HOW IT GOT MESSY AFTER THAT

22 February, Monday, CONTINUED

Now that Savy was "all sorted out." Mum was looking to my betas, "Does Sam have any time to revise for her exams tonight?"

Uhoh.

"I believe she is expected at the Black Forest pack for the specialist training session." Ki smiled and informed Mum.

Mum pressed her lips together, "Is there anyway we can possibly postpone it?"

"But Mum! We're going on a real vampire hunt tonight!" Which, even as the words left my mouth, I realized was a dumb thing to say to my mother.

"What?" Mum gasped.

Dad gave me a pointed look. He obviously thought that I was far less able to sort things out on my own.

So naturally, I wanted to prove him wrong, "Don't worry, its just a training exercise. We were going by dream travel, and we'd be up and rested tomorrow to take our exams."

"There will be no dream travelling." Dad maintained.

"And how are you going to take your exams without studying?" Mum asked.

With wolf power? This was honestly my answer, so it was a good thing I didn't say it out loud.

"Ki, please contact the Black Forest trainers and let them know our pack would not be attending tonight." Dad decided.

Nooooo!!!! I flared, "But this is important! It's for the future security of our pack."

This was a rare opportunity to learn how to deal with the constant vampire threat outside our borders. I could go to school lots of days but we only had a limited number of sessions with the Black Forest specialist team trainers.

Dad looked like he was considering it. I was immediately hopeful, "It's just Term 1. I'll work harder next term to make up for it!"

Which turned out again to be the wrong thing to say.

"Samantha Kingsley!" Mum said sharply, "What kind of attitude is that? Was that how we brought you up? You are a full time student, and while you are a student, your responsibility is to do your best to study. In what way is this doing your best?"

In the way I felt quite sure with my wolf present to help me now, I probably wouldn't fail. In fact, the multiple choice questions was guaranteed win for me. Unless my Wolfie glitches or Boo played punk... Sigh.

"It's not like I would fail." I said, "Plus I'm very lucky..."

Which was an even dumber thing to say, because now Dad was on my case too, "Sam, education is not just a responsibility, it is a privilege. One that you should make the most of to learn - it isn't about your results at the end of the day, it's what's in your head."

Dad tapped his head, "What you keep here, no one can ever take from you."

Unless you had Amnesia. Hahahaha. But of course I didn't say that part aloud. I've learned my lesson - for some reason, whatever came out of my mouth was just going to do me in.

"I'll attend the training at Black Forest on Sam's behalf." Bell volunteered, like the good Luna he was, "Ki will come with me."

Ki had just reappeared with dessert. He smiled placidly, "If you wish, Luna Bell."

Anyone who really knew him would know he didn't want to go, but no one scolded him for having a bad attitude or told him serving his Luna was his beta responsibility and privilege.

And then Ben popped his head in from the kitchen, "Me too. I want to go too."

Just for good measure, he added, "I'm done studying too."

But for Ben, it probably meant he finished the highschool syllabus. Ben was too smart like that.

Beta Lucas gave a short wave, "Yes, go, go. It'll give me a break from having you around."

Nobody lectured Ben about doing his best or how it wasn't about his (stunningly great) results, but what was in his (equally stunningly brilliant) head.

Was I really the only stupid wolf in the universe? The world really wasn't fair!

"It's not fair!" I could feel my wolf shift gear suddenly - it was like slipping on ice - I should've seen it coming, but it caught me totally unaware.

I climbed into Bell's lap and told him to his handsome face in no uncertain terms, "I wanna go I wanna go I wanna go!"

Bell's face! He looked completely stupefied back at me. What? You never met a brat before?

"Sam! What's gotten into you?" Mum was truly horrified.

"She's tired Luna. When Sam's tired, she regresses into her five year old self." Ben explained on my behalf.

"Shut up, Ben!" I flared at my beta. Ben only grinned back. He was probably the least shocked person around the table.

"Hoo man. Yeah, this brings back memories." Beta Lucas said, "She used to yell at everyone to shut up when she got mad."

"She did what?" This was news to Mum.

"If you don't put her in bed after the shut up point, she'll end up crying." Beta Lucas said.

"Shut up! I will not!" I was this close to krackening.

"Well, technically, she cries because you're a liar." Ben told his dad.

"Oh yeah? When? When have I lied to her? Beta Lucas challenged.

But Ben was the wrong guy to ask these things because his memory spanned back to the day he was born.

"You told her we were going to Disneyland, and brought us to the coin rides at the mall instead." Ben answered.

"Well, who was the smart aleck who had to tell her?" Beta Lucas glared at Ben.

"She'd have figured it out sooner or later!" Ben said, "Three coin rides outside Fox Kids was not Disneyland."

"She was perfectly happy driving the purple dinosaur!" Beta Lucas shot back, "I should've left you at home. That other time too - you had to count the ice cream scoops."

"You promised us a hundred scoops in different flavours if we raked your yard." Ben's never failing memory was a boon and a curse at the same time, "But you only bought us 20."

"20?" Mum gasped. Twenty was like 18 scoops more than necessary in mum's opinion.

Now my mum and dad were looking at Beta Lucas like they didn't recognize him. Was this the same guy they let babysit their precious daughter regularly? Yes. Yes, he was.

Beta Lucas said in his own defence, "Well, she didn't know how to count to 20. If you kept your big mouth shut..."

"I was four. I only knew how to count aloud." Ben said.

Hahaha... I didn't remember any of this, but it sounded like fun. I yawned. Bell was warm and smelled like the perfect bed. Salted caramel mixed into the familiar scents like the usual household detergents Ki used on our clothes and sheets, and was that a hint of lemon oil? Mmmm smells like bed... My bed to be exact. Mine.

I snuggled closer and shut my eyes against his broad shoulder. It was surprisingly comfortable, as if it was carved out just for me.

"Oh, Sam." Mum sighed, "I'm so sorry Bell. This girl can fall asleep anywhere!"

"Yah man." Beta Lucas was remembering, "Even when she's riding behind your bike. One moment she's there, and the next..."

Beta Lucas caught himself in time, "the next moment she's fallen... ah...asleep."

As opposed to fallen off your bike? Hahaha. I remembered that one. I woke up the moment I hit the roadside ditch... Beta Lucas was frantic, but I was totally fine, cos the mud was soft.

Dad had a more pressing issue at hand though, "Is she travelling? Wake her."

"I'm okay, Dad." Savy said.

"Princess?" It was Mate's deep quiet voice speaking, but it took an urgent tone, "Too late. She's gone. I'm holding her back, but who knows where her dream state is lying."

"Probably somewhere in Black Forest." Ben said.

Now it felt like everyone was slightly panicked.

I felt myself lifted up and carried, Mate's voice was clear, "Ki, ready the car and drop Trevor a text from my personal line. Ben, let's go."

"You trust that Trevor dude?" Ben's scepticism seeped through his usual monotone.

"I trust him not to do anything stupid enough for me to kill him." Mate said. I felt at that moment a strong protective force from our bond. Perhaps this was what Esther meant when she said she felt secure and safe through the mating bond. I could get used to this.

But before I knew it, I was being put down. No! I tried to move, but couldn't. No! No! No! Mine!

I felt myself get transferred to someone... I heard Dad's growl close close to my ear, "Better release her so she can defend herself at least."

I struggled, but I couldn't open my eyes.

{Stay safe. Wait for me, princess, I'm coming.}

And then I woke up. Good feelings gone. It's cold. I'm in a ditch, only this time, Beta Lucas isn't frantically rushing over to check if I was okay. Nobody was. I was alone in my dream travel.

Okay, correction: Bell was on his way with Ben and Ki... Hahaha, but Bell was far away.

How long had I been sleeping here? I blinked and looked around, feeling chilled and damp, but mostly annoyed all over again that I couldn't smell a single thing.

It was dark, it was late, but looking around quickly with my wolf sight confirmed that I was in a ditch by some wrangled tree roots in what looked like a forest. I felt pretty far from home.

{Bring me shoes!} I blasted home through the mindlink and regretted it immediately when several sticky webs tried to pry into my mind. Eep! Vampires!

I shut off everything. Mindlinks and all. I just completely clamped up and scrambled out of my ditch. I was careless. My mind screamed internally, "Vampires! Vampires! Vampires!"

I could feel the little hairs on my arms prick up... At first I had thought it was the cold, but now I realized I was surrounded by vampires. Not too many vamps, nor very powerful vamps, but enough that if they were working together, I would not get away without injury.

Okay, Sam, calm down.

Since my mindlinked blast pretty much announced my presence (and position) to the vamps in the vicinity, my best bet was to run. But run where?

I moved quickly, following my lucky sense of direction. Please be to a good hiding place!

This forest was weird. A lot of damaged trees, some uprooted, some just broken in places. It was all over the place too with no distinct pattern. I trekked cautiously. It was all so strange and unsettling.

Bell was coming. I just had to hang on for a little while more. And for some reason, maybe it was the mating bond, maybe it was because he promised to come for me, maybe it was because of the strength and protection I felt from our mating bond earlier, but I suddenly wished very much for him to be here.

Why? Why didn't I bring him along when I fell asleep? Because he didn't fall asleep with me? I guess it's kind of weird to just fall asleep at the dinner table. Did that make me weird? What was the word Ki liked to use? Oh right, eccentric. I was just eccentric.

It was getting colder, should I shift? Would I be safer? Less safe? Wth. I had no idea. But it was at this moment that I found a cave. Lucky! I'm not sure why there was a cove, but after sneaking past some broken trees, I found a steep hill with a small crevice. It was the perfect hiding spot. I dashed across the single opening of forest to make it into the cave.

The vampire activity had gone eerily still. A normal wolf would be led to assume they had gone away, or even that the earlier attempted mindwrap was just a figment of imagination. But I studied at Winderhill, so I knew that they were still at large.

I could sense their dark voids - even the very faint and little ones... Which was currently residing right in this cave. Another oppsie. I had forgotten the first rule of the hunt. If it's a good place to hide in, it's probably already taken.