WHILE I WAS TRYING TO STAY MAD

20 FEBRUARY, SATURDAY, 5.34PM

I forgot to be mad at Bell. It only occurred to me at the moment I was totally embarrassed, yes. I can't believe I forgot. I mean, what kind of half baked revenge was I serving up when I was going to go starry eyed every time he appeared?

If I didn't put my foot down, my mate was surely going to take me as a pushover. Was I going to let him walk all over me? Or rather, was I okay with him walking out anytime he felt he had to? No. Of course not. He was my mate. Mine.

I wasn't being unreasonable right? He walked out for some stupid revenge plot without a care for how I would feel. Even though we were soulmates. It's like he would rather be angry and vengeful alone than happy with me.

Plus this wasn't the first time he decided to cut me off - I don't mean become the kind of woman who brought up past wrongs, but he had initially told me to wait for him when he never meant to come back for me.

When I remembered that, I just got madder.

"I'm still mad at you." I decided to inform Bell.

One of the red ants had just deposited Bell's white car in front of us.

"Hold that thought, princess." Bell interrupted me so he could collect his key when the red ant came over to us.

I waited for Bell to take his key and tip the red ant. Didn't he tip the red ant once already? Omo. You mean you had to tip for your car to be parked, and then tip AGAIN for it to be fetched? That's like double tipping! Oh the horrors of valet parking!

Wait, I was distracted again. I folded my arms. I was mad. Yes. Very mad. And I was going to stay mad.

How dare he make me mad and then show up totally gorgeous and smile at me and make me feel like I'm floating on cloud nine just because he was standing next to me? This was totally unfair.

Bell raised a hand at my betas, "See you guys back at the hotel."

The three betas bowed, "Understood, Luna."

Then Bell opened the car door to guide me inside.

I dug my heels in and turned to face him, but before I could say anything, Bell said, "Not now princess, don't make a scene here. We're still in public."

Now that was just insulting! I WAS NOT about to "make a scene". I was just trying to make a point!

Was my Mate shy of public attention? Boo smiled slyly, and then I tugged at his arm and tip-toed so that my lips were just at his ear - I remembered how Mum had thought that I had kissed Bell the other time when I was just whispering to him - "Fine. But I'm still mad."

And then I let him go and slipped past the opened car door into my seat and shut the door.

The car was warm, and Bell's windows were tinted. Outside was cold and dark, but I could make out the flurry of movement behind the barrier. That was when I noticed THEM, the modern hunters of Alpha wolves - paparazzi.

They had made camp on the other side of the road, their super long lenses mounted up on tripods and pointed in our general direction to capture the scene of various young alphas leaving the private yacht party that the Young Alpha Henry had thrown for a select group of guests. Who were these guests? Which pack's young alphas were on the invite list? More significantly, which ones were not?

I was sure that "kiss" would not be overlooked, but it wouldn't have been top news either.

I imagined the LNC would be able to spin, I mean report some wildly speculative, loosely based on real life stories, I mean news, with the photos they got by now.

Some of the guests had pretty dates dangling from their arms. Some of these girls were somewhat famous faces. One of the guests brought two dates! But they were not very pretty, so maybe he was going for quantity over quality. Oh wait, those girls were his sisters. Opps.

He probably thought it was a good idea to bring his sisters. It could be an opportunity for them to meet their mates among the continent's most influential young alphas. He didn't realize they would be mistaken for arm candy.

The Young Alpha Lorent was here too - naturally. Those who eat with silver spoons, eat together. After a largely rebellious youth, the Young Alpha JL3's investiture was suddenly announced in a surprisingly low-key press conference earlier this week. Despite that, one would expect nothing but the most lavish and ostentatious investiture ceremony. The New Lorent, the Lorent's Pack internal circulation, boasts several speculations on where the historical event would be held.

Wow, I really should start writing these things. Lately, my imagination was so good, I even imagined things I had no idea of.

{Gift of Insight.}

You mean, gift of "eavesdropping into other people's mindlinks."

{The gift of insight gives sight to what

Is in the mind and in the heart

Of others and words they speak

Whether they be truth or deceit}

Okay then. If this alpha gig didn't work out for me, I'll cash in on my gift of insight and write for Page Six. Or maybe I could be one of the "Reliable Sources" on LNC who could "shed light" on all the murky reports... Or more likely stir up the mud so LNC could follow up with more reports to clear it up. I mean this ability's description sounded made just for that.

Okay, no, I would never do that.

Of all my Alpha wolf abilities I had inherited, I've always known this ability was the most useless.

"Princess? Princess!" Bell sighed.

I blinked and looked around. Right, I had spaced out again... We were still in Bell's car and nearly at the hotel, nearly, but not quite. Most of the tour busses were also at this moment returning their honorable guests. The other no less honorable guests who had taking the chance to make their own private excursions were also returning in their convoys. Our car pretty much had to crawl inch by inch for the last 100m to The Langston.

"Let me guess... You're not going to talk to me until I earn your forgiveness?" Bell assumed.

Well, no. I... Oh wait, that's actually a good idea! I don't know why I didn't think of it myself. I grinned, "Yeah. That's exactly what I'll do!"

Now Mate smirked, "Princess, you just spoke to me."

Eh? GAH! Why was I such a noob at punishing my boyfriend?

I shook my head, "That didn't count!"

"You did it again." Mate looked smug.

"Did what?" I asked.

"And again - you're still speaking to me."

Grrrr... I bet he thought he was so smart!

Now he laughed. His laughter was deep, and just a little rumbly, like the sound of happy thunder. I wish I could make him laugh like that all the time.

"What?" Mate lifted a brow at me as he inched his car just a little bit more.

Someone horned. And then someone else horned. And then someone horned again. Before I knew it, there was a horning competition some distance behind us.

Alphas were not the most patient of wolves. Put so many of us in a traffic jam and some road rage would be expected.

"What are you thinking, Princess?" Bell asked.

"I forgot." I answered, but my eyes were on the rear window. I stared hard towards where the horning sounds continued. There was this feeling in my guts, not a good feeling, "We should go."

"Princess, it's not like we can go any faster..." Mate started.

"Then get out of the car!" I yelled.

You know how sometimes your lucky sense of direction tells you that something fun was about to happen, and sometimes it makes you run for your life? No? Just me?

"Get out!" I pushed Mate toward his door.

"Look, I know you're angry..." Mate said.

I unbuckled my seat belt and reached for my door. It was by instinct... I didn't even realize I was doing it until Mate reached over and stopped my hand on the door latch, "Princess, don't go! I... At least let me explain..."

"Bell..." I looked at him. What was he doing? We had to get out of here! I don't know why but...

There was a sudden crunching metal sound... It was horrible and loud - like the sound of scratching metal with a lot of forks and crunching of large boulders at the same time. I squeezed my eyes shut, even though it was my ears that flattened... Oh great, my ears had shifted. Stooopid ears.

I pressed the release on Bell's seatbelt, "Please Bell. No time to explain. Just get out of the car."

There was no way I could leave my beautiful Luna behind. Luckily, or maybe it was more like naturally, since a catastrophe was now obviously occurring behind us, my beautiful Luna got out of the car with a colorful string of Lycan words I had never heard before, not because they were so ancient, but because they were so rude, none of the Lycan literature I've ever studied would print them.

Bell didn't even walk around to my side, more like half jumped and half slid over his hood to my door. Meanwhile, I flung the door opened, nearly slamming it into my oncoming mate. We only had both our quick reaction speeds to save the car door and my mates legs from breaking on each other.

Bell's large hand enveloped mine and pulled me toward him even before I was properly on my feet, but I was in a hurry to get out anyway.

We weren't the only ones abandoning our car. Car doors were popping open all around us. One of the buses decided to let it's passengers free. They spilled out all over the road, and it was no mean feat, but Bell pulled me past the random obstacles of cars, people, and a randomly abandoned food delivery bike, before we made it to an open space on the pavement.

The noise was even louder now. No one was horning anymore. And then I saw the source of the crunching sound - an enraged alpha wolf, but he looked like he was made of metal. He was eating metal too. I watched, rooted on the spot as he chewed at the backside of the bus. The passengers poured out from the other side.

And then the metal wolf grew - I swear, he grew, just a bit bigger - but he was already massive to begin with, like the size of a pick up truck. So now he was the size of a two-row-cab pick up truck.

It was the most fearsome sight I had ever seen. Absolutely fearsome. I wished Boo could be like that one day.

Bell tugged at my hand, but my feet wouldn't cooperate.

"Princess, we should go." Bell said.

Which was exactly what I was saying from the beginning... Nobody ever listened to the cute alpha!