TONIGHT IN HOME NEWS

2 MARCH, TUESDAY, SUPER DUPER LATE

By the time Harvey was driving me home, it was dark out and I was hungry again, but Harvey had several pressing issues to report so food would have to wait.

Anyway, it's not like Harvey would have pizza in the car. So here's an upvote for exchanging the lambo for a fully stocked pizza van.

There were three particular updates that my good beta felt of import enough to highlight:

THE UNDERGROUND ARMY WAS MOVING IN! Like today. The move was expected to be completed by the end of the week, and I had been scheduled to attend the inspection of new temporary army quarters with Dad.

My good beta reminded me that we originally scheduled for the underground army to move over to our Packlands in the later part of Spring.

Yeah, I've read the report. Stephan had made careful plans for the army and supporting wolves to enter over the course of three weeks in small groups - team by team, family by family, so as not to arouse suspicion or alarm.

I mean, the whole continent would have freaked out if the Barbarian Night Leaf Pack of the Green Packlands suddenly brought a whole army into their land.

Not to mention the logistical nightmare of transporting a few hundred wolves and their belongings. This number included the elderly, women, and pups from Stephan's former Red Cloud Pack and ALL THEIR STUFF TOO.

But the rogue war happened and the Underground army DID storm into our Packlands in full force. For some reason, no one had questioned where this army of blue demons suddenly popped out from.

Maybe they all assumed the rumors that we were creating demon warriors in underground laboratories deep in our forests were true. As if to confirm to rumors, we even called them the Underground Army. I doubt we'd ever talk ourselves out of this one, so let's just not even try.

Anyway, the elders seemed to have similar thoughts - not about the rumors of underground occult experimental facilities, I mean the idea of that was so ludicrous, no one here would even give it a second thought.

But what had been decided was that since we've gotten all of them into the packlands, we might as well save us all the trouble of moving them out and back in again. And we were also in the same mind that since no one was asking, we wouldn't have to give any answer.

"My Dad thinks the High Council is already up to their necks with the current issues." Harvey told me.

Did he mean the current issues as in the Red Packlands (still on fire), and the Black Packlands (still on lockdown)? I supposed I had Bell to thank for that.

Anyway, temporary dorms have been set up for the men here and the warriors are being integrated into the pack through joint patrol and training exercises with the Morning Light warriors under Gamma Endo.

Gamma Endo? Why Gamma Endo? We did want the new wolves to actually feel welcomed right?

In my imagination, my underground army would have moved into their apartments in Princess Town. They would have little welcome packs prepared for them, with a towel and toothbrush... And we'd have a pack BBQ in their honor.

But it sounded like they were kept in makeshift metal containers with Gamma Endo as their welcome committee. Why Gamma Endo?

I mean, I respect that he was my elder, and really good at certain things and he meant well (I think), but did no one else notice his jarring sense of interpersonal skills?

Part of me wouldn't be surprised if half my army quit by the end of the week.

"Why Gamma Endo?" I asked feeling kind of sorry at the turn of events.

"Pardon, Alpha?" Harvey looked like he didn't quite catch my question.

"No, it's nothing." I shrugged it off, "I was thinking we could welcome them more..."

Like more than putting them under Gamma Endo's brusque charge.

"Your Luna mother and Willow are organizing a pack pot luck for when the rest of Stephan's pack arrives." Harvey told me.

Yeah, they would.

Stephan had just returned to the underground base just before dinner. He sends his apologies for not being able to wait till I got home from school. In the meantime, Theo had been stationed here in his stead.

I tried to imagine how Theo and Gamma Endo would work together and couldn't.

THE FREE WOLVES WERE MOVING IN

In related news, Roy had brought out the remaining Free Wolves to pledge their allegiance to Dad. It was related because we had about 60 more new wolves - although these wolves weren't ex-fightdogs or demon warriors. Most of them lived simple farming lives, and were disproportionately female because most of the men had died in rogue attacks or joined the rogues (and died too).

Housing wouldn't be a problem. They wanted to continue living in their tiny villages, but now their kids could go to school at New Leaf Academy.

It was related because our elders had craftily decided to register them in our pack - as well as slip in the few hundred Underground wolves too - while we were at it. Like seriously? How were we going to get away with that?

"Roy thinks its still going to raise questions with the High Council though." Harvey told me.

I think Roy was right.

But unless something else popped up, this was the only excuse we could ride on to register everyone. Dad wanted all the new wolves to receive the paperwork that would give them the freedom to travel freely around the continent, and all the other rights and stuff that pack wolves in the Green Packlands got by birth - which included free and compulsory education till we were 18.

Which meant that EJ and Fluffy could go to school next term, not as bodyguards, but real students. And not just EJ and Fluffy - any wolf under 18. And any wolf over 18 would have access to subsidized night school if they should choose to study. I knew about this - it was one of the "radical" policies Dad had set up for Night Leaf.

Thank goddess for my Dad's radical foresight!

BELL HAS BEEN VERY NAUGHTY

What else was new? But Harvey was rather concerned. Even after they had bugged Bell's electronic communications and devices, they were unable to decipher what my luna might be up to now.

Bell had been regularly slipping away from the security detail Harvey had placed on him. Even Cobra had lost track of my Luna. According to Cobra's latest report, he managed to secretly follow Bell to the Underground Base until Bell stepped through a black portal and disappeared.

Harvey frowned as he told me this, "If it weren't Cobra, I wouldn't know how to believe it."

"You still don't believe it, do you?" I asked.

Harvey gave a wry smile, "A black portal opening out of thin air is kind of a stretch... It's almost like something from my grandmother's stories."

And then he asked me, "Do you believe it Alpha?"

I nodded. It's much easier to believe when you've seen it with your own eyes I guess. Bell was probably messing with his new inner circle of tygers.

But back to Harvey who didn't know about the existence of the tyger club in the Colored Mountains.

Last night, Alpha Lorent had contacted our office because he had thought Bell was working at the FAO. Meanwhile, we had all thought he was having dinner with his parents and settling stuff at the Lorents.

"What did we tell him?" I asked.

"Ki took the call." Harvey answered sounding somewhat relieved it wasn't him, "I believe he answered very vaguely about Bell not being at Night Leaf and then promise to pass the message for Bell to return the call when he next returns."

Harvey paused at this point, "Should we not have covered for our Luna?"

My poor betas, loyal to a fault and being stringed along by my luna!

"If you cover for him, he'd keep using the FAO as his excuse whenever he disappears." I warned, and then I remembered the way my beautiful mate had last looked at me ~ Mate ❤️, shining like the most elegant prince in his Lorent Alpha mode, "But he's my luna after all, I suppose its better he uses our FAO as his base than anywhere else."

I tried to justify my decision, "Bell probably just needs his own space."

As in literally, the other Tygers told him he needed a den.

And I was NOT letting Boo's instinctive and huge crush on Mate influence my decision.

"If he disappears again, just look the other way for now. Maybe instead of guarding him, we should just be on the alert for any trespassers from the Colored Mountains."

Although, now that Bell was king of the Tygers, I doubt anyone would be sending assassins or anything so direct. How to kill a Tyger? I'm sure there was a book about it somewhere. Based on common lycan legends it would be a monumental task - like the kind requiring a hero and his brave companions to go through many trials and tests before even facing off the monster. Like in Lycan legends, the Tyger was the End Boss kind of guy.

Which didn't really reassure me at all. After all, didn't all End Bosses die at the end?

Bell should really re-position himself. Maybe Ki could help him set up a PR campaign to make him the misunderstood End Boss. Or set up the game for the hero to "win" without anyone actually dying - much like what Heller did. When I first heard the story, I thought it was just a funny anecdote, but now that I'm picturing Bell in those shoes, I'm beginning to see what a conundrum it was - as much as I would want the hero to win, I didn't want Bell to die for it!

"Are we expecting unwanted visitors, alpha?" Harvey looked even more concerned now.

"I don't know." I said, "But just in case, have the men briefed, if any wolf claims to be from the colored Mountains, bring them directly to me. Treat them respectfully and avoid any direct confrontation. Let's not give them an excuse to cause trouble until I'm around."

Then, if any Colored Mountain Prince or Tyger or Hero or whatever tried to mess around here in my packlands, I would crush them.

"Understood, Alpha." Harvey nodded.

"Don't worry." I tried to reassure him, "I've made more friends than enemies on the mountains, so any visitor could be just a friend dropping by."

Like dropping off a mountain to come over kind of dropping by.

Actually, I've only made friends on the Mountains. It was Bell who might be having the unwanted visitors, not me. But he was my soulmate. My other half. His unwanted visitors were now my unwanted visitors. Oh! I'm so adulting right now!

Harvey's report ended just as we passed through Gate City. We were almost home.

"Did you get the report about Fluffy catching fire just now?" I asked as Harvey navigated the traffic in the city.

Harvey's mouth pressed into a firm line, "Yes, I did, Alpha."

"I want to be present at his inquest." I said, because I distinctly remembered Ki telling Fluffy to see him when we got back, and I've read enough reports to understand that an "Inquest Report" would be filed after this.

"Understood, Alpha." Harvey nodded, "Do you have any other instruction regarding the matter?"

I shook my head, "I want to hear what Fluffy has to say first."

It's not like I could say, "I want to be treated like a grown up now so I should be the one taking responsibility for the fire."

No, that would just totally backfire on me.

I looked out of the window to give my good beta space to go onto mind-link and make the appropriate arrangements. The windows were dark, so I could see my own reflection in the glass. Beyond it, I could see the scenery speed by as we traveled down the straight road home. I watched the stars seemingly appear as we left the city. The night sky was always the most beautiful out here in my packlands. The stars here always shone sharper, and the color of the clear night sky was always an inky blue - very much like the color of my hair.

I felt myself release a happy sigh, "I love the sky over our home. Did you ever notice how our packlands is under the best patch of sky in the world?"

Harvey's wry smile tugged his lips upwards again, "Not in those words, Alpha. But I've often looked up to admire the stars in the night. They're a beautiful sight."

Yeah, me too.

"It's not just the stars though." I said to my side of the window, "Sometimes when the sky is clear, I stare into it and try to see through it."

"To see through it, Alpha?" Harvey asked.

"Yes, like a window." I said, poking the glass pane in front of my face, "Maybe the sky is just a window to what is outside our world."

Of course I could never see past the sky. Maybe the sky was tinted windows, where you could look in, but not out.

We got quiet for a while. It was a comfortable silence. I don't know when it had become so natural to ride with Harvey.

So much had changed since my shift this year. At first I felt my world turn upside down, but after having my world get flip repeatedly, I lost track or what was up or down, and next thing I knew, here I was cruising down the road home with my own beta - of which I had three, in my own car - of which I had 5, wait no, the Porsche exploded, so 4. I even had my own phone, a surface pro, and a social media channel (which I hadn't posted anything on since the LuvluvMuun episode... I wondered what happened to that?.) I even had a gorgeous (albeit troublesome) mate! Bell was really proving the old adage, "Beautiful Lunas are nothing but trouble." or the one about "Roses always have thorns." There were a lot of old adages about beautiful lunas and despite being a guy, Bell was checking them off one by one. But the point was, I had a soul mate. A proper, pure blood, alpha level, rare healer type wolf - not a merman or salamander or anything like that.

All in all, I've been very lucky, and except for my own credit card (I had Bell's - did that count?), I now had everything I thought I'd ever want as a cool grown up.

Now all that's left was for me to actually grow up.