CAN'T LIVE ON BREAD ALONE

I'm lying awake in my bed, furious.

As with every prophetic dream I've had so far, the alarm gives me a minute, and starts to ring.

Welcome to a bright and beautiful Sunday morning!

I pick up the alarm clock and throw it across the room. It continued ringing from across the room.

Savy opened my bedroom door, "Rough night?"

She picked up the poor blaring alarm clock from the doorway and stopped it. Then put it neatly on the dresser next to her.

She was still wearing her dress pajamas. It's just like mine but with red flower prints instead of blue ones.

They were really girly and frilly, the kind that a mum would buy for her daughters. Which was in fact what happened.

"I left your bed last night when you started growling in your sleep." Savy told me.

"You didn't think to wake me up?" I growled back.

She cackled, "Let sleeping dogs lie."

I threw a pillow at her. It hit her and sent her cackling as she fled, slamming the door shut behind her. I heard her holler down the stairs "Angry Alpha is awake! Everyone take cover!" And more cackling.

I wished evilly that we would have guests downstairs right now just to witness Savy the angel run down stairs cackling in her red flower print pajamas.

I strained my ears hoping to hear a few shocked gasps, but I just heard mum's soft warning, "Savy, don't provoke your sister."

"It's fine mum." Savy told her, "She's harmless."

"To you," My mum clarified, "but think for poor Ben and Jonah."

And then I remembered that Sunday Morning is breakfast at the pack house and I felt my mood lift slightly at the thought of freshly baked homemade bread with a buffet of toppings and hanging out with everyone.

After that, mum, Savy, and I will help make sandwiches with the leftovers from the buffet for Morning Light's Destitute Home.

Mum and some of our pack's women visit there every Sunday afternoon, bringing sandwiches and fruits for lunch to the women living there. Mum says they like the sandwiches, especially when we make them pretty and wrap them neatly with paper lace dollies and plastic. We cut all the fruit and put them in plastic cups too. But more than the sandwiches and fruit, mum says these women just need the break from work and kids, tea, and conversation.

It's not easy being a single parent. Many of these women had left the pack they grew up in to follow their mates to the Morning Light Pack, and when their mates died in battle, they were left alone or with young pups.

Sometimes I go with them, but it's very boring and some of their stories are really sad. Sometimes when I hear them talk, I feel like their sadness gets passed to me. My mum says she feels like that too. When she listens to the women, her white wolf helps absorb their sadness.

"I'm a white wolf?" I had asked.

"I think," Mum paused to choose her words, "You're just very sensitive."

Savy on the other hand, never went near the destitute house. She always had an excuse not to go to the destitute house, to hospital visitations, to funerals...

"It's very depressing." Savy confided to me.

"All the more we should go support them." I argued.

But Savy only shook her head, "I don't care, I don't want to."

That is why I think Savy had a white wolf. Because I don't think Savy doesn't care, I think she cares too much.

Savy has the softest and kindest heart I've ever known, and maybe because I knew, I've always instinctively shielded her.

Like whenever pack members come to talk to us, I would always field the conversation. Or if she thought any of our friends were troubled, I'm the one who asks what's up.

Some white wolves can heal, some can alleviate pain. It was said that in the mountains, there were white wolves who could resurrect the dead.

My mum's white wolf calms by absorbing the intensity of other's emotions.

"When I was young, I would cry and cry at funerals," Mum had told me.

"You don't cry now." I told her.

"I had to learn to filter and block out the floating emotions in the atmosphere, and control how much I can help with at each time." Mum explained.

Maybe that's what Savy will have to learn one day too. But until that day, if there was anything to make Savy cry would have be over my dead body.

Getting out of bed, I hopped into the shower and lathered on happiness. By the time I picked out my clothes, I was feeling pretty good again. It helped that I liked what I saw in the mirror.

My hair fell really straight today. Usually it's a little wavy but sometimes when the humidity is low, it falls perfectly straight.

I pulled up my lashes with black mascara, and touched up just a bit with BB cream.

Tight white t-shirt with the words "I'M WITH STUPID" (it's extra funny when I wear this and stand next to my dad or generally anyone trying to say something serious to the pack.) and a pair of over-washed skinny jeans. New shoes! The white skateboard sneakers from yesterday.

And then a loose black vested cardigan that flowed down to mid thigh, my fave denim sling bag, and I'm good to go.

I like dressing up on Sundays. It's my vain day. I usually spend most of the day out, don't have any training happening, and I meet a lot of people, so it's a nice change from my school or training clothes.

Savy frowned at my t-shirt when I got downstairs, "Don't stand near me today."

She was wearing her lighter brown curls in a pony tail this morning, there was a gold star clip on her head. Her T-shirt was also white today, it had a gold star printed on it. And she wore it with a red plaid skirt, grey tights, and a black crop jacket and boots. I had a matching navy blue plaid skirt upstairs. Because mum bought them for us. Every time mum bought us clothes, they were always in matching pairs. She explained that she wanted to be a fair mum.

"I'm just going to change my skirt!" I ran back upstairs.

I heard dad sigh at the front door.

"Change your t-shirt too!" Savy yelled.

"No time!" I yelled back. I started stripping the moment I hit my room. I pulled on a pair of tights, my plaid skirt... I'm sorry new shoes. You'll have to wait for another day. I pulled on my boots and ran back down.

The skirt was pretty short. My long vest cardigan was about the same length. That's why the tights. I like to think I could kick someone's stupid head should the occasion arise, without showing off the color of my panties.

Anyway, our family was finally out the door. We took a short walk over to the pack house dining hall next door. I can smell good stuff happening in there. Bacon, eggs, something chocolaty... And homemade fresh baked bread. Oh the bread! The bread our pack house serves is the best bread in the world! Crusty on the outside with the softest fluffiest insides ever.

If I ever get mated out of our pack. I'd ask my family to being bread when they visit. Just bread.

Once, while I was in West Mountain, our teacher asked what everyone's favourite food was, and I said "bread."

"What kind of bread?" The teacher asked.

"Plain bread." I said.

I realized from the reaction from the rest of the kids that this wasn't normal.

It's not that I don't like pizza or ice-cream or anything. But they have not eaten our pack house bread.

So I waste no time at the dining hall, I take thick slices of lightly toasted bread from the serving tray and start loading it with goodies at the buffet table. Bacon, scrambled eggs, and beans on one slice. And then a sunny side top eggs on another, with some sliced avocado picked out from the salad bowl. The third slice just butter. Because bread is amazing like that. And because my plate could only balance two loaded slices at a time.

"Someone has an Alpha appetite today." Delta Simon chuckled as he passed. His mate Aunty Lily slapped his arm scolding, "Please Uncle, don't tease teenage girls about their appetites!"

Delta Simon was our pack's head doctor. Aunty Lily is like an Aunty to every child in the pack. She liked to go around referring herself as "Aunty" and Delta Simon as "Uncle". They had two daughters, Sandra and Sally. They are younger than my gang.

"No worries." I shrugged, "I'm pretty proud of my appetite."

Delta Simon's laughter boomed, "See! You girls learn from Sam now!"

Sandra groaned audibly. I see Sally laugh and rolled her eyes at their dad.

Delta Simon continued laughing. He's one of those men who didn't get offended easily I guess.

I heard Susan's voiced from a table behind us, "No dad! One double chocolate chip muffin doesn't equal to two chocolate chip muffins!"

Her dad guffaws, "Okay, okay princess. Daddy will go back and get the right one."

I pretty much blinked in surprise, but kept walking towards our table. I can't imagine ever talking to my dad like that.

I heard Beta Lucas the moment I put my plate down, "Okay, okay, fine." His hands are up in surrender. Naturally, he was talking to Princess Lizzy. I grinned as I sat down in front of my plate. Ben grumbled next to me, "He's always like that with Lizzy."

The people who say that men who have mates are whipped, never met the men who have daughters.

Or maybe it was just something that happens in our pack.

My mum said when I was born, my dad would carry me around everywhere on Sundays. "I guess it was his way of helping me out." She reminiscence. Later on, as more babies were born, the dads in our pack started carrying their babies around too. I guess since even the alpha helped with baby carrying, the other big manly warriors could too.

"Next time, don't wake up so late." Lizzy was saying to Beta Lucas.

"Okay, next time we'll see." Beta Lucas promised.

Gamma Harry laughed at that. He could, since he had no daughters.

It's nice being a girl in our pack. I eat my toast happily. I'm counting the blessings... The boys hold the doors for us, we can but we don't have to train as warriors, and it looks like as far as our daddies are concerned, we are princesses.

Well most of us anyway. I've never been the princessy type. I'm more of the future Alpha type.

I polished off the last of my toast. Ben got up for seconds. Jonah followed. I got up too and head over for some fruit. On the way, I snagged a few mini sausages, and a couple of chocolate chip pancakes. By the time I'm done, Ben was standing in front of the fruit station, a massive pile up on his plate. He offered me an apple, and took one for himself. We head back to the table together.

Jonah joined us at the table with omelette. He laughed, "Nice t-shirt by the way."

Ben read my t-shirt and stepped away growling.

Our table for Sunday pack breakfast was always our three families.