TRICK 4: LITTLE ALPHA GHOST AND THE BIG MEN MEETING

26 FEBRUARY FRIDAY DINNER TIME (BUT NO ONE WAS EATING)

As a ghost, I realized I was running away a lot. First from screaming girls, and now a pizza fight. I grinned when I recalled the scene in the dining hall. Hahaha, we were all going to be in so much trouble when this is over. But since I was going to be discovered eventually, I might as well prank everyone properly. There was only one thing worse than getting in trouble for playing pranks - and that is playing weak pranks. And also, from my experience, there is a cap on the severity of the punishment the adults could think up. Once, you've hit it, you might as well max it.

Just for starting the fight in the packhouse dining hall, I was probably going to be "volunteering" for clean up duty at the packhouse kitchen for the rest of the year.

I might as well go all out - like haunt our packlands and freak everyone out. But how?

Savy, Lizzy, and Sabre were in Savy's walk-in wardrobe discussing something in serious tones. I think it was about whether red was an appropriate first date color to wear or something. It sounded rather technical, like with ratios, and words like hue, tint, shade, and tone, and psychological findings.

(And if you were wondering about whether red was an appropriate first date color, their conclusion was the kind of answer I hated most - a complicated one. In a nutshell, it depends on a hundred and one things from the shade or amount of red, to the appropriateness of the occasion and venue, to yours and his personal image and preferences. But in the most general way, red should be avoided or used with caution.)

I left the pizza on top of Savy's bed and slipped back out of the room. Let's see, who should I prank next? I guess since I've pranked Ki and Ben, it wouldn't be fair to exclude my good beta right? Maybe I should help Harvey reply Ki's covetous email about his precious truck. Hahaha. Okay! Let's go find Harvey!

I found Harvey in the conference room, with all the serious big men wearing heavy set expressions. At the head of the table was my Dad wearing this thinking frown. Beta Lucas sat on his left. Alpha Gunter was on his right, his long silver white hair in his usual straight pony tail. He was the only one wearing some semblance of a smile, even though it was a tight one. Beta Glenn sat next to him, making the meeting room chair look small because of his broad shoulders. Even though Beta Glenn's skin was an olive tan, his hair was also silver-white and in the same traditional long pony tail snow wolf warriors wore. For male snow wolves, their hair was a symbol of their standing and seniority in their pack. If a snow wolf were to leave his pack, he would cut off his hair to start anew. As in, it was that serious. A young warrior newly shifted or sworn into the pack would have the sides of their head shaven, and the hair on top tied into a small stump - this would be their new start.

I hadn't seen any such hair stumps on our visiting wolves, so it either meant that the youngsters didn't follow this tradition any longer, or Alpha Gunter only brought his more experienced warriors.

The power of young wolves is in the strength of their legs, the power of old wolves is in the wisdom of the ancients. This was one of the basic lycan lessons taught at most lycan schools. But did you know, in the original texts from the Colored Mountains, the word used was not "wisdom" but "magic"? Mrs Beta had mentioned it once, but I could never forget it. Personally, wisdom and magic felt like quite different meanings. Perhaps the wolves on the plains changed it because most of us have long lost or diluted our bloodline powers since leaving the mountains.

There were only a few kinds of wolves who still retained their powers here in the plains. Firstly, the Snow Wolves, because until recent history, they've lived in seclusion from the rest of the continent, wrapped in their own magical protection of falling snow and white singing stones. Much is written recorded about them in lycan legends, but very little about the real life ones that were seated in the room today. Then again Alpha Gunter himself was the Great Teacher of the Colored Mountain, so I kinda felt like the lines separating reality and legend were pretty blurred when it came to Snow Wolves. Okay, I admit, with all my heart, I hope our new Snow Wolf friends were EXACTLY like what the lycan legends write about because THAT WOULD BE EPIC! Snow Wolves were the coolest!

Secondly, the healing wolves - but only if they were selective in their breeding. It was very important for healing wolves from old lineages to mate their soul mate, failing which, they would mate another healing wolf of equal or more innate powers. Most of these healing wolves hailed from the Glorious Lorent Pack next door (that's what the Lorents like to call their pack), although there were a handful of notable healers spread across the other lands too, and every now and then a rare white healer wolf without any particularly known bloodline or power. Like my Mum and Savy - they didn't even heal actual physical wounds. But white healing wolves were rare like unicorns even on the Colored Mountains, no matter how weak or quirky their powers, they were their pack's treasure.

Thirdly, the other wolves. It really sucks that this third category's name was so blah, especially since all the bloodlines I had inherited fell in this. By now, only Alpha, Beta, and some Gammas in the continents still retain the purity of their bloodlines to inherit the power of their ancestor's wolves. Some say its because only such wolves would have the connection and power to make sure each generation mated correctly, if not to their soul mate, then to another wolf of compatible bloodline. It's very complicated.

Dad says wolves should just mate their own soul mate and "job done". Anything more was just extra trouble for everyone. But especially because it seemed like wolves from Alpha and Beta families had so many political considerations, I've always felt it was sometimes harder for an Alpha or Beta wolf to mate his own soul mate. Not all alpha dads were as "radical" and "forward thinking" as mine.

Maybe it was just the magic density we lived in now. Our Green Packlands was nearest to the Colored Mountains, and the Snow Wolves lived on the foundation of white singing stones. Yeah, I guess that could theoretically be the reason why our wolves grew so large, or manifested various abilities. Maybe.

Whatever it was, it was weird for my dad and Alpha Gunter to be sitting at the same table now. We were worlds apart. Wolfgang wasn't far off when he called us primitive. We were a very down to earth and practical pack - even the establishment of Gate City was out of necessity for the continued survival and well being of the packs living in the backwoods. I mean, we were literally living in the woods at the back of our city.

Alpha Gunter's Snow Moon Pack (soon to be Kingdom) was probably the closest thing to the Colored Mountains you could find on the plains. Now that I've met them, I felt quite sure they were even more traditional and lycan than the Lorents (which was until recently my benchmark of traditional and cultural.) I was just a frog in a well.

Gamma Harry and Gamma Endo were also present. Normally, Gamma Harry would be distracted or sleeping and Gamma Endo would sit with his hands behind his head or be shaking his legs at the back. These two were not the best examples on how to sit in meetings, but today they actually sat pensively still.

Maybe I just entered at a tense moment. I had popped in through a window after looking in to make sure Harvey was in this room.

Harvey and Bell were the last two attendees for this meeting. Harvey's laptop was connected to the projector and I could see the minutes being taken in silence while he tap tappity tap tap on his laptop.

Let's see... I scanned the newest minuted point. Okay, everyone's all serious because Alpha Gunter had just suggested Dad called for the motion to put Jude on formal trial and for treason.

WAIT WHAT? That's like a death penalty thing, right?

Beta Lucas raised his hand, "There's a bit of red tape to navigate, for example, we'd need to get Alpha Lorent to sign off some papers... but I don't see the problem."

Beta Gerald raised his hand, "Yes... although besides signing documents, certain motions have to be placed through the Green Packland Courts to the High Council, including the initiation of a war crimes tribunal to carry out the formal trial in a transparent and equitable manner..."

"Like I said," Beta Lucas concluded for Beta Gerald, "I don't see a problem."

"How long would the process take?" Dad asked.

"With the High Council involved, anytime from six to 24 months, Alpha." Beta Gerald answered.

"Oh! That's too long!" Gamma Endo blurted out, "We'd be feeding the m************ for two years for nothing."

"Please mind your language Endo." Beta Gerald reminded the gruff beta primly, but he was soft spoken so neither gammas seem to notice.

"We don't have to feed him Momoshiros, just kitchen leftovers." Gamma Harry made a chuffing sound so I knew he was cracking another one of his jokes, "I can also ask my wife to cook for him."

And then Gamma Harry laughed heartily at his own joke.

Beta Lucas didn't laugh, "Harry, we don't want him to die before the trial."

"Why don't we just give him a chance to escape, then we'd kill him while hunting him down?" Gamma Endo suggested.

"Please omit that from the minutes, son." Beta Gerald rested his forehead momentarily in his palm.

Gamma Endo chuckled, "I was just joking."

See, I told you these two didn't sit well in meetings. They nearly fooled me with their serious expressions earlier, but the moment they opened their mouths, they proved to be up to their usual baloney. Haha.

"If you choose to submit this motion to the High Council, may I suggest you raise it at the upcoming emergency meeting?" Alpha Gunter advised, "If you wait for the next official one, it might take up to another 8 months."

Dad nodded briefly.

"I will second your motion at the meeting." Alpha Gunter promised.

And then Bell smirked, "Alpha Gunter, you are being unusually forthcoming today. Could there be any other reason for you to go out of your way like this?"

Alpha Gunter smiled thinly at Bell, "I am also looking after my own interest. Even though you might consider me an outsider here, Sam is now my formally my disciple. Also, it is our blessing that her sister, Savy, is my son and heir's soul mate and future queen of the newly established Snow Moon Kingdom. I am only suggesting to Alpha Kingsley what I would do myself should I be the one in his shoes. Alpha Jude is a grave threat to the future of Moon Bell and consequently our mutual pack alliance. I will remind you that he had planned to take Sam as his mate and usurp Night Leaf's Alpha position from you."

A dark fume rose from around Bell's body where he sat, "Do you think I am mindless enough to react jealously just because you said it? Even if that was Jude's intention, even if this is your intention, this isn't Snow Moon. Here we have our own ways of dealing with scum like Jude."

"Yeah, we let him escape and then hunt him down and kill him." Gamma Endo agreed.

"Or feed him my wife's cooking." Gamma Harry addded.

Bell had already adapted to Night Leaf enough to completely ignore the two Gammas.

Beta Gerald looked at Harvey, but Harvey raised his hand and beat him to it, "I know, I'll omit the gammas' comments."

The two gammas laughed happily like they had made their point.

For some reason, it made me miss sitting in the long serious meetings. Maybe their purpose at these meetings were exactly just that - Gamma Harry and Gamma Endo were the side show distraction that just made these unpleasant things feel less painful to bear.

"Do you have another opinion, son?" Dad asked Bell then.

Bell shook his head, "You're the alpha, do what you want. But I know you had mentored and shielded Jude for many years now. Just know that if Jude does not die by your hands. He will die in mine."

There was a silence.

Wait, wait, wait! What about the lost boys? What about Mimi?

Grrr... why did I have to be a ghost now? Should I mindlink Dad? Or Bell? Or Harvey? Oh wait, I was supposed to be pranking my good beta! But now the mood was ruined. What should I do?