WHY NOT GIVE LOVE A CHANCE?

Anyway, thanks to Harvey and his magic boxes, we were all packed. Even EJ who had one of the boxes full of cute snacks and candies. He claimed they were goodbye gifts from his girlfriends. Fluffy dropped the can of unopened strawberry yogurt soda into the box, "I don't like sweet drinks."

Ki met us at the porch with his car parked neatly next to Harvey's exactly where Henry's car was.

The boot was open too. Ki waited for all my stuff to be loaded with his usual beautiful smile, "Good afternoon, goddess."

Naturally, I smiled back, "Hi, Ki!"

I'm not sure how the other kids managed without betas or boxes or cars... I saw some of them walking around with large reusable bags. There were also stacks of papers and books by the bins. The paper recycling bin was also overflowing as we passed it.

Next term, at my new school, I'm going to try to level up and clean out my locker all on my own.

I did see more parents driving in to pick up their kids today. Maybe they were helping with the lockers too. Or maybe they were freaked out about the expected vampire attack - which came out in the news thanks to an anonymous tip-off.

Like that Jack guy really tipped off A LOT of people.

Harvey updated me as we drove back in convoy. I really didn't have to worry about boot space at all.

Altogether, we had four bikes up front, our car, Ki's car, and a pickup truck. And another six bikes stretched alongside and the last two bikes pulled up the rear.

Yes, Night Leaf, your princess has returned in splendor! Hahaha. Jk.

Wth was this? But the added security was for fear of hunters. Tessa and her gang were still out and about, and none of my wolves trusted them not to turn back to hunt us.

When I say "my wolves", I meant Dad and Beta Lucas and Beta Gerald probably, and my betas and generally whoever was at whatever emergency meeting they had while I was at school.

It was probably extra troublesome because they didn't have to just protect one person. Besides and rare blue wolf alpha princess, we also had highly prized fight dogs with amazingly colored bloodlines in the security detail.

A hunter could retire if he caught and sold all of us. (Good luck to anyone who tried though.)

But my wolves were not going to take that chance. Thanks to Ben's genius, my wolves had decided to just increase my convoy to an eye-catching and ostentatious size so that no hunter in their right mind would dare make a move.

Since hunters liked to work in the shadows and all, attacking us - any of us now, would be like stabbing themselves with public scrutiny and possible blacklisting, legal action, and another nail in the coffin for the final closure of legalized hunting (But that was our own fat wish. The human would never allow it.)

It was almost like Ben hoped we would be attacked on the way home.

I think he was still mad about the entire panic we made him suffer this morning. Oh well, hopefully overseeing the warriors seek out the hunters like Easter eggs in the woods soothed him somewhat.

The press was a surprise Easter egg though. Usually, hunters wouldn't tip off the press for the above-stated reasons, but Jack was a scientist, not a hunter, so he went ahead. It was on every news channel - even the vampire one (VNN - Vampire News Network? What else could V stand for?)

The news reports may be found in the appendix of today's Press Clippings Report.

Maybe I should just tell my betas to make fewer reports. Less work for them, less work for me. Oh wait, but I've seen Ki reference the Press Clippings in his media reports to the Alpha Office, so... Maybe the reports were really for my betas or my Dad, the real Alpha?

I'm not really sure why a pack needed an alpha sometimes. Just throw some betas together, and give them some reports to work with.

Look what betas can do without an alpha! The Langston 3.0 is opening in Princess Town! Harvey thanked me very politely, "My dad would like to thank you for the opportunity personally, Alpha. I believe he plans to invite you and your family for breakfast at The Langston."

Wait, was it because I had mentioned it before? But that was because I wanted to use the complimentary breakfast coupons! It wasn't the same if Beta Gerald had to pay for it!

Anyway, back to business:

The Langston 3.0 wasn't like The Langston 1.0 in Gate City or The Langston 2.0 in Gold City. It wasn't even called The Langston 3.0.

(None of the Langstons came with numbers by the way. I just called them that, but in real life and in their official ads, they were: The Langston Gate - the gate to new life, The Langston Gold - the land of milk and honey, and finally, the newest and smallest, niche luxury offering from The Langston, The Blue Rose, pending trademark registration.)

The Blue Rose was a complete break away from the Langston's business hotel franchise. It was as unique as its name.

It would be a blue glass house with gold trim and home to specially curated blue roses. It's inside included gilded mirrored rooms and chandeliers made from a hundred different colored magic stones to be procured from the Warlock Tower Auction.

Wait, what Warlock Tower Auction?

Apparently, my Luna was chopping up the Old Warlock's Tower and selling the bits and baubles as magic treasures to a closed-door auction. Of course, we would be keeping the first pick of the treasure, and sharing the profits fairly with River and his snow wolves.

But technically, the warlock was River's Dad so didn't the treasure all belong to him?

But no, my Luna had negotiated it with the snow wolves successfully. Since he was now the new owner of the Warlock's fire, the warlock land was now our land, and everything in it, was ours.

By ours, he meant his. But everyone knew what was his was mine, or eventually would be, because he was my Luna.

Wait... What? Like seriously?

Harvey winced a little, "Ben made a very convincing argument."

That had to be some argument.

The sharing of the Warlock Tower's treasure was a show of friendship and reward for their hand in taking down the Warlock and it would be split 40% to Bell, 20% to Night Leaf, 20% to Moon Bell, and 20% to Snow Moon.

I can't believe Alpha Gunter willingly accepted a measly 20%, but according to Harvey, Alpha Gunter seemed to have been surprised by our Luna's generosity and had accepted what we proposed with heartfelt thanks.

I mean, going by Ben's allegedly convincing argument, eventually, all 80% would be "ours". And by "ours", I meant mine, because I was the Alpha.

Anyway, the Blue Rose should be up and running by Summer this year. It would be the luxury glass-encased air-conditioned destination for a romantic getaway or quaint retreat into the beauty of the countryside wilderness. They planned to invite guests such as high-profile scholars, classical artists, and such to stay for the soft launch in exchange for calligraphy, poetry, and artwork to express the elegant romance and beauty of the venue.

Harvey handed me his phone to scroll through some pictures he just received from the architectural firm in his inbox earlier. The artist's impression of the blue stained glass and large gold gilded domes, wide porches, and sprawling rose garden with a small vineyard encased - the entire building looked like a building size jewel nestled within Princess Town.

"It's perfect!" I decided. Now I just needed to get more. I had Henry Park and now The Blue Rose, "Now we just need the amusement park and paddle boats down the river."

"And ice-cream shops and cafes..." And for some reason, I remembered Moshiro. Maybe it was because that was my first date with Bell, "And a Moshiro."

"Moshiro, Alpha?" Harvey looked concerned, "That might be a little tricky."

So all the other things on my wishlist were easy?

Apparently, Moshiro was very picky about where it opened. It even stuck up its nose at the thought of a collaborative menu for The Langston.

There were only two Moshiros in our continent. One on the highest floor of Gold City, and the second one on the most expensive street in Gate City, Bank Square. Which wasn't a River Bank, please we weren't poetic like that. It was a small city square where the first bank building literally stood.

Over time, other banks and financial buildings like Reid Inc, and power and trading companies like K&K popped up around this square.

Moshiro at Gate City was the only low-floor building right at the entrance to Bank Square and addressed No. 1 Bank Square.

And Harvey didn't know how they convinced Moshiro to come to Gate City. That was the Lorent's doing.

Okay...

"Then let's make it really hard for them to come to the Princess Town." I decided.

"Apologies, Alpha... I'm not quite following." Harvey winced.

"Like, make sure someone at Moshiro finds out about the Princess Town top secret development plans. But it's top secret, right? So Moshiro needs to work hard to get more information." I said, "Then make them submit proposals, tender, and really work their butts off to secure a lot. That kind of thing...."

Like how Alpha Gunter said, "Trophies are worth more if they are hard won."

Who knew the Great Teacher's words would be so handy? "Make sure that Moshiro fights tooth and nail for a lot so they would treasure their opportunity with us."

Harvey frowned, but I think he was just trying to remember everything. Normally, he would have pulled over to take notes by now, but today with our convoy, the threat of hunters, and the meeting, he had decided to keep driving.

"Understood, Alpha." Harvey nodded looking way more serious than I expected, "I'll consult Ki and Ben on this and keep you updated."

"Just pretend it's a game." I tried to not stress Harvey too much, "Win or lose, Moshiro isn't a big deal to us in the long term. In the long term, there should be loads of dining options, like small cafes, fancy restaurants, and street-side shops... Oh! Let's do street-side food shops! I've always wanted to eat at those."

Dad and Beta Lucas used to eat along the streets when they had to grab a bite while traveling. Beta Lucas told me that there was a very famous cart. It was called the Smelly Drain cart because it was next to a stinky canal. But the food only tasted good if you ate it there. He tried to bring some home for Willow, but "there was no taste. You need the smell of the drain to taste the food, man!"

So, not that I was planning to have smelly drains in my Princess Town, but maybe like a road with lots of stalls lined up.

"Like a fair or farmer's market, but for cooked food, Alpha?" Harvey was trying to understand what I was seeing in my head.

"Yeah, it's like outdoor dining." I nodded and then decided, "But with fairy lights and stuff."

"Understood, Alpha." Harvey nodded again, "This would also give business opportunities to local wolves and new wolves to start a business in Princess Town with relatively low outlay."

Yeah, that too! I beamed, "Wouldn't it be a wonderful place? To start anew, build a new life, maybe even fall in love?"

"Love, Alpha?" Harvey looked thrown off again.

"Yes." I nodded because I didn't catch his confusion immediately, "Why not give love a chance?"

Yes, we were wolves, we were fated. From the day we were born, maybe even before that, our soul mate was predestined. That one other person in this world who held the other half of our soul. Maybe I've been spending too much time with humans, but just the mating bond wasn't enough for me anymore. One day, preferably before our mating ceremony, I wanted to fall in love with Bell, and I wanted Bell to fall in love with me. I wanted to experience this wonderful thing called love - Ferris Wheel and fireworks and everything.

One day. But right now, the scenery broke into the pretty greens of spring as we drove up the road to the Alpha House. I couldn't stop the happy sigh. We were home and the familiarity of the road home welcomed me. The Princess Town and experiencing true love would have to wait. Today had been a long day and right now, all I wanted was to soak in my bath till I pruned.