INTRODUCING THE NEXT LORENT HEAD 

Fluffy raised his hand, "The Alpha is the head. Cut off the head, and even the fiercest wolves become like sheep and scatter."

This surprised me because Fluffy wasn't with us when Wolfgang told us. None of my betas could guess it, how did Fluffy?

Delta William's lips drew downwards, it was almost a sneer under his well-manicured grey beard. He made a very unfriendly-looking... urm... Santa Claus? You know, the guy humans loved during Christmas... the one who freaked me out at the mall when I had begged my mum for a chance to meet him. Not that I was going to let that affect my feelings toward him.

Actually, no... if I had to be perfectly honest, I didn't like Delta William. I didn't like him from the first time I met him sitting behind the table at their secret meeting. It's not like I could say exactly what I disliked about him though. I just didn't like him, and everything about him so far just made me feel justified about not liking him. I was definitely biased. I knew this from Fluffy's first test when Lady Amber disapproved of Fluffy as much as Delta William and my reaction towards that had been totally different.

Mum always says we shouldn't judge anyone on first impressions. Maybe the wolf was just having a bad day. And also, a good alpha must be impartial to all his wolves. I was trying... I realized I had been trying all this while, but Delta William was really making it too easy for me to hate him!

"Not quite." Delta William muttered icily, "I was about to say, The Alpha is the head..."

I raised my hand because it suddenly struck me what the answer was, "Who he bows to, the whole pack prostrates before."

This was the quote Ki had given, so he must have heard it somewhere - and it sounded like something a Lorent wolf would say anyway. But the moment the words left my lips, I had second thoughts, Ki would not have misquoted a popular Lorent quote, "Or perhaps, sometimes translated to 'the whole pack prostrates to'. This translation is grammatically incorrect though. It should be 'prostrates before', not 'to'."

There was a pause as the adults around tried to make up their minds about what I just said.

Delta William cleared his throat, "The Alpha Princess is very knowledgeable. Yes, that was the quote I had in mind."

The looks I was getting from my parent's table though. Priceless. I flashed them a peace sign and a wide grin, "It was a lucky guess."

Don't look at me like you couldn't recognize me! No wait, this was kind of fun. So I added everything else I knew, "It really was just a lucky guess! There are more than 300 standard quotations regarding the alpha being the head of a pack, so really, it was a one in three hundred chance."

You know, because I was mathy too.

Hahaha... the faces from my parent's table!

But then my Dad nodded, "I see Sir Wolfgang has already started tutoring you."

Wait, he was going to credit my super smartness to Sir Wolfgang? Come on! He had been my tutor for only like the last 2 hours!

Yes, I know this was what Sir Wolfgang was saying just now, and no, I didn't usually sound so smart... OMO, wait, he was teaching me? Gah! I turned sharply at Sir Wolfgang who was sitting cross-armed, his expression neutral and serious. Okay, he just won another point of respect. BUT NO MORE!

It seriously irked me that everyone was now looking at Wolfgang like he could perform miracles. Look, he taught me a few quotes, that's all!

I suppressed a sigh, "Perhaps we should move on."

So we never got around to hearing why Delta William chose to make that quote, or what he had intended to say. The moment I said we should move on, Bell smirked at Coach Em, "Delta Em. You're it."

{Mate! ~ ❤️}

Coach Em nearly fell back in his chair. He definitely didn't see that coming - not my swooning, I did that very internally - I meant being suddenly arrowed to represent the table, and I didn't blame him. Ki and Delta O, and Bell's talkative friend were all at the same table. It was like picking the worst speaker to represent.

"Go on, you can't do much worse." Bell shrugged.

Ohhh... the arrogance! Was Bell saying that all our introductions were so bad that he had to send the worst speaker to introduce this table?

{Yes, indeed Pretty Alpha.} Fluffy beamed.

Opps, I thought the last part into the mindlink by accident. Luckily I didn't swoon into the mindlink.

{You did that too, Sam.} Ben took some unwarranted delight in telling me.

{WHAT?} This was me. I was shocked at myself.

{Don't worry, we're all used to it.} Ben shrugged. I really wasn't sure if he was trying to comfort me or taking another jab at me.

This was why I preferred to keep my mindlinks blocked. I was always leaking embarrassing stuff out.

{Don't mind it, Princess. You're still young. Control will come with time.} Wolfgang assured me.

But Ben never seemed to have this problem!

{I guess I just don't have anything embarrassing to leak.} Ben boasted.

{More like you don't know how to feel embarrassed.} Harvey told him.

{Me too.} Fluffy smiled.

Okay! That's enough! I was out.

{Wait, no... Sam!}

But it was too late. I cut off the mindlinks with them. I know, I know, I was supposed to be linked up to my betas for this meeting so they could fill me in. If this was a run, it would be like running out and then cutting off the mindlinks mid-run. What kind of alpha did that? But my feelings for Mate were a very sensitive thing and I wasn't ready to broadcast it to my betas - and definitely not to Wolfgang. DAMMIT!

This was when I realized I was flaring, and all the other wolves were just waiting patiently for my hair to settle back before continuing. Coach Em was standing, frozen in mid-bow.

"Ah... please continue." I quickly allowed, as coolly as possible.

Because, unlike Ben and Fluffy, I knew all too well how to feel embarrassed.

Coach Em finished his bow and began, "My name is Delta Lawrence Emerson, until recently, I was the Glorious Lorent Pack's Delta at Large."

He didn't make any puns on the Delta at Large title, which I had to give him credit for.

"This is my first time attending Cadence, and I've been away from packlands for a long time. Please excuse my inadequacies." Coach Em was very different in a Lorent suit than when in a tracksuit. Or maybe it was because he was talking to a whole lot of Alphas and Betas... and not to a bunch of high school kids.

"It is my privilege to introduce the Young Alpha Lorent." Coach Em nodded a bow at Bell, "Although he would be the reigning alpha by the next full moon."

Oh, was it so soon? When was the next full moon? I wished I had my calendar - or at least my Betas on mindlink, but then my screen lit up and my notification read, "B. Harv is inviting you to group chat. Accept?"

I pressed, "Yes."

The chat window opened up beside the document.

B. HARV: 29 March. Lorent Inaug. Scheduled.

B. BEN: Sorry, Sam.

I nodded stiffly.

Coach Em continued, "Beta Ki will be acting beta, and the Young Gamma Dominic will take on an executive role to assist him. Delta Oran is here as secretary. I'm here as an adviser."

I raised my brow at that. Of all people, Bell chose Coach Em as his adviser? Hahaha, I'd like to hear Coach give advice! I'm not sure he would be much use unless there was archery involved.

On my screen, the chat had a new message.

B. KI: Alpha insists on having two of the elders on our table/inner circle.

Ah. So these two were chosen because they were probably the only two elders in leadership who hadn't p***ed Bell off irrevocably or as much as the other elders had?

I reopened my mindlinks to my betas because it was troublesome to type, {Don't call them fillers. I like them.}

Because I did. As far as Lorent wolves went, Delta O, and Coach Em were okay in my books.

I kinda felt sorry for Bell's table. It was going to be a tough fight. He was going to be Alpha by the end of the month. His pack, as far as the accounts went, was deep in the red. The finances of the Glorious Lorent Pack were more like an empty shell right now. And it's not like Bell's elders trusted him to take over, the fact that his dad insisted there had to be two Elders included in his inner circle meant that Alpha James was going to keep tabs on Bell's new leadership.

I don't think the filler wolves at his table wanted to be there either. So really, all Bell had to support his rule was Ki (who was borrowed), and his friend, the Young Gamma Dominic... that's right, Dom! I remembered his name now. Can a Gamma wolf fill the shoes of a Beta position - even as an executive assistant to an acting beta? If the Alpha was the head, and the Beta his right hand... getting Dom to execute the beta role would be like trying to use his legs to write. Which wasn't impossible...

I sighed, just a little. The Lorent Pack was a sinking ship, but Alpha Lorent didn't look like he was going to allow any part of the Glorious Lorent Pack to be sacrificed, not even the deadweight parts, so it wasn't like we could hack it up build a smaller boat to float the survivors. No, the Glorious Lorent Pack and all its glorious weight must remain intact and glorious.

This was the captain and crew who were going to go down with it, and they knew it.

I remembered Wolfgang's words again. I was truly blessed. I looked at the wolves at my table, and then at my parent's table. I had always been surrounded by strong and supportive wolves, and parents who believed in me and taught me, and gave me just enough freedom to mess up - but not too much. I was truly blessed, not because they were going to hand me the Alpha position on a silver platter. I was blessed because I had never run alone.

And at this realization, I suddenly understood Bell just a little more. Bell was always fighting everyone because that was just how he was brought up. Bell had always run alone. I remembered what Marcus said about the Battle of the Bands, Bell's REBEL FORCE used to win every year he competed, but with different band members each time. He would arrange the music, recruit the members, and drive all the practices till they won, but the members never stayed. Maybe they only joined to win, but they always left after. I remembered Bell's love-hate relationship with Ki... okay, so it was mostly hate when they first reunited. Ki had spoken about how Lorent Alphas treated their betas as tools. And... well, all the little pieces just clicked and I realized that Bell, not unlike Ki, probably grew up all alone. Maybe it was a Lorent Prince thing. I don't know! I don't think Alpha James and Luna Edith meant for that to happen, but somehow that happened, and now their son was set to dominating the world and standing above everyone, alone.

My poor mate! He was always so arrogant and powerful, I never noticed his loneliness. Just like I've conveniently forgotten that he was still missing his full arm. It was working now - but through Lorent restoration and the Tyger's power. Now that I see him in his Lorent Prince mode, hand his arm wrapped and tucked neatly in his snow-white sling, I was reminded. The truth was, if we were to shift, his wolf would only have three legs. Alpha James had called it shameful. Right now, he kept it in a sling in front of the other Lorent wolves. I wondered if Bell ever shifted in front of anyone else now. I wondered if Bell ever shifted at all since losing his arm. My poor mate!

"What is it, Princess?" Bell asked suddenly. It could be just his arrogance, but he sounded defiant like he was challenging me.

Coach Em had finished the introductions, but was paused in mid-bow again.

What? I blinked. I was flaring again and probably making a stupid expression too - I imagine I might be looking at Bell the way my Mum watched one of those tear-jerker dramas. I wasn't the enemy! Couldn't he see? I was going to run with him! I will be for him what everyone else had been for me. I will be his anchor. If his Lorent Ship sunk, I'll... wait, "anchor" probably wouldn't be the best imagery in this case, huh? Cos you know, anchors were made to sink... I really wouldn't be much help on a sinking ship. Hahaha. I need to work on my choice of imagery.