BREAKFAST WITH THE LORENTS & EMERSONS

9 FEBRUARY, TUESDAY, 5.30AM

I wandered out of Mate's room following my lucky sense of direction and my nose - but that led me to the kitchen where a few wolves were having their own breakfasts, while others were cleaning pans and washing potatoes.

It was a scene like at our packhouse kitchen, except that the Lorent Kitchen was completely stainless steel and white.

The wolves there stood up to bow with a clatter. Caught off guard, the training my Luna Mum drilled in me kicked into effect. I gave them my best smile and nodded, "Good morning!"

Waving at them to sit I turned to leave, "Looks like I took a wrong turn."

And then I left quickly, but not too quickly. I was aiming for the "sail away" speed my mother often gracefully executed when she left the scene.

"A lady must not dawdle on leaving, nor rush. You are not a hurricane. You are a breath of fresh air."

Yes. As ridiculous as it sounded, my mum really did say this. I remembered answering her, "What if I am a fart?" And then laughing like I was funny.

Heh. I still think it was a little bit funny, but only a little. I guess I grew up.

Anyway, since my lucky sense of direction was being useless, I resorted to using my Mating bond to find Mate, with hopes that he would be at the breakfast table I was supposed to appear at.

Hunting down Mate was incredibly easy with the mating bond. I just followed the throbbing feeling of irritation. Hahaha. His good mood this morning was long gone, like the dew, it had disappeared first thing in the morning.

The breakfast room was different from the dining room. It was white like all the other rooms, but instead of a crystal chandelier, it had a large round light trimmed in gold, the same size as the round white marble dining table under it.

Did the Lorents have a lunch room? Or a tea room? Or a supper room, brunch room, and were morning and afternoon teas in different rooms?

Such a strange world I've stepped into. I felt a bit like Alice in the Wonderland.

"Alpha Princess is here." Ki announced.

This time Alpha James did not rise, but Delta Emerson and his family did. Luna Edith was not present. Maybe she went to bed.

Ki pulled out a chair next to Bell who was scowling. I looked at Ki in an attempt to read his smile, but it looked like his usual perfect smile and I could sense nothing amiss.

"Good morning." I bowed my greeting politely to Alpha James and gave the elder Delta and his wife a polite nod.

Then I sat next to Bell. He afforded me a cold stare and then looked away. What?

Ki plated food from a nearby buffet counter. It was very fancy because the food warmers were gold and not the usual silver colour. Hahaha.

The fork and knife were also gold in color.

I looked at my breakfast of scrambled eggs with fish roe and a bread roll with a saucer of jam. Ki set my teacup down. It was matching the pattern of my plate. White with gold trim.

Once it appeared that I had begun breakfasting, Delta Emerson and his wife continued talking to Alpha James about how their daughter was ruined as it was.

Mrs Emerson was very concerned about where they might hide their face now that this was out.

Alpha James reminded them that they already had his word that the video would not be leaked in anyway, but Mrs Emerson explained it was the rumors that she feared.

Mate pointed out that they've already gotten a one month grace period to leave so Cynthia's departure would unlikely be linked to the scandal by then, although in his opinion, the sooner she left, the better.

Alpha James gave his son a censuring look and reminded the Emersons that they had his word that the Alpha household would not comment on the matter any further.

AND it's agreed that Delta Emerson might make any excuse for Cynthia's departure as he saw fit.

AND Cynthia would be allowed to return should her mate be a wolf from the Lorent pack.

AND should Cynthia be mated in another pack, she and her mate may apply for a visiting pass as any other family member of a Lorent pack member was entitled to do.

"It's hardly a banishment of any sort as it stands." Mate pointed out.

"But to be seperated to another pack at the age of 18!" Mrs Emerson bemoaned on her daughter's behalf, "What more to lose the prestige and privileges of being a member of the glorious Lorent pack! My daughter knows her mistake Alpha, and she is paying the price for it."

Cynthia had not spoken throughout. She was putting on a brave front, but whenever someone said anything particularly cutting, her lips would wobble, and her tears would break out afresh. It was like the consequences of her actions were hitting her in waves.

"Youth is the time to make mistakes, and then let time erase away. Climb up the ropes of consequences and learn the ropes, or let it tie you down forever." I quoted. Yes, I quoted, not one, but two ancient lycan sayings and combined them together, which would explain why they were so disjointed in imagery and lyrical style. But ah well.

The adults turn to stare at me. I guess I should have shut up.

"I was just remembering what Dad says to me." I shrugged and returned back to my eggs which I was forced by present company to eat with ladylike small bites. It was very frustrating.

"Your father, Alpha Kingsley speaks wisdom." Alpha James said after a length of silence. I realised he was actually reflecting on it when he looked at his son, "At least you learn from you mistakes and have climbed your way out."

I sensed immediate three rather profound emotions from my Mate's father: Alpha James had feared for his son, Alpha James was very proud of Rebel today, AND Alpha James was too proud to express either of these feelings directly to his own son.

His own son who didn't hide his anger from flaring up in our mating bond, growled coldly, "If you insist on defining mistakes as not doing things your way, then yes, I've spent my whole life making mistakes."

Now Alpha James' fury spiked, "Do you know how much pain you caused your mother?"

"Do you know how much YOUR mistakes cost me?" Mate shot back.

Suddenly the Alpha static was heavy across the table as father and son's wolves surfaced.

Oh boy.

It was bad enough that I could feel the static on my skin, making the hairs on my neck stand. My hair flared slightly, my wolf surfaced too.

I think everyone's wolf surfaced by now.

One wrong move would result in a full fledged alpha fight. Which suddenly made me realise that the rumors of this father and son pair fighting often wasn't as far fetched as I initially thought, not when both of their wolves rose up to fight at the smallest slight.

I mean that escalated really fast.

I wished there would be some kind of Luna around to stand between them and tell them "Stop!" Or "Enough!"

The way mum would step in for Dad and me. Or even Aunt Jade did to slap Uncle Louis on his snout - now that was crazy brave. I really thought he would chew her up right then.

But Luna Edith wasn't around right now. But she wasn't much help yesterday night either.

Eh? Did that mean I was supposed to stop this fight? But I wasn't a Luna! I mean, imitating Mum sailing out of the room is one thing. But I was essentially an Alpha... so I was the one who started fights, not stopped them.

Now that I thought about it, it was much easier to start a fight than to stop it.

I looked at Alpha James and Bell. Was there a chance they could stop themselves?

By now they were just growling and glaring at each other.

Probably not.

I wished Mum was here.

I ate another bite of egg. What would mum do?

"Please stop fighting! Young Alpha, it's scary!" Cynthia's sweet voiced begged.

Yeah, I imagined mum would do something like that.

But it didn't work.

"Shut up, you're irritating." Mate snarled.

Yeah, unlike you, Prince Charming.

Okay, I know, I probably should be siding Mate over his ex-girlfriend here, but seriously? She was just trying to help.

{But WHY is she trying to help?}

Ah hahahahaha. Boo was back. Did boo want to help?

{I make it a point never to interfere with an Alpha fight.} Boo informed me. Yeah. Me too actually.

Mate would win if they fought. Mate was definitely the stronger fighter now. Even though Alpha James' wolf was powerful with age and experience in healing. Mate's wolf was at its fighting peak.

I wondered if all the hurt inflicted in their fights could easily be healed in a blink.

{Unforgiveness is like wolfbane. Not all hurt can be healed.}

And as long as bad blood remained between father and son, stopping one fight would not change a thing.

I decided to sip my tea and wait it out.

"You are taking this rather calmly, Alpha Princess." Delta Emerson commented.

"Mm." I nodded. Or perhaps it was Boo. I wasn't quite sure. We were definitely merged in a way that it was hard to tell.

"They're just expressing their love for each other." Boo smiled serenely.

The growling stopped the moment the two wolves heard the words.

"That's not it, baby." Mate bit out at me. And then he realised, "Oh f***, your wolf."

Boo beamed at his recognition, "I know you want to."

And then she laughed at his face. He looked as if she had slapped him so I thought it was funny too... Until he turned to her and roared.

This was truly frightful but Boo was in control and she was fearless, she only stood up to meet him. Slipping her arms around his waist she let her forehead rest on his shoulder, just a second before pulling away to say, "See. Love. Why say 'I love you' when you can just shift and kill each other?"

Mrs Emerson gasped a little at that.

Mate tensed for a moment, and then he sighed, "Alright baby, you win."

Yay. I liked winning. But what did I win?

Mate repositioned my chair for me, "Sit down and finish your breakfast."

He sat down too. So did Alpha James. There would be no fight today afterall.

"What are you doing later?" Alpha James asked Mate stiffly.

"I'm returning to the Underground. I'll be back tonight." Mate answered tersely.

"Well, bring your princess. I want to introduce her to your cousin. Your Aunt Amber also wishes to meet with your princess again." Alpha James said.

Mate nodded, jaw still clenched, eyes adverted.

The exchange was tense and part of me did wish they'd just fight it out and get over with it. But Mate didn't seem like the type to punch and forget. Or maybe his hurt ran too deep. Or maybe it was a Lorent thing - to drag out grievances for as long as you remember, your whole life if possible.

Pride did that to you. Makes your life miserable. Makes the life of your mate and everyone who loves you miserable. Makes you completely incapable of accepting forgiveness, of receiving grace, of laughing at yourself, of overlooking a slight... And a host of other social handicaps.

Pride came with such a miserable price I decided right there and then I was going to use it as little as possible. Was that even my choice?

So if I chose not to be proud - what was I choosing to be? I honestly could not picture it. I was the alpha.

I was the head of my pack. I had to be proud. Would any pack want a grovelling loser for an alpha? This was my fate.

I thought of my Dad. And of all the Alphas I had ever known, Grandpa Alpha, Alpha Lorent, Alpha George, Henry, Mate... I had seen every one of them smile before, but only sparingly. Their default face were all like the face of an unmovable rock.

And until recently I had thought they were always unshakably right.

They always had the last say in any discussion. Unlike any other wolf, what the Alpha said was final. I realised now why Dad was often silent during discussions. He was deciding.

Like right now, Alpha James was deciding. Mate was deciding. There was a prolonged silence. I had no idea what they were deciding about.

And the Delta Emerson spoke, "If I may be so bold, Alpha you have already been very gracious to my family, but the Alpha Princess reminded me that youth is indeed wrapped by folly. Everyone makes mistakes. I appeal for leniency on my daughter's behalf. She is my only daughter, and I own my wrong in spoiling her. As a father, I see now that her behaviour last night was also my fault. I had pressured her to find her mate, and I had carelessly left her alone with your son for too long. It is well known that your son is handsome. Young people are well known to fall to their indescretion. I implore you, Alpha, I beg you consider my case and my own fault as her father too."

I realised belatedly that this was the reason why the Emersons were still here. They were negotiating.