Chương 235: ALPHA OF THE SNOW WOLVES

By now it was really late. I was beginning to wonder when the Alphas were leaving so we could get on with our merger meeting. Estella and Esmeralda had already played their recital. Savy slipped away with them after that. Aunt Jade also excused herself to put Eddy to bed. Even Grandma Luna had retired for the night. Alpha George, Henry, Alpha James, and Uncle Louis were discussing some kind of investment opportunity. Alpha Solomon was debating with Dad over the better educational philosophy for schools.

Luna Edith and Mum were discussing the flower arrangements in the hall. When were they going to leave? Mate looked bored too.

"Let's go take a walk." I suggested. We excused ourselves to stretch our legs and got as far as the piano when Mate sat down at it and started playing. I sat next to him and listened. {Alpha approaches} Eh, another one? The Alphas at the table stirred a little, and then Alpha George called out to me, "Sam, Alpha Gunter is arriving! Go greet him."

"See if you can ask him to contribute too," Alpha James said in a friendly way.

"My Goddess!" Alpha Solomon exclaimed.

"That would be the top Alpha at every major packland in your Princess Town project." I got up and went over to the table. Mate continued playing the piano. How uncharacteristically Luna-ish.

"So Alpha Gunter is the top Alpha of the Blue Packlands?" I asked.

"He's a scary one," Alpha Solomon said.

"Very strict and cold, like ice," Alpha George said.

"Never mind, Sam. Use your magic and melt him." Alpha James smiled encouragingly. I'm not sure what magic Rebel's dad believed I had.

"Yeah, you've already got us. Rope him in too," Alpha Solomon said. I grinned.

"If I do, each of you will contribute an equal amount more to the town, okay?" The men laughed.

"Kingsley, where did your daughter learn to negotiate like that?" Dad smiled and promised, "I'll match the amount too." Alpha George growled, "It's daylight robbery!"

"You can well afford it," Alpha Solomon goaded.

"All right, fine," Uncle Louis said.

"Get Gunter in, and I'll contribute to your town too." I nodded. So fun.

"Is there anything else I should know about Alpha Gunter?" I asked.

"I'm not helping you win," Alpha George said. He was like a grown-up version of Henry. Hahaha.

"I heard he has an adopted son, a human boy. Is that true?" Alpha James wondered aloud.

"Yes. I believe he's thinking of handing over his Alpha title to the human boy," Alpha Solomon grumbled.

"Huh, that's crazier than Kingsley handing his Alpha title to his daughter—no offense, Kingsley," Alpha George commented. We were so busy commenting that Alpha Gunter appeared at the door of the main hall without any of us going out to greet him. Luckily, Beta Larson did. He stoicly walked the new arrival into the hall and announced him.

"Alpha Gunter is here." Alpha Gunter had long silver hair. It was hard to place his age, but I would guess maybe the same as Alpha Solomon (really old). He was with another three men. The first was a large man also with long silver hair, but tied in a low ponytail. He had the build and stance of a trained warrior. The second was more moderately built, but sported short brown hair and a gentle smile. He too stood like a trained warrior, but I couldn't sense his wolf. He smelled suspiciously human.

And the last person was much smaller, and I could only see a swatch of black hair. Definitely human. Wolfie wanted to play with the human boy. Why? {Fun!} Grandma Luna was no longer present, so Alpha Gunter went directly with those three other people to pay respects to Grandpa Alpha. I could hardly believe he brought not just one but two humans with him to a Lycan wake. I wondered if it meant the rumors of him handing over his title to a mere human boy were true.

The smaller human I couldn't see suddenly yelled out, "Ow!" He had tripped and knocked over Grandpa Alpha's photo. Beta Larson threw himself forward to save it. Everyone at our table stood up. There was angry growling all around. Who brought humans to a Lycan wake and let them knock over the framed photo of the deceased? But I recognized the voice immediately.

"River?" I was over to them almost immediately.

"River?" I asked again. By now, his scent confirmed it. I laughed.

"Only you could be so clumsy!" The other two men, who had at first moved to protect River at my approach, now looked confused. The wolves who took offense to the picture falling had also stopped growling to listen in on our conversation. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

"Eh? Sam?" River blinked.

"Wow, I didn't recognize you." Beta Larson put the photo back up behind us.

"Sorry. Very sorry." River bowed a few more times at the photo. I laughed.

"Don't worry about it. Grandpa Alpha wasn't the petty sort."

"Eh, he's your grandfather? But aren't you from the Green Packlands?" River looked confused.

"Long family history." I smiled.

"Keanu didn't come?"

"Ah, no..." River trailed off.

"Have you met Henry? We're in the same school." On second thought, I wasn't sure if Henry cared to socialize with a human.

"Please introduce me to your friend, River." Alpha Gunter's mannerisms were very gentle, even more so than Alpha Solomon's. Maybe the gentler they were, the scarier? I regarded the man carefully. He had a powerful wolf, but it was a peaceable one. I would go as far as to say he wasn't a fighter wolf. But I also knew these things could be awfully deceptive when wolves reached a certain age.

"This is Sam. I told you about her, Dad. We are in archery club together. She has helped me a lot," River said.

"River helped me too," I said happily, remembering how he yelled at Ki over the phone.

"Oh." Alpha Gunter looked surprised.

"Your friend Sam is a girl? Pardon me, I thought you said Sam was a warlock."

"The humans call me that on account of my hair and eye color," I explained.

"I see." Alpha Gunter smiled politely. He was neither scary nor cold. I'm beginning to think the other old Alphas at the table were all just messing with me.

"Come and sit down with us. You're just in time. We had been discussing a new town I wanted to build in the Green Packlands. It will be a place for widows and orphans and former slaves to make their homes and start a new life. Do you want to contribute?" I asked just as we reached the table. Alpha Gunter regarded the men sitting together around the table. I felt an icy cold air behind me. It was radiating from Alpha Gunter. He was a snow wolf? Wow. I had only read about them.

There was only one pack of snow wolves on the continent, the Snow Moon Pack. He didn't look particularly happy to see the other Alphas.

"Good evening, gentlemen. Alpha Kingsley and Alpha Louis, I'm sorry for your loss."

"No need to be sorry," Uncle Louis said again.

"He is finally resting." Alpha Lorent pushed forward some of the investment documents they had been discussing.

"Sam wants to build a social enterprise town in the Green Packlands."

"Princess Town?" Alpha Gunter read.

"Yes." I told him.

"Please consider contributing something to it. I've got a park, living quarters, land, and starting capital so far."

"You said you were building a new town?" River asked.

"Yeah, you know, like if a wolf becomes a widow, or pups become orphans, or slaves get rescued, they can come live in this town and start a new life in a safe place," I said. River's eyes brightened. I kind of knew he would understand.

"Yes! Dad, I want to contribute."

"Thanks! I'll name whatever you contribute after you. Like if you contribute $200, there'll be a bench with your name on it," I told him.

"River, this is a Green Packland project," Alpha Gunter said.

"So? Whether from the Green Packlands or the White or Black or Blue... everyone deserves a second chance. We can contribute a bit anyway." Yeah! Exactly! River got it!

"It's not the color of the wolf or the packland. A wolf is a wolf!" I enthused.

"Yeah! Whether human, wolf, or vampire... everyone deserves a chance to live safely," River said. Eh? Say what?

"No way. Not vampires," I told him.

"They aren't all bad," River argued.

"Have you ever met a good one?" I asked.

"No, but I haven't met every single vampire yet," River argued. Oh man, now I know what these old Alphas must feel like talking to me. RIVER WAS CRAZY. So crazy that he might be right. I shook my head hard.

"No way! No way!" No way. No way. No way.

"The Princess Town is for lycans only," I said, just to be clear.

"All right, you build the Princess Town for the wolves. I'll build a pack for humans and wolves to live together," River decided. Okay, I could live with that. I nodded.

"Okay! Deal!" I beamed at the other Alphas. See! That was easy. The other Alphas just stared wordlessly for another moment. Then Alpha James beamed.

"Well, she did it." He pushed forward some papers they had been discussing.

"Come and choose what you will contribute, Gunter. The other Alphas had promised to match your first contribution on top of what is already promised." So when I thought they were discussing some investments, they were talking about Princess Town? Where did they get those papers? I looked at Ki, who was holding a file and smiling blandly in the background. Ah... good job, Ki! Alpha Gunter narrowed his eyes.

"Even you, Solo?" He looked at Alpha Solomon, and then at the other Alpha wolves at the table. I could tell he was trying to decipher the trap. Alpha friendships were so ridiculously complicated. Alpha Solomon held up his hands.

"The Princess was very convincing." Nonsense, I didn't convince anyone. Somehow I had a feeling it was what Alpha Solomon wanted to do anyway. If you're just doing what you wanted, don't say it like you were forced! I flared.

"Remarkable, isn't it? A blue wolf right in front of us." Alpha Solomon suddenly changed the subject.

"I did not expect to see one again in my lifetime. Do you still remember her, Gunter?" Gunter looked at me and then at the other Alphas. He looked reluctant to admit it, and finally he said, "There is not a day that I could forget." I think it would be safe to assume that she was now dead.

"Her mate is here too," Alpha Solomon said, nodding toward the direction of the piano.

"He plays rather beautifully. Such a melancholic song." Gunter turned sharply toward the piano, and then to me. He took note of the bright silver bangle on my arm and then the full moon outside. From the look on his face, he was connecting the dots. The fact that Bell was dream traveling by my blue wolf power did not slip past these two older Alpha wolves. They even acted like it was significant, but I couldn't ask in front of everyone right now.

"Oh, that's your mate playing?" River asked.

"He's very good." And then, belatedly noticing the cold air radiating from the wolf next to him, River looked at Alpha Gunter.

"Are you all right, Dad?" The table went quiet, and there was a cold frost in the air. I tried to compare Alpha Gunter's cold to a vampire's. It was different. A vampire's cold was the absence of heat, a dark void around them. Alpha Gunter's cold was like a piece of winter in the air.

"My soulmate was a blue wolf, but a different blue." Alpha Gunter sighed softly.

"We were a pack of snow wolves. Our coloring is much lighter." I'm not sure if it was the music Bell played, but Alpha Gunter's expression held so much yearning that it hurt to watch. It made me think of Killion. Ki was broken too. It made me worry for Grandma Luna. Would the pain of losing her mate ever stop? What if it didn't? Suddenly, I realized Alpha Gunter was still speaking.

"As for my contribution to Princess Town, I would like to think about it, if you don't mind, Sam."

"Ah, yeah, okay. Ki will send you the details. Thanks in advance for your support!" I forced a smile. Even though Alpha Gunter was still smiling coolly, even though Ki was always smiling like a ray of sunshine, even though Grandma Luna had behaved much like she always did whenever I saw her... my heart felt troubled. What could I do to make the pain go away? The visiting Alphas finally took their leave.

The cars lined up to pick up their passengers, and they stood around and joked about how this must be the first time they hadn't left feeling like killing each other. I stood on the porch with Dad and Uncle Louis.

"Bye-bye!" I waved to each new friend.

"See you in school!" I said to Henry and River. And then it was quiet on the porch.

"You did it, Sam," Dad said to me. To be honest, I'm not quite sure what I did. I was mostly trying to get the rest of the day over with.

"We still have the merger meeting. My file is upstairs in my bag!"

"Louis, it's late. Can you invite the Lorents to stay the night?" Dad asked.

"Yes, no problem," Uncle Louis agreed.

"The conference room is open for your meeting." I yawned... I was tired. One more meeting... Just one more. But I'm tired, and I could feel myself regressing into a 5-year-old brat. Uh-oh. So I did the natural thing a 5-year-old would do—I blasted an SOS into my Beta channel.