Chương 282: BEN AT THE WHEEL

1 FEBRUARY, MONDAY, 11PM The ride home with Ben at the wheel was surprisingly smooth and quiet. We spent the first part of it in comfortable silence. Seeing Ben driving in a suit made me feel like I was peeking into his future. I could imagine Ben a few years from now, a full Beta. On a side note, Ben was looking more and more like Beta Lucas. Except for the hairstyle... And the attitude. Wow, Ben's wolf had so much attitude. I still couldn't believe he bossed Harvey like that. Actually...

"I can't believe Harvey let you boss him like that," I said my thought out loud.

"Why not?" Ben asked.

"He's older than you," I said.

"It's not about our age anymore," Ben said.

"I've shifted now, so we go by rank."

"Aren't you all the same rank? Like you're all Betas?" I said.

"Not all Betas are created the same." Ben smirked. I remembered how Harvey stood out when he was with Matt and Jules... But did that mean Ben was stronger than Harvey? Or Killion? I couldn't tell who was the stronger wolf between the two. {Black, Red, White} Wolfie informed me. She was rather smug about knowing the answer. If she was really smart, though, she wouldn't be incapable of calling my betas by name. Oooohhh... Wolfie, you know colors! Next time, how about you call them by their colors?

Then at least I would know which Beta you were announcing the arrival of. Ben's voice interrupted my internal session with Wolfie.

"I know I'm young, but Sam, don't look down on me because I'm young. If you can be the Alpha, I can be your Beta. No matter how many betas you pick up, I'll be the strongest." Ben was being overcompetitive again, but I kinda understood the feeling. If I were in his shoes, I'd do the same.

"Okay," I said.

"I'll be counting on you." I looked out to the night sky. Alone with Ben in the car was relaxing. The moon was a pale silver slice in the near-black sky. I watched the stars twinkle and remembered the twinkling star song. And the song just made me think of Mate. When was the last time I saw Mate? Saturday evening at Grandpa Alpha and Grandma Luna's packhouse? And now that Grandpa Alpha was no longer there, it would just be Grandma Luna's packhouse, except that she wasn't there now either. Not till Summer.

I will return the blasted ring to her this summer. It was nothing but trouble to me anyway. Speaking of ring trouble, we were probably going home to more of it right now. I wasn't sure what to expect when we got back, so I couldn't even begin to prepare myself. But I survived winging Grandpa Alpha's eulogy, so I would probably survive whatever was about to happen at home.

"Hey, Ben, we're both probably going to be grounded for at least a week," I said.

"Nah, don't worry. If anything happens, I'll deal with it," Ben answered. And what was he going to do? Beta Lucas was seriously frowning during the incident with Calista earlier. I doubt my parents were going to turn a blind eye to me punching Jude "unprovoked" either. Jude was someone Dad had ever said reminded him of himself when he was younger. Mum had said Jude was rough around the edges, but his heart was in the right place. I would have said Jude was really annoying.

I would put him on Nix's level, but more condescending and cheesy. He was tall and broad and good-looking. He was alpha. But he had trouble answering yes and no questions, and I guess he just rubbed me the wrong way. Looking back, I wondered if he was just trying to be friendly. Or if he was just trying to stop the catfight. Or if he was just trying to save me from mating someone who wasn't my soulmate. As if I would mate anyone other than my own mate!

But if Jude was really just trying to be friendly and helpful, I guess I owed him an apology. And I probably should just bite the bullet and take whatever punishment Mum and Dad decided on. I was wrong to start the fight with Jude. Fighting another wolf just because his expression looked slappable, and then nearly killing him to examplify my alpha dominance to others, wasn't, like, the best decision I've ever made.

"Picking a fight with Jude was so dumb," I growled.

"Not as dumb as messing around with some neighboring alpha's daughter," Ben growled back.

"Why did you do it?" I asked. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

"What do you mean?" I saw his eyes shift to the side. Too private?

"I dunno," I said.

"It just happened and I let it." Ben said finally.

"I wouldn't lie and say I didn't enjoy it, but I didn't plan it. It was pretty irresponsible." Yeah. It was. But I guess he knew it too. And it's not like I was one to judge him. I mean, I nearly killed a guy simply because he stepped up at the wrong time. Bad Sam. So yeah.

"Let's just apologize. Take our punishment. And move on," I said.

"You make it sound easy," Ben said gruffly.

"Just grit our teeth and get through it. Then next time, we'd think twice before getting in trouble," I said.

"Are we still pups? Do you really think they're going to simply ground us?" Ben asked. Yes. That was exactly what I thought.

"What do you think they're going to do about it?" I asked.

"Nothing." Ben answered with a shrug.

"They're just going to leave us to deal with our own consequences." No way. But Ben was more often right than I was. I wondered if this could be one of those times that he was wrong.

"Are you sure?" I asked.

"Just guessing. The elders are all going to be too busy to be bothered with us anyway," Ben said. Yeah, there were always days or nights like these. I'm not sure if it happened for normal families, but for my family and Ben's, there would be times when our parents would all be mobilized for some emergency or large event, and us kids would be left on our own devices. But that's how we learned to handle ourselves too.

When we were old enough, we had to help pack supplies or print and cut flyers, address invitations, or prepare food and water, or distribute stuff to neighboring packs with SOS. More than once Ben had been sent to run out in the middle of the night—that was even before he could shift! Just to collect or deliver a document or something. Some wolves think being born in an Alpha or Beta family is fun. I guess in many ways it was fun. Most of my puphood memories were fun ones. But it was a lot of hard work too.

Ben became a very good runner and was rather competent at fitting many cars of different shapes into a limited parking space. Liz and I can address envelopes and packages in two types of font—cursive and caps. Savy was the best at fitting an impossible number of strangely shaped objects into a single box. I think it was experiences like these that helped me become very good at logistical organizing.

Like organizing to pack lunches in a production line on Sundays to prep the picnic at the destitute house was second nature to me. And the four of us could pack and label hundreds of care packages all on our own. We've done it before. More than once. This had always been part and parcel of life for me. (Yes, pun was intended.) I only realized that not every pup was like this at this one camp where we had to make holiday packages for kids at the destitute house.

And Ben, Lizzy, Savy, and I worked so quickly together that it was all done before the other kids could even finish complaining about how bothersome the task was. There were only 20 packages anyway. We even personalized each package with the kid's name. The activity was supposed to last till dinner time, so we had a few hours of free time after that. After that, Jonah said, "Wow, you guys are like professional Santa Elves!"

Yeah, so we had secondary options for our careers: Santa Elves, postal workers, and departmental store gift wrapping service, just to name a few. Bright future. Anyway, Ben was right. A large-scale memorial service, multiple alpha visitations (these always came with paperwork and security detailing), and now a security breach and possibly a family feud... All in one evening. That would explain why Beta Gerald wasn't present at the memorial service. I think he was dealing with the paperwork and security dispatching.

Now that he had sworn allegiance to Dad, there was no reason he couldn't also cover for Beta Lucas at the memorial service. I looked out at the waning moon and twinkling stars again. I healed very quickly tonight. I'm really thirsty too. All signs that my wolf was siphoning Mate's healing powers. So I knew Mate was still near... Just not near enough. I'm not missing him or anything, though! Yeah, I was just... Urm... Looking out of the window and watching the stars. Yup, that's it. Just looking at the stars.

Not missing anybody. They twinkled and I could almost hear them singing.

"Little puppy, do not cry Keep on fighting with a smile Though the world is full of pain With love and kindness it will laugh again Little puppy, do not fear Your mate will always be very near""Little puppy, do not cry Keep on smiling till you die Though the world is suffering Be brave and true, like a clear bell ring Little puppy, don't shed a tear Your mate will crush the things you fear""Little puppy, do not cry War is only for a while Though the world is hurt and raw The blood and tears will be no more Little puppy, persevere Your mate will shield what you hold dear""What the hell is that, Sam?"

Ben asked. We were just pulling up the packhouse driveway. Did I just sing that aloud? How embarrassing.

"Just remembering a dream," I told Ben.

"I don't know what it means." Ben eased the blue coupe up to the porch and parked. Eh? Shouldn't we not leave the car in the middle of the packhouse driveway? But Ben had already gotten out. I grabbed my stuff and scrambled out quickly to tell him to remove the car. The door was opened for me by one of our warriors. Ben tossed him the key, and I felt his hand push on the small of my back to get me into the packhouse. Oh. Now we've got valet services too? My world was evolving constantly around me.

Either that or I must be dreaming. What the heck was this place? It looked like our packhouse, but came with valet services. Ben didn't seem to notice. Valet service Ben! He simply guided me through the packhouse front door—which opened all on its own. We also now have warrior footmen. I looked at the warrior who simply smiled and nodded a bow.

"Welcome back, Alpha, Beta." I turned my head, pretending to nod at the warrior but secretly checking Ben's expression. Nothing. Ben's face had all the life of a marble statue. I must be dreaming. Maybe I fell asleep in the car and was dreaming. It wasn't too shabby for a dream. It even came with all the right smells of home. Oh wait, dreams had no smells. I wasn't dreaming. I let Ben lead me from behind—you could tell how sly my betas were. Even while walking behind me, they were leading the way.

I must have the three greatest control freaks in the continent as my betas. We went up to the conference room. There were warriors guarding the door. Okay, this, while not a regular sight, wasn't entirely surprising. Given tonight's circumstances, having warriors on guard was the standard procedure. My Uncle Louis and Aunt Jade were inside with my parents and Beta Lucas, Gamma Harry, Nix, Flynn, and Hank. Wow. I didn't even have to sniff them out.

Wolfie's radar was rather sharp, and I was getting pretty good at identifying their presence by their names. I was evolving too. The words from my speech earlier haunted me.

"But the world is changing every day and what it is today isn't what it was yesterday. And what it will be tomorrow wouldn't be what it is today. We need to keep running without regrets." It's way past my bedtime. I could feel myself regressing into a five-year-old. I'm tired, I'm thirsty, and I've got a long day at school tomorrow. We're talking a full school day, followed by archery lessons, and then a meeting to deal with my little vampire problem. Just keep smiling...