BECAUSE WOLVES SHOULD STICK TO THEIR FATE

22 FEBRUARY, MONDAY, CONTINUED

I pushed the lunch bag towards the little girl, "Here. Its a lunch bag with a yummy lunch for you. You can eat it and then use it again when you start school."

I'm so smart. Little kids needed to bring lunch boxes to school too right? I didn't remember doing it, but I knew Sabre had to bring a lunch box to kindergarten.

"Now go straight home and study hard and have a happy life." I told her, "Don't run off on your own, and don't come looking for me. It's dangerous because I'm always surrounded by blue warriors and they all look the same, so you'd never know if they were the good or bad ones."

It would depend on who they were running with, me or Bell, but I felt that would be too complicated to explain to a puppy.

Daisy gulped, taking a quick glance at Cobra, who was still hissing. It was ironic because Cobra was really her biggest protector among us. But she took the lunch bag and turned to go. I watched her run down the pavement, she turned and waved goodbye, before disappearing into the gap between some hedges.

I gave my wolves a wide smile and joked, "Now, I guess its my turn to study hard and have a happy life."

(If you counted exam week as a happy life.)

Harvey nodded a quick bow at me. To the others, he gave cool, crisp, instructions, "You, go down the street and secure the perimeter. This is not to happen again. You, I want a full report of what happened including all your names."

"Yes, Beta." Torque bowed. He sounded miserable.

"Yes, Beta." Ink bowed too.

"Ssss...." Cobra bowed.

Harvey narrowed his eyes at Cobra, but remained tight lipped.

"Sorry, Beta. But Cobra doesn't talk." Torque explained meekly on his friend's behalf.

I paused and waited to see how my good beta would handle this.

Would he beta-command Cobra to speak? Would he as why and sympathize with the ex-fightdog's past? Wait no, that would be the Luna's job, to listen sympathetically and comfort you.

I mean, I know Harvey was always my good beta, but I also knew part of being a good beta required one to be able to keep the warriors in check, so he would have to be strict with them, right?

Harvey nodded, "Noted."

Eh? Was that it? Apparently it was, because next thing I knew, I was being led to the car again.

{Are you going to punish them?} I asked. Or was he just going to note it down?

Harvey smiled wryly, {No. I believe I will forward the report to Stephan to deal with it.}

Ah, I see... note it down AND get someone to deal with it. And as my good beta, of course he would go down the proper chain of command.

And Stephan would be okay. I mean he struck me as an exacting but even-handed kind of alpha. He'd definitely be more lenient than Bell.

Probably, but just in case, I added, {Please tell Stephan that he doesn't have give them demerits or anything like that.}

{Apologies, I'm afraid I don't quite follow, Alpha.} Harvey opened the car door for me. That was the other thing about Harvey. When I was with Harvey, I never needed to open any doors or pull any chairs.

I got in and desperately tried to not say I didn't want Torque or any of my special friends to go to the detention barracks. If a big guy like him could sound so distressed about it, it had to be a terrible place. Either that, or it had to be haunted.

"Urm, tell Stephan to send them to me. I want to deal with it personally. And Barry too." I decided.

"Who?" Harvey frowned. He got in and started the car again. The school gate parted the exact same moment for us to drive through.

"The guy who was clowning around at the first security checkpoint." I said, "The one that EJ kicked."

Which was probably breaking protocol too. Was Fluffy waving while on escort duty also breaking protocol? Who came up with all these protocols anyway? Did that mean EJ and Fluffy were going to be trouble too? Harvey's forehead hadn't un-creased.

And then I figured I might as well save the whole special team together, "I want to meet Fluffy and EJ too."

Harvey nodded, "Understood Alpha. I will leave your instructions for Stephan."

Okay, I guess that was the best I could do for them. It was the best I could do for Daisy too.

She was a rogue pup, I was the Alpha Princess of the Green Packlands where rogues were shot on sight. It would be best if I never saw her again.

I leaned back in the car and sighed.

Harvey pulled up at the porch and got out to open the car door for me, and it was suddenly like any other day at school. There were still student paparazzi holding out phones behind the usual barrier, but I've really grown more accustomed to the cameras over the weekend, I could even smile a wave a bit when someone called my name.

Fluffy and EJ were the ones who had it tough, but they were literally professionals, so they got me to the classroom without letting me stop to give autographs or take selfies with some of the girls along the school hallway. It was weird. This was the first time someone in school wanted my autograph, but I was glad Fluffy had smiled his beautiful smile and excused us from it. Its not that I didn't want to give my autograph. But more like the trauma from signing the pony at Gold City was still fresh in my head.

Of everything that happened at Gold City, stopping to sign that pony had to be the most traumatic thing that happened. I'd rather face off Alpha Solomon's metal beast than dealing with the noise, the scramble, the hands that tried to snatch the pony when I tried to return it, the hand that was bleeding after it tried to cut my hair...

Thinking about it made my heart beat faster - but not in a good way.

"Are you alright, Alpha?" Fluffy asked politely.

We were alone in the classroom. EJ had gone to change out of his warrior gear. Fluffy had taken out a book from his desk, but now he had moved over and sat at Henry's seat, just across the aisle from my desk.

His smile was beautiful as usual, and I suddenly remembered Heller's pained smile.

"Your Dad. I made another dream travel. Your dad can't come right now, he's having some trouble at home. But he's okay. You mum and dad and sister are all safe." I told Fluffy, "So anyway, you might need to hang out here longer till your Dad can come out to get you."

"Alpha." Fluffy said very quietly, he wasn't smiling anymore, "I don't want to go back. I want to run with you. Like Ki, I want to be your dog till I die."

"But... you have a family." I said, "Not like Ki. You have a family who loves and misses you in the Colored Mountains! Fluffy! It's the Colored Mountains, and its everything that's ever written in our lycan texts!"

"Then I'm sure I don't want to go back." Fluffy smiled now, back to his usual masked smile that I could not quite see through, "I've read many of these books."

"So you'd know its amazing, right?" I asked, "It was really, really, amazing!"

Fluffy shook his head, but his smile never flickered, "For every amazing wonder, there is an equally horrific terror."

Well, that's one way to throw cold water on the ultimate wolf fantasy destination. And then I thought of the poison cloud, the T&T and their overnight wiping out of entire clans, the traps that Heller had set for them, the wolves who would kill they own kin for Grandma Luna's ring... Fluffy had a point there.

"Fluffy, if you dad comes, just go with him to see it. You can always come back if you don't like it." I promised, "But your soulmate might be there, and at least... at least visit your Mum and sister."

"It would probably be best I never meet my soulmate." Fluffy said, and he forced his smile wider and changed the subject, "Does Alpha want to live in the Colored Mountains?"

"Wouldn't any wolf?" I asked. TBH, Fluffy's question caught me off guard. Did I want to live in the Colored Mountain? I had always been taught that it was the best place for wolves. The magic there was a tangible force even in the air. The water was sweet and mixed in magic dew. All wolves originated from the Mountains. We can live for hundreds and hundreds of years with so much magic imbued in our wolves. There were no vampires there. And there were all kinds of wonders and magic and adventures.

But did I want to live in the Colored Mountains? Dad was planning to retire there, and I had assumed I would join him eventually, but maybe that was because I could not imagine a life without Mum and Dad. My happily ever after always had them around.

So did I want to live in the Colored Mountains? I answered tentatively, not exactly sure what I would say myself, "Not yet. My home is here with my pack."

And then I said, "I always dream about the Green Packlands being as amazing as the Colored Packlands - but without the horrific terror part."

You know, just in case Fluffy misunderstood.

Fluffy nodded and promised, "And my dream is to run with you in the Green Packlands until your dream comes true. I'll go back home when that happens."

"Liar." I accused, "You don't believe my dream will ever come true, do you?"

Fluffy smiled and shrugged his shoulders, elegantly, and the posture and expression suddenly made it too easy to picture him entertaining clients over drinks even though he was still in his warrior gear.

I blinked, feeling surprisingly disturbed at the thought.

"It's not that I do not have confidence in your ability, Alpha." Fluffy confided, "But for every bright light, there is a deep darkness, and vice versa."

Eh? Ding ding ding!

"Explain that to me!" I had to know... Heller had said something similar about a dark and a light. What did Fluffy know about this deep darkness thing?

"The vampires like to say, to know oneself is to disbelieve utopia." Fluffy explained.

"Yeah, but that's because they suck blood." I argued. I mean any world with vampires would be messed up.

Fluffy laughed, it came out a soft chuckle, "But us wolves have our own kind of darkness. Even healers have to kill before they learn to heal."

Eh? Say what now?

A wolf who finds the deepest darkness, would also find the brightest light. - I suddenly remembered Heller's words. This conversation was becoming troubling for me in more than one way, but I just couldn't put my finger on it.

"Don't worry, Alpha." Fluffy said, his eyes bent in perfect crescents with his smile, "I don't need a perfect world. I'm happy here."

How could Fluffy say that? He was an Alpha Wolf, from the Colored Mountains, where his dad was some kind of prince who lived in a huge stone castle with modern amenities (very important) and grand old trees that bloomed all year round! How could Fluffy be happy as a dog here? It made no sense.

"It's like eating something new." I reasoned, "Don't knock it until you try it."

Fluffy laughed again, "Your wish is my command, Alpha."

I think Ki had a bad influence on Fluffy, but at least Fluffy had agreed to go home with Heller. TBH, I'd rather he stay here too, but every wolf must go his own way, and face his own destiny. That's the moral of the story in every great lycan legend, we wolves walked a predestined path. We wolves, we were fated. That's why Fluffy had to go back - he was born in the Colored Mountains, he had a family who loved him there... his soul mate was probably there too.

But then again, if Fluffy was fated to live in the Colored Mountains, why was he here?