PARTY WITH THE PRINCESS: A HARD PILL TO SWALLOW

I was honestly relieved that my betas' fear about self harm wasn't on Abigail's agenda, but we still had a problem on our hands.

"What now?" Asked Marcus.

We were all just hanging out at the lobby now. We couldn't all run out into the waiting arms of the reporters outside, but if we just stayed here, who'd know what Abigail would say? And what if they believed her? I felt the corners of my mouth turn down at the thought.

"What do you mean, what now?" Zara scolded, "Isn't it obvious? We go out and slam her."

She was cracking her knuckles again.

"This is terrible. Who knows what that b**** will say if left unchecked?" Krystal worried.

"Let's go." Zara waved the cool girls towards the door, "We need to make sure she doesn't get away with it."

"What can we do?" Jasmine looked anxiously up at Liam.

"I'll go wherever you go." Liam promised. Which was cringe by the way, not romantic. But that was how love was, and from Jasmine's expression, it was all she needed to hear.

"Count us in." Jasmine was determined, "Don't worry Sam. We won't let her just say whatever she wants."

Yes, but reverting to your earlier question, what could we do?

Henry shook his head, "Nothing. Let's go back up to the platinum lounge."

Beta Pete immediately pressed for the lift.

"Stupid Henry, how can you be so selfish?" Zara scolded, "Your girlfriend is being slaughtered out there by your ex, and you're running away?"

"Hey, hey..." Henry raised both hands as if to ward off the accusation, "I'm not running away."

"Sure." Krystal smirked.

And I'm not his girlfriend either!

"I don't need Henry's protection." I said.

Henry sighed, he was frustrated again, I could tell because he ran his hand down his face, "Sam, be reasonable, running out there is just going to cause a bigger commotion."

My friends had a different opinion.

"If its a fight she wants, its a fight she'll get!" Zara was furious. She looked at Ivan, "Are you coming?"

Unfortunately, unlike Liam, Ivan had a logical mind so he didn't know how to say things like "I'll go wherever you go." Instead he asked, "Even if we went, what could we do? Watch you catfight?"

"Hoi, hoi! Catfight!" EJ suddenly came alive.

Harvey narrowed his eyes at the red head and cleared his throat.

"Mou! I mean, ah! Don't fight! It's scary...." EJ quickly changed his tune.

I looked to my betas. What should I do? Wait no, they would never tell me what to do. Think, Sam, think!

"Come on Sam." Both Krystal and Henry ordered. The lift had arrived and my friends had moved two steps closer to the entrance. Our party was going to split here.

Dad would say those who throw mud or something, but wouldn't he also say the alpha run out to the front of the battle?

"Options!" I decided to employ Henry's method, "What are all my options?"

I looked between Harvey and Ki. Come one guys, its not like you were not discussing it furiously over the mindlinks!

"As far as we can see it, alpha. You have two viable options." Harvey summarized for me, "The first is to send EJ and Fluffy with your friends to curb the damage. The second is to leave it to run its course, and then clean up when the dust settles."

Yeah, but what do I do?

"You can discuss your options later. Hurry up, Sam." Henry snapped from inside the lift.

I looked between the opened lift and my friends. It didn't sound like me running out was a "viable" option, and I trusted my betas, but I couldn't let my friends run out on their own.

Fluffy was smiling at the back, it was almost like he was just enjoying the view.

"What do you think, Fluffy?" I asked my favorite strategist.

"Love that lifts us to the highest peaks often drags us down to the lowest hells." Fluffy observed from behind his smiling mask. Fluffy had been talking weird tonight - I mean more so than usual. It was like he had decided to dust off the covers of his collection of vampiric literature and share them with the world or something.

"Oh Fluffy, that was so deep." Janice sighed.

Oh Janice, please don't look at Fluffy like that. This guy is no good.

Fluffy smiled at her, "The most reflective surfaces are often the deepest."

Janice sighed again, "Oh, Fluffy. I love that."

That's fine. As long as you don't fall in love with him... oh goddess, I'm too late right? Janice was headed towards another broken heart. That would be 3 in a row. The guys around me were crap.

Let's be honest here, all the guys around me make terrible boyfriends. This occurred as a shock to me, but I shook it off, "I mean, what do you think I SHOULD DO, Fluffy?"

Fluffy smiled his beautiful smile at me, "Are you testing me?"

No.

"Let's say I am." I sighed. Nothing was straightforward with this one. His alpha wolf emerging had only made his eccentricities more pronounced.

Fluffy considered this, "Either way would be effective, but of course Pretty Alpha would never choose one or the other. The question is, what would Pretty Alpha choose? I'm very interested to see how this unfolds."

I looked at Ink, "What do you think?"

Ink looked surprised, "Me, Alpha?"

I'm looking at you right?

Ink frowned, "To say the incident is unlikely to impact your popularity in the long run would in all probabilities be within 95% CI."

What the hell did that mean?

I looked to Ki. Ki was the PR King. Ki would know what to do, "We will go wherever you go, goddess."

The lift started to buzz.

"Sam!" Henry barked.

"Okay, okay!" I flared and moved automatically towards the lift, only belatedly calling out to the cool girls, "Leave it. Let's go back up."

"What? Why?" Zara demanded.

"Are you really going to let her say whatever she wants?" Krystal asked.

But they came back to the lift. Some of the guys had to step out to let them in. I guess they'd be taking the other lift, or the stairs. Such gentlemen.

"Sam, aren't you worried?" Jasmine asked me after the lift door shut. The lift was large but was a tight squeeze with Henry, his beta, my betas, and the girls.

"What if she says something mean about you?" Janice worried.

"She's definitely going to do that." Krystal said.

"I know I would, if I were here." Leia shrugged.

"Why did you stop us?" Zara demanded.

I swear, what I meant to say was this thing I've heard Mum say whenever she uncovers some gossip about our Alpha Family. I think it went something to the effect of, "People with mouths will speak" or something like that. I couldn't remember the actual phrasing though. And maybe it was late, I was tired, and fed up with how this party was turning out, because what came out from my mouth was distinctly Boo, "Dogs will bark. Leave it."

I think it would have been better if we had just thrown cake at each other (not that Graziano would agree). But cake could be washed off, and dresses changed out off. I couldn't deny it. I was worried.

"So, what's the plan?" Henry asked when we got back to the platinum floor. Instead of heading to the lounge, he tapped his card on one of the recesses in the fountain wall and it slide open to a smaller sitting room, "Let's just sort it out before re-entering the party."

I guess Henry was worried too. Beta Pete stood at the door to wait for the rest of the guys to get here.

"You do have a plan, right?" Henry asked me the moment he sat down.

What? What made him think I had things like that? I grinned, I couldn't resist it, "Sure. We wing it!"

"Sam, don't joke." Henry scolded, "This is serious. I can help, but you need to tell me how you're going to deal with this."

How would I know? I contemplated handing the reigns over to Boo. I was this close.

The other wolves made it up. They bowed themselves in.

"Perhaps, the ladies might prefer to return to the party first?" Ki suggested. He gave them a reassuring smile, "The rest of us will rejoin you shortly. Do not worry, we will take care of the situation from here."

"Hoi, hoi! Let's party the night away!" EJ bounded to the door.

"I said ladies." Ki smiled.

"But where there are ladies, there are flies." EJ insisted.

"Are you calling yourself a fly?" Fluffy asked.

"Mou! No way! I mean I need to keep the pesky flies away from our ladies!" EJ insisted.

He's a fly.

"Let him go." I decided. He'd be more useful out there than in here.

Everyone looked surprised, but my instruction was swiftly met with quick bows and EJ, Liam, Ivan, and the girls were quickly put out of the room.

"Hoi, hoi, ladies. Let's dance like there's not tomorrow!" EJ led the way.

"Not all of us are ladies!" Ivan protested.

"Hoi, hoi, some of you are flies." EJ agreed most amiably and loudly across the hallway, "But that's only expected. Pretty ladies are always surrounded by flies."

I felt quite sure garbage was also surrounded by flies too, but the door was shut firmly and I couldn't hear anymore. Sound proof room? Fancy.

What time was it? I looked out at the darkness beyond our windows, we were definitely properly into the AM hours. I should've been home by now, rolling on Savy's bed, watching romantic comedy, eating Tiramisu! My stomach grumbled. When was the last time I ate anything?

I raised my hand, "I'm hungry."

Harvey got to his feet, "Understood Alpha."

Beta Pete got to his feet too, "Please let me get it."

"Thank you." Harvey accepted.

"I want Wagyu." Henry ordered when Beta Pete reached the door, "And coke."

He wanted what now?

"Understood, Alpha." Beta Pete bowed and left to make a phone call.

"Finally." Henry leaned back in his seat, "I thought I'd never see you get serious."

WTH was that supposed to mean?

"Let's get down to business." Henry was taking this like how I'd imagine someone take daily vitamins. Being someone who usually skipped her vitamins, I sighed deeply, "I suppose we might as well get it over with."