RIVER'S HEART

21 FEBRUARY, SUNDAY, 3AM

"River, why are you here?" I asked when he swung a leg over the window ledge to come in. He promptly lost his balance and landed face first.

"Shhhh...." I hissed at him. Mum and Dad were just next door.

"S...sorry." River sat up.

"Keanu too?" I was really stunned at Keanu's appearance. I had smelled him the moment River fell into my room, but the two of them often carried each other's scent... Wait, that sounded wrong.

I meant like the way my betas often had each others scents on them. Or left their scent on me simply by walking with me.

Anyway, Keanu popped his head into my window, "Room for two more?"

Wait? Two more?

Keanu got in. He stepped aside so that Wilhelm could also come in.

"Pardon the intrusion, Alpha." Wilhelm bowed respectfully. Unlike the other two clowns, at least Wilhelm had the decency to look uncomfortable.

"What are you guys doing?" I asked again, but more at River whom I felt had to be the mastermind of this foolhardy excursion.

I didn't wait for the answer, sticking my head out of the window, "How did the three of you get up here?"

Omo. We were on the top floor... I looked at the icy ledges where they must have shuffled across and then at the potential fall down to the road below - which at no cars and was unlit because of the earlier metal alpha incident. I think Alpha Solomon ate most of the street lamps.

I turned back at my unexpected guests, "Are you guys mad?"

I pointed to River, "Even if you slipped past my warriors, this guy could've slipped up on anything and fallen to this death."

"Hey!" River protested.

Keanu nodded though, "We did try to talk him out of it..."

"I don't think talking is enough." I told them, "That was dangerous! Plus the Lorents are downstairs. If their warriors caught you... It would really be troublesome!"

I imagined myself having to coax Bell into stepping in to help my friends. I would probably fail too. I facepalmed at the thought, "Thank goddess that didn't happen."

"I did text you, but you hadn't replied." River said as if that was all the explanation needed.

That's right. Ben said to check my phone. I picked it up and opened my texting app. Most of the chats had been settled. Ben liked to answer my texts with smiley faces.

The latest chat was with River.

RIVER

- Hi, Sam. Can I c u 2nite? It urgent.

ME (AKA BEN)

- What's up?

RIVER

- I dunno if I can still come 2 Green Packlands tmw. Dad found out...

- is Green Packlands v dangerous?

- can I talk 2 u abt stone?

-Sam?

-Sam, we coming over.

-Open ur window 4 us ok?

I guess this was what Ben wanted me to see.

"We nearly went through the wrong window." Keanu admitted.

"Don't just enter any open window!" I scolded. They could've gone into Beta Lucas's window! I knew that Beta Lucas liked to keep his windows open, even in winter. (He didn't like it to be stuffy.) Or worse, Mum and Dad's!

"It's was really lucky that the guy there was in the shower." River said.

I narrowed my eyes at them. I can't believe they would do something so dangerous, "I can't wait to see how you're going to sneak back after this."

"Oh." Said River. I would have said his expression was priceless, but mine had to be mirrored.

"Oh River!" I was sounding like Mum now.

"Nevermind that." River decided, "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. I have something important to ask you."

Were all humans so reckless? Or was it River thing? What could be so important?

"Sam, tell me the truth - I need to know - where did my stone come from?" River grabbed me by the shoulders.

"I-"

The door burst opened with a deafening roar. Omo. Dad! In King Kong mode.

And then the sounds of footsteps and I realized too late, the betas were here.

Beta Lucas and Beta Gerald to back Dad up no matter what had happened. My betas... Because they probably knew what had happened and were here to damage control.

"What are you doing to my daughter, boy?" Dad growled.

Wilhelm immediately stepped forward, hand ready to draw his sword.

Bad move. Dad's attention whipped to him. Or perhaps that was exactly what Wilhelm wanted - to redirect the threat to himself...at least I felt quite sure if they had been wolves, it would be on purpose.

I quickly stepped between him and my Dad anyway, "Wait, Dad! It's not what it looks like!"

TBH, I had no clue what it looked like to Dad, but he was in King Kong mode and shirtless, so it couldn't be anything good.

"He's just here to ask for help." I tried to explain. River had the sense to nod a bow, "Y..yes, alpha, sir..."

"Get.out.of.my.daughter's.bedroom." Dad growled, but he pointed at the door, not the window, so I knew we were in the safe.

Wilhelm, Keanu, and River bowed and cautiously shuffled out of the room.

Our betas were lounging around the living area. The human looked up to where the chandelier hung lopsided. It was working now, and the loose pieces in the ceiling had been removed for safety reasons, which left a few obvious holes, but no one asked about it.

Dad sat himself on the sofa, his wolf still growling lowly, "You're Gunter's boy."

River nodded, "Yes, Alpha."

"What do you want?" Dad's voice was still gruff, but he was back as Dad again.

River took a deep breath. I could tell he was making an effort to be brave. He hesitated, and then he fished out a shining blue stone.

"River..." Keanu warned, but he was too late, River had shown it to us. Wilhelm looked similarly dismayed at what River had done, but kept silent.

"I trust Sam." River said firmly, "I will tell you my story."

Actually, it was not really much of a story. River barely knew anything about it himself. River's stone was passed down to him by his mother. He only knew two things about it. One, the stone belonged to his father. And two, his father was not a good man.

"My mother lived in constant fear that he would return and take me from her." River said, "Today I learned that my Dad, I mean Alpha Gunter, had found my Mum pregnant with me and freezing out in the middle of winter. He took us in, and when I was born, took me as his own pup."

River looked down at his clasped hands, "He says he admired Mum for her bravery and selflessness. He protected us ever since. I'm grateful, truly, I know I would not be alive today without my Dad, and he was my Dad in every other way, but I must find the owner of this stone."

"Why?" I asked, "You should just stay with Alpha Gunter."

I was starting to get the feeling that Fount wasn't a good guy here.

"I know, but the stone wants to go home." River said, "I can feel it."

"You can't, River." Keanu said, "You need this stone."

"We'll find another way to make it work." River said, "I need to follow my heart."

Normally, I would agree with this, but this River's heart was the stupid crazy type.

"River, your heart is going to kill you." I told him.

"Sam, you don't understand." River said.

"No, I totally understand." I was the one who was going to fulfill Mates cursed prophecy in record time after all, "Tell me, was it your heart that made you scale along the top floor of the Langston into my room just now?"

River looked a little regretful, "It was the only way, my dad didn't want me to see you. I'm not sure why, but I'm supposed to stay away from you and the Green Packlands."

I raised a brow at that.

"It's not that my Dad doesn't like you or the Green Packlands!" River quickly amended, "It's just that... Actually, I have no idea why... "

"Because the owner of the stone is in the Green Packlands." I told River.

There was a knock on the door. Ki opened it to let in Alpha Gunter and his Beta.

"Pardon the intrusion," the snow beta said, "Alpha Gunter is here."

"I am here to collect my son and his friends." Alpha Gunter said coldly.

His eyes moved across the ceiling and displaced chandelier before resting on the stone in River's hands, and then he looked back at my shirtless father. "I see my son had made a nuisance of himself. He is young. I hope you will overlook the petty offence, Kingsley, and let him off this once."

"He trespassed my daughter's room and dared lay hand on her." Dad growled.

Wait no. That was not how it was!

Well, yes, when Dad charged in, River was in my room, and grabbing me by both shoulders, but still, it wasn't anything serious like that.

"Oh?" Alpha Gunter looked to River again. The room's temperature dropped a few degrees. And then at the other two humans, "Are you so determined to get yourselves killed? Or just Prince River killed? Or perhaps bring war to our home?"

"Forgive us, Alpha." Wilhelm and Keanu bowed in true Lycan fashion.

"Dad, it's not their fault..." River tried to protect his friends.

"Do you even consider me your dad?" Alpha Gunter asked tiredly, "I told you not to pursue the owner of the stone. There will be no happy ending for you down that path. I told you not to show your stone to anyone. Wars have been started for smaller treasures. I told you to stay away from the Green Packlands. It is a dangerous land with different rules from ours and ruled by wolves not to be trifled with...."

Alpha Gunter spoke these words like a mother nagging an errant child, without a care for said wolves taking offence, but I needn't worried. If anything, the said wolves took this as a compliment.

"And I specifically told you not to get close to the Alpha Princess. She belongs to the Young Alpha Lorent, and he is a wolf as ruthless as he is powerful. His wrath would be an army that would overrun our kingdom." Alpha Gunter spoke this as a matter of fact.

I know this wasn't the point, but I felt rather relieved that even Alpha Gunter knew my Mate's tendency towards mass destruction. It proved it wasn't just my wild imagination. I guess a "fail safe" wouldn't hurt. Who knows? It might even save the world.

"It wasn't like that, Dad!" River exclaimed, "Sam and I are just friends!"

Which wasn't quite the point either.

Alpha Gunter shook his head and let out a very small sigh, "River, I am just trying to protect you. You don't know the dangers that surround your existence."

"Then tell me!" River looked straight up at his wolf dad.

Alpha Gunter looked pained again.

Dad stood up, "I'm going to bed."

And then he left. Just like that. Maybe he figured this drama had nothing to do with him.

"Yeah, man. I'll leave you young people to talk it out." Beta Lucas decided. He didn't seem to notice that Alpha Gunter was a much much older wolf.

"Please excuse us, Alphas." Beta Gerald bowed on their behalf, and my dad's betas left.

I looked at my betas. They looked back at me. I guess they would take my lead. What should I do?

I looked at Alpha Gunter and the three humans - one of whom was his son.

It's not that wolves had never adopted human children before. History was peppered with these things. The most recent one being Mum and Dad adopting Sabre.

Someone should warn these wolves, that humans who ran with wolves always seemed to end up doing something extraordinary in the course of lycan history.

Which I suppose River was right now doing - turning his pack into a kingdom, building a place for wolves and humans to live together as equals... which I highly doubt it would work out. Wolves and humans were technically not equal. But I guess it was worth a try. No one thought Night Leaf would survive when Dad first started either.

It's only impossible until its been done.