THAT'S THAT

Mate! Mate! Mate! ~ ❤

Because he was here! Fuming his black plume of curses, which was not to say he was pleased in the slightest, but Boo read it like a peacock in full plumage ~ ❤

Bell's expression was completely matching with his fumes, he glared at me as Ben and I burst out and stumbled to a halt in Dad's office. There were big heavy plastic boxes scattered every which way, and Ben and I had to really step quickly so as not to trip over any of them while coming in.

"What's all this?" Beta Lucas looked from one fallen box to the other.

But who cared about boxes when there was…

"Bell!" I beamed at the sight of all his gorgeousness and pounced him - just the way I used to in our Original Timeline. To tell the truth, I forgot things were a little different here.

My pounce caught Bell off guard, so he caught me purely my reflex, "The hell?"

Hahaha. {So fun!}

He smelled so good too.

"What are you doing here?" I asked happily as I breathed in his scent. I was just too happy to see his handsome face. And here I was thinking I'd have to wait till morning! Lucky!

Bell made a face like he ate something bad and put me down.

Oh wait. I took a step back the moment my feet were back on the ground, this one was MY Bell right? We had been traveling up and down so much, I just needed to double check.

"Mine, right?" I pointed to Bell and turned to Ben for confirmation.

Ben shrugged with a smirk, "Whatever you say, Sam."

"Hoo boy, it's good you two came back…" Beta Lucas said. He tried to stepped over one of the plastic boxes, "What's all this?"

Ben had pushed our bubble of boxes hard ahead of us just before we jumped through the last gate after it. True to Alpha Red's word, the bubble had popped out of existence the moment it left the Time Gate, causing the plastic boxes the be strewn across the office floor on impact.

"Are these hard disks?" Beta Lucas frowned at one of the boxes. He picked it up and gave it a good shake, "I hope its not broken?"

"It would be if you keep that up." Ben growled at his dad.

Beta Lucas just had to tell us out the boxes exploded into the office. From their POV, we had left for not more than a few minutes when Bell's portal poured open into Dad's office, heralding a very irate Tyger.

It couldn't be helped. Fluffy kindly explained while beaming, "Since you are soul mates, it's only natural for his wolf to panic every time you blink out of existence, even if it's just a short few minutes through a Time Gate."

"But Mum never notices when Dad leaves?" I argued. Neither does Mrs Willow…

"I did NOT panic." Bell argued.

"So its not because you are soul mates?" Fluffy asked innocently, "How strange? I wonder what kind of bond it is then?"

Bell glared at Fluffy and then he turned to me so that I would be absolutely clear about it, "Nothing has changed between us. Don't overthink it."

Hoohoohoo, but I knew my mate too well by now to not understand him, "I won't"

"Life bond." Fluffy beamed.

"What?" I asked.

"I'm just making a wild guess." Fluffy said with all the glee of a puppy who knew the answer, "His healer wolf had inserted a life bond to you. Whenever you step through the Time Gate, his life force seeps out of him until you return."

{Just like in our previous lives.} Fluffy added.

Except in this timeline, Bell had broken up with me. Why would he link his life to mine?

"You're wrong." Bell smirked, "My powers are enough to hold fast my life line."

"Oh, that's wonderful news!" Fluffy clapped, "I'm glad you're not dying with every trip we make."

Bell's fumes raised in a threatening way, but this just seemed to pleased Fluffy more.

"Even if he is able to hold on." Wolfgang was thoughtful, "Wasn't it described as like holding on to your breath underwater?"

And then he seemed to realize that this wasn't an academic discussion, "And isn't it forbidden to link life lines?"

I think there was some discussion about that in our Original Timeline too.

Bell shrugged and made his arrogant face, "It's none of my business."

Because this Tyger King had somehow concluded that he was above the laws, the wisdom of ancients, and also common sense. I fear powerful wolves were all somewhat like that.

Meanwhile, my good beta and charming beta had gotten to work stacking the boxes. I was very impressed because they had noticed the numbered labels and proceeded to stack the boxes in order of their number completely by their own initiative.

"What's all this then?" Beta Lucas asked. He was helping too, but his idea of helping was to pick up and random box and put it on the nearest stack. Harvey or Ki would discretely move the box to its correct position.

Bell turned to the boxes as if deciding if its contents would be worth his time.

"They're from the future." I told him, "You told me a story, but left me at a cliffhanger, so I got the book sent over so I can see what happens."

"What are you talking about, Princess?" Bell grumbled, "Why do I always feel like I can't understand you?"

Because I suck at explaining things. Had he not notice? I'm sure the rest of the world had.

I sighed, "I mean, the future you met me and told me a story from a book in the future."

I felt quite sure it was mostly fictional. At best it was very loosely based on Dan Lion's life. In fact, Bell probably made most of it up. I narrowed my eyes at him, "Next time, when you tell me a story, make sure you tell it to the happily after at the end!"

Bell smirked, "As always a crybaby."

"Don't call me that!" I protested, "You can't call me that if you've never seen me cry!"

Bell crossed his arms, "I can because I've never seen you grow up either."

"Well, that's because you've never seen the future!" I argued - which I realized in hindsight was a stupid argument. Of course Bell had never seen the future! It's not like time travelling cats was a normal thing in any world.

Except mine.

"All this for a book." Ben grumbled, because he was Ben. He put his hand on Box#1, "So what do you want us to do with all this?"

I only needed one book…

Dad frowned his thinking frown, and when he finally spoke, all of us stopped to pay attention.

"It's late. Your mum says it's past your bedtime Sam." Dad informed EVERYONE. Well, it explained why he was so quiet earlier. He was probably on the mindlink with Mum.

"Let's stop here for the night." Dad decided.

Harvey raised his hand, "May we move the boxes up to the FAO?"

Dad nodded, "Yes. Good idea. We'll continue tomorrow."

Harvey raised his hand again and bowed apologetically, "We have an early appointment with Alpha James at the Lorent Office tomorrow."

"Oh yes!" I remembered my betas and advisors were in trouble, and also I had to deal with Stephan's curse, "I need Bell for something too."

"Me, princess?" Bell demurred.

I nodded, "Yes. I need you. It's important."

Bell's fumes flickered, and then he shrugged, "I will drop by in the morning to meet you and your betas at my leisure."

"Okay, cool." I agreed.

My betas and advisors were much more properly grateful. They bowed and answered in unison in a way that only our Original Timeline had taught them, "Thank you, Alpha James."

Bell smirked. For some reason, he seemed very pleased, "Then I will take my leave."

On cue, a black portal materialized behind Bell.

"Thank you for your guidance, Alpha James." My betas and advisors promptly bowed my soul mate out.

"Well, that's that." Dad said.

"Yah man." Beta Lucas nodded.

And since Dad said so, that was that.