LIKE AN ANSWERED PRAYER

It was a little surreal. If there was a camera, and it panned out from our picnic mat, it would look like just another lovely picnic. Despite our serious discussion, around us, our wolves were all relaxing and enjoying themselves.

Pups were running like a train about the wreck through the grass path maze between what seemed to be hundreds of picnic mats of every shape and size, each offering Tupperware and baskets full of food.

There were wolves lounging back in the sun, wolves laughing over food and drinks, wolves exploring the buffet line on the street… the stage was being set up again. (They unplugged and took everything off to drag it out to the road earlier.) Soon there would be free-flow music.

I was sure Ben and some of the guys would perform. They did it quite regularly last year. Angela and Tim's Dad was sure to go up too. He was not someone who would pass up the chance to dedicate a song to his lovely mate (the one and only Delta Felicity).

I was actually looking forward to it too. I hoped Harvey would drive his guitar like a it was a musical grand prix. I hoped Lola would sing because Lola was awesome. I think I was going to be her fan. Actually, Ben was getting pretty good on the guitar this year. His performances at Winderhill and his school's Vday Dance were really cool. Dean had sounded really good when he opened for the Winderhill performance too.

I really liked watching the live performance. They always made it look so fun and easy when they were on stage. Sometimes we'd have some new wolves join them. That was always a treat and everyone would always cheer extra for the first timers regardless of their performance quality. We were a very encouraging pack like that.

How did Dad put it? We were a very musical pack. I'm not even sure why. Dad had never played or sung or dance or anything. I heard that the late Alpha Daniel from Morning Light was a powerful singer though.

"If he wasn't an Alpha, he would have been a great opera singer." Beta Lucas had told me. His love story (according to Beta Lucas) had to be the closest thing to a Disney cartoon that I've ever heard. One day, Alpha Daniel was out hunting when he heard the most beautiful singing coming from the warlock lands. He could not help but follow the sound (this was before the Warlock hated us and put up those enchanted traps).

This was how he met his soul mate. She was a free wolf living in the warlock lands. She was afraid when he tried to approach her, but he sang to her and they got mated and lived happily ever after.

Or at least until they were attacked and killed by rogues.

When I was young, I wished Mum and Dad had a Disney princess love story like that. But they didn't. I asked, but their story wasn't anything like a Disney cartoon.

According to Beta Lucas, he was the one who brought Mum and Dad together.

"I set them up on a blind date." He told me proudly.

According to Mum, Beta Lucas used to date one of her cousins. One day, her cousin got a call from him begging her to come on a blind date with his good friend.

Her cousin didn't want to go so she tricked Mum to take her place.

So Mum ended up on a double date with Dad, Beta Lucas, and Willow (the future Mrs Beta). It was a movie date. Some outer space movie… Mum didn't remember.

Anyway, they got mated and lived happily ever after.

And yes, Mum seriously left out a lot of details, but I didn't notice. I was just a dumb pup then.

"How could you not remember the movie?" I had exclaimed when I heard it.

Mum just laughed, "I don't know… I think there was a scene where the spaceships were shooting at each other."

Which I thought was pretty exciting. How could my Mum not remember what it was about?

"After that, my cousin would always joke that I stole her Alpha mate." Mum would laugh. Mum had come from a very large family, and they were all very close, but Mum hadn't met them for years.

I had never met any of Mum's family before although she said her elder brother had come visit once. Just once. She had a photo of a man with white hair carrying me and smiling. I didn't remember him at all.

"He only came for an afternoon." Mum said. She sounded a little wistful.

Why didn't he stay longer? I mean, after coming all the way to our packlands, he only stayed for an afternoon?

Dad never said anything about Mum's family.

And for some reason, I never asked. I think it was something about the way my Mum had sounded wistful on the rare occasions she spoke about them. I didn't know how to deal with it, so I just blocked it out and pretended they didn't exist.

Like Alpha Blades, they were just stories from my mother's childhood. A very different time and place from where we were now, and as unreachable as the legends of the Colored Mountains.

But back to our present pack family, because I always felt living next to the packhouse was like having a really big family too. Here, I only have Mum and Dad, and Savy, but growing up, I always had Beta Lucas, Mrs Beta, and Lizzy and Ben next door - and betas were family too. And of course, now family was Sabre, and Ki too. What was home without Ki?

And if you counted my Rose and Moon, Harvey, and my adopted wolves in the Special Team - because they all have a room in my wing of the Alpha House, my family was pretty huge.

Family is forever - this wasn't a Lycan quote. More like a Disney Movie quote from Lilo and Stich. Unfortunately, my family won't always be living together. Eventually, my Special Team will meet their mates and move out. It would be a matter of time before Savy and River reach mating age and I Snow Moon was rather far from here. I don't suppose I could convince River to rule his kingdom from Night Leaf. Let's not forget that Dad had plans to take Mum, Beta Lucas, and Mrs Beta and retire to the Colored Mountains. Even little Sabre would one day grow up and possibly mate little Eddy in Night Forest. Here's assuming the little human didn't fall in love or decide to change her destiny. Sigh, you'd never know with humans. They're always the wild cards.

Just as I was starting to feel despondent about everyone leaving me one day, the wolves on my picnic mat stirred a little.

"Ah Ki, you're here." Dad broke off his discussion with Beta Lucas, "Good. We needed to talk to you about something."

"Yes, Alpha." Ki smiled his Killion dollar smile and sat himself down with the men, "Is there anything I can help with?"

I watched as the men's conversation dropped in volume and pitch to match the gravity of their conversation. Mum smiled and poured a cup of tea for Ki. Ki mouthed a silent thank you when he received it.

Was it selfish of me to hope Ki really never leaves?

Ben was here to stay right? Harvey said he wanted to follow me to the Colored Mountains to retire... Would he still follow me if I wasn't going to the Colored Mountains? I mean, it wasn't all that it was cracked up to be.

I think Beta Gerald's retirement plan with the Langston was probably the more sensible option.

Wait, why was I counting who would stay with me? It was almost as if I were afraid to be left alone.

I had never been left alone in my entire life. I mean, pluh-lease! My parents didn't even trust me enough to leave me alone with Sabre!

But what if growing up meant stepping up in front of the pack alone as the Alpha?

I've been watching my Dad's strong back all my life. He was the Alpha who "walked out from everything offered to him on a silver platter in Night Forest, for a wilderness and a irresponsible dream." (Quote Grandma Luna).

He wasn't afraid to be alone. He didn't need anyone else. He met Mum later than most wolves would meet their soul mates, so he took over the reigns as Alpha all by himself. Even though he couldn't officially be Alpha until he got mated (Night Forest was very traditional like that), it was no secret that he was already running the pack by the time he met Mum.

Dad didn't need anybody. When he left Night Forest, he actually told Beta Lucas to stay. It was Beta Lucas who wanted to follow Dad. Roy too, and all the others. They didn't follow because Dad asked them to. Technically, Beta Lucas was the one who asked, totally behind Dad's back. Beta Lucas felt it was his duty to do things like that.

Just like he didn't hesitate to invite Mum's cousin to a blind date, he didn't hesitate to invite the young gamma of the ousted Gamma Family at Night Leaf or any of the other wolves... so that when Dad left, it was quite a party that left with him.

It wasn't a decapitating exodus for Night Forest. I mean, you'd have to be crazy to leave the oldest and arguably wealthiest pack in the continent to rough it out in the wilderness of the Green Packlands.

At the time, it was just a wild land of rogues, free wolves, and a powerful old Warlock.

There was nothing there. They lived in tents for the first year. And oftentimes slept in their wolf forms in caves or crevices - that is, if they had the luxury of sleep.

"You pups have it lucky." Beta Lucas often told us.

But it was during these times where our wolves also started singing.

"The greater the suffering, the more beautiful the song." Beta Lucas told us, "Nowadays, it's all electronics. All we used to need was a guitar and our voices. Whoever could sing would sing. Whoever who couldn't would dance."

Beta Lucas was known to be a very good dancer back in the day.

But my point was that Dad didn't need anyone back then. He didn't need anyone now either. Even during the war, he would've come back on his own, even without my help. He said so himself. All I did was help him return to us faster.

I wanted to be an Alpha like Dad, I needed to be strong enough to stand alone in front of the pack... Which didn't sound fun at all.

If only I could have one other person, just one, who would always be there for me, who would step up with me - not follow behind me like my betas, but you know... I didn't have the words for it.

{Mate! ~ ❤️ }

Yeah. That's right! Suddenly all the age-old wisdom taught to us since we were a pup rang true. An Alpha needed a Luna by his side! I needed Mate!

{Mate! ~ ❤️ }

This was when I realized that Boo wasn't saying that I needed Bell. Boo have very little patience for my internal monologues.

Like an answered prayer, BELL WAS HERE.