were still puppies, playing tag. Except, it was different now. We were in love, not just friends. The two of us couldn't help but laugh as gravity brought us to the flat ground at the bottom of the hill. We ended up face-to-face at the bottom, our legs spread in every direction.

The two of us lay there for a moment, locked in each other's mesmerizing gaze. He stretched his neck out and licked me on the cheek. Even though we had been together for the past two weeks, I still couldn't get used to him doing that. I tried forcing myself not to blush underneath my fur, but I knew it was uncontrollable. Even though I couldn't see the red underneath my fur, I knew it was there because I felt the blood rush to my cheeks.

I sat up when my ears picked up the sound of the crowd. Well, the end of the sound of the crowd. I noticed when the crowd had fallen silent. I knew that the ceremony was about to begin. After helping Humphrey get back up, we ran towards the crowd. We were forced to sit in the back. That's what we get for being late, I guess. Oh well, at least we could still see Zak and Allie up front. I was glad to see that we hadn't missed anything.

They had just started circling around each other, looking into each other's eyes. I could actually see the passion their eyes. After making a complete circle, the two leaned and and started to take in the other's scent to be familiar with it. They didn't spend too long on that step, and quickly moved on to the next part of the ceremony. They leaned in toward each other, and nibbled the other on the right ear. Allie giggled when Zak nibbled on her ear. I could tell she did because it wasn't too difficult to hear.

Then came the final part of the wedding.

The nose-rub. It was the last thing they had to do, to symbolize that they were mates, and neither of them looked to be having any regrets. Neither were slowing down, or looked ready to back away. They just continued closing in, inch by inch, second by second. Until it finally happened. Their noses finally made contact. I hadn't heard a cheer this loud from a crowd of wolves ever since the East and West packs of Jasper were joined together by marriage. Of course, the same thing was happening here, except it was the North and South packs of Glacier.

I didn't see what happened after the nose-rub. There were too many wolves jumping with joy that their packs were finally united. Which made me wonder. Just what was the reason for them being united? Was it a lack of caribou on one side like Jasper's two packs, or was it just to bring peace? I guess it doesn't matter. Whatever the reason was, it was fixed now. It's a good thing that Allie stepped up to marry Zak. Not only because it kept him from killing Chloe, but because they actually did love each other. It wasn't an arranged marriage.

"Follow me!" Humphrey yelled over the cheering crowd. I nodded, following after him. I knew where we were going. We were looking for Chloe, or Hailey and her family, or all of them. It was too bad we couldn't sit with them during the ceremony. It would have been nice to see Hailey's reaction to her son getting married. Oh well. I'm just happy that I was able to stay with Humphrey and sit by his side during the event.

I saw Hailey looking around, as if she was looking for us. I nudged Humphrey's side and pointed at her. The two of us quickly jogged over to her, finding her with Kovu, Aleu, and Linda. I wondered where Chloe was at. The volume of the crowd's cheering died down a bit, making it easier to hear our conversation. Humphrey said, "Second loudest wedding I've ever been to."

Kovu said, "When two packs are uniting, who wouldn't be cheering? More caribou to hunt and more territory to explore."

The six of us turned to look at Zak and Allie. They were walking toward us. Hailey smiled and whispered, to me "Watch this." She walked up to Zak and hugged him, yelling, "My little boy is so grown up! I can't believe you're already married! I feel so old now! Don't respond to that, Aleu."

I looked to Aleu to see her mouth closing. How did Hailey know that her daughter was about to say something? It's strange how mothers and daughters have that sort of connection. I wonder if that sort of thing ever happened between me and my own mother. I'll have to test that out when we get back to Jasper.

I heard Humphrey's snickering before I heard my own. Linda, Aleu, and Kovu joined us soon afterward. I looked to Allie, smiling at her new mother-in-law. Zak rolled his eyes and groaned, "Mom... Did you seriously have say that?"

The rest of us went over to them, and Kovu said, "We never got the chance to embarrass you, so we're making up for all the time you've been in the North."

"Hey!" I thought I must have been the only one to hear it, but I realized I was wrong when the others turned towards the source of the voice. A grey-and-white female was coming toward us. At first glance, I thought it was Chloe, but then again, Chloe didn't have green-colored eyes. She walked toward me and Humphrey. "I've never seen you two around here before." I was hoping we weren't in trouble for trespassing on Glacier Park territory.

"Really? We've been here the past two weeks," Humphrey said.

"Two weeks? Really? Wow, you'd think I would have noticed you. Huh, so what are your names?" She was smiling. I guess we weren't in trouble for anything. This girl was actually really nice.

"I'm Humphrey. This is my girlfriend, Lilly."

"Humphrey... That name sounds familiar for some reason. Oh well. Anyways, nice to meet you two. I'm Jade."

"Oh, hey Jade." Kovu came over to us. "I thought you were supposed to be at the hunting grounds. Isn't it starting soon?"

"Oh my gosh! Thanks for reminding me!" She turned around and started running. As she ran off, she yelled back, "I'll see you guys later!"

It amazed me how much Jade looked like Chloe. I would've thought she was another sister of Humphrey's that was separated from him. But he had told me that he only had one sister, Chloe. I shivered, getting a cold feeling up my spine. I didn't know if it was a sign that something was wrong, or if it was just the cold breeze that flew by. With Winter on the way, the cold breezes were coming more often than usual.