SETTING THE TRAP

1 FEBRUARY, MONDAY, 5PM

"We are going to catch Uncle Louis red handed." I announced, "And Harvey and Nix are on their way."

Wolfie could sense them nearing.

"OMG! Quick! We need to clean up this mess! And fix our hair..." Lizzy realized.

Savy and Lizzy immediately sprung into action. They stuffed manga under my bed, stacked what they could in the wardrobe, and shoved the rest into the bathroom.

"You know the steam inside is bad for books." I said, "And since they're Haylee's books, Harvey should be used to seeing them by now."

"Harvey calls Haylee a manga nerd." Savy told me.

And of course, we wouldn't want the cool beta to think we were manga nerds would we now? Hahaha.

I helped them load the last box into the bathroom and pushed open the bathroom window to let the steam out.

"Thanks Sam." Lizzy said.

Savy picked up the hairdryer and started work on my hair.

"You know..." Lizzy eyed my hair, "What if you just flared your hair up and shook it out?"

Oh. That might work, but I couldn't quite flare on purpose. My hair just had a mind of its own.

"Luna Bell is here!" Savy said.

"Where?" Lizzy spun to look at my bed.

I blinked. I knew he wasn't. Bell was far away.

"Oh, that didn't work." Savy said.

"Don't do that without warning me first!" Lizzy swatted Savy, "I nearly had a heart attack."

And then I had a brilliant idea, "Okay, step outside one moment."

{Beta approaching}

{Gamma approaching}

"And open the front door for Harvey and Nix while you're outside." I opened the bedroom door and ushered the two girls out.

Once alone, I opened the sliding door, then I took off my clothes and shifted, stepped out onto the rooftop garden in my wolf form and shook out the wet. I'm so smart.

I stepped back into the room, shifted back and got dressed again.

I opened the bedroom door. Harvey and Nix were standing in the living room. Both of them were holding metal bars and coils of wire. Nix had a rifle too.

"Princess." Both guys bowed.

I nodded and smiled, "Thanks for coming guys."

I gestured to the door, "Come in. We don't have much time."

Without waiting for them, I re-entered the bedroom. Harvey, Nix, and the girls followed me in.

Pointing to the space next to my bed, I started doing what Ben kept telling me to do, I thought aloud, "Set a trap wire. Something to trigger an alarm near the bed. And lets put a trap by the sliding door so the intruder would be caught when he makes his escape."

"What is going on here?" Nix asked.

"Princess, the trap might need more space to spring." Harvey said.

"Outside the sliding door then." I said, "Even better really. Nix can hide behind the garden landscaping over there. If the trap catches anything that isn't from our pack, shoot it."

"What do you mean by 'anything' Princess?" Nix was seriously looking worried.

"I mean anything, rogue, assassin, vampire... not one of us, shoot." I said, "But not in the head. Nothing irreversible. Just shoot it down so it can't escape."

"What kind of shot is reversible?" Nix sounded completely stumped. He tried to laugh, "Princess... I want to understand you, but I can't."

I looked at Harvey. He nodded grimly.

"Shoot to wound." Harvey explained. I really should learn some of these terms.

"But if you can't, just shoot whatever you can." I said.

Nix smirked, "Princess, the target is trapped 10 paces away. I won't miss."

Well, then Nix was a better sniper than I was an archer.

"Okay, let Harvey know once the alarm triggers and keep him updated." I said, "Oh, and just in case, if its Luna Bell that gets caught, don't shoot him."

Then I remembered my Wolfie's bad mood, "But if you shoot him by accident, it should be fine too."

"Luna Bell is one of us. I would recognize him." Nix said, "Princess, this kind of thing is child's play for me. I mean literary. I could do this as a pup."

"I know." I said, well, I didn't know the details, but I knew if anyone could pull off this trap, it would be Nix, "That's why I called you."

"Who's covering your duties tonight?" Harvey asked Nix.

"Oh s***, I forgot about that." Nix groaned.

"Jonah. Call Jonah." Lizzy volunteered, "He's only going to school with his parents later."

"Yeah, alright." I looked at Harvey, "Get Jonah."

"Understood, princess." Harvey busied himself on the mindlink.

"Quick Nix, fix up the traps. We need to go soon."

"Mum says Uncle Louis is asking for you." Savy told me.

Arugh!!! We took too long.

"Tell her that we've left for school." I said, "I wanted to prepare my eulogy there."

"Can Lizzy and I come too?" Savy asked.

"We can make sure Jonah does his job right." Lizzy volunteered.

"And I don't want to have to meet Uncle Louis." Savy admitted.

"Set up and keep guard till we return." Harvey instructed Nix.

"Ah! Wait! Who's in charge of guarding the pack house tonight?" I asked. It would be really bad if the alarm and gunshots got Nix in trouble.

Harvey checked his phone, "Hank is on duty."

Oh good, that made it a lot easier.

"Inform Hank that Nix has set a trap for possible break in, and to send back up if the alarm triggers." I ordered.

"Understood, princess." Harvey said. Good Beta... but wait, Harvey can't mindlink wolves from Night Leaf, right?

"Hank has responded affirmative." Harvey reported.

"Hey, how is it that you can mindlink Hank?" I asked.

Harvey thought for a moment, "It seems that as long as the wolf accepts me as your beta, I can mindlink them."

I see. So even now, our packs were merging. Little by little, the way I was merging with Wolfie, a little more every day. The links were forming even among our warrior wolves now. That's good. The links were growing naturally on their own. Seeing it happen like this, I just felt a sense of rightness. The strongest links between wolves were the ones that grew naturally.

"Shall we make our move, princess?" Harvey asked politely.

I nodded. Everything was in place. Let's see how Uncle Louis was going to squirm out of this one.

Harvey turned off all the lights and locked up, leaving Nix to work in the dark.

"Aw, man!" Nix complained, but he fished out a torch from his belt and held it with his mouth as he finished up the trip wire.

Lizzy checked her hair one last time in the mirror. And oh I forgot! I took off Mate's bangle from my arm. I felt all kinds of reluctance to part with it, but I needed a magic item as bait. I sighed softly and careful not to touch the wire Nix had set, I slipped the bangle under my pillow.

Okay! Let's get to school! All we had to do was slip out of the packhouse right?

WRONG. Uncle Louis had left his warriors scattered around. A couple of them stood outside Dad's office where they were meeting. A handful of them were in the dining room. One of them was stationed by the front door.

It was lucky Wolfie could pick out all the visitors on her radar while we were still in the lift.

"We need to avoid being seen by the Night Forest warriors." I said, "Harvey, where's your truck? "

"It's in the garage." Harvey said.

Lucky! For a moment, I had worried he left it out on the driveway in plain view. We got out of the private lift on the third floor and crossed the offices to the general lift. I scanned it briefly to make sure there were no Night Forest warriors in it, all clear. I pressed for the lift, and we made it down to the garage.

Gamma Harry was there. Flynn was having our prepared convoy moved out so that Uncle Louis' cars could move in.

"Good! Harvey, you can shift your truck. We need the space." Gamma Harry said, "I don't understand why Alpha Louis needed to bring so many cars and warriors along - ten warriors and four cars! We have too many cars in our garage!"

Wait, ten warriors?

"How many of them are there?" I asked.

"Ten warriors. I counted. Why would they need so many? Our packland is safe! Very safe!" Gamma Harry complained.

"Ten warriors, and just Uncle Louis and Aunt Jade?" I asked.

"Ah, yes." Gamma Harry said.

"That's not right." I said, "I counted 15."

"I'm very sure, Sam!" Gamma Harry insisted, "I was there and saw them come out of the car and enter with my own eyes. "Alpha Louis and his Luna, eight warriors entered with them, and two are with the cars.

"There were no others in the car?" I asked.

"No." Gamma Harry said.

"Keep an eye on the warriors Gamma Harry." I said, "Do we have extra men?"

Gamma Harry shook his head, "Almost all the men are on duty tonight. We needed to post extra security at Morning Light."

"Gamma Harry, 15 Night Forest wolves crossed our borders today." I said before walking over to Harvey's truck.

Gamma Harry frowned.

Flynn frowned at that too, and then he suddenly snapped up, "You're not going with the convoy, Sam?"

"No, I want to get there early." I got into Harvey's waiting truck. Lizzy and Savy squeezed in with me.

"Do you want to take one of the cars then?" Flynn worried about us squashed together.

I shook my head. Harvey raised a friendly hand in parting, "Thanks Flynn, but its fine for now."

Once we were off, Harvey became thoughtful, "15 wolves, huh?"

"Yeah." I said.

"Maybe we should check their car boots." Lizzy suggested. That girl had been watching too many mafia movies...but she did have a point. No, Gamma Harry would be able to sense the extra wolves in the boot.

"Tell Nix that he might have to shoot three wolves." I told Harvey. I doubt all three would be breaking into the apartment though, "And inform Hank to secure the perimeter once the alarm sounds. Apprehend any suspicious guys they find."

"Princess, do you think Alpha Louis is going to attempt to take back the ring tonight?" Harvey asked.

"That is exactly what I think." I said.

"He is staying till Wednesday morning, princess." Harvey said.

What? Didn't he have better things to do back home? He's the Alpha!

"Is Nix going to be camping in your garden till then?" Lizzy asked.

Savy covered her mouth with her hand to keep from cackling.

"Just tonight." I said. I hope Uncle Louis made his move tonight. I really wanted to find out what he was up to.

"What are you going to do if we catch someone?" Harvey asked.

"I'm going to hand him over to Ki and find out what's going on, and then confront Uncle Louis." I said, "Or something. We'll see what we catch first."

"Also Ben is arranging for a meeting tomorrow. It would be good if you can attend." I told Harvey, "The Ciara Coven from the Gold Packlands is looking for me. I need to eliminate the threat before Thursday cos I have a project meeting at Henry's house."

Harvey kept his composure while driving, but I could tell that he had to make an effort to remain as calm as he was.

"Sam, you're going to put Harvey in shock." Lizzy said, "Don't tell him these things when he is driving."

"It's fine." Harvey smiled coolly, "I'm used to it."

Hey, what was that supposed to mean?

"She's my alpha after all." Harvey continued driving.

I mindlinked Harvey

-What are you thinking?

-I think...(I don't know what to think). It's going to be a rough week.

-Yeah, me too.

We sat in silence the rest of the way, well three of us did. Lizzy tend to prattle when she was nervous, and she was nervous about sitting in Harvey's truck so she talked and talked till we reached New Leaf Academy.

Harvey parked in one of the lots near the school, "I better go take over Ben..."

Ben was standing on the porch. We walked over.

"Everything okay?" Harvey asked.

"What, you didn't think I could do your job?" Ben smirked.

"Next event, you be in charge." Harvey smirked back.

Ben blanched so naturally, Savy, Lizzy, and I laughed. Lizzy laughed the loudest. Ben glared back at her.

"Is there anything else I might assist you with, princess?" Harvey, the model beta, asked. I guess he would take his leave now.

I shook my head, "Thanks."

"Come on," Ben said, "You still need to prepare your eulogy."

Oh right. That's right. I checked my watch. It was the white one with many diamonds. They glittered a golden hue under the yellow lights along the porch. 6pm.

"Aren't you busy now?" I asked Ben. He did say from the onset that he was free till 6pm.

"Yeah, but I can accompany you while doing them." Ben shrugged.

"You are going to attempt to babysit me while on duty?" I asked, "You know, your dad often did that, and suffered the consequences."

Ben smirked, "I'm not my dad, Sam."