RELATIVES EVERYWHERE

Ben was WRONG. We took more than half and hour to get the books - and this was with the help of Haruka, Beta Luc, and a bunch of warriors. Okay, fine, Haruka wasn't much help, but he did a little more than me - and only because no one let me handle the boxes or do anything.

"The Alpha is the head," Haruka tried to explain when I complained to him, "and according to Moon Bell tradition, it is said that one does not use his head to pull weeds, pick up the trash, or carry boxes."

WTH? That was oddly specific, and familiar too… Gamma Harry would be proud that he would be quoted, albeit inaccurately, by generations to come.

"Since when were you the expert of Moon Bell Tradition?" Luc smirked.

"My tutor taught me." Haruka ignored his cousin's jibe and answered in all earnestness, "Since I would be living here for a few years, it is impertinent for me to study the way of life of the local wolves in Moon Bell and appreciate their culture with all due respect."

"Hahahahaha." Laughed Luc and Ben. The apple really didn't fall far from the tree - even after many apples, they were all rotten. Poor Haruka. He looked confused and then a bit lost.

"Ignore them, Haruka." I tried to encourage the healer wolf, "Whenever you don't understand the joke, its because they're idiots."

Luc and Ben stopped laughing, and then they laughed louder, "Hahahahaha."

Idiots. But looking at Luc and the warriors who were restacking the boxes in the middle of Dad's office (someone had knocked them over just a moment ago)… at least they were strong idiots.

Still, at least the strong idiots also inherited their ancestor's Beta efficiency. All the boxes were stacked in order of their label number. Luc even had come up with a plan to help us move everything through the time passages and back to our own time. He would call his Alpha.

"Who's your Alpha?" I asked. I was just a bit curious.

"Alpha Red." Luc answered.

Who?

Luc thought about how best to answer me, "Actually, he could've been a Sam too. Alpha Samuel Cornelius Reid. But we all call him Red, after his hair color. Oh, he's here."

The door opened right on cue - as if this was some kind of sitcom, and Alpha Red enter.

I knew because he was obviously and Alpha Red, and also because his Beta, Luc, announced him, "Alpha's here."

Alpha Red was NOTHING like what I would have expected my descendent to be. NOTHING. For one thing, his family name was Reid, not Kingsley or even Lorent. Wait, Bell said something about Dan Lion's pup… but the Alpha wasn't surnamed "Lion" either. If it were, I would've understood. But Reid was Stephan's family line right?

For another, he was a redhead which I assume was the reason for his nickname. Red hair with red eyes… didn't that make him a blood wolf? That was EJ, the Red Prince's bloodline color right? Was he even related to me at all? Maybe one of my future descendants got swapped as a puppy at the hospital or something.

Also, his power… it was spirit shields and blades, a la Gareth, the omega of the Blade Wolves. I knew this because Luc started explaining his plan for how Alpha Red was going to use his spirit shield to pick up the boxes, sort of like encasing them in a large spirit forcefield so we could push our loot through the Time Gate and back home at one go.

It was best that we avoid any multiple trips and we had to excuse him for not lending us his warriors.

"It's obvious that you have yet to master the precision of time travel." Luc told us dryly. He pretended to check his watch, "You're like 9 generations late for the first pick up."

He was as annoying as Ben.

"But why do you have blade wolf power?" I blurted out.

"I assume I inherited it from you." Alpha Red answered with a dimpled smile. From the moment he made eye contact, I was quite sure that Alpha Red was the very charming kind of wolf. I wondered who he inherited that from?

No, no... Why would he think that? I was the alpha blade wolf. Check the hair!

Whatever it was, in the future we would breed many OP wolves.

Like me, Alpha Red was able to manifest more than one bloodline power. His strongest power was the catalyst power, but he was also a product of other bloodlines mixed together. Including the blood wolf and spirit blade powers - which was a potent mix because one loves blood and the other is very good at blending into liquids.

Most of the Alpha wolves from Moon Bell were cocktails of dangerous bloodlines. Alpha Red shrugged modestly, "I'm the Alpha not because I'm be best fighter, I'm just the most commercially viable one."

I wondered why... But didn't Ki say that about himself as a fight dog too? Were successful alphas and fight dogs that similar? Also that focus on commerce, I worried for a moment if Henry's bloodline had contaminated my descendants.

"It's in the YBR." Alpha Red told us.

"The what?" I asked because I didn't understand what an "Whybeerah" was.

"YBR." Alpha Red repeated.

"The Yellow Brick Road… you know, the database you pioneered." Luc said almost accusingly. They now also used it to track each wolf's genealogy and wolves usually went to check it when they think they had found their soul mate - just in case.

"We're related to a lot of people now." Alpha Red said. I sighed… he probably inherited his inability to explain anything properly from me.

It all started with me and my many lovers (Am I allowed to sue historians for slander?) One of the most famous one being the father of the first Fire Wolf Alpha in the plains who was the father of the revival of Fire Wolves in the Blue Packlands.

So Kingsley and Lorent wolves were related to Fire wolves - the more blue blooded, the more likely the relation. Also, after years of intermating, most of our wolves in Moon Bell had relatives in another one or two of our towns. Like Alpha Reid, who was born in Night Leaf, but his father's family were split in the Princess Town, Walking Fortress, and Gate City. His mother was Lorent and through her, he had distant relatives in the Lorent Town, Night Leaf, Night Forest, Snow Moon, and also the Night Blade Pack in the Colored Mountains.

Alpha Red was also cousins with his beta, Luc - but twice removed, "Our grandfathers were twins." Luc was closer to Haruka who was born and raised all the way in the Hami Clan in the Colored Mountains.

"My aunt is his mother." Luc said, sounding extremely annoyed at the fact.

"Dating is like a minefield." Alpha Red told me.

"Alpha, I don't think she's old enough for that kind of joke." Luc told him.

"My bad." Alpha Red laughed.

One of the warriors came to report that all was ready for our return trip. He must have overheard our conversation because he decided to share his own two cents on the topic, "No matter where you go, whether near or far, a long-lost relative may be standing where you are."

If you hadn't guessed it, he was quoting from the Blue Demon Code. It was still here and constantly updated.

"Can we just get on with it?" Ben indicated towards the boxes.

"Oh right." Alpha Red laughed again, "Sure, sure. Just open the Time Gate and leave it to me."

I just wanted to point out that his easy-going nature was inherited from me.