BECAUSE I WANTED TO STAY WITH HIM

17 FEBRUARY, WEDNESDAY, AFTER DINNER

Before I knew it, dinner was over. I can't remember what we ate. I can't even remember what was dessert. Did I even eat?

But you know what they say, all good things must come to an end.

When dinner was over, Mate thanked my parents for the dinner with a polite bow.

"There's no need to be so polite." Mum beamed, "Just come over for a meal anytime you want."

This was when I realized: He was leaving!

NOOOOOO.... I just found Mate and I never wanted to let him go every again. MINE!

My hair, which all this while had been perfectly ladylike, suddenly flared up and wrapped itself around Mate - almost Kraken, except still hair, and not quite as sharp or angry, not yet anyway.

"Oh Sam!" Mum sighed, "Please let go of him."

"Baby, it's late. I have matters to attend to at the Underground." Mate tried to reason with my wolf as he untangle the blue locks from around him.

Don't think that grown up tone would sway me! I folded my arms and sulked. Never! Mine! (I was never the most eloquent wolf when I was upset.)

"Oh Sam!" Mum fretted, "Be careful! Don't hurt him."

But Dad seemed to find it more amusing, "Just a cat that thinks she's a tiger."

We all stopped for a moment. Hey! That was just insulting!

"Dear! Please don't provoke her..." Mum worried.

There was a knock on the door.

Dad's amusement faded immediately and he answered quite businesslike again, "Enter."

An automated response, just like Henry toward his men at school. Was this an alpha thing? (Why didn't I have it?)

Ki opened it for Beta Lucas.

"Last meeting of the day!" Beta Lucas announced, and then he saw Mate and me and grinned, "Oh! I see you're all tied up! I don't suppose you'd have time to join us for the meeting."

Beta Lucas was grinning like the cat who caught the canary. He thought he was so funny.

"What's it about?" Mate asked indifferently.

"We're discussing the inauguration plans." Beta Lucas answered, if he noticed Mate's stony attitude, he didn't show it, "And Luna Bell... If you may join us... we could also discuss the migration of the underground to our packlands."

Which sounded nothing to do with the inauguration, but sigh... That's Night Leaf Leadership at its best. We are good at multitasking. Hahaha.

"What about me?" If Mate was going, so was I.

"Yes, why not?" Beta Lucas shrugged.

"Sam, don't you have homework?" Mum felt it was a motherly duty to remind me, "And I think your exams should but just round the corner..."

"It's my inauguration, don't I get a say?" I argued. It was also my army, but I was talking to Mum here.

Mum sighed, "Just let go of your poor luna, first Sam."

Luckily Dad took my side, "It's fine. He's her mate, he might as well learn to deal with it."

"But he's just her luna..." Mum was still worried.

"And you're MY luna." Dad reasoned, "No matter how wild or impetuous her wolf, in the end she is still bound to protecting and pleasing her luna."

I think that was the furthest I've ever heard Dad admit Mum's hold over him, no matter how indirectly he phrased it.

By now, Mate had somehow managed to soothe my hair to release himself. He was smirking, "I believe those are my lines, sir."

I guess Bell was an alpha wolf after all. Did that make us each others' lunas or were we both really the alphas? That's pretty confusing. I wondered how our wolves figured out who to call 'alpha' and who to call 'luna'. Were they told to do that? Who went around giving these instructions, anyway?

Maybe we could split up the work, "Okay, then you do all the protecting. I'll take care of the pleasing part."

For some reason, this amused Bell very much, "And how do you intend to please me, princess?"

I'm not sure what he was expecting. Maybe he imagined me fanning him and hand feeding him grapes or something. But that wasn't my style.

I grinned at him, "By doing whatever I want! And you'd be so happy because I'm so happy."

Hahaha.

Dad chuffed, "Still a puppy."

Beta Lucas chuffed, "Well, why not?"

Mum sighed again, but she was smiling a little, "Oh Sam! Whatever will I do with you?"

It was Sabre who felt she had a clearer idea of exactly what to do, "Sam, if he's protecting you, you need to be a good girl and do what he says."

I shook my head, "I do not!"

"You do too!" Sabre insisted.

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

Sabre and I always had such intellectually stimulating debates.

"Alright, that's enough." Mum had enough. Even so, she patiently explain to Sabre, "Yes, it's important for little girls to listen because it helps their mama and papa and teachers take good care of them. But Sam is more grown up now..."

"Evidently." Savy added under her breath.

Mum chose to ignore her other 'grown up' daughter's sacarsm, "...and Sam needs to learn to make her own choices."

"I changed my mind," I realized my mistake, "I'll do the protecting. You can do the pleasing."

Hahaha. Now Bell would be the one fanning me and feeding me grapes!

"Well, we'll let you young people sort it out by yourselves." Beta Lucas made a move to get Dad to that last meeting for the day, "The other elders are waiting in the conference room."

"I'll join you. But I need to leave for the Underground by 10pm." Mate decided.

I pounced on his back to hitch a piggy back ride, "Me too."

"Sam!" Mum cried out, obviously I wasn't making the right choices at all! Sabre was laughing though.

So was Mate. I could feel his laughter against his broad back. Mate's back and shoulders were broad, almost as broad as my Dad's. I rested a cheek on the back of his shoulder, the way I did as a little girl on my dad's back, or actually not too differently from when I was sitting pillion on the bike behind Bell.

It was surprisingly comfortable.

{Mine} Boo purred.

"Come on Sabre," Savy offered the little her back, "I'll give you a lift up."

"Oh yes, it's past your bedtime, baby!" Mum realized.

"Well then, let's not keep the others waiting." Dad decided. He dropped a quick kiss on mum's cheek as she passed him to follow Savy and Sabre out.

"Harvey is already at the conference room." Ki informed us with a smile, he handed my Kindle to Bell, "The agenda and minutes from the last meeting has been uploaded. Is there anything else I can help you with?"

Bell took the Kindle with a curt nod, "It's fine."

It was kind of like the same businesslike, automode Dad and Henry used to say "Enter".

And he followed after Dad and Beta Lucas out the sliding door. I ducked at the door, so I didn't get smashed into the top beam as we left.

"Bye bye, Ki! Thank you!" I helped my Luna fill in the blanks. For some reason, my alpha wolf didn't come with the businesslike-auto-mode function. But at least it came with the Please-porridge-hot-thank-you mode.

The sky was inky black outside, and the air was crisp and cold. I sniffed the air, there would be snow tonight. I can't really explain it, but it was wetter, and the woods around us smelled stronger. I smiled at the sky and the tiny speckles of stars that I could see if I squinted hard enough. I took a deep breath and enjoyed the after-dinner smells that had leaked out of my home, as well as the packhouse kitchen.

A few years ago, they installed an industrial vent in the packhouse kitchen. This made the kitchen less hot and greasy for the staff there, but for some reason, even though it wasn't pointed directly at the alpha house, we could smell everything they cooked there. I think Dad had said it was something to do with the wind direction.

Our new alpha house had been artfully angled so none of our windows faced it directly now. It used to be that while we ate dinner, we would also be able to smell what was cooking at the packhouse. It was nice when they baked fresh bread on Sunday mornings. Not so great when they burnt something. And the time Beta Lucas manage to procure some bacon on a super bulk discount? Normally, I liked bacon, but I couldn't describe the horror of bacon grease fumes being continually pumped into you living space.

But now, on Mate's back as he clomped across to the packhouse, first past our wood chip covered lawn, and then across the packhouse's white and brown clumpy snow and mud mixture. Listening to the boots of Mate, Dad, and Beta Lucas going clomp, clomp clomp. It's a good thing I got a ride on mate, my own shoes were white, soft, and fluffy and not anything that would work in the snow, or wet, or dirt, or heat, or anything really.

The warrior doorman opened the door to let us in with his customary bow, "Good evening, Alpha Kingsley, Beta Lucas. Yo Princess, Luna Bell."

Okay, it could just be me, but did no one notice how when compared to Dad and Beta Lucas, 'Princess' and 'Luna Bell' just sounded excessively cute and fluffy... like my shoes, not very alpha-like.

We trooped up the stairs, I was enjoying the view from over Mate's shoulders until we got to the conference room, and I realized that the table had once again been changed. This time they were just two foldable tables - the kind that we used for bake sales, and I remembered Savy saying about Dad breaking a conference table this afternoon. Wow, they really didn't make tables like they used to.

Until this year, our conference table was a big oak thing that was older than I was!

I know the world is changing everyday, and it was just a table, I certainly hadn't thought much of the old table breaking, but now I was beginning to miss it. Sometimes its nice to have something that wouldn't just crack over every little thing, you know?

The other wolves stood up the moment we entered and bowed, "Good evening Alpha."

"Ah!" Gamma Harry's eyes lit up when we came in, "Sam and her luna is really here, good... that's good. Luna Bell, I was thinking about your idea for the Maple Syrup Farm... It's good. Very good. We can have school camps there in the summer!"

"Perhaps we could discuss personal business after the meeting, Harry." Beta Gerald was as serious as usual.

"Yo, Princess, Luna Bell." Harvey bowed and pulled out seats for us.

Bell turned to drop me into the chair. I grinned, "Hello, Harvey!"

"When is the new table coming, Lucas?" Gamma Harry, he shook the foldable table a little, it rattled, "These are so filmsy."

"Ah... who knows? I asked for quotes, but they hadn't replied." Beta Lucas grumbled, "Anyway, its just been a few hours. Give them till tomorrow morning, or else I'll take our business somewhere else!"

"What happened to the table?" Gamma Endo asked. I guess he wasn't here this afternoon. He looked a little older than usual, then I realized he was unshaven.

"Did you just return from the outpost, Endo?" Dad asked.

"Yes, Alpha." Gamma Endo said, stretching out, "Damn, what would I give for a shower and beer!"

"Does Alpha have a question about the outpost situation?" Beta Gerald prompted, he shot Gamma Endo a censuring look.

"Eh, ah? Yes, what is it, Alpha?" Gamma Endo quickly sat upright again.

Dad shook his head. If I didn't know any better, I would have thought Dad was just trying to change the subject about the table that HE broke.