BUT HE'S MY SOULMATE?

"Kai… I have a question for you." Although Beta Lucas said he had a question, the tone he used made it very clear that he wasn't so much asking than advising his young alpha.

"Yes?" Fluffy answered with his usual beautiful smiling mask.

"If we remain here, and never return to the Undo Point…" Beta Lucas continued with all his usual pauses when he was trying to make a dramatic point, "Are you aware that you will be the next Alpha of Night Leaf?"

"Fuh…" Ben made a rude sound and laughed, "Dad, I'm pretty sure we are ALL aware of that. Even Sam."

Hey! Adding my name was unnecessary!

Beta Lucas shook his head as if to physically shake off Ben's comment, "Then… think very carefully Kai… are you sure you want to return to the Undo Point?"

Before Fluffy could answer, Beta Lucas raised his hand and interjected, "Pretend this is a test."

"Is it?" Fluffy tilted his head.

"That's not the point!" Beta Lucas quickly backtracked, "Do you really want to return to our previous timeline?"

Fluffy smiled his beautiful smile, "I will follow Dad."

Which would be the correct answer if this was indeed a test.

"Then if Alpha chooses to stay, what would you do?" Beta Lucas asked.

"I'll stay." Fluffy promised, his smiling mask in place, "I'll stay as long as it takes for Dad to decide to go back."

"Kai…" Beta Lucas stopped him here, "Do you really know what you are agreeing to?"

"Beta Lucas…" Fluffy imitated Beta Lucas' pregnant pause with a smile, "What can I know... that you do not tell me?"

WTH was this mind game?

"This might take a while." Ben informed me.

In this timeline, Beta Lucas liked to "challenge" his Young Alpha to help him "stay on his toes" a bit more.

Ben smirked, "I don't know why he bothers."

It had been a futile exercise at best. He was pitting himself against Fluffy after all.

Actually, in our Original Timeline, Beta Lucas used to take pride in "challenging" me like that too, but with a lot more hints on what the answer should be.

In both cases, it appeared that Beta Lucas was still the go-to source for info if your were the Young Alpha.

I looked from Beta Lucas to Fluffy who were currently locked in a staring contest. It was as if they were trying to see through the other wolf. Dad was still frowning from behind his desk while watching them. It was his thinking frown.

"Dad?" I asked, "Do you want to stay? Is it because of Kev?"

Dad's frown softened and he managed a wincing smile in my direction, "Do you find it unfair, Sam? Although it was as if I suddenly had two sons, they had also been my sons for the last 20 odd years."

I knew it! Dad was unable to leave any one of us behind.

"I don't think Kev can be saved, Dad." I told him honestly, "But Fluffy has a good plan we can try, and I still have a bit of luck on my side."

"A plan?" Dad asked. He looked almost hopeful.

I nodded towards the two blond guys, "They were talking about it just now. We can go up and down repeatedly to the future while adjusting our plans until we find one that works, or we exhaust our options… or our cat."

Peony, who had been purring under my hand abruptly stopped purring and looked up accusingly at me. Oh opps.

"I thought you said we weren't allowed to let the cat die, my Pretty La?" Fluffy asked, immediately attracting the ire from the cats. Did he pull in the cats' aggro on purpose? I stroked Peony's soft fur and settled him back on my lap grumpily by the window.

"No, nobody is going to die… or be left behind." I decided.

Dad's frown deepened, "You're right, Sam. This is far enough. Let's go back to the Undo Point."

Eh?

EH? EH? EH?

Why wasn't Dad being stubborn about it at all? Didn't we still have Fluffy's plan? But Dad hadn't seem keen on it once he found out what it was.

I wasn't the only one surprised by Dad's decision. I mean, you should've seen Fluffy and Wolfgang's face. They were completely flabbergasted - who set up an entire full stimulation test with a 20 year backstory and then call it off after a short interview? (Answer: Nobody, because this wasn't a test!)

"Aren't you going to try to save Kev?" I asked. I had thought that was what Dad wanted.

Dad sighed, "I had hoped to, but now…"

Dad sighed again, a long and deep sigh. Dad had never sighed this much when he only had daughters.

"We would only be chasing a fool's dream." Dad said, "No matter how many times you throw a dice, it would only land on one of six sides."

Oh, way a go zen, Dad. Now please say it in a way I can understand you.

"Your father and his beta had spent all morning traversing time to find the answer." Peri dropped this bombshell on us while licking its paw so it looked completely uninterested in our family drama.

Oh, so Dad and Beta Lucas thought of Fluffy's plan already?

"Great minds think alike." Fluffy felt it was a good an opportunity as any to highlight.

Not only did they think it though, Dad and Beta Lucas had already given it one or two.... or 34 test runs.

Perry primly continued, "Peony is already spent. Of course you still have me, but since Edelweiss is here, it would be even better if you collect him. Even though Edel isn't the best at directions, his powers are immense."

"Rebel's white cat?" Fluffy asked, "But how would we be able to recruit it? It seems quite attached to Rebel."

Like literally so, in this timeline, the white cat was so often found on Rebel's shoulders that he was more often than not recognized by it.

"Just call him by name." Perry advised, "And he will come."

"I see." Fluffy nodded, "and that name probably isn't Snowy."

Which was what Fluffy had heard Rebel call his cat.

"The white fool probably came looking for you and got the wrong wolf." Peony remarked from my lap, "For the record, I found you first."

The cat's only follow the descendants of the goddess' lost daughter, or their soul mate.

Wait a minute... But Bell wasn't my soul mate... Fluffy and I exchanged looks, but when Fluffy tilted his head and winked at me in his smiling mask, I pressed my lips together to not say anything.

Maybe the goddess probably messed up somewhere (again). Whatever, Dad said we're going back. It would be better to just pretend the entire shifting dream didn't happen.

Peony was in a bad mood because Dad and Beta Lucas had used up all its power and Perry hadn't even offered to help.

Peony's way of signaling his dissatisfaction was to pick a favorite and ignore everyone else in the room. Lucky me. I got the honor of making it up to him.

I stroked the back of his head till his eyes shut like little slits. Such a funny cat face!

"So the white cat, Ed...Edel...was looking for me?" I asked.

"Edelweiss, Princess." Wolfgang corrected, "It's a white flower that grows in higher altitudes."

Ah.

Apparently, Edelweiss was the most famous of the four cats...

"There are four of you?" I asked.

"We have another brother, but he is almost always in the shadows." Peony opened its eyes informed me, "Don't stop."

I resumed stroking its fur.

Four cats who were tasked by the goddess to follow her daughter and watch over her, but somehow along the way, the cats got lost in the passage of time. (Why did that surprise absolutely NO ONE?)

Anyway, that was long time ago, and the goddess' daughter had long passed on in the plains. She was of wolf descent after all, so her life was limited to that of a wolf.

The magic in the plains were thin, almost nonexistent. Her life ended like a wisp in the wind.

"Jin." I said. It had to be Jin's runaway daughter.

"Who?" Everyone else said.

"Jin... In the Colored Mountains, it was said that the Moon Goddess loved him and they were mated and had a daughter, but the goddess faded away and their daughter ran away and never came back." I repeated the tale as if in a daze. Even the wolves who told me this hadn't believe it was real.

"How could a wolf with the goddess..." Beta Lucas asked, "It's impossible! Sam... Who... Who told you this?"

"It sounds like a legend." Wolfgang considered it, "But it might not be meant to be taken literally. Perhaps the goddess in the tale was a blue wolf."

Maybe. That would be more plausible for sure. Maybe Jin's mate was really just one of the Blue Wolves who appeared and disappeared in and out of Lycan history. Blue Wolves did die young even in the Colored Mountains.

"Grandma Luna's ring was the Ring of Idonia. The wolves in the Mountain believed that... That one day a blue rose would return with the Ring of Idonia, and her mate would be the next King of the Colored Mountains."

"Oh." Wolfgang said and then suddenly everyone was looking at me in complete silence.

"It's not me." I said, but it sounded like I was lying, "I mean, it might not necessarily be me."

"So the King of the Colored Mountain would be Luna Bell?" Fluffy asked, "Or Hayao or I if we successfully steal you away?"

Wow, how did Fluffy join the dots so quickly?

"He doesn't know, so don't tell him." I said, "And I might not be. I mean, I don't want it to be."

I crossed my arms to show I meant business.

"And I thought I had secrets." Dad chuffed. He leaned forward, causing his chair to creak a little.

"Sam..." Beta Lucas raised his hand, "I find this strange..."

"Why... Why was it that when your Dad asked you to choose your most trusted wolves, you only brought your betas and these two?"

Why? Because I trusted them and I thought they would be useful to the mission. Dad wanted an assassin, and both guys were smart experienced warriors so I wouldn't have to worry about them if it got hairy. Also because they had already time-traveled with me once, I thought it would just be easier to take them again.

It's not like I could bring the entire Special Team everywhere I went.

"Why not your Luna?" Beta Lucas asked.

Oh. Good question. Why didn't I bring Bell? Tbh, the option hadn't even occurred to me.

"Why..." Beta Lucas continued, "Why are you hiding things from your Luna?"

It turned out that even in the internal reports, it was understood that the red underline were removed from the luna's copies. So everyone sitting around at the meeting will be looking at their screens knowing full well NOT to mention the red underline. Wow, my betas were sneaky. And then it occurred to me, "What color underline do you use for me?"

"Blue." Ben answered, and then he added, "Not us. Our dads use blue to mark out the parts to omit from the documents sent to our FAO."

Ben knew because Beta Lucas had once sent the wrong file.

"Where do you think we learned this trick from?" Ben smirked.

"That... that is not only for Sam. It was for everyone else besides Alpha and me! But that isn't the issue right now!" Beta Lucas decided he had better get our discussion back on track, "We are talking about your Luna. Sam... why do you specifically keep him in the dark?"

He made it sound like I was purposely targeting Bell.

"Do you tell Mrs Beta everything?" I tried to put things in perspective, but I held up my hand because he didn't have to answer - I knew full well, "It's not like you or Dad ever told either of your soul mates EVERYTHING."

"Ah..." Dad looked down.

Beta Lucas shook his head, "That's different, the ladies would worry and you know how they get..."

"Well, I just don't want Bell to..." I stopped there. It wasn't like Bell would worry.

"Do you have any reason not to trust him?" Dad asked then.

I shook my head quickly, "No, not at all!"

I just didn't want him to get carried away and destroy the world.

"Let me get this straight, Sam..." Beta Lucas said, "You would trust these five wolves here more than your own soul mate?"

Well, it's not like he was my soul mate here! Although that could've been my bad. If I had brought Bell along, he would still be my soul mate now. I started to feel very sorry for that. I'm sorry I'm such a dumb wolf! It was my fault!

"Sam, it's okay." Dad got out of his seat and came over to the window seat. The cats hopped off so he could sit next to me, "I understand."

Did he? Exactly what did my Dad understand?

"When we return, I'll call off your engagement to the Lorent boy."

Dad! Listen to yourself! How did your "son" suddenly become the "Lorent boy"?

"But he's my soul mate!"

S.O.U.L. M.A.T.E.

"Didn't you always say we should just mate our soul mate?" I demanded accusingly.

Dad sighed again, "Perhaps I had been too narrow minded."

Wait, what?

"Sam, you're my daughter," Dad put his large hand on my head, "You should mate whoever makes you happy."

"You've changed!" I pointed directly at my dad. What happened to my Dad?

"Sam..." This time it was Beta Lucas, "Your Dad just wants the best for you."

"But isn't the best for me my Soul Mate?" I'm sorry, but I just couldn't wrap my head around this 180 degree turn my Dad was going through.

Dad sighed again.