Today, I didn't forget that I had long hair again when I woke up. So I didn't let it trip me and send me tumbling onto the floor when I got out of bed.
I also didn't forget to bring my phone to school; I just forgot to charge it last night, so the battery was at the last one percent when I woke up.
Oh well. I stuffed it into my bag.
I was feeling pretty good about not forgetting things this morning.
I figured out how to get dressed by using the towel to hold my wet hair up-ish. But having a towel wrapped over it meant that my hair was still too wet to tie up after I got dressed.
I went downstairs with my hair still down.
"Oh Sam, your hair grew back!" Mum gasped.
"Does it grow back when you sleep?" Savy asked.
"No." What kind of fairytale nonsense was that? "It grows back when I shift..." S***.
Mum's face had taken on a frown at that. "Sam! What did you do now?"
"She was with me," Dad said quietly.
Mum pursed her lips and looked at Dad and then at me.
"It was just a walk around the pack house," I told her. "And my hair grew back!"
I looked at Savy for help.
"Your uniform is wet," Savy observed aloud.
"My hair takes forever to dry," I complained.
Mum sighed. "Savy, go fetch my hair dryer and a towel."
Savy pushed herself away from the table and hopped off her chair. She could be so helpful when she wanted to be.
{Betas are near}
I started eating my breakfast, and soon Mum and Savy were hooking me up to the hair dryer... which I used to hate using before I had such long hair. I still hated it; the only difference was that I had to endure longer now.
Mum and Savy were making a bigger deal out of wet hair than necessary.
{Beta is near}
{Betas approach}
What? There was a knock on our back door. Oh, it had to be Beta Lucas then. He was the only one outside our family who used our back door regularly.
"Come in," Dad said, and Beta Lucas let himself and his twins in.
That's two Betas then, since Ben was here too.
Oh, wait, there was another Beta, right?
{Beta is near}
Right.
Can you please identify them, Wolfie? Was it Harvey? It was Harvey, wasn't it? Why was Harvey coming?
By now my hair was being braided by both Lizzy and Savy. They had YouTube playing a how-to mermaid braid video.
Mermaids were invading my life.
Dad and Beta Lucas were talking over coffee. I think they had some border issues, which didn't interest my Wolfie at all, so either Wolfie didn't see it as a threat, or my stupid Wolfie, who couldn't count or remember names, didn't understand the deal with border controls.
{Beta approaches}
A pickup truck rolled up our driveway. I realized I could differentiate its engine sound from other cars by now.
Apparently, I wasn't the only one.
"It's Harvey," Savy said quietly.
"Oooh... Do you think he would give us a lift to school?" Lizzy asked. Both girls giggled.
Ben rolled his eyes.
The doorbell rang.
"Savy, please get that," Mum said as she topped up the coffee maker and took out another mug.
I finished eating my breakfast just as Harvey came in with some documents in a clear plastic folder.
"Good morning, Alpha, Luna, Beta," he greeted with a polite inclination of his head.
Then he turned to me. "Good morning, Princess. Did you receive my email?"
Email? I took out my phone to check. It wouldn't turn on. Oh. I guess I should have charged it during breakfast. I looked at Harvey. His face... Hahahaha.
"It's flat," I told him.
His face... Hahahaha.
"Please excuse me," he said, and he left.
"Oh goddess, Sam," Lizzy said. And then the girls burst out laughing.
"Maybe he needs a moment to cry," Ben smirked.
I laughed at that. "You would cry!"
"I would carry a power bank," Ben decided.
"You need to charge your phone, Sam," Mum told me. "What's the use of a phone that won't turn on?"
What, so it's my fault?
{Beta approaches}
Harvey returned a minute later with a small black power bank. He plugged my phone into it. "Here, you can use this today. It should charge your phone in an hour."
He handed me the clear plastic folder. "These are for tonight. Here are the previous merger proposals and notes I've prepared based on previous meeting minutes."
I put them both into my school bag.
And then he asked me, "Is there anything else I can help you with today?"
Wow. Ten points for the perfect Beta performance.
Beta Lucas had always been good, but I don't even think Beta Lucas could match that flawless professionalism in the morning.
"Princess?" Harvey prompted.
Oh yeah. "No, I'm good. Thanks."
Dad spoke then. "I'd like Beta Lucas to check the borders with me this morning. Perhaps you might help send Savy and the twins to school today. Sam ends school later today, too. She might need a ride home in time for dinner."
"Of course, Alpha," Harvey agreed.
"Yessss!" said Lizzy.
"Wait, that's like driving out more than an hour and then back again. I can come home on my own," I said.
"It's my job, Princess," Harvey said.
"Who's paying you?" I asked.
"I'm interning for now," Harvey conceded.
Sometimes I hated that he always knew the right thing to say.
"Have you ever asked yourself why you are the Beta?" I asked him. "Why don't you just be the Alpha?"
He looked a little stunned at that, then he replied, "Why are you the Alpha, Princess?"
I heard Ben growl. I waved him down and stepped up on my own.
"Because I'm strong," I answered.
"Stronger than me?" Harvey asked. Was he challenging me?
My wolf wasn't bigger than his, but I was probably stronger. It was a pretty close call.
"Wanna fight?" I asked. I couldn't hide my Wolfie happiness. It appeared that my wolf enjoyed fighting.
"You think you can beat me?" Harvey looked incredulous. Whatever point he was originally trying to make had been blown out the window.
I considered it. "Eventually. In my wolf form, eventually I'll gain enough experience. In my human form, yes. I can beat you."
"You sound very confident, Princess," Harvey told me.
"I am," I answered without allowing myself second thoughts.
Harvey considered this briefly. I don't think he believed I could beat him in a fight, not in any form.
"Sparring with you is also my job," Harvey informed me diplomatically instead. "I've been built and trained to keep up with my Alpha."
I remembered how my dad used to say only Beta Lucas could keep up with him when he ran at full speed. And only Beta Lucas was a challenge to spar with.
Then Harvey went back to trying to make his point. "Have you ever asked yourself why you are the Alpha?"
Yes... no? Wait, had he been asking himself why I was the Alpha?
"You are the Alpha; I am the Beta," he answered for me. "Just as you were born to lead, I was born to run with you."
Lizzy sighed. "So romantic."
"He's my Beta, not my boyfriend," I snapped back.
"Careful you don't fall in love with me, Princess," Harvey teased with a wink.
"Careful you don't fall in love with me, Beta." As if I'd let any guy get away with sassing me.
Beta Lucas cleared his throat, quickly steering the conversation back. "The Beta's place is always by the Alpha's side..."
"Isn't that the Luna's place?" Lizzy interrupted.
Beta Lucas cleared his throat again. "I mean as his right hand."
"What's the Luna?" I asked.
"The Luna is his heart," Dad answered. Mum smiled and blushed at that.
"Looks like I've got two right hands!" I crowed, and then I added as a joke, "Beats two left feet anytime!"
Savy groaned softly. Lizzy rolled her eyes, but she was laughing. "Sam, they don't both have to be right hands."
"Then I'm ambidextrous?" I asked. I knew Ben was ambidextrous. Ben could write with either hand, but he always used his left hand to throw water balloons, balls, or rocks when he wanted to hit the target hard. So I always ran on his right side when we were up to mischief, to give his throwing arm room.
Harvey shot Ben a look, but Ben looked too conflicted to notice. I wondered which hand he wanted to be.
"What are Gammas?" I asked Beta Lucas.
"Gammas are the legs," Beta Lucas answered. "They do most of the legwork."
I didn't know why I was surprised. I guess I didn't expect Beta Lucas to actually have a body part for Gammas.
"Lola is learning to drive now, but when Nix or Jonah are old enough to drive, they will do most of the sending and fetching," Harvey told me. "They will also play the executive roles in managing different aspects of the pack."
Of course he had it all figured out.
I've got two hands and three legs! I'm officially a monster.
"What will I do?" Ben asked then.
"What can you do?" Harvey asked.
The two guys stared off for a bit. I looked at the adults, who looked like they were going to sit out of this one.
I looked at Savy and Lizzy. They looked back at me. What should I do?
"Ben will do what Harvey does, just on Night Leaf's side," I answered. "I was thinking of applying some of Morning Light's systems to automate the packs' day-to-day management. Even after we merge, I plan to run the pack in sections. Except for the warriors, who are administrated separately anyway, I was thinking the administration for the normal wolves could be by the pack towns they live in."
Harvey took notes in his phone.
"It sounds like you've been giving this thought. Very good," Beta Lucas approved.
"Not really," I told him honestly. "It's just an idea."
"Oh dear, Sam, you're going to be late for school," Mum reminded me.
Oh no, I'm going to be late for school!
"Okay, I got to go, bye!"
I grabbed my stuff and bolted out of the house.
Thankfully, the driver was waiting for me.
"So much energy early in the morning." He said as I boarded.
"Thanks for waiting!" I grinned.
"Can't leave without my only passenger, can I?" he chuckled.
I sat at the back of the empty bus. Who needed a limo? I've got my own bus right here.
My phone chimed.
B. HARVEY
~ What time should I pick you up, Princess?
YOU
~ 5 p.m.
B. HARVEY
~ Noted, Princess.
The rest of my ride to school was quiet. I read the notes Harvey prepared for the meeting.
Wow. He even collated key points from various past minutes, some dating back to the year I was born!
I guess we can safely say this merger had been in talks for all my life.
They pretty much discussed everything. In fact, there had been several discussions on why Alpha James would reject the proposal and also several points on the benefits the merger would have for the Lorent Pack, but most of it was just benefits that the entire Green Packland would gain from the larger and stronger security force that our pack would be able to provide.
There was a point when we even considered offering the Lorent Pack more land in exchange for their assent to the merger. Wasn't that bribery? Anyway, I wasn't going to give up any land.
Our pack had a lot of land.
My dad had bought it from the beginning when no one wanted land right next to the northern warlock forest. He leased some of it to his friend Alpha Daniel, who set up the Morning Light Pack next door. And also to the minor packs here. Most of it was just forest though.
But you know what would be cool? A third town, a town for wolf slaves to escape to. One day, that would be my dream town: a safe town so when wolf slaves escape, they had somewhere to run to and wouldn't have to go rogue.
It would be run just like Morning Light and Night Leaf, with another Beta and Gamma team under me. I wonder if I could grow another arm and a leg... Or maybe find one somewhere and attach it on?
Like all my daydreams about saving the Lycan slaves, they were just dreams, without limbs, funding, or any other real resources.
I was just a teenage girl... Even though the elders agreed that I will be the next Alpha, it still felt like a long way to go before I could do any of the other things I wanted.
But just as I was about to feel it was beyond me, these words came to mind:
{Little by little, one step at a time.}
Okay, yeah, I can do that.
Just take little steps.