LOVE CHANGES EVERYTHING

SATURDAY, 5 MARCH, CONTINUED

"Good morning, Princess." Bell smirked from the edge of the pool. He was leaning against the side, his dark curls plastered on his head so I guess he had been actually swimming (and not just soaking in the pool and making Ki's life difficult.)

Ki himself was nowhere in sight which I took as a sign that Bell had recovered from whatever he was suffering from earlier. I felt a big smile spread across my face at the sight of my soul mate.

{Mate! ~❤️ }

He's so... so... handsome.

Yeah. I didn't want to say it. It made me sound like a love-sick teenager, but Bell was undeniably handsome. So handsome.

Omo. I'm a sap! Get a grip Sam!

But of course, I didn't.

"Alpha Princess is here." Harvey's calm (and completely redundant) announcement reminded me that we weren't alone. It was also atm the last thread holding me back from slipping out of my cardigan and dropping into the water to join my Luna - jeans and all.

But since I knew my wolves were watching, I only pulled over a nearby pool float and sat on it by the water edge so that I would get wet.

I'm not sure why, but our pool was accessorized by giant pool floats - just one or two.

Today, they were in the shapes of flat orange slices... To match the citrus-themed accent pillows no doubt. I would say this was a Ki thing, but the pillows on the rattan furniture had orange and lemon prints. The giant floats were orange slices, and the pool towels on the deck chairs were a deep orange color.

I mean, upstairs too, yes. I belatedly noticed. The black mourning accent colors that peppered our home was now replaced by citrus patterns and colors.

It was weirdly invigorating. Either that or just sitting next to my mate was making me feel suddenly energized.

Bell turned a bit and picked up a lock of my blue hair. Bringing it to his lips, he kissed it but instead of letting it drop from his hand as he usually did, he took care to tuck it carefully behind my shoulder and away from the pool water.

His gentleness surprised me. It was just hair - which I shook dry like a dog. He always touched it with such care though.

"I thought you'd be mad at me." I blurted out. Wasn't he mad at me from the moment he saw me at Haku's? I don't think the duel with Hayao helped matters either.

"Me too, but it seems I am truly incapable of anger when it comes to you." He said it like it was a bad thing.

I didn't know how to respond to that.

Bell shrugged and looked across the pool so I could watch the profile of his face.

So, so, handsome. Was it just me? Or was my mate just the most handsome guy in the world?

"No matter how many men you bring home, I am still your Luna." Bell said.

Wait, what? Don't say it like THAT! I can't believe what I was hearing! Wth!

"What? You don't believe me?" Bell's low voice took a deeper inflection now.

It's not that I didn't believe you! It's that you got it all wrong.

"If I can keep an army of Blue Demon Warriors under my thumb, I can wrap a Special Team around my finger." Bell pushed himself a little higher from the water to tell me, "Princess, you are mine and no matter how many or how strong they are. I will be your only and your strongest ally."

This wasn't a competition! (And I thought I was competitive!)

Also, don't warp everything into some weird Lorent narrative!

I looked at my so very handsome mate. I didn't know what to say. Should I try to explain last night? Should I try to clarify that I didn't want a harem? Should I protest about him keeping wolves under his thumb and around his finger? Or that it wasn't a competition? Or that he was being stooopid. I didn't know... but just at that moment, with the sunlight streaming into the pool room, while sitting on float in a shape of a slice of orange, right at the edge of the pool, with palm trees and citrus print pillows on white rattan sofas in the backdrop, and my luna looking up at me from the pool with those golden eyes... I just reacted more out of instinct than intellect.

I leaned over and pressed a kiss on his forehead. His hair was still wet.

"You worry too much." I told him.

He looked so surprised that I laughed, and even though it might very possibly have come out more of a girly giggle than an alpha laugh, I didn't quite mind.

Did I say that I wasn't having a great start to the day? You must have heard wrong. Today was A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.

Because today I felt it more than I thought it, that Bell liked me very, very, much. And I liked him too.

I liked the golden of his eyes, the way his forehead crinkled when he frowned, his deep, deep voice, his dark curls, the way he was bossy and grouchy, the way he was gentle, even the way he was a stoopid Lorent Prince. That was kind of cute too.

The feeling made my heart feel very buoyant.

Bell growled lowly and turned to the wolves waiting behind me, "Doesn't my princess have somewhere she needs to be?"

"Yes, Luna. Alpha is due for breakfast with her family in five minutes." Harvey answered.

"Then what are you waiting for?" Bell swished away from the water's edge and I watched him swim away, his strokes were strong and sure.

Harvey approached my float and I got up.

"Okay, let's go." I decided. I noticed Wolfgang frowning in Bell's direction, "Don't mind him, Wolfgang. Bell's always moody like that."

"Love changes everything." Wolfgang said, his eyes never leaving Bell's form, "Even tyrants."

Did Wolfgang just call Bell a tyrant? Hahahahaha.

I grinned at Wolfgang. I was just about to say, "It takes one to know one."

You know, thereby calling Wolfgang a tyrant too, because as my tutor, he really was kinda like one. (I still owed him homework!)

But it was Barry who answered him, "I know right?"