THE WHEELS ON THE BUS GO ROUND AND ROUND

By the time the meeting with Grand Elder Horio was concluded, the rest of the pack had settled back completely into the comfortable normalcy of a regular Sunday.

Dad had more work to do (as usual) so Beta Lucas and him would hole themselves up in the Alpha's office for a few hours. Beta Gerald would be driving Grand Elder Horio around to show him the Future Moon Bell Pack. Grand Elder Horio had never traveled by pick up truck before, so it was quite a grand adventure to "experience local transportation".

Mum, Savy, Sabre, and I found ourselves with Mrs Beta and Lizzy, Laura, and some of the pack ladies on the Packhouse porch. We had a few warriors with us, and of course, my Afternoon Entourage to help us load up the large thermal bags of food and boxes of donated clothes and books and things.

"It's Spring time, the pups might need lighter clothes for the new school term." Mum explained.

We were going by bus because there was a special event today. After lunch, there would be an excursion to Princess Town to tour the new development and play by the lake where Henry Park will be situated. They've already built some very basic park facilities since Henry's donation had already been received, but due to various other construction considerations, the park and its gardens and landscapes would be planted in phases.

Anyway, right now, phase 1 was completed with running paths and grass with whatever original trees were growing in the background.

They also kept all the wild plum trees which were blossoming by the lake.

"I heard it's very picturesque." Mum sounded excited.

"It was a good thing Sam said to keep the lake and plum trees, huh?" Lizzy said.

Yup! I guess I did make the right call back there!

"Sam did?" Mum sounded surprised.

Yup! See how cool your daughter is?

"Wasn't it Sam?" Lizzy asked, "Ben said she sulked in Alpha Kingsley's office and made Harvey withdraw the approvals. Then Beta Gerald bullied the developers to redraft plans until they came up with something that didn't have to touch the lake and work around every single plum trees."

"Yeah." Ben smirked at the memory, "I had never seen so many grown men cry at a meeting."

Apparently, not touching the lake was already a hard thing. They needed procedures and inspections included to prevent dumping of construction waste or contamination into the lake.

While the lake was like a sore spot in the center of all the construction plans, the trees were like a hundred painstaking needles. It wasn't just the tree above the ground. They had to set building foundations and run pipes and cables without hurting the underground roots. Especially since Beta Gerald and the elder wolves in my Dad's inner circle were convinced (by me?) that there was a possibility that those roots could be holding on to the last strands of magic veins in our Packlands.

"Oh, Sam." Mum seemed to be putting the pieces together.

"It wasn't me." I told her just in case she was about to piece everything as my fault.

"Wild red plum trees only grows along magic veins. Conversely, without them, the magic veins would eventually dissipate." Sir Wolfgang informed us, "And now with the plum wine recipes from His Highness Prince Haku..."

"Wait, stop." Ben raised his hand, "Sam, did you plan this?"

I grinned at Ben's incredulous expression, "No, I winged it."

I was just telling the truth, but Ben face palmed, "Whatever Sam."

"I don't understand," Wolfgang said, "Wild Red Plum Trees are rare even in the Colored Mountains. Why would Alpha Kingsley approve plans to cut them down in the first place?"

"We didn't know about that." I told him.

"Yeah, it's your fault for not coming here sooner to advise us." Ben scolded.

Wolfgang narrowed his eyes but said nothing. Wolfgang's lashes were long, and blond like his hair. Because its coloring was so light, I only noticed it in the sunlight now. Why had I never noticed this on Fluffy? In my memory, Fluffy's lashes were dark? Maybe? I was never good at these kind of details.

I think Wolfgang meant to answer Ben, but he accidentally noticed me staring. He coughed into his hand and decided to advert his gaze.

Which was immediately embarrassing because I was caught staring (again). I quickly tried to cover up, "Uh yuh."

Which was worse because I sounded like Jonah and also because I had no idea what I had just agreed to.

Luckily the warriors finished loading all the stuff and we were able to board the bus and go.

As we were boarding the bus, Ben and I headed to the back of the bus because I usually preferred to sit with the cool kids than the adults.

{Who are you sitting with, Sam?} Ben mindlinked.

Well, it looked like Lizzy and Savy were going to be bus partners. Mum had made Sabre sit with her up front. So obviously, wouldn't I sit with Ben?

{If you wanna sit with Hotstuff, I can arrange it...} Ben smirked.

I punched him. WTH. And then I shoved him into a seat and sat next to him.

Ben laughed aloud.

"What did you do, Ben?" Lizzy scolded. The two girls took the seats in front of us. Wolfgang sat with Ink behind us. Torque took the middle seat right at the back. He looked very cramped. Poor Torque. I don't think the bus was made for giants.

"I just asked if she wanted to sit..." Ben said.

I punched him again, "Shut up, Ben!"

He was seriously gonna get killed.

But now Lizzy and Savy were laughing too. Apparently, Lizzy enjoyed watching her twin brother get beaten up.

{Sam...} Mum sent me a warning.

{It wasn't me!} I shot back. And then I realized it was. Opps.

"I want to sit there!" Sabre pointed to where we were.

Opps again.

{Shhh...no laughing.} Savy instructed the rest of us, {Look bored and use the mindlink.}

"We're just going to nap, Sabre." Lizzy lied on our behalf, "The back of the bus is for sleeping."

This was apparently a deterrent enough for Sabre who changed her mind and decided she would prefer to sit with Mum and help eat the sweet that Laura "accidentally" find in her handbag.

The bus rumbled on, the sunlight was warm, my wolf was tired, I had a long morning and a lot happened... Naturally, I fell asleep.

I woke up on Ben's shoulder, "Sam. Sam, we're here."

"Is she awake yet?" Lizzy had turned around to ask her brother.

I blinked at the window, the bus was still moving, "5 more minutes."

Savy offered me a tissue from the seat in front of me, "Wipe your drool Sam."

I wiped it with the back of my hand. Oh, hahaha, I was seriously drooling. I took the tissue.

"What's so funny?" Ben grumbled.

"I was drooling over you." I told him.

"You and all the other rabid girls in our school." Lizzy quipped, "But haha, you're doing it literally."

Ben checked his jacket, but my drool hadn't touch him, just dribbled from the side of my mouth. Omo. Thank goddess its only Ben. It would have been mortifying if it were… I don't know, pretty much any other male in the world I guess.

Since his jacket was clean, Ben offered me the wet wipe he took out because that was his order of priorities - his jacket, and then my face.

I took it only because I needed it.

The bus pulled to a stop. NOW we were here. We followed the ladies and Sabre off the bus. The warriors got to unloading the bus. It's so nice to have warriors. Usually, we had to do the unloading ourselves.

Wait, why did we have warriors accompanying us? The war was over, so the danger of rogue attacks were an all time low. Could it be that we had too many warriors sitting around with nothing to do now?

"Luna!" The Matron waved gaily to us, and came out to the bus to meet us, "Welcome, welcome! The ladies and I have all been looking forward to lunch outside. The weather is so lovely! Oh, all your daughters came with you today! Even the Alpha Princess!"

Why did I come again?