The next hour was peacefully spent at home.
Killion cooked dinner while Harvey and I did homework in the living room.
Dad came home early with us, but he and Mum had disappeared into their bedroom to discuss something—probably me. I didn't think Mum was as happy as the other men about how well we were growing up.
Savy was home too, but she stayed in her room.
When I went up to get my stuff, I stopped by to see what she was doing, but she had the music blasting and totally ignored me.
The music went on about how tonight was going to be a good night.
Maybe it was just wistful thinking, but I hoped for it.
What was a good night for me?
I wanted to go for Thursday Training Session.
I heard Lola would be there tonight, so the girls attending would be Savy, Jessica, Lola, Marissa, and me. Five of us!
Harvey would be there too, along with the other bigger goons and our older teens.
Hank had been certified recovered and would be training us.
Overall, I was looking forward to it.
Plus, the second half of training is the wolf run! I would get to run with my friends!
My wolf hadn't run with anyone else since my shift, which wasn't that long ago, really—but oh, I wanted to run!
It would be my first run with the Thursday Group!
Yeah, so if I managed to get to training without being stopped by Mum (there was a chance she'd think I should rest at home), and if my alpha wolf didn't freak out over something dumb again, and I got to run like the wind with the others… yeah, that would be a good, good night for me.
I just needed to leave the house without upsetting Mum.
I had a plan. I would finish my homework, get dressed in a cute gym outfit, and behave all through dinner.
Then, straight after eating, I'd slip off with Harvey and Savy.
To make doubly sure, I went to the kitchen after finishing my homework to enlist Killion.
"Hey, Killion." I climbed onto a counter stool and watched him thinly slice cucumber. He was making some kind of vegetable jelly? What the heck? Was that even real food?
"What is that?" I asked, momentarily distracted by the vegetable jelly.
"Garden vegetable terrine," Killion answered sagely.
I watched him slice the cake of jelly and twist the sliced cucumbers on top of each piece. It looked like transparent cake—but made of vegetables. Killion carefully plated it on the side of each dish.
I could smell meat in the oven, so I decided not to stress out over the weird vegetable thing Killion had created in our kitchen. (It was unnatural, I tell you.)
"Can you help distract my Mum later?" I asked. "Like, when it's about time to leave, could you ask her stuff in the kitchen?"
"Sure," Killion said.
I was surprised. Honestly, I was expecting questions, or conditions, or maybe even a bit of lecturing, or some kind of warning, or at least a look that would leave me feeling less than completely guilt-free.
That was surprisingly easy.
A little too easy.
Killion took out the tray of meat. It was roast beef. Mum sometimes made it on Thursdays, but tonight it wasn't roasted in one block. It was thinly sliced and twisted in the shape of roses, then roasted so that the center remained pink.
Then Killion picked up the colander where he had washed and dried salad leaves. He arranged the leaves at the base of each plate, then filled the center with beef roses. Then he angled the vegetable jelly to slide just right. It looked like a bouquet of roses with a card.
Woah…
I was salivating by the time he finished the first plate. He finished the rest quickly, then popped a leftover piece of beef into his mouth. He held up the tray to me, offering me another extra piece. Of course, I ate it.
Oh yum. Hot, but yum.
Killion smiled and left to scoop out the soup. The moment he lifted the lid from the soup pot… I knew dinner was ready. And it was yum!
Oh no, I forgot to get changed! I ran upstairs in a hurry.
I pulled on my navy blue yoga pants and sports bra and found a grey loose t-shirt with the word "RUN" on it.
Okay, Wolfie. Tonight's gonna be a good night. Just don't melt down.
Savy burst through my door. "Dinner time! And it smells like heaven!"
And then she was gone again. I heard her light steps down the stairs.
I almost skipped down the stairs myself with the song playing in my head. Nothing was going to piss my wolf off. Not tonight. We were going to run with the others.
At the dining table, our family had expanded, with Mum, Dad, Savy, Killion, Harvey, and me.
As usual, Savy laid out the cutlery, but tonight, Killion brought out the plates so Mum could remain seated with Dad, and Harvey poured the water… so all I had to do was sit there and wait.
I sat and looked at the large bouquet of white roses at the center of our table.
Every now and then, our home would receive flowers from other packs or families. They could be a thank-you gift, or an announcement.
I wondered what this one was for. I inhaled its scent… I usually liked the smell of roses, but these had a familiar smell of something icky stuck to the flowers' sweet scent. Maybe it was because they were white. Maybe the florist had sprayed them with some kind of chemical to preserve them.
When Beta Lucas said that the Beta was my right hand, I didn't think he meant it literally.
From opening doors to pouring drinks…
"Thank you," I said to Harvey when he filled my glass.
He looked amused. "My pleasure, Princess."
And then it happened—the weirdest sensation I ever had. I couldn't describe it. My mind started spinning, just for a short while, and then it cleared up. What was that?
Everyone had started eating except for Harvey and Killion. They sat opposite me, waiting… what were they waiting for?
"Sam, are you going to eat that?" Savy eyed my vegetable jelly thing.
I wasn't planning to, but because Savy was eyeing it, I growled, "Mine." I poked a piece out and popped it into my mouth.
It was weird tasting—like vegetables in jellyfied soup.
The moment it went into my mouth, my Betas started eating too.
Oh, they were waiting for me?
Next time, I'm going to declare I wasn't hungry and see what happens. Hahahaha.
Then the spinning sensation happened again, just for a second, and then it stopped.
"Oh, some gifts arrived for you today, Sam," Mum told me when she noticed me looking at the flowers. "Alpha Lorent sent his congratulations on your first shift. There are clothes and jewelry too. I left them along the hallway."
Killion growled, cleared his throat, and looked down.
And then it happened again. This time, I decided to keep eating and ignore it.
The food was yummy. There was even corn soup with this biscuit thing that I fell in love with at first bite.
"Food should be like this," Savy sighed happily. "Every bite like falling in love."
"And what do you know about falling in love?" Mum asked.
"I was just quoting from a movie I watched with Lizzy," Savy said.
The spinning sensation kept happening, and after a while I began to feel seasick. Luckily, I finished all the meat, biscuit, and soup.
"Are you alright, Sam? You look kind of pale. Have you taken the iron that Delta Simon prescribed?" Mum asked.
I nodded. "Harvey gave it to me just now before homework."
My beta had served it with a glass of water. Was that a beta's job too?
"Remember to take it every day," Mum said.
"Don't worry, Luna," Killion said. "I'm on it. It's scheduled every morning on my phone."
"Oh!" Mum said. "Do you think you can give her a multivitamin too? I buy them, but Sam always forgets to take them."
"Of course, Luna." Killion smiled. "Just show me where it is after dinner."
And then he winked at me.
Ohhh… Killion had just naturally and expertly created the after dinner diversion for me to sneak out for training. Yes!
I got the feeling that tonight's gonna be a good night.
I just needed to get my head to stop spinning… but if I said anything about it now, I'd be sent straight to bed for sure.
Suddenly, my Dad was growling.
And before I could ask what's wrong, Savy's head dropped on the table.
I caught her just before her face hit her plate.
Killion stood up and picked up the flowers. He brought them down to the basement. Harvey rose to follow him.
Dad was gently lifting Mum up—she had started to hold her head in her hands. "I feel a little giddy."
Giddy? Was that the feeling of something in your head spinning? I see…
The flowers?
I pushed Savy's plate away and carefully placed her arms and head down on the dining table. Then I ran down to the basement.
In the basement, I heard Killion swearing. "Those Lorent bastards…"
Harvey was growling.
The both of them were by the large sink next to the washing machine.
They looked up when they heard me on the steps. "Princess, don't come here—Wolfbane fumes," Harvey said.
Now Killion was growling.
Dad came down a moment later.
"The water in the roses was laced with Wolfbane, which the roses expel with their scent after being soaked long enough," Killion told us. "We should be expecting a rogue attack on this house tonight."
Then suddenly he was very calm. He took an empty plastic container that used to hold laundry softener and emptied the flower water into it. "I'm going to make those guys drink this."
Then he washed the flowers and replaced the arrangement.
"How do you know about… what you just said?" my Dad asked.
"It's not the first time the Lorents did this," Killion spoke very quietly now. His voice was cold. "Alpha, tonight please allow me to avenge my parents' death."
The moment these words left Killion's mouth, it felt like my wolf stirred something protective. Grrr…
"I don't mind, but tell me what you know," Dad said.
And what Killion knew completely confounded me:
Killion was the only son of the Lorent Pack's Beta family.
A few years ago, his family received flowers and gifts from the Lorent Alpha family. This was not uncommon, as Alpha Lorent and Luna Edith had always been generous to their family.
However, that day, his family did not feel well after eating. Assuming it was something in the new dish Killion had conjured, they went to bed earlier than usual.
In hindsight, their powerlessness to heal should have alerted them that it was more than food poisoning, but they had no reason to suspect anything else was amiss.
In the dead of the night, rogues attacked.
This was a rogue attack in pack town on the Beta house, without a single patrolling Lorent warrior in sight.
And drugged by the wolfbane, none of them sensed the rogues, or were able to shift, fight, or heal.
His mother and father were killed. The rogues had been paid to kill him too, but after discussing it, they decided to sell him for some extra cash on the sly.
It was because he overheard their discussion that he realized the many rogue attacked on random Lorent Pack families were in fact, not random at all. They were working for "Lorent."
For some reason, his dad and Mum, who had been faithfully serving the pack, were identified as potential threats and had to be taken out. That was how the Lorents took care of potential threats—with flowers and gifts, followed by an ill-fated rogue attack.
Killion walked back upstairs.
We followed him.
Mum and Savy were already lying on the sofa. I guessed Dad had moved them there before coming down.
Killion put the flowers back on the table, then shut all the curtains. "Come closer."
He started glowing.
After a while, the spinning feeling at the back of my head stopped. I saw Dad and Harvey shaking their heads as if to clear their minds.
Killion kept glowing for a while longer, then he darkened. His breathing was ragged. "That's all I can do for now."
I guessed the Wolfbane was affecting him.
He got comfortable on one of the armchairs. "Call me up once they get near, goddess."
Dad shook his head. "Even if we were taken down by Wolfbane, someone else would have detected a rogue in our land."
"Yet the Lorent Pack has had rogues raiding random families within our packtown for years…" Killion murmured. He sounded sleepy. "Harv, be an angel and open the windows… a change of air would be nice…"
Harvey gave him a sharp look but did exactly that.
"Dad, what if we let them through?" I suggested. "Just this once."
Dad growled. He looked reluctantly at Mum and Savy.
"We could leave them at Beta Lucas' place," I suggested.
{Rogues are near}
Wolfie was up and ready to go, but by now I knew it only meant they were heading toward our borders. We had time on our side.