STEPPING INTO THE STORM

THURSDAY, 11 FEBRUARY, 8PM

The moment we stepped out of the packhouse, I think every single one of us knew it was a bad idea, except that every single one of us was determined to personally go collect their stuff.

For me, it was my diary. I sorely wanted to write about appearing on TV. I mean it was pretty neat, even though I wasn't doing anything particular amazing. I don't know why the others were hell bent on braving the snow storm home and back again, but everyone, even Mum and Mrs Beta insisted on it too.

Dad ended up having to carry Sabre. Mum had wanted to leave Sabre with the warrior at the door but she started screaming, so now she was coming with us.

Since Dad had a small human in his arms, Ki and I would go ahead, ploughing a way for Dad, Mum, and Savy to follow.

No one felt they needed to go through the trouble of using the tunnels.

No problem. It wasn't all that deep... Just above my knees and it was FREEZING, but not so much because of the snow, that stuff just slowed us down. It was the wind. It whipped and wailed and I felt like I might be blown off my feet. I could see warriors on the packhouse roof, shovelling snow off it. They would stop and crouch everytime the wind railed at them. There would be warriors rostered onto the roof and our driveway every two hours.

The snow plough just passed us by. The warriors were also scheduled to have them plying the main roads almost non stop. We had to if we didn't want our pack town to be completely snowed in. We needed to keep the packhouse as accessible as possible in case of emergencies.

Night Leaf Warriors were the heroes that kept of packlands safe, mostly from rogues, once in a long while human hunters. They also saw to local rescues, as well as retrieving kites and cats from trees and all the friendly neighborhood good guy stuff.

All the boys wanted to grow up to be a warrior, and little girls would say they wanted to marry a warrior when they grew up.

Warriors got a lot of respect from almost everyone in the pack. If you wore a Night Leaf Warrior Uniform, you could strut around almost the whole of the Green Packlands like a hot shot. I heard you could get discounts all the way at Gate City cafes, minor packs won't mess with you, and even Lorent wolves were careful not to offend a Night Leaf Warrior, normally anyway. Ethan was the exception. I hope he was doing better.

But besides the risk of being shot by annoyed and ill disciplined young Lorents, this dream job came with its own pet peeves. One of them being winter duties. Almost every winter, a warrior's mortal enemy would be the snow. I've heard some say they prefered dealing with rogues.

Snow was annoying like hell to fight off, especially if it kept falling, and your muscles got sore and your hands got blistered from shovelling and re-shovelling. Snow storms didn't come every year, but when they did, the warriors always got the brunt of it.

Search and rescue missions was heroic enough, but shovelling snow and driving ploughs on round the clock shifts? It was just tirelessly hard work without the feeling of heroism.

Dad said real heroes were the ones who overcame, even if they had to keep at the most thankless tasks till they got done.

This long snow storm was going to push our warrior heroes to the limit.

Anyway, we managed to "swim" home. Ki had to pull me out of the snow and onto our porch at the end because while my fancy woollen coat cut a fine figure when leaving the Langston, it just wasn't waterproof or made for swimming in snow. The entire thing froze on my body like an icy shell. Hahaha. It was actually rather funny, but my face was too frozen to laugh.

Once home, Mum's first concern was warming Sabre. Poor girl, I guess humans were really not as hardy as wolves. Her ears hurt, so did mine, but hers hurt enough that she was sobbing.

I suggested dipping her in the heated pool, but Mum said no. In the end we gave her hot cocoa and wrapped her up by the fire. That worked too.

Even though it was freezing outside, we weren't out all that long, and she was warmly dressed to begin with. She got better really soon. Mum said little human ears were more sensitive. I said dipping her in a pool would've worked faster.

Okay, now to pack our stuff and make that journey back to the packhouse. I was seriously wondering if this was worth it.

Ki worked quickly, by the time Sabre was alright, he had come downstairs with large travel bags and a suitcase. I went upstairs and repacked my backpack with homework, diary, pencil case, and Sir Sparkalot. Ki had even set out clothes for me, a stretchy turtleneck, woollen tights, a thick sweat suit, snow boots, ski gloves, scarf, beanie, and a one-piece snow suit, like the kind I wore when I was a small kid, but it was white with black trim and looked surprisingly grown up.

Everything was in either black, white, or grey, and they were all seriously sturdy, insulating, waterproof stuff.

Even my gloves looked like black hand shaped versions of the snow suit. Very promising. I hated shoveling when the snow melts and freezes on my knitted gloves. Or worse, when my leather gloves get ruined... Because I've been there and done that.

When I was a pup, mum had put me in fingerless mittens (which I hated, because I wanted to have fingers). Or knitted gloves (which I hated, because they got wet when the snow melted over them and refroze). I kept complaining till one winter morning, mum gave me knitted gloves and then put a pair of disposable plastic gloves over them.

I was actually pretty happy with this, we even added rubber bands around my wrist to keep the gloves from slipping off.

But on my 13th birthday, Savy gave me my first pair of leather gloves, and nothing beats leather gloves in winter. It warded off the cold, was comfortable and tactile... I could go on. But my joy was short lived. During one particularly long bout of snow wars (which my side won eventually), my leather gloves got soaked through, and then turned hard and stiff after drying off. I could not use them anymore.

So leather gloves were really nice as long as you weren't holding snow for a prolonged period of time.

Last winter, my best glove solution was a knitted glove and a pair of rubber washing gloves over it.

But because they looked so silly, I only used them for major snow activities. The rest of the time, I just stuck to my woollen mittens. My favourite one was a black one, with opened fingers, and then a little cap that could be pulled over to cover my fingers when they got cold. But that one was lost in the fire. Curse those rogues.

Well, let's see how this new pair of black ski gloves work out for me. I tried them on, very temporarily. It was warm and really soft inside. Very promising. I took them off before my hands started to sweat inside.

And if they failed, I had a new idea to try - woollen gloves with latex gloves worn over. I'm sure Delta Simon could spare me a few pairs. Heh heh heh.

Plus the latex would provide extra grip on my hand and on the shovel handle. Score!

Okay, now I was getting hot, even though I only wore my suit halfway. I stomp down to the living room, hoping everyone else would be ready to go.

I met Savy along the way. She was packed like she was moving out. Luggage bag, overnighter sling bag, backpack, and a sleeping bag under her arm.

Dad was carrying a huge luggage over his shoulder too, but Mum had packed for 3 people.

Mum was carrying Sabre, who now had a beanie that covered her ears. Ki opened the door for them and turned off the lights around us.

Savy and I quickly wrapped up.

"It's dark!" Sabre whined. Poor little human who couldn't see in the dark.

"It's okay, baby, Mama's got you." Mum reassured her before stepping out onto the porch.

Ki kindly lit up, providing a soft glow. I would think this should've scared Sabre more, but she calmed down.

"Thank you, Ki." Mum mindlinked.

"Always a pleasure, Luna." Ki, the night light, demurred.

Wait, why was I hearing their mindlink? I pulled away. The wind was bad and the snow was nearly to our waist now. I only had a backpack, so I grabbed the luggage bag from Savy with one hand, and her hand with the other. I'm not sure why she needed that much stuff. We could always come back if we needed anything else actually.

Anyway, holding Savy's hand tightly so she would fly away, I followed Mum closely. Maybe it wasn't exactly fair comparison since I wasn't leading the snow swim this time, but so far, my new gear was quite, quite snow proof. This was good stuff.

When we neared the packhouse, the warriors coming out to shovel the driveway quickly shovelled out to us. We were not on the driveway, but I guess they couldn't bear watching their Alpha and Luna trudge through the snow storm like war refugees, carrying belongings and child.

"Thank you, men." Dad mindlinked.

The warriors bowed silently, but over their mindlinks they told Dad, "Just doing our jobs."

Wait, what? Why did I hear that? I quickly shook myself out of the link. What scocery was this? Why was I hearing what I had no part of?

Maybe I imagined it, except I knew I didn't.

Maybe I was just tired. It had been a long day.

{Or maybe I'm just evolving.}

Oh s***. It was Boo.

I flared, knocking off the hood of my otherwise perfectly snow proof new suit. Luckily my beanie stuck on.

"Sam, are you okay?" Savy linked.

"Uh, yeah, just being p***ed at my own wolf." I linked back.

Savy cackled. Despite the howling wind, I heard it.

We stomped around on the metal grates on the porch to get the snow out before going in. Once in, Jonah shut the cold out. Looks like our Gamma Family made it back!

Gamma Harry had attached a front blade attachment to his truck and got a bit of ploughing done on the way back too. He was very pleased with himself.

The Beta family were disrobing their snow gear in the lobby too, so I guess they just got back.

Harvey met us with a polite bow before going over to lend Ki a hand with the bags.

"Act natural, guys, but Sam's wolf just switched." Ben informed my other two betas via mindlink. Both took a quick look at me and then resumed whatever they were doing.

I pretended I didn't notice.

"She doesn't feel stable. Let's set up a corner on one side of the lounge so we can work and still be around to handle any situation." Ben suggested, again into the mindlink that I wasn't supposed to hear.

WTH did he mean, I didn't feel stable? Unless he was noticing my mounting annoyance at him!

"Should we inform her parents?" Harvey wondered in the beta channel.

"Just include a note in the daily report tomorrow morning." Ben shrugged, "If she wanted them to know, she would have shown them herself."

I see... now I couldn't decide if Ben being an "expert" on me was annoying or convenient. Was this his wolf power? Because he was my true beta? Or just cos he was too smart for his own good?

I turned away, and "heard" mum and dad discussing if Sabre could spend the night with us. Mum wanted to keep Sabre in their room in case the little one got scared. Dad wanted to leave Sabre with us because he wanted... ah, the room to themselves. I really wished I didn't hear their mindlink at that point.

"But what if Sabre needs me?" Mum worried.

"Sam would keep her sisters safe." Dad assured her, "Physically anyway."

"Yes, but Sabre might get scared with all the other guys around, and she is really too young to handle herself at a sleepover." Mum continued to worry.

"Savy can handle her." Dad replied. He was losing patience.

"I don't know dear..." Mum said.

"Grrr... Darling, I can't go another night like this..." Dad growled into the mindlink.

I tried to shut it out. Why can't I shut it out?

Stepping back physically, I backed into Jonah, "Whoa, Sam... What?"

Jonah tried to back up too, but there was a wall behind him. My flaring hair blew right into his face.

"Bro! Help!" Jonah mindlinked Ben.

Why was I hearing this? Why? It just upsetted me more.

Eh wait, Jonah could mindlink? But he hadn't shifted yet! Right?

{Right.}

Unshifted... But maybe soon.

Ben smirked, "Sam, your hair's killing Jonah."

The girls laughed. And then I realized Ben was speaking aloud.

Gaahhhh!!!!

I gritted my teeth. I'm going mad. Everytime I went near enough someone, I could hear their mindlinks.

And it didn't help that Dad turned out to be very flirty with Mum in his head.

"Stop it!" I alpha commanded, "Everyone just shut up!"

There was a silence.

And then Ben mindlinked to the guys, "Okay, I'm sure her parents know now."

"Sam," Savy was the first to speak, "Nobody was talking."

Oh. Right.

I blinked. Waiting to hear someone mindlinking that I had officially gone mad, but no one said it. Not even on mindlink.

"I was, ah... Nevermind." I said, retreating and backing into Jonah again. He yelped, "Sam!"

Grrr...

"I mean, yeah, okay." Jonah hastily, "No problem. Your hair is very nice. It smells like flowers and ice cream and it feels like being hit in the face by feathers.... I'm making things worse, aren't I?"

Lizzy face palmed.

Mum mindlinked Dad, "Maybe we should keep Sam in our room too."

"No." Dad said.

"But her wolf might explode." Mum worried.

"Would you prefer MY wolf explode?" Dad growled testily. But only in the privacy of their mindlink, of course.

I sighed. This had to be the worst wolf power to have gotten. Why was I even getting another power?

WTH.

{It's not another power, per say. It's just my alpha senses sharpening.}

Boo demurred in all false modesty.

I sulked while the rest of the world around me continued to mindlink, the combined sounds like noisy chatter in a busy cafeteria. Ben pushed me forward, the moment his hand made contact with my back, his mindlinks came into focus as the rest faded out.

"Thanks man." Jonah was mindlinking him from behind us.

"Next time she backs into you, just put your hand like this and stop her." Ben answered.

What the hell was that? How to handle your alpha 101?

"But I can't touch her!" Jonah said, "She's my alpha!"

Yeah, you said it Jonah.

"Plus I've never touched a girl in my life!" Jonah added.

"She's not a girl. She's the Alpha." Ben said.

"Looks like a girl to me." Jonah grumbled.

"It's just a monster wrapped up as a girl." Ben explained.

"I've never touched a monster before either." Jonah said.

"Wuss." Ben smirked.

Naturally, I continued in sulk mode the rest of the way to the conference room... And then I stopped sulking, because I figured out how to solve this problem. I simply shut everything out, like a vampire lord level mind block against everyone and everything.

Ah peace and quiet again.