SAM IN THE HOUSE

26 FEBRUARY, FRIDAY, CONTINUED

I know I had meant to tell Beta Gerald I was here, but what then? I honestly had no idea. I've never taken part in a war before and I highly doubted that it would be anything like a camping trip or sports meet.

To make things worse, Dad and Beta Lucas weren't here. I didn't even have my betas with me. Even Mum's not around. Wow, there's the list of all the people I relied on right there.

Of all the times I imagined myself as Alpha, I've never imagined this situation. My imagination had been limited to attending long meetings, cutting ribbons, and attending award presentations...and maybe running out to the borders to deal with a few rogues. You know, all the stuff I had seen my dad do.

And in my wildest imaginations, I'd also be leading my wolves on grand adventures where we would be brave and daring and find amazing treasures. (Not to be confused with running from one trap to the other just to return a stupid stone to a certain warlock.)

But a rogue war? Never. And wasn't this not supposed to happen until I was Alpha? Every generation will fight a war, but Dad's done his, and mine was only supposed to happen after my 18th birthday when I was the alpha.

I wasn't even officially the Young Alpha yet!

Omo, don't tell me, my catalyst nature had move everything forward yet again. Suddenly, I remembered Ben hanging from the dungeon walls. So if that happened, then Jonah's prophetic dream should be happening too...

Gah! WTH! No fair goddess! I wasn't ready yet! I didn't know the first thing about leading a war!

I thought I had three more years! Or at least Bell and my betas by my side. I never expected to be alone in this. And Dad promised to help...

But I didn't have time to whine about it. Mum was alone in the warlock forest - okay, she was with Jonah, but he hadn't even shifted. Wait a minute - wasn't he shifted in his prophetic dream?

Goddess, when this was over, I'd be filing an official complaint.

But I'm busy now. I needed to take a leaf from Beta Gerald. Stay calm and level headed. I know I'm just Sam, but this war isn't going to wait three years for me to get ready. My pack will have to make do with the me they had right now.

Plus someone had to go rescue Mum and Dad from Jonah's prophetic dream taking place!

I tapped into the mess of flaring mindlinks, {Beta Gerald, I'm here.}

I think he was busy.

So all on my own, I remembered they needed to release the lockdown order on the underground.

{Stephen?}

Captain Stephan, {At your command, Alpha.}

So formal, this guy.

{You're off lockdown. Do you know what's happening in the Green Packlands?} I asked.

Captain Stephan, {Affirmative Alpha. Your advisor has explained the situation.}

My advisor? Oh right, Flynn.

Captain Stephan, {I had taken the liberty to ready the men. We are ready to set out at your command.}

Okay, here goes nothing, {Okay, go. Keep Flynn updated.}

{Understood, Alpha. I am unable to contact your Luna, but we will set out according to Warplan 805. ETA 45 minutes.}

Wait, what plan was that? And exactly how many warplans did my Luna make for the Underground? But I had no time swear the small stuff... hahaha, okay they weren't exactly small stuff, but Beta Gerald had replied, and he sounded just a tad less calm now, {Alpha Sam, is that you? Are you safe?}

{Yes.} I answered, but was rudely cut off.

{Sam! You're back. Good! Good!} This was Gamma Harry.

{Where's your daddy, Princess?} Gamma Endo demanded.

{I don't know. We were separated in the Warlock land.} I answered.

{Alpha Sam, may I have your exact location, please?} Beta Gerald inquired politely.

{At home. In the alpha house. I'm dream traveling.} I said.

{Understood. Please lift the lock down on the Underground Army, Alpha.} Beta Gerald answered calmly.

{Already done.} I announced proudly.

Okay. It's going to be okay. Beta Gerald totally got this. Right?

{Please remain where you are. I will drive over to the Alpha House at once.} Beta Gerald continued.

{And open the Alpha Channel.} Gamma Harry chipped in.

{Yes... wait, can she do that?} Gamma Endo asked.

{Sam, can you open the Alpha Channel?} Gamma Harry asked now.

I don't know... I've never tried it before. Wait, how the hell did it even work? I wished there was a manual or something.

{She can't do it.} Gamma Endo concluded, {She's still just a pup. Same age as my Nix, still wet behind the ears.}

But unlike Nix, I've already shifted! I'm not a pup!

{Just let me try first!} I argued, and then I realized these two Gammas had distracted me, {Beta Gerald, don't come over! I won't be waiting around. My parents are in trouble so I need to run out now.}

There was a pause, and I felt sure Beta Gerald would argue, and then he answered, {Yes, Alpha.}

Which for some reason made me like I was abandoning him to deal with the s***, so I quickly added in a bid to console him, {The Underground should be here soon. Flynn's got the details.}

Delta Flynn, {Flynn reporting. Good news. Underground arriving in 35 minutes. They will annex the rogues from No Man's land.}

{Good. Then we just have to get these f***ers off our lawn.} Gamma Endo decided.

{Stay your ground, Endo!} Beta Gerald warned, and then he said to me, {Awaiting your orders, Alpha Sam.}

Wait what? NO! Don't await my orders! I'm not the Alpha! Oh wait, I was the Alpha. Okay, but... how would I know what to do?

Delta Flynn, {Sam? You're back? Where are you?}

Naturally, Flynn had to worry all over again. I mean, I would have thought Flynn would have had enough to worry about on his own.

{I'm dream traveling. Look, I need to go. Beta Gerald, keep up the good work. I'll see what I can do about the Alpha Channel.} I decided even as I ran down the stairs of my tower.

{Where are you going, Sam?} Flynn decided he had to be responsible for me.

{Trust me. I've got this.} No I don't, not at all.

But my whole pack was counting on me, and essentially, even though I had no idea how to relegate warriors or plan the waves of attack and defense, I knew how to run out to the front lines.

Okay, let's stay human form for now and just run on wolf power. I stopped at the second floor pantry and downed a bottle of water so hastily that I spilled some down the front of my jacket. It's going to be okay. My jacket was waterproof. Hydrate and go.

Then I ran down the last flight of stairs and shot out of the house. Admittedly, I forgot to shut the sliding door behind me, oh well.

Alpha channel... that's like a communication lifeline to the pack, but I've never cast such a large mindlink before, I couldn't even say for sure I had enough power to reach everyone in my pack. And once I get into the warlock lands, wouldn't my mindlink be cut and everyone be panicked?

What to do? Alpha James was around! Technically, our packs were supposed to be merging, so he should be able to connect to Night Leaf and Morning Light, but he's not really popular among our wolves. I mean, that was the fact of it. By now the Morning Light Wolves and Night Leaf Wolves had all formed mindlinks pretty naturally - even my Special Team from the Underground had by all accounts easily assimilated into our pack links. But the Lorents were still somewhat distant.

Anyway, I don't think I could ask Alpha James to cast the Alpha Channel for us. He wouldn't be able to connect everyone, but maybe...

{Alpha James, please help me.} I don't know why I automatically defaulted to my cute princess mode.

{Sam? Sam! What happened? Where are you?} Alpha James was immediately alarmed.

{I'm safe but I want to try to open an Alpha Channel.} I told him, {Do you think you can help me maintain it?}

{Where is my useless son? Why isn't he with you?} Alpha James bemoaned, {Are you alone?}

My Dad's missing too... but naturally, Alpha James was too gracious to mention it.

{I'm okay. But can you help me hold up the Alpha Channel? I've never done this before. I'm just going to try. After that, can you hold it so that Beta Gerald and the Gammas can coordinate the battle?} Actually, I had no idea if this method would work. Whoever heard of an Alpha who couldn't hold up his own Alpha Channel? But there wasn't any space for my pride to step in. Every wasted opportunity to support my pack would result in lost lives.

{Alpha James?} I asked.

{Can you even open such a large channel?} Alpha James asked at length, {I'm afraid my own range is limited.}

Yeah, because my wolves don't acknowledge you. But its not like I was sure if they would acknowledge me either... suddenly, I was beginning to appreciate the need for the Inauguration Ceremony and what not. Public acknowledgement by your pack was a solid foundation to establish Alpha links to every wolf.

{I need to try. Please remember to hold on to every connection I make.} No time to think, just do it!

I stopped in front of my driveway to concentrate. I could feel my wolves, both the ones in Night Leaf as well as Morning Light. Careful to cast a deliberate link at Alpha James, I then threw out as many links as I could. Okay, Sam, I've got this. I'm the Alpha, I will protect everyone.

I felt the connections click together and flare up, familiar ones as well as new ones. I flooded the links with all my determination to protect my wolves, and to my surprise, my wolves responded through the links with rather warm and reassuring feelings. I felt my lips pressed down. I won't cry. That would just be shameful.

{Ah, you really got it up, alpha princess. Not bad.} Gamma Endo spoke first.

{Its being powered by Alpha James.} I explained.

I could feel the all around shock in the link about having Alpha James in our network. Hahaha.

{Oh...} Gamma Endo stumbled, {I see.}

{Thank you for joining us, Alpha Lorent.} Beta Gerald was quick to comply, {Please feel free to convey your orders.}

{No problem. Please carry on. I'm just here to help Sam keep up the Alpha Channel.} Alpha James graciously stepped back from command.

Opps, I had just connected all our packs over the mindlink and handed the reigns to Alpha James. That was really reckless of me. It was a good thing he wasn't like a power hungry bad guy or anything. I mean, if anytime was a good time to wrest control of all three packs from me, it would be now.

Plus I had to cut off and leave the control of the Alpha Channel in Alpha James' hand now. Could I really trust him to hold up the Alpha Channel till I get back - and return control to me and/or Dad after that? S***, I really should get better at strategic planning. This was an epic fail. I could actually hear Ben cussing at me for being all kinds of stoopids.

But Ben wasn't here. I couldn't even contact him. I was never good at planning. My strength was in my unfailing instincts and amazing luck.

My guts told me Alpha James could be trusted.

{I'll entrust the Alpha Channel to you for a while, Alpha James.} I said, {Please hold it for me till I return.}

{What do you mean?} Now Alpha James sounded alarmed, he definitely wasn't expecting that, {Sam!}

But I cut off at this point and ran for it. It wasn't like anyone was actually chasing me. I was alone running down the empty streets at wolf speed. I knew where the entry point was. I ran towards the direction I had sensed Mum "disappear." I still had the crystal key to the warlock forest. I just need to get there to save my parents from Jonah's prophetic dream.

Stay calm Sam... nobody died in that dream. Jonah blacked out... that was all. Please let that be all.