As my wonderous luck would have it, ghost mode was very easy to "activate." It was very similar to taking my betas dream traveling, and I didn't even need to fall asleep. The four of us sat in a circle back to back, and shoulder to shoulder and I just "leave" my body behind, pulling Harvey, Ki, and Fluffy along with me.
"Eeep!" Jax jumped the same moment as our bodies slumped down.
"Ohhhh…."Neil made a face, "My hairs are standing."
On the other side, Leon cast our bodies a cool glance. He had Parry held in his arms. Except for stroking the cat, he did not move. I realized that Leon had not expressed surprise at anything so far. Actually, he hadn't really expressed anything in particular. Why? Was our grand adventure to save our future just "a day in the life" for a King's Agent?
Wolfgang decided to take charge.
"You're warriors." Wolfgang scolded Jax and Neil, "Behave like it."
He walked over to us and checked our pulses. I had to say that I was glad there was someone around who looked like he knew what he was doing, "They're just sleeping."
Yes, our bodies were sleeping, but around me, Harvey, Ki and Fluffy were getting used to their new ghost form.
"It's weird right?" I grinned at them.
I waited a while for them to adjust. It was funny to watch. Fluffy took to his ghost form like a fish to water and very quickly made a game of diving into Neil and then out again. Neil would freeze up and then shudder visibly, "Oohhhh… this is crazy. This is crazy…"
Jax pretty much freaked out, "Oi, don't! Big guy, its not funny. You're gonna freak me out!"
"Shut up!" Wolfgang scolded, he shook his head, "I had never seen such yellow bellied wolves in my life!"
Fluffy decided to make a dive at Wolfgang.
Wolfgang froze, but turned out to be made of sterner stuff than the Mountain named Neil. The Fire Wolf growled lowly.
"Stop it Fluff." Ki ordered, "Don't provoke the Fire Wolf. It'll be bad if the shed catches fire."
Harvey was the most cautious. He would watch Fluffy, and then use that as a starting point for his own movements.
"We can go through walls too." I told them, "Come, follow me!"
So we all popped out through the shed, past the woods, through the apple blossoms (which we now couldn't' smell), and across the dandelion field, and up to the newest addition to the Alpha House - a connecting wing to the Packhouse. It was three floors tall and had a glass dome roof on top of it.
As we were looking down from the outside, it looked like a fancy rooftop greenhouse. There were trees and plants - it actually reminded me a little of the Warlock's tropical jungle. I wondered what would possess me to design something that would remind me of singularly most traumatic ordeal to date. I'm not kidding. Just the thought of tropical jungles now filled me with a physical dread that would make my toes curl.
But my lucky sense of direction was never wrong. I dived down into the dome, past the glass, and through the canopy, stopping to float over one of the large branches.
Welcome to the Alpha's Office!
Yeah, it surprised me too - nestled within the grove of exotic plants, under the shade of a single humongous tree, was a circular space tiled with white stone. And on this space, furniture - a couple of sofas on the side, a coffee table, side consoles with floating shelves, a single white curved wall with three large screens flushed across it, and right in the middle, a very large desk and the big boss leather swivel chair behind it.
On this chair sat a blue haired angel. If I had thought the earlier Future Me was beautiful, this woman was breathtaking. It was a goddess herself.
Future Ki - who looked the same, he really didn't age at all - poured tea in glass tea cups. And get this, the tea he served the goddess was a golden pink liquid - without milk or sugar! Omo.
Future Harvey was seated on one of the sofas reading reports from a glass tablet. The lines on his forehead looked deeper, and his rust red hair was even more closely cropped than now.
A moment later, a glass door slid open and Future Ben stomped in, his heavy warrior boots on the stone floor, "Sorry, I'm late."
The goddess smiled, "I'm glad you're back."
Ben shrugged, "So what did you want to see us for, Sam?"
Wait, who me?
The goddess sighed, "The three of you… when are you going to get mated?"
"I'm already mated." Ben smirked, "To my job."
"Ditto, Alpha." Harvey agreed mildly.
"I wish to live and die as your dog, goddess." Ki answered.
The goddess stood up to her feet and slammed the desk, her blue hair flaring out, stretching like the night sky, "I've had it with your excuses! The three of you are a menace to society!"
"Ah, so you have seen the news." Harvey calmly put down his glass tablet.
"We've been through this, Sam…" Ben started.
"Only because you guys keep getting into trouble!" The goddess pointed an accusing finger at Ben.
"What me?" Ben sounded offended, "Look, I only had a couple of scandals this year. That dog is the one who owns a weekly feature."
Ki smiled gently, "Surely you exaggerate, head beta."
"Shut up, dog!" Ben snapped.
Harvey pinched his forehead, "Ben… "
"And the last one was all on Harvey." Ben didn't take Harvey's hint to shut up.
"Perhaps one should focus more on the viral count of the news than its frequency." Ki suggested.
Harvey cleared his throat, "Or consider the context and content of the article."
"Look, I told you that thing last month was blown out of proportion." Ben said in his defense.
"All of you get out!" The goddess pointed at the door, "Don't appear in front of me until you get mated!"
"Sam, be reasonable!" Ben said.
"OUT!" The goddess said.
The three betas stood up, bowed, and left the dome.
The goddess dropped back into her seat as if deflated, "Why are perfectly intelligent wolves so stooopid?"
A black portal opened and Laru stepped out, "Will this really work, Alpha?"
The goddess smiled, "Oh, were you there, Laru? Don't worry. Although its only a temporary measure, they will be more cautious not to let their stoopid flings land in the tabloids."
"Pardon, Alpha." Laru bowed and opened a leather file in front of the goddess, "Your Luna requires your authorization…"
The goddess glanced at the document, and then flipped through the pages behind it, and then signed it. Laru prepared the wax for the seal, and then the goddess stamped it with the seal on her ring.
Laru produced a second file, and then a third.
The goddess did the same each time, it was like clockwork.
"Is that all?" The goddess asked.
"Yes, thank you, Alpha." Laru bowed politely.
"Thank you for your hard work." The goddess smiled again and waved him off.
Laru bowed and a portal opened for his exit, "Thank you for your guidance, Alpha. Please excuse me."
Now alone, the goddess release a small sigh, as soft as the moonlight, "I wish they'd hurry and really find their soul mate though."
Touching the small bump over her belly the goddess said, "At this rate, my son will have no betas to run with him."
EH? EH? EH? EH?
I felt my hair stand, and then I guess I just freaked out and bolted.
My wolves had to chase me back to the shed.
Now I understood why they say there were some things about the future that was better left unknown!
I "woke up" in my own body with a jerk.
"Princess!" Wolfgang was immediately knelt in front of me like a gallant knight.
The moment I woke, Harvey, Ki, and Fluffy woke too.
"So?" Jax asked, "What happened?"
"What did you see, Princess?" Wolfgang looked concerned.
"Ah… it was nothing." I tried to reassure the fire wolf. I gave him a wide smile, "I was just surprised."
It wasn't like I could say, "I was just PREGNANT!"
Omo.
I don't think I was ready for something like that yet.
Wolfgang looked to my betas, "Well? What did you see?"
Harvey pressed his lips together to form a flat line. I guess he was also processing it.
Ki smiled like a flower to the sun, "Our future is more beautiful that I ever imagined."
Wolfgang narrowed his eyes at them, and then turned to Fluffy, "Fluff, report. What happened? What made our princess wake up in a panic?"
(I did not wake up in a panic! I panicked and woke up - which was totally different!)
Fluffy smiled, "The vampires like to say, 'What ghosts see, they bring to their graves.'"
"Do they really say that?" I wondered if vampires liked quoting their literature too.
"Yes, but I misquoted." Fluffy confessed.
"How so?" Wolfgang folded his arms.
"Usually, you're supposed to say this to a person you're about to permanently silence." Fluffy smiled brightly.
"Hm…" Wolfgang nodded, "I see."
"We should head back." Harvey decided, "We can debrief later."
Or we could debrief never. I wouldn't mind.
Fluffy bent down to pick Peony up. He had to corner Peony and I think there were a couple of throwing knives involved, but once again, Fluffy dominated the poor cat.
Neil picked up the two duffel bags. In the end, we hadn't needed any of the stuff.
A whirlpool opened up the Time Gate. Goodbye future, I don't understand you, I'm definitely not ready to deal with you, but for what its worth, I'm looking forward to seeing you again someday.
A baby.
I never thought I would be a mother.
Everyone kept saying I was going to die young.
A baby. I felt a smile play on my lips even as I stepped through the gate. That would be a very nice future with Bell.
And thinking about it now, I guess if the biggest crisis in the alpha office was my three betas' love lives, then our pack had to be doing well. Surely well enough for these three stoopids to have so much fun the LNC had to share it!