ERR ON THE SIDE OF POLITE CAUTION

"He's a human." The redhead leaned in too close to sniff him.

"Oh! The People's Hero!" Violet eyes realized, because he watched the news.

"Hotstuff is always hanging out with hotshots." The red head said.

And that was it. Dan's fate was sealed. From that moment on, he was known as Hotshot.

It was even more embarrassing than what Jax had come up with earlier.

"Is he someone's mate?" One of them wanted to know, "Like Wil?"

Why did Wilhelm get to be called Wil? That wasn't fair!

"Who do you belong to Hotshot?" Another one said, almost as if he were talking to a lost dog, almost.

"Charming Beta should be around too."

There weren't that many of them, but Dan was more than a little overwhelmed by the disjointed conversation and unfamiliar references.

"Sssss...." A man suddenly dropped out of the sky. Dan seriously startled, which resulted in laughter all around.

"Hoi, Hotshot shot up like a rabbit!" The redhead hooted. And Dan suddenly felt glad for Hotshot. It could've been "bunny".

"Don't worry." Violet eyes said, "He's one of us."

Why was Dan not surprised?

"Stick with us young Hotshot." The redhead hung an arm around his shoulders, "And we'd intro you to all the pretty ladies."

"Wolfie!" Their circle was interrupted by a beautiful blond man. He threw his arms around Wolf, "I didn't think you'd be here. I was planning to make a trip to Snow Moon to look you up."

"Please don't." Wolf answered immediately. He pushed the other man away.

"I wonder if you've been updating your diary." The other blond man mused aloud. Wolfgang mouth turned decidedly down.

"Oh, did you finally get mated?" The blond man turned his attention to Dan, his smile never wavering. The other guys immediately erupted in laughter.

"This is Hotshot. He's still single and available." The redhead introduced, "Hotshot, this is Fluffy."

Dan nodded a quick bow, "Nice to meet you". If Hotstuff = Lord Wolfgang, who knew what kind of wolf Fluffy was?

"So polite." Fluffy said approvingly. He pulled a hooded younger man over, "Riri, come meet Hotshot. He's your gen."

To Dan's surprise, when Fluffy pulled down the worn grey hood off the black haired young man, it turned out to be Prince Ri.

Dan had guessed the healer was younger than he was, but now in a dark grey hoodie and jeans, he looked even younger.

"We've met." Prince Ri answered sullenly, but he nodded a little at Dan when their eyes met. Prince Ri narrowed his eyes at Fluffy, "If there's nothing else, please excuse me your highness."

"How cold!" Fluffy complained, but Prince Ri had turned his back on them and left.

Dan knew Fluffy was not a simple wolf. His hair was a dead giveaway. It was the same color as Wolf's - like the color of sunlight, but while Wolf's hair was curly and his eyes were a deep forest green, Fluffy's hair was straight. He wore it long with elaborate small braids woven in it. Fluffy's eyes were a cornflower blue, and his charisma was undeniably alpha. But there were lots of other clues that screamed warning in Dan's mind.

For one thing, even Wolf seemed to be helpless to curb Fluffy. All he could do was cross his arms and look stern. Fluffy didn't give a damn, in fact, he seemed to thoroughly enjoy provoking the fire wolf - not to be confused with the light teasing Wil and Dan indulged in. Fluffy went all out, and Dan could only conclude that they were very close.

Another thing off was how Fluffy had his sleeves pulled up to his elbows, even though it was below freezing in the winter night. Dan knew, because it had started to snow. But Fluffy's lower arms were exposed because his sleeves could not possible be worn over all the bangles he wore.

Dan had many bangles too. In the Three Kingdoms, it was customary for the King to present a bangle as an award for meritorious or heroic accomplishments. The design on each bangle would have elements to tell of the particular deed. Of all the Royal Court, Dan had received the most bangles. He was obliged to wear them whenever he presented himself to the king, not doing so would be considered ungrateful.

It was also good for reminding the other courtesans of their place.

But Dan had stopped wearing them among wolves when he was told that among the lycan, it was tradition for the women of powerful and wealthy wolves to have their arms covered with such many and elaborate bangles. It was a sign of their mate's high position. Anyway, it was not a manly thing, and after learning this from his lycan hosts, Dan had his bangles stored in a travel safe.

Fluffy didn't seem to be restricted by such social norms.

And we all heard how Prince Ri had addressed him as "Your highness."

Was Fluffy a prince too? Where were these lycan princes popping out from? And then Dan connected the dots, could it really be? Were the Colored Mountain Princes regularly hanging out in Moon Bell? Dan decided he better not ask any questions. Curiosity killed the cat, and as always, Dan wanted to live.

"How old are you, Hotshot?" Fluffy suddenly asked.

Dan was so taken aback by the abruptly personal question that he answered quite by reflex, "I'm in my thirties."

"Our Henri is also around your age." Fluffy smiled, "She's single and available too."

"WOOOOAAAAHHHH!!!!" The red head exclaimed way too loudly, "STOP RIGHT THERE FLUFFY. You can't do that!"

"Fluffy, you know Henri hates that." the violet eyed man worried, "I heard the last time a man took her out for dinner, he was seriously traumatized by Terror and Horror."

Who?

Terror was Dante, because he was a terror. Horror was Damien because although he seemed the milder of the twins, if you pissed him off, he would become quite the greatest horror a wolf could meet in this life. The beta twins ran by many names, while it seemed that Terror and Horror were their mark of honor, they were also known as Tey and Mien, D&D were used in meeting minutes, and the warriors also called them Demon 1 and Demon 2, although never to their faces, because you know, they were Terror and Horror.

That was the other thing about Moon Bell's unique naming convention, there were none. It felt almost arbitrary except that Dan had noticed how one one wolf would constantly call another by a particular name when talking directly to him, but sometimes use another name when refering to him in 3rd person, and it was not uncommon for any of their names to resemble whatever was printed on their name card.

Perhaps they only reflected the complex social interactions among the wolves. Dan had long learned that wolf packs were a lot more than a pyramid with the alpha on top that was printed in their human textbooks.

Although Dan had given the name cards he collected earlier a cursory study and prepared fresh cards to exchange, it did not seem like anyone was at the Tournament to exchange name cards. Actually from the way some of them behaved, they were probably here to exchange blows. Dan would have worried, but he was with Wolf and Wil, so he should be fine. Probably.

It was also the first time Dan was told that the betas he had been interacting with were such terrifying monsters. He could've done with a heads-up, not that Dan knew what he could do differently even if he knew.

Bear/Barry/Spear Man/Sir/Delta, (the violet eyed man) warned, "Whatever you do, don't mess with those two."

"Or Beta Ben." Fluffy smiled, "The father of twin demons is worse than the two combined. Or Luna Bell…"

"Definitely not Luna Bell." Bear agreed.

"Our luna is the demon lord." Fluffy said.

"Yeah, never mind the twin demons and the father of twin demons." Torque, the mountain of a man nodded, "You should try to avoid Luna Bell."

And it had to be true, because Wolf nodded too, "If he is attending tonight, you must not leave my side, Dan. Alpha Sam's Luna is not someone you can afford to offend."

Said Alpha Sam's alleged lover, but ahem, Dan nodded, "I'll bear that in mind, thank you."

"How teachable." Fluffy smiled, "I'm very impressed at the People's Hero's humility."

So Dan's identity was obvious to the most dangerous wolf in the group too. At least that was what Dan had concluded, at least in this circle, Fluffy was the top dog (with Wolf as a close second.)

It was a good thing Dan was an experienced diplomat and meeting lycans was his specialty.

"Thank you, your highness." Dan made a polite bow, "Please feel free to advise me."

Fluffy's smile went into full beam, "No wonder Riri likes you."

"Prince Ri?" Dan asked.

Fluffy nodded, "Yes, he is my cute godson, but alas he hates me - almost as much as my own son."

Dan nodded. Somehow he wasn't terribly surprised that Fluffy's relationships would be complicated too.

"Where's Prince Felix?" Wolfgang asked looking around, "He did not come with you?"

Fluffy shook his head, "Fifi must have known you were in town."

The redhead laughed, "When Hotstuff is in town, all the young Alphas go into hiding."

"Not all." Wolf stiffly corrected.

"Well, all the ones who can run will run." The redhead insisted. He was the other wolf who didn't seem to care about offending the Lord Fire Wolf, or rather he gave the impression that he hadn't noticed that Wolfgang was affected at all. Dan couldn't say how he knew, but he knew the redhead was more aware than he let on. It was just a hunch so Dan wasn't going to bet anything on it. It was always best to err on the side of polite caution with wolves. He would avoid any direct interaction with the redhead too.

As more wolves came into the scene, their circle would open and close as different wolves stopped by to catch up with them. Most of the local wolves would react with mild surprise, "You guys are here."

And then with more remarkable surprise, "All of you? The entire Special Team is here?"

Now and then, someone would ask, "What's the occasion?"

At first, none of the Special Team could answer, but after a while, the redhead decided to make up different reasons each time.

"It's the 60th Friendly Tournament! That's a jubilee year!"

The local wolf would look confused at the large number printed on the banner hung on the side of the packhouse, "It's not though?"

"It's a blue moon."

The local wolf would look up at the half-moon and shrug, "If you say so."

"My mate kicked me out of the house."

This one didn't seem to surprise anyone, but one wolf asked, "And the rest of you?"

"We were ALL kicked out. Our mates started a union." Fluffy smiled, and everyone laughed and started floating jokes about their women that Dan felt with certainty would never be repeated in their homes.

"Hoi? Hotshot isn't laughing." The redhead (who was also known as EJ, Red, or Delta depending on who was addressing him so far) pointed.

"He's single and available, remember?" Fluffy reminded everyone sagely.

"Single men would never understand." Someone bemoaned to more laughter and Dan got a few consolation backslaps, "Enjoy your freedom while you still have it!"

Err on the side of polite caution. It was dark outdoors, not dark for wolves, but for a human like Dan, it was dark enough to be unable to see any of their faces clearly. He struggled to match the names to the faces, but aside from the wolves with distinct coloring, it was a hopeless cause. There was too much movement in and out of their circle - which had NEVER happened when Dan was in any other pack, not to this extent.

But eventually, Dante's voice announced over the sound system, "Alpha is here."

To which all the wolves yelled while punching their fists up to the sky, "Our loyalty to the Alpha, YO!"

Dan looked around but because he was surrounded by men, many of who were taller than he was, he couldn't see her at all. He did however feel the ground vibrate under his boots.

"Sit down! You two, get off the pitch." Dante ordered, and without any further ceremony, "I'm gonna introduce our Snow Wolf guests this year. Remember, any taunting, jeering, or intimidation at our guests will get you banned from future tournaments for the rest of your life."

The wolves took that as a joke and laughed.

"I'm serious." Dante insisted, only to garner more laughter all around.

Dante gave up and proceeded to recite each young warrior from the Snow Wolf team in turn. Whenever he did, he would also mention if the wolf had participated in the previous year's matches, and when the young warrior stepped up to the pitch to make their greeting to the alpha, the entire spectator stand and the spillover crowd surrounding the pitch would hoot in unison, "Snow Wolf, Snow Wolf, Whoot whoot!"

And when the home team was announced, the cheering and screaming probably cracked open the sky. Dan resisted the urge to cover his ears, how the wolves around him, with supposedly sensitive hearing were enjoying this, he could not tell.

Alpha Henri then stepped up on the stage. The moment she did, the wolves yelled again, "Our loyalty to the Alpha, YO!" and punched the air again. At first, Dan thought he would be safe since he was sandwiched on the front bench between Wolf and Wil, but the two men also punched the air at "Yo!"

In fact, the Snow Wolf warrior delegation did it too - but only the "Yo!" Dan took note to join in at the next "Yo!" should it ever happen again.

When Alpha Henri picked up the mic and faced everyone, the entire arena became completely quiet, so quiet that Dan heard a wistful sigh before he realized it came from his own mouth.

"Are you alright?" Wolf leaned over to whisper. Dan quickly covered his mouth and nodded, "Just a little tired."

Wolf nodded and straightened again to give respectful attention to the Alpha speaking.

Alpha Henri was dressed in casual clothes - her jet black hair was gathered to rest one shoulder, a beige cable knit oversized cardigan that came down to midthigh paired with skinny jeans.

She looked much younger in casual clothes, and really, really cute. Dan could not remember ever describing a grown woman as "cute".

He must never speak this thought aloud though. That was the Alpha Moon Bell. No matter how beautiful (or cute), Dan must never cross the line. Err on the side of polite caution.