It was near sunset in Jasper Park, Canada. The end of a fun-filled winter snow siku for Western pack leaders Kate and Humphrey and their large family of adolescent children and inlaws. Kate looked up at the sky, feeling snowflakes hit her face and watching the sun slowly going down. She turned her head to the right and faced her Omega pack-mate. "We better get nyumbani now au Mom will pitch a fit. wewe know her paranoia of hypothermia and frostbite and all that shit. I mean, come one... We have fur." Kate laughed.
Humphrey chuckled and nodded. "Kate, she means well. She's just a little..." He trailed off hesistantly.
"Cuckoo?" Kate finished for Humphrey, still laughing.
"Who's cuckoo?" The eldest of Kate and Humphrey's children, Claudette piped up from Kate's left. Runt and Stinky appeared on the other end kwa their father with their mates, Terra and Julie behind them. "Yes, Father... Who is the cuckoo?" Stinky asked with curiosity.
Both Kate and Humphrey cleared their throats at the same time, attempting to stifle their sheepish laughs. "Oh, no one. We were just talking about... Why are there no cuckoos here? They are such interesting birds." Kate alisema to Humphrey, still trying to remain in control but obviously failing.
"Uh, right! Right... You're right and, uh... Why wouldn't they be interesting? The word *cuckoo* is just so... unique!" Humphrey said.
"I know, right?" Replied Kate.
The adolescent pups just looked at each other. The expressions on their faces were obvious. They knew their parents were trying to cover up something. However though, they decided to just let it go knowing that their parents didn't always act right.
"Uhh, okay... Let's get home, hmm?" Claudette spoke up and grinned while feeling her husband Fleet brush up against her softly.
"She's right, Dad. The sun's almost completely gone." Runt alisema and added, "Plus Terra and I were planning to... wewe know... do things." He heard Terra giggle softly behind him.

Without saying another word, the group of Mbwa mwitu loups pressed on away from the open valley gap and into the woods. Claudette and Fleet ran past Kate and frolicked through the snow and dead trees, giddily laughing. "Better come get me!" Claudette yelled out playfully to her husband while swerving between trees in the direction of her and Fleet's den. She then shouted out to her parents, "Night, Dad! Good night, Mom!"
"Night!" Both mbwa mwitu parents replied and their words echoed through the forest. They waited until Stinky, Julie, Runt and Terra were further away from them before once again sharing words. "Those were some good ol' days. Weren't they, Kate? Just wish sometimes that we could just go back in time au some deal... I tell you, this was one of the best days of my life. Being with my family, OUR family. Especially you." alisema Humphrey, looking at Kate with his ears folded back and his mouth soothingly pressed against his wife's cheek.
Kate smiled. Her ears laid back as well and her tail gently wagged. She looked at Humphrey and licked his mouth sweetly. "That's exactly why I upendo you. wewe are still the sweet, playful pup that wewe were when I first met wewe those four winters ago."
Kate nuzzled Humphrey's nose passionately and Humphrey responded with love. "And I think the same of you, my darling Alpha." alisema the proud Omega.

Distracted due to their momentary softcore love-making, neither mbwa mwitu took notice at a hunting bunduki aimed at them from a distance. Not until it was too late.
POW! A bullet strayed off and grazed Kate's shoulder, leaving a bleeding scratch. "Ahh, fuck!" She shouted and winced in pain.
Humphrey gasped and ran around to her other side. "Kate, what happened?" I didn't see..."
POW! Humphrey gasped suddenly. His eyes were wide and his body was rigid. He also felt warmth flow through his grey coat, something he had never felt before. Humphrey's eyes narrowed down and he saw a blur of red spilling into the snow beneath him. He then looked at Kate and she saw fear in his eyes. "Kate...," He uttered roughly, then he felt his body collapse into the snow.
"Humphrey!" Kate yelled out, then looked towards the direction of the gunshot. She snarled at the man dressed in camouflage, holding the rifle. Kate stood over her husband's fallen body and protected him like he had done for her once upon a time.
The man cocked his gun and aimed at the female's skull. He pressed against the trigger slowly and then suddenly, he felt his body being shoved aside. The gun dropped and a stray shot went off. The bullet buried into a dead mti behind the protective Alpha who continued to watch the man, her eyes burning with hellfire.

Mere moments later, the man ran off abandoning his weapon. Kate watched her children and their mates chase him off deeper into the forest. They were snapping at his heels viciously.
Kate moved back and looked at Humphrey who was still bleeding out. "No... No, please...," She spoke softly and brushed his neck gently with her muzzle. Humphrey was still breathing, but only barely. Kate laid on her chest and stomach kwa him. She kept his body warm with her own, softly licking his face over and over.
Soon, the others returned. They paused at the bloodied snow and Kate's pups looked at their fallen father in shock and fear. "Dad...," Runt muttered fearfully.
Kate looked up at them. "Go get Grandma Eve and Uncle Tony. Now!"
The Alphas of the group nodded and ran off in the direction of the dens. Runt and Julie stayed behind and desperately helped to keep Humphrey's body warm. Kate looked at them and tried so hard to be strong. "It's okay. It'll all be okay. kwa tomorrow morning, Dad will be good as new. You'll see." She told them. In her moyo though, she knew to not hold much hope and she closed her eyes shut, desperate to keep her tears in.

What seemed like hours later, Eve and Tony appeared and ran as fast as they could. Tony grabbed the fallen bunduki in his mouth while running and turned around to dispose of it elsewhere. Eve on the other hand halted at the sight before her and immediately commanded her daughter, "Help me get him up on my back. Now, Kate."
Kate forced a nod and watched Eve lay done across from her. She carefully pushed underneath Humphrey's chest and struggled to get his barely breathing body up. Kate whispered enough to where she hoped her husband would hear her, "C'mon, Humphrey... I really need wewe to try here, hon. Please try." She sniffled.
Wincing in pain, Humphrey slightly struggled and just managed to get his front legs over Eve's back. Kate carefully pushed his body over her mom's body and Eve stood up. Eve looked at Kate and motioned towards the trail that led to home. "Let's get him to your pango and keep him warm. After that, there won't be much else we can do for him."
Kate nodded. She, Eve, Runt and Julie headed off in home's direction, leaving nothing but the red-soaked snow behind them.

Many hours later, Kate was at the far back of her pango with her front legs and head rested comfortably over Humphrey. She felt his breathing going fainter and her eyes watered up emotionally. The tears soaked into her face fur. Kate then moved her mouth towards Humphrey's ear and rested there, speaking softly to him.
"It was winter, four years zamani today to be exact. wewe were such a sweet little thing, so happy and full of life. I knew we would become the best of friends... and I never expected that our relationship would become even zaidi than that, even with the struggles we pushed through along the way."
"Since then, we've had three beautiful children and we've made new Marafiki along the way. Wonderful friends. wewe are my best friend, however and I will always be yours. Your friend, your wife, your angel. I upendo you, Humphrey. May wewe rest peacefully and enter the gates of heaven where my father now is. At last, I say... Good night, Humphrey."
Kate gave her husband one last lick against his cheek. She closed her eyes and slept with him, softly crying in her sleep once she felt his body spasm and go still.

Humphrey was buried at sunrise inayofuata to the grave of Kate's father, Winston. Kate stuck kwa him after her family and Marafiki had left. She could not believe it. After all that happened, it did not seem real. Kate had not planned for her upendo life to end this abruptly. Now she did not know what to do.
She carefully stood up and looked at Humphrey's burial for one zaidi long time. "You wouldn't want me to do this, would you? Leaving the pack, going lone wolf. wewe didn't give in, no matter how hopeless wewe believed our union could've ended up. wewe believed in us and gave me the faith to believe in it, too."
The sun had completely risen up finally and Kate looked up towards the skyward heavens. She breathed heavily. "I promise, my love. I promise."