Something fun was going to happen today. My lucky sense of direction was tingly and happy, which would totally explain why Boo was so responsive this morning. My wolf wasn't energetic just because I hadn't dream travelled and presumably Bell hadn't been bombing crazy healing spells last night. Boo was genuinely excited - just a little. It wasn't a "Whoot! Disneyland, here we come!" level of excitement. More like a "I'm expecting a special package today" kind of thing. A happy little glow of expectation.
This should probably have been a red flag for me. Boo's idea of fun had always been dangerous. And her favorite wolves were usually the most troublesome kind, except for Mate - although that was debatable. Mate was really his own special level of trouble, capable of being a whole catastrophe all on his own.
{Mate! ~♥}
See what I mean?
But I didn't quite connect the dots just yet. I mean, now that I'm writing my diary, it was obvious as day, but atm I was distracted because Harvey had resumed confirming my schedule and I accidentally stumbled on an astounding discovery.
All along, I had always thought Harvey was just reciting my schedule to me because I was useless at checking it on my screen. We had been going through my daily schedules quite regularly now. Harvey seemed to like doing it, maybe running through it filled up the empty pockets of space when we were in the car. Maybe it helped bring up conversational topics. At least for the both of us, it had never been awkward in the car and the secret was our little ritual of running through my schedule. Every time there was a lull in conversation, Harvey would pick up and continue reciting the schedule until one of us comes up with a related question pertaining it or in my case, any random thought that came to mind.
Whenever I was in a bad mood, hearing his gravelly calm tone when he talked about my schedule always made me feel like everything was going well and life was still under control. It was very reassuring to know that at the very least, my day was going to run smoothly.
So you could imagine my surprise to find out that Harvey wasn't reciting my schedule because it was our mantra of peace. He was actually running by the schedule to get my confirmation and approval or any further instructions (or in my case, random thoughts.)
According to Wolfgang, this was a very standard and expected thing - not the random thoughts, but the running through the Alpha's daily schedule.
Apparently, Ki had tried a number of times to do this in Harvey's stead, but he had been unable to keep my attention. I honestly didn't remember any of it, so he was probably right. I felt pretty bad about it, "It's not you, Ki… It was probably just one of those days…"
Ben had tried too, but Ben's idea of running through the Alpha's schedule had to be summarizing everything in a single sentence or less. You know Ben… This resulted in me not even realizing that my schedule had been run through.
But that's not the point.
"You mean I could say no?" This for me was like discovering that the earth was round and no one was going to ever accidentally step over the edge if they walked too far.
"You are the Alpha." Harvey's wry smile reappeared again.
WTH. Why did no one ever tell me these things?
Anyway, Wolfgang had set up my Morning Entourage "perfectly." I wanted to argue that Morning Entourages were not a thing, but Harvey had nodded, "Thanks to Sir Wolfgang, Alpha's mornings will go smoother."
I looked at my morning entourage. Today, I had Harvey and Ki, Wolfgang and Fluffy (who he was training. Wolfgang claimed that once my morning routine was settled, he would leave the scribe role to Fluffy and would not be part of my Morning Entourage unless I was scheduled for morning lessons that day.)
I also had Neil and Jax as my security detail. If I was planning to go out of packlands, I would have an additional two warrior wolves in my morning entourage.
Morning Entourage, my foot! Just the wolves descending the stairs with me were enough to be a full raid party. Not that we'd ever need one. Raiding was prohibited on the Green Packlands - another one of those "radical" statutes that went against Lycan tradition.
But Dad was of the firm belief that raiding caused a lot of social strife and should be criminalized. And the Lorents just didn't like the idea of having their stuff raided by all the barbarian packs surrounding them. So this lycan tradition defying rule was set. It didn't receive as much scrutiny from the press as the anti slavery, zero tolerance vampire/rogue/hunter laws, or even the rights for she wolves to own businesses and lands. I think by the time they got to the "no raiding" section of our law book, they exhausted their word count.
We were just on the ground floor and crossing the pool room to exit the house. My family had already left for Breakfast with the Alpha. (How dare they abandon me at home! T.T)
But I think having a bunch of wolves guarding my door had put off Savy from flouncing in and waking me. And no, apparently, unless I asked for a morning call, I should not be disturbed in my room.
This was another one of Wolfgang's rules. I'm not even going to bother keeping count, but let's call it "Wolfgang's Thousand and One Rules."
This particular rule was not because I was the Alpha though. It was because I was "a lady" and I should be allowed my privacy.
"Also, a lady should never be rushed." Wolfgang added to his Thousand and One Rules.
Anyway, I was already used to taking this route to the packhouse. Most of my own wolves prefer this side entrance that did not require them to step foot into the main house.
At any rate, Harvey had a hand on the small of my back to steer me. I wouldn't have been able to turn to the wrong door even if I purposely wanted to.
But just at the point before Harvey turned me to the correct door, I felt in my guts to pick another door - specifically the one facing our back yard.
Our poor desolated backyard with a hole the size of crater at the end of it.
My lucky sense of direction was never wrong. There was something out back.
I stopped my steps. Naturally, everyone else stopped too.
"Is something the matter, Alpha?" Harvey asked. He turned to follow my line of sight.
Of course there was nothing there. It was just a hunch. Did Harvey feel it too? Something "fun" in that general direction.
And then Harvey turned to regard my expression again. Or rather to regard my hair.
What was a good beta to do?
This one didn't like leaving lose ends.
Harvey nodded towards the backyard, {Jax, go check it.}
{Check what?} Jax stepped around my flaring hair and tried to see what we were looking at, {Is there someone out there?}
{What is it, beta?} Wolfgang asked, {I don't sense anyone outside.}
{I don't know...} Harvey admitted, {Alpha's hair is reacting to something. I think it's outside.}
{True.} Fluffy concurred, {Either that or pretty alpha is about to cast something.}
Which seemed to worry the wolves around me more than the idea that there might be an undetected intruder. Like WTH! Forget it! I'll go check it out myself!