PARTY WITH THE PRINCESS: EVERYONE HAD SOME KIND OF PLAN

Our first hour at the club was almost up. Henry checked his watch and Beta Pete immediately took it as a sign to report that most of the guests have arrived.

Unfortunately, the pool deck was fully booked, and there was only one Platinum Lounge. Harvey had kindly used his card to open the Greater Gold Lounge for the guests to start the evening entertainment first. Beta Pete planned to let the Gold Lounge fill up first before inviting selected VIPs up to the Platinum Lounge.

Henry nodded, "Thanks, Harv. Forward the bill to my personal account."

"No worries, Alpha. Will do." Harvey nodded coolly.

Harvey, who had been stuck by my side since I came out of the washroom. His expression was the usual calm, but without the wry smile. He had been like my shadow and wall. Standing between me and Henry, and pretty much any other male in the room. He was probably just doing his duty as my good beta, but between him and Ki, I was zealously sandwiched like the white cream between two midnight blue Oreos.

Like even Fluffy who was supposed to be my date had been displaced from my side.

Why?

Were they worried that someone might try to snag the crystals on my dress? Wait... Were these crystals like something ridiculously valuable? Like diamonds? Was I wearing a dress Graziano attacked with diamonds and a bedazzler gun?

Why would anyone in their right mind do that?

"We'll go downstairs, greet the guests, take photos, head up to Abigail's party, and then come back down to the Platinum Lounge to chill." Henry decided for our group.

Henry turned to me and called over Harvey's overprotective shoulder, "Sam, come with me. Half of them are your guests. I'll intro you if you intro me."

Which was probably the networking opportunity of a lifetime if you were into that sort of thing.

Wait, like half of the guests... There had to be some mistake because I didn't know that many people!

Harvey coolly nodded a bow, "Ki and I would be accompanying our Alpha. Thank you Alpha Henry for the opportunity."

"No, no." Henry beamed, "I'm not doing it for nothing. You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours."

It looks like Henry and my betas were planning to grow their network tonight too.

There were a lot of plans going about.

The cool girls planned to go down to the Gold Lounge too. They were going to rub shoulders with all the famous people, post it on their social media, and rub it into the birthday girl's face. Maybe there'll be reporters or better still, photographers and they'd accidentally get caught on camera and appear in People or Vogue... Or maybe even Tatler or The New Lorent.

I highly doubted it. I've seen Jessica's copies of The New Lorent and we weren't exactly in ceremonial dresses or wrapped in jewelry. Plus this party sounded rather loud... I could hear it from the moment the glass elevator stopped us on the Gold Floor.

There was a couple kissing against the wall.

"Get a room." Henry told them gruffly. And then he tapped his platinum card on a nearby door, unlocking a smaller lounge.

"Thanks, Alpha." The man gave Henry a lopsided grin.

Henry smirked back because he was such a gracious host.

"That's Marc." One of the cool girls whispered loudly.

They meant the kissing guy, not our Marcus.

"Oh my god, the lucky b****." Leia hissed anyway.

Our Marcus had the gall to laugh.

"I'm going to get kissed like that tonight." Zara determined a little too aloud.

"What?" Ivan sounded properly shocked.

According to my friends, Ivan was a very straight-laced guy.

"Zara. Be patient... Ivan isn't that kind of guy." Krystal hissed from the side.

I would like to think that most guys wouldn't kiss their dates against the wall like that at parties.

"I doubt he has ever kissed a girl." Leia added.

"If you come on too fast, you'd scare him away." Krystal warned.

"Oh. Okay." Zara nodded.

"Tone it down. Guys like to think they're more experienced than you are." Krystal advised.

I worried a little for Ivan, but he was with the other guys and out of earshot. One of them saw a bunch of girls walking around in their underwear. Now they were hanging on the side craning their necks trying to see if it was true. One of them sensibly said that was impossible, they had to be in swimwear. Maybe they were from Abigail's pool party. Maybe they were looking for the washroom and got lost. Yet another swore there was lace! This sparked some debate. Since when did swimwear have lace?

"Haha, kids." Fluffy said because he overheard them too.

Fluffy was our age, right?

Anyway, the guys had plans too. Nothing to do with the underwear/swimsuit ladies. Marcus had warned the guys that Henry's parties can get a little wild and our guys decided that as responsible dates, they would stick around to protect us girls. They had been worried about leaving us alone in this "wild crowd". I don't think they had anything to worry about though.

It's not like scantily clad women were going to target us.

Inside, the party was swinging. And I don't mean like a school dance or a packhouse party. I had never been to a party like this. The scene wasn't terribly wild or crazy - our adults back home could rock around the clock louder and crazier, but from the moment the doors were opened for us, I was struck by how dark it was.

It was really dark in the Gold Lounge, like even with my wolf eyesight, it felt extremely dim. I looked up at the ceiling for the lights. Did they not install lights? Or maybe the main power got cut and they had to rely on strobe lights and the ambient wavy lights on the ceiling. The ambient wavy lights were very much like the ones in my room, but in neon pink instead of turquoise blue, and instead of just ocean waves, it made a sound wave pattern that seemed to be jumping to the beat. Maybe all the power was diverted to the DJ console. The music pounded from the front in a steady beat, and a few couples shook and gyrated and side-stepped... To each their own.

Everyone else was packed on the other side of the lounge where there were more of those plush sofas to sink into, and I distinctly smelled alcohol being served.

The music suddenly died down, and everyone had to look up.

"The Young Alpha Henry is here." Beta Pete announced.

There were many humans in the crowd, some of them stood up and bowed alongside the wolves. Others just paused and waited for it to be over. Not all humans liked to participate in Lycan etiquette.

And then my Oreos fanned opened and Ki announced with his beautiful smile, "Alpha Princess is here."

I was not prepared for this.

You'd think after Wolfgang's lecturing all afternoon, I would have been more ready to represent at this moment. But I wasn't. I know, I know, I was the Alpha Princess, the future alpha... blah blah blah. But essentially, I was still just Sam. Anyway, I just froze like a deer caught in headlights.

That wasn't my coolest moment, but I'm telling myself that it was really dark and nobody would've actually seen my freezing up. EVEN IF THEY DID, because we were still at the entrance where there were some uplights along the walls, at least I didn't freeze in a weird pose. I stood quite frozen, and again everyone just stared for a full moment of uncomfortable silence.

And once again, I was saved by Henry. This was becoming a rather irritating reoccurrence. I hated myself for always being a step slower in what seemed to be just EVERY social situation.

"Thanks for coming." Henry said jovially. This was his PR tone. Trust me. "I'll come round to say hi in a bit. Just relax and enjoy yourselves."

Everyone clapped. Someone at the back of the darkness hooted a little, "Long live Alpha Henry!"

More applause and then the music came back on and the party resumed.

"I call dibs on the DJ console!" EJ shouted above the music even though there was obviously already someone there, "Fluffy, come help me with the lights!"

"Beta Pete, can we have a spin?" Fluffy asked on behalf of his friend.

Beta Pete nodded, "I suppose. You may tell him I sent you."

"But if you suck, I'm calling security." Henry warned.

The guys laughed like it was a joke. I was undecided.

"YES! Come on babe!" EJ grabbed Krystal by her hand, "Come sit on the DJ console!"

WTH, who'd want to do that? But at least EJ didn't forget he had a date. Fluffy blew me a kiss. I pretended to dodge it. And Harvey, my good beta, was quick enough to pretend to swat it before it hit him in the face.

I laughed, but mostly I was happy because Harvey and Ki had somewhat chilled out again. Harvey's wry smile was a welcomed sight.

The guys laughed again. This time Fluffy too. Like a real laugh. And then he turned and left for the DJ booth.

Two minutes later, the music turned down and the lights suddenly started flickering to a rhythmic thumping. Chill feeling gone.

It sounded almost like a heartbeat, the kind I've experienced just before a fight, and then the lights turned down and EJ asked, "Have you ever fallen in love?"

And then suddenly the music and lights went crazy, a dance track came on and the party cheered when they recognized it.

"I'm coming so you better move it! Grab yourselves some booty and shake it!" EJ crowed into the mic.

Which I felt sure meant something indecent.

"DJ Red is in the house." EJ announced himself and then played a single line off a dance track, "I'm going to break your heart."

The cool girls screamed like Elsa had reappeared. But it wasn't just them. Suddenly, the women were screaming and the music was pounding.

"Hoi hoi, pretty ladies! Get down to the floor!" The lights did this shaking effect and EJ started counting down, "The lights go out in 5...4... 3.."

Bodies started surging towards the dance floor with surprising urgency and the heartbeat got louder. Harvey expertly exchanged positions with me so that I was physically blocked by Ki and himself from the onslaught of failing arms as they passed us.

Suddenly I felt quite glad to be in the center of our Oreo. I held my breath for the human stampede to pass. Wth was happening?

As I watched the scene before me, I worried about the max load of the building. Was it okay for everyone to be jumping and stamping and shaking on one half of the lounge? It's not that building safety was something I naturally considered, but I could feel the ground vibrating under my heels in an alarming way. It was like being trapped in an enclosed glass room during an earthquake.

When I next looked about, most of my friends had all disappeared. Washed away with the dancing bodies into the now darkness of the dance floor. I worried some more.

The lights ebbed on and the music resumed, EJ was switching between tracks. Heartbeat, music, heartbeat, music, and then the single line as if it were some kind of promise, "I'm going to break your heart."

I could feel my own heart jump to the rhythm. I clenched my fists by my side in a bid to fight the beat.

"I'm going to break your heart."

Who knew dancing could be so dangerous?

And then at just the right moment, the lights above us lit up like stars, and then smoke-like wisps of clouds. I looked up at the effect of lights and smoke on the ceiling. Almost like we were watching the evening sky back home.

My heart did a somersault. I almost reached out to my nearest beta to dance. Luckily the next moment, EJ played, "I'm going to break your heart."

And that was all the warning I needed to hold back.

"What the hell." Henry looked pleased, "Pete. Make sure EJ and Fluffy play at my parties from now on."