BETA LORENT RETURNS?

24 FEBRUARY, WEDNESDAY, AFTERNOON

Now that we've discussed my bad beta's fall from grace - I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry for Ben's sake, but we moved on to talk about whatever it was that Dad and Beta Lucas had wanted to see me about.

"Anyway, we're not here to talk about my offspring..." Beta Lucas grunted, "Sam... do you know why your Dad and I called you here?"

I paused. Urm... Was I supposed to guess? Or was Beta Lucas testing my gift of insight? Or maybe he had asked just for the dramatic effect.

"It's about River." Dad said. My dad had very little patience for dramatic effects.

Oh. Right, River.

Why was I not surprised?

"You almost look like you were expecting that." Dad observed.

I nodded, "River has a way of getting into trouble."

"Oh." Dad said. He stopped to consider this as if this was news to him.

"Seriously Dad? You must have noticed!" I exclaimed, "River is a human, and as wildcards come, he's as wild as they come!"

"Sam..." Beta Lucas raised his hand to correct me, "River is a warlock's child."

"A formling." I agreed, "I know. But a formling is kind of human."

Okay, BUT River smelled just like a human. The nose knows.

Dad cleared his throat, "Whether formling or human isn't the point."

Beta Lucas and I stopped. Well, I supposed not, but what exactly was the point?

Dad looked at his old friend and prompted, "Lucas, report please."

So Beta Lucas reported everything that Ki had already said in the car, except he completely omitted the part about him and Dad spending all night navigating the newly lit enchantments in the warlock forest. He pretty much skipped everything to the part where the both of them charged into the cave to save Savy and River and a rogue pup.

Not that I was discounting the Rogue King and the underpaid rogues that ran for him, but based on Ki's story, I think Dad and Beta Lucas did the most damage to the two runaways. They probably left some inner-trauma scars on Daisy too, just saying.

Maybe that's why wolves who didn't know their own strength were dangerous.

Beta Lucas also reported on River and Savy's adventures at the Rogue King's home and included some of the discussion notes from whatever he and Dad had discussed prior to my arrival.

So he wasn't just complaining about Ben all this while.

"Alpha and I have noticed..." Beta Lucas paused again. Beta Lucas liked to make a lot of pauses when he spoke. I've always assumed he was gathering his thoughts, but today I wondered if he had been going for the kind of dramatic pauses the Lorent wolves made when revealing a surprising fact or making a particularly wise point.

But Beta Lucas' pauses took a bit too long for that purpose. When I was younger, it was like a test of my patience, but like Dad, I got used to it.

"... Beta Lorent's name was mentioned. I am going to assume here that we are talking about the same Beta Lorent as your Luna's late uncle, Beta Elliot Lorent. Which begs the question, why is he still alive and kicking?" Beta Lucas asked.

Yeah, I had wondered too.

Ki answered on my behalf, "I was present at his final interrogation and subsequent execution to confirm his death. Beta Lorent was indeed dead."

Ki sounded confident. I guess as a powerful healer wolf, he would know if someone was properly dead, but...

"But how dead?" I asked. I didn't mean to doubt Ki. It's just that the Lorents were perfectly able to regrow a full arm in a few hours. And I've seen Bell single-handedly stop life and then resurrect the body again.

I've joked about it before - usually when I was mad at Bell, but could a Lorent resurrect himself? I know it sounded madly implausible. How could the dead cast a heal - but what if...

"What if Beta Lorent cast a timed resurrection on himself?" I asked. Part of me wondering if I've hit a new level of paranoia.

"Sam. I would think that is impossible." Beta Lucas made a grim face.

Ki's smile never wavered, "But if it were possible, he would have revived in the worst possible way. Your Luna had insisted his limbs cut off before dressing him in his suit for burial. He would have had his head severed too, except that we had to return his body to his family, and that would have been quite scandalous."

As oppose to everything else?

Dad was frowning his thinking frown. It was very deep thinking frown.

"I guess we could just check his grave to make sure." I suggested.

The men looked at me like I had grown another head.

"I mean, its not that I think he's alive." I quickly defended myself. I wasn't crazy or hyper-paranoid or anything, "Then we can rule it out quickly and figure out what's going on at the Rogue King's."

"Alpha and I believe it might be an impostor using Beta Lorent's name among the rogues." Beta Lucas supplied more reasonably.

I nodded, "Yes, yes. That would be far more likely."

"I'll have someone investigate Beta Lorent's grave." Ki promised.

Dad nodded, somewhat satisfied, "This would do."

He was still frowning though, so I knew something was bugging him.

"What are you thinking about Dad?" I started to feel like Ben, "Think aloud."

"It's probably nothing." Dad shook his head.

"But....?" I tried to pry a little. I didn't actually think it would work, but Dad said, "I was only remembering, the old healer at Night Forest. The old healer sold many charms. It was said that there were charms that could resurrect dead warriors so that one could run with an undying army."

"Your father said it was only fake news they spread during the war to frighten the enemy." Beta Lucas reminded Dad.

But suddenly, I remembered how Alpha James had said his late brother had told him about the legendary old healer at Night Forest. If Beta Lorent knew the old healer, could he have been able to buy those charms? If they were real, of course.

"The older I grow, the more I don't know." Dad mumbled to himself, "What is possible keeps changing."

So in other words, Dad thought it might just be possible too. Either that or he was getting paranoid with age - which was a real thing, or so I've heard the ladies say.

"Hoo man... imagine waking up to find your arms and legs not attached to you!" Beta Lucas realized, "That's going to be quite challenging - getting yourself out of the box buried six feet under."

Which I suppose was a valid point. Even if Beta Lorent could resurrect, he wouldn't be able to reattach his limbs, right? And even if he could, he would be seriously trapped. I don't think I could push open a box packed with six feet of dirt even if I were in perfect condition. It just wasn't physically possible to shove all that weight off from inside the box.

"Beta Lorent's funeral was held across five days before he was buried on the sixth." Ki informed us, "I personally checked that he was in the coffin before it was buried."

Which meant that Ki had been even more paranoid than all of us put together. Who did that? Check to make sure the right body was in the coffin before it was buried? Did he really think Beta Lorent could have woken up?

That was just creepy.

Urghhh... this kind of power just made my hair stand. It was vampire level creepy, I tell you! But didn't the rogues at the Rogue King's home complain about the place being creepy?

I mean, this was their base right? And why would wolves be creepy? Wolves were a lot of things, but not creepy - creepy was a predominantly vampire trait.

"There's little point in speculating further." Dad decided, "We'll wait for the investigation report."

"Yes, Alpha." Beta Lucas and Ki agreed.

Next, we dealt with the issue of River.

"I hope you don't mind, Sam..." Beta Lucas began. I waited for the pause to be completed, "I know Prince River is your guest, but we have put him on house arrest with visitation rights until further notice."

I nodded. I knew this already, since Ki had informed me, "Yes. That's for the best."

Beta Lucas looked relieved.

"But..." I said, "Can I take him out for a bit tomorrow night? He can go under guard."

Dad sighed, "Sam, what are you planning?"

I tried to look as innocent as possible, "Nothing much. I just wanted to introduce him to Flynn. Maybe while on house arrest here, we could also allow him outside his suite to train."

"To train?" Beta Lucas frowned.

"I know River is human..."

Beta Lucas raised his hand.

"- formling." I quickly corrected myself, "But physical training is great gain."

Both Dad and Beta Lucas paused to consider this.

At first I wanted to point out how training River would provide him an outlet and increase his well being during his house arrest, but then I realized I was convincing my Dad and Beta Lucas, not my Mum.

"River is kind of physically weak." I continued, "I know the training would probably be torture in itself, but it's for a good cause."

"Yes. A good cause." Beta Lucas repeated. But he said "good cause" the way the gangsters in a black and white movie would say they would "take care of someone." Hahaha.

"Savy would be safer in the long run if her mate wasn't so wimpy too." I added point blank. How dare he drag Savy into all that danger in that wimpy state?

Dad was starting to nod.

"If it's okay, Flynn could start his training tomorrow night." I said with a grin, "Trust me, I'll take good care of him."

Beta Lucas grinned, "Sounds good. Even if Flynn were busy, I would make the time to train him myself."

Oh, lol! I knew it! Ever since our trip to Silver Mountain... My Dad and Beta Lucas were really troublemakers at heart.

Ki smiled, "I'm very sure Prince River will be in no way short of volunteer trainers during his stay here."

Hahaha. Okay, I admit, I wanted to punish River, just a little - not kill him!

"We're not done yet." Beta Lucas warned, "We still have to deal with the rogue pup in our basement..."

You mean our dungeon?

And then Beta Lucas paused.

I waited and waited. When would this pause end?

"Sorry." Beta Lucas said after the pause. What? Did he pause for such a long dramatic effect that he completely forgot his point?

"That was an urgent mindlink from the border." Beta Lucas paused again.

I waited, but this time I didn't have to wait that long, because it was one of Beta Lucas' usual pause and not a mindlinked interruption, "A male rogue had surrendered at our borders. He has Sam's lunchbox and is asking for help to save his daughter."

Eh?

"Escort him to our packhouse. We'll meet him at the reception room." Dad decided.

"Understood, Alpha." Beta Lucas went back to the mindlink.

I looked at Ki who shrugged back with a smile.

I wonder what the rogues were up to now?