BREAKING PROTOCOL (AGAIN)

22 FEBRUARY, MONDAY, ALMOST AT SCHOOL

Our car pulled up the new security check point that had sprung up last week at the entrance of Winderhill Drive. Our wolves - specifically, our underground wolves were on duty, so the barrier lifted quickly enough. The warrior closest to us caught my attention when he waved us off a large salute. Oh! I knew this wolf, what was his name?

Behind us, Fluffy waved back to him. EJ who drove directly past him kicked him in the stomach in play - like from atop his motorbike. The wolf doubled over, but he was laughing when he straightened and he winked, his bright violet eyes twinkled. Barry!

Did that mean the special team was here? Like Ink, and Torque, and Cobra too?

I peered out of the window in earnest now, my wolf radar trying to sense for them. Unfortunately, I couldn't quite pick up their presence distinctly. I could've focused and tried again, but I got distracted. I had a lot of warriors around today, which was weird because there wasn't all that many paparazzi - nary a news van along the road. Could it be that I was no longer the flavor of the week? I was almost hopeful.

Except my security detail was still here, and maybe it was just because I actually paid attention to my wolf radar today, but was the security at Winderhill always this excessive? What were we guarding against anyway?

"The security here is worse than Code Orange back home." I murmured into the window.

Harvey nodded, "I can't blame your Luna. With the vampire lord's repeated security breeches and now the new uncertainty with the warlock, he's not taking any chances."

Eh? So these weren't paparazzi deterrents? They were the aggregation of my Luna's increasing paranoia. Hahaha. It's like he really thought I could die anytime.

As we neared the school, the paparazzi camp across the street was quieter, but there were still some cameras and men in their hunting coats - why did they have to wear jackets that looked like they were going hunting? They looked like they overslept, and just got up for coffee. They took some photos, or checked their video cameras to make sure it was running, some even just used their mobile phones to capture my car's entrance to school. Nothing at all like the flurry of cameras that happened in the past week, or worse, like the swarm of cameras at Henry's inauguration.

If I could measure the public's interest in me with the paparazzi reception I got, I would rate myself a 1 out of 10 right now. It looked like I was finally yesterday's news. Now all I needed to do was not do anything interesting for the rest of my life.

Just outside the school gates, I noticed a few warriors standing out of place. They were crowding on the pavement, backs to the road, so I couldn't see their faces. But even just their backs looked familiar and I felt quite sure I've run with them before.

The first one was huge, his blond hair nearly white in the sun. At first I thought he was Titanium, but his hair was lighter. The second one was more moderately built, and looked like he was standing up to the blond one. The third one stood on the side observing. His black hair and equally black tattoos marked his pale skin. He angled his face after making a comment to push up his spectacles. Ink! The moment I placed him, I realized the big blond was Torque in the daylight, and the other one I can barely see had to be Cobra!

I wondered what they were doing, they didn't even seem to notice our car approach, "Stop the car."

"Alpha, it is inadvisable to stop the car outside the school grounds..." Harvey informed me, but the car slowed.

"Just for a while, Harvey. I know those guys." I said.

"Those guys?" Harvey eyed the three guys with misgiving.

"Don't worry." I tried to reassure my good beta, "They're really quite different from how they first look."

The car pulled to a halt.

I opened the car door on my side and hopped out.

"Please be careful, Alpha." Harvey cautioned before letting himself out too so that he would be the one approaching the three warriors first.

Harvey was always protective like that. Whenever I was with him, I always felt more relaxed because he was like a human shield that was quite effective at blocking out anything even mildly unpleasant for me. Whether it is an awkward conversation, unwanted eye contact, melodrama, troublesome gamma to manage (specifically, Nix), complicated directions, rogue attacks... whatever it was, I could always count on him to step in at just the right time to deflect it. With Harvey, everything always felt like it was under control in his steady hands. I never had to worry about going too far because things just didn't completely unravel when Harvey was around. And that made me feel safe.

I wondered if that was how it felt like to have a big brother around. Haylee was lucky.

"Alpha is here." Harvey intoned when the three guys continued to ignore us.

Behind me, Fluffy and EJ had left their bikes to follow at heel. Neil and Jax stationed themselves to guard our car. And the paparazzi camp stirred to life even as more warriors came out of nowhere to reinforce the plastic barriers. Their movements were automatic and practiced. They looked cool doing it. But otherwise, it was really unnecessary. The paparazzi just wanted to take photographs. It didn't look like any of them actually wanted to cross the barrier. Judging from the size of their lens, they probably could take a photograph of Pluto from where they were standing.

"Alpha!" Torque immediately straightened to full height. He was only a little taller than Harvey, but he still looked toweringly huge.

"Sssss..." Cobra hissed at me. He looked p***ed to see me. Then again, he usually looked like this - the last time though, I had chalked it to the pain from his broken ribs, but now I saw that it was his usual face.

"You can't stop the car here, Alpha. It isn't safe." Torque worried. He looked at our car and then at the paparazzi camp across from us.

Even though the other side of the street was buzzing with camera shutters, and warriors reminding the camera men to stay behind the barrier. It wasn't really as terrible as before. Most of the paparazzi had abandoned this camp for newer more exciting news. Or maybe the intense exposure at Henry's Inauguration just made me a little bit more immune to the cameras and flash lights.

But Torque worried anyway, "I'm sure this is breaking protocol."

True, but I was always breaking protocol. You could say it was my protocol to break protocol. But I was the alpha, I was allowed to break protocol.

I shook my head and tsked at them as I stepped into their huddle, "You guys are the ones breaking protocol."

"I told you so." Ink grumbled.

They also stank like rogues. Oh wait, it wasn't them.

"Goddess!"

I hadn't been called that for a while, well except for Ki, but I didn't think Ki counted.

A small girl appeared from behind Cobra. She reached out her hands to grab at me. Harvey held out his hand to stop her with a low growl.

"Daisy?" I barely recognized the little girl in the pink hooded puffy jackets and red scarf. All that peeked out were her nose and two coal black eyes.

Harvey stepped aside, but his wolf remained alert. He made the usual hand signal to stand down and to my utter surprise, Torque and the other guys bowed their heads a bit and stepped back. Sometimes I forget how well trained Bell and Stephan's army was.

"Did you get my letter?" Daisy asked with utmost urgency.

"What letter?" I frowned. Could my FAO have missed it?

"The one where I drew you and me..." Daisy said, "I'm the daisy because my name is Daisy."

The drawing that I had found in my jacket came to mind, "Urm... yes."

"Then what didn't you reply?" Daisy demanded, "I waited and waited."

"It's just a drawing right?" I tried to confirm we were on the same page, "I didn't know it was a letter."

"It's because I don't know how to draw ABCs." Daisy told me, "Mama says I can go to school in spring and learn how."

Oh, that's nice. It seemed like moving here will be good for Daisy.

"You should always reply your letters. Unless you were dead. Then we would know you were dead." Daisy told me.

Wait what?

"Why would I be dead?" I asked completely nonplussed.

"You never know." Daisy informed me darkly, "The blue demon warriors..."

Daisy stopped as if just noticing the warriors around us, and then she corrected herself, "The BAD blue demon warriors, not you guys, are killing rogues. And the BAD rogues, not me, are killing rogues."

"I'm not a rogue." I informed her.

"But you should answer your letter anyway. So I'd know you're okay. That's basic courtesy." Daisy lectured.

Ah... was that how rogues kept in touch?

"Why don't you just ask your cousins. I'm sure they see me in school everyday." I asked.

"I did, I asked everyday, but she said I was annoying." Daisy pouted.

I could kinda see why, but I just smiled. Daisy was just being a pup.

"Okay, but I can't answer your letters. I will give you something good if you promise me you'd go straight back home." I told her.

Since it was so dangerous, I really didn't think she should be out here by herself. Did her mum even know she wasn't at home?

"Wait here." I turned back to my car to look for something to give her. Fresh air. Ah!

I opened the car door and pulled open my backpack. Let's see, something a kid might like. I found the ziplock bag with her picture in it. My lunch bag was next to it.

Today Ki had packed my lunch in the usual blue colored scheme. This bag was my favorite. It had a pattern of blue waves on it, and a pocket in front that held wet wipes and tissue. The box was really cute too. I opened the bag to check if it was the usual box Ki matched with this lunch bag. Yep, it was. A smooth dark walnut wooden box. Inside there were sections for different dishes. The food smelled good too. But it was the cover of the lunch box - there was a carving of a flower. I guess it could pass for a daisy.

I pulled the drawstrings of the lunch bag to refasten it and ran up back to where my wolves and Daisy were waiting.

"Sssss...." Cobra was in an argument with Torque and Ink. Well, it was mostly Torque and Ink against him. Cobra just hissed his disagreement.

{This is bad.} Ink was saying, {I told you we should've sent the rogue pup away.}

{I told him too!} Torque shot back, {But at least this Beta doesn't look p***ed at us. Maybe we'll be alright.}

{There is a 92% chance he is only holding back now in deference to his Alpha.} Ink said.

{So we're in trouble?} Torque worried now, {I can't get in trouble! I've got so many demerits, I'm going to end up in the detention barracks!}

"Ssss...." Said Cobra. This was when I realized no one was actually speaking aloud, except for Cobra - if you called that speaking...

I took a quick glance at Harvey. His expression was calm, but otherwise unreadable.

But I decided to deal with Daisy first. I showed her the picture of the blue haired stick figure and flower in the ziplock bag, "Is this your letter? See I keep it with me."

Daisy looked pleased, "You even protect it in plastic."

Uh, yeah. It wasn't because it stank.