MY DAD'S SECRETLY CRAZY

"Alright." Dad considered this, "But I want you to answer the next question on your own, Sam. Do you THINK there is a security concern, or do you KNOW it?"

I was confused for a moment because I didn't understand immediately that Dad was asking if I had used my gift of insight.

"Urm… I KNOW it's a possibility that I THINK we should try to NOT avoid?" I tried my best to explain, "You know, cos of that saying, 'oftentimes by avoiding our fate, we run straight into it' so instead of purposely avoiding a particular path, we should very coincidentally veer just slightly off course?"

Dad sank back into his chair and pinched his brow, "Sam, please try to help me understand what you're saying."

So I told Dad about our time traveling trip this morning. The more I said, the more incredulous the entire episode sounded, but neither Dad nor Beta Lucas stopped me. I told them almost everything - just leaving out the last bit about being pregnant (because I hadn't come to terms with that myself) and my betas' future scandals (because I had mercy on them). By the time I was done, I wasn't sure what to expect. Would my Dad believe me?

Dad leaned back into his chair.

"Hoo boy…" Beta Lucas sighed, "I can't believe what I'm hearing."

"I'm telling the truth!" I said.

"I'm not saying you aren't, Sam." Beta Lucas clarified, "It's just… Hoo boy…"

Dad shook his head, "You're too old to be playing make believe."

"I'm not!" I was immediately offended, "I'm telling the truth!"

"I told them not to come back." Dad muttered into his hand.

Eh, what?

"I actually want to see the pie." Beta Lucas suddenly changed the subject.

"There would be no pie." Dad firmly and immediately shot that notion down, "We move the prisoner tonight. Once at the Tribunal Holding Cell, there would be no contact with the outside world."

"But Alpha," Beta Lucas reminded Dad, "You promised to let Mimi visit her son one last time before sending him to the Tribunal."

Dad's mouth turned down and he growled very lowly.

Nobody said a word.

When I heard that Jude's name could no longer be mentioned in front of our Alpha, when our pack took it further and Jude became the-one-that-could-not-be-named, when the word "traitor" became synonymous to Jude among our warriors, I had thought it was something like the way our wolves didn't step on the Alpha's lawn. Something that got blown way out of proportion, but now that I saw Dad's raw feelings about Jude, I began to understand our pack's hatred towards the traitor.

I had never seen my Dad in pain like this before.

"Dad?" I lifted up my hand toward him, but wasn't sure if I should touch him. How did I not notice Dad's feelings all this while?

Dad stopped growling and ran a hand through his hair, "How was I so blind?"

Shouldn't that be my line?

But what could I do? Dad had explicitly ordered that neither me nor my betas were allowed to dirty our hands over Jude's matter.

"Hoo boy." Beta Lucas noted my hair flaring, "What are you thinking, Sam?"

"I'm just thinking it was lucky that I beat him up the first time we met." I was a little more than annoyed, "I should've hit him harder back then."

Dad sighed and leaned back in his chair, "You always had a better eye than I ever did. I should have killed him back then."

But wasn't Jude just a baby when Dad first met him? I know they were trespassing, so it was legally Dad's right, but that didn't make it right.

"No, Dad. You did the right thing." I didn't think Dad should blame himself, "He was the one who bit the hand that fed him. He was the traitor who turned around and shot his brothers. He was the one who betrayed our land and colluded with rogues. He did it all on his own."

"Such a pity." Dad spoke as if to himself, "He had so much potential. I keep wondering what went wrong."

Was he asking me?

"You mean besides the fact that he's delusional and crazy?" I shrugged. Ben would have been much better at pointing out all the crazies. Where was my beta when I needed him? Nursing a bad mood. Right.

But suddenly, I understood what Ben was saying earlier, "Today, I met some girls during lunch at the Destitute House. They were kinda rude, but I felt bad for them cos I think they had it rough. I didn't let Wolfgang or Harvey do anything about it."

"Ben said that if I let them off the hook, they'd never learn their lesson and would get into bigger trouble in the future." I told Dad, "I think they'd just go to school and make friends, maybe even fall in love, and live happily ever after. What do you think?"

Dad had his thinking frown on so Beta Lucas decided to answer for him, "Sam... If a wolf is out of line, of course a beta must put him in his place. You must understand... a wolf that doesn't know it's place in his pack, has no place in the pack."

"They're just teenage girls." I argued, "Plus they just got here."

"Hoo boy. I should have a word with the Matron." Beta Lucas considered.

"No! Not the Matron!" I mean, if I knew this would happen, I would've just let Wolfgang lecture them on the spot.

I quickly changed the subject, "Anyway, that isn't the point. Never mind a few teenage girls. My point is..."

What was my point?

Dad sighed again, "Well, what's done is done. It's not like I could turn back time and do over..."

And then he stopped talking and looked at me, "The talking cats that could time travel - are they still here?"

"No!" I flared, "I mean, yes, but no! It's dangerous, if the cat takes a wrong gate, you'd get lost. I mean, you might not be able to come back!"

Dad blinked at me, "I suppose I could send someone else..."

"Alpha, I'll go." Beta Lucas immediately volunteered.

"No, Lucas. Not you." Dad said.

Then who?

"Wait, Dad. Exactly what are you thinking of doing?" I was seriously starting to worry.

Dad shook his head, "That's enough. We'll discuss this later."

When later? Like later, when I'm not around? Wth. I was totally freaking out. My Dad was probably going to do something crazy.

"Fine. But they're my cats. I found them first. If you wanna use them, you need to tell me what you're planning. If you wanna go, you gotta take me too!" Of all the crazies that happened today (and today was full of crazies), my old reliable Dad right now took the gold medal for crazy. How can I let my crazy Dad go all alone?

"Hoo boy!" Beta Lucas sighed, "Somethings never change."

Eh, what?

"Alright." Dad was surprisingly agreeable.

"But Alpha..." Beta Lucas started.

"It's fine, Lucas." Dad lips twitched upwards, "Anyway, she's grown up now. It's not like she'll fall off the back of a bike or let you hide her in a tree and lose her."

Beta Lucas looked a little contrite, but he persisted, "Alpha, I don't think time traveling is the same as hunting rogues…. Or vampires either."

I'm not sure why Beta Lucas added the second bit. There were no vamps in the Green Packlands ever.

Right?

But looking at Dad lean forward, his voice just slightly growly, "Right, Sam. You're all grown up now and you still want to follow your Dad around?"

I nodded and swallowed. My Dad was dapper again, with a dangerous air about him.

{Fun.}

Who? Dad? Omo. Why did I not know about this? (And did Mum know what kind of wolf she mated?)

"Fine." Dad's wolf eyes shone, "But I'm the alpha, Sam. If you come along, you will do EXACTLY as I say."

I nodded again. Dad was using Alpha command, so it wasn't like I could argue anyway.

"And," Dad looked me squarely in the eye, "You absolutely cannot tell your Mum."

I think... Well, at the moment, I really didn't know what to think. This was my Dad, right?

My Dad was crazy. {Fun}

I looked to Beta Lucas for help. Surely he must have seen how Dad was not being himself.

"As your beta, I have to warn you..." Beta Lucas started.

"Don't, Lucas." Dad said.

"But Alpha, you made me swear that I would remind you!" Beta Lucas protested.

"I don't want to hear it." Dad said with his stubborn jawline set.

"But Dad, you said that an Alpha who doesn't listen to his Beta will come to ruin!" I reminded him, mostly because I wanted to hear it too.

"Fine. Say it." Dad reluctantly allowed.

"Remember the last time we time traveled, it took us 20 years to return to our right timeline." Beta Lucas said, "And Alpha you told me never again!"

"Oh, yes. I vaguely remember something like that." Dad allowed.

Wait, what? Wth!

"You said that you never wanted to see another talking cat again." Beta Lucas continued, "And to stop you if you ever try to time travel again and tell you THE FUTURE IS SHIT!"

"Oh." Dad said, as if just remembering, "Yes, but I hadn't met my Luna yet. I was still young and foolish."

"Now I know better." Dad smiled, but the expression was a little scary, "And we aren't going into the future, we are going back into the past."

How was that any better?

"And besides, based on Sam's story, the cats this time seem more competent." Dad said, "They didn't miss the exit point even once."

"To hell with the cats, Alpha! Isn't it obvious that it was Sam who found the exit points?" Beta Lucas exclaimed.

"Right." Dad nodded, "My daughter is amazing."

"I'm just lucky." I said. Dad wasn't in his right frame of mind, I needed to be the sensible one, "We can't just grab a cat and go either. We need supplies and a plan."

Even as I said this, there was a tiny part of me that wanted to secretly mindlink Mum and tell her that Dad's gone bonkers.

But to be honest, I really wanted to go with Dad.

{Fun.} Boo promised, and Boo was never wrong about these things.