NO FAMILY IS PERFECT

7 FEBRUARY, SUNDAY, DINNER

I told my family at dinner about what happened during Beta Gerald's rounds.

Dad's comments:

Beta Gerald was a good a faithful beta who lived for his pack.

When Alpha Daniel and his Luna died in the rogue attack, Beta Gerald had taken his failure to protect his Alpha quite badly. He had bitterly regretted that it was not him who had died instead, although Dad's opinion was that left in Alpha Daniel's hand, the pack would have sunk into financial disrepair. They had been good friends and Dad knew it was Alpha Daniel's beta who kept the Morning Light out of the red.

Beta Gerald had taken his Alpha's death so hard that Dad had worried that Beta Gerald wouldn't be able to get over it. Now that Dad said it, I was beginning to suspect that Beta Gerald never got over it. It was the way he spoke in the tin can truck to Harvey and the things he said today.

Since he couldn't die for his Alpha, he lived for his pack - which was good, because he continued living with purpose, but was sad too in my opinion, because he continued to carry the past regret with him.

Maybe I was wrong. I mean, it was just a feeling I sensed when he spoke in the truck.

Mum's Comments:

She remembered when our home was like the first one we visited.

"You're exaggerating." I told her. "That woman had 6 kids, you just had us."

"Oh, but you made the mess of five." Mum answered with a laugh, "There was a reason your dad always ended up Alpha commanding you."

"Not my proudest moments, and I'm not sure if you should use it on other kids." Dad frowned a little.

I just laughed it off, "Please, a little alpha commanding never hurt a pup. Look at me, I'm perfectly fine."

"That's debatable." Savy demurred.

And then Mum informed me that the apples from the elderly couple's backyard was often made into apple pies and sent to the destitute home in the fall. This elderly couple had a very giving heart.

"It seems kind of sad though." I said, "It felt like their whole life only starts in the summer when their grandchildren come and then wait like the apple trees for next year."

"It's not that their whole year is dead." Mum explained, "Its just that they love their daughters and grandchildren so much that it may feel a little like that when you're watching from the outside."

Back to Dad:

And Dad shook his head at the mention of Priscilla and Sean.

"She was crazy!" I exclaimed after telling them about Priscilla's plan, and then I quickly waved down my parents, "I know, I know, a mother's love is a powerful emotion. But I think it made her mad."

"Ah no," Dad admitted, "Priscilla had always been eccentric."

And then Mum and Dad told us the story of Priscilla and Sean.

Neither Priscilla or Sean were from Night Forest. They had simply appeared out of nowhere and joined Morning Light on their own.

Okay, not nowhere. Priscilla was the daughter of a pretty famous warrior captain in the Gold Mountain. He had trained his warriors for specialized covert operations which had contributed greatly in the Lycan war efforts during the great war.

Sean on the other hand was an Omega from a minor pack. Dad understood he had a rough childhood. But he was bright and ambitious. Priscilla's dad had taken to him and sponsored his education. The both of them studied together.

When they turned 18, Priscilla was sure that Sean was her soul mate. Her dad objected.

Sean's parents had also objected to the match. They refused to accept Priscilla as Sean's soulmate. Sean fought with his parents and left home.

The two of them ran away and came to the Green Packlands to start a new life. They met Alpha Daniel and moved into Morning Light.

Sean never spoke to his parents again. Priscilla's mum would send them money, she also paid the initial capital to start their firm in Gate City. That's why the firm was "Curtis and Sawyer" and not "Sawyer and Curtis".

They're good wolves. They continue to this day to give generously to every cause their pack supported and use their legal expertise to advise their leaders pro bono.

"So you mean Priscilla and Sean might not be real soulmates?" Savy asked.

How could that be? They've overcome so much together.

"No one would ever know, and it's not for us to say." Mum answered primly.

Okay, right. No gossiping. Wait... But weren't they the ones telling us about them?

"The reason we are telling you their story is so that you girls know that underneath every successful face, there is usually a story of struggle and hardship." Mum told us, "No one is perfect. We all have our stories. No family is perfect. No matter how perfect they look on the outside."

"Our family is perfect." I said.

Mum paused, "Well, I'm glad you feel this way, Sam."

"As a family and as a pack, we don't need to be perfect to run together." Dad concluded.

We nodded. Yeah, okay. But my family was still perfect.

I mean, okay, so my Dad was the Alpha and could be strict at times, and he did use alpha command on his eldest puppy quite a bit, but I would too if I were him.

And my Mum was a free wolf from somewhere that didn't exist today, and I had never met any of her family even though she told me she had a very large one.

And my sister was keeping it a secret that her soul mate was a human.

My other sister was a human.

And I was the heir of the Alpha title but I wasn't a boy. Instead, my alpha wolf was a girl, a pretty cute one at that based on recent feedback. Plus I was slow and I had developed a habit of adopting ex-fightdogs.

Okay, yeah... I guess my parents had a point there.

No family was perfect, and that's okay.

I thought about my betas, about Harvey, and Ben, and Ki and Fluffy, about all the people I've met today. I thought about Mate, his own family history was pretty checkered. And now that I thought about it, maybe its because of our own imperfections that we could empathize and accept each other's "eccentricities".

Because nobody is perfect.

Even though I still think my family was perfect. And whenever I look at Mate, I think he is the most perfect male wolf that had ever walked this earth (but don't tell anyone I said that). And my betas were pretty darn perfect betas too.

"Mum, can I not go with you to the Morning Light destitute house next week?" Savy asked at the table, I guess it was her turn to speak at the dinner table, "My school V-Day dance is that evening, and I need time to get ready."

"Oh, is it valentines' day already?" Mum asked. She looked at Dad, who took out his phone and typed something in, and then she looked at me, "Are you going to the V-day dance too?"

I don't know why Mum thought I would go. I went once. Why would I ever go again?

"The kids in school say she's going with Harvey." Savy informed us, "This year, the girls would give chocolate foods to the guy they liked, and if the guy accepted it, then they would go together."

Since when did I ever give Harvey chocolate?

"Then the other week, Sam gave Harvey a chocolate muffin after Ultimate Dodge-ball in front of everybody." Savy reported, "Dean was pretty crushed."

I flared, "That's not counted! I don't even go to your school!"

"Yeah, but does Harvey know?" Savy grinned.

"I don't know, but he knows I have a mate!" I mean, he said so himself right? Luna Bell was alpha-possessive.

"But if Harvey rang the doorbell next Sunday, what would you do?" Savy asked.

Harvey would knock, like all my betas.

I shook my head, "I'm not going."

"Maybe you should get a dress, just in case." Suggested Savy.

No way, this can't be happening. Could I take it back? But its been weeks! Its not like I could make him cough out the muffin again.

"The other guy who might ring the doorbell is Jonah." Savy continued.

"What, why?" I asked.

"Don't you remember who gave you that muffin in the first place?" Savy asked.

I flared again. What?

"You did ask him for it." Savy pointed out.

No! I wasn't asking for a date, I was asking for a muffin! Grrrr....

Savy cackled. And then I realized she was messing with me. And also that it had been too long since I heard her cackle openly.

I groaned, "You're messing with me again."

"Only a little." Savy said, "Okay, Jonah was just passing you a muffin. Lizzy and I checked. But I don't know what Harvey was thinking."

"No problem, I'll just tell him it was a misunderstanding." I decided.

"But wouldn't that be awkward if he didn't think you were asking him to the vday dance in the first place?" Savy asked.

Grrrr....I hated stupid complexities like that.

"You could just dress up for the dance, just in case." Savy suggested foxily, "Then if Harvey rang the bell, you could go with him. And if he didn't, you could come with Ben, Lizzy, and me. Ben didn't get a date this year so he can take you. Lizzy said he turned down everyone's chocolates. Ben broke up with all his babes, he said he'd never date again. It's the biggest school scandal since Jonah jumped out of the third floor window to escape the girls chasing him. Now the two hottest middle school guys have sworn off girls. Vday has been pretty eventful this year - and it isn't even here yet."

"I think that's a good idea, Sam." Mum decided to ignore the boys' pre-vday dramatics, "It'll be fun to dress up and go out. If your Luna comes, he can drive over and pick you up after. It's not really a date, just a dance with your friends."

"I wonder if Harvey knows that." Savy had to rub it in.

Then I got and idea, "Ki! Ki! Help me!"

Ki who had be quietly eating his meal with us beamed, "Certainly, how may I help, goddess?"

He had to be kidding me - actually, he was. He was definitely messing with me too.

"Would you like me to inform Harvey that he is expected to ring to door bell next Sunday?" Ki offered.

"NO!" I stood up flaring. Savy cackled until she fell off her chair. Sabre thought Savy falling off the chair was hilarious and started laughing and dropping off her own chair.

And Mum and Dad just smiled at each other.

"It would be nice to have the house to ourselves next Sunday." Dad said.

Seriously? Did no one care that I was about to have an alpha meltdown? Or that the little human repeatedly falling off her chair was about to give herself a concussion?

Apparently not.

"I can take Sabre to have a stayover with her classmate Chloe." Ki offered, "Her mum did invite me over on Sunday night."

Sabre stopped falling off her chair.

"Chloe is my best friend!" She decided.

Dad raised a brow at Ki. I think they were mindlinking but Ki's usual Killion dollar smile didn't falter.

Once satisfied with whatever Ki had mindlinked, Dad said "Alright."

Mum shook her head though, "Oh, we couldn't impose on your date!"

"A date?" I asked, "Ki is going on a date?"

"Just a playdate for your sister." Ki reassured me.

"I'm quite sure if Chloe's mum asked you over on Sunday night, it isn't just for a playdate." Mum said, "Plus I know for a fact that Chloe's dad died on duty during a rogue attack when Chloe was just a baby."

I got excited, "Ki is going to be Chloe's new daddy then?"

Ki shook his head, "No, no. Chloe's mum and I are just friends. I don't intend to mate."

"Why not?" I blurted out.

Was he still blaming himself for his soulmate's death? Was he too broken to love?

"Sam, I think we should allow Ki his personal space and respect his decisions." Mum told me.

"It's alright, I don't mind, Luna." Ki answered, then he looked me straight in the eye and said, "Goddess, I'm happy here. I want to live the rest of my life as your dog, I want to die as your dog. When I die, Harv and Ben will engrave on my stone the words 'Sam's Dog'."

So "poetic"! That had to be Ben's idea.

Harvey is mated to his job.

Ben is never going to date again.

Ki wants to die as my dog.

It's official, all my betas were stoopid. STOOOPID.

It looks like all the beta wolves in the Green Packlands were about to become extinct by the end of this generation.