THE PHOENIX CLUB

"Genius can't be rushed, Sam." The beta working in front of the large screen said without pausing from his rapid tapping on the control panel. Was he writing in code? Who did that anymore?

"I know Ben, but I was talking to you!" The blue haired alpha laughed happily at her own joke and spun the swivel chair a full circle and a half before stopping herself because she saw them standing at the entrance.

"Wolfie!" Alpha Sam was up on her feet. Dan meekly followed Wolfgang and Wilhelm to meet the blue haired goddess in the middle of the red crystal computer room. If this was Wonderland, would Alpha Sam be the Queen of Hearts?

"Alpha Sam, please show some decorum in front of my guest." Lord Wolfgang said stiffly.

But Alpha Sam only laughed, "Hello Wilhelm! How's River?"

"His Majesty is well, thank you, Alpha." Wilhelm answered with a polite bow. Dan decided to take his cue from Wilhelm when it was his turn to greet the Alpha and remain very dignified and polite.

Alpha Sam beamed, "I really should drop by Snow Moon..."

"You don't have the time, Sam." Beta Ben said without looking away from his screen.

"I bet the Walking Fortress could…"

"No." More than one voice answered firmly in unison. Dan was quite sure it wasn't him although he thought it quite firmly and automatically as well.

Alpha Sam laughed, "In this whole wide world, I wonder how many people would say no to my face?"

Dan was quite sure there wouldn't be many… who would still be alive anyway.

"5." Beta Ben said quite confidently.

"Really?" Alpha Sam considered that, "I was sure there would be more than that."

"Somebody has to do it." Lord Wolfgang grumbled, his arms crossed. In every way, the fire wolf looked peeved. He stood his body angled to the Blue Alpha, refusing to meet her eyes. The thought struck Dan that Lord Wolfgang wasn't unhappy at all about being one of the handful of people who was able to say no to Alpha Sam. In fact, if Lord Wolfgang was a cat, Dan would have interpreted that as Peri hiding his secret happiness by pretending to be mad, but surely it wasn't so. Lord Wolfgang was a respectable elder noble wolf - not a cat. Dan was just spending way too much time with the cats is all.

Beta Ben finally finished whatever he was doing, "It's done, Sam."

He spun around to face them and Dan realized he was dark haired and emerald eyed like Alpha Henri's twin betas, just older. Their father probably? Strong Lycan bloodlines had very distinct coloring and genetic imprints. According to the books Dan had read about Lycans, there was a good chance that those twins and their father would share the same power.

And since it was such a strong Lycan bloodline that father and sons were such identical copies, they must had some amazing bloodline power.

That was the science behind Lycan bloodlines in a nutshell. Dan had picked up the old book out of curiosity. He was supposed to be researching Lycan politics and culture in preparation for his diplomatic stint back then, but something about the old book at the back of the royal library just called out to him. It claimed to be a translated copy of an ancient Lycan book written by "the Great Teacher".

It turned out to be a valuable knowledge resource and thanks to it, Dan gleaned surprising useful information, like how unnatural hair and eye coloring were unique to certain special bloodlines. These wolves often inherited supernatural powers too.

It went just a little deeper than the old school general knowledge "White wolves are healer wolves, black wolves are aggressive" kind of simplified stereotype.

Of course, in this day and age when most wolves only walked around in their human form and had access to colored contacts and hair dyes, there was no way for Dan to say anything for sure about any wolf on sight, but coupled with the wolves instinctive hierarchical behavior, if Dan were to observe a group of wolves interacting, he would be able to guess quite accurately who the stronger wolves in the group were.

Dan would like to think it was such discernment that helped him navigate the lycan world during his diplomatic missions. It had worked well… until he got here, not that anything terrible had happened, quite the opposite really. It was like he didn't have to DO ANYTHING at all. The wolves he had met thus far, from Lord Wolfgang to Alpha Henri… The healer, Delta Oran, and even Neil and Jax, they've all pretty much given him everything he could ask for and quite a bit more, really.

Should Dan be concerned? Dan knew that lycans were traditionally very hospitable, and he WAS being hosted by some of the most reputable and wealthy wolves in the continent, but was this too much? What would they expect from him in return?

"Why does your friend look so nervous?" Alpha Sam wanted to know.

Who him? TBH, he felt more than a little nervous. It wasn't just the boon of unexpected freebies since he got to Moon Bell, he was right now standing before Alpha Sam - the blue alpha who unified the Green Packlands, conquered the Warlock Lands, and opened a trade route into the Legendary Colored Mountains.

Until today, all trade with the Colored Mountains had to pass through Moon Bell. The demand for magic stones, artifacts, and exotic Lycan produce in the continent alone would guarantee Moon Bell's upward financial trajectory for years to come... It would also guarantee the expressway link to remain open.

Moon Bell was really in an enviable position and most records credit Alpha Sam for it. She started sowing diplomatic ties since she was a teenager, and Moon Bell had been reaping from its harvest since.

If Dan had to be honest, he was a little bit of a fan of hers. She was really the most enigmatic politic figures in today's world and now face to face, Dan could see very clearly where Alpha Henri had inherited her charisma from.

Alpha Sam was an older wolf, like Lord Wolfgang, and Wilhelm... Where they had hit an age where they neither look young nor old. On Alpha Sam, with her goddess like appearance, this just lent an ethereal air to her presence.

"This is my friend, Dan Lion." Wolfgang introduced, he gave Dan a firm pat on the back "Dan, this is Alpha Sam."

Dan made a polite bow, "It's an honor to meet you, Alpha Sam."

Yes. That was exactly proper.

"Dandelion?" Alpha Sam asked with interest.

"No, Princess." Wolfgang sighed a bit, "Dan-Lion. I'm sure I've mentioned him to you more than once."

Princess? Dan took pause. Was that Lord Wolfgang's private term of endearment for Alpha Sam? It made Dan remember that Alpha Sam and Lord Wolfgang were allegedly...

"Oh, yes. The human wildcard. And I told you I wanted to meet him!" Alpha Sam sighed a little too, "I thought Dandelion suited him though."

Wildcard? No one had ever called him that before, but Alpha Sam also called him Dandelion. No one had ever called Dan 'Dandelion' before either, very few people knew of the gangly slave boy named by a soldier on a passing whim after a roadside weed.

At this point, the white cat decided it was high time it got some attention too. It stepped forward and bodily wound around the blue alpha.

"Oh, Edel!" Alpha Sam reached out her hand to run it down the lion size white creature, her own blue hair flaring upwards, "You're here too."

Edel bumped her with its large head and purred like a motorbike.

"Ori too?" Alpha Sam asked as if she could understand the purring, "Where? Ori, show yourself!"

And to everyone's surprised and Dan's utter astonishment, the black cat, in the size and shape of a large black panther leapt out from the darkest part of his shadow.

Dan actually took a physical jump back in shock. He looked down at the shadow firmly attached to his feet. The cat was following him from the shadows… how was that even literally possible?

Wolfgang took hold of his arm as if to steady him. By now, Dan was sure Lord Wolfgang must think he was a very weak sort of human.

"I knew you were someone special, Dan Lion." Alpha Sam beamed.

Dan was naturally completely nonplussed.

"The cats just told me a secret." Alpha Sam grinned from ear to ear, "So fun!"

Which didn't help Dan understand his situation at all.

And then Alpha Sam flared, it was like time slowed down and her long blue mane waved in the air as if it were in a photoshoot with a high power fan aimed at it, "Tell me the story of Dan Lion."

It had to be a kind of magic spell, because even though Dan had meant to play it polite the way Wilhelm had properly demonstrated, he opened his mouth and started telling his entire life story.

It started from a fire that engulfed his small town in flames, he couldn't find his parents, a little girl had appeared in his room in the middle of the night and led him safely out of the town… She told him they were being pillaged by soldiers.

The two children ran till Dan couldn't run any longer. The girl… she left him to find help… Dan had never spoken about this girl, because by dawn, she had disappeared.

And to his horror, Dan continued to tell his story completely unfiltered, from the moment he could not find the little girl and the guilt he felt whenever he feared something unspeakably terrible must have happened to her, he told his story choking back the tears, spitting out the angry words buried in his heart - from the dark cold nights when he was hungry and alone, to the taste of blood in his mouth and the ringing in his ears because the cook took out her anger on him.

And there was everything else, how he learned to read by recognizing the wriggly shapes so that he could deliver letters for the General who later became the king. It was only to protect himself from those who were jealous of his special job at the General's office and would purposely give him the name of the wrong recipient of the letters.

But as he learned to read, he became even more useful. The more languages he learned the more useful he became in helping the General gather information. Dan told about how they eventually succeeded in their coup, how he studied the legal records and found a loophole to validify their rebellion and crown the General as the rightful King, how they extended the war to the two neighboring kingdoms to acquire the resources they needed to rebuild the Three Kingdoms… and as he told it, it astounded him how everything he used to be so proud of achieving sounded selfish and manipulative, and everything he used to be so ashamed of, his slave bands, his helplessness, his complete desperation… these things shone through as the pillars of his humanity or whatever was left of it. They lit the way to the man he wanted to become - because, the truth was, when the people called him the People's Hero, he wanted to be that for them.

"I wanted to be that man. I wanted to make the Three Kingdoms into a better world." Dan admitted wryly. He had poured everything into it, "I didn't want the children of the Three Kingdoms to grow up in the same world I did."

But there was only so much a man could do. For all his noble aspirations, he couldn't even secure his own life atm.

He said as much, explaining the most current plot of his king and his court to take his life and how he was currently on an official diplomatic mission here but it would be his last if he was unable to find a way to escape his inevitable death.

At this point, Dan physically covered his own mouth to stop talking. The tears had left his cheeks completely wet under his hand, making Dan very aware that he just spilled all his tears and beans to the Blue Alpha at his first meeting.

There was silence, and then Beta Ben smirked, "Look, now you broke him."

"It wasn't me!" Alpha Sam flared at her beta, and then she sighed and reluctantly admitted, "I didn't mean to make him cry."

A white handkerchief was pushed towards him. Dan took it before he realized what it was. Lord Wolfgang coughed, "I… I too ran from a fire when my pack burned down. It was a pack war that took out both packs. But I was rescued by the Great Teacher and followed him since."

Wait, the Great Teacher was real?

"Actually, my family estate was also burned down by rogue wolves. My father and step mother were murdered, I lost my younger sister, and I was so scared that when the Snow Moon warriors found me, I lied and said I was a stable boy." Wilhelm confessed.

"We knew." Wolfgang said.

"What?" Wilhelm sounded properly surprised.

"From the moment you picked up the sword, I knew." Wolfgang said, "It's not like you were particularly talented, so your skills had to have been honed from young and it wasn't likely that a stable boy would have had the luxury of fencing classes."

Wilhelm still looked confused.

"It's the way you held your sword." Wolfgang said, "Your posture was of a nobleman."

"Oh." Wilhelm said. He laughed a little, "Well, I supposed that explained why no one questioned my background."

Wolfgang shrugged, "It was none of my business."

"Looks like you're in good company, Dan Lion. No wonder the humans say birds of a feather flock together." Alpha Sam nodded, "You guys should start a Phoenix Club."

"Oh no, here we go again…" Beta Ben face palmed.

"You know… because the three of you are like that - heroes born from the ashes." Alpha Sam concluded.

"And what is their club supposed to do?" Beta Ben was unimpressed, "Teach fire safety?"

Alpha Sam thought her beta was hilarious. She laughed so hard she fell back into her swivel chair. When she was done, she shook her head, "If they want. I don't know what phoenixes do."

Dan felt that if it were really a club for just Lord Wolfgang, Wilhelm, and him, they might just end up playing cards a lot. He wasn't sure why he thought so, it was just… he must be going mad. He took a shaky breath. Nothing ever happened as he expected it to here at Moon Bell.

Alpha Sam seemed to remember him again all of a sudden, "Don't cry, Dan Lion."

Dan had already stopped a while ago but that seemed besides the point to the Blue Alpha, "You told me a good story, I will reward you. Let's see, what do you want? Ask me for something."

"Do you think you're a tyger?" Beta Ben scolded mildly.

"Shush Ben, I'm having fun." The Blue Alpha waved her beta off, "Whatever you want. Ask it!"

Dan stopped at that. Could he ask for his life?

Dan decided to try, "I had read that in life we need something to do, someone to love and be loved, something to look forward to."

"If it pleases the Alpha, I would like such a life." Dan said.

Alpha Sam blinked, and then she turned to Wolfgang, "Was that a lycan quote? Which Great Teacher wrote that?"

"No, princess. Perhaps it is a human philosopher." Lord Wolfgang guessed.

"Really? Because it sounds like the kind of dumb thing HE would say." Alpha Sam grumbled.

Alpha Sam turned her attention back to Dan, "I think you should think about it and ask me again."

"Why?" Asked Dan, he had thought what he asked was a very good thing.

"Because those are all things that you can get on your own." Alpha Sam answered, "Ask me for something you actually need help with, Dan Lion."

"Oh." Dan Lion had never thought of it that way before.

And then he said, just as he realized it, "Thank you for your guidance, Alpha."