READY, STEADY, GO!

"I've lost my appetite." Ben declared to the table.

We were all seated around Dad's desk for dinner. It wasn't very comfortable - particularly for those seated on the ends, and the side where the drawers were. Ki had set my dinner at the seat Dad usually used, so I was really the only one sitting comfortably.

But Ben's alleged lost appetite wasn't so much affected by his awkward eating angle than what he had felt was an affront to his personal mind space.

And just to be clear, Ben's alleged lost appetite wasn't slowing down the speed of the food disappearing into his mouth. Ben was very practical like that.

"I keep seeing Barbie flash across my eyes." He complained, "I think it's PTSD."

WTH.

"Can you just get over it?" I snapped. Like it wasn't already embarrassing enough as it was.

"Are you still in elementary school?" Ben scolded, "Why are you wearing kiddie pants?"

Well, I'm sorry that my undies offended you!

"Doesn't your Lorent princess school have some rule against colorful underwear?" Ben said.

Which sounded like incredible bulls***, but was true, the Lorent Girls' School had many such incredible rules. Our seniors told of a time when the rules once required all girls to wear a white petticoat under our skirts. We princesses had arguably come a long way since.

"A gentleman would look the other way, Beta." Wolfgang informed him.

"But you saw it too!" Ben argued.

"I didn't see it." Wolfgang answered calmly.

Eh, tbh I was sure Wolfgang saw it - how else did he know to drop his coat over my lap?

"He's lying." Fluffy smiled.

"He's in denial." Ben smirked, "Sam, look what you did. You've totally traumatized him."

"I didn't see it." Wolfgang maintained quietly.

"Didn't see what, Wolfie?" Fluffy asked.

Wolfgang refused to answer him.

"This is the kind of wolf that's really satisfying to torture." Fluffy smiled his beautiful smile.

"You're sick, Alpha." Ben smirked.

"I feel we might have been too lenient on them." My good beta noted.

"Each of you copy the Code of a Gentleman in 20 different languages of your choice." Wolfgang amended.

"After accompanying the Lunas, the both of you are in charge of collecting and delivering their individual purchases." Ki smiled, "Take note of any items retained in the shop for alterations and whenever applicable, see to it that that you make arrangements for the various fittings required with the dressmakers. You must personally ensure all orders placed will be fulfilled and delivered in a timely manner."

"All of them?" Ben said.

"Yes, beta." Ki smiled his killion-dollar smile, "Down to the last bespoke fascinator, custom fit pair of gloves, and minor alteration."

Ben groaned.

"I'll copy the Code of a Gentleman." Fluffy volunteered, "My lovely beta will go shopping with the Lunas"

"Then I would expect 40 languages." Wolfgang said, "Since you are not allowed to repeat the same language more than once."

"Do I know 40 languages?" Fluffy wondered allowed.

Did he even know 20?

"I'll have it translated." Ben was also showing surprising initiative, "You copy it. And then you accompany the Lunas, I'll track their purchases."

Give a round of applause for their amazing teamwork!

Anyway, by the time Dad and Beta Lucas rejoined us, we had finished our dinner and moved our used dishes away so that we can look at our six sheets of mostly blank paper.

"Alpha is here." Harvey said when Dad entered his office.

The guys stood up and bowed, but I think Harvey was just letting us know time was up.

"How is your plan going?" Dad asked.

I stood up so he could take his seat behind his desk, "We have an objective..."

As in we literally had the word "objective" on the paper.

Dad looked at the paper spread across his desk, "I see."

"Hoo boy." Beta Lucas shook his head at the paper spread, "That's the shortest plan I had ever seen."

And Beta Lucas had seen very short plans since he personally didn't like writing anything in detail.

"I can explain!" I decided I might as well start winging it now. I looked at the wolves around me, let's hope our teamwork played out as good as it did when divvying out punishment.

The guys didn't look immediately confident or enthusiastic, but no one contradicted me.

"Harv, this is our chance. Take the notes." Ben nodded towards the blank paper on the table. Harvey picked up and uncapped his pen, "Understood."

"Hoo boy." Beta Lucas took a seat next to the table, "Alright, let's see what you got for us."

I guess he was going to give us the benefit of the doubt.

Normally, at such points in my life, I'd say, "Lucky sense of direction, don't you fail me now."

But you know what? Even if it fails, I didn't need it. I'll just do it the old-fashioned way - I'm gonna be the good guy, run alongside all the good ancient Lycan wisdom, and win Fate over. Because that's how all the heroes in the Lycan legends did it.

"Okay, we're going to win this thing." I decided.

"This isn't a game, Sam." Ben the naysayer started.

"Or is it?" Fluffy countered because he just liked messing with Ben like that... And maybe he still believed that this test/trap/live simulation was happening exactly as speculated over ice cream earlier.

"Whatever it is, we are running to win, so don't slow me down." I decided. My wolves paused and nodded at that. Okay. Good.

The first thing all good heroes needed was a goal, the bigger the goal the better.

"We're going to protect everyone's happiness!" I said before immediately realizing my mistake.

Ever notice how the crisis always hits the hero right where it hurts? So that was just plain dumb of me.

"Who's everyone?" Ben wanted to know.

No one I care about (or want on Fate's hit list).

And then I had a light bulb moment, why sit back and wait for the war to hit our Packlands? Why not take the war (and chaos) outside? That's why the first thing the adults yelled when a fight broke out was, "Take it outside!"

I shall apply this wisdom from my elders then.

"Everyone - we're going out to rescue our old friends." I decided, "Ben, make a list of everyone..."

Ben tapped his head smugly, "I've got it all in here."

Oh hohoho, Ben... you had no idea how much like Beta Lucas you sound right now. Don't go down that slippery slope my friend, I grabbed him firmly by his shoulders, "You're not running alone. Write it down."

"You're going to start a war, Princess!" Wolfgang was naturally alarmed.

I shook my head, war was such a big bad word, "We aren't going to war. We're just going on a series of very tiny insignificant raids."

Like Robin Hood and his band of Merry Men, or the Three Amigos, or Jack Sparrow and his pirate crew. Or maybe like Charlie Angels or Men in Black? Would everyone feel better if they could be cool like James Bond?

No one looked entirely convinced.

"You won't get away with it, Princess." Wolfgang warned, arms crossed.

"You mean, WE won't get away with it." I corrected the fire wolf.

"I beg your pardon, WE won't get away with it." Wolfgang allowed.

I nodded, completely satisfied.

"Sam..." Ben decided he had to step in here, "You remember how you're always telling us to stop you if you're running straight to your doom right?"

"Right." I did say that.

"You're running straight to our doom." Ben said.

Good! At least he got the pronouns right. WE were going to run straight to OUR doom.

"Don't worry, I'm sure we'll figure something out to deal with that as we go along." I assured them. Doom was such a long way away.

"What about Alpha Kev?" Harvey, my good beta who didn't like leaving loose ends asked.

That would be our first mission.

"We'll stop him and rescue Morning Light." I said, "We'll rescue the rogue wolves and free wolves too. We had some kind of rehabilitation program, right? Let's start building our own army."

We'd definitely need one to counter our doom. But what else could we do? If we sat here on our hands, we'd be doomed too. Might as well rescue our friends, gain experience, grow stronger, and change our world - starting from Night Leaf.

I grinned at my wolves, "Welcome to the pack of second chances!"