6 FEBRUARY, SATURDAY, 8 O'CLOCK
By the time I told my Dad about my dream, it was past 8.
"So you dream-travelled to the Colored Mountains?" Savy asked.
"I dreamed I dream-traveled. I might not have," I said.
"Sam..." Beta Lucas raised his hand. "If it were indeed only a dream, how did you know about Idonia?"
"I don't know... Maybe I read it somewhere and forgot about it." I thought about the giant dome-shaped trees wreathed in white flowers and the petals that kept falling. "A place like that can't possibly exist!"
"There are many wolves today who do not believe that the Colored Mountains exist," Dad told me.
"But you believe," I said.
"Perhaps it was from growing up on my grandmother's stories," Dad mused.
I know the feeling. I grew up on Lycan stories too, fed to me by Grandpa Alpha and our packhouse library.
I had always felt the older the wolf, the taller the tale. Like Grandpa Alpha's stories... He was the oldest wolf I had ever known, and he told stories about lakes that you could drown in and then be reborn in a flower.
"Won't you be born really tiny?" I asked.
"It's a huge flower," Grandpa Alpha answered matter-of-factly.
And I had believed him. Or I used to. By now, I've learned to take everything he had told me with a pinch of salt.
Because it was impossible.
"Well, we'll know when this Heller dude shows up," Ben decided. "And if he does, we can ask him more."
"Hmmm..." Dad said. He was thinking.
"Luna is here," Ki announced.
"Pardon." Bell stepped into the dining room. "I just want to see my Princess before I leave."
I got up. "We have to get to the packhouse for breakfast!"
"Or what's left of it," Ben said, checking his watch.
Grrr... I'm missing breakfast with the gang!
I rushed over to mate, meaning to say a quick goodbye to him before leaving, when he suddenly started growling.
Like, seriously growling.
He reached out and plucked up a lock of my hair. Holding it up, he demanded, "What happened to her hair?"
"My hair?" I blinked.
Ki and Ben came over to check.
Mate picked up a second lock of hair and ran them both through his hand until, right at the ends, one of the locks came up a few inches short.
"Oh," both Ki and Ben said.
"What the hell happened?" Bell wanted to know. He didn't exactly shout, but his alpha tone was thundering behind the words.
"She cut it," Ben answered.
In a dream... It was just a dream!
Bell looked at me, and at this point, I realized two things:
One. Henry was right about Mate's overprotective reaction towards my hair.
Two. The dream was real. I had dream-travelled somewhere in the Colored Mountains, and Fluffy's family was looking for him.
My brain whirred at all the implications and stopped at just this one: "Fluffy's name is really Alaric!"
"What—" Mate started.
"Uh-huh, but I'm late. I have to go. Ki can tell you the rest of it." I rushed towards the front hall, and then I realized, "I need my Lycan Study File..."
Ben smirked and held it up. There was even a pen clipped to it.
"Okay, let's go!" I said.
But with every step I took, I felt my mate bond tug my heart with so much reluctance that I had to retrace my steps and hug him, catching him from behind.
The way he felt surprised me. For a scentless dream traveller, he was surprisingly warm and solid. I wasn't sure what I was expecting. I've never been much of a hugger, and I definitely didn't go around hugging guys, but I just didn't expect that his shoulders would be so broad that my view would be completely obstructed by him, or that his stomach would feel taut where my hand landed.
I quickly let go and stepped away.
"When will you be back?" I asked.
"Tonight," he answered, his words deeply growly.
I felt the blood rush to my face as if I were embarrassed. I couldn't look him in the eye suddenly.
Omo, was I suddenly shy? Why?
So embarrassing.
Suddenly, my mind flashed back to all the times I've seen my friends suddenly turn shy.
Omo. So embarrassing.
There was no way I was going to be caught making that kind of expression!
I shrugged off the feeling and plastered on my biggest grin. "Okay, see you tonight, Bell!"
And then I spun on my heel and ran.
I wouldn't say I ran as if for my life. More like I ran like the last school bell just rang.
I must have looked like I really needed to get more breakfast.
For some reason, I felt I needed to put as much space between Mate and me as possible.
Because I valued my dignity.
I must never EVER hug him in public again! I shouldn't even touch him! He was dangerous.
I blame the mate bond! I blame my wolf!
Ben and Savy caught up to me by the time I reached the front door. Ben grabbed coats for both of us, but of course Savy had to be picky.
"I need the red one," she told him.
"Which red one?" Ben asked, even as he pulled the nearest one out.
"That's maroon," Savy told him. She tiptoed and managed to reach past him for the red one.
Ben's face showed restraint. Bwahahaha! I was quite sure that if it were Lizzy, he would have thrown the coat in her face.
We waited for Ben to rehang the maroon coat.
After that, we ventured across the lawn and then slip-skidded across the frozen slush and mud in front of the packhouse. Savy was very nimble over the ice. I almost fell over once. Ben tried to stop my almost-fall and fell—like a tree. Hahahaha.
Yes. I just stood there and pointed and laughed. Savy waited patiently by my side, smiling, because I'm sure she thought it was at least a little bit funny that Ben had fallen like a block of wood.
Ben got up. He dusted himself off, but he had wet patches on his jeans. He looked so annoyed that I had to laugh all over again.
I mean, Fluffy did melt half the lawn last night when he heated the water in the lawn sprinklers and let it out in steam and boiling geysers... And then, when Harvey had the sprinklers turned off, all the melted snow pretty much froze as ice. Then the guys had a snow fight in what was left of it, making muddy slush, and of course it snowed last night, so now there was a thin layer of white snow, sometimes covering the frozen mud, so that you couldn't know if your foot was about to crunch into snow or slip on the ice.
Our packhouse lawn was so not the picturesque white snowy lawn today. It was sporting more of the "Monster Truck fight happened here" kind of look.
The only part still pristine was the driveway, which someone shoveled and salted every morning. Someone hadn't slacked off.
We got onto the porch, and the warrior there held the door open for us. He was very polite, bowing a quick "Good morning."
He tactfully acted as if he hadn't seen Ben fall at all. Although I was sure he did. I wondered if he had laughed on the inside.
Ben hung our coats.
I was impatient. "Hurry, Ben! Breakfast!"
"You just ate, Sam," Ben reminded me.
"But I always eat two breakfasts every Saturday!" I argued back.
"Is that something a girl should say?" Ben asked me.
"Yes," I answered, because I was a girl, and then I frowned when I couldn't think of any other girl who would say that.
I was sure I couldn't be the only girl in the world who liked multiple breakfasts in a day.
Ben scoffed, but he finished up with the jackets and put a hand on the small of my back. "Let's go get food, then."
Which made me realize that Ben was actually hungry. Sometimes I forget that Ben was also my Beta. Poor Beta Ben, who can't eat until the Alpha eats, who can't whine about being hungry or cold or wet to his Alpha. Hahaha. I was beginning to understand why Estella and Esmeralda liked teasing Oscar.
We finally got to the dining hall. It smelled like home—or at least of many breakfast dishes and home pack wolves. My wolves!
Everyone was already there. Even Carlie and Delilah came today, so our next-door table had pulled over another table and chairs to make a longer one.
Lizzy waved at us from our usual table. Jessica turned around and smiled. My usual seat between her and Dean had been kept for me.
"You're even later than Dean today, Sam," Jessica teased.
It was true. Dean was eating ham and bacon. It was a very carnivorous choice of breakfast.
Actually, so were Jonah, Drew, Shannon, and Tim... "What are you guys doing?"
"It's a competition. Who can eat the most meat in the morning," Jonah explained. He had ketchup on his meat and scrambled eggs.
"Eggs aren't meat," Ben informed him.
"Protein," Jonah said. "For my wolf to be huge."
Seriously? But I had to admire his tenacity.
"Never mind the guys! Almost time for the bell. Hurry and grab something to eat!" Lizzy chimed in.
I could smell all kinds of deliciousness in the air. Nothing like a good breakfast buffet to stir up our primitive hunting spirit. Hahaha.
"Let's go," I said, getting up to hunt down chocolate chips. I was quite sure there was a dish with chocolate chips. The nose never lied.
So while Savy got some juice and fruit and Ben piled everything else imaginable on his plate, I stalked around the buffet table and flanked the second tray from the right—which turned out to be chocolate chip scones.
SCORE! I must be the luckiest wolf in the world.
I took one and went back to the table. Ben and Jonah were quibbling. Something about Jonah still wearing SpongeBob SquarePants from their penalty with Nix, but Ben getting off scot-free.
"I did not get off scot-free," Ben informed our table. "I shifted, and the Patrick Starfish boxers tore."
"So now you don't have to wear the same boxers for the rest of the month!" Jonah reasoned.
"Sounds pretty scot-free to me," Drew admitted.
"Yeah, I just have to go commando instead," Ben informed the table.
"Ewww... TMI, Ben!" Lizzy scolded. "No one needed to hear that."
"Beta Ben is going commando!" Tim yelled loudly to the rest of the hall.
The girls at the younger table giggled, and some of the guys hooted.
Then Carlie shouted, "Prove it and show us! Ow! Who kicked me?"
"Is that something a girl should say?" Angela scolded.
Their table laughed.
The teens at the older table turned over for a bit and then went back to whatever cooler older youths talked about over breakfast these days.
I wondered if Carlie would also admit to eating more than one breakfast a day?
"Oh." That was when Drew realized, and then he chuckled. "Well, I guess that you're really free to hang now."
"Yeah, how's it hanging, Beta?" Tim smirked.
Shannon slapped him hard on his back. "Not in front of the girls, you fool."
"What? They won't get it," Tim shrugged.
"I get it," Jessica shrugged.
"Get what?" I asked.
Lizzy shrugged too. "I have no idea. I think you should ask your dad."
"Wait, no. You don't have to ask anyone. It's nothing," Tim quickly said.
"Just make sure you say it was Tim who said it," Jonah chuffed with mirth.
I gave up trying to figure out what they were being so sly about and ate my scone.
Ben immediately dug in. Ben was a fast eater.
"I'll go get you coffee," Jonah said sympathetically.
Jonah was pretty quick. He put a mug of hot black coffee in front of Ben and then the entire carafe.
"Jonah!" Lizzy scolded. "You can't take the whole pot!"
"There were two. Plus, Ben always drinks more than one cup," Jonah argued.
It suddenly felt like just another Saturday with my gang. I chewed on my scone and listened while my friends talked about some party that anyone who was going to be anyone would be at.
Not that I ever went with them to these things. I usually preferred to sleep. I didn't dance, and I didn't care for standing around holding fruit punch in my hand for hours...
It was going to be the coolest and wildest party ever held in Night Leaf. There was going to be a hunting game with air rifles.
Really? A hunting party? Seriously? I want to go!
And Esther was making brownies, the main course was pizza, and they were going to drive in an ice cream truck from Gate City. And... and...
Oh man... This party actually sounded like fun!
All the girls were going to Lizzy's straight after lunch to get ready because some of the guys from Morning Light would be there.
"Is it true that Harvey is coming?" Jessica wanted to know.
"Ooohhhh... Harvey!" Carlie started ventilating loudly, to the amusement of our tables.
"Yes," Lizzy said. "Nix, Marlow, and Ethan too."
"Ooohhhh... Nix, Marlow, and Ethan!" Carlie gasped again.
"Stop that!" Delilah hit her. "It's only funny the first time."
"Owww..." Carlie grumbled.
"How did you find out who's coming?" Shannon wanted to know.
"I saw the RSVP list," Lizzy boasted.
"Hey, I told you not to snoop in my room," Ben said in mild annoyance.
"I wasn't snooping. I needed to borrow your science notes," Lizzy said.
"Ding!" went the little bell.
Ben downed his third cup of coffee. He seemed more awake now. Me too.
Now this was real life, not some strange dream that was probably real, but couldn't possibly be, because now, in the light of the everyday bustle, I felt increasingly sure that it couldn't have been real. It was just a dream, and, like dreams usually did, it faded like the morning dew by the time the sun came up.