Chương 948: I THOUGHT THE ALPHA WAS CROSSING THE ROAD?
Ben left me with all the usual beta fanfare, but in his signature style. All my betas seemed to be programmed with "How to part from your Alpha" protocols. I shall use my good beta as an example of the correct beta responses.
I always liked Harvey's beta mode responses because his was always professional without being too formal or stuffy. Ki always did it, as he did everything, with a flare that made me smile. Ben was… well, Ben. But I think the basic protocol went something like this:
STEP 1: Inquire if the Alpha would require any further service from you.
E.g. "Is there anything else I can do for you, Alpha?"
STEP 2: If any further instructions was received, answer in affirmative and appropriate gratefulness.
E.g. "Will do, Alpha. Thank you for your guidance."
Or else skip to Step 3.
STEP 3: Excuse yourself with a polite bow.
Except this was Ben so his version of it was more like:
STEP 1: Inquire if the Alpha would require any further service from you.
"Need anything else, Sam?"
"I'm good." I answered, but immediately had another grand idea, "Are you free to go meet and greet later?"
Meet and Greet was what Dad did sometimes. It involved going around to the different mats to say hello to his wolves. He usually did it with Mum and a large basket of goodies that Mum would have prepared for the pups - both the roving ones who visited our mat as well as the ones with their families Dad and her met and greeted.
I used to go with Dad sometimes too. (That's how I got my first taste of orange soda.)
I wasn't as good as Mum at conversations, but I was really cute. I helped make Dad less imposing when he did the meet and greets - that's what Beta Lucas had explained anyway.
"I could go with Alpha, but two big wolves like us would scare the women and children." Beta Lucas boasted - I don't think he meant to boast, but he sounded so damn proud of the fact.
Anyway, because Dad wanted to meet his wolves personally, I would be assigned to accompanying the alpha whenever Mum was retained in a conversation.
"Women can talk forever." Beta Lucas told me.
Forever sounded quite permanent so this worried me, and I was very relieved that Mum was returned to us eventually.
STEP 2: If any further instructions was received, answer in affirmative and appropriate gratefulness.
"Shouldn't you be taking your Luna?" Ben smirked.
Eh? My Luna? Bell wasn't exactly the lovely Luna like Mum was. Not that Ben was particularly charming either.
Boo noted mootly that Bell wasn't even here. I repressed a sigh. My wolf's happiness seemed to rest solely on Bell being near. It was pathetic.
Ben shrugged, "Sure. Whatever. I'll come over when I'm done with my business."
STEP 3: Excuse yourself with a polite bow.
And then he was gone.
"Sam, come sit down and eat something." Mum instructed the moment she saw me.
Dad glanced over from his discussion with Beta Lucas. Savy and Lizzy looked up too.
"Oh, Sam's here." Lizzy said. And then she looked about, "Where's Ben?"
I barely had time to register Ben's departure. But Ben's style was easy for me like that. I never had to be polite.
I shrugged, "He had something to do."
"He could've at least announced you." Lizzy shrugged back.
Oh right. That was something my betas were programmed to do too.
"Its okay, I can announce myself." I grinned, "HUNGRY ALPHA IS HERE!"
Lizzy and Savy laughed.
Mum patted the space next to her, "Yes, even alpha princesses need to eat."
"Would you like tea or juice, Sam?" Mrs Willow asked.
"Juice please." I answered. I mean, it was an obvious choice.
Mrs Willow handed me a bottle of red liquid. Fresh strawberry juice! What sorcery was this?
"I couldn't help but overhear you're planning to go on your own Meet and Greet." Mum commented. Despite her bright smile, I think she was worrying about me again, so I sat down on the mat next to her, "Just for a bit, don't worry. I just want to say hi to some people."
Mostly on the other side of the road, but let's not add fuel to the fire of anxiety that burned in my mother's heart. And because I was older and sneakier now, I changed the subject, "Where's Sabre?"
Mum looked around, "Nearby. She's running about with the other pups."
I nodded and tucked into Ki's latest attempt at making ham and cheese sandwiches, except I would have described it more of a croissant stuffed with ham and grilled-to-melted-perfection fancy cheese.
It would be crazy for anyone to leave our picnic mat - this was the first picnic I had with a tiered tray of cakes and pastries, a large platter of "ham sandwiches", a cooler of bottled cold press juices and a full tea set. But as crazy as it was for anyone to leave our picnic mat, the greatest fun in pack picnics for pups would be running out to explore the rest of the picnic area.
Every pack picnic, the pups would run around and eat the best of every picnic mat. I knew because I used to do that too. Every mat would have a kindhearted she-wolf who would find us adorable and offer us a treat. It was the best kind of life.
Mum claimed that this puppyhood "tradition" started when I was three and discovered orange soda from someone's picnic mat while accompanying Dad on his Meet and Greet sessions.
One thing led to another and by the next year, I would be leading a bunch of puppies around the mats on our own version of Meet and Greet. Our puppy version was more like Meet and Eat, and oh the new gastronomical experiences we had discovered in our adventures!
By now every picnic would require "something for the pups" to be packed with the rest of the food. It could be packet juice, chocolates, pretzels, chips… just something because cute pups would definitely come by, and they could be lured to come to your picnic mat if you had something yummy on hand. It was tradition.
But it didn't use to always be all sunshine, the adults used to worry that this would make it easy for our pups to be lured away by rogues. Since then, there were always patrols around the woods during our picnic event - even though it wasn't like any rogue could get so deep into the packlands without Dad's wolf knowing. It was for the general population of mothers because they worried the most.
And of course, every pup was told over and over again that we were only allowed to do this at the pack picnic. And EVERY Spring, there would be a Stranger Danger lesson, both at lycan group study and in New Leaf Academy for pups from preschool to Grade 6 - just to make sure us dumb pups didn't follow just anyone extending a bag of chips out towards us.
It's been like this for years, and I would have believed it had always been this way, except I remembered the orange soda quite distinctly, and then going to get Ben, Lizzy, and Savy to follow me to get more.
Come to think of it, the adults around me had always been surrounding us with safety nets. I just hadn't noticed those nets until today.
Ironically, today the adults were the ones who didn't seem to remember how allowing your puppy to wander out of sight could be dangerous in all kinds of ways. Take my Mum for example, a picture of serenity as she sipped tea and chatted with Mrs Beta.
Sabre wasn't even really a wolf! Wasn't it dangerous for small human girls to run around a wolf pack's picnic with a bunch of dumb pups?
"Is it really okay to let Sabre run around on her own like that?" I asked as offhandedly as I could.
"Oh, Sam." Mum laughed, "You used to do it too."
I know, but I wasn't a weak human!
Ah well, it should be alright. We're on packgrounds, and maybe Sabre being the only human child among us helped. Everyone would know full well that the single human child in our pack belonged to Mum and Dad, so her obvious humanness was actually to her advantage here.
As long as she remained in our packlands, within the safety nets of the pack my Dad had built, she should be pretty safe. Let's just keep her here forever.
When did this happen? That a little human had also become one of the non-negotiables in my life?
"Maybe you should go with your dad." Mum said.
It took me a moment to realize she was worrying about my Meet and Greet. Why was she worrying about me? I mean, she let Sabre run free!
"Don't worry, Mum." I tried to reassure her, "Just pretend I'm a pup making my rounds too."
I mean, tell me how it would be different? But Mum didn't look in anyway convinced. She turned to Dad, "Dear, what do you think?"
Which was Mum's code for, "Dear, please tell Sam I'm right."
It was a good thing Dad was never good with deciphering Mum's code. I mean, they were soul mates, for like 18 years and he was still a total noob at it.
"It's a good idea." Dad nodded, "If Sam's making rounds too, we'd cover more ground."
"But… is that really alright?" Mum asked. She was still clearly worried.
"Don't worry Luna." Beta Lucas promised. "She won't be alone."
"Yeah." I piped in, "Ben would be with me."
"Best take a couple of your guards too, Sam." Beta Lucas added.
"It's just a picnic." I tried to brush it aside. Last I needed was for the likes of Wolfgang and Barry to tag along. I mean, didn't Beta Lucas remember about big wolves being intimidating?
"I've been going around since I was a pup." I added. I think I only stopped when I started middle school, and only because Jessica had stopped when she started middle school the year before. Jessica had stopped all "childish activities" the moment she started Middle School, and at the time, I felt compelled to follow. (This was mostly because I wanted to be grown up too.)
"Yah man," Beta Lucas chuckled, "I can't remember a single picnic when you pups didn't get into mischief."
Not helping, Beta Lucas!
Dad was suddenly remembering - what he was remembering, I couldn't tell. In my defense, we did not get into trouble THAT often, and they were really LITTLE mischiefs…
Like the time we pretended to be bears like Yogi and Bobo bear and set up tricks to steal picnic baskets just like in the cartoon. Or the time we had a tree climbing competition but couldn't get down. We were really high up, and the branches of that particular tree couldn't support a grown man's weight. I jumped down, much to my Mum's alarm. It was scary. I'm not sure if it were the sheer height of the fall or my Mum's scream.
I landed okay, but the adults decided to call fire department who came and plucked us off the tree like we were cats. That was exciting.
Or the time we tried to pick flowers for our mothers which was innocent enough, but Dean fell into a patch of something bad. I can't remember if it were Stinging Nettle or Poison Ivy. It was bad enough to have to call Delta Simon.
Anyway, the worst that happened was a pup fight - but IT WASN'T ME! I'm not sure who though because it was the year we started inviting Morning Light to join us and I didn't know all the wolves.
But some bigger Morning Light goons picked on Dean, and then I think it was Ben and Jonah, or maybe Shannon… was Shannon with us by then or was he with the Morning Light goons? Anyway, it was the guys.
All I did was yelled, "Get them!"
Okay, so it was a little bit my fault. But they were ganging up on Dean. A bunch of big goons against one little guy - who happened to be my friend. Naturally, I felt they needed to learn to pick on someone their own size.
Later on, I heard the grown ups explain that it to be expected given that we allowed young male wolves from different packs to make contact. It was in our genes, male wolves were territorial and aggressive. Such display of male dominance was instinctive.
It was a good thing they were just pups. No real injury or harm was done, just a few scraps and bruises. The elders decided to just let all the guys go with just a stern warning.
"Boys will be boys." The adults said.
And Morning Light continued to join us for picnics and BBQs and potluck. Having our pups grow up together will also reduce future territorial fights when the pups grow up and shift.
The adults made it all sound very reasonable. No one pointed out that these weren't young male warriors, they were pups. And they had been going to the SAME school for a few years now.
Okay, so there were some fighting in school too. BUT those were definitely nothing to do with me. I didn't even go to the same school.
Anyway, while I was remembering, so was Dad, and I don't know what HE remembered, but he said, "It should be fine IF she stayed on this side of the road."
So... not that Dad was changing his mind of course. Wolfgang would be proud of him. Here's an alpha who didn't say yes and no in the same breath. He just added terms and conditions.
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