A CHANGE OF HEART

"Good. It's obvious you have won their trust." Dad slapped Bell on his shoulder, " Well done, Son."

Bell smirked, "It wasn't hard. Your warriors are simple and straightforward."

And Dad nodded. He didn't even try to defend the intellect of our men, "Protect them, Son, and they will protect you and Sam with their lives."

Yes. Because they were simple and straightforward.

Excuse me for feeling offended on our warriors' behalf, but these guys were LOYAL AND BRAVE! These guys will never back down from a fight. They'd run straight in even if they know they'll never come back out. If they called you brother, they won't ever turn their back on you.

And yes, these might sound like traits of a fool to you, but these wolves, they run like arrows, straight and true.

Even if you think their beer is garbage, know that their hearts were gold.

But of course I didn't say any of this to Bell. Mostly because Dad was making it very hard for me to talk to Bell - or get anywhere near Bell for that matter. I had never ever imagined that one day, I would have to fight my Dad for my mate's attention.

Oh well. Bell was smirking again (he was really in a good mood today), and Dad and his betas were laughing. It was a beautiful spring day.

So whatever. If Mum could laugh off the chocolate fudge on her skirt (which did look a lot like poop), I could laugh off a few arrogant insults.

And to be honest, I was feeling rather relieved that my wolves liked Bell - even if I couldn't understand the chemistry. As far as I could tell, Bell would play up his arrogant lorent prince that the Morning Light wolves HATED and the warriors would laugh like he was the apple of their eyes. Was this the Luna's "charm"? Did they find my luna's arrogance kind of cute too? Did they think Bell was only playing? Was Bell only playing?

My heart felt hopeful… perhaps Bell was really getting along with our warriors, training with them, drinking with them, joking with them - that would mean he was really one of us now. I felt really proud of my luna.

{Mine.} Boo agreed.

Yes. He was one of us now. This was going to be OUR pack.

The realization made my heart feel suddenly full.

{Mine.} Boo agreed.

And as long as Bell was with me, I genuinely felt everything was going to be okay.

Let me clarify, this was just a FEELING. There was not logical explanation for how an arrogant lorent prince, or a death god, or even a Tyger king would make anything better for our pack.

But every now and then, in between showing off, exacting vengeance, and plotting world dominance, he would be just Bell too - you know, the one who needed Ki to help find a towel, the one who cursed like a lycan poetry recital...

Okay, I realize those were not traditionally praiseworthy traits, but under the different masks Bell wore, there was a wolf who would sit at the piano and play beautifully. He was a very angry and proud wolf, yes, but he was also a gentle, diligent, and capable wolf too.

I mean, maybe he had fooled the rest of the world into believing that he was some kind of highly privileged wild young alpha with everything handed to him on a silver platter, but he wasn't fooling me for a minute.

Things like music, healing, fencing, tactical planning… these abilities were not something obtained without long hours of study and practice. Good looks and potential and expensive teachers would only get you so far.

The more I thought about it, the more I felt that there was nothing simple or straightforward about Bell at all.

The walkabout around the Night Leaf families was more freestyle. Unlike Beta Gerald, Beta Lucas would never plan the itinerary down to the details.

Beta Lucas' plan would have one point, "Walkabout" and that was it.

So when it got to Night Leaf, it was rather random, and we simply stopped at any mat that had wolves who waved to us and invited us to stop.

But we were also on home ground so Mum knew everyone's name, and remembered how many pups there should've been on the mat. She left cookies even for the pups out adventuring with friends on their own Meet and Eat.

Eventually, everyone ended up congregating together around us anyway. Night Leaf Wolves were not shy of walking into their neighbor's picnics (or houses either.)

This form of extreme hospitality wasn't practiced at the Alpha House though. Not if your pack wolves wouldn't even step on your lawn out of respect, but Savy and I had often popped into the Beta house to look for Lizzy and Ben when we were pups and I knew Darlyn often stayed over at Delilah's because they used to live nearby. But the Yarrow's had since moved, so I'm not sure if they still did that.

My friends weren't around though. The mats around here were all family mats with the likes of Dave, our star doorman, and his family. They were mostly parents whose pups were in elementary school.

The men talked to Dad and Beta Lucas about how their work was going and gave feedback on the new gym at the Packhouse and the changes to their patrol routes and stuff.

The women talked about children, school, and those with newly teenaged daughters shook their heads about how those girls were too curious about our new wolves. Even right now, the girls were hanging around the stage and buffet, hoping to check out the young males on the other side.

One mum shook her head, "She hasn't even had her first shift. She's too young to be thinking about boys."

"She's already a teenager." Another mum coaxed, "Remember when we were that age."

"I didn't swoon over young warriors at 13!" The first mum argued primly.

"Our young warriors didn't look like that." The second mum laughed.

The women all looked over my shoulder to where Wolfgang and Barry were posing - I mean guarding, and laughed behind their hands.

Naturally, Wolfgang and Barry pretended not to have heard, but the older men didn't have the same tack.

"Hey, hey." One of the men called over to his mate, "Eyes on me. And only on me,"

The adults laughed like it was so funny.

Now the men decided to bring up their complaints to their Alpha about their mate's waywardness.

"If I took a second look at another female, I would have my eyes gouged out for ogling, but if my mate stared at one of those b*****s, she was only appreciating nature." One of the warriors complained to more laughter. His mate hit his shoulder playfully, "I'm just admiring the view."

"See." Dave felt he had to point out, "We're perverts, but they're nature lovers."

The ladies laughed and tittered.

"Especially you, Charming Beta." Dave adopted my Special Team's nickname for Ki to address him, "With all due respect, you've got to turn down the charm a notch."

"Just a notch?" Ki wasn't offended at all.

Everyone laughed again.

Someone suggested locking Ki up in the Alpha House and not allowing him out - especially on the school runs.

"The other evening I came home to my mate beaming. And her first words were, 'I talked to Beta Ki at school today!'" One of the warriors grumbled.

"What?" Dave pretended to take offense on his friend's behalf, "No, welcome home honey?"

"It's not like that!" His mate flushed red and protested, "Beta Ki shared with me his secret on getting the perfect sear - so I finally made your steak right!"

The secret was in leaving the steak to sit on the pan untouched for at least four minutes. This would form a seared layer to hold in the juices.

Everyone laughed again. If Ki had felt at any point of time that his job or life was in danger, he hid it well behind his smiling mask.

"These new wolves are too good looking." The warriors shook their head.

Talking about the new wolves, the ex-fightdogs were particularly worrying for these parents. Weren't those wolves scary and violent? What did Luna (my mum) think?

The lighthearted mood suddenly shifted. Everyone looked to Mum. It was no secret, the Alpha and Luna had two "lovely" teenage daughters themselves. How did they feel about sharing a roof with the Special Team? EVERYONE knew about the infamous Special Team by now. A warrior team of delta ranked wolves comprising of some of the most dangerous and powerful ex-fightdogs from the Underground.

I think our wolves were forgetting that my mate was an ex-fightdog too - just less obviously so because his tattoos were usually covered in fancy Lorent garb.

Even Ki. Did the ladies know that their charming beta was the top ex-Fightdog of his time?

But Mum was very understanding and reassuring at the same time. She introduced the violet-eyed Barry who happened to be just behind me because he was on guard duty. (Sorry, Barry.)

"Recently, I've had the pleasure to get to know some of these wolves better." Mum said by way of introduction, "And I was amazed by their stories and talent. These boys have overcome so much."

Oh, so mum was going to advocate for the ex-fightdogs! Go Mum!

Barry was a good example to use too. I was very sure that he was the most sensible and normal of all my Special Team wolves.

Ki provided some introduction. This was Delta Barry from the infamous Special Team. He specialized in power strikes and long ranged weapons like lances.

"Oh, you're THE lancer!" One of the warriors realized, "You're younger than I expected."

Apparently, Barry's powerful lance strike had become a legend among our warriors.

During the war, they had seen a tall warrior baring a lance in action - one strike and a mountain would split!

They were exaggerating, of course.

But it happened at two of the warriors talking with us had personally seen Barry in action with their own eyes! So naturally, we had to hear the story.

"Like there I was, me and Pete, and at least 20 wolves..." The warrior recounted.

"At least 2 dozen wolves..." Pete corrected.

"Yes, like nearly 30 wolves against us two wolves." The warrior continued, "We mindlinked for backup."

"I was sure we were goners." Pete added.

"Definitely goners." The first warrior agreed, "At the point, I was remembering my pups still on lockdown in school. I knew I couldn't let these rogues get to them."

"We were like the last line of warrior defense before it was down to the teachers and student defense line." Pete added.

"Yes... For my pups... I have daughters... I couldn't let the rogues get to them." The first warrior explained.

"It was like, this is it." Pete said, "If we're going down, we'll just have to take as many of them with us as possible - just to give the school a fighting chance."

"Yeah. A fighting chance. To protect our pups." The first warrior nodded.

There was a pregnant pause as the warrior took a steadying breath. We all took a breath with him. To protect our pups. Yeah. We could all understand the gravity of the situation.

"And then this masked blue demon showed up with a lance!" The warrior gestured to Barry.

"Next thing I know, all the rogues were down!" Pete said swiping his hand across.

"One swing." The warrior boasted, swiping his hand in the same motion as Pete.

Barry shook his head, "One swing would be impossible. You guys helped take them down too."

"We just got the ones who were running away." Pete shook his head and released a long sigh, "I think… If you hadn't come… I think… Bob would've made it, but I was already injured by then. You saved my life but I never even got to thank you, Delta. I literally owe you one."

"Just Barry is okay..." Barry looked really embarrassed, "We were comrades at war. You don't owe me anything."

"Oh my goddess." Pete's mate (the one who made the perfect steak now) touched her heart, "You never told me you could have died."

"Ah... That's because I knew you would worry." Pete said, "I'm fine. See. Good as new!"

"Delta was incredible!" The first warrior, Bob remembered, "Like something from a Lycan legend!"

"Its my bloodline ability. It gives me a special edge over mobs." Barry confessed modestly, "But just against weak mobs, on a one on one, I'm really just a normal warrior."

I don't think any normal warrior would consider an armed squad of rogues a "weak mob".

"No, no Barry, you're being too modest." Pete argued, "Would a normal warrior be delta at your age?"

"This guy cleaned out 50 wolves in five minutes!" Bob boasted.

Mum decided to tell everyone that Barry was also a rising star at the Packhouse kitchen.

This came as a shocking revelation to both the warriors and their mates.

"My dad..." Barry managed to explain, "My dad used to own a family restaurant, so I've learned to cook since I was a pup."

He was tall and handsome, a delta wolf with a powerful warrior bloodline and a modest nature. Plus he could cook too.

"Don't mind me asking, how old are you, Delta?" One mother asked.

"I turn 22 this year." Barry answered.

"Ah, it's too bad our daughter is only 13." One of the mums bemoaned, and everyone laughed.

"You're thinking too far ahead." Another mother chided.

"If he should marry anyone's daughters, it should be mine, since he saved my life!" Pete declared.

Now that was a sudden change of heart.