Rogue Wolf

Ch 63 dream state

"So," I finally sighed into the awkward silence, "gotta be one of the weirder things I ever experienced. I assume no one else ever had anything like that dream happen to them before?"

There were head shakes no. It wasn't until my defeated guard answered, "No, my lord Beta Scout," that the rest of the guards immediately said the same thing.

Damn but Alpha had them trained to jump on command! I smiled wryly at them. They all seemed so unsure just what to do. They were too used to Alpha's constant orders telling them how to act and every little move to make.

"Relax guys," I told the nervous group. I watched them squirm, trying to come to attention in their various positions around the bed and on the floor. "No, seriously," I told them, "get comfortable. There aren't any commands to give here, just a hunt to understand what happened to us. Right now, we're all off duty; just a bunch of people trying to figure this out... together."

It was the guard who had tried to talk reasonably to me that finally looked me in the eye. "Off duty, really off duty?"

"Yeah dude. With everyone here, what's the point, ya know? What's your name?"

"Guard Nathan," he snapped out promptly, drawing himself up a bit out of habit.

"Well, Guard Nathan," I drawled, "you still on duty?"

He looked at me seriously for a moment. Guard Nathan looked to be one of the oldest among the guards, possibly early twenties. I could practically see the struggle in him to stop being a guard and to just hang out. He finally took a deep breath and, as if he'd made a decision, gave himself a shake much like he'd do if he was a wolf. Suddenly he really did seem to become just a regular dude.

I couldn't help smiling at him. "Looks like that took some real effort. Welcome back to the human race," I gently teased.

"Feels like I've been gone a long time," he grinned back at me.

Alpha started to growl a little and Nathan stiffening up. I thwacked Alpha on his wolf head. "None of that now," I said with a bit of heat, "or I'll kick you out of my room. I said off-duty and I meant off-duty. He gets it. He doesn't have to use a title right now. I don't need you to correct their behavior. If I think something needs addressed I'll tell them myself!"

I gave myself a bit of a shake as well, looking back at Nathan. I had a sudden desire to dominate him right then. His head lowered at my intense gaze.

"Damn, and you were right there at it. Ah well," I said, trying to relax again, or at least give the impression of it, "back to the dream. You said you felt trapped," I said as I looked over at my Max.

Max nodded, but didn't say anything.

"I felt the same thing," I told him.

"There were rocks and dust behind me," Nathan piped up. "The dust... I've been thinking... perhaps a landslide? No, it would be a, a cave-in. Was there a cave-in?"

A few of the guards nodded. Max looked confused. "What is a cave-in?"

That alone spoke volumes of his complete disconnect with the world. In all his life, I think the only time he had ever left that stinking apartment was when him and Lone Wolf left and met the Alpha King.

I explained what a cave was, finally having to compare a cave to the apartment. The thought of actually being under the ground had apparently never occurred to our lord.

"I'll have to take you into the subways some time," I grinned, "even if they are man-made. But yeah," I said as I turned back to Nathan, "a cave-in fits. Wherever they are..."

"They?" interrupted Carl. Then he hastily added "my lord," as he lowered his head.

"Carl, hey dude, look at me."

His head came up. I saw all the signs of fear in him. "Good catch dude. I don't know why I said "they". It just came out."

"Someone was hurt and left behind because I had to go get help... in the dream... my lord," another guard said nervously.

I really needed to get their names down pat. I ignored the title usage. They were contributing to the conversation at least. I nodded thoughtfully. I could hear Michael whispering to the omegas but couldn't make out what he was saying.

"It was dark," Luke said again, his voice a little high pitched. He added "except that tiny spot of light way up high." He didn't use my title, which had to be the hardest thing he ever did.

I looked over at him. Luke's head was tucked down tight and he was practically squeezed into Michael. Michael, on the other hand, was beaming like a proud papa. I had to chuckle.

"Good job," I said, "on both counts."

Luke dared look up at me. He took a shaky breath as I nodded and smiled wide. He looked back down but relaxed his grip on Michael a little. He stayed holding Michael tight though. I'd be surprised if Luke managed to say anything else.

"A crack to send my song out across the night sky," I mused. "Song... whoever howled up into that tiny crack thought of his howl as a song."

"Songs have words," Michael interjected.

"And words communicate," added Lone Wolf.

"Like Pongo," one of the guards said hesitantly.

"What's Pongo?" I asked to encourage him. I had no idea what a Pongo was.

Michael laughed at me but didn't say anything. The guard looked a bit... discombobulated... at Michael's teasing laughter. It didn't look like he was going to say anything else.

"Come on, let me in on the joke, will ya?" I whined good-naturedly. It was obvious the joke, whatever it was, was on me.

I kept my gaze on the guard and tried to sound amused. I had to work at keeping the smile in my eyes and not get intense. I didn't want to ruin it for him like I did with Nathan.

"In 101 Dalmatians," the guard started, swallowing hard and not using my title. He was clearly embarrassed. "Pongo is the dad. When the puppies..."

The guard lowered his head, unable to continue. It looked like he was... was he crying?

"Hey," I said softly. He didn't look up. "What's your name? You guys been doing all your schooling with Michael and I think he knows your names better than I do."

"Bobby," the teen sniffled out.

"Well, Bobby, as I think you might have heard, I had a shitty childhood. Never saw the movie but I know the storyline. The bad guys steal a bunch of puppies so the wicked Cruella Deville can make a coat. Tell me what you were thinking about Pongo and how it fits in with the dream."

I understood now why he was crying. The puppies in the movie had been kidnapped and rescued. These guys had been kidnapped probably eight to ten years ago, as little kids; puppies who were not rescued.

"Pongo, the dad, does the, I think it was called the midnight bark? The bark something. Anyway, he barks out the news about his missing pups, and another dog picks up the message and sends it down the line. Within minutes the whole city is barking as each dog passes the message to the next dog further away. The message makes it out to the farm areas, where some dogs ended up helping the puppies."

"That sounds about right, Bobby," I agreed. "That's what it felt like, like I had to spread the message, like I had to howl it out. I needed to. All I could think, if you want to call it that, was the siren on an emergency vehicle. I just knew we needed to go rescue whoever was trapped and calling out for help."

No one said anything. How would we even know where to look, I thought, let alone taking this dysfunctional pack out into the world to do so?

My contemplation was interrupted as Lone Wolf started buzzing. All eyes were on him as he pulled his phone out of his shorts. I wasn't going to ask. Apparently I wasn't the only one capable of sewing hidden pockets into stuff.