IT TURNED OUT TO BE A TEST AFTER ALL

"Why are we even talking about this?" I had about enough of the uneasy feelings stirring inside of me, "We're going back anyway, right?"

Can we just go back now? (And forget all this - and every alternate future this came with along with it). What's the point of talking through 34 alternative futures? Even if we checked out the future again, all we would find would be Version 35. And none of it was going to happen anyway because we WERE going back to our Original Timeline, right?

I mean, RIGHT?

I had a good point. It was obvious from the way my wolves stopped at the realization and then turned to silent contemplation - every wolf to his own mind from his own POV - which I had come to realized since ice cream with Wolfgang and Fluffy, could be very different from what was obvious to me.

"You're right, Sam." Dad said, "Since we have decided to return things to the way they were, there is very little reason to dally here, and even less reason to waste time discussing what could have been."

Except that Beta Lucas had to keep going on about the fire wolf pup. Like I think it burped a fireball into Beta Lucas' face, and from that point on, at least in the eyes of this elder beta, the fire wolf pup was THE MOST AMAZING PUPPY IN THE WORLD. Maybe it brought back fond memories of Fluffy-Kai's meltdowns in the year of his first shift… Beta Lucas used to call him alpha brat from hell.

Listening to the 34 versions, I had to conclude that the main character in this timeline was really Fluffy. He was the alpha after all. Without my blue alpha powers, I wasn't the Blue Alpha Princess anymore. I was just Sam. No wait, I wasn't even Sam. I was Kayla. The side character who the hero used to bully as a pup, but later realize was his soul mate, but because Fluffy was a tragic drama type of hero, he would have to lose everything he ever loved before he could rebuilding his life and pack from scratch.

I supposed that happened in his last timeline too - except he did all his suffering in the hands of the vamps and hit his rock bottom in the fight cages, so by the time he joined us, he was ready to rebuild a new life with our pack.

If we stayed in this timeline, Fluffy would have to sacrifice - first his own older brother, followed by the Morning Light Pack, and along with it, his soul mate… Dad and Beta Lucas died in the war. It was the fastest way to end it. His sworn brother, Bell, killed himself (one way or the other), both Ben and himself would bear many scars. In the later versions, he would walk with a limp for the rest of his life too.

But he would mate a healer princess from the Colored Mountains and she would heal his heart and together, they would revive the Night Leaf pack and the Greater Gate City. Fluffy would be known as Alpha Kaius the Wise. Flanked by his gentle healer luna and his powerful rugged Beta Ben, he would be the Alpha who reintroduced magic into the plains and changed our world forever.

At least I imagined that would be how his story would go… with me tucked safely away on the other end of the continent, far away from whatever horror he would have to suffer, and also whatever glory he would gain when he overcame. I would not be the she-wolf on his side.

Which hurt. A lot. I'm not sure what hurt more - the fact that he chose to push me away right from the start, or the fact that he never had me in his heart till the end.

"But this is YOUR opportunity." Dad said. (He was actually still speaking the entire time, but I had zoned out for a bit.)

I blinked, not knowing how to react to the announcement of an opportunity since I had no idea what the opportunity was about.

"You can take it as a test." Beta Lucas added.

Wait, what? So it really was a test?

I stole a peek at Wolfgang and Fluffy - could it be that they were right? Was this really a test all along?

"What do you mean a test?" I asked carefully.

"I'll leave the future to you young ones." Dad explained, "Show me what the next generation would do."

All we had to do was to come up with a new plan for this timeline, and then we'd take one last joy ride into the future (Version 35) to see how our plan played out.

Dad wanted to see what choices we would have made for our future should we have stayed in this timeline.

Beta Lucas wanted to see if we could beat their Version 34.

Both men seemed to think since we were going back to the undo point anyway, they could just let us attempt to fix the future and we'd be able to leave with nothing but a valuable learning experience. It would be a chance for us to learn from our mistakes in the most major scale ever. It really did feel a bit like a simulation game.

Anyway, our test was to plan our pack's future. Dad and Beta Lucas would leave us here to discuss it while they head back to the Alpha House for dinner. We had until after dinner to complete our plans. When we were ready, we'd make one last trip to the future, see what a mess we had made of it, and return home.

Wolfgang was frowning though.

Dad cleared his throat, "I know you warned us about over-tempering with the timeline, but since we would be returning to the Undo Point, this timeline would cease to exist."

"The timelines are intertwined with fate indefinitely." Wolfgang tried again to explain how we were making a terrible mistake, "It would be impossible to say for certain if one would not interfere with the other…"

"Yeah, yeah, Hotstuff." Ben rudely waved it off, "We heard you the first time, but since we've already knocked it up 34 times, once more isn't going to end the world."

"The world is harder to destroy than one would think." Dad agreed. Why? Did he try?

I begged to differ though. Off the top of my head, I already thought of two surefire ways. One, give Bell full power and freedom. Two, stop recycling.

Now that Dad and Beta Lucas felt that we had grasped our mission, it was high time for them to leave for dinner. Dad would make an excuse for me.

"I'll have food sent up from the Packhouse Kitchen." Beta Lucas added, "Ben, make sure you receive the food tray from outside the office. Do not let anyone find out about our meeting or recognize our guests. All of you are to stay in the office till Alpha and I get back."

Because yes, it would be bad if word got out that the Lorent's Beta Ki, and Morning Light's Young Beta Harvey, were secretly meeting Night Leaf's Young Alpha and Beta under the supervision of Night Leaf's Alpha Kingsley and Beta Lucas… it would be very sus.

We stood up at Dad's departure, and I guess it was just one of the new habits we picked up in the Original Timeline. The guys bowed and we all said, "Thank you for your guidance, Alpha."

Dad actually took pause at that. I don't think he expected that, in a timeline where it was like our lives was fixed to the normal Night Leaf everyday, a time before Ki, before the Alpha Princess, before anything remotely magical happened.

Except that I wasn't the same oblivious happy-go-lucky pup as I used to be pre-shift in my Original Timeline. I actually knew better. Just like Harvey, and Bell… the difficulties we overcame in our Original Timeline made us quite different wolves from who we would have become otherwise. I wasn't the Lala who was protected and sheltered all my life - I knew too much.

Was it funny that it took coming to another life and losing everything that I thought defined me for me to realize who I really was? Was that why it would take Fluffy to lose everything before he would take his life and pack and rebuild it with his own two hands? Well, maybe that would be simplifying it too much - we were talking about Fluffy after all, but I realized who I was would be whatever I took with my own two hands to become. As long as I let myself drift along with every push and pull of external expectations and obligations, I would never learn what it meant to be me.

The me I was did not depend on whether I was dropped on my head or not, whether I had Blue Alpha powers or not, who my soul mate was (or who I ended up mating), or even what my name was. I was me, and I was going to protect the happiness of everyone around me.

"So what's the plan?" Ben asked.

I grinned, I couldn't resist it, "We wing it."

"SAM!!!!" Ben was immediately exasperated. I laughed because it was fun for old time's sake. Ben without his wolf wasn't as exciting to provoke.

I pointed to myself, "You guys know I'm still just a puppy, right?"

When no one said anything, I added, "I'm not even an alpha wolf."

"Then who are we supposed to follow?" Ben asked, "Him?"

At this, all the guys turned to Fluffy to consider it. Harvey folded his arms and pressed his lips together. Wolfgang was already crossed armed since all that fire wolf pup talk, so he just remained that way. Ki's gentle smile was firmly in place, but he said nothing.

Fluffy smiled, "Should I take silence to mean consent?"

"Of course not!" Wolfgang snapped now.

"With all due respect, Alpha." Ben took great pleasure pointing out, "You were leading us in every version of the future so far, and I'm sure you've seen how it turned out."

"Are you saying it's my fault?" Fluffy smiled.

"More like, your pattern." Harvey muttered under his breath.

"Like is it really necessary for you to be in the car when Kev crashes?" Ben pointed out.

"I've noticed more than one point at which the civil war might be adverted too." Wolfgang pointed out, "And also too many breeches in reporting, military, and territorial regulations to count."

"Technically…" Harvey decided to point out here, "Morning Light is a tenant on Night Leaf land, so the territorial statutes would not apply as per standard ruling."

But he had no immediate argument for the reporting and military infringements.

"You seem to run your administration the same way as you drive." Wolfgang commented.

Harvey actually coughed into his hand. I think he really hadn't meant to laugh out loud at that.

Fluffy shrugged, angelic smile at high beam, "It's not my fault that the rules keep popping up like red lights."

Ben groaned, "You know, its not that I care about the rules…"

"You should." Harvey told him.

Ben shrugged, "I just don't love the direction we're heading with you."

"Was that why you eloped with my Pretty La and ran away?" Fluffy asked.

Ben took a physical step back, "What? No! Shut up, Fluff!"

I laughed and shook my head, "Ben and me are impossible."

Ben frowned at me, "Yeah, but you don't have to sound so happy about that."

I laughed some more.

Anyway, the point was that nobody wanted to follow Fluffy into Tragic Melodramatic Future Take 35.

"We can't put all the blame on him." Wolfgang stepped up in Fluffy's defense, "In those versions of the future, Fluff was only responding to the circumstances. He had no way of knowing that Alpha Kingsley and Beta Lucas had been plotting in the background."

"Although I'm sure I suspected it, at least." Fluffy smiled.

Because it didn't just have to a tragic melodramatic future, it had to be buffeted by a severely overcomplicated plot.

And then Ben had a bright idea, "Fine, Sam. We'll do it your way. If you wanna wing it, we'll wing it"

To Harvey, he said, "Take out paper or whatever you have to take notes. Let's draw out our plan to wing it."

Did Ben not understand the meaning of winging it? Or was he just playing dumb?

It was Ki who found us some blank sheets of paper from the printer tray. Harvey had a pen in his pocket. Dad's office wasn't exactly the most organized space. The guys laid out the paper and then looked back to me.

"Alright Sam." Ben decided this was the only way they were going to get a plan out of me, "What are you thinking? Just say everything in your head."

Like everything? I tested it, "You're less bossy without your wolf."

"Shut up… I mean, go on." Ben said.

Hahaha, this might be fun.

"Perhaps we can start by setting the objectives of this mission, Princess." Wolfgang advised, "I've noticed that Alpha Kingsley had deliberately left this open."

"Don't you just love blank cheques?" Fluffy smiled.

Fluffy's favourite things: other people's diaries, blank cheques, edible gold.

"So what do you want to see when we get to the future, Sam?" Ben asked.

How would I know? At this point, I only knew what I didn't want to see.