Free Alphy's Challenge by Tigertalez

crouched under
the porch. He walked out into the sun and around the house to the garage. It was
time to find out what Betty kept in there. He had wondered since he arrived
what she had in there.
    He opened the side door and cautiously walked
into the darkened space and let his eyes adjust. What he saw caught him totally
by surprise. In front of him, in the middle of the large space, was a boxing
ring. Around the ring were several different boxing bags, weights, all kinds of
protective gear in adult sizes and kid sizes, boxing gloves and tape, and sparring
gear. Alphy had spent loads of time in gyms strength training and sparring, and
he took in a breath and enjoyed the familiar scents. He knew this would be a
place he would escape to often, and seeing the kid
gear, he felt a twinge of excitement at the idea of training others, perhaps
even his own kids.
    “When you open the garage doors, it opens it
up further. So you like it?”
    Alphy didn’t jump as he’d smelled Betty was
near. “Yeah, the only place I spent more time than the gym, was in the field of
battle. This isn’t old equipment, yet I don’t smell you’ve been here recently.”
    Betty waved a hand. “ Nah, wasn’t my thing. It was, however, my brothers’ favorite thing. They loved
boxing and they could get quite a bit rowdy, so our dad built this and used it
to train the boys. It taught them how to defend themselves, and it got rid of
their extra energy at the same time. It was even used to settle disputes
between the brothers. I actually kept it up-to-date for two reasons.” She walked
over and stood next to him as he was inspecting the corner bags. “I did it to
honor their memories, for one. And as I told you, your mother couldn’t stop
going on about you, and she told me how good a fighter you were. I figured once
I died, you would inherit all this, so I made it as best I could. I did a lot
of things with both of those thoughts in mind, in honor of my brothers and in
preparations for it becoming a sleuth once again.”
    Alphy looked up. “Is that why you have so much
electricity set up?”
    “Yep, this was always the central hub, being
that it was where the alpha lived. We always had gatherings, celebrations,
events, or visitors. There was always something going on. I think I also did it
for something to do, something other than feed
chickens or weed. I always hoped it would be the hub of an alpha once again,
one day.”
    Alphy wandered around looking at the gear. “So
you really don’t mind all the company.” He didn’t really ask, it was just
affirmation, but she answered anyway.
    “Of course. I never had the urge to leave or travel, but
I enjoy having people around. Let me ask you something. You offered to allow
them to join our ‘pack’. Why not sleuth? We are bears.”
    Alphy nodded and turned to face her. “I know,
but ‘sleuth’ indicates bears. ‘Pack’ is more of a broad term. We may be bears,
but Tom is elk, our mates are human, and if all turns out, we may just have
wolf, lion, hawk, anaconda, and even vampire, join us. Pack seems to fit more
to me than sleuth does.”
    Betty’s eyes went big when her brows shot to
her hairline. “Anaconda and vampire?” She puffed out a
snort and started for the door. “Ok, pack it is.” She paused at the door and
looked back at him with a serious look on her face. “But I better not find the
snake’s creepy-ass, shed skin lying around, and the vampire better keep his
fangs clean.”
    Alphy gave a tilted smile. He enjoyed her
sense of humor … or was she really serious? He continued to explore the garage, then moved on to the apartment upstairs from it.
    The apartment over the garage was a
comfortable size. It was built as one bedroom apartment with loads of light
coming in from several windows. The place was bright, and without the walls
hampering it, it lit up the space.
    It had a decent sized kitchen, a large full
sized bathroom, and a walk-in closet. Alphy loved the light. It