STEPPING OUT OF LINE

20 FEBRUARY, SATURDAY, 3PM

The camera lights went off like crazy the moment I left my Beta's hand.

"Has anyone ever told you guys your flashes are way too bright?" I complained lightheartedly.

"All the better to see you with Alpha Princess." One of the camera men answered wolfishly - but not in a nice way. He looked at me in a way that made be feel that his camera's bright flash might help him take photos through my clothes. Ew. Very ew.

I ignored him and took the pony from the other man. There was no pen, and the bright flashing only intensified.

"The rest of you stop. Just STOP." I didn't yell, but I did alpha bombed and commanded at the same time, because I was the Alpha and I seriously had enough.

And then the cameras stopped.

One of my betas magically produced a black permanent marker and popped it open for me.

"Please make it to Mae. T...that's M.A.E." The father said, his face was red, his eyes was kind of desperate looking, I think this moment was crazy for him too... either that or he was crazy.

I turned the pony around it my hands. Now that I could see better, it was such a pretty fluffy pony - how could I scribble on it with a permanent marker? That went against ever fiber of my being, but the crowd was getting restless, and the fire ants were getting antsy (Hahaha), so I should just hurry it up.

I decided to write on the bottom of the pony's back hoof, "To Mae."

{Be brave} Boo wanted to tell her. So I wrote that too.

And then I signed off, "Alpha Princess"... because I felt quite sure no little girl wanted "Sam" to be signed on their pony with permanent ink. That would be like asking Elmo for his signature, and finding Kevin Clash's name instead. Kevin who? Exactly.

When I was done, I handed the pony back to the man, but another hand shot out to grab at it, I pulled back the pony.

Ben took the pony from me and tossed it to one of the fire ants, "You take care of this."

And then someone else tried to grab my hair. I didn't actually see this happening, but you know how my hair had a mind of its own. It stabbed at the hand that tried to grab it.

"Gruarghhhh..." Went someone from behind me. And the sound of camera shutters and flashing lights resumed.

Now the man was sporting a bloodied hand which he held up in the air. I couldn't help but notice he had a penknife in the other... At first glance, I thought he just went and stabbed his hand or something, and then his friend pointed at me and opened his mouth...

But before any accusation could pass through, Harvey ordered, "Have those men detained. Take them away."

And the red ants swarmed into the scene. The two men were up front by the red rope, so they were easy to catch. Some of the camera people pulled back quickly and tried to get out of the way. A few rushed forward, their flashlights going off every few seconds. And still some were just caught in the chaos. I was quite sure I saw one of them just push the guy out from the crowd and into the red ant's grasp.

"This isn't the Green Packlands, you can't arrest me without reason!" The man with the penknife yelled as he was taken away.

Beta Robert had come out to see what the commotion was. I'm guessing that this was the Rob my Dad and Beta Lucas and a red ant passed him the penknife.

Harvey remained unfazed, "I believe brandishing a weapon in front of an Alpha is a crime here in the Gold Packlands too. We are following Silver Mountain protocol here."

Beta Robert listened to whatever the red ant next to him said. He frowned at the penknife the entire time. Then he nodded, "Take them away."

And that was it. Ben's hand pushed me off, away from the flashing cameras and towards the ballroom. Harvey dropped back to walk with Beta Robert to followup on the incident. I heard Beta Robert promise that there would be a through investigation. Omo. Wouldn't that get me in trouble? (Sorry, Mum.)

We stopped just inside the ballroom behind a hidden enclave.

Ki took out some wet wipes to clean the blood off my hair. My hair had the nerve to haughtily lift it's bloody end up to be wiped.

Ben found that amusing though. He chuckled, "Your hair's a monster that likes to be pampered."

I thought about the way I liked it when Mate stroked my hair, or when he kissed the lock in his hand and felt alarmingly warm. Stop. Now was not the time to think about embaressing stuff like that!

Just beyond the enclave someone was announcing, "Green Packlands' Night Leaf Pack's Alpha Princess and betas have arrived."

Eh? Me?

Ben's hand was immediately on my back and off we go. Apparently, the Third Trial was not over yet. I found myself at the top of a curved flight of stairs.

So we had to enter from the second floor, to walk down a flight of stairs to the first floor? Why didn't we just enter from the first floor?

Maybe it was the commotion outside with the camera people, or the announcement, but I was acutely aware of being stared at all the way down the stairs.

This was like those princess movie moments where someone trips and falls down the stairs right? I tried to play my part and smile and descend the stairs gracefully. This should be easy for me. I mean, I'm not the type to trip over steps. Okay, I've ever jumped over stairs or slid on them when it was icy - but I always landed on my feet. If I weren't a wolf, I might have been born a cat.

But the effects of the bright flashes was messing with my eyesight now. Grrr... Very annoying. And I didn't like being stared at - no wolf did.

Luckily Mum rushed over to meet me at the foot of the stairs. These were one of the few moments in my life that I was so so relieved to see her. And then she had to ask,"Oh, Sam! Are you alright? What happened out there?"

I stabbed someone in the hand.

I tried to think of a way to rephrase that, but Ki responded on my behalf, "Apologies if we worried you, luna. The goddess was attacked by a man with a blade."

Which did nothing to make my mother less worried, mind you.

And apparently, everyone at the scene (except me, since this was done behind my back) had seen my assailant grab at a handful of my hair and try to cut it off with his penknife. There were videos in multiple angles because, get this, most of the big flashing cameras could record videos too. Okay...maybe it was common knowledge to you, but I didn't know that!

The funny thing was that on camera (at least according to the footages LNC showed later that day), it looked like the assailant angled his way up to the front with his accomplice, grabbed my hair, and then probably cut himself by accident in the process. This led to more than one derisive comment about the assailant's capabilities for crime.

I felt a bit sorry for him, since I knew it wasn't his fault. It was one thing to get caught and thrown in the dungeons, it was another to be mocked for being an epic fail in your attempt to break the law. It wasn't even his fault! How was he supposed to know that my hair was not the easiest to cut through, especially if it decided to turn metallic, or that my hair could stab someone, because I was sure it was not his cutter that cut him.

I distinctly remember seeing a clean penknife in his other right hand even while the blood flowed from left hand. How it was that no one else saw it was beyond me.

My hair was so sneaky.

Anyway, Ki's words made Mum gasp. Beta Robert felt he had to apologize for the security breech on their part.

Dad put a large hand on my head, in the usual way he always did, just to check that I was alright. Of course I was alright.

"Gr." Dad nodded satisfied.

Alpha George and his Luna came over to show their concern and see if there was anything they could assist us with as our hosts.

I shrugged it off with a mumbled, "Thanks, but it's no big deal."

I would rather just pretend none of it happened and stop having everyone stare at me like this.

"As long as the person is safe." Alpha George nodded.

"And the perpetrator is brought to justice." Ki smiled, his beautiful smile.

"Yes, of course, of course. I'll have Robert take care of it personally." Alpha George promised.

Honestly, it was just hair. Even if he could cut some off, my person would still be safe.

"My poor brave Sam." Mum rubbed my back.

"Such beautiful hair." Henry's Mum cooed to my Mum, "The goddess surely favours her."

Mum smiled at her, "Thank you. I do worry endlessless for her though."

Henry's Mum smiled her understanding, "What mother would not worry for their child? I often tell Henry that it is my job as his mother to worry."

To this Mum laughed, and the Lunas were immediately bonded by their important responsibility to worry on behalf of their children.

I followed Mum and Dad as they made their rounds after that. Every now and then someone new would be announced. Every now and then, Ki would tut and shake his because some Alpha and Luna came so late.

"What about Alpha Solomon?" I asked, "He came even later!"

Apparently there was an unspoken queue system, the higher your pack ranking, the later you were allowed to come. Generally speaking, in terms of entrances, the later you were, the grander because then everyone had to wait for your arrival and watch you enter.

"But we came in after Alpha James and Luna Edith." And everyone knew the Lorent Pack was number 1 in the Green Packlands.

"Yes." Ki shrugged and smiled like the flower to the sun, "The tide is changing to our favour, and the rest of the world would soon know it."

Were we overtaking the Lorents already? Now that I thought about it, we were now the bigger pack - we had Morning Light, and Stephan's Pack (or whatever was left of it), and the Underground Army. Plus now with the tribute from the Ciara Coven, our pack pockets were well lined.

Still, it was hard to believe. I was more inclined to think we played punk and the Lorents were just too gracious to pick on us for it.

Anyway, Dad didn't enjoy the Welcome Reception at all. I think he only got through the entire thing without shifting into his wolf form and running away because Mum was there.

"If your Mum weren't here, we wouldn't even had shown up." Beta Lucas told me.

But Mum was here, and Dad managed to get through okay. Basically, we had some people we needed to greet. Like Alpha George and his Luna (check), Alpha Solomon - not because Dad actually wanted to see him, but our packs were on some bilateral trade agreement, so Dad had to shake hands with him, and of course Alpha James and Luna Edith. Luna Edith gave me a quick hug. She even asked if I was alright after that frightful encounter. I smiled and nodded and took a while to figure out that she was refering to the guy with the penknife.

Dad asked where Bell was - which touch and nerve because Alpha James growled a little and shook his head, "That boy is unable to attend any event on time."

But he said it while smiling through his teeth because a photographer was snapping away. After that, both men shook hands for the camera, and Alpha James excused himself to greet our host... Yes, again, because the gift giving ceremony was a separate event and one should greet one's host at EVERY SINGLE EVENT.

We were going to have to greet Alpha George and his Luna multiple times today. I guess this was one way to feel popular - host a whole bunch of events in a single day. Everyone would be lined up to greet you repeatedly.

There were also guests who wanted to greet us. Like Uncle Louis and Aunt Jade. Dad and Uncle Louis greeted each other with a handshake. Uncle Louis loudly declared, "Brother, good to see you!"

"We just met last week." Dad reminded him.

"But it's still good to see you." Uncle Louis thumped Dad's back, "Why can't I be glad to see you?" Uncle Louis was in a good mood today.

"Yes, yes, good." Dad said, but he could've just as well have said, "Whatever."

Mum and Aunt Jade made some small talk which inadvertently led to Aunt Jade telling Mum how she was sure that Little Eddy was set on making her life difficult.

"I had no idea having a boy was going to be like this." Aunt Jade placed a hand on Mum's arm to confide, "If I knew it would be like this, I would've stopped at two like you did!"

Mum laughed and patted Aunt Jade's hand, "Whether girls or boys, all pups are a blessing, and they will grow up fine."

Aunt Jade didn't look so sure about that, "I hope he grows out of his tantrums, I really hate it when he throws them. He's so strong now, I can't stop him anymore. Luckily, his sisters help me."

"Alpha wolves can be a little more strong willed." Mum said soothingly.

So Little Eddy was discovering his inner wolf? Cool.

After that, Ki informed me that we had to go greet Henry too.