Grey and White
Chapter One: Alone

"I think it'd be a great idea, Lilly," Kate said. "I mean, come on. It couldn't hurt for you to spend some time with him."

I looked back at her from behind my head fur. "Well... have you talked to Humphrey about this yet?"

Kate nodded with a smile. "Mmhm. He said as long as you'd be up for it, he'd be happy to get to know you more." I took a moment to think about it. A moment too long, perhaps, since Kate spoke up before I could say anything. "I bet you'll dying to have someone to hang out with, considering everything going on."

Oh, right. I'd nearly forgotten about it. Kate, Garth, and my parents would be out of Jasper for about a week for traveling to the Northern territory to work out a way to combine the packs since we were running low on food. Since the pack was a pretty long distance away, it would take a couple of days just for them to get there, maybe a day or two for them work out a deal, and then another few days to get back. And with Reba and Janice leaving Jasper with their mates to start their own packs with Salty and Shakey... I was pretty much going to be alone for the week.

Humphrey was going to be in the same situation. His best friends were leaving him. So me, Kate, mom, and dad were pretty much the only ones in Jasper that he knew. I'm sure he could quickly make friends with someone, what with him being the way he is. But with me being the way I am—extremely shy and quiet—there was no way I would be making friends real soon. So Humphrey was all I had for the week.

"You ready, Kate?" Dad's voice asked.

I looked glanced over at him for a second before looking to Kate. She was looking over at him. "Yeah, dad. I'm coming." I looked back to dad, who nodded and turned to join Garth and Mom as they prepared to leave. Kate and I looked back to each other as she stood up. "Just... think about it, okay?"

I gave her a small smile and nodded. "I will."

Kate stepped closer to me and moved a paw to my back in a hug. I hugged her back. "See you when you get back."

She pulled back and smiled. "See ya, sis."

With that, she turned and joined the rest of my family. I sat where I was and watched them off until they were out of sight, disappearing into the trees. I let out a soft sigh as I let my head lower, whispering to myself. "Well... He is my brother-in-law..."

Humphrey and I had been walking together for the past half hour... in complete silence. Imagine that. Thirty minutes of walking with your sister's mate with no words being exchanged the entire time. I'm normally the type to stay quiet, but this was killing me. I couldn't even imagine what it was doing for Humphrey, considering he loves to talk. I figured he would've said something by now. But no. Neither of us had said anything since I asked if he wanted to spend the week together. We both agreed on taking a walk through the forest and just talking. And that's exactly what we were doing.

Minus the talking.

I took a quick glance over at him. I could see why Kate liked him. He was handsome. And I've heard his howl before. Amazing. Plus, they'd been through so much together, what with the unwanted trip to Idaho and back. Also, it appeared that Humphrey was getting stronger, seeing as his muscles seemed to grow a little each time I saw him—which was only about once every couple of weeks.

Quickly, I shook those thoughts out of my head. Humphrey was my brother-in-law. I couldn't think this way about him. Especially since I had my own mate. Garth.

It's just... I guess I still had a small crush on Humphrey that still lasted from our puppy-hood. Yeah, I had a crush on him when we were younger. Back when I'd first met him. Kate had brought him home and introduced him as one of her new friends. The moment I had seen Humphrey, my heart had skipped a beat, and I'd had a crush on him for the longest time. I just never said anything because it was obvious to everyone except Kate that he liked her.

The crush actually lasted until I first saw Garth at the Moonlight Howl that night that Kate and Humphrey had gone missing—which, we found out, had been due to a couple of hunters. Sure, Garth and I were in love, and happily married. I guess I still just had an attraction to Humphrey. Of course it would be difficult to forget about that kind of attraction after having those feelings for such a long time.

"You okay, Lilly?"

I snapped out of my memories once I heard Humphrey's voice. I blushed softly under my fur, realizing that I had been practically staring at him as we were walking.

"Y-Yeah," I stuttered.

"You sure? You've been staring at me for the past ten minutes."

Wow. I'd been looking at him for ten minutes? It only seemed like one or two minutes to me...

"Yeah, I'm—I'm fine. Just thinking about things."

"Oh?" He stopped walking and sat down. I did the same, sitting in front of him. "What were thinking about?"

Oh... crap. What was I supposed to say? I was thinking about the huge crush I had on you since we were pups? No. There was no way I was going to tell him that. I quickly thought up a lie. "Uh... Just Garth. And the others."

It seemed like Humphrey didn't know how to respond to this, since all he did was nod slightly and look around. I did the same, feeling another awkward silence coming on.

"So..." Humphrey started. I was glad that at least one of us was willing to break the silence. "What do you want to do?"

I thought for a moment but couldn't think of anything. Really, all I did everyday was get some sleep in the den, occasionally help with the hunting (which I was terrible at, by the way. Possibly due to my bright, white fur. That probably didn't help when it came to being stealthy.), and hang out with Reba and Janice. Since Reba and Janice were out of question, and I wasn't needed for any hunting, and I wasn't tired, I had no idea what else there was to do. So I just shrugged and looked at Humphrey. "Anything you wanna do?"

He tapped a paw against his chin for a moment as he looked skyward, thinking. I wrapped my tail around myself, covering my front paws as I always do when they start to feel a little too cool for comfort. Humphrey looked back to me and shrugged. "Nothing that isn't too extreme for you."

I stared at him, almost glaring. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, nothing. It's just, you don't seem like the kind of wolf that would really like the kinds of things I do."

"Oh?" I tilted my head. "And what would that be?" I was feeling like I should prove myself to him. That wasn't like me, I don't usually feel the need to prove myself to anybody. But where did Humphrey get off saying that I wasn't extreme? I could do some wild things if I wanted to. And I would prove it to him.

"Cliff-diving?" Okay, too extreme. He was right. "Teasing hunters?" How was Humphrey still alive! "Log-sledding?" Hmm. Log-sledding. I forgot that he used to do that all the time with Salty, Shakey, and... umm... what was his name... Oh yeah, Mooch.

Mooch. Whatever happened to that guy? I haven't heard from him since Sweets passed away. Come to think of it, I haven't heard from Candy in a while either.

"Log-sledding sounds interesting," I suggested.

Humphrey seemed to perk up a little. I wasn't sure if it was out of surprise or excitement, but he sure seemed ready to go if I was willing to do it. "R-Really?"

I nodded. "What? You don't think I'd be willing to go for it?"

"Oh, no. It's just, I didn't think you'd want to do something that could possibly get you hurt. I mean, I've broken my legs a few times by log-sledding, so..."

"Well, then let's not go that far with it. Instead of those huge hills that Kate tells me you used to ride, maybe we could start with something smaller?"

"Right," he agreed. "But, there aren't very many small hills around here."

"Well, where did you start out?" I asked, thinking I could start out the same way he did and work my way up over the week.

"You've gotta be joking," I said as I looked down at the fairly-steep hill in front of us. Humphrey had his paw down on a wooden board he had made from the bark of a nearby tree, keeping it from sliding down as we looked at the hill. "This is where you started?"

Humphrey nodded, smirking. "Yep. Very first hill I ever went down on. Easiest one me and the guys could find when we were starting out."

"Wow..." I took a few steps back, feeling safer once I didn't see much of the steepness. "That... seems pretty dangerous..."

"Oh, it is," he confirmed. "It took me and the others about a year to get down this without getting bruises or a broken leg."

I winced, almost feeling the pain in my leg as I thought about how it would feel. "Ouch... I... I don't think I could do that."

"Well, I won't make you do it if you don't want to," he said, pulling the log-board away from the start of the decline and sliding it over to my paws. "Your choice."

I sat for a moment, staring down at the board as I thought about it. It did sound fun, but it seemed too dangerous. I'd never broken a bone in my life. There was no telling how fragile my bones were, especially considering I never did anything as a workout, aside from the occasional hunt with the Alphas, which only last about an hour, sometimes two. I quickly came to my decision.

Pushing the board away from me, I shook my head. "Maybe some other time. Perhaps when there's snow to cushion the fall or something."

He shrugged. "All right then. Anything else you can think of to do then?"

After thinking for a moment, I made a suggestion as I stepped forward. "How about— Oof!" I instantly felt some pain in my jaw as I slipped, my front paws sliding out from under me. It took me a few seconds for me to realize what it was. I had stepped onto the board that Humphrey had pushed toward me. Apparently I hadn't pushed it away far enough and ended up slipping on it as a result, which cut me off from finishing my suggestion.

"Whoa!" Humphrey yelled from surprise. He stepped toward me and looked down into my eyes. "You okay, Lilly?" My eyes locked with his. My heart skipped a beat.

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine... I'm such a klutz..."

He chuckled softly as he helped me back up into a sitting position. "You're no klutz. That was just a bit of bad luck."

"Right... bad luck..."

Humphrey was silent for a moment before he lowered his head to try and look into my eyes, which were aimed back to the ground again. "You okay, Lilly? You don't really seem like yourself today..."

I nodded a bit, slowly looking back to him. "Yeah, i'm okay... It's just... kind of awkward, spending time with you..."

He chuckled again and smiled. "Yeah, I know what ya mean."

We sat in silence for a minute before he yawned. I smiled. He was cute when he yawned. I mentally kicked myself for letting another thought like that coming into my head. Why were my feelings for him coming back today? I was in love with Garth.

"It's getting late," he pointed out.

I looked for the sun and was surprised to see that the sun was starting to go down. "Yeah." I agreed. "Think we should just turn in for the night?"

He nodded. "Sure. I usually get to sleep pretty early anyways."

Now that was a huge surprise for me. Humphrey didn't seem like the type to go to sleep early. I always imagined him staying up all night and waking up later around noon. Guess there was more to him than I thought.

"Want me to walk you back to your den?" he offered.

I smiled warmly and nodded. "I'd like that."

The two of us started our walk, heading down the hill. In silence. Again. I hated it when things were silent between us. I usually like the quiet, but with Humphrey, I loved talking. But what should we talk about? I had no idea. I was willing to talk about anything.

"So... have you and Garth mated yet?" he asked.

Except for that. I wasn't quite willing to talk about that. I mean... talking to my brother-in-law about me mating with my husband? That was a pretty awkward thing to talk about, wasn't it?

"Sorry... I shouldn't have asked... It's too personal."

"No, it's... it's fine," I told him. "But... out of curiosity... why do you want to know?"

"Just curious," was his answer.

I giggled softly. "Well, you know what they say about curiosity and the cat, right?"

"Yeah, but I'm not cat, so it doesn't apply."

I giggled again, smiling. "That's true."

The two of us continued walking, coming closer to my den. I hadn't given Humphrey an answer to his question. I decided to leave it that way. It would give him something to think about. We approached my den and stopped just outside of the entrance. I turned around to face him. "Thanks for walking me back."

"No problem," he said.

"So... you think we'll hang out again tomorrow?" I asked hopefully.

He nodded. "Of course. Especially since we didn't really do anything today."

I smiled. "Good. I liked spending time with you."

"Likewise." He smiled back. "See you tomorrow then."

Giving him a nod, I responded with, "Good night."

"G'night," he replied.

Then he turned and started walking. I watched after him as he left. It came to mind that he and I were both going to be completely alone in our separate dens without our mates. I almost offered to have him stay with me. But it just didn't seem right. Of course there was nothing wrong with sleeping in the same den as your family. But... I don't know. Something didn't seem right about sleeping with my sister's mate. Plus, he didn't really feel like family. He was more of a friend to me than a brother. And we barely knew each other.

So I just let it go and turned to walk into my den. I let out another soft sigh as I lay down in the back of the cave, my head down on my paws. My eyes closed and it didn't take long for my tired body to bring me to sleep.