BABYSITTING THE HUMAN

3 FEBRUARY, WEDNESDAY, MORNING

I looked at the angry yelling humans on TV, "Not directly."

"A vampire coven? The vampires' Royal Coven? During their queen's birthday week? Sam!!!" Mum scolded.

"I also killed a vampire lord, made a contract with his heir, and adopted two more fightdogs." I figured I might as well 'fess up.

"Sam!" Mum exclaimed.

"That's enough, Sam." Dad said sternly, "I've told you before not to upset your mother."

Mum immediately turned on Dad, "You knew?" You knew our baby was going to... going to..."

Mum couldn't seem to say it aloud, so she simply skipped that part and went on in an accusing tone, "And you let her?"

"The two fightdogs weren't in the plan." Dad admitted.

"It just kind of happen." I said, "They looked like they needed a new start."

At this point, the human girl came out. She was rubbing her eyes, "Mama?"

Mum rushed over to her, "Oh Sabbie, were we too noisy?"

The TV was showing some human protestors starting fires to burn large placards.

Sabbie screamed and started crying. Mum picked her up, and changed the channel to a baby cartoon singing about the colors of a rainbow.

"Maybe we should move our base down to my office." Dad decided.

Killion used his screen to broadcast the news so we didn't miss anything on the way down.

Beta Gerald and Harvey had just set up their laptops to work on coordinating the pack at the coffee table. They wordlessly repacked all the equipment to bring along with us.

Why did the Alphas and Betas all have to move for a small human girl? We were busy. But I was very mature about it and politely ignored the human.

I turned to leave.

"Sam!" The little girl called my name.

"Sam, your sister just called your name." Mum announced proudly.

Grrr... but I turned back and told the girl in an even and quiet voice, "Say 'Alpha Sam'."

"Alpha Sam!" The girl said. Her red curls shinning, her large hazel eyes looking hopefully up at me. She could be any other pup in my pack. And if she were, I would have smiled and thought she was so cute.

But she wasn't. She wasn't a pup, she was a human child. One with a brother looking for her. One who didn't belong to this pack.

So I only nodded, "From now on, that's what you will call me."

"I want to be Alpha too!" The girl declared.

Grrr... Like hell. There was a sudden silence.

My wolf took over, the one named boo, she simply smiled, it was a smile copied from Killion. Beaming beautifully, she bent forward towards the small girl, "Over my dead body."

I patted the human girl on the head, and then turned to leave.

"Sam! She didn't mean that." Mum started, "She's just a child... She really looks up to you."

Mum had chased me out to the lift landing to tell me this.

Boo shrugged. But I clamped down to not let her speak, because I felt sure her words would hurt Mum. Grrr...

"Sam?" Mum looked at me concerned, "Are you alright?"

"My wolf is unstable and I'm tired." I managed to say, "It's nothing."

The lift door opened, and Ben held it for me.

Mum looked worriedly at Dad but said nothing aloud. I knew she was mindlinking though.

I entered the lift. Whatever.

As we stepped out of the lift, I felt Dad's hand on my head as we continued to his office. He patted me on my beanie.

The flurry of admin staff and warriors parted as their Alpha walked down the third story corridor. My Dad just had that kind of presence.

"Sam, you did good. Go home, take a shower, and rest." Dad said, and then he quickly added, "Do not under any circumstances dream travel to your mate."

"What, why?" I had already had the bright idea to dream travel to Mate and check out his underground rebel army.

Dad sighed, "Do not forget, we are the wolves' of change, it's in our blood to bring change. This, and the propensity of your blue wolf to act as a catalyst would blow up the situation as it is."

Eh, I thought Dad's wolf power was ultimate zenness? Hahaha. But right, we were direct descendants of

'The ones who left the mountains, to chase what could have been.

The ones who seek the changes that yet could not be seen.'

Dad continued thoughtfully, "It would be best if you stayed out of it until the dust settles. We'll monitor the situation and support your Luna's army. Go rest. It would help your wolf be less on the edge."

So if I rest, maybe my wolf would stabilize?

Was there a chance that rest could also undo my wolf's evolution? I know, I know, I did want a cooler, badder, smarter wolf... but she's mean!

We had walked to Dad's office by now. Beta Gerald and Harvey started setting up the laptops on the coffee table on one side. Ben excused himself to use his Dad's office.

I sighed. I suddenly did feel very tired. But I couldn't go home. There was a human there. So I curled up on Dad's sofa, the one in the far corner, and promptly fell asleep.

I woke up with a start. What?

"Sam!" My mum rushed into my room, the little human on her arm, "Good, you're awake."

She set the human girl on the mattress next to my bed. I think she would've propped her on my bed but I was growling and Mum instinctively put the girl further away.

"What happened?" I asked. How did I get here? Weren't we just at a brink of war? Grrr... I couldn't believe I slept through that... How did I get on my bed? I sniffed around. I could smell Ki on my right shoulder. So I guess he carried me back. Gah! I hadn't showered or changed since waking up. I stank.

I got out of bed, grabbed clothes and headed straight into the shower.

"Oh wait, no, Sam. I need you!" Mum cried out.

I stopped short in my tracks, "What happened?"

"Savy and I need to go help the other ladies in the kitchen, the warriors would be back tonight and we want to make them a hearty dinner." Mum said.

"Do you want me to come too?" I asked.

"No, you're the alpha now. We can't have you working in the kitchen." Mum said, "Plus you really should rest after last night."

Okay...

"So what do you need me for?" I asked.

"Since you're at home, just keep an eye out for Sabrina for me." Mum said.

"I'd rather work in the kitchen." I said, "Let Savy stay."

Savy shook her head, "I promised to meet Lizzy in the kitchen."

I narrowed my eyes at her and then at my mum. I smelled a conspiracy.

"What makes you think she's safe with me?" I asked.

"Just do your best." Mum said, "We're counting on you."

I had a good mind to just send the human back to the Blue Packlands. I decided to simply go into the bathroom and shut the door.

Like hell I was going to watch the human.

I heard Mum worrying outside, "I'm not sure she is ready yet."

Savy sounded pretty confident though, she laughed and said, "Trust me, Mum. Sam would warm up to her."

Little human said, "I'm scared, Mama."

Savy was the one who answered her, "Sabbie, you want Sam to like you, right? Then you need to be brave. Just keep showing her how cute and lovable you are. Sam can be a bit scary, but she's really harmless."

Boo smirked.

{Yeah, just keep thinking that, snowball.}

Oh great. Boo was still here.

I really need to figure out how to get Wolfie back. I'm so grrr right now, I don't even have the word for it.

I turned on the shower. I was going to ignore the human, take a super long shower, and then go back to sleep or head down to Dad's office. I won't slow down for the human, I won't even look at her.

With any luck, I might just lose her.

That'll teach Mum and Savy! How dare they adopt a random human girl? How dare they choose the human girl's side over and over again?

They let her use my room, they let her use my shower. I hate it. It's MINE. I hate her outsider scent mixing into everything in my home. I hate smelling her on my parents. I hate the way she had to leave her scent everywhere. Grrr...

I hate that I can't even have my own space. I'm the Alpha, and I couldn't even have my own space to shower and sleep because they inserted an intruder into it.

How dare they adopt a small human stranger, and forcibly stuck her into my inner circle? Grrrr...

I hate this! Arugghhhh...

My hair was actually now super short, so I even though I tried to be a snail about everything, I was done. I turned off the shower and shifted into my wolf. Then I shook myself out and shifted back.

My hair was back in full force. Nice! Funny how I hated it when I first woke up with it. Now it was part of me. I had always imagined I would feel freer without it, so this surprised me. I missed my long hair when it was cut.

And now, I had a good way to tame it. I pulled a beanie on and then got dressed in super slow motion. Someone had put the purple cup and toothpaste back on the counter. So I threw it back in the bin. Then I took my time using the moisturizer.

I had almost never used moisturizer ever. But today I used Savy's tangerine lotion. I even applied some of her face stuff... Was it toner or moisturizer first? Luckily there were instructions printed on the bottle.

Then I had a brilliant idea, I picked up the hair brush and brushed my long blue hair. In the Rupunzel cartoon, that girl could spend half a day brushing out her hair. I took my time.

After that, I practiced braiding my hair. I wanted to try doing my hair something like Fluffy's. It was pretty without being too girly. It was hard. I managed to make a single narrow braid into my fringe and then I gave up and pulled the beanie back on again. That actually took so long, I decided never to take off the braid again.

Then I stopped at the door to listen. Silence. Maybe the girl had gotten bored and wandered off, hopefully to get lost and disappear from my life for good.

To my dismay, she was still on the other side of my door, sitting on her mattress. She was flipping through some manga.

"Can you read to me?" The girl asked.

I ignored her.

"Savy reads to me. I like to know what they are saying." The girl said.

"Read it yourself." I told her.

"I can't read." The girl said.

"Then learn." I answered without a pause.

A movement outside on the rooftop garden caught my eye. I walked over and opened the sliding door.

Human. Another human. I could smell him even though my wolf sense did not bother to register humans. Just one human.

I turned away, purposely leaving the sliding door opened. Maybe the human outside would come and relieve me of my babysitting duties permanently.

But the little human came over and pushed the sliding door shut, "Mama says we need to keep the door shut or I might get cold."

"I'm a human." The girl decided to inform me, "So if I get too cold, I will get sick. I might even die."

She struggled a little more, and finally managed to push the door shut.

"Whew! That was heavy." She told me.

"You're just weak." I told her, "You're so weak, you'll probably be the omega. The other kids will bully you in school.

I walked out of my room. The little human followed me out, "That's not true! Mama says all the other kids would like me. I'm cute and kind."

"Whatever." I said.

"You're just jealous because Mama loves me more than she loves you." The human girl pointed out, "I'm cuter and nicer than you are. You're always growling at everyone and making Mama upset. Now you're scared that everyone would love me and stop loving you."