KING OF THE TYGERS

27 FEBRUARY, SATURDAY, CONTINUED

It was Alpha Gunter, the Great Teacher who calmly took charge, "I understand how you must feel, Gareth. But tell me, how are you planning on dealing with your responsibilities as the King of the Tygers. This isn't a trifling thing. As you know, although us tygers have long dwelt in the shadows of the Mountains, it is no secret that we occupy the highest echelon of power. Both our Tyger's Lair here on White Mountain, and our King's Wishing Throne at our fair Gate City are one and the same coin. Every prince on this Mountain stands generally peaceably out of respect of the Tyger King."

Gareth didn't back down, not even an inch, "He can be king."

He said it so casually, pointing straight at Bell who was seated next to me.

"Even though he didn't shatter my force field, he did crack it." Gareth said as a matter of fact, "And it is obvious to me that in terms of his capabilities and aptitude, he would be far more suitable for the role than I am."

Which was true if you were going for the traditional mythical dark tyger from the legends - you know, the evil kind who accepted live maiden sacrifices, and demanded a pound of flesh for every heartfelt wish granted.

"I'm not suited to be king." Gareth continued honestly, maybe a little too honestly, "I don't even know how to deal with you guys, so I end up letting all of you run circles around me and climb over my head..."

"We don't!" Ignatius protested, "Not literally anyway."

"And we always try to be discrete about it." Heller added, "So you wouldn't have to mind it."

Because they were the most considerate tygers in the world, this lot.

Gareth shook his head, "You guys just want me to be king because you can do whatever you want. But I'm done here. I'm done living in guilt, searching for a redemption that doesn't exist. I'm tired. My mate has suffered my selfishness for too long. I just... I'm just an omega. All I want is to belong to a pack and live a quiet life."

I don't think that's anything to do with being a omega... and I highly doubt Gareth would be considered an omega in my pack.

"And dragging your mate out into the plains is your idea of being unselfish?" Hajime challenged.

I shook my head quickly on his poor mate's behalf, "Gareth can stay wherever he likes."

He would be too OP back home anyway - I mean, imagine bringing him back to the plains - with the spirit knives and forcefield blender and all. What would he do there? Help out in the packhouse kitchen?

"Yes, you may consider being a guest at wherever your mate is practicing." Bell allowed magnanimously, "So long as you answer whenever you are summoned, and do as your alpha asks."

Wait, wait... wth. Who gave him the authority to decide this?

"Okay, luna." Gareth nodded.

"Hahahaha." Ignatius laughed, "He called you luna."

Bell smiled, "Yes, because I am her luna. So don't forget, your king is a luna."

"Who made you king?" Ignatius was immediately alarmed.

"Are you challenging me?" Bell smirked.

And for some reason, Ignatius looked genuinely afraid, "No thank you. I don't want to suffer that again."

And so the fire place was rearranged, and their representative flames - which were all the little blue fires I had seen lined up in the oversized fireplace - those were relined to show the new order of hierarchy with Bell's in the center. During this time, I learned that the Tygers were known as Princes on the Mountains.

They called this part the Underworld - where only tygers were allowed (and sometimes their soulmates). This was where the tyger activities happened - which as far as I could tell, was just fuming black curse, messing with each other, and pouring tea. The throne and symbol of their power was the Tyger's Lair on White Mountain.

In the Overworld, they were know as princes, the original noble heroes of the Colored Mountains who commanded a great deal of love and respect from the wolves who live there. Everyone of them were well known for their contribution to the peace, prosperity, and progress of the Colored Mountains. The throne and symbol of the princes was the King's Wishing Throne in Gate City (the original one, not to be confused by the one in the Green Packlands).

This was the very throne of lycan legends - the one where visitors from far and wide lined up to see the king because the king would grant the wish of a true wolf.

I had to admit, I did feel a bit cheated. So the King's throne was just the Tyger's Lair in disguise? O,O

"We have no king now." Hajime decided to explain to Bell and myself.

"Can the guy on the King's Throne, and the guy in the Tyger's Lair be different people?" I asked.

"There were points in our history, where the same tyger presided both worlds, but usually not. The King's Wishing Throne is more complicated because has historically Lycan roots that dated back to the establishment of Black Mountain." Alpha Gunter explained, "While the King of the Tyger is decided based on our individual strength, the King of the Colored Mountains is decided based on the fulfillment of prophecy."

Heller beamed at me, "Yes, he who holds the blue rose with Idonia's ring

Will be the mountain's next true king."

And then Heller and Haku smiled at me. Their megawatt smiles brighter than any spotlight in the world.

Bell raised an arrogant brow at them, and then he smirked at me, "I always knew you were my lucky charm."

The other wolves looked nonplussed for a moment before Ignatius said, "Alright, I see the blue part, but the Ring of Idonia is Old Man Jin's inheritance. Only his heir would have it."

"Oh." The Great Teacher connected the dots first.

"But she's a blade wolf!" Ignatius pointed and yelled (rather rudely) at me.

"On her mother's side. However, on father's side," Heller smiled as he divulged, "she is the heir of the Idonia Ring."

Now Alpha Gunter was looking concerned at me, "Do you have such a ring?"

Should I answer? If I said yes, would they try to kill me for it? Well, there was only one way to find out, "Yes."

There was another silence and the tygers regarded each other carefully.

"Mine." Bell decided to remind them. (No, it was not a romantic declaration, I think he was marking the ring as his.)

"Don't worry. Since you're our king now, we are on your side." Shiro assured Bell, "Naturally, we will protect your mate too. We always protect each other's mates anyway. It is the code of the tyger."

"Although, to be honest, we were quite happy to protect the young princess even if she wasn't our King's mate." Heller smiled.

"Wait, Heller - you knew about this?" Ignatius was suddenly agitated now, "Haku! Did you know about it too?"

"Ah..." Haku smiled.

"Sorry, it was our little secret." Heller admitted. He didn't look sorry about it at all though.

"They were plotting to get rid of her luna, and making their own sons king." Hajime explained.

"Hahaha... but that was before the Young Tyger became king." Heller immediately tried to sweep it under the rug, "You have earned a place for your fire to burn with ours now, of course we will support your succession as King of the Colored Mountains too."

"Since it was all in the past, let's leave it alone." Haku agreed wholeheartedly.

Bell crossed his arms, "Is that so?"

And I knew he had to be scheming something again.

"Now, our next order of business would be to set your tyger identity and residence, your majesty." Alpha Gunter decided to move on to the next item of whatever agenda he had cooked up in his head.

I was ready to leave by now. Playing with tygers was fun, but also kind of draining. Or maybe I've just been dream traveling too much. The sluggish feeling was coming back to me. I yawned and sat back down on the sofa, "You guys go ahead, I think I'll take a short nap."

"Oh dear." Said Hajime.

"You've over exerted, your majestic." Said Haku.

So it seems the reason I turn into a slug was because Bell was siphoning my wolf power for his multiple resurrections.

"I was wondering where you got all that juice to keep reviving!" Ignatius crowed, "A blade wolf and Jin's heir... yep, that would give you enough juice."

"You need to be careful, your majesty." Alpha Gunter chided, "If you go too far, she might not be able to wake up one day."

"I am well aware of my limits." Bell brushed off their concern.

Gareth, the other wolf who had a healing link inserted in his mating bond, fidgeted and looked uneasy, "I ah... I'm going to check on my mate. I'll be back in a minute."

"Take your time." Hajime smiled, "We're going to be here for a while anyway."

"Summon one of us, if she needs help." Haku smiled.

"Thanks." And the same rectangular black doorway appeared and took Gareth away.

I watched the doorway disappear and the last quiff of black curse dissipate into the air.

Bell picked me up, "I'll take her home first."

"Isn't she dream travelling?" Alpha Gunter asked.

Bell bent so that his face was very close against my hair, oh he was smelling for me, "Ah, yeah."

Come on! I wasn't that hard to smell.

At any rate, I can't sleep with all of them talking like that.

"I'm waking up now." I told Bell.

"We need to do something about that." Alpha Gunter told Bell, "It is dangerous for her to dream travel so randomly on her own."

Gareth returned.

"Everything okay?" Ignatius asked.

Gareth nodded, "Yes. Okay. Just sleeping."

"You guys can call me Rebel." Bell decided.

"King Rebel huh?" Ignatius smirked, "Nice."

He was using his sarcastic tone again.

"Perhaps as the King of the Tygers, but might I suggest you use your full name as your identity in the Overworld?"

"Fine. Whatever. I'm taking my princess home." Bell decided.

"I'm fine!" I protested, "I'll just wake up now and sleep in real life!"

"But who knows where you'd end up dream traveling to if you fell asleep again?" Alpha Gunter worried, "It would be be safer for you to stay where your mate is. Rebel can take you with us, we're only going to visit a few potential residences. It should be quite safe."

"That's enough. We're done here." Bell insisted.

"But your residence..." Alpha Gunter protested.

"My place of residence is wherever she is." Bell said.

"No, Young Tyger, you misunderstand." Alpha Gunter explained, "We need to find a safe den to house your fire."

This led on to some explanation about how the tyger's life is linked to his fire, and every fire needed a permanent abode to take root and grow in.

"If you keep carrying it about in your person, the fire will weaken over time." Gareth was good enough to explain, "You need to plant it."

"I know the perfect place." Heller smiled.

Heller was definitely up to something too, but I was too sleepy for Tyger games.

Although I couldn't smell Mate, I could feel his warmth, and the familiar grasp in his arms, and yeah... it felt like home to me...

I woke up in my bed. It was dark outside so I must have really slept for a while. Sniffing around me, I confirmed that I was truly awake and not dream traveling. I double checked my bed to make sure I was attached to my body and not in ghost form... wow, who knew getting out of bed had some many check points? If I kept this up, maybe next time every waking up would be like getting a plane out of the runway. Engine, check, wings, check... what did they check in airplanes anyway?

Anyway. I was hungry. I kept waking up half starved lately. I got out of bed to go hunt pizza in the fridge but was stopped at my door at the sight of a white wolf. It was Ki. Well I knew it wasn't Mate, even though in their wolf forms, the two could have been twins. But Ki opened his eyes, one blue and one green and asked, "Goddess?"

I stopped to stroke the long white fur of his mane, {Hi Ki. Why aren't you in your bed?}

For some reason, because Ki was in sleepy wolf form, I cooed at him over the mindlink. Opps. Hahaha.

His wolf pushed himself to a more formal upright sitting position, {I sleep better here. Is there anything I can do for you, goddess?}

I was still stroking his head, {Hm? Oh right. I was hungry.}

{Please excuse me one moment then.} Ki rose up and bowed his large wolf head and left.

I sensed around the house. Everyone was home now, but probably sleeping. I wondered how long I slept. I wondered how long Ki was going to take. I wondered if he would put on a full suit to make me a midnight snack. I wondered if I should mindlink him and tell him I just needed pizza. Actually, scrap that, I could go make my own pizza... or at least I felt quite confident that I could make pizza cake.

But Ki appeared at the stairs just as I was going down, and yes, he was in a full suit, "Since it's nearly morning, goddess, would you like chocolate chip and banana pancakes?"

Oh yeah, it was good to be home.