ALPHA PRINCESS IS HERE

9 FEBRUARY, TUESDAY, 3.30AM

"Alpha Princess is here." Ki announced.

Everyone stood up, mostly because Alpha James had stood up, so no one else had a choice.

"Ah, Alpha Sam, welcome." Alpha James recognized me, "I did not know you were visiting tonight."

I grinned Alpha James, "Neither did my parents."

So much for smiling silently like a pretty doll. It was far more fun to talk. I was rewarded immediately by the mild alarm that flittered across Alpha James' face.

Ki took it on himself to make the introductions, "Goddess, these are Delta Emerson and his mate and daughter."

To Delta Emerson his said, "Delta, this is the Green Packland's Alpha Princess, our Young Alpha James' betrothed."

"Alpha Princess." Delta Emerson and his family bowed respectfully because they were well brought up that way. I nodded a polite bow back to them.

Alpha James smiled at me and asked, "Won't your parents be worried for you?"

"Not unless they find out." I answered cheekily.

I think it was at that moment that Alpha James realized he did not know what to do with me.

"It's fine." Mate waved his father's concern off, "She is with me. Ki send a text to Alpha Kingsley. Let him know she is safe."

"Should I send her to school from here?" Ki asked.

Mated checked his watch and nodded, "Princess, you have school tomorrow. You may use my room. I'll be working tonight anyway. Ki will see you up."

I flared, "Don't decide for me!"

The Delta stood up in alarm. I guess my hair flying up at will took a while to get used to for most people.

Mate, who was used to it, stood up too. He soothed my hair, "Be good. Go to bed. I'll drive you to school tomorrow."

And my Wolfie immediately calmed down and nodded.

{Sleep in Mates bed! Drive in Mate's car!}

She was too easily bribed.

"If it pleases you goddess, I will pack some of the sweets for you to bring to school to share with your friends." Ki offered.

Deal! I nodded, "Yes, please."

Which made me slightly more difficult to bribe than Wolfie because at least I was getting fancy macarons.

Ki went to the doorway to wait for me, still smiling. He was definitely pleased with how things turned out, so I'm going to take it that the PR part of it went as he had hoped.

Well, I did have school tomorrow, and I was undeniably exhausted.

I bowed politely, "I'll be taking my leave first. Goodnight."

"Yes, yes." Alpha James nodded, "You have school tomorrow."

Ki checked his phone and spoke, "Alpha Kingsley and his Luna has responded with their thanks and apologies for the Alpha Princess' mischief tonight."

What? They responded in the middle of the night? I'm so grounded.

Alpha James seemed relief to hear that though, "It's fine. She is our daughter too. Please assure them it is our pleasure and we would take good care of her."

Luna Edith smiled and gave me a quick hug. I swear, no matter how many times she did that, my heart always did an emergency break at it.

I retreated before I had a cardiac arrest, and also because I started to notice that Cynthia was watching me. Just watching...calculating...maybe noticing that while she was of Barbie doll proportions, I was more like rag doll. Hahaha.

But at the moment, I didn't really mind. Even though it did bother me so much just a moment ago that I hadn't wanted to be in the same room as her. But to be honest, I wouldn't have felt comfortable looking like a Barbie Doll. It just wouldn't have been me.

Because at the moment, I was happy just being me. The me who was still in highschool, the me whose Wolfie was a giant puppy, the me who had to open my big mouth, and even the me who was about to get an earful when I saw my mum tomorrow.

The moment I left the room, I heard Alpha James ask, "So what should I do about this? Your family came to my home, and your daughter attempted to frame my son. How should we handle this?"

Ki and I kept walking away, but Alpha James' words left an impression on me. He spoke it in the same tone as when he had said to me, "Won't your parents be worried for you?"

It sounded like a grown up trying to be reasonable yet holding you accountable for the mess you made.

But I hadn't felt like I was in any trouble just now... At least not in the way I felt Cynthia was in serious trouble now.

Mate's room had been made up when we returned. Ki turned down my bed before checking the bathroom.

Ki was always particular about checking everything. It's like he believes there would be a spider under the blanket if he didn't turn it down and check. Tonight he checked the perfectly stacked white towels, and the bowl of potpourri on the counter, and the bathtub.

I watched him curiously.

"What are you looking for?" I asked when he shone the flashlight of his phone up at air vent.

"Bugs." Ki answered simply.

"Is there a bug problem here?" I asked. I remembered some harrowing tale Dean told me about finding a wasp nest in the air vent of their old home.

"One can never be too careful." Ki said lightly. Now that he was satisfied at the bug-free condition of the space, he set up my uniform.

Eh, my uniform was here? But not my school bag.

"My school bag is still at home." I worried.

"Someone will drive it over in the morning." Ki informed me.

Oh. It looked like I caused a whole lot of people trouble tonight.

"Thanks for taking care of everything." I said.

Ki just smiled, "It was my pleasure, goddess." And then he bowed and excused himself.

I climbed into Mate's bed. Mate's scent...even though it was faded was magically calm. I concussed immediately. But that could also be because I was really dead tired after being up 22 hours straight.

I woke up at the sound of doors and movement and low growling and then voices.

Ki and Mate had let themselves into the bathroom. The shower turned on but I could hear them talking.

"My dad banished her. I think her parents will arrange for her to be sent to her Aunt's house in the Red Packlands." Mate's voice was so low and growly that I barely made out the words above the running water.

"That must be devastating for Delta Em." Ki observed, "But it would be better for her. The rumours are already firing across most of the mindlinks around our pack, I'm sure. You know how our servants are completely incapable of keeping secrets."

"Who was it who called them back to serve a second round of tea?" Mate asked pointedly.

Ki chuckled, "An eye for an eye, Luna."

"My dad gave her a month to move out though." Mate said.

"How gracious." Ki commented dryly.

"I don't have to tell you it's imperative that my princess be kept away from her." Rebel said.

Like he seriously said that. "IMPERATIVE that MY PRINCESS..." Who talked like that nowadays?

Anyway, I had it. I'm done with lying around and pretending to be sleeping while these two talked! I jumped out of bed and slammed opened the bathroom door, "I can here you! AHHHH!!"

Ki swiftly pulled the shower curtain closed around my naked Mate. Thank goddess for steam.

"You were really showering? Who showered while talking to another person in the bathroom?" I pretty much yelled at Bell.

"He's not just another person, he's my beta." Bell answered from behind the shower curtain. The shower turned off and Ki wordlessly handed a towel to him.

"I don't take showers in front of my betas!" I argued back.

Bell stepped out with the towel around his waist, "You better not."

But he was smiling. He leaned over and kissed my forehead. I could see the water run like rivulets down his neck.

Too close! I backed away quickly out of the bathroom and slammed the door shut.

Bell laughed. Someone was in a good mood. It's not that I wasn't happy about my mate being happy, it more like his good mood was out of character.

Our mate bond felt all happy and chill...

And then they started talking again.

Ki: If you're not careful, you might trigger her wolf.

Bell: Her wolf's cute.

Ki: Not the puppy version, I mean the other one.

Bell: I didn't sense it at all.

Ki: We have been monitoring it around the clock. It appears her mother's intuition was right. As long as her wolf feels unthreatened and her person is happy, it makes no move to surface in its evolved state.

Bell: How is that even possible? Did you find out what I asked of you?

Ki: Yes, it is as you suspected as usual.

I banged on the door, "I still can hear you!"

Ki opened the door, he was still smiling, "A thousand apologies, goddess."

He wasn't sorry at all.

Ki wasn't the easiest person to understand, but just as I was figuring out Mate's subtle usage of "princess" and "baby", I was figuring out Ki's apologies.

"My apologies", "a hundred apologies", and "a thousand apologies" were all said the same way, but the more exaggerated the number, the less sorry he really was.

I wondered if this was also part of the complex frills and drills of the Lorent culture or perhaps it's just a coded pattern of speech that these two idiots adopted on their own.

Lorents had such a roundabout way of communicating.

I had no patience for people who can't answer a yes or no question directly and I had a good mind to completely disregard the nuances and just take their words at face value. Hahaha.

Rebel came out dressed. Ki proceeded to wipe down the bathroom and switch out the dark green shampoo and soap bottles for my pink ones.

I watched him clean as he updated Rebel, "Alpha Kingsley has a secret merging technique which only a few others know of."

Were they spying on my Dad?

Ki continued, "I've asked him to teach me, but he had refused. It's a dark and dangerous technique..."

"Was it that monster technique his brother used?" Bell interuppted.

"Elder Andre? Yes... I believe that was part of it. Alpha Kingsley said the technique had two parts, a merging part and a control part." Ki answered.

"He told you that much?" Bell asked sounding surprised.

"Alpha Kingsley is not a selfish man when it comes to sharing knowledge." Ki answered, "He simply believed the technique was too dangerous to spread further."

"Yet he taught it to his daughter?" Bell asked.

"He was still developing it then... But it seems that the goddess had adapted it on her own." Ki answered.

If it's about that, why didn't they just ask me? Both guys looked at me and then went back to their conversation. Maybe I was invisible. Wth.

"Alpha Kingsley thinks his daughter's atypical wolf form was because he might have taught her the merging technique when she was still a pup." Ki said.

"How old a pup?" Mate asked sharply.

"Maybe 9 or 10." Ki said.

"10." I said. I remembered it was my tenth birthday. Mum made cake but Dad didn't come back from some meeting in another packland untill bedtime. We had an extra late celebration. He bought me a pink stuffed rabbit because he didn't know Mum already bought my birthday present. But later I found out that he had also met rogues on the way home.

He literally fought his way home.

He taught me the first part of the merging technique that night before he tucked me in, "One day, it would give you the power to protect yourself and the ones you love."

"One day, I'll protect everyone" I promised, "Even you Dad. I'll protect Mum and you too."

"No." Dad said, "Just protect yourself and your sister. Only use it to break away, and then take your sister and run."

"Okay. Don't worry. Savy and I are good at running."

And I had practiced every night since...well, at least until I shifted.

"F***." Bell said, "So she merged with her wolf pup who was still developing within her."

Oh, was that were Wolfie came from?

"And Boo? Where did Boo come from?" I asked.

"Who's Boo?" Bell frowned.