26 FEBRUARY, FRIDAY, CONTINUED
"Hey, Prince!" Ben decided it would be best to take Keanu's advice, "Whatever you're doing, stop it."
River's stone started to glow brighter.
"Stop him, dog!" Ben ordered Ki.
Ki had been silent for a while now. He hadn't move from his spot beside me. I turned and realized he was trembling where he stood.
Was it my alpha dominance? Or something else?
And then Ki said, "I'm not a dog."
Which should have been music to my ears in any other situation.
Next thing I knew, Ki had hit Ben across the face with the back of his gun. Ben snarled and both guys were wrestling on the ground.
The small trees here were like spears with a small head of leaves, and there were small poisonous things hidden all around us.
This wasn't the right place to be duking out personal grudges.
Wth was happening anyway? Maybe the heat and humidity was getting into everyone.
So much for my alpha dominance. Everyone who said I was an alpha who couldn't control my wolves was right. Even under my alpha dominance at full blast, my betas were fighting.
Meanwhile River, who was left unchecked, had levitated off the ground, his hair flared out, and his whole body seemingly glowing.
"River, cut it out!" But I was too late to pull him back down.
"Purification!" River announced and then suddenly the glow around him flashed into a blindingly brilliant white. When my eyes readjusted, River had fallen back to the ground unconscious.
Meanwhile, white fluffy snowflakes began to fall. Wth?
"What's going on?" I asked.
"River!" Keanu scurried over.
My alpha dominance had been broken in the flash of light, but it wasn't just that. Ki and Ben got up from rolling on the ground and dusted themselves off.
"Once a dog, always a dog." Ki produced his most beautiful smile.
"You better not forget that, dog." Ben grunted. His cheekbone looked like it was turning purple. I added a punch to his shoulder. Stoopid Ben!
"Keanu! What happened?" I demanded. Keanu might be just a human, but he knew things - especially things regarding River.
"Aye... He overdid it again." Keanu looked dismayed at River's sleeping form.
"He's just sleeping." I said. I could hear him snoring from where I stood, "What did River do now?"
Keanu let Wilhelm take over caring for their prince and explained, "That was Purification. We saw Alpha Gunter use it once, but I didn't think River would copy it."
It was what now?
"I guess you can take it like Alpha Gunter's ultimate move." Keanu grinned sheepishly, "It cancels all magical effects and has a little restorative power."
So it was snow wolf magic. Which explained the snow magically falling all around us, and the air turning crisp and fresh and cool all of the sudden.
"So we were under a spell..." Wilhelm realized, "I had wondered why the wolves were suddenly so worked up."
Just us wolves? I tried to remember, but Wilhelm was right, the only ones who didn't react to it were the humans.
The rest of the guys started picking themselves up from the ground.
"Whoa, that was weird." Barry said to the other guys, "Ah... Sorry about that. I don't know what came over me. I just saw red."
Torque laughed, looking somewhat embarrassed, "I don't even remember why I was mad... Are you alright Fluffy?"
To which Fluffy smiled, "Don't worry, I cannot be hurt by stupid people."
But this time, Torque just laughed it off, "Well, good. You sound okay."
"Why do you guys even put up with that?" I asked. It's really a wonder how Fluffy is still alive.
"It's because I'm beautiful." Fluffy answered.
The guys just laughed and threw leaf litter at him.
"'Shut up, Fluffy." Barry scolded lightly, but to me he shrugged, "I don't know. Its just Fluffy. He's always like that, and its kind of funny sometimes."
Fluffy beamed at me. His wolf looked happy. I don't think I would ever quite understand Fluffy.
"Check yourselves. Report to Ki if you're injured. Only impairing injuries would be actively treated. If you can live with it, just stand near Ki and apply first aid." Ben the Bossy Beta was calling the shots again, "Get ready, we're moving out in 5. And put on a shirt Barry! You too, Will. If any of you catch a cold. I'll kill you and feed you to the python."
"Yes, Beta!" And everyone got busy gearing up and making preparations to continue our journey.
Ki came over with my cape. I let him loop it over my head.
"You have selected a good team, goddess." Ki smiled at me.
Come to think of it, Ki had a gun in his hand, but he didn't shoot Ben. Fluffy had used his wolf power to heat up his fist, but he didn't actually punch anyone. Torque charged like a gyaara, but the damage to Fluffy and the general environment was minimal. Actually, me too. I was angry enough to yell, but my hair hadn't even shifted to its blade form.
"I imagine our situation would be potentially far more dire if any of our wolves had held more acute grudges against each other." Ki remarked.
But that wasn't right, "You mean no one here is holding a grudge? Even you, Ki?"
I just wanted to make sure. Ben's still calling Ki "dog." and I thought Lorent Princes all came with a deep well of grudges, no?
Ki smiled, his killion dollar smile, "Not with anyone present here."
But if the spell did turn even the smallest grudges into uncontrollable fury, I guess we were really lucky that we only suffered such mild casualty. Perhaps the result was even therapeutic. I mean, I had thought I would never be able to totally forgive River, but I've gotten over most of it after he suffered Flynn's training last night, and now after venting the last bit out at him, I wasn't mad at all anymore.
"I guess we can just take this as a team building exercise." I decided.
"What?" Ben asked, and then he smirked, "Whatever Sam."
But what team building exercise was complete without a debrief?
"I have something important to say." I told my betas, because while thinking of what had happened, I learned an important lesson.
"Fall in!" Ben shouted in response.
Urm... okay, I didn't mean it to be anything official like this. I was just going to say it to Ben and Ki, but now everyone, even Wilhelm and Keanu had gathered.
"Our Alpha Princess would like to say a few words." Ki announced, which did NOTHING to make be feel more comfortable.
But now all eyes were on me. I gave everyone my usual wide smile. I realized I did this every time I needed to stall for time before speaking. Great, I've unknowingly cultivated a new weird habit.
Anyway, I took a deep breath and then I spoke, "I don't know the Warlock's intention to cast such a spell on us and cause us to react in our anger against each other, but this incident has been a proof and a lesson for me."
I was a little nervous when Ki announced that the Alpha Princess would like to say a few words. I never knew exactly how an Alpha Princess was supposed to speak, if my wolves would be disappointed or bored... but once I got into it, it felt natural, like I was always meant to speak in front of these wolves, "It was proof of your brotherhood. The extent of what you've tolerated from each other, as well as your understanding and acceptance of your fellow brother's flaws. As pack wolves, our unity stems not from our conformity, but our forbearance and loyalty to our pack and one another even if we hate each other's guts sometimes."
Which was not a new lesson. This was Lycan Study Group lesson, A United Pack 101, and it would be rehashed all through our growing years through camps and group activities. The number one answer to any debrief after a group activity when asked, "What did you learn from this exercise?" would be, "A pack has to be united."
It got so overused that we had started laughing and jeering whenever anyone used it as an answer. And finally, some of our more experienced Lycan teachers would ask their question and quickly add the ceveat, "Besides a pack's unity, what other factors contributed to this result?"
So what I said was really a very basic thing, but it was with a deeper meaning now, because this time around, we nearly could have killed each other.
"And moving forward, my personal lesson is to not hold grudges. If you're unhappy, deal with it. This incident had tested our hearts, and I've come to realize how revenge is a waste of energy. If we have the power to change the world together, why waste it on getting even? I'm going to lead this pack to the top of the lycan world so that our wolves will always be free and safe. And prosperous."
I added the last one because honestly, it wasn't enough to just be free and safe. I mean, we could all be running around in our wolf forms - that's the lowest cost of living for any wolf. But I wanted more. The world was changing everyday. Even now, living as wolves in the wild forever will be impossible without someone to safeguard those woods.
Our wolves would go to school and be educated. Our family would live in homes and make a comfortable living... but more than just being comfortable and protecting our land, I think we should be looking at building our influence and using our power to make our world better.
Because I'm sick and tired of the wars and fires raging on the news (let's put aside the fact that the current fire and war was because of my mate in the first place), or the injustice and abuse that Mrs Henderson had tried to raise our awareness of.
River had said some gibberish about covering evil with good when he turned the vamp's desolated corner of our school into the new spring picnic area. I hadn't understood it then, but now I told my wolves, "Follow me and grow very strong. Together, we're going to use our power to cover evil with good."
Every great alpha in lycan history had a great passion, a great dream, a great vision.
All my life, I had only wanted to protect the happiness of those around me, but lately I've come to realize that this happiness was not something that could be kept and protected. The happiness I desired for my wolves had to be discovered, and grown, and created constantly by our own hands for it to have any meaning.
There was a silence. It's not that I expected applause, but it was kind of awkward for a moment to be looked on silently at like this. Did I accidentally bomb alpha dominance again? I checked, but no, my dominance was nicely in check. I had just gotten a little carried away with my day dream. I probably shouldn't have blurted out my own personal epiphanies in front of everyone.
We were still lost in a jungle... which I had personally led everyone into. Who was I to talk about things like protecting anyone's happiness? Right now, I should be more focused on getting everyone home in one piece.
I saw a few eyes dart around. My wolves looking at each other as if trying to gauge how to react. Our mindlinks weren't working still, so its not like I could overhear anyone's private comments. I wouldn't know if everyone thought I caught Malaria and went bonkers from the fever. All I could do was stand there and wait for Ki to come feel my forehead or something. Part of me hoped that I was down with Malaria - then I'd have a good excuse for creating this awkwardness.
Ki looked at Ben, and Ben looked at me. What? If you guys don't say anything, how would I know what you're thinking?
And then Ben punch a fist into the air, "Our loyalty to our Alpha Princess."
"YO!" My wolves punched the air and shouted.
Even though our mindlinks couldn't transmit our thoughts, the feeling got through just for this moment. I could feel our links light up around us, like a momentary flare of our combined power. I think we scared everything in the jungle away.
Also, ahem. That was a nice save by Ben. I guess I should be grateful. Even after blabbering nonsense, my wolves were still fully enthusiastic in pledging their loyalty to me. I'll be more careful about not embarrassing myself when I give spontaneous speeches in the future. Let's just leave it as that.