MY PLAN AND SOME DREAMS WE FORGOT

21 FEBRUARY, SUNDAY, CONTINUED

"And what exactly will happen when the Young Alpha Lorent's prophecy is fulfilled?" Alpha Gunter asked gently.

"Sam dies." Ben the doomsayer's conclusion was immediate.

Bell growled lowly from his seat next to him, I placed my hand on his shoulder to calm him.

"We don't... we don't know this for sure." Mrs Beta tried to clarify, "All the prophecy says is that 'He will not take a Luna mate.The Last Lorent Alpha will be his fate.'"

"Technically, Sam and Luna Bell aren't mated yet." Beta Lucas explained, "And we all know that Blue wolves come to fulfill the goddess' purpose, and then they pass on. Tragically. Very young. Before they even have pups."

"Yes, I'm glad you are well aware of it." Alpha Gunter nodded. I guess Alpha James didn't manage to shush this prophecy as much as he had hoped. Maybe it was a bedtime story told in the Blue Packlands.

Alpha Gunter shook his head a little a laughed his relief, "For a moment there, it sounded like you wanted to fulfill it."

I nodded, "That's exactly what I plan to do."

"What?" More than one wolf yelled again. All my wolves were hard of hearing.

Bell stood up now, "No, princess. Over my dead body!"

"Well, yes." Ben the doomsayer agreed in monotone, "That's very likely the case too. Last Lorent Alpha, remember?"

"Your pack has been touting plans to combine the three major packs of the Green Packlands, but it sounds like all three packs will be left without an alpha by the end of the prophecy." Alpha Gunter, in all his wisdom, decided to highlight the bigger picture for us.

"This is all my fault! I should never have brought the stone here!" River bemoaned. I guess he wasn't exactly the macro-view kind of guy like his dad was yet.

Alpha Gunter sighed, but this sigh was gentle and less chilly than his earlier ones, "It's not your fault, son. You couldn't have known. But that was why I told you to stay away from the Green Packlands and the Alpha Princess. You see, I know your innate powers only too well, you have the uncanny luck of always stepping into the crux of turbulence. And I had already suspected that the Alpha Princess had inherited her father's infamous and equally uncanny catalyst ability."

"My goddess," Ki breathed the moment he put the two and two together, "Their friendship was like a disaster waiting to happen."

Yeah, and he was my sister's mate! Way a go goddess! Another perfectly screwed up match made in heaven (by you). You should go take lessons from Cupid.

"And since we were half of your problem, I hope to lend you my services to at least be half of your solution." Alpha Gunter graciously offered.

"Our problem?" Gamma Harry wasn't as gracious about it, "How can you say this was our problem?"

"The warlock is in your packland." Alpha Gunter tried to reason with him, "And your packs would be bereft of alphas at the end of it, not mine."

To the future archeologist who digs up my diary - if you were ever wondering how the great alphas of the wild and free Green Packlands became extinct. This would be how it all started.

"Your pack is already bereft of alphas!" Gamma Endo yelled, "Your son is human... or warlock... what is he?"

"I'm human!" River decided.

"Don't decide these things on your own!" I scolded.

"But his mate is your Alpha's daughter. My grandson will be a true alpha. Your pack wouldn't even have an alpha." Alpha Gunter smirked.

Oh great, now even Alpha Gunter was starting to argue like one of us. Who knew a great and dignified alpha would stoop to arguing tit-for-tat with a gamma? He was truly acclimatizing well to our culture.

"Not if he is a warlock." Gamma Endo wasn't the type who knew how to back down, "Warlocks can't mate wolves. It's unnatural."

"I'm going to be a human." River insisted.

"Then I'm going to be a vampire!" I said.

"Sam! You can't be a vampire! You're already a wolf!" River said.

"Exactly! And you're a warlock!" I said.

Then River sort of threw an alpha tantrum, but because he was River, it wasn't particularly terrifying, "I'm NOT going to be a warlock! I'm only going to be a human! A HUMAN!"

It was a little ironic because his stone glowed and floated him off the floor while he was saying this. I mean, I've never seen a human do that.

"You must be a warlock!" I yelled. My hair flared, threatening to kraken, and my dominance pressed down a little harder. Now that was how you throw an alpha tantrum. To River's credit, he didn't back down an inch.

"Why must I be a warlock?" River yelled back.

"Because 'Brother of the warlock's fire'" I quoted from Bell's prophecy.

"Eh, what?" River blinked.

"Since you're my sister's mate, you're my brother-in-law, which makes you Bell's brother." I explained.

"Oh, no." Bell groaned into his hand realizing I was right.

Yup. I'm so good at connecting the dots because I'm such a clever wolfie.

A momentary stunned silence followed, and then everyone was talking at the same time. Both aloud and also over the mindlink so it was super noisy. It was like a damn broke and all the words poured out of everyone. It was so noisy, I couldn't even make out a coherent sentence from all the noise in my head. I covered my ears and shut my eyes, "QUIET!"

And then it was suddenly super quiet. So quiet, you could hear a pin drop. I realized belatedly that my ears had shifted, because to cover them, my hands had to flatten them over the top of my head. I also realized that I had pretty much alpha commanded and bomb dominance over the entire conference room. I took a deep breath, "One at a time, I want to hear out everyone's wisdom."

Beta Lucas raised his hand first, "Sam... I just want to ask two questions: One, are you sure this is the interpretation. And two, what is the fire?"

At this point we all looked at the glowing stone. It was still just hovering on his own now that it was freed from the confines of River's shirt, and pointed in the direction of the Warlock lands.

"I don't think the stone is the fire." I answered, "But I have a feeling it might lead us to Fount and maybe we can ask him about that."

"May I just ask why do you want to fulfill the prophecy?" Gamma Harry ask, "I think it is better to just keep the stone. Let Prince River use it. Maybe he can protect Savy better. I don't think he can fight well. He looks not strong at all."

I guess "not strong" was Gamma Harry's way of being tactful and not saying "weak."

"And if we don't give Fount his stone, then there won't be a fire. And maybe Prince River won't become a warlock either, because there is no fire. And then the prophecy won't happen and everything will be okay, right?" Gamma Harry suggested.

Gamma Harry actually had a good point. Why did I want to fulfill the prophecy? I guess I just wanted to help the free wolf pups. The song made it sound like if I returned the stone to Fount, everything will be okay for them.

That stone was Fount's heart stone. Maybe he was getting weak without it and couldn't protect the free wolves from rogues anymore. If we returned the stone, then maybe Fount would regain his powers and be able to protect the free wolves again.

But was that the only way to make things better for the free wolf pups?

If there was something I've learned lately, it was that there were always more than one option. But what other viable options did I have? Maybe I could allow them the option of joining our pack. They could live in the Princess Town too. Would they swear their allegiance to an alpha? Maybe if I gave them candy...

Or we could storm Fount's land and kill him. If he's weak, that might not be too hard. Then the Warlock Lands would belong to us, we could remove the traps and enchantments, chase off the rogues, and allow the Free Wolves to continue living there freely as long as they paid the same dues as the other minor packs in our lands. It's like just making them pay rent for staying on this land. But this seemed mean to Fount. I wasn't entirely sure he was a bad guy yet. I wasn't even entirely sure that he was weak. Maybe he was just really lazy.

"Sam. You gotta think aloud." Ben prompted me.

"I think..." I said, "I think... I want to hear what everyone else thinks first."

"Maybe we can go around the table." Harvey suggested now, "Ladies first."

Oooohhh, real smooth, Beta! By saying that we were going around the table, Harvey managed to disentangle hierarchy from the order, but starting with the ladies was not only gentlemanly, if we followed the order around the table, it would mean after the ladies, and then the deltas (just Flynn and Hank who had been very respectfully quiet throughout), the gammas, our guests, Dad and Beta Lucas, and then my betas, luna, and me - which would be following a new hierarchy, where I was on top.

I guess it was MY emergency meeting, but Harvey's arrangement had just positioned me to call the shots at the end of the day. This was going to be my decision. Good beta!

I beamed at everyone around the table and waited for my wolves to speak now, but for some reason, now that it was their turn to speak, nobody said anything. I tilted my head to one side, "Hn? You can say anything you want. I just want to hear your point of view."

"I don't like this." It was Bell who spoke. He was sitting arms crossed around his chest. He leaned back and looked up to me with a wry smile, "I don't suppose you'd stay at home and let me handle it."

That smile, if he looked at me like that, I'd pretty much do anything he says! ~ ❤️

I shook my head to clear it. Maybe I needed a blindfold whenever I was facing mate. I had ever heard of stories where an Alpha met his Luna and feared because of her power over him, how her beauty so easily swayed him, how her tears totally tears him up, so he rejects her. I used to think he was stooopid to the nth degree for running away from his own mate and obvious fated love. But if his luna had a smile anything like the ones mine deployed, I guess it was understandable. Still stooopid, but I get it now. Love was stupid like that.

It was a good thing my Luna's smiles were like rainfall in the desert.

Beta Lucas raised his hand, "Luna Bell... exactly how do you intend to handle it?"

Bell shrugged, "Put Fount on the Wanted List for charges in aiding and abetting the rogues and I'll take my soldiers, raze the Warlock Forest, break his crystal enchantments and end him. Then I'll hunt down the rest of the rogues hiding in his lands including the Rogue King."

"The Rogue King is here?" Gamma Endo sounded alarmed.

Bell nodded, "According to my intel, he has an undisclosed based in the warlock's land and has recently returned to it."

"I knew it!" Gamma Endo punched a fist into his hand, "Things had been too quiet around here! The patrols down lullaby route was becoming a child care walk-about!"

"But what is he planning?" Gamma Harry asked, "That's very important to know?"

Bell smirked, "He's planning to hide there like a coward. I've cut off all his other avenues of escape."

My luna sounded very pleased with himself about it too, "He can run, but eventually, he will run out of places to hide."

Wait, wait, wait! The Rogue King was here too? Wow. It's like everything was coming together... I panicked when I remembered the pre-shift dreams we had earlier this year. Mine had already happened - seeing mate at the underground hall with his warriors. And I've met my mate. Now Savy had met her mate too (I still can't believe its River Omo).

And Jonah's and Ben's dream involved a war.

"Have you started shaving, Ben?" I asked.

"What?" Ben touched his chin on reflex, "Not since this morning."

Oh. oh. Ben had grown up a lot since his first shift. Why did I not realize he would naturally mature too?

"So technically, if you hadn't shaved, you would be able to grow a shadow?" I asked again, just to be sure.

"Should I try?" Ben asked.

"Sam..." Beta Lucas raised his hand, "Why are you asking about Ben's shadow?"

"I was just wondering..." I answered, I realized how everyone else looked equally nonplussed, "You know, if you know, if he happened to get caught and chained in a dungeon and not shave... would he be old enough to grow a shadow now?"

I guess all this while, I had taken Ben's baby bottom smooth chin to mean that I had time before the war happened.

Ben was still stroking his chin, "Hmmm... you think the war will happen?"

"May I know what war you are referring to?" Alpha Gunter asked.

"At the beginning of the year, our children all had their pre-shift dreams in the same night." Mrs Beta explained, "Do you perhaps know what this might all mean, Alpha Gunter?"

Alpha Gunter looked serious, "All your children?"

Our parents nodded. Mrs Beta explained, "All the children from the Alpha, Beta, and Gamma families, even though most of them were not yet due to shift. Later on, my son shifted early, and Alpha's younger daughter Savy had shifted prematurely. The dreams our boys had were worrying, indicating war."

"Why hasn't anyone informed me of this?" Bell demanded.

"By the time you and Ki appeared, these dreams were old news." Ben shrugged, "Half the time, we thought you were the one who was going to start the war anyway."

And for whatever reason, Bell nodded his understanding, "Well, that was my initial plan."

"Okay, but since that's not your plan anymore, maybe there won't be a war?" I asked hopefully. Okay, I know, every wolf generation will have to fight its own war - but maybe we fought out this one with the power of love? You know, cover evil with good - Bell was evil, now he was my mate (good). War won.

Jonah raised his hands, "There's still the rogues, Sam. The wolves I had to fight in my dream might be rogues."

"So I eliminate the rogues and you'd be safe." Mate concluded.

"It's really not that simple." Alpha Gunter said.

Which I wasn't surprised to hear at all. I can never find anything to apply my one-punch solution on.