TO WING OR NOT TO WING?

Maybe it was my lack of Alpha-Foresight or Gift of Insight. Whatever it was that made me able to see the Princess Town so clearly wasn't happening. I couldn't for the life of me come up with any direction for Night Leaf. Maybe we needed to go for a drive, most of my ideas pop out while talking to Harvey in the car.

I remembered the car ride with Fluffy at wheel and promptly changed my mind. We might not survive the road trip. At any rate, we didn't have the time. We needed to come up with some kind of plan before Dad and Beta Lucas came back from dinner. (Was Beta Lucas eating my share of dinner?)

Harvey's notes were 6 sheets of paper spread out across Dad's desk like empty task cards. I guess we didn't have any fancy shared drive and apps for collaborative work or kanban tracking or whatever my betas had installed in my last timeline. On the first sheet, there was a heading, "Objectives".

And that was it. Was there any chance we could just wing it from here?

It wasn't that I didn't have any opinions. Like off the top of my head, I would prefer for Alpha Fluffy to NOT be saddled with a limp, or a beautiful princess who wasn't me, but I'd sooner cut of my tongue that admit the latter aloud so no, I didn't say it.

I didn't want to see Harvey's family broken up either… but Harvey had only just reverted to his usual steady wry calm. His eyes were still a little red around the rims and I didn't dare to bring up his family situation again.

And was it weird if I including Ki's real smile in my list of objectives? I hadn't seen it since coming to this timeline. Everytime I look for it, I only see the gentle smiling mask he was currently keeping firmly in place. He hadn't really participated in the banter with the other guys either. Yeah, I'm really worried about Ki.

I know the fight cages had left him broken, so broken that I was truly fearful of losing him to it, so broken that he could not sleep in his own bed, so broken that he wanted to live and die a dog by my side. But the Ki in front of me now, while not broken, was increasingly worrying. Before, I had prayed almost daily for Ki to find another Soul Mate because I felt sure that would solve all his problems. What should I be praying for in this one? His Soul Mate was alive in this timeline, but Ben wasn't far off by calling Ki the most miserable dog.

What do I have to do to give Ki his happily ever after? Who would I have to kill? I swear, if I knew the answer, that person would not live past today. Unfortunately (or fortunately), the solution would never be so simply.

Happily ever afters turn out to be much more complicated affairs in real life.

I don't believe I'm saying this, but maybe the fight cages weren't the worst thing that could happen to my wolves. No, wait, hear me out!

Maybe it wasn't how bad things got, but how we overcame those bad things that made us who we were in our original lives. Things should have become better for us here with the help of Alpha Kev to alleviate the toll the rogue war took on us.

But no one seemed to be better off.

Because our troubles were relieved, our wolves had no reason to grow stronger.

And no matter what the timeline or version, there would always be some kind of trouble.

It wasn't just the truism behind the saying "Every generation must fight its own war." Life seemed to be full of trouble and when those other troubles appeared, I wasn't the only one who found myself too weak to protect my own sandwich.

What was the difference between then and now? I don't mean about my blue hair, or our merger, our Princess Town, Blue Demon wolves… I mean, why did the bad things in our original fuel our growth, while the bad things here seem to be chip away at us?

What were we doing wrong here?

I frowned at the blank piece of paper with its single word "Objectives."

"We're doing it all wrong." I told the guys.

They all gathered to stare at the blank pieces of paper, because that was what I was looking at all this while.

"Sam…" Warned Ben, sounding surprisingly much like Beta Lucas, "If you're going to say we should wing it…"

I shook my head. I mean, yes, that would be my plan, but no, I wasn't even talking about the plan yet, "I mean our objectives. Like those are our goals right? I think we messed up."

"What do you mean, Alpha?" Harvey asked.

"We're trying to fix things, to avoid trouble, to shield me… BUT!" I banged the table for emphasis, "What if doing that is distracting us from the real objective?"

"It is an interesting perspective, go on…" Wolfgang had a hand on his chin. He was weighing my argument. I nodded, "So what if instead of trying to fix and avoid problems, we do what we had always been doing in our previous lives?"

"You mean, we wing it?" Ben asked somewhat skeptically.

"No, Ben. Get over the winging it." I scolded, "I'm talking about running straight smack up towards the future. Like to stop checking the future and coming back to fix things, but just running forwards - even if we don't know where that would take us."

"That still sounds like we're winging it, Sam." Ben informed me.

"Shut up Ben." I wasn't going to let Ben throw me off, I was onto something here and I knew it.

By avoiding the bad things, we turn away from opportunities to test our strength, grow our prowess, and learn to run fearlessly. Like the red lights and red tape that Fluffy didn't like. We had trapped ourselves in the false security of a "safer and happier" life. Just like how Dad thought it was good that I was protected and safe in this timeline. Just like how Fluffy tried to keep me away from the war by sending me to Wolfgang's fairytale castle complete with magic horses. Just like how Beta Gerald tried to keep Harvey away from their Alpha's Kev by telling him to concentrate on school and limiting his beta activities.

"Forget what Dad and Beta Lucas saw in the future!" I ordered, "We are going to run into a brand new future!"

And to my surprise, the guys around me agreed, "Yes, Alpha."

Which was totally out of whack because I had wanted to be alpha as long as I could remember in my previous timeline, I had worked my hardest to be worthy of it, to prove myself, to look the part etc. It was pretty ironic that Lala, this weak silly girl puppy was getting their acknowledgement. I laughed a little and shook my head, "Okay, let's get down to the plan now."

"You have a plan?" Ben raised his brow. He really should learn to give me more credit.

"Don't look down on me!" I scolded him, "Of course I have a plan."

"Yeah?" Ben almost looked hopeful.

I nodded and solemnly made eye contact with everyone around the table before breaking out into my usual wide grin, "We wing it!"

Hahaha! Their faces!

"Sam!" Ben was immediately furious. Lol. So fun.

We heard the ladies from the kitchen coming up with our dinner. The hallway outside Dad's door could always be heard loud and clear from inside his office. So much so that sometimes it might feel like we were eavesdropping. Still we waiting for one woman to complain about not brining the trolley and another arguing that it was quicker to just deliver the trays. There certainly sounded like they had enough hands for the task based on the foot count.

Food. I was hungry. What was a group of ravenous wolves to do? Panic.

We really did. Beta Lucas said it would be bad if word got out about our secret meeting guests, and if the Kitchen ladies saw them, the word would definitely get out. The other guys shoved Ben forwards to get it.

Ben went to the door. He waited till they reached, but not long enough for them too knock.

"Oh!" Gasped the first woman when the door suddenly cracked open.

Harvey and Ki quickly stepped out of the sightline from the door. Wolfgang and I were still frozen to our spot. Luckily Ben knew better than to swing the door wide, he stopped it with one foot so that there was just enough space for the tray to be passed through, one at a time, and only longwise.

"Ben?" The first woman behind the door asked, "Where's your dad?"

Oh, come to think of it, letting Ben answer the door might not have been the best idea.

"He'll be back in a bit." Ben said, reaching out for the tray, but the woman didn't give it, "Why don't you let us come in and help you set up?"

Ben firmly held the door down, "Urm... That's okay. I got it."

He was radiating sus so bad, even his back view from where I was standing looked sus.

Fluffy decided to go help his beta out. He moved over to the door with his usual masked smiled. Leaning over to block the opening even more, he greeted brightly, "Hello beautiful ladies. Thank you for making our dinner!"

If he was trying to help Ben alleviate suspicion, it was not working.

"Alpha Kai?" Another woman gasped, "Oh... Now I know you boys are up to no good. Where are your fathers? Why are you two alone in the Alpha's Office?"

It seemed that the Young Alpha Kai and his Young Beta Ben had accumulated such a reputation for troublemaking that would alarm any passerby should they simply be spotted together without adult supervision. It also just happened that most of the ladies who took duties in the packhouse kitchen were mums of troublemaking pups themselves, and diligently took it upon themselves to police their Young Alpha's mischief on behalf of the pack. It took a whole pack to raise a puppy after all.

"We aren't alone." Ben answered truthfully, but no one believed him because shepherds who cried "Wolf!" often suffered such ironies.

The ladies tittered outside.

"Should I mindlink Beta Lucas?" One of them worried.

"Let's ask Mama Rosa first." The other one suggested, "Just to make sure the food order came from directly from Beta Lucas?"

Inside the office, Harv and Ki exchanged glances. I think they were quickly losing confidence in Ben and Fluffy's ability to keep these ladies out. I noticed how they looked reluctantly at Dad's large desk. Wolfgang seemed to have caught on, he looked about the room for a hiding place. There was no curtain on Dad's window in this timeline so he signaled me to follow him to stand against the wall. We were right next to Ben now, but positioned against the wall where the door would cover us should Ben be forced to open the door fully.

"We're just waiting for our dads." Fluffy answered the ladies with all the innocence he could muster, he was still valiantly holding his ground, "They will be here soon."

"Yeah, anytime now." Ben added under his breath, but sarcastically because he didn't believe it either.

"Why would the two of you need dinner for six?" The first woman raised what was in her mind, the most obvious suspicion.

"There are four of us." Fluffy reminded everyone, "You forget, our Dads are coming up in a while."

The women weren't buying it. It didn't even answer why we needed six dinners, "Just give us a moment to confirm this with Beta Lucas."

"Why won't you boys open the door?" One of the women asked now, "What are you hiding in there?"

"You can't come in!" Ben said. Ben and Fluffy were physically holding the door down now.

"You boys are definitely up to no good!" The woman concluded.

"No we're not." Ben said.

"Open the door right now!" The woman demanded, as if speaking to her own sons.

Why wasn't Beta Lucas answering his mindlinks yet? Gah!

One of the younger women decided to coaxed Fluffy and Ben while the others discussed what to do, "At least let us set down the trays, they're really heavy."

"Please let me help you carry it then." Fluffy offered with his most beautiful smile.

"Don't let him charm you, dear." Her older friend warned her, "This one is full of tricks."

To Fluffy and Ben, she said firmly, "We had orders to serve dinner to the Alpha's office. Now, I don't know what you two rascals are up to, but don't get in the way of our work."

And I thought I had it tough in my Original Timeline! Fluffy was only a few months shy of stepping up officially into the Alpha Office and they were still talking to him like he was a pup!

"But pretty ladies, we have classified information on Dad's desk now." Fluffy tried to reason with the women, "If we let you see them, we'd have to kill you."

Yeah, because the single word "Objective" was so very, very, classified.

The pretty ladies weren't stupid, "Then why don't you two boys be good and put those papers away so we can come in and serve dinner?"

Because these two boys were obviously up to no good. I think all the ladies outside had concluded this by now.

"Mama Rosa is here." The ladies whispered to each other in relief. Their champion had arrived. I could hear Mama Rosa's footsteps - she called out as she approached, "Little Kai, Benny… you two better not be getting into trouble."

Oh boy. Wave the surrender flag guys. You aren't going to win this one.