BELL'S NOT OFF THE HOOK

20 FEBRUARY, SATURDAY, 10AM

Because of the scones and the distracting variety of jams, and then rewriting my notes and exploring the distracting myriad of new annotation functions, I was, as you've guess it, distracted, and had temporarily forgotten that I was supposed to be in angry mode.

Mum smiled at me when I met my family on the porch to set off for Henry's inauguration, "Oh good! I'm so glad to see you feeling better, Sam."

Which immediately reminded me that Mate was a dumbbell.

I flared, "I'm not better at all! I just got distracted!"

Dad was talking to Beta Lucas, but both men paused with raised brows.

"Bell is a dumbbell." I informed them.

Ben smirked as he opened the car door for us, "So our new pack was named because you were MOONing over a dumbBELL?"

"No!" I flared more, Omo was that why our pack was called Moon Bell? No! If that ever got out, I wouldn't know where to hide my face, "That was Boo, I don't care about him at all."

"Sure, Boo." Ben gave me a gentle push into the car and then shut the car door behind me so quickly it very nearly hit me.

I crossed my arms and sulked at Ben through the tinted windows of our silver town car. He was in the dark blue suit my betas favoured - the three of them liked to wear it like a uniform whenever there was something official happening. Today, they wore it with dark blue shirts, skinny black ties, and shiny black leather shoes.

Actually, just Ki and Ben. I hadn't seen Harvey yet, but I didn't need to see him to know he would be properly dressed in the exact same thing.

"I'm just glad you managed to work it out with Bell." Mum said patting my hand.

You mean Ki managed to work it out with Bell? I blinked, wondering exactly what and how much Ki (never forget, that my betas were Mum's BFFs) must have told Mum about the new arrangements.

Whatever, I shook my head, "I'm still mad at Bell."

Actually, I was still feeling raw about the whole thing - raw, not rawr. Rawr was the look, raw were the feelings, so I'd rather not talk about my dumbbell mate right now.

"Must have been a relief for Alpha Lorent." Dad said, now that he was in the car with us, "He was saying how Bell was the hope of the Lorent Pack."

Dad looked up at the ceiling of the car, "The constant rogue attacks and Beta Lorent's betrayal has taken its toll. Naturally, Alpha Lorent hopes that Bell would pick up the reigns and rebuild the pack."

I guess. Too bad they're actually going to be stuck with my betas... And I don't think any of my betas particularly liked or cared about the Lorent Pack's future.

Beta Lucas got into the driver's seat, but he couldn't help but throw in his two cents on the matter, "The Lorent Pack is in a vulnerable position right now. It's a matter of time before the cracks start to show."

Then Dad sighed, "It's unbelievable, when Night Leaf first started out, the Lorent Pack was the shining star of the Green Packlands. In three generations, it had risen and fallen. But that is also expected to an extent."

"Why?" I asked, "Why do you say it's expected?"

"Nintey percent of wealthy families lose their wealth by the third generation." Dad told me, "An Alpha's family is not that different."

"Shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations. The first generation works diligently to build a better life for their pack and children, amassing a fortune. The second generation spends it. And the third generation will see it disappear." Beta Lucas explained on Dad's behalf. Over the years, he had come to do this out of habit. He also always had a habit of sharing his own personal opinions, "Hoo boy, I wouldn't want to be in his shoes. Luna Bell will be spotlighted in a difficult position. He will be inheriting an empty shell and without intervention, he will be the Alpha leading the pack through its sunset years and eventual decline and assimilation into the Moon Bell Pack. And by the fourth generation (that's your kids btw), his pack would be merged to yours, and he would have officially lost his Alpha title and become the Luna.

No wonder Bell hadn't been all that enthusiastic about the investiture. Seriously, it was like inheriting a hot mess that would go down in history as his failure.

"Oh no, what about Night Leaf?" I asked.

"You're the second generation." Dad informed me.

So... I'm the one spending it? Our poor kids.

"But at least you're spending it towards Moon Bell." Dad smiled wryly, "I have no complaints."

"Nothing lasts forever." Dad spoke out to the car window, "Nations, businesses, packs will all rise and fall. The key is to survive the fall, so you can get up and try again. The world is constantly changing... It's like surfing."

Seriously? Surfing? My dad couldn't even swim. What did he know about surfing?

"The world is constantly changing, nobody stays on the board forever. If your wave ends, you fall off your board. All you can do is pick it up and try to catch the next one." Dad said.

Putting it like that made any kind of success sound really arbitrary and fleeting. Like the never-ending chase for the rainbow. Surely there was a better way?

"But what about the 10 percent of the families who keep their wealth?" I asked, "How did they do it?"

Beta Lucas made a face in the rear view mirror, "Maybe luck. Management studies suggests separating ownership from management."

Dad was more philosophical about it, "Keeping a successful family business, and keeping a successful pack are not the same thing. A family is like a tree. A pack is it's forest."

We both look out of the car at the passing trees. They were still bare from the winter frost. Nothing to look at.

"You have to look for the seasons. As long as the Alpha is rooted in his territory, the pack as a whole can weather the worst winters. There is a season for everything under the sun." Dad said.

Yeah, about the Alpha being rooted to his territory bit... the Lorent Pack was doomed. Their new alpha was going to be running around chasing the Rogue King to hell.

And then Beta Lucas had a thought, "Sam... your visit to the Night Forest Pack with Delta Felicity could be a good learning experience. That is another great old pack in decline. If you can save Night Forest, you can save the Lorent. They are both suffering the Third Generation Curse."

No problem, we'll just teach little Eddy to surf. Yeah, Uncle Louis had spent up the pack's wealth, but as long as little Eddy keeps picking up the board to catch the the new waves... or was it, if we planted Eddy into the ground, eventually Spring will come? Okay, you got me, I had no idea how my Dad's analogies would apply in any practical way. All I knew was, the world was changing, the Lorents were doomed, and probably the Night Forest pack too. Eventually, my poor children would literally be poor too.

"I guess..." I thought about it, although I was sure I was not thinking about it right, "I guess since our pups are going to be dirt poor sooner or later, I had better trained them to do their own chores and be strong fighters."

This way, at least they won't be living in pig stys. And if they've got warrior positions in the pack, they could earn a respectable and decent livelihood.

Dad shook his head, "The best gift you can give your children, is the gift of education."

Right, then if they turned out to be bad at fighting, at least they would be smart enough to get a desk job?

Then Dad zenned off, "Don't focus on the tree. Look at the whole forest."

I sighed and leaned back in my seat. I didn't know being the Alpha was so complicated.

Mum leaned over an patted my hand, "Don't worry about it, Sam. The answers will come to you. You just have to take it one day at a time."

And then she watched the "Welcome to the Gold Packlands" signboard go by and started to worry, "Sam, I need you to be on your best behavior. Every single major alpha and their beta will be in attendance, and there are cameras everywhere. Try not to get into any trouble."

On one hand, my Mum trusted me with the future of our pack. On the other, she couldn't trust me to stay out of trouble for 24 hours.

I huffed a little, "Don't worry, Mum. I've got this."

I really believed I did. I was dressed for it, I read all my notes on it twice. If this was my exams, I was ready to ace it.

Most because I was still angry at Bell. I was still on my Plan A. What? Did he think I would forgive him just because he made Ki bring me delicious scones? Did he think after all the heart damage he caused, he could just casually see me later like none of it happened?

I'll show him!

I was going to be beautiful and alluring, and capable and strong. I was going to be both the Luna and the Alpha and show him that I didn't need him at all. I've got my three betas, and based on their documented PR plans, it was obvious that they intended to make a statement at this event. It would be our first official inter-pack event together, and we weren't going to let anyone look down on us.

I popped into their beta's mindlink channel, "Best foot forward guys! Let's show the world what the Moon Bell Pack is like."

"You don't have to tell us, Sam." Ben grumbled.

"Understood, Alpha." Harvey assured me.

"We will not fail you, goddess." Ki promised.

The traffic was slowed as we got closer to the city. We were travelling in convoy. Our old silver town car, sandwiched between two navy blue benzes, a blue Porsche, and two dark silver MPVs. Don't ask me where these two came from. It was the first time I had seen them too.

We also had 8, no 10 motorbike escorts. This probably explained why our car hadn't taken any strange meandering detours with Beta Lucas driving.

Now imagine all of Henry's guests coming in with similar convoys... Traffic was slow, but at least traffic was well mannered, and no one banged on the horn or tried to cut between any color coordinated train of cars.

Okay, not all of Henry's guests came in such large convoys. There were single and double cars too. There were also quite a number of maroon cars with maroon clad warrior bike escorts. I'm not sure who they were ferrying, but Henry's warriors always reminded me like red fire ants. I watched from the window as a small convoy led by red fire ants stopped for us to pass first. I guess they were instructed "guests first."

At first, I thought I was coming to support Henry. It's was my friend's important day! And then I was coming to show up Mate - how dare he just walked out on me last night! Although he didn't walk very far before abruptly making a U-turn... But come on, he only u-turned because Ki convinced him to use us as some kind of alibi.

So my Plan A was going to be dishing the exact same thing on him. I was going to be great! If he asked me, "How are you?" I was going to say, "Great! Never better."

I was going to show that I didn't need him at all, that I didn't care one bit if he left or stayed, and that I was TOTALLY UNAFFECTED by every little thing he did.

Just because he was my soul mate didn't give him the right to act like I would just wring my hands and cry till he came back to me. I had a life, I was perfectly fine without him, and I was going to make sure that he knew that.

Plus, I also planned to charge a lot of things to his card. I read in one of the manga volumes that this was the acceptable thing to do if your rich boyfriend p***ed you off.

The more angry you are, the more you should spend on his card.

I hoped Henry put us up in the new Langston here are Silver Mountain. I was going to call in room service (on Bell's card). I'd even buy souvenirs back for everyone! Muahahaha!

Actually, now that I'm writing this, I wonder if I was being too petty. As in, if I were committing a crime, this would all be under petty charges right? Shouldn't I be aiming for something greater? Like at least a felony?

Maybe I'll ask my betas. I'm sure they would have good ideas. Nothing that would actually hurt Bell though, that would just be stupid, he was my soul mate after all. Just a little something to teach him a lesson so he would think twice before ever doing anything that would hurt me, I mean, make me mad again.

Because this wasn't the first time he nearly abandoned me in favour of his revenge goals. That guy... If I didn't do anything now, one day he might up and really leave me forever.

{If you love somebody, let him go...}

Oh shut up. I'm the Alpha. If I love somebody, I'm gonna keep him forever.