BECAUSE NOTHING HAPPENED

23 FEBRUARY, TUESDAY, BEFORE MIDNIGHT

I hadn't realized how late it was till I returned to my room. The moon was already high in the sky. I stepped out onto the rooftop patio, still the in tight white Lorent dress I had worn earlier today to visit Bell.

That suddenly felt like a long time ago. I replayed the events of today in my head. It was like one thing after another. Bell lost his arm, Bell regrew an arm, Ki was whipped half to death, Ben threw a tantrum and destroyed the Lorents' main receiving hall and central stairway, we all came home with Delta Oran as "hostage" (poor guy), and then found out Savy had ran away with River to the Warlock forest. Dad and Beta Lucas left to find her. The human Wilheim too. And then my wolves didn't revolt, and I didn't have to help undress Bell, and now I didn't really feel like sleeping.

Leaning over the ledge to look out into the forest - somewhere out there, Savy and River were... I hoped they were sitting tight and waiting for Dad to come get them and not running for their lives or anything terribly dangerous like that.

I hoped Dad would find them soon. I imagined waking up in the morning and finding everyone back where they usually were - including Ki. That would make me very happy.

It was at this moment that I realized I wasn't happy. I wanted Dad and Beta Lucas and Savy to come home. I wanted the warlock issue to be resolved so that Alpha Gunter and his snow wolves could go back to the Blue Packlands where they belonged.

I think it's snowing again because of them. Where there were enough snow wolves, snow magic happened. Even though the snow only fell prettily in our land right now, I was tired of it. When was spring coming?

I wanted Bell to wake up and be okay. I wanted his arm to work again so he could catch me when I jumped at him. I wanted to be able to feel like he was strong and invincible again. What if his arm never got better?

I worried my lip. Would I really be able to protect everyone on my own? Well, it's true that was my original plan, but somewhere along the way, I got used to Bell or my Betas stepping in and taking care of it. I got spoilt. No, I let them spoil me too much.

Now that Dad was away and Bell was down... I felt all alone in this Alpha thing - which again, was how things were supposed to be, or at least eventually it should end up like that, right? I was the alpha. I would protect everyone.

If only I knew exactly how!

I sighed, it had started to snow again. So cold. I turned back to my room and ran a hot bath.

I can't be the alpha. Nobody took me seriously here. Was that why Dad left Night Forest? Did everyone there treat him like a cute and funny puppy?

I always thought it was a matter of shifting. Like I thought the moment I shifted, I'd have this incredible and powerful wolf (because I was the alpha), and everyone would respect me (because I was the alpha) and I would become the alpha (because that's what I was), and everyone would live happily ever after.

As usual, I totally didn't think it through.

So I shifted and I really got lucky and my wolf was incredible and powerful and everything I wanted to be and more. But it turned out that respect wasn't an automated response. Becoming the alpha took time and despite winning over the allegiance of the Underground, I had to win over each and every wolf who ran with me to be acknowledged as their alpha. Maybe I had still to cross the ceremony milestones. I remembered Henry's Inauguration and how his pack's bond to him strengthened and lit up just at that moment. I guess it would happen again at the investiture before Henry becomes a full alpha.

Bell would be a full Lorent Alpha next month. Would the Lorent wolves give their allegiance to him? What if he never regained the use of his arm? Would the Lorents accept a three legged alpha wolf?

How can I help him? Like if I were a hero of a Lycan ledgend I'd be able to think of a really smart plan to outwit the enemy and make everyone marvel at my genius and my Luna would be all like, "You saved me!"

And I would be like, "You're my Luna. How can I let anyone bully you?"

And then my Luna would be all shy and say, "Thank you."

Yeah. Except my Luna was Bell, so that would be out of character.

Plus most of the time, the hero of Lycan ledgends were men. So it wouldn't be weird for them to say macho and cliche lines like, "Don't cry, you're safe now."

I don't think Bell was capable of tears tbh.

Okay, there were some really strong supporting female roles too. They were usually really strong (in heart) and very smart. Sometimes, they were the ones who came up with the strategy for the hero to save everyone.

I wasn't really smart like that.

I was more of the kick butt fun loving kind of girl. Was there ever a story about that? I couldn't recall.

Good girls were like Cinderella and Snow White.

But no matter what, their prince charming always showed up and made everything okay. I wished my Prince Charming would show up and make everything okay too.

The bath water got cold pretty quickly - oh, or did the time pass just like that? I should get dressed and go to bed.

Once outside, I realized my clothes were not set out for me. Neither was my uniform ready for the next day. Omo. Life without Ki was going to be a pain in the neck.

But I was really sleepy. Boo wanted to sleep. Correction, Boo wanted to dream travel.

But Dad said no dream traveling!

{Dad's not here.}

I guess if Ben could go out to town with ex-fightdogs for drinks on a school night before his exam, (circle all the wrongs here), I could go dream traveling for a few hours.

I climbed into bed. I wonder where Boo was rushing to?

{Mate!} ~❤️

Eh? Where? But I fell asleep.

I opened my eyes the next moment - I swear it was like a blink of an eye, and I was no longer in my own bed. It was cold, but a different kind of cold from being out on my roof top patio. This cold was like the cold of a deep, deep hole, and although I was on a thin pad of a mattress, the cold seeped through from the metal bedframes, and the scratchy blanket did nothing in terms of heat retention.

I was in Bell's bunker at the Underground. It was dark and cold. I got up - luckily I had put on the set of training gear I picked out earlier. All I needed were sock and shoes - in fact, here's an idea, maybe next time, I'll wear my socks and shoes to bed too!

Maybe Bell wearing his full suit to bed wasn't a bad idea afterall. But for the places I had been traveling to, a warm winter jacket and snow boots might be my new PJs.

The first thing I did was raid Bell's narrow cupboard for the black duffel bag with my name on its tag. As I expected, it was properly restocked and I found a pair of hiking boots and even a waterproof snow jacket.

I even found jeans - which I pulled over my yoga pants. Wearing yoga pants out in the icy wind was like not wearing pants at all.

By the time I got suitably dressed, Stephan's presence appeared just behind Bell's door. He didn't knock though. I opened the door to find him standing next to the door in guard position, just waiting.

"Good evening Alpha." Stephan bowed politely the moment I stepped out.

The first thing I noticed was that I was suddenly the alpha again. The second thing I noticed was that Stephan wasn't in uniform tonight. He was dressed fully in black, from the leather jacket to black jeans and boots. He would have looked retro cool, long pony tail and all, except his steely baring didn't match the look.

"Hello, Stephan!" I gave him a wide smile, "How have you been?"

Stephan's expression didn't change, but he nodded another bow, "I've been well, thank you for asking, alpha."

Wow. So proper. And stoic. Like one of Grandpa Alpha's very old warriors.

"They sure don't make warriors like they used to." Grandpa Alpha had informed me, one of those hot summer days when we would visit (and he was still alive.)

His old friend had come to visit. This old friend was a warrior who had fought many battles alongside Grandpa Alpha.

I don't remember his name. I think I called him Grandpa Warrior. He liked to ride a motorbike and leather jacket too.

Grandpa Warrior didn't smile at me like most adults wolves would. He didn't do any of the small talk that adults around me usually did. He didn't comment on my pretty polka dotted summer dress that Mum forced me to wear.

He just grunted and patted my head, and then he proceeded to ignore me for the rest of the duration of his visit.

Grandpa Alpha and Grandpa Warrior drank a little. Grandpa Alpha did most of the talking and laughing. After that, Grandpa Warrior bowed his goodbyes and left.

Grandpa Warrior was a normad. He liked to ride wherever the wind took him. But he always came back.

"My old friend visits me every month." Grandpa Alpha told me, "His loyalty is like a mountain. Never wavering, never changing, never waning."

"His face is also like a mountain." I told Grandpa Alpha. This made Grandpa Alpha laugh and laugh, "The best warriors are those who stand like a mountain - because the enemies cannot push them back."

I looked at Stephan up and down. Good mountain. And then I patted him on the shoulder, "Report."

Stephan's report started off similar to whatever I've read in my tablet recently, and then it ended with a repeated apology for the Special Team, "I haven't disciplined them well."

Actually, I think Stephan had disciplined them plenty. Hahaha. (Not that they didn't deserve it.)

"Don't worry about it, Stephan." I told him, "This kind of wolves just need a different approach. I'll have them running like pack wolves in no time."

Mostly my betas and other wolves would be teaching them to run, but haha. Immersive rehabilitation That's what I was going to call this... once I made sure it worked.

Stephan nodded, without a hint of doubt, "Thank you, Alpha."

It's a breath of fresh air, being unquestioned like this.

After that he reported on Bell returning to the Underground without an arm. They would be leaving for battle in a moment.

Wait a moment, "What did you say? Without an arm?"

Now Stephan took pause, "Apologies, Alpha. I had assumed you knew of his condition."

I did! But, I mean, didn't they grow it back? So Bell was missing a limb in his wolf form and when he dream travelled?

"Urm... Yeah, I forgot." I said lamely.

If Stephan didn't believe me, his stoney expression didn't show it. The Captain of the underground merely nodded and continued reporting, "Your Luna and the men are gettin ready in the hanger even as we speak. By sunrise, we would be reclaiming the land Cloud Forest lost when it was weak."

Eh? Say what?

Yup, you heard right, the Underground was going on a revenge spree to all the three neighboring packs which had encroached their territories when Cloud Forest was down and out.

By the time we got to the hanger, the men were ready to go.

{Mate!} ~❤️

I rushed forward and grabbed him in a hug the moment I saw him.

He was really missing an arm. His right jacket sleeve was empty. I unzipped his jacket to look for his arm... Like maybe it was in his sling like in real life, but nope. Nothing.

"Wow, it's really gone." I squeezed the sleeve jacket like it was a magic trick and I was just making sure there was nothing up his sleeves. (Get it? Hahaha... Oh man, I really shouldn't be making jokes about this.)

I looked up and search mate's face for any clue to how he was feeling, but he was wearing that mask again - as in a literal mask - the death god mask and not the arrogant punk expression he usually wore although, I wouldn't know. Maybe he was wearing that under his mask.

I had to say, a death god without scent and a missing arm was quite a terrible sight.

"You know what would complete the look?" I asked.

Without waiting for Bell's reply I helped him pin his sleeve into the back of his pants so that his armlessness was even more pronounced under the death god cape.

"Now you're ready for Halloween." I grinned.