THE BIGGER STONE

Dad was in the middle of something with Beta Lucas, but Harvey and I were allowed to enter his office to wait.

"Alpha Princess is here." Harvey announced when we arrived.

"Come in. Just give us a few more minutes." Dad said.

I took my usual place by the bay window and looked out of the open window. Harvey chose to lean against the wall next to the window. Ben would have just sat next to me, but I decided it would be kinda cramp on the narrow window if Harvey sat down too.

Outside the smell and sight of spring, and baking of bread, I think the packhouse kitchen was cooking stew. There was also the distinct smell of chocolate chip cookies baking. Yes. I was sure. If it was chocolate chip, it would not escape my nose.

Once upon a time, I would slip off with a "Be right back, Dad!" and pop into the kitchen to see if someone nice there would spare me a cookie. The ladies in our packhouse kitchen were the motherly kind so they usually never let a puppy leave hungry. Of course, some ladies had stricter health codes and would not give sugary treats easily. It all depended on your luck, or rather their duty roster.

Now that I was the Alpha Princess, I would be tailed by the two delta guards standing outside Dad's door the moment I left his office. It's not like delta guards had to beg for cookies… if I brought them with me, would it look like I was robbing our Packhouse Kitchen?

Oh yeah, and there's that pesky rule about me not being allowed to eat anything that had not passed through my beta's hand.

WTH, I was closer to being the Alpha than I had ever been, and I didn't even have to freedom to put a cookie in my mouth. If this wasn't ironic, I don't know what was.

Wait, hold up. I was the Alpha. Technically, I had a right to the cookie. Warriors could eat free meals during meal times at our Packhouse dining room. Deltas could order meals/refreshments to be delivered anywhere in the packhouse at any time of the day (to facilitate meetings and events), Gamma Harry could just order food whenever he smelled something good no matter what the time or reason, Beta Lucas pretty much ordered food from the packhouse kitchen like it was his personal restaurant.

I had never seen Dad order food directly from the kitchen, but I bet if he said he wanted to eat hamburger and fries, he was going to get hamburger and fries - even if someone had to drive out to the Langston to fetch it.

I glanced up at Harvey, would I be abusing my authority if I said I wanted cookies? My good beta turned to meet my eye, "Is there anything I can do for you Alpha?"

Well, since he was asking me…

"I'm hungry." I told him because I couldn't quite bring myself to say I wanted something as childish as cookies and milk, "And thirsty too."

"Ah, understood, Alpha." Harvey was immediately on it, "I'll have something brought up."

"If you're ordering from the kitchen, call up some more coffee too." Beta Lucas took pause from his discussion with Dad to chip in.

"Yes, will do." Harvey politely obliged the elder beta, "Is there anything else?"

"Just coffee for me." Dad decided.

"Well, I'm feeling peckish too." Beta Lucas decided, "I could do with a sandwich. Nothing that will fall out all over the documents... Order something for yourself too. It's going to be a long afternoon."

"Alright. Thanks." Harvey went on mindlink.

Please be cookies and milk.

Beta Lucas was back at firming up the details to whatever he had to take care of. There was a lot of documents spread out on Dad's desk. This was a very everyday scene from my puphood memories. Just like me sitting at the by window of my dad's office was also an everyday scene from my puphood. It was nice that some things never change.

I looked back out to the trees and found bits of red spotting a far off hill. Princess Town. It was really Spring now, and Spring was when the wild plum trees blossomed on one single faraway hill. Because of that, since young, I had called that hill the prettiest hill in our land.

I wondered if Dad remembered. Was that why he gifted me that exact same hill for my Princess Town?

But then again, that was more likely just a coincidence. There were too many serious variables to consider when developing in our forest. For example, I knew for a fact that the minor packs all had clearly demarcated spaces that they were allowed to build on, Dad had some really traditional rules about maintaining our pack forest. I heard that even Uncle Louis had abolished some parts of these old laws for the sake of progress in Night Forest, but Dad's still sticking to all of them for Night Leaf, down to the very letter.

Also, because Princess Town was going to be equipped with running water, sanitation, electricity, fiber internet, and all the modern everyday conveniences, it would have to fall within the pragmatic net of our utility grid.

And stuff like that would take years of planning and cost enough money to sink a ship (according to Beta Lucas).

Squinting at the bits of red in the distance, I could just see a single bit of steeple and some dark grey roofing. That was new too. There was really a town growing out of the hill now.

I felt glad we kept the trees. Just the sight of them, red against the hilly horizon of lime green and yellows. Our old forest in Spring looked brand new again.

While I was admiring the scenery, Dad's presence drew near like a towering rock next to me. He put his large hand on my head and looked out the window with me, "For wolves, it will never be the heights of our city, but the depth of our forest. Never forget, no wolf can run freely in a skyscraper."

I nodded under his hand, "I know, Dad. I'll protect our land well."

I was the Alpha after all.

"Hm." Dad didn't lift his hand from my head. Instead he regarded me with his thinking frown, "I would be happier to give even the whole world to you, if only I didn't have to worry about the weight of it on your shoulders."

"But I'm strong and I've got a lot of strong wolves with me." I boasted, "It's not like I have to shoulder the whole world, just our pack and our forest. I can do at least that!"

"Yeh man, don't worry, Alpha." Beta Lucas finished putting the last of the documents back into its stack, "Our Sam's also got Luna Bell by her side. That boy really knows how to stir up trouble!"

Was he trying to reassure my Dad or worry him?

Dad sighed, "I suppose the largest stone makes the most waves."

"Only when they're drowning in trouble, Alpha." Beta Lucas grumbled, "Hoo boy, but you're not exactly keeping a low profile at the High Council Meeting this time either, Alpha."

Dad removed his hand from my head and turned to his Beta, "Well, let's see who's the bigger stone then."

Dad's jaw was set, and I guess that was that. Sink or swim, he wasn't going to budge. I really should be reading more reports - at least to get the gist of what kind of trouble both the men in my life had gotten into with the High Council.

In Bell's case, it was expected. Bell had probably broken every single rule in the book. He pretty much set fire on the Red Packlands, cursed AND set fire on the Black Packlands, drove the rogue population to extinction in a third of the Gold Packlands, killed the Warlock… Whatever it was, I was quite sure he was guilty, I just didn't know how much the High Council knew.

In Dad's case, it was probably Jude's trial and answering for our sudden influx in population. Our Colored Packlands had been "balanced" since Black Forest's long unification war ended, now with the Green Packland's merger announcement, followed by new inter-pack alliances, territory expansion (into the Warlock lands), the appearance of a hidden army and a sudden population influx, we were really making a mess of the power distribution.

On the bright side, the High Council would have to divide their efforts to put the heat on two Alphas over very different issues. Beta Lucas had also told me that the High Councils were just glorified old dogs who were senile, paranoid, and couldn't differentiate between day and night. BUT Beta Lucas was pretty angry about something back then, so it would be best to take this with a pinch of salt.

"What's this?" Beta Lucas exclaimed from his screen. I think he had meant to shut down his laptop, but found a new document, "Why are you reviewing the dungeon security protocols again?"

Harvey winced, "Yes, Beta. Unfortunately, we have some cause for concern."

I tried to help by providing an example, "You know, like what if someone gave the prisoner a pie, in a metal pie tin, and the guards don't detect the dagger inside, and then the prisoner stabs Nei - I mean a random warrior who happened to enter his cell?"

Dad's thinking frown returned. Beta Lucas just looked very confused, "There's already a metal detector. Are you saying you need an x-ray baggage scanner too?"

"Sam, what exactly are you saying?" Dad asked.

Actually, I thought my example was very exact as it was. I looked to Harvey for help.

Harvey cleared his throat a little, "Pardon Alpha Kingsley. We plan to heighten security for the next few days before the prisoner's transfer to the Tribunal holding cell. This is just a precaution for any possible breech in security. The review should address the security concerns that had recently come to our attention."

"Yeah." I nodded, "What he said."

"Alright." Dad considered this, "But I want you to answer the next question on your own, Sam. Do you THINK there is a security concern, or do you KNOW it?"