NO CRYING OR CUDDLING HERE

9 FEBRUARY, TUESDAY, DINNER

Dinner was uneventful once it for started. Dad and Alpha James discussed some Green Packland Council stuff. Nothing dramatic, just the changes that we might expect when the packland merges.

My betas had not been invited to the dining table, but Ki was with them, so I wasn't particularly worried. I knew they would be properly fed wherever they were absconded.

Anthony had been brought back into the house and given a place at the table across from me where he was sulking at his food. Lady Amber cajouled him a couple of times and then decided to leave him be. She then spent the rest of dinner in pleasant conversation with Mum and Luna Edith.

Their conversation was even less interesting than the men's. Something to do with a special diet that was high in antioxidants. I think it involved eating berries and leaves, but I wasn't paying attention.

Mate was glaring at his food next to me. He barely ate two mouthfuls. I always ate more when I was mad, but I guess anger affected different people in different ways.

Mate had been that cheesed off when Alpha James gave the order to allow Anthony back into the house.

"It's fine, he has learned his lesson by now." Alpha James had brushed off Mate's protest.

"And you wonder why he isn't like my princess' betas." Mate seethed.

Anyway, Mate was still fuming. If he glared any longer, I'm sure the heat from the intensity of his stare would cook his rare steak to well done.

My steak had been cooked to the perfect medium rare and then cut into perfect little squares, just the way I liked it. This pleased me enough to attempt to ignore the negative vibes and boring conversation and enjoy the meal.

Oh, and the little roasted tomatoes were really yummy. I didn't usually like non-meat foods, but they were like warm sweet morsels of caramelized fruit. I finished mine in no time, and then I noticed the ones on Mate's plate.

I coveted Mate's tomatoes.

I took a peek at Mate's stony profile. Now I could say it was clearly granite hard. He was that p***ed at his Dad over-ruling him. His dad was always over-ruling him.

But that's what parents did, right?

I sighed and ate a piece of steak. Yum.

The food was delicious at the Lorent's, but once again, it was hard to eat. You know, you're trying to chew, but it gets hard to swallow with someone growling at you.

What now? I looked up tiredly at the source of growling, and Anthony looked away. He wasn't growling anymore.

But now Mate was growling. Urgh! I turned to glare at Mate, and then I saw the tomatoes, little round cherry sized yummy things that didn't take much chewing to swallow. I leaned over, my head just bumping under his chin to pluck one off his plate with my fingers and put into my mouth. Yum.

Mate stopped growling at Anthony.

But now it was Mum's turn, "Sam!" She admonished.

"It's fine, Luna." Mate said quietly.

He looked at my tomato-less plate, and then transferred his tomatoes over.

Love. That's why I love him. I grinned, "Yay!"

And he pretty much shocked me by smiling. Not a smirk, or half smile, or the wide sadistic smile which should signal you to run for your life, but a very genuine smile.

It's like the stone of his face suddenly turned to flesh and smiled. A really, really, nice smile which made him look suddenly very handsome and my heart started beating like a bird frantically fluttering to get out of its cage.

First he gives me his tomatoes, then he smiles...what next? I'm not sure how much of this I could take.

And then he leaned over, slipping his arm over the back of my chair. I could smell his scentlessness, and the wine in his breath.

Meanwhile, I was going to have a cardiac arrest.

So I did what any girl would do. I headbutted him. Hard. Right in the nose.

"F***!" Bell pulled back. His nose bleeding. He grabbed a napkin.

"Sam!" Mum admonished, sounding quite horrified.

What? It was natural instinct.

"But he... "

What? He was too handsome? He made my heart beat wildly? It's not like I could say something like that aloud, right?

"Oh goddess, Sam, what would I ever do with you?" Mum sighed.

Ki had appeared, he calmly poured out a glass of ice water and changed Bell's napkin with a unbloodied one.

"I'm alright." Bell said after wiping the rest of the blood off his face with the wet towel Ki had produced, "It didn't hurt."

"Your hairclip..." Mate explained, then he reached over again and while my heart ran like a jackhammer and all the blood rushed to my face, he simply adjusted it, "It was slipping."

And then he pulled away so that I remembered to breathe again. I gulped down some air with the grace of a goldfish out of water and for some reason I felt really bad then.

Maybe it was because everyone was saying how beautiful I was, that I started to think I was... which was humiliating. How could I forget that I was just a kid in his sight? Probably a very messy one, who couldn't even keep her hair piece in place.

And then the tears suddenly fell out of my eyes. Because you know, if you had to be humiliated, it's only right to do it in the worst possible way.

Why was I so weak when it's Mate? It was very frustrating for me.

The next moment was like a blur. Ben appeared, charging and growling, and Mate's chair was kicked with such force the legs cracked and Mate fell back. He got up snarling and lunged at Ben. But was caught by Ki in mid air. They both went down with a crash, knocking down the side table and glasware.

And then Harvey said "S***." Aloud. And not quite so calmly. Because he had tried to grab Ben but Ben had kicked him off in the face. So the good beta bulldozed into Ben and slammed him quite hard against the wall.

"F*** off, Harv or I'll kill you." Ben said.

"Get your s***ty wolf under control first." Harvey replied.

I stopped crying. The tears just stopped. Probably from the shock.

"What kind of beta would try to kill his own Luna?" Mate temporarily kicked off Ki to yell at Ben.

"The kind whose Luna is a b***** a******." Ben snarled back. He headbutted Harvey in his nose, because you know, we were the same that way. Hardheaded idiots.

"S***." Harvey said, letting go temporarily to grab his nose.

Ki passed him a white napkin, which only accentuated the fact that he was bleeding.

I looked at the shocked faces of the adults around the table, and decided to try my hand at damage control, "Ben's still young. He's only 14. Sometimes his wolf goes out of control a little..."

What? It worked for Anthony.

"So it's okay for him to kill me?" Mate pretty much roared.

Now this Mate, the stone-faced, unsmiling, angry version, I could deal with. I simply laughed, "You're not that easy to kill."

Mate stopped short at that, and then he sighed, "Baby, you're going to be the death of me."

I stood up so Ki could replace the broken chair next to me. Now that he had calmed down, Mate turned to fixing Harvey's nose.

"I apologize for interrupting your meal." Ben growled with a stiff bow at the table of onlookers. He turned to look at Harvey, "Sorry, Harv."

He added like it was an afterthought. Harvey had his nose in Mate's hand so he could only raise his free hand in acknowledgement.

"Well..." Lady Amber said. She was properly speechless.

Mate took his seat next to me.

But the rest of the table was looking behind me. I turned, the space behind me was cleaned up. My betas were standing in the row like three little kittens who lost their mittens. They made a polite bow.

"A hundred apologies, goddess." Ki said on their behalf so I knew exactly how sorry they were. Not very much at all.

Did they think this was a game? I flared.

They didn't move. Mate waved them off, "Just go."

They bowed and left.

"Why aren't you punishing them? They broke our best crystal!" Anthony demanded.

Yeah! Wait, that was crystal? That's expensive right? Opps.

"I don't beat the dogs for protecting my princess." Bell shrugged.

"But those dogs attacked YOU!" Anthony argued.

Mate simply said, "Those dogs will attack anyone who provokes my princess' tears. You best remember that Anthony."

"Well," said Lady Amber, finally finding her voice again, "I don't think you should call your betas dogs."

"All Betas are dogs." Mate said then, "Another thing that Anthony seems to not remember either."

And then just so that no one misunderstood, I decided to clarify, "I didn't cry. Something just got in my eye."

I popped another tomato in my mouth. It was still delicious.

My dad growled a low warning at Mate who simply raised both hands in mild surrender.

But I was feeling much better. Nothing like an impromptu brawl to make you forget your troubles.

"I...I'm not... quite sure... what happened." Luna Edith admitted.

"Please don't worry about it." Mum assured her, "Young male wolves sometimes just need an outlet to blow off steam. I'm terribly sorry about your crystal. May I replace them for you?"

"N...no...need." Luna Edith quickly shook her head, "We...we...have... a lot of them."

"Yes, we will just take out another set." Alpha James agreed, "It was not particularly special to us."

As if to prove his point, a servant wheeled in a cart with what looked like the same set of crystal glassware. (All crystal looked uncannily alike, if you asked me.) The servant left the cart where the side table was, took a bow and left.

"Is it always this lively at Night Leaf?" Alpha James asked with a friendly laugh.

Mum laughed too, "Not always. Oh, why don't you, your Luna and Lady Amber come over for dinner sometime?"

"I...I would like that." Luna Edith nodded.

"Yes, that sounds nice." Alpha James agreed.

"Then it's settled. I'll have my beta arrange for it with your secretary." Dad said sounding pleased.

"Yes, thank you." Alpha James said. He sounded rather pleased too.

"And you, Lady Amber? Would you be available to join us?" Mum inquired.

"I would love to, thank you. It would also be nice to see the home that brought up such a delicate princess."

Delicate my foot. I was more like a looney princess with three rabid betas.

I poked around the plate with my fork feeling despondent. The tomatoes kept escaping me.

"Eat your steak, princess." Bell said quietly in my ear. His breath was warm and ticklish.

"You eat your steak!" I turned to say. I didn't realize his stoopid face was so close. I nearly headbutted him again. But his large warm hand stopped the side of my head. It was a firm but gentle hold.

He took the fork from me with his other hand and pushed it into a piece of meat, "Eat. Or I will eat your share of dessert."

I flared then! Now would be a good time for rabid betas to beat him up! Nevermind my tears. My betas should beat up anyone who threatens my dessert!

Mate simply soothed down my crazed hair. I tried to shake his hand away which seemed to only amuse him.

"I've never seen young James so enamored." Lady Amber said then.

Mate pulled away immediately, as if snapping out of a trance. I blinked at the empty space.

The ladies laughed at how cute it was again.

But Alpha James only warned, "You're young, but don't forget she is younger."

"I know that. You don't have to remind me." Mate answered through clenched teeth.

For some inexplicable reason, Dad felt he had to take Alpha James' side, "You're her mate, but I'm still her father."

"Darling, they're just cuddling. It's cute." Mum said.

I flared. We were NOT cuddling! That was not a cuddle. That was a threat! He was going to eat my dessert!

Mate looked equally aghast the the accusation, but I never know what goes on in his stoopid head.

"Just keep it PG." Dad quoted Beta Lucas.

Alpha James laughed at that, "Yes... PG. Thats a good way to put it."

The adults continued the meal. I ate the meat at the end of my fork, but only to free it to hunt the tomatoes rolling freely around my plate.

Mate had decided to barricade his side of the mating bond and return to glaring at his steak.

I decided to ignore him.

Why did adults have to make everything so embaressing?

PS. I did not cry.

PPS. No cuddling happened.