When I alighted from the bus onto the pack house porch, I actually walked home some way before the stench of soot snapped me out of my reveries.
I stopped and looked up to see our home, a charred and blackened structure, in front of me. Even the large tree closest to our home, the one we used to climb up to the balcony, was blackened and singed. It looked like a used matchstick with too many arms. I doubted its survival.
Oh right, I guess it hadn't quite sunk in. I stood there looking at what used to be my home, mentally trying to place where my bedroom would have been. It couldn't have been all gone.
I walked further into the hollowed black structure. The front door was burned off; there was no more wooden porch. I couldn't identify much of anything. Maybe the lump in the middle was the three-seater sofa. Wait, maybe that was the sideboard. The wooden dividing wall was down too.
The stairs had collapsed, so there was no way up to the second floor. The metal bars stuck out of the concrete like broken bones.
I went back outside, dropping my bag and winter coat at the foot of the blackened tree. I scaled it, breaking off some of the branches as I scurried. Pieces of charcoal and soot fell on my hands and arms, peppering them with black specks. My uniform was ruined, but I managed to get up onto the second-floor balcony.
The glass doors were shattered, the shards of glass glittering under the sunlight. I carefully stepped around them and slipped past the large jagged glass teeth left on the aluminum frames.
Inside was my parents' room... There was a hole in the middle of the floor where the bed once was. And nothing else. Just ash and something shiny... A metal knob—it was from Mum's dresser. A brick wall remained standing, and now, without the shelf of books in front of it, there was a safe.
A safe! Oh wow, my parents had hidden stuff here. I touched the door and it swung open. It was empty. Someone else had come and retrieved its contents earlier. Hopefully it was Mum or Dad.
I made my way out carefully, testing my steps before I put weight on the floor. I crept along the corridor... I don't know why. I guess I was just being careful not to have the floor or anything come down on me. As I went, I imagined I was a quiet little mouse.
Making it to my room, I found my bathroom was actually the most intact. I guess it was because it was wet when Killion and Rebel fought in it. My shampoo was like a dark pink crust on the floor, though. My face wash and conditioner and soap... Even my loofah was safe thanks to those two.
I didn't have a bag to carry them, but I took them to my broken bedroom window. Crunching on the broken glass on the floor, I threw the stuff out onto the lawn downstairs.
My room was terrible. But at least there was no hole through to the bottom. I guess my floor was concrete. My bed was completely destroyed.
But then I noticed a square of charred wood on top of a black pile in the corner of the room. I lifted it up; it looked like the top of my nightstand. Under it was what used to be the contents of my nightstand and the rest of its parts. I could see the metal drawer handle, as well as broken glass...
One or two balls of... Was that fight dog food? It survived the blast? I tried to pick the two balls of kibble up. I moved another piece of blackened wood and then touched something smooth and glossy. I pulled it out and marveled. The edges were burned, but the CAGE CROWN had survived.
I put the two balls of fight dog food left into my pocket and hid the magazine in the waistband of my skirt, under my school jacket.
There was nothing else in my room. I kicked around the piles of ash just to be sure. Something creaked above me, and looking up, I saw an unhinged beam and decided to skedaddle.
I left the room quickly. Maybe I should go to Savy's room? The corridor was broken off, so I couldn't. I returned to my room and tried to cross through our shared walk-in wardrobe, but that was... wasn't the best idea. The ash got in my eyes. I think I breathed too much of the stuff. I was starting to cough. My eyes were tearing too...
I gave up and headed back downstairs... Oh right... There weren't any more stairs. I went back to my mum and dad's room and exited through the balcony. Climbing down the tree was harder than climbing up.
At one point, a branch gave way, and I nearly lost a finger when it snapped badly, but I managed to use my knee to block it. Sure, my knee was brushed and scraped now, but my finger didn't get crushed.
Finally, when I ran out of branches, I jumped off and tumbled into the snow.
That might not have been my cleverest idea.
"Sam, are you home yet?" It was Dad on the mind link.
"Uh, yeah. Did you know someone's busted your safe?" I asked as I stood up in the snow and dusted myself off.
I heard Dad groan over the mind link. "Sam, where are you?" And then, after a moment, "Which safe?"
Oh... So Dad's got more than one of these babies hidden away? Who knew? I put on my coat and picked up my bag.
"Sam..." Dad warned, and then he decided, "Just come to my office now."
"Yes, Dad." I responded by instinct. Most wolves would have said, "Yes, Alpha." In my defense, my tone was exactly the same.
Picking up the pieces of toiletries I had strewn around our snow-covered lawn, I made my way back to the pack house.
The bus was long gone by now, and there was the usual late-afternoon traffic of warriors changing patrol shifts, etc. Life went on for everyone else.
I decided to go in from the kitchen door. There was a food delivery truck parked outside with its doors open.
I ignored it and headed into the bustling kitchen. Both Esther and the kitchen's main cook were in. Esther was usually in charge of the breakfasts and lunches, while Mama Rosa usually took the second shift in the kitchen.
Mama Rosa was a big, jovial woman who regarded everyone in the pack as her own child. Everyone called her Mama Rosa, except maybe Dad. Hahaha. That would be weird.
Mama Rosa and her mate were actually from Morning Light, but she decided to work at our pack house when she was a young woman. She worked her way up from a kitchen helper, and I was told she prepared my baby purees when I was small.
But I was never very close to Mama Rosa. I've always seen her smiling, but she never spoke directly to me. So I grew up never directly speaking to her either.
Anyway, it was busy. Esther was arguing with the delivery man because there were some missing ingredients and a large case of broken eggs, and the delivery man refused to amend the order.
Mama Rosa was calling out orders as the other ladies hurried to put the newly delivered food away.
Water was running at the sink as someone washed the potatoes for tonight's dinner.
I managed to get through unnoticed and made it all the way to the ladies' washroom by the bar/lounge on the side of the dining hall. Once inside, I caught sight of my blackened face and felt relieved no one had seen me.
I picked up a hand towel, dampened it, and rubbed off all the soot and the bit of blood on my knees and hands. The wounds had healed without a trace, of course.
Then I stuffed all my rescued treasures into my backpack— toiletries and a magazine.
"Sam, where are you?" Dad mind-linked.
"In the pack house... I just stopped at the washroom," I replied.
Okay. That should keep Dad off my back for a bit. Dad was usually pretty chill, so I wasn't sure why he seemed to be keeping tabs on me right now.
Once cleaned up, I looked at the sorry mess I had made of the hand towel and dropped it into the bin instead of the laundry hamper. Oops.
I washed my hands and dried them on a clean hand towel and dropped that one in the correct hamper.
I think I was as clean as I could be without a full-blown shower. But it would do until I finished meeting Dad at the office.
Keeping my coat on so the stench of the burned house didn't pollute the air in the pack house too much, I quickly got to Dad's office. I knocked on the door and pushed it open.
"Hi, Dad. You wanted to see me?" I casually walked over to his desk.
"Yes, there are a few things." He looked up at me sharply and sniffed. "Sam, did you go back to the old house?"
I think the burnt smell plastered to my riotous hair was undeniable.
"Well, just don't go upstairs. The firemen said it wasn't structurally sound..." Dad paused again. I think he was remembering I had seen the safe open. "You went upstairs, didn't you?"
Dad sighed. "Well, don't go back there."
"The safe?" I asked.
"Beta Lucas and I moved its contents this morning," Dad told me.
I nodded. Okay.
"How did you—never mind. Just don't go back. Your mum would worry." Dad shook his head, deciding he didn't need the details on how I got up to the second floor. Instead, he asked, "I needed to ask you about your third Beta. It's not usual for an alpha to have three betas. What personal projects are you planning for Killion?"
I decided that if I couldn't keep it a secret, my other option was to be super straightforward about the entire thing.
"I want to rescue Lycan slaves and give them a safe town to escape to. Killion will help me," I added.
Dad was silent for a long while.
"Who else knows?" he asked finally.
"Killion and Harvey," I answered.
Dad was silent again for a long while before speaking. "I had a dream recently. In that dream, I was holding your hand when the Moon Goddess told me to let you go. All these years, I've held your hand, but you've grown up, and I can't hold you back from your destiny."
Wait, what?
Dad stood up and patted me on the head the way he used to when I was a pup.
So, I got his blessing?
"I will be careful, and I won't endanger our pack. I will protect everyone," I promised.
Dad nodded. "Don't forget, Sam. An Alpha's true power is in his pack, and a Luna's true power is in her mate. You are both Alpha of Night Leaf and Morning Light... as well as your mate's future Luna."
"He's my Luna!" I argued.
Dad nodded. "Yes, so it seems. But Sam, that mate of yours is of an old and powerful lineage, and even in dream form, my wolf sensed his potential."
Okay, now Dad had lost me again. I felt like he was definitely telling me the answer, but for the life of me, I couldn't comprehend it. Argh! I hate it when I'm stupid!
Suddenly Dad was back to business mode. "Here is your key card for the apartment upstairs. Don't lose it. Your mum and the other ladies worked hard setting up this morning. You're sharing a room with Savy. You can go shower and put your things away."
Dad handed me two cards.
Eh? What's the second card for?
"This is a debit card. Give it to Ki for now. The insurance money for our car has come in. I hate driving anyway and can use the pack's town car. Choose a car you like and tell Ki to procure it. Ki can drive and maintain it for you. Tell him I want the card back with a full expense report."
I looked at my dad in shock.
And then back at the cards in my hand.
Not to be terribly dramatic, but this morning I had left for school with nothing but my backpack and an overnight bag left at Beta Lucas' home.
"Better hurry," Dad said. "Go shower and finish your homework. Your mum will be home soon."
"Yeah, okay." I said and moved toward the door. And then I stopped in my tracks because I just remembered to say, "Thanks, Dad."
I ran upstairs to the third floor to access the private lift and tapped the card to get up to the penthouse suite. The button on the lift was marked with the letter "A."
It was surreal, like stepping back into a faraway memory. Oh yes, I used to live here when I was tiny. Dad would carry me so I could press the button with the "A" on it.
Because of that, when I was in kindergarten, my teacher said, "'H' is for home." And I said, "No! 'A' is for home!" I even corrected all the "H"s on my worksheet to capital "A"s.
I blamed it on the alpha blood. Alphas were known to be stubborn like that.