WHERE WAS THE RING?

Dad didn't wait for formalities. He simply stormed into the conference room with five betas, Mum, Savy, and me following in behind him.

He hadn't even waited for anyone to sit down. The moment the door was closed, he pretty much roared, "Sam, where is the ring?"

"Dear, our Sam would never steal!" Mum said.

Dad growled, "Louis' skill might not be accurate, but it has never been far wrong."

"I didn't steal it." I said.

"So it was with you?" Mum paled, "Sam, your Dad staked his life on it!"

"I didn't know... " I said, "Grandma gave it to me. She told me to keep it a secret. I was going to tell you, but I thought it could wait. I didn't know it was such a big deal."

"Where is it now?" Dad asked.

I looked at Killion.

"It's on Harv." Killion admitted.

Beta Gerald paled.

Harvey wordlessly took out his handkerchief, and then he spat out the ring.

"It was in your mouth?" I stared at Harvey.

Harvey smiled his usual calm smile.

"What if you had to talk?" I asked.

"Then I would've swallowed it, Princess." Harvey said, he dried the ring but left it on the table with the handkerchief, "We probably should wash it out with soap first."

I looked at the many sharp little diamonds set in the ring. I was glad it didn't come down to Harvey swallowing it.

"Can someone please explain what is going on?" Dad said sinking into a chair.

I guess Dad didn't inherit the gift of insight either. Hahaha.

Okay, so my betas and I tried to explain it.

SAM'S SIDE OF THE STORY

Grandma Luna gave the ring to me along with really confusing words about not trusting anyone and how her children had turned against her.

I didn't know that it was the key to the pack's money reserve or whatever, Grandma just told me it was from the Colored Mountains and there was a vault of treasure that it could open in the Colored Mountains with its matching necklace and earrings.

I was supposed to either give this ring to my daughter or bring it to the Colored Mountains. And that there were wolves who would kill their own family for this ring.

DAD'S SIDE OF THE STORY

Grandma Luna had never taken off her ring before. The ring had a kind of magic and was able to seal and unseal certain magic locks. Dad was unaware of the vault in the Colored Mountains or the matching necklace and earrings, but the ring had been used for generations in Grandma Luna's pack.

It was passed from mother to daughter and was the key to a large vault of gold that was considered the wearer's personal wealth, but had historically been used to finance the pack, and later after mating with Grandpa Alpha, it was used to finance their war efforts and then the rebuilding of their combined packs.

Dad had assumed that Grandma Luna would have given the ring to Estella eventually. Uncle Louis very likely assumed the same.

It was really surprising that Grandma Luna would give it to me, knowing that I would be running my own pack in the Green Packlands. Grandma Luna had always only cared about the pack. (Maybe it's because she trusted me not to spend any of it. Maybe she felt I was a puppy and wouldn't find out about the vault in her packland. Maybe she figured I wouldn't be able use it since I wasn't at Black Forest.)

Perhaps as Grandma Luna had eluded to, she was tired of the way Uncle Louis was bleeding out the reserves. Their pack had not been profitable for years. A number of bad investments and a very strict movement policy kept their pack members bound to their packlands, on a payscale tagged to their hierachy.

Times are changing. The economy had evolved by leap and bounds since Night Forest had first been established. Without a strong economic reform, Uncle Louis would very likely be forced to inject money into his pack at an almost exponential rate.

"I've told him, he needs to make changes, but he only sees the impossibility." Dad shook his head.

"How did the ring get to Harvey?" Savy asked. I bet she was so curious, she couldn't silently listen to Dad expound on the economy any longer.

KILLION'S SIDE OF THE STORY

Killion had no idea what the ring was when I first showed it to him. All he knew was that it was my secret and what I had told him about it, but his trained eye was able to identify it immediately as a heritage piece of jewelry, with some mechanical magic imbued, and definitely originating from the colored mountains. Thus he had recommended I showed it to my parents and kept it in their safe.

But when I had put it in the soap box, he decided a bit of fun was harmless. He only took note to have a safe installed in my new room when our home got rebuilt, since it seemed to him that I was coming of age to be collecting my own personal collection of treasures.

However the break ins caused the alarm bells to ring. Killion had a very strong feeling that the person was looking for the very ring that his Alpha (that's me!) had shown him the night before.

He knew he didn't have much time, so he switched out the soap boxes when packing my bag. He only had an empty soap box, so he just put in the only substitute he had on hand.

Then he quickly mindlinked the other two betas to fill up an empty soap box with condoms too.

"Wait what?" I asked.

"Candy." Killion corrected himself, "To fill them with candy."

But I knew what I heard.

"Nevermind, continue." I said.

He wasn't exactly sure what to do with the ring, but he was hoping that the many soap boxes of, ah, candy might come in handy later.

By the time Uncle Louis called for the emergency meeting, Killion took one look at the heavily guarded room, and his worst fears were confirmed. The ring was in danger, and he would not be able to keep it safe on his own.

He then revealed to the other two betas that the missing ring was in his keeping and that it belonged to me through the mindlink.

Harvey said he would hold it. Ben said to keep this from me for the time being, since I was hopeless at lying.

"What?" I flared up.

"It's true." Ben shrugged.

"Ben... you and I need to have a long talk." Beta Lucas said.

Ben groaned.

"You can talk to all my betas!" I told Beta Lucas.

HARVEY'S SIDE OF THE STORY

When Killion told the other two Betas about the ring in their possession, he coolly calculated that he would be the most likely one who would be able to smuggle the ring out safely.

He wasn't as apt at deception as Killion, and he wasn't as aggressive as Ben, but he was the most able to blend unnoticed into the background. And he was the one who was most able to stay calm under pressure.

"In summary, you're just saying that you were the coolest and stealthiest among the three of us." Killion said.

"Nobody needs to hear that." Ben said.

Anyway, he hadn't meant to hold the ring in his mouth, but he overheard Beta Larson telling their Gamma to have our warriors distracted by some entertainment and our car and luggages searched on the sly.

At the last minute, he went to the washroom and decided to keep the ring in his mouth in case of a body search. He then transferred the candy from the original soap box he had to the one with my name on it.

"You actually put candy in it?" Ben asked.

"Wasn't I supposed to put candy inside?" Harvey quirked a brow at Ben.

"Yeah, right." Ben muttered.

"Maybe he ran out." Killion suggested artlessly.

Harvey smiled his usual calm smile, "Mind your own business."

"Did it ever occured to any of you doofuses that I could have also just said that Grandma Luna had given the ring to me?" I asked.

"Then your uncle would know you have it." Killion said, "It seemed like he wanted it really bad."

"Uncle Louis does know I have it." I said, "I felt his intent directed towards me before we left."

Dad frowned.

"But Uncle Louis won't like do anything bad right?" I asked. I couldn't believe he would.

"I'm afraid after Uncle Elliot, I have grown distrustful of Uncles in general." Killion said.

Uncle who? Oh right, Beta Lorent was Rebel's Uncle Elliot.

Dad sighed, "What happened to the boy who used to call me Brother?"

"No." I said, "Uncle Louis is not Uncle Elliot. I refused to believe that."

Killion's face turned into hard lines, "Which was exactly what Alpha Lorent said."

Ben kicked him hard from behind, "Know your place, dog."

"Well I'd rather be like Alpha James than Grandma Luna!" I flared up, "I don't want to be the type of person who can't trust anyone."

"Sam, not trusting everyone isn't the same as not trusting anyone." Dad said in all zenness.

But this time, I understood him. I remembered how he had staked his life on the wolves that he had brought to Night Forest when Uncle Louis accused us.

But did that mean he trusted us more than he trusted Uncle Louis?

"Maybe Uncle Louis is just mad now and needs some time to cool down." I said.

"What about the robber with roof access and key cards to the apartments?" Ben asked.

"The robber could open the safes too. He's probably just very good at lock picking." I said.

Killion remained silent. His face still taut and his wolf on the rise. I patted him, "Don't worry Ki. I trust you."

Ki nodded curtly and then produced the most beautiful smile, "Don't worry, goddess. I will protect you with my life."

"You'd better dog, or I will kill you myself." Ben told him.

I grinned then, "Since I have all of you, it's probably going to be okay."

Dad was still silent, "At this point, all evidence points to Louis, but we can't rule out that it could be someone else. What do you think, Lucas?"

Beta Lucas nodded, "It's not conclusive that it was Alpha Louis. I personally find it hard to see him in that light too."

And then he looked at me, "Sam, may I conclude that only the people in this room know about the ring?"

I nodded.

"Then we have to make sure to keep the secret." Suddenly Beta Lucas looked at Beta Gerald, "I am sworn to Alpha Kingsley, and your son is sworn to Sam. But Gerald, your allegiance..."

Gerald nodded his understanding, "If I may, I pledge my allegiance to Alpha Kingsley. You have led Morning Light and myself faithfully all these years and never abandoned us to fend for ourselves."

"I accept your allegiance." Dad said.

Their wolves connected immediately.

"You know, if you had done this from the beginning, working together would have been a lot more convenient." I said half jokingly.

"Yes, but we weren't allowed to merge by the High Council then." Beta Gerald said, "It's all thanks to you Alpha Sam for making this connection possible."

Oh, well... I didn't expect Beta Gerald to answer so seriously. Actually, I didn't think a single ring could cause so many problems. Stupid ring.

"So, what do we do with the ring?" Ben asked.

Now, that was another pickle to pick.

OPTION 1: DAD AND MUM KEEPS IT FOR ME

OPTION 2: I KEEP IT SOMEWHERE SAFE

The more secure option was to leave it to mum and dad BUT Beta Lucas pointed out that if Uncle Louis ever found out, then it might be taken that Dad had stolen it and blow up into a full scale war.

I could keep it somewhere, but where?

I kind of understood why Grandma Luna always wore this ring now. But it wasn't exactly my style... And seriously, I'm not into wearing rings that would incite wolves to kill their bloodkin.

Omo how did it come to this?

Killion pointed out that once the new home is fixed up, we can install a safe in my room and keep it there. We just had to keep it safe for a few more weeks till then.

Savy finally said, "How about we just hide it somewhere? It worked just now."

"Either that or we can make Killion swallow it and keep it in Killion body." Ben grinned evilly.

I laughed. Ben's wolf was mean to the bone.

Savy brightened up at that thought, "What if we hid it in a body of a small stuffed toy?"