NIGHT WALK WITH DAD

I couldn't sleep. I played that new game on my phone till the battery was down to the last 3 percent. And I realized I had enough. The game wasn't fun anymore. And the rewards were drying up.

I had school tomorrow and archery club. It was going to be a long day. There was a meeting I had to attend with Harvey and the elders on drafting the pack merger proposal for Alpha James in the evening too.

Hmmm... Maybe attacking his men and randomly bounding up to him nilly willy in my wolf form wasn't the smartest thing to do last night. He only said nice things about me after that though, but what if Alpha James was just the kind of person who only said gracious words?

Yeah, I propose we merge and overtake you as Green Packlands' number one pack. I will the the next Alpha, and yes, I will attack you for fun if I should meet you by chance along the road should I feel like it.

Well, no, they attacked first.

Beta Lorent hadn't recognized our wolves and ordered the attack. He didn't even apologize after that. Did I mention he stank of something weird and almost rogue?

Plus, he wasn't a real Beta. He wasn't from a Beta family, he was from the Alpha family. Could Alphas be Betas? What happened to their real Beta? Maybe he was somewhere else last night. Could Alpha James have more than one Beta? Maybe, I mean I had Harvey and Ben. I could even mindlink Harvey, even though we are from different packs... actually that was a little odd. I guess these things weren't cast in stone. Exceptions happen, so who was I to say Beta Lorent couldn't be a Beta?

I could see the moonlight shining down through my window. It wasn't a full moon, it was the proper crescent shape that it should be at this time of the month. It was snowing softly too. The snow had been lovely these days. Like a proper pretty winter, the type you named your daughter after. Peaceful and white.

And then I thought, what the heck and plodding down the stairs barefoot, I slipped out to the porch and ran behind the tree line. There, I stripped quickly and shifted.

Nice. I'm back! Heh heh heh. So fun.

I ran about in a happy circle around the small clearing, then tail wagging, nose sniffing, I happily took in the wintry icy smells. Dad! He's here! I bounded over without a second thought.

Dad's wolf was walking across the large snow clad lawn behind the pack house.

Dad! Dad! Dad! My tail wagged.

Dad stopped and turned to look at me, then he resumed walking.

Yay! I can come? Where were we going? Let's go hunt! Let's do something fun.

"Can't sleep?" Dad mindlinked.

Oh yeah, "Yeah." I answered. We reached the tree line just in front of the woods. I smelled rabbit. Rabbit rabbit rabbit…

Dad's wolf in comparison was much calmer. But it seemed relaxed and happy.

"You really did it, Sam." Dad linked.

"What did I do now? It wasn't me." I linked back.

Dad's wolf shook his large head in mirth, "I meant, you did it Sam. You are going to be the next Alpha."

"Of course I am!" Wolfie boasted, fluffing itself out and trying to square itself next to Dad's wolf. Why was I not bigger? I know, I know, female wolves were smaller than male wolves. The fact that I was the same size as Harvey's magnificent male beta wolf was in itself a marvel.

Yes, of course I noticed right away, at the very first run, I had noticed. Dad's wolf was the biggest, then Harvey's and mine, then Beta Lucas, his was long like ours but not as broad. Then Gamma Harry's, which wasn't much smaller either. Let me tell you, size matters.

I didn't know any female wolf even close to the size of mine.

Usually if a female wolf was warrior wolf sized, she was considered large, and in wolf form, being a big girl was a huge compliment. Okay, no, that's probably just me. I think the right thing to say to the other female wolves was how their eyes or fur was beautiful.

When I'm in my wolf form, I'm large and strong like any other male wolf. Because it turned out, I hadn't shrank after shifting, I was exactly as before, a teenage girl.

Size was relative. Next to Ben, I was tall and slender. Next to Harvey, I was petite.

Next to Dad, I was still a kid, nothing ever seemed to change with Dad. He was always big in my sight. But as a wolf, we were nearly matching in size.

As a wolf, everything was smaller, and I felt big and powerful. I poked into every rabbit hole I found as I explored the snowy undergrowth... The greens had started budding earlier, just a bit, but winter was back and the little green bits looked cold and frozen. My wolf mouthed the icy fresh bush, yuck, bitter.

Dad watched me play... It made me feel like when I was a kid again. Even as a wolf, I was still a kid in his eyes.

Grrr.... I pounced on Dad.

"Fight! Let's fight!"

"So much energy young one." Dad's wolf admired. He side-stepped my direct attack so easily it annoyed me.

"I'm big and strong now!" I boasted.

"Sometimes, young one, it's not about size. Have you ever thought, that being small could be an advantage too?" Dad wolf said.

Was this Dad's wolf talking? Because Dad had never called me anything but 'Sam' (or 'Samantha' if I were in trouble,) until now. Why was Dad wolf going into zen mode?

"I don't care, big is the best! When I'm big, I can protect everyone!" I told Dad.

But Dad wolf was staring up at the moon, "Even though your mother is small and sweet, when she is angry, I'm the one wandering outside in the snow."

Eh? Did Mum and Dad have a fight?

Then Dad looked at me, "Sometimes I wish you would also stay small and sweet and be the protected one."

Eh? I eyed him carefully. What was Dad talking about? When was I ever small and sweet?

I shook my large wolf head at him, "I'm always protected. I have you and Mum and Savy, I've got my Betas and Gammas, and lots of other wolves in the pack looking out for me. Plus I've always been lucky."

Dad seemed to be considering my words. And then he said, "Since you know this much, I will tell you more: the true strength of an Alpha isn't in the size of his wolf, but the power of his pack."

Hm, yes. Very zen...and by 'zen' I meant I'm sure it's deep and important but I had no idea what I'm supposed to do with those words.

"Let's go back, it's late and you have school tomorrow." Dad's wolf started off toward the house.

Oh yeah. School. I followed Dad's wolf to the tree line behind our house, found my clothes and changed quickly back... Or at least that was the plan. Butt naked I tried to get my underwear on quickly, but my hair got caught in the pantry hole when I put my leg through.

Ooof, I fell over on the snow. So cold.

"Sam?" It was Dad's voice.

{Alpha approaches}

"Stop! I'm still changing." I quickly said.

Silence.

I quickly pulled on my clothes... Of course my hair got into everything. In the end, I pulled it in a pony tail, twisted, let it rest on my shoulder, so it would stay out of the way. It only worked very slightly better than before.

Finally done, and now icy cold, I released the pent up frustration in a sigh, tried to readjust my clothes, gave up, and plodded back out to my dad's side. My bare feet were wet and cold and icy by now. Stupid hair. Was it going to grow out again evert time I shifted?

"Dad, can you cut my hair again?" I asked the moment I saw him.

He didn't even consider it, shaking his head as we walked up into the porch and into the house again, "You better ask your mum."