HOW MY HAPPY NORMAL GOT WARPED

I knew today was going to be a good day. I mean, we found the lost Packhouse Kitchen cat, we time traveled, we saved the future (or at least we would over time), and now I've secured a family vacation this summer. I was on a roll!

The best thing about today was how it had reverted back to my happy normal.

By now, breakfast was about over, and most of the wolves had come to thank Dad for his "guidance" and excuse themselves to go about the rest of their Sunday. I'm not sure why we were reviving the old tradition of thanking the Alpha for his guidance, but it was suddenly a thing now.

When I was a puppy, the warriors would shout it after a run or when they return from a fight. But Dad stopped leading warrior runs when Titanium took over as Warrior Captain.

Oh well, whatever. We were just barbarian wolves. It's not like anyone would think worse of you because you said "Thank you for your guidance, Alpha" when you meant to say, "Breakfast was delicious."

The kitchen ladies were taking in the buffet trays. Pups were running about, adults were lingering, chatting, trying to catch their runaway pups to go home or wherever else the family planned to spend the day. It was a beautiful day and some of them were going to feed the ducks.

One of the mums kept shouting for her pups to hurry. Her pups were hurrying, but in every other direction.

"We will be late to feed the ducks!" The Mum threatened.

I had no idea the ducks had a feeding schedule. Lol.

{Lie.}

Yes, Boo. I know the mum was lying. I was being incredibly witty! (Boo was not impressed by my incredible wit.)

I watched the scene and felt happy. Like I know the future was going to be amazing, but right now was pretty nice too. (Even with a finicky wolf.)

Its been a while since I've helped make lunches for the destitute house at Morning Light. I wondered who was on duty. If it were Jessica or Shannon or someone fun, maybe I'd pop in to help too.

Meanwhile, Ki was talking to Mum about the expected dinner menu, and schedules, and halfway through it Mum looked very surprised, "Sam is coming?"

I heard my name, "What?"

"Are you sure that's okay, Sam?" Mum asked and immediately started to worry.

"What's okay?" I asked.

"Ki says you want to come with us to the destitute house today." Mum explained. She still sounded like there had to be some mistake. None of her daughters ever WANTED to visit the destitute house with her.

I had never been subtle with my attempts to skip out on it. Savy had hated it more than I. In fact, she wrote that it was the thing she hated the most in the world in her diary.

And no, I didn't peek at her diary! She showed it to me in exchange for seeing mine. Like there was this year when we played a game where we exchanged diaries for a whole 3 minutes.

I hadn't even known Savy was keeping a diary until she suggested it. Looking back, Savy must have had a specific information she was searching for, but I was just a dumb pup and ended up reading random things.

Anyway, my point was that Savy hated going to the destitute home more than I. Mum had been making her tag along since she shifted though. I think Mum was trying to train Savy's white wolf.

"I won't get in trouble." I told Mum.

"Oh, Sam." Mum smiled, "It's not that. I'm just worried about the way you are packing your schedule back to back everyday. I know you want to be the Alpha, but you don't have to prove anything. You're doing an amazing job and I'm very proud of you. Maybe you should just take time out to just be a teenager, you know? "

Savy had disappeared somewhere, but I realized when she reappeared with Sabre that she was helping Mum fetch Sabre from her game with the other pups.

"Do we have to go, Mama?" Sabre whined the moment they reached us, making it official- none of the lovely luna's daughters liked going to the Destitute Home.

"It'll be fun, baby." Mum coaxed, "You can play with the other pups there…"

"I can play with the other pups Here." Sabre said, "Or at the park. Why can't we go feed the ducks and drive down to Gate City and eat pizza for lunch?"

Which sounded like a wonderful way to spend a Sunday. I don't know which family she heard this plan from but I seconded it fully!

"Look, Sam's going too!" Mum announced.

"She is?" Savy looked surprised.

"Why?" Sabre looked incredulously at me, "Is Mama making you come too?"

I tried to be a good example, "No. I wanted to come."

{Lie.} Boo told me, but in a way that made me feel she expected me to laud her incredible wit.

"Why?" Sabre asked again.

"Because…" I had no idea, "I just wanted to."

Harvey came over to excuse me for some work, "Pardon, Alpha. We have just over an hour to spare, would you rather debrief this morning's incident or deal with some of the papers on your desk first?"

"Oh!" Mum remembered all her initial worries, "Maybe you should stay, Sam. You definitely have more than enough on your plate as it is."

"It's no big deal, Mum." I tried to shrug it off. Savy had already attached herself to my arm from the moment she heard I was going. How could I change my mind now?

"I'm the Alpha. I can take it." It sounded cooler in my head.

"Oh, Sam." Mum sighed, "Listen to your Dad and pace yourself. When I see you like this, I can't help but worry."

"Like what?" I demanded. Mum was worried about everything… even if there was nothing to worry about. I felt quite sure all this worry was unwarranted.

"Sam, I sat in with your Dad last night at his meeting. I know what you've been up to." Mum said, "Merging the Green Packlands, making alliances across the continent... it's good to have ambition, but it's better to have discernment."

Oooohhh, Wolfgang would surely approve Mum's quoted wisdom.

"Yesterday, you made it sound like you were just going to meet your friends for coffee after the Spring Equinox concert! To think you were planning on formalizing your alliances!" Mum said accusingly.

I shrugged because I had no idea what she was talking about.

"And now you're trying to squeeze in tourism considerations into Night Forest's reforms..." Mum shook her head.

I'm sure I wasn't doing half of what Mum said.

"Sam, you're still 14..." Mum said.

"15." I corrected automatically, because 15 was cooler than 14.

"Even so, what 15 year old has to deal with all this?" Mum argued back, "These business negotiations and politics… I know you want to be the Alpha, and I believe in you, but it's okay to just leave it to your Dad and Bell for now. You're only young once, there's no hurry to grow up."

Seriously? Like had she not seen how childish Dad was every time Bell came near me?

"You should be going to the movies with your friends, daydreaming about boys, and experimenting with fashion... Not worrying about diplomatic ties and political relationships!" The more Mum thought about it, the more upset she got.

I was very, very sure I had never worried about diplomatic ties and whatever Mum was talking about. At any rate, my Morning Entourage wolves had resumed "active duty" now that breakfast was over, and I didn't want them to have to hear what Mum felt a teenager should be doing at my age. (Who would waste time daydreaming about boys? My mum had met the boys I hung out with right?)

"Mum, Mum, calm down." I told her, "It's not like that okay? I'm okay. Nobody has ever forced me to do anything (except you). Most of the time I'm just messing around having fun."

Mum didn't look convinced.

"I'm just really lucky, you know, and somehow things work out." I tried to brush it off.

Mum made a face of pure disbelief, "Sam, you're saying that you're merging the whole Green Packlands by luck?"

I gave her a wide grin, "I'm very lucky."

"And you've secured key alliances with the rest of the top packs in the plains by luck?" Mum pressed on.

I refused to back down, "I'm very, VERY, lucky."

"So much so that you're required to maintain a harem to foster diplomatic ties?" Mum asked.

Maintain a what now? I flared, "No, no, no... I'm not! It's not… It's not like that at all. You don't understand..."

Who told my Mum this garbage? I turned and glared at Fluffy. I don't know why, it just sounded like the kind of garbage that would have come out of his mouth.

Fluffy took my eye contact as a silent cue to speak up. He stepped forward and bowed politely, "What Pretty Alpha means to say is that the harem is out of her hands."

"As Pretty Alpha grows her network abroad and establish our pack's power, we can only expect the other powerhouses to take their side. No doubt, many packs will desire to increase their influence through good relations with our pack. It is inevitable that they will send powerful envoys and gift beautiful princes to our Pretty Alpha in hopes of winning her favor when she comes of age."

Which part of the dark ages did Fluffy drag up this kind of terrible messed up Lycan tale?

"I know." Mum closed her eyes monetarily, "But Sam is so young..."

"It is only a formality." Ki had the guile to reassure my Luna Mother with his beautiful smile, "All of the wolves in goddess' harem are well aware that they received this honor for their battle skills, specialized professional expertise, and political or economic functions."

Wth. What world were they pretending we were living in?