ALPHA GUNTER'S SECRET

20 FEBRUARY, SATURDAY, CONTINUED

"Alphas, might I remind you that the inauguration ceremony will be starting in 15 minutes..." Sebastian valiantly tried to salvage the situation.

But it was like talking to the wall - specifically four unmovable brick walls facing off each other.

Dad had a bone to pick with Alpha Solomon. Alpha James immediately positioned himself at his side. And Alpha Gunter... Well...

"Please know that I would very much rather be standing on your side." He told us.

"Hey! Don't say it like that!" Alpha Solomon protested, "I don't care whose side you'd rather be on. Just don't forget your promise, Gunter."

Alpha Gunter smiled, "How could I, since you keep reminding me?"

Hahaha. I've always liked these two. I'm not sure why, maybe it was the stories I've heard. They were like legends...which reminded me how old they really were despite their appearance.

It's funny how I only managed to place them after our fight today. They had both starred in Beta Lucas' bedtime stories during babysitting nights.

There once was a fearless young alpha of a minor pack in the Black Forest. When Alpha Aaron unified the Black Packlands, this young alpha was the only one who dared to face him one on one. Alpha Aaron had laughed at first, the young alpha was barely more a pup, but the young alpha shifted into an invincible wolf made of metal armor and injured the elder alpha badly.

Alpha Aaron was so impressed at the young alpha's wolf abilities, he promoted the minor pack to one of the major packs to sit at the round table. As the boy grew, the elder alpha made sure to keep the young alpha as his protégé. I suppose it was kind of the way Alpha Solomon kept Trevor as his protégé now.

"Keep your friends near, and your enemies closer." Was supposed to be the moral of the story by the way. At least, that was what Beta Lucas told me.

"If you just kill your enemy in the first place, you won't have to worry so much." I told him.

But I was glad the young alpha didn't get killed because I wanted to be that young alpha who wasn't afraid of anything or anyone.

The other story was about another young alpha: In a land far, far, away, there was an Ice Prince. The Ice Prince lived alone in a tower made of ice. He had no one to love and his heart soon grew cold and eventually frozen over.

One day a beautiful she-wolf with hair the color of the sea came across the tower. She climbed up to the top and found the frozen prince. He was so beautiful, she fell in love with him instantly. She kissed him and her love melted through his ice.

Okay, the above were the parts Beta Lucas had to tell when Savy and Lizzy were around, but after that he would tell the good part about how the Ice Queen hated the beautiful girl and set out to kill her. The Ice Prince took her and they ran away to many adventures. But eventually, the beautiful girl died... She was sleeping one cold winter night. The Ice Prince woke up the next morning and found her dead in his arms.

I never liked that ending, "Why can't the Ice Prince kiss her and melt her too?"

Beta Lucas shrugged because he didn't know, "Well, because the Ice Prince's kiss would only make her colder."

Which made no sense because the Ice Prince was a werewolf, not an ice sculpture.

Okay, now that I thought about it, I was probably reading too much into it. I mean those were just bedtime stories that Beta Lucas claimed were true stories.

"Ah! There you are!" Alpha George appeared with Beta Rob at his side.

Sebastian looked so happy to see his Alpha. Poor guy. I realized being a Delta wasn't as peachy as I had imagined it would be. There would be stupid nights like these where nobody listens to you and you still have to take responsibility for whatever happens.

"Stay out of this George." Dad said.

Alpha George stopped and then stepped forward with a smile plastered to his face, "Don't worry Kingsley, I'm not going to get in your way. I just came to remind you that my son's inauguration will be starting in 10 minutes."

"You can start without us." Dad said. Yeah, my Dad was diplomatic like that.

"Of course, but if you fight here, this building would come down. Even if you don't give a s*** for me or my son's big day, think of all the innocent people trapped in the auditorium." Alpha George pointed out. He had stopped smiling.

I looked around at the inside of the Silver Dome. From the outside it looked like it was made of silver, but from the inside, it was obvious that the entire dome was made of windows. Plus all the shops like My Dream Cafe were lined on either side. It definitely didn't look like anywhere we should be crashing around with over-sized wolves.

"If you fight here, Alpha George would bill you for the damages after the fight." I said, "And you're going to be paying through your nose to rebuild something that is in perfectly good condition. It would probably be better if you put that money into more meaningful things - like the Princess Town."

"Why is it every time we meet, you are asking for donations for the Princess Town?" Alpha Solomon grimaced.

"I just think if you've got money to waste, you might as well use it for something good." I said.

Alpha Solomon raised at brow at the shopping bags my betas were carrying.

"Those are good." I said, and quickly tried to shift their attention away from the shamefully glaring fluffy pony purchases, "How about we just calculate how much damage we would more likely have caused, and donate that to the Princess Town? The strongest wolf would naturally had caused the most damage."

I grinned at the elder alphas. I'm so smart! Hahaha.

For some reason, what I said totally deflated all the alpha dominance raging just a moment ago.

"How did it become like this?" Alpha Gunter looked bemused.

"Dad!" River ran out from the shop Wilhelm and the snow beta were trying to keep him in. Maybe they thought he would be safer there, but if all four elder alphas had fought, no where in the building would be safe. Alpha George was right, the entire building would have come down with just Alpha Solomon's metal beast and Alpha Gunter's snow wolf charging around.

"River, stay away. It's dangerous." Alpha Gunter said.

"But Sam is right. We should be focusing on building up, if we worked together, imagine all the resources we could use to make all the wrong things right about our world." River argued.

Yes, and Sam was werewolf, while you were just a human, River. Get out of the way. Didn't River realize that it was very hard to stand up under strong alpha dominance. There were 7 alpha wolves on the verge of a fight. Even the betas had quickly taken the lunas a distance away. Funny that River wasn't affected at all.

Alpha Solomon laughed, his laughter boomed, loud and hollow over our heads, "When they're young, they're always so fearless, so full of optimism. I'll tell you this, boy. You can't change the world. And even if you did, no one would love you more for it."

"You've grown bitter, Solo." Alpha Gunter chided softly.

"And you've grown daft" Alpha Solomon shot back, "This boy will destroy everything you and Miranda built together."

"YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO SAY HER NAME." Alpha Gunter's wolf suddenly rose to the surface. The temperature dropped to dangerously freezing levels. My boba turned icy. Okay... I looked at Alpha George, he might want to evacuate the auditorium now.

But Alpha George only said, "I thought your Luna's name was Mandy?"

"That's my mum." River explained, still seemingly unaffected by his Dad's alpha temper. But he didn't explain further.

Now I remember that Alpha Gunter had ever said his soul mate was a blue wolf - like me. River's mum was a human.

"How could you?" Alpha Solomon's wolf was also on the verge of surfacing now too, "How could you simply replace her like that?"

"I never replaced her. You were the one who told me to start dating human women." Alpha Gunter snarled.

"Yes, I said date, NOT MATE." Alpha Solomon snarled back, "No one told you to pick up a random pregnant woman off the street and mate her!"

"She was pregnant." Alpha Gunter's expression softened suddenly, he looked extremely sad, "Miranda was pregnant too."

Alpha Solomon roared, "SO TELL ME HOW YOU WEREN'T REPLACING MIRANDA WITH THAT HUMAN WOMAN?"

Although Alpha Solomon was roaring like he had lost it, it was Alpha Gunter who threw the first punch, "I TOLD YOU NOT TO EVER SAY HER NAME."

Oh boy...

We all took a step back - except River. I pulled him back by his scruff - just in case. No one had shifted yet, so maybe this would blow over quickly. Or not...

Alpha Solomon punched Alpha Gunter straight in the guts, "STOP LYING TO YOURSELF!"

He threw a second punch forward, but Alpha Gunter caught it, and froze it. The ice ran up Alpha Solomon's arm.

"I admit, Mandy was a lot like Miranda." Alpha Gunter was speaking softly now that Alpha Solomon was somewhat immobilized.

"She looked nothing like her!" Alpha Solomon spat back.

"No, but she was also brave and strong, and she..."

"She was also another wolf's mate!" Alpha Solomon growled.

"MIRANDA WAS MY SOULMATE!" Alpha Gunter snarled back, "NOT YOURS. SHE WAS NEVER YOURS."

"YES, BUT I LOVED HER. AND I WOULDN'T HAVE LET HER DIE." Alpha Solomon snarled back. He clenched his iced fist so much the ice around it cracked. It didn't give though. He would have to shift to break out of that.

Alpha Gunter walked a few steps away. It looked like he was trying to stay calm, "I don't want to fight you, Solo... I..."

River ran up to his father, "Dad, who is Miranda? I thought Mum was your soul mate!"

Alpha Gunter looked at his son, then around at his audience, "I'll explain later, River."

Opps, maybe we should leave and let them solve their personal issues. It was none of our business.

"No, Dad. I need to know. I need to know now!" River was visibly upset now, "Is it true what they say? That I'm not really your son?"

"Of course you're not his son! You're not even a werewolf." Alpha Solomon said.

"Quiet, Solo, or so help me." Alpha Gunter's growl had turned low and dangerous now. He tried to put a hand on River, to draw him closer, but River pulled back.

"I know I'm a human..." River started.

"HA! WHAT A JOKE! A WARLOCK WHO THINKS HE'S A HUMAN!" Alpha Solomon.

Alpha Gunter shot out a sharp ice blade in answer. Alpha Solomon dodged it so that it only lodged into his arm, "Arughhh....F***, that hurts. I hate it when you do that."

"I know." Alpha Gunter smiled coldly.

"Now my suit is ruined." Alpha Solomon grumbled. I watched as the crimson spread over the white of his shirt. I would think he had more pressing issues to deal with.

"Dad?" River looked decidedly pale, "So its true? I'm a warlock?"

Alpha Gunter pressed his mouth close. His eyes looked pained.

"Dad?" River asked again.

Alpha Gunter turned away, "I want you to forget what you heard today, River. You are my son. No matter what."

And then he turned and started walking away.

"Wait!" That would be me... Stepping out of line again.

"Here we go..." Ben rolled his eyes, but guys with pink unicorns tucked under their arms were stupid like that.

Well, no... actually everything in my head screaming that I should really be minding my own business and leaving it alone, but I was always the kind who followed my guts more than my head.

"I know you're hurting." I said to Alpha Gunter's back. Wait no, wth was I doing? What did I know? But since I've already stepped up, I might as well say it, "If you are really Rivers' dad, shouldn't you be the one to tell him?"

Cos if you can't even hear the truth from your own family, who could you trust?

"Am I?" Alpha Gunter looked even more pained now.

Urm... This was not going the way I thought it would.

"Are you the Dad who wakes up earlier to make picnics so River could have lunch with his friends?" You know, just to be sure I got the right guy.

Alpha Gunter didn't deny it.

"Just hear me out." I needed to get through to the Ice Dad's heart. Since I had a very limited experience in counselling parents, I tried to emulate how I had seen Beta Gerald do it with the Mum with too many pups, "It's hard being a dad. You work your butt off to set up everything the best you can for your kid to grow up safe and well, and he grows up and gets a mind of his own and then he acts like you're uncool and decides to do things his own way and you find yourself wondering if he's going to run out and get himself killed one day..."

I really was trying to project Beta Gerald type of empathy here, but I couldn't resist adding, "or in River's case, trip over his own feet and fall in front of oncoming traffic."

"Hey!" River protested.

But anyone who knew River would know it was true.

Alpha Gunter didn't turn around just yet, "I'm listening."