THE ALPHA IS THE HEAD...

Fluffy was never good with the concept of personal space. Leaning closer into Wolfgang's face, he lowered his voice to ask, "Have I misspoken, Hotstuff?"

Hotstuff jerked back to remove his face from Fluffy's breath, "No."

See, I told you there were three tests.

I'm not sure what the third test was about though. EVERYONE saw it, and of course, some kind of complicated feelings were evoked - shock, surprise, amusement... and the usual disapproval.

Wolfgang himself was flushed and his embarrassment seeped through our shared mindlinks. The fire wolf turned his face from Fluffy as if to look out of the window, but in wolf body language, the elder wolf had been offended by the younger one.

I'm not sure why Wolfgang was tolerating Fluffy's nonsense. I would have kicked Fluffy's chair legs out from under him. Maybe Wolfgang was just too dignified to make a scene in the presence of Alpha wolves.

For Wolfgang's sake, I couldn't just let it be, "Fluffy. Please learn to observe personal space."

Fluffy obligingly put down his leg and removed his arm, "Yes, Princess."

So he did understand, at least conceptually, what personal space was.

{F***ing, fight dog.} Ben said, but he sounded more amused than angry.

{Fluff, behave.} Harvey warned tersely.

{Understood, Betas.} Fluffy nodded a bow and his Alpha Wolf receded, along with the alpha dominance he had cast.

It was like one moment he was alpha, and suddenly, he was Fluffy again. Was it like that when I switched gears and Boo took over?

But back to the meeting, "Okay, let's move on to the next table."

We were moving clockwise so it was Dad's table. Beta Lucas appointed himself to represent his table, so the introduction was quite choppy. He didn't even stand up, making the introductions sitting back in his chair, a hand resting behind his head and the other one gesturing vaguely at whoever he was introducing.

"All of you know who I am. And of course, you know my Alpha, Alpha Kingsley, and his Luna. Gerald is no stranger, I'm sure. My mate, Willow is acting advisor, and Edna here is our table's secretary. We are the elders of Night Leaf. We're just here to support the young people so we can retire early. That's all." Beta Lucas smirked rather satisfied at Dad's direction like he was sure he nailed it.

Hahaha. I'm sure Wolfgang would have quite some things to say about that! But Night Leaf had never had a Great Teacher's disciple to teach us, so Dad inclined his head, "Thank you, Lucas."

Actually, this was exactly how Night Leaf intros went, I'm not sure when I started thinking it was lacking. Was it because of the lecture Wolfgang gave me earlier?

Because I couldn't help but remember that Dad and his leadership team weren't officially elders yet, because I wasn't alpha yet. Come to think of it, Night Leaf didn't have Elders. Dad and Beta Lucas were the founding leaders.

I grinned at their table, "You always say that Beta Lucas, but all of you will have to put your retirement plans on hold. Even when I'm alpha, I would still need your guidance."

Beta Lucas made a face and shrugged, "Whatever you say. When you're the alpha... You're the boss. I'm not stupid enough to cheese off my future boss, eh Gerald?"

He jabbed Beta Gerald in the ribs and laughed at his own joke. Beta Gerald shifted uncomfortably but managed to laugh along and nod.

That was the beauty of a Night Leaf wolf. At least that was what I had always admired about my Dad and Beta Lucas. No matter who they were in front of, they were always themselves. Always the same. Always never given a damn.

I turned my head to look at Wolfgang, so why were they so happy for Wolfgang to teach me?

We were the barbarian wolves of the Green Packlands. Didn't Dad leave Night Forest and all its trappings to be free from tradition and formalities?

All this while, with the massive PR efforts to reposition our public image. All this while with the lineup of top teachers taking me under their wings - Lady Amber, Alpha Gunter, and now Sir Wolfgang... All this while, with the upgrading of our facilities, like the upgrading of our dungeons, I mean "Detention Facilities." All this while, I thought we were making progress away from our barbaric ways, but could it be that we were actually REGRESSING into the old traditional ways?

Stephan stood up to represent his table next. I'm not sure why all of us were picking the worst possible candidate to introduce us when all of us had perfectly capable ones. I had Harvey. Dad had Beta Gerald. Even Mum or Mrs Beta could've aced it.

And now Stephan... When they had... Well, anyone at the table would have a friendlier face and a larger word count than Stephan... Except for Theo. Yes. But they had Owen, Titanium, and Hank! I mean seriously! Anyone of them would have been good choices.

Stephan stood up, his large frame making the chair behind him look tiny. And then he too released his Alpha dominance. He didn't bomb. Neither did Fluffy. But until now, both alpha wolves had politely kept their alpha dominance well under wraps when in front of my Dad and the other pack wolves.

I glared daggers at Fluffy. I don't know what's going on, but I knew who was behind it! This had to be Fluffy's doing! But why did Stephan even listen to Fluff? Arughhhh.... My wolves! Why did I have to be backed by troublesome guys like these?

Fluffy only smiled at me when he notice my eyes on him. I sorely wanted to hit him, but I was in front of my elders and in a formal meeting. I adverted my gaze... Oh! Hahaha.

I had just done exactly what Wolfgang did! So now Fluffy was sitting between two wolves who were refusing to look at him. For someone who was offending everyone left right and center, Fluffy was clearly enjoying himself.

Why was Fluffy so messed up?

When Stephan showed his Alpha Wolf, the rest of the conference room took pause again. He made a curt now where he stood and in his deep monotone introduced, "From my left to right, I'm Stephan. Captain of the Underground. Theo my vice. Delta Owen, Secretary. Captain Tie of NLML. Hank, his vice. End of introduction."

Where NL-ML was Night Leaf-Morning Light? I guessed. I mean, it could be short for anything really.

And then he sat down. Why were all my new wolves messed up?

Titanium gave Stephan a firm pat on his shoulder, "Good job."

Hank gave Stephan a thumbs up.

"Yah man," Beta Lucas quipped from his table, "Short and sweet."

The XL warriors looked very pleased with themselves.

There had to be a reason why the Underground Army had blended in so well with our local wolves.

Moving on to Alpha Lorent's table.

{Hoo boy, here we go..} Beta Lucas mindlinked my Dad.

{Lucas...} Dad warned, {Be patient.}

{Here we go...} Ben mindlinked to our group.

I tried a la Dad, {Ben, be patient.}

But the likeness to his Dad ended here, Ben rolled his eyes and shrugged, {Just kill me, Sam.}

Hahahaha.

I actually laughed into the mindlink. If Lizzy were here, she'd say, {Don't encourage him, Sam.}

But she wasn't.

Harvey sent Ben a terse, {Watch it, Head Beta.}

Ben only laughed back though because our head beta was more afraid of his twin sister than Harvey. Hahaha.

Unfortunately, our fun was cut short when Delta William stood up. He made a stiff bow and greeted everyone very properly on behalf of his alpha and esteemed colleagues. I'm just going to give the summary because it was very long and also Ben and Fluffy's running commentary over the mindlink because they helped me get through the long intro.

Before he began the introduction, Delta Williams just had to comment on the impressive display of strength of the young wolves in the room.

BEN: Huh, is that supposed to be a compliment?

The words sounded good, but his tone didn't match.

FLUFFY: He means that we were showing off, Scary Beta.

Oh.

The Alpha Princess is capable as evidenced by the support of powerful and notable wolves around her. No one can contest her in this aspect.

I wasn't sure what Delta Williams meant by this either. Was he looking for an aspect to contest me in?

FLUFFY: Now he's saying that the reason why Pretty Alpha is leading our merger and the next alpha of our combined packs is obviously because of the support of the power and influence of the wolves around her.

Wow. Who knew Fluffy could understand Lorent code? But Fluffy was very good at languages. My betas had found that he could read most lycan and vampiric texts fluently - even the really old ones.

Either that or Fluffy was just spinning his own version events. I mean, technically, if you only looked at the words, Delta William's only sin was his digression from the introduction and long-winded speech.

Today was Delta William's first time attending the cadence. This was accompanied by a story of how Alpha Lorent had approached him to be part of the merger committee and he had been very humbled at the invitation, but apprehensive due to his own heavy commitments as the Head Treasurer of the Glorious Lorent Pack. Furthermore, he definitely felt there were wolves more deserving than he to receive this honor, or young wolves who might gain more from this experience. Yet Alpha Lorent convinced him. Alpha Lorent had told him that he needed to lean on his wisdom. How could Delta William refuse such a request from his Alpha? Therefore, although he was just an old wolf, it was with great humility that he was standing here today as his Alpha's support.

Ben had some quite rude things to say about that. Haha. But let's just get this ever lengthening introduction done with!

He went on to introduce everyone according to hierarchy, starting with his Alpha Lorent. "The man himself" and his lovely luna, Luna Edith. He said a lot of words...effusively praising Alpha James and Luna Edith's wisdom and leadership. With each introduction, he would heap glowing praises and sometimes throw in a short story about what he remembered of that person. For example, "Even as a young boy... I remember when I was first introduced to him... that left a lasting impression on me..." Blah blah blah.

The only valuable piece of information I got was that the friendly Delta's name was Delta Bernard. Yes, I know he was introduced to me at least twice before, but I was bad with names, okay? Delta Bernard would in good nature, bob his head in agreement at all the praises Delta William sang.

Ben kept checking his watch, {I'm timing him.}

{Did you know, Scary Beta, that long winded men live longer?} Fluffy asked.

Harvey groaned. (But only over the mindlink.)

{Because they have a long wind.} Fluffy smiled.

{Did you know, Fluffy, that wolves who tell bad jokes die young?} Ben asked.

Harvey groaned again. (Also only over the mindlink.)

{Cut it out, you two.} My good beta ordered.

Despite that, Ben and Fluffy continued to make a lot of other comments throughout the introductions. And for some reason, Wolfgang said nothing of it. I almost thought they had excluded him from the mindlinks.

But when Delta William decided to end his introduction by saying, "I would like to end my introduction with a quote..."

My wolves groaned into the mindlinks. It was almost funny to observe their misery at Delta William's mercy, except that I was suffering too.

At the next table, Beta Lucas groaned - aloud.

"I promise, I will make this short." Delta William assured us, but he had already overshot his allocated time by a bazillion words.

"This is one of the ancient quotes, and its depths are as mysterious as its origins." Delta William told us.

Now that I had been to the Colored Mountains, such an introduction only served to cast shade on the quote. But that's just me. I think I've become cynical.

"The Alpha is the head..."

My wolves groaned into the mindlink again. Hahaha... I joked into the mindlink, "Let's play a game. Which one of the 300 standard quotes about the alpha's head was Delta William thinking about?"

And Wolfgang laughed. (But only into the mindlink.) {Touche, Princess.}

So Wolfgang did hear Ben and Fluffy's less-than-gracious background commentary throughout Delta William's airtime. I was surprised. I had initially taken Wolfgang's silence to mean affirmation when I first started the meeting, but now it seemed Wolfgang's silence didn't mean affirmation at all.

{Why aren't you scolding us for messing around over the mindlink, Wolfgang?} I asked.

{Today is my first meeting. I am only sitting in to observe, princess.} Wolfgang said.

Oh, so we were being graded.

{He's lurking and judging.} Ben concluded.

Fluffy raised his hand, "The Alpha is the head. Cut off the head, and even the fiercest wolves become like sheep and scatter."

EH? How did Fluffy know that one?