Chương 287: TAKING MY GLITCHY WOLF TO SCHOOL

2 FEBRUARY, TUESDAY, BREAKFAST When I came out for breakfast, the rest of my family was already at the breakfast table. Killion was dishing out eggs on toast for everyone.

"Good morning, goddess." His usual sanguine smile made me feel like today was going to be okay. Just another day, right? (Ignore the human.) He put my scrambled eggs and toast in front of me and my lunch bag next to my packed school bag. Savy was eating cold cereal again. So was the girl. (Ignore the human.) Mum and Dad were mindlinking each other. It was pretty obvious by the way they looked at each other, as if a conversation was happening, even though they were not talking.

Every now and then they would look at the girl, and then at me. (Ignore the human). Ben was at the table too. He was shoveling food into his mouth while working on his phone. Killion topped up his coffee for him, twice, but Ben acted like he didn't notice. The girl sat between Mum and Savy. She had colorful bits of bright cereal and milk. She watched me carefully. (Ignore the human.) Beta Lucas knocked and let himself in to report that Uncle Louis had returned to the guest apartment he shared with Aunt Jade.

He seemed calm enough and had said nothing about his missing men. Or the many guards on their floor. He only told one of the guards to inform Dad that he intended to leave before lunch.

"He's just going to discard his men?" Ben asked. Beta Lucas shrugged.

"It is the way of Night Forest. The moment their alpha is safe back in their packlands, the men would also make their move to escape home."

"Why even bother? That home doesn't care a s*** for you." Ben scoffed.

"It's the Night Forest way," Beta Lucas said.

"I would like to talk to my brother before he leaves," Dad said.

"Understood, Alpha." Beta Lucas made a short bow and left. Now Dad turned his attention to us.

"Sam, Savy, your mother and I want to adopt Sabrina as our own." Are you kidding me? (Ignore the human.) I growled and decided to excuse myself.

"I'm going to school."

"About that..." Mum started. I shook my head and cut her off.

"I don't want to be in the same space as that girl."

"Sam, this isn't like you." Mum looked so sad.

"Sam, you're unstable right now. It won't be safe for you to go to school in this state," Dad said in his "let's be reasonable" voice. I suppose this would be a bad time to tell them that there was a coven of vampires after me too.

"I'll stabilize once that girl is gone," I said.

"Sam, stop behaving like a jealous pup. I know you might find having a new sibling difficult, but we can talk about it!" Mum said.

"I don't want to talk about it," I said.

"As far as I'm concerned, that girl isn't here."

"That girl is your sister now, and she has a name." Mum was growling now. My own mum, growling at me because of another girl.

"Yes, her name is Greta," I spat out. The girl dropped her spoon with a clatter. I wanted to ignore her, but Mum was making this impossible for me.

"She is a human, with a family. You either give her back to Uncle Louis, or return her to her home," I said.

"Sam..." Mum started again.

"No, Mum. Don't 'Sam' me. I'm the Alpha, and she's a human, a thief, and a liar. I don't want her here."

"You say she has a family?" Dad's deep voice was concerned now.

"Do you know where her family is?"

"Why don't you ask her?" I turned to the girl.

"Where is your family?"

"I don't know," the girl said.

"Color. Just tell me what color packland!" I growled. The girl started to cry. Mum hugged her.

"That's enough, Sam! You're frightening her."

"Ki." I heard my voice grow cold.

"Do some research for a family whose house was burned down within the last two years or so." I tried to recall any useful detail from the dream.

"Quite a rich family, a human settlement... An old-fashioned one, that would still use horses and light their stables with lanterns, and ladies still wear those big umbrella dresses... And the law enforcement is crap, like where a group of men could burn down a mansion, kidnap the young daughter and rape her in a stable nearby, and still not get caught." The guys in the room were growling lowly now, but I pretended I didn't notice or care.

"Blue Packlands," Killion suggested.

"No!" the girl screamed.

"No! No! No!"

"Shush, baby, it's okay." Mum soothed, and then Mum looked at me with tears welling in her eyes.

"Oh Sam! Please!" Dad was growling to himself. He seemed conflicted.

"If the girl has a home, she may have a family looking for her." Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

"No!" screamed the girl.

"No!" Mum was crying now. My heart twisted inside of me, but this was not my fault. I was doing the right thing. Unlike what my Mum said, I was being the mature one here. It's like picking up a lost puppy. No matter how much you loved it, you had to return it to its rightful owner.

"Ben, drive me to school." I picked up my bag and lunch.

"No Lambo."

"Understood." Ben nodded and opened the front door for me.

"Sam..." Mum turned to me. She tried again.

"Please." Please what? What did she want me to do? I paused for a moment, but when Mum didn't say anymore, I left the apartment without looking back. I was the Alpha. I had to stand by what I said.

"Do you think I'm being cruel?" I asked Ben when the lift door shut us in together.

"I'm on your side," Ben said. I knew that. I always knew, Ben lacked discrimination like that.

"I want to know what you think," I said.

"I think you're being too hard on yourself." Ben shrugged.

"I would have just killed your Uncle and taken over Night Forest. Your Uncle has gone mad. Everyone who runs with him suffers it."

"He hasn't gone mad, Ben," I said.

"He's always been mad." I had meant it half jokingly, but Ben answered seriously.

"True. There is a reason why my Beta uncle sends his daughter so far away from home to study. He said he couldn't help Oscar. He has to bear the beta's burden for the sake of the pack. But Oprah is a girl. They can only hope she will find a mate outside Night Forest," Ben told me.

"Oscar told me this last weekend. If anything should happen to his dad or himself now that Alpha Silas has passed, to keep Oprah here with us in Night Leaf." Was it that bad? Really? I hadn't realized. Perhaps there was a reason for my Grandma Luna to be so controlling over Uncle Louis' leadership. Two sides to every story. I sighed.

"Is the meeting about the Ciara Coven set?"

"Yes." Ben smirked.

"Cancel it," I said.

"Dad's got enough on his plate. You and I. We will go vampire hunting tonight." Ben stopped smirking.

"Are you sure?"

"No. But I have a plan," I said.

"Okay." Ben was smirking again. The two of us exited the lift and headed down to the front porch. Wait, if we're both here, who was getting the car from the garage? The warrior doorman opened the door for us, and my car was driven up onto the porch. Right, I forgot, we had valet service now. I waved to the waiting bus, hopped on for a moment to tell the driver, "I'm taking the car to school from now. Thanks for the hard work every morning!" I smiled as the driver waved a friendly salute.

"Just doing my job, Alpha." He turned off the engine.

"Might as well go warm up over coffee till the next shift." I kept smiling as the valet opened the door for me. Ben was already inside at the wheel. The car had been warmed.

"Let's go!" I was still wearing the forced smile. Ben lifted a brow at that but pulled out of the porch.

"I just realized my license doesn't work outside the Green Packlands." But he kept driving. I laughed at him.

"So what are you going to do about it?"

"Harvey will meet us at Gate City. He'll send you to school from there," Ben said reluctantly. Wow, I totally didn't expect that. Ben was really being mature about this.

"Know that I would have driven you to school anyway, Alpha," Ben clarified.

"But Dad said that if I even get one demerit, he was going to confiscate my license." Ah, yes. Now that sounded more like the Ben I knew. I chuckled.

"So what's the plan for the vampire hunt?" Ben asked. I pressed my lips together. I hadn't got the whole thing out yet.

"Just think aloud, Sam," Ben prompted.

"Okay, I was thinking of trying to dream-travel to my mate. He's at the Vampire Queen's birthday party. So his master, the Ciara Lord, should also be there. All we have to do is get to mate, and kill him." End of plan. Ben groaned.

"It's not just the Ciara Lord, Sam. Every vampire of any import would be there to pay tribute to their queen. We'd be walking right into the lion's den."

"Yeah, don't worry, we'd be dream-traveling," I said.

"We'd be just as dead in real life if we died there," Ben reminded me.

"Yes, but if anything goes wrong, we'd just wake up." I beamed.

"So you got the entry and exit plan." Ben deadpanned.

"You know the middle is a big blank, right?"

"I'm really lucky," I said. Ben growled.

"This should be interesting." I'm beginning to understand that whenever Ben said something should be interesting, he meant that he sees us headed straight into disaster.

"If you're so smart, you fill in the blanks!" I said. Ben laughed softly. He kept his eyes focused on the road, but I knew he was already working on it.

"Can we bring Harv or Ki along?" Ben asked.

"So far I've only brought small items along with me," I admitted.

"So there is a chance that you'd leave me behind too?" Ben asked. I nodded.

"Maybe."

"What would you do if you get there on your own?" Ben asked.

"Maybe I'll scout around, wake up and try again." I hadn't the faintest idea, really. We reached Gate City Station and Ben pulled to park in the empty lot directly behind Harvey's truck... which was now wrapped in a deep midnight blue. Harvey came out and walked over. Ben opened his door but didn't get out right away. Harvey leaned over at the door.

"Good morning, princess."

"Hi Harvey!" I smiled. I couldn't help it. Just the sight of Harvey always made me smile. Ben simply said, "After this, get Ki to prepare weapons and gear for vampire hunting, cancel the meeting tonight. And meet at my place."

"Why your place?" I asked.

"No offense, Sam, your place is cramped. Plus the human girl would probably still be there," Ben reminded me. Grrr....

"So we'll attempt to dream-travel and crash the vampire queen's party from my place," Ben said.

"I probably won't be able to carry all three of you!" I warned.

"Trust me, Sam." Then Ben got out of the car. Harvey exchanged keys with him.

"Be gentle with her." Ben scoffed.

"I'll drive it like my own." Harvey shrugged.

"I was afraid of that." But he got into the car with me and shut the door with his usual calm smile.

"You're more worried about Ben driving your truck than the vampires tonight?" I teased. Harvey simply said, "Vampires would not abuse the accelerator of my truck the way Ben will." I laughed.

"And you, princess?" Harvey asked.

"Are you afraid?" I suddenly thought about the dream of Greta's memory and growled, and then I shook my head.

"I'm not afraid of a strong enemy." Only of being helpless... I had never been helpless like that before. Or bound like that before. Or hurt or humiliated or terrified like that before. Grrr... But I'm the alpha, I'm strong.

"Princess, are you alright?" Harvey looked concerned. I nodded. Oops, my hair had flared.

"Pardon my saying, Princess, but you do not seem quite yourself today," Harvey continued. I growled softly and warningly at him. Harvey quietened and continued driving. I crossed my arms and sulked out at the window. Okay... Why the hell was everyone saying that? Was it that obvious that my wolf was glitching? I'm strong. I'm the Alpha. I am protecting my pack and doing the right thing. Nothing's changed. I'm still nice to the wolves that follow me. I'm still going to school even though I'm dead tired.

I'm still dream-traveling. I'm still doing everything that I usually do!

"What's different?" I asked Harvey. Harvey paused. I think at this moment, his wolf was telling him saying anything would be self-destructive.

"Say it," I ordered. If he said anything about restraint, I was going to bite off his head.

"You feel suddenly grown-up, like the puppy disappeared. And the wolf I sense now is fearsome, although a bit unstable," he said finally. Maybe I'm mad like my Uncle Louis. And then because Harvey was always long-winded, he continued, "I guess you're growing up. Haylee went through this too. She used to be cute and bubbly to the point that it was irritating, and then one day, that little girl was gone. Now she spends all her days reading manga, listening to music, and sulking in her room.

My mother says she's going through a phase." A phase, was that what this was?

"Did you go through a phase too?" I asked. Was that what was happening? I was just going through an angsty teenager phase? I mean, I actually growled at Mum today. Bad Sam!

"If you ask my mum, she'd tell you I'm still in a phase," Harvey admitted wryly. I remembered Ben saying that Harvey would never show it to me, but he was 'moody' when he was tired. Poor Harvey must be going home tired all the time. Was I just tired? Was I moody? Was I growing up or going mad or both? We were reaching Winderhill soon, snaking up the winding road up to the top of the hill. I wondered if my friends in school would notice my glitchy Wolfie?

My glitchy unstable Wolfie who had, like yesterday, suddenly fallen silent again.?