WHAT DID SAM DO WRONG?

20 FEBRUARY, SATURDAY, 3.30PM

I let my betas lead me till I saw Henry and Marcus talking to some other guy.

"Alpha Princess is here." Beta Peter informed Henry.

Henry looked up, "Oh, hi Sam."

He smirked a little. He was in a good mood, but given that it was his inauguration day, I guess that was to be expected.

"Hi Henry. Hi Marcus. Hi Pete." I said.

Beta Peter looked completely caught off guard at my greeting, but he managed to give me a quick bow and a smile, "Good afternoon, princess."

But it was too late, I was taken off guard by Beta Peter being taken off guard. What did I do wrong now?

Let's play a game called, "What did Sam do wrong?"

There had to be a million rules in formal lycan society - most of which I hadn't the faintest clue about. I mean I did hear stories from Dad and Beta Lucas, but after the first three trials getting to this point, I was starting to think that my Dad and Beta Lucas might not have been to top experts on such matters as fancy schmancy alpha etiquette.

I could ask my betas, but it didn't occur to me then.

Marcus cleared his throat, "Ehm, Sam... This is my Alpha, Alpha Nicolas, and his Luna."

Marcus didn't bother to give me his Luna's name. Its like that. Luna's were almost always, Alpha Somebody's Luna. Even on Dad's invitation to Henry's inauguration, it was addressed to "Alpha Kingsley and Beta" on the envelope, and one was supposed to read it and understand that either Dad, or Beta Lucas was allowed to open it, and the invitation inside would be to Alpha Kingsley and his Luna (optional), and his Beta. I used to be upset on Mum's behalf about this, but Mum said that its just an old Lycan convention and to pay no mind to it.

"Why can't they make a new way to do it?" I asked.

Mum shrugged, "As long as its understandable by everyone, its fine."

"We could do it like the humans do." I suggested, "It could be to Mr and Mrs Kingsley."

"But we're wolves, not humans." Mum pointed out gently. And that was that.

Alpha Nicolas smiled in a friendly way, "Any friend of Marc, is a friend of mine. Please, call me Nick."

"Okay." I answered, "You can call me Sam."

Nick's Luna smiled and gave me a once over, "So, you're our Marc's little girlfriend?"

Eh, what?

Marcus' eyes widened and he shook his head vehemently behind me.

I shook my head too.

At this point, Charbear came over and sidled over to Henry's side, "Alpha, I see you are busy with your friends."

Then why was she here?

Henry smirked, "Then why are you here?"

Exactly.

Charbear pouted, "I just wanted to say hi too."

She looked at me, so I took it as my cue to help her, "Oh, yeah. Hi, Charbear."

Charbear gave me a very forced smile, "I've been seeing you all over my news feed lately."

"Maybe that's because your news feed has been conditioned to recommend news from the tabloid and gossip columns." I tried to be helpful, "Your news feed is based on what you usually click on or searched."

For some reason Charbear scowled at me. Marcus coughed into his hand - a not so discreet sign that he was laughing. Nick and his luna laughed out loud and Henry looked terribly amused.

Then Nick's Luna said, "Well, who doesn't like a bit of juicy gossip?"

Charbear stopped scowling and even managed to laugh a little, "Yes...I suppose."

Now Nick decided to speak, "But I must ask, Princess - be honest now - first Henry and now you, are all the alphas in the world trying to wrest my beta from me?"

Trying to what now? His beta was Marcus right?

I looked at Henry, "What did you do?"

Henry shrugged, completely unapologetic, "I offered to double Marcus' salary."

Wow.

"And what did you do?" Henry asked me.

I shrugged, "Nothing. I have enough betas."

"One would think you were collecting them!" Nicks Luna said, and then she laughed and added, just in case I took offense, "I'm just kidding."

I shook my head again, "Not really. And I'm not trying to take your beta from you, don't worry."

"Then you're really just dating him?" Nick asked.

"I'm not dating Marcus!" I was horrified. I took a quick look at Marcus who was wearing a similarly horrified expression.

"We're just friends." I said. What made them think that we were dating?

Nick's Luna laughed and patted Nicks arm, "I told you they weren't really dating. You can't believe everything you see on the news nowadays."

"There's no smoke without a fire." Nick reasoned.

Seriously? He wasn't even going to give me the benefit of doubt?

"An alpha daughter like her would not be dating a young beta from a minor pack. If she wants to cheat on the Young Alpha Lorent, it would be with another Young Alpha. Preferably one who is as rich and powerful as her mate." Nick's luna purred and looked meaningfully at Henry.

Now Charbear was glaring openly at me.

Henry didn't help at all, he had the gall to smirk, "I wish! Unfortunately, I'm not the kind of guy who would mess with my friend's mate."

Hey! Did it occur to you that I wasn't the kind of girl who would cheat on my mate? Or mess with guys in general? Or mess with Henry specifically?

"That's always good to hear." A deep familiar voice intoned from behind me.

{Mate! Oh, it's Mate! Mate! Mate!}

I spun around in total surprise and right there was Mate. In the flesh, and also in a grey suit, very properly and Lorently dressed. How did I not sense him?

Mate took the half step to close the distance between us. He drew my head towards his shoulder and dropped a kiss on my head, I was so surprised I pulled away, or at least I tried to, but Mate had a possessive hand around me, and he wouldn't let go. I touched the top of my head where his lips had landed just a second ago. WTH!

Mate winked, {Cute.}

{I'm not cute!}

"Hey, James." Henry's smile was wide. He didn't seem to notice our mindlinks or Mate's public show of affection. The two guys shook hands, "Glad to see you finally made it."

"Would you believe the traffic?" Mate smirked.

Henry laughed like it was the funniest joke and slapped Mate on his shoulder.

"Alpha Lorent." Nick and his luna dropped a slight bow, "Congratulations on your coming Investiture."

"And you are?" Mate asked lightly.

"Marcus' Alpha," Henry did the introductions, "Nicolas and his Luna."

Mate nodded coldly, he completely ignored any of the betas, and then he completely ignored Nick and his Luna. He simply turned to Henry, "Congrats Henry. Did you get my gift?"

Henry grinned, "Yes. Nice. Thanks."

Mate smiled too, "Well, if you want more, you know where to go."

Henry laughed, "Sure, sure. But I'd expect a friend's discount."

And then Mate let go of me, and the two of them slipped away together because they were thick as thieves that way. He was supposed to be MY MATE, but he would rather talk business with Henry than hang out with me. Fine, they can go date each other! Humph!

Awkward silence.

Charbear took a quick bow, "Oh! Sorry, my Dad just mindlinked me. I need to go help him with something. Please excuse me."

She was lying by the way. But I nodded, I could tell she was that desperate to get away.

"Princess, Alpha Solomon is speaking with your parents now. He is asking for you." Ki stepped up to inform me.

Oh! Yay! I was just about to nod a bow and excuse myself when Ki bowed on my behalf, "Please excuse us, Alpha Nicolas and Luna."

Ki handed his name card to Alpha Nicolas, and Alpha Nicolas quickly handed Ki his card too. And without further ado, I was whisked away by Ben, with Ki and Harvey following behind us.

"Ah, here comes the princess!" Alpha Solomon smiled when I neared my parents. For some reason, Alpha Gunter, Alpha James, and Luna Edith were also in the same circle. I quickly made a bow to all the elder Alphas, "Good afternoon alphas."

"No need to be so formal." Alpha Gunter smiled gently. It was a smile very much like one of Ki's, but when Ki uses it, it was only because he was being very careful.

I tried to think how to accommodate his request, "Then, hello alphas."

Alpha Solomon laughed, "Hello to you too, princess. How are you? I heard you had some problems on your way in."

I nodded, "I'm fine. It wasn't a big deal."

"Are you hurt at all?" Alpha Gunter asked.

"No. Thank you, but I'm really fine. My hair isn't easily cut." I said.

To which Alpha Solomon nodded, "So I would imagine."

Which really made me wonder exactly what he imagined. I wondered what Trainers XL, L, and M went back and told him about my kraken state of hair?

Alpha Gunter nodded, "That's good then. Blue wolves are rare, at most one in every generation. Because of this, their hair and fur are oftentimes cruelly targeted. You were lucky it was only a photographer and not a hunter. A hunter would not have accidentally cut his own hand."

Mum and Luna Edith gasped - synchronized gasping. But the weird thing was the way Alpha Gunter spoke, his eyes looking into the distance, as if he was remembering something, something that caused the air around the snow wolf alpha to drop a few degrees.

"Nonsense!" This was Alpha George charging into our conversation, "The security at Silver Mountain is top notch - no hunter would dare to enter this territory."

"Ah, now we are all here!" Alpha Solomon had a wide smile, "Wait, no, where is Alpha Louis?"

Uncle Louis and Aunt Jade were ushered over immediately.

"What's this?" Uncle Louis sounded both surprised and pleased at the same time, "Why are you calling me here?"

"A photo! Let's take a photo." Alpha George decided, "It's not everyday that the top dogs of every colored packland in the continent can gather like this."

"We're not dogs, we're wolves." Alpha Solomon took offense.

"Yes, yes, top wolves." Alpha George agreed quickly, "Robert! Where's my son?"

And then he saw Henry and Mate talking nearby and shouted (even though a mindlink to his son would've done the trick), "Son! Son! Quick come over! Ah, the Young Alpha Lorent! You come too."

And then Alpha George had to look for his Luna, "Where is my Luna?"

Alpha Gunter decided to signal for River to come over.

"Oh hi, River!" I felt happy to see a familiar face who would probably be as clueless as I was when it came to making small talk with alphas.

"Sam!" River looked genuinely glad to see me, his entire face brightened with a smile, "I forgot you would be here too!"

Meanwhile, Alpha Solomon had to call his protégé, who he introduced as Trevor. Trevor was the same age as Mate, and the both of them seemed to know each other.

"Hey, Rebel!" Trevor shook Bell's hand, "Congratulations. In another month, you would be saddled with full alpha duties and you can't go disappearing wherever you like anymore."

Yes, they obviously know each other.

"Meanwhile, unless your alpha dies, you're stuck as his assistant till the end of his term." Mate told him.

You know what, how about we play, "What did Bell do wrong?" instead of "What did Sam do wrong?"

Trevor sighed and shook his head, "Yes, my life is a bitter pill to swallow."

I couldn't tell if he were serious or joking, but Alpha Solomon laughed, "Surely its not all that bad!"

"Easy for you to say, Alpha." Trevor smiled now, "You're not the one dealing with the press after every PR disaster YOU caused."'

Alpha Solomon only boomed in laughter, "Now, now, if you say it like that, everyone would think I like to stir up trouble."

No, we all knew you liked to stir up trouble. You did it on the news all the time... wait a minute - was I judging Alpha Solomon exactly like how Alpha Nicolas and his luna judged me? Based on random news footages and whatever the LNC reported? I should know better by now!

"No?" Alpha Gunter smiled thinly, "For someone who doesn't like stirring up trouble, you definitely do it a lot."

"Do I?" Alpha Solomon grinned ruefully, "I suppose someone has to do it. We can't all be secluded in our ice towers."

By now, photographers and generally everyone else was watching us. The top alphas from every colored packland laughing and talking and posing for photos like they were friends. Wow. This was like nothing the world had ever seen before.

"I think this must be the blue wolf effect that Dad was talking about." River told me as he watched the scene, "You really bring people together."

No, I was quite sure I didn't do this. I shook my head. It had nothing to do with me. Alpha George was the one who wanted to take photographs.

"Dad said your blue wolf is a sign from the goddess." River said, "Something is going to happen. Something big and we should keep a close eye on you because whatever it is, it will be because of something you did."

I narrowed my eyes at him, "Thanks."

Because that's just the kind of thing I needed to hear. No pressure whatsoever.

"Now help me ask your dad what he thinks I should do about it." I said, with all sarcasm, and then I regretted immediately because you know how I didn't feel it was right to use sarcasm on preschoolers right? It felt pretty mean to use it on River in the same way.

Luckily, River was too innocent to be affected by it, he didn't even realize I was being sarcastic and answered in all earnestness, "From what I'm hearing, you're doing everything right. Alpha Lorent is now on good terms with Alpha Kingsley stabilizing the Green Packlands. Alpha Solomon will have to be more careful because Night Leaf can potentially threaten Black Forest after the merger. He hasn't been causing trouble with any of the Alphas related to you. He stayed pretty quiet even though Alpha Louis signed another hundred year bond for lycan slaves in the White Packlands. Alpha Louis isn't arguing openly with Alpha Lorent anymore either. After you made an alliance with Silver Mountain, Alpha George stopped picking fights with Alpha Solomon since its known that Night Leaf has many partnerships with Black Forest. And my Dad actually showed up to attend an official alpha event because I told him I definitely wanted to go to yours, and he didn't want Alpha George to think we were outright snubbing Henry's inauguration. He said it was one thing to not show up of both, but we couldn't not go for one and show up for the other. It was as good as declaring a trade war."

I really wanted to know where River was hearing all this from. Before I met River here, I felt sure I was doing something wrong. Maybe I shouldn't have stopped to sign the pony. Maybe I didn't greet everyone in the right order, or in the right way. Maybe I said the wrong things, or I didn't say things the right way. Maybe I should have been more assertive, maybe I should have been more charming, maybe I should have just relaxed more...It had never occurred to me even once that in the grand scheme of things it didn't matter. Maybe no one would have noticed what I did or said anyway, and even if they did, who would remember when tomorrow comes?

"Sometimes I think the goddess wants world peace." River guessed, "Maybe you could do that?"

Like how? Join a beauty pageant? Hahaha, anyway, River was a human, what would a human know about what the moon goddess wanted?