When we reached Gate City, Harvey told me that the adults had arranged for him to pick me up after I left the training hall last night.
The plan was for him to fetch me home to join his family and mine for dinner together. After that, we would attend the meeting with Beta Lucas's and Gamma Harry's families. Gamma Endo, Nix's dad, and his family would also be there.
It was going to be a large meeting, just to hear what we—the second generation—hoped for our pack's future, and how everyone felt about the pack merger.
Now was a good time to merge, where "merge" meant getting all the paperwork to make it official. The paperwork was just the beginning. Although our school systems and medical facilities were already shared, our security, warriors, finances, and accounts would all need time. It wasn't just the long paper trial either, our pack members would need time too.
Everyone would need to make adjustments, some more than others.
Harvey paused for a moment. I saw him steal a sidelong glance at me. Was I making a weird face?
Sometimes I do when I'm thinking. I mentally checked—no, my face seemed normal. I looked at him.
Oh, was I supposed to make some kind of reaction to what he just said. Well, it didn't occur to me at the time.
He sighed and decided to continue. Maybe he thought giving me more information would help me react better.
While the majority of Morning Light would welcome the merger, there was a minority who might resist it.
There would be several options to deal with resistance.
All of which would take a few to several years to iron out.
In which… another pause and sidelong glance. A good Beta always anticipated his Alpha's thoughts—at least that's what the textbooks said.
In which we also needed to prepare for war.
Yet another pause and a sidelong glance.
Then a question because maybe I really wasn't giving him any reaction for him to work on: was I aware of the perhaps-war?
The one that perhaps involved my mate, perhaps would kill my parents, and perhaps require me to perform surgery on my other Beta?
"Yeah? What about it?"
Beta continued his discourse. His voice was very calm, and there was always a little growly baseline in it.
Morning Light had signed an agreement many years ago, allowing them to benefit from Night Leaf's transport, medical, and educational facilities, and to share in various programs such as the destitute houses' care.
In exchange, Morning Light was also bound by several conditions, one of which was to join and defend Night Leaf during unrest—an example being last night.
This was the perfect starting point for the merger of our pack alongside the preparation for the perhaps-war in the future. If everything goes smoothly, the handover to our generation's leadership would be a clean one and we wouldn't have to scramble to tie up the loose ends in the middle of war.
We had a good runway of time to get there.
By giving us those dreams, the Goddess was giving us time to prepare. And I supposed, also the adults' expertise to help us build the foundation and guide us.
I waited for Harvey to continue. It seemed part of being a good beta was to discourse in essay formats while driving. Hahaha.
Oh wait. Harvey had gone quiet.
"What is it, Beta?" I asked.
"If I can speak my mind, Princess…" Harvey growled lowly.
What the hell were you speaking in the last twenty minutes, Beta? "Yeah?"
"I want this merger, Princess," Harvey told me. "The rogues have been constantly wreaking havoc on our side of the pack lands. We don't have enough warriors and will lose more simply due to our lack of numbers. I've had to patrol since I shifted. I fought my first rogue at fifteen! I was still a pup! After that, I told myself that when I became Beta, I didn't want the pups on the front lines. Most of our casualties are the youngsters…"
He looked at me again, then back to the road. "Are you okay, Princess?"
He sounded a little sheepish.
"Okay from what?" I asked.
"Last night," he said, his voice tight. "The rogue attack?"
"Huh? Oh, right, yeah. That was fun." I was a little confused by this shift in topic.
Harvey looked like he wanted to ask more but changed his mind and just shook his head a little. "Nevermind."
"What? You didn't have fun?" I laughed. "Well, too bad, Beta. Until my other Beta grows up, you're stuck with me."
Harvey shook his head again. He was smiling at the road now. "My pleasure, Princess, always."
Good Beta—take the mood cue from the Alpha.
"Anyway, I was trying to say, Princess, I want this merger to work. We will have more border patrol if we combine our warrior force, and the kids won't have to fight anymore," Harvey concluded quickly. We were nearing home—well, my home anyway.
"Yeah, okay," I told him. "Don't worry. I'll make it work."
Harvey opened his mouth to say something, but thought better of it and shut it again.
I watched the familiar line of trees welcome me home. Dinner with Harvey's family… "Hey, is your sister coming? You said she was my age right?"
Remembering this was like a bright light turning on. Imagine that! If the packs merged, Dean and I wouldn't be the only pups born that year. There'd be others—at least one other girl my age!
For some reason, Harvey tensed. I saw the muscle in his jaw tighten. "Ah, yeah, she will be at dinner."
"Yay! A girl my age! What's she like?" I didn't hide my excitement. I was sure we would be friends! I was determined to be friends!
Harvey didn't answer straight away.
"Is she like you?" I asked. I looked at Harvey and tried to imagine him as a girl.
Harvey shifted in his seat, clearly wishing he could look away without taking his eyes off the road. "Stop staring at me so hard! I know what you're thinking!"
His face was red again.
"I think you'd be a very pretty girl," I decided finally.
Harvey pretty much choked on that. "What? No way, Princess!"