NEW PLANS FOR LULLABY ROUTE

14 FEBRUARY, SUNDAY, CONTINUED

I was quiet the rest of the way back, my heart suddenly heavy at the thought of lost fathers. But behind me, it was business as usual, and the deltas began their own discussion.

"We should have a cover on the box." Gamma Harry said, "Or else when the spring rains come, the donations will get wet! We can't give wet clothes! That's terrible!"

"We can use a large bin with a lid, like the recycling boxes in Gate City." Flynn suggested.

"It shouldn't look like a garbage bin either." Delta Felicity said, "Harry, you absolutely can't use one of those black or green garbage bins! Maybe a yellow one."

Where did that come from? Why yellow? When I was younger, I've thought the reason why I couldn't follow their adult discussions was that I was too young to understand. Now I was beginning to suspect that their conversations were just not meant to be followed logically.

"What about blue?" Gamma Harry asked.

"I don't think so. That'll be the same as the recycling bins." Delta Felicity said.

"But it is recycling..." Gamma Harry argued.

"It's passing on pre-loved items!" Delta Felicity corrected.

"They don't make those bins in yellow." Gamma Harry said, "Only black, green, or blue."

"There are yellow bins similar to that at the hospital." Delta Simon said, "We use them for biohazards."

"Good. Then we'd get a yellow bin." Gamma Harry decided.

"If we make it too obvious, wouldn't the rogues get to the stuff first?" Flynn asked.

"Maybe you can open the clinic over there, Simon." Delta Charlie pointed out an open clearing.

"I was thinking of the other spot." Delta Simon said, "This might be too far from their territory for them to feel safe to come to."

"Oh, you mean the spot where the rogue trap was?" Gamma Harry asked.

"What rogue trap?" Delta Charlie couldn't remember.

"The one in the clearing of maple trees. There are so many different maple trees here. The colors must be beautiful in Autumn." Delta Felicity decided.

"We should ask the warriors to collect maple syrup while they patrol." Gamma Harry said, "That's killing two birds with one stone."

Good luck getting Morning Light warriors to tap maple trees for you, Gamma!

"What about the donation box?" Flynn wanted to know.

"Yes, yes. We can donate some of the maple syrup after we cook and bottle it." Gamma Harry offered generously.

"I think Flynn means the bin color." Delta Charlie said.

"I actually meant it's location, somewhere safe that the rogues can't temper with. They might hurt the children or hold them ransom if they knew we cared for them." Flynn said, "We have to keep our interactions with the Free Wolves discrete."

"I think we should build a Maple Syrup farm here!" Gamma Harry said, "Why didn't Endo think of this sooner?"

Urm... Because this is the frontline where the rogues liked to shoot us from? This was Green Packland's most active war zone. Who in the right mind would set up a Maple Syrup Farm on the battlefront with the rogues?

"That's a good idea, Harry." Delta Felicity said, "The Maple Syrup Farm could be a good set up for the outreach."

"Perhaps temporary jobs... If the Free Wolves need money ... And schooling opportunities for their pups..." Delta Charlie suggested.

"But discreetly." Flynn added, poor Flynn, none of the elder deltas were giving him much heed. I guess even though Flynn was an adult to me, in their eyes, Flynn was a pup still wet behind the ears.That's the drawback of working with people who watched you grow up.

"I need a space for the clinic." Delta Simon reminded them, "Just a small space the size of a truck."

"You can park it over the trap." Delta Felicity offered.

"Well, that would have to be moved." Flynn said, "Don't want to trap any of the freewolves."

"Or Simon can just park his mobile clinic over it." Delta Felicity insisted, "Problem solved."

"We need to discuss new security routes." Flynn said.

"Yes, and count the maple trees." Gamma Harry said, "Also test it, make sure they really have sap."

"I believe all maple trees have sap." Delta Charlie said.

"Oh, good. Very good." Gamma Harry said, "Then there would be no problem."

"Except for the security." Flynn reminded them.

"No problem." Gamma Harry felt confident, "The trees are strong and bullet proof."

"They're not serious, are they?" Nix asked.

"What do you mean, Nix?" I asked.

"Maple syrup can be used to bake chicken too." Gamma Harry said, "It's very delicious."

"Be careful of your sugar intake, Gamma. We aren't young anymore." Delta Simon advised.

"Yes, but I like sweet things. Like my Laura." Gamma Harry started chuckling at his own joke.

Nix suppressed a groan. I almost felt sorry for him, until he leaned over and whispered, "Night Leaf wolves are nutty, no offence, princess."

"No, we are mapley." I told him because he was just asking for it. He rewarded me with a look of mock horror, "Not you too, princess!"

Of course me too. I mean, it's only natural that the Alpha of mapley wolves would be the mapleyest of all. (Whatever that meant.)

We got back to the armory and put away our vests and unused guns. I guess it was a good thing we hadn't needed them. I know I should be thankful, but it wasn't very exciting. I still wanted to play.

I saw the next patrol go out. Their Morning Light jackets were now the same Navy Blue warrior jackets Night Leaf uses too. They signed out their ammo, pocketed some blue candy and left.

In comparison to our group, they looked like serious pack warriors. We looked like tourists. Especially with Delta Felicity taking a selfie with us in the background, "Wow, it's been a long time since I've stepped into an armory."

"Brings back old memories, doesn't it?" Delta Simon grinned.

"Not all good ones though." Delta Charlie shook his head.

"But stripping in the armory is always the best feeling!" Delta Felicity announced (she meant the protective gear, of course), "It means we survived."

I took a peek at Nix to see if his face would make another reaction, but he only looked solemn this time.

Ben and Jonah had been really quiet, walking behind the adults, right at the back of the group all this while.

"Thank you young heroes for protecting us today." Delta Felicity told them. Oh, so they were the rear guard for our expedition.

I suddenly realized I had no idea what Alpha Duty I had just taken part in.

"And thank you young Alpha, for leading our expedition." Delta Felicity continued.

I shook my head, "I wanted to see the place too."

The fact was that I was even more the tourist than they were. I was just tagging along. At least they were here on task, they each had a specific purpose to be here, a clear objective to fulfill.

"Very good. We know where to get fresh maple syrup now." Gamma Harry said, "Maybe there will be even enough to sell."

Well... Gamma Harry had always been the off-tangent one.

"I would like to ask, if I may, what are our alpha princess' intentions?" Delta Charlie asked.

Wait, what intentions? I'm sure the answer was not "I want to try the chicken with maple syrup." (So don't worry, I didn't say that out loud.) At any rate, I was very sure the entire Maple Syrup Farm idea wasn't part of anyone's task objective today.

"What do you mean, Delta Charlie?" I asked cautiously. This new trick I picked up from my betas was a life saver!

"Ah, I mean, this outreach to the free wolves. Don't get me wrong, I personally believe it's an excellent plan, but what do you plan to do after we win over the free wolves?" Delta Charlie asked.

Oh. I would answer except I still had no idea what he was asking.

"The FAO is changing our pack in exciting ways." Delta Felicity said.

"Yes... That's true." Delta Charlie agreed, "I've almost given up hope on a ceasefire along these borders. Not in my lifetime anyway."

"That's the power of youth for you, Charlie." Delta Simon agreed.

This I knew the answer to, "We can do what we do only because we are riding on the shoulders of giants."

"Oh!" Delta Felicity said, "I like that!"

Flynn patted my head and grinned, "Good answer."

I grinned, "Thanks for being our giants."

And then before anyone (particularly Delta Felicity) could get emotional, I decided to make my escape.

I looked at Ben for an excuse. He sighed, "You probably want to see the Youth Club here before we go."

I nodded. That's right! There was a Youth Club here too! "Let's do a mission together!"

My wolf could smell fun from miles away.

"Yeah, sure." Ben immediately stepped forward and led me out of the armory, "Are you coming Jonah?"

"Ah, maybe some other time. I need to help my dad with something first." Jonah said.

"Yes, good you didn't forget." Gamma Harry said, "It's getting late. We have to go."

"It's so nice to have a son to help you now, Harry." Delta Felicity observed, "You must be so proud."

"Yes." Gamma Harry said, "My son is a good boy."

"Let's go, Dad." Jonah said, clearly embarrassed, "Don't forget, I need to be home by 6."

"Yes. Yes. We will finish with lots of time for you to get ready for the school dance." Gamma Harry declared loudly.

"Let's end here then." Ben said finally.

"Thank you for your guidance, Alpha." Flynn announced. And to my complete shock, all the adults bowed at me.

Nix also took his bow, "If there's nothing else, I'll be taking my leave too, princess."

I nodded, "Good job today, Nix."

Nix took a deep breath, "Yeah? Really? Alright. Thanks." And then he bowed quickly, "Okay, bye."

"Yeah, bye." I said with a small wave.

Nix bowed again and then he left. I guess Nix had his awkward moments too. Maybe that was normal for everyone... except Ki and my mum. I don't think people of their ilk ever suffered awkward moments the way the rest of us mortals did.

Or I could adopt Ben's heck care attitude too.

"He's so happy after one compliment, he's almost skipping." Ben smirked at Nix's back. I don't think Ben was getting along with Nix.

But one Ben was enough c*** for the entire Green Packlands to take. They don't need me to add on to it. I liked Ben's c*** though. Was it weird that it made me feel safe?

Because Ben only flaunted his attitude problem when he's confident that no one else could do anything about it. And if my bada** beta was feeling that confident, I'd feel like I've got nothing to worry about either.

Now that I'm writing this, I admit that didn't sound very mature. It made us sound like like dumb pups who just shifted, and suddenly think we were big shots. Hahaha. Maybe that was exactly what we were.

"Your plan to reach out to the Free Wolves is a good strategy." Ben told me as we left the others. We had to return to the Morning Light Pack House. It was a bit of a walk, and the pavements at Morning Light seemed icier than the ones back home.

"The adults say you found a way to stabilize the Morning Light border just after a single patrol." Ben informed me.

"They are exaggerating!" I protested.

Ben shook his head, "It's true, Sam. You don't even realize it, do you?"

What did I do now?

I shook my head back, "No, Ben. I didn't do a thing. It's all the FAO - which is all Harvey, and Ki, and you by the way!"

I remembered the time I was supposed to chair a Candance I didn't know existed, called by an office I didn't know I had.

Now Ben looked seriously surprised, "Sam, the FAO was YOUR idea. YOU chose the next gen leaders, YOU came up with the general organizational structure... All we did as your betas was filled in the blanks to your plans."

I looked at him blankly.

Ben sighed, "Try to think Sam, the internal meetings earlier this year, and then the merger meetings, your daily instructions to Harvey whenever he fetched you to school and back..."

Ben stopped when he realized I was still staring at him blankly. Since when had I ever given Harvey "instructions"? Did he mean the times when I was talking in the car and Harvey would suddenly pull over and excuse himself to type notes?

"Never mind. Just keep doing whatever you're doing, Harvey will cover the paperwork, Ki will package it, and I can do the brain work for all of us." Ben opened the front door of the pack house. This would be where Ben gives up explaining any more to me.

But I wasn't going to let go of it so easily. I might not be smart like my betas, but I had my ways, "Okay, Ben. Memory test. List all the FAO initiatives to date and my input in each of them."

"What?" Ben looked like I slapped him, "You're testing ME?"

"Yup." Whatever would make him list it for me, "And say everything before we reach the Youth Club."

Lucky for Ben, the Morning Light Youth Club wasn't situated in the lobby like it was in Night Leaf. We had to go up to the second floor and then down a long corridor.

Still, for the first time I've walked with him, Ben slowed his steps.