WHAT WAS IN THE PUBLIC EYE

16 FEBRUARY, TUESDAY, DINNER

It was at this exact moment that I realized that my sister had seen the comment I posted on Yuunie's channel.

Not just my sister, but probably the entire world.

Which very likely included Mum. I squirmed a little in my chair and then decided to change the subject, "Did you know that I got promoted at Archery Club today? I'm going to be practicing with their advance group next week onwards."

"Congratulations!" Mum smiled, "Then I'm sure you'll understand what it means when they say words are like arrows, once loosed, you cannot call them back."

Yeah. Hahaha. I guess I had that coming. I waited to let Mum finish. But Mum really surprised me.

"You did well, Sam." Mum nodded approvingly, "As much as I wish you would step back and let us protect you, you're the Alpha, and I understand that. In fact, I'm proud of you for stepping up the way you did."

This was when Dad joined in, "Truly you are your mother's daughter."

Which didn't make any sense at all.

"Chasing public opinion is a futile sport." Dad continued, but that didn't make any sense to me either. I tried hard to keep up, but Dad was in the zone, "Remember that diplomacy is an exercise of true wisdom."

Luckily Ki stepped in to fill in all the missing blanks which was pretty much the entire media field day, paired of course, with Ki's own brew of tea.

I knew that my one word response to Yunnie's comment made a stir, but I had thought it was over the moment Yuunie and the Munnies turned their attention to my charming Beta Ki. Haha.

In a way, it was true and the tabloids went into overdrive, digging up Ki's colorful past complete with supermodel girlfriends and celebrity flings, including Yuunie's sister, who turned out to be Renee Starla, the A List actress whose movie was opening this summer. Ki said they dated in highschool. Her name was Rennie back then. They met at theatre class. But of course, no one told the media that. What was told to the media through Yunnie's vlog, was the story about Yuunie growing up in her sister's shadow

It was like opening a can of worms - nice fat juicy worms, which was marvelous for birds working on Page Six at the LyNCh.

But in the other pages of the news, our Blue Demon Warriors had made headlines when they showed their terrifying face to the world. There was talk of the possibility of war and the Green Packland's powerful merger, my engagement with James Lorent III was touted as the joining of the last two surviving major alpha families of the Green Packlands, a dark forest shrouded with magic and mystery, where only the fittest survive.

Despite the mumurs of war though, the top packs across the colored packlands have been curiosly enough, minding their own affairs across the pages of the continent news.

In the Black Packlands, Alpha Solomon, who was well known to always be the first to stand up and raise his army to stomp out injustice, had neither stood up nor made any mention, public or otherwise, about the Green Packland's newly revealed merging status or military might.

Ki felt sure that his men had reported the insane wolf powers we had displayed the other night, and Alpha Solomon would tread cautiously. Despite his impetuous PR image, Alpha Solomon was not an Alpha who charged without thought.

When asked for a statement, Alpha Solomon's office had, for what might have been the first time in history answered, "No comment."

This was disappointing to many of the smaller packs who were hoping that Alpha Solomon would take the lead in protecting the rest of the continent from the possible threat of future invasion from the Green Packlands. Already, it was the general consensus that the only pack strong enough to fight the newly merged Green Packlands would be the Black Forest Pack.

Meanwhile, Alpha Gunter's Snow Moon Pack announced its own shocking news. Their Snow Wolf council had just released proclaimation that  Alpha Gunter would be handing over his reign to his unnamed human son in three years, converting their pack into the Snow Wolf Kingdom, under the kingship of this human son. While human kingdoms weren't a first in our history, it would be the first kingdom where both wolves and humans would have equal citizenship.

When asked about what he thought about the merger that would be happening concurrently across the continent in the Green Packlands, Alpha Gunter only smiled and said it had given him great hope for good changes in the future and he wished us all the best.

The Silver Mountain Pack in the Gold Packlands wasn't much better. All of the limelight had been on the Young Alpha Henry's Alpha Inauguration Ceremony that would be taking place this Saturday. There had been death threats sent to the Alpha's house earlier, but security had since been stepped up. The Pack was gearing up for a hugely extravagant ceremony that would stretch across the entire weekend, and everyone was busy preparing for the celebration.

During the press conference unveiling the leadership transition plans for the next five years, a reporter raised his hand to ask Alpha George if he felt the Green Packlands exponential growth of Gate City and the merger plans behind it were a threat to Gold City's number one standing.

Alpha George smirked and answered cryptically, "Just because they win, doesn't mean we can't win more."

Which led to a lot of investor speculation, and Green Packland's Gate City registered shares benefited a small boon.

Our market had been very strong lately. Trade activity had been taking a steady uphill hike... whatever that meant.

Which left the White Packlands - For some reason, they stupidly asked Night Forest - which was stupid because while it was the largest and oldest pack in the White Packlands, it was also related to Night Leaf, by both blood and name. My Uncle Louis pointed that out very clearly when asked if he was worried about the Green Packland's recent merger announcement, "No, why should I be worried? Alpha Kingsley is my brother."

The reporter then asked, "So you will support the Green Packland's merger?"

"I don't see why it needs my support. But I will support my brother, yes." Uncle Louis said.

Uncle Louis liked to sound argumentative even when he was in agreement.

So most of the unhappiness right now came from the Red Packlands who did not believe in mergers and felt that too much power under one Alpha was dangerous - case in point, Alpha Solomon, because they never got along.

Alpha Solomon's office did stand up then to say something about the Black Forest pack never abusing this power and how much his pack had contributed to the sustaining peace in our continent since the Great War. With great power came great responsibility and the Black Forest Pack was committed to upholding the highest standard of integrity and justice, to maintain peace and equality across the continent.

Naturally this offended the Red Packlands even more. The Black Forest should mind their own pack business... Even though they also wanted the Black Forest to take the lead in suppressing the Green Packland merger.

To be specific, it's not exactly that the other packs didn't want a merger. They just wanted to have some control over how it would happen, so their packs won't be "unfairly" put at a disadvantage, and put failsafes on our process in case we decide to run amok, start a war, or worse, use our power to push everyone else around.

The humans in particular, worried about the possibility of war, of werewolves gaining too much power VS humans, of our economy overtaking their's. Etc. So far, our balance of power were largely due to the wolves own infighting. The same could be said of the humans. Our towns and packs were often kept in check by competition among our own kind.

But for some reason, all the packs who could have been a threat to our plans were sitting on their hands doing nothing about it. It was only the ones who did feel threatened by our plans who were stirring up clout in the media, but they were too small and divisive to gather a large enough combined force to stop us.

That would be our green light to merge. Everything had just fell in its place, suddenly.

"You're doing well, Sam." Dad nodded approvingly, "Alpha Lorent had called earlier. He was impressed by how you have won over our competitors and made them our allies."

Eh? When did I do anything like that?

So our merger plans and new PR campaign had been propelled forward yet again, by me, without my knowing it.

On a personal front, other than the fact that I was engaged to the Young Alpha James Lorent III and that I was the daughter of Alpha Kingsley of in Night Leaf, very little else was known about the Alpha Princess.

The LyNCh had made an attempt to uncover the girl behind the Alpha Princess. They had taken to describe me as "young and beautiful, like the reincarnation of the Moon Goddess herself". To prove it, one of their reporters had sleuthed around and managed to find similar descriptions of me from unnamed sources - mainly through unnamed "close associates", "insiders", and "observers". Apparently, I had "a gentle and compassionate wolf". I was the beloved daughter of Alpha Kingsley, and was brought up "just like a princess." And I was supposed to be so beautiful and lovely that our warriors "worshiped the ground she walked on", and even the rebellious Young Alpha James Lorent III was completely captivated and "like a lamb whenever he was with her". Omo who did this reporter speak to?

Ki was very pleased with the resultant report though. He felt it was "more or less an accurate impression" and a favorable first impression for the public eye.

I'm not so sure though. Wouldn't the public eye notice that I was not quite as lovely or as beautiful or anything like the goddess once they actually saw me in person? Plus if they talked to anyone who really knew me, wouldn't they be told I was a monster or worse, that I couldn't control my own warriors? Omo

Then in a bid to try to prove that their claims were credibly authoritative, the LyNCh quoted real official statements, like the apology from the FAO about the warriors shifting and attacking paparazzi this morning. Our excuse? Our warrior wolves were very protective of their alpha princess. The FAO would like to warn media personnel and members of the public alike not to provoke or endanger the Alpha Princess in the presence of these wolves. Naturally, the incident has been investigated, and the warriors dealt with accordingly. The FAO will be contacting the injured parties personally to offer our help.

And they also quoted from the Lorent News where Alpha James and Luna Edith had been asked about their son engagement.

Alpha Lorent was quoted saying, "My son, he is very lucky. I've told him repeatedly that he must thank the goddess everyday. She is truly a gift. We are very happy for them."

Of course Alpha James would only say gracious things.

Meanwhile, Yunnie's management has already contacted the FAO and asked about the possibility of filming an episode of Living with the Muunies here. The whole of LuvMuunMuun would come to see the Green Packlands and meet the Alpha Princess (and Beta Ki).

"What would you like to do goddess?" Ki asked me.

I looked at Mum and Dad, and they looked at me. I wasn't sure if this meant that they were going to leave the decision to me (my parents have been doing crazy stunts like that lately) or they were testing me.

Savy didn't hesistate, "Let them come, Sam! The girls would be thrilled!"

Yeah, we had quite a number of Muunie fans here.

I nodded, "Yeah, but on one condition."

"What condition should we set, goddess?" Ki was only happy to oblige.

"A concert. They hold a concert at Gate City. I'll let them film in the Green Packlands." I smiled, and then because Boo was just dying to tease him, I added, "I'll even give Yunnie some alone time with Beta Ki."

Ki's smile froze for just a second. I laughed, "I'm kidding, Ki. Just the concert. It doesn't have to be free, they can earn from it too. And whatever else that you and Harvey and Ben think is best."

"Is that all, goddess?" Ki asked, but now his smile is relaxed again. Hahaha. So fun.

I shook my head, "No. I want to show the world the real Green Packlands. The happy wolves and the everyday life. I'm sick of hearing about demon armies, death gods, magic air, and underground labs!"

"What?" Savy asked, and then she cackled.

"You should have heard the stories the kids in my school made up!" Suddenly, my good mood came back, and I regaled my family with the dark gossip that surrounded my blue warriors.

"Oh my," said Mum.

Dad raised a brow.

"I don't believe it!" Savy exclaimed.

Hahaha. Me neither.

"Blue demon warriors..." Dad mumbled in thought, "I'd like to meet them sometime."

What? Really? Did my Dad want to meet them, or their bikes? Dad had perked up when I described the army hunting rogues on motorbikes.

"I should talk to Bell about that." Dad nodded approvingly. Just like that, Bell was in Dad's good books again.

It was late. We had spent a long time just talking and laughing around the dinner table. 

I probably should go up to my room and attempt to speed through my homework. I guess all good things had to come to an end. I reluctantly pushed my chair back from the table, "I've got to do homework."

"Really? What's that?" Savy grinned at me.

Omo. What kind of school was New Leaf? And more importantly, why wasn't I there?

But just as I got up to excuse myself, my wolf leapt with joy, {Mate!}