MRS HENDERSON'S HOME VISIT

8 FEBRUARY, MONDAY, 11AM

Bert hesitated. He didn't look comfortable about entering the alpha house with us, "I can wait here."

It was winter on an open porch.

"Our packhouse dining hall is serving morning tea." Ki informed him, "Dave, will bring you over and make you comfortable."

The warrior named Dave, who was at the moment, returning from the garage with a brush and pan quickly put them down and dusted his hands off on himself, "Sure will."

I watched Dave wait patiently for Bert to get himself down the few steps, and then pat the old warrior on the back, "The coffee at the dining hall is the best."

His friend yelled from one of the car wheels, "Bring me back a cuppa!"

The vibe of Night Leaf warriors was the best.

Lorent Warriors were formal (and snotty).

Morning Light Warriors were rugged and mean.

Night Leaf Warriors were strong and brotherly.

(Based entirely on my childhood impression.)

Ki opened the front door

"I can't help but notice, Beta... How is it you command both Lorent and Night Leaf warriors." Principal Laura asked. She sounded very impressed.

Ki smiled, "Our packs are in the process of merging so the warriors should answer to any of the betas. It's a work in progress."

Yeah. I thought about the Lorent warriors. So they've traditionally disregarded messages from Night Leaf and Morning Light? Grrr...

If I ever found out who started the tradition... I'd...grrr...

Ki showed us to the hallmark living room. I know I really should stop calling it that, but every time I saw it, I saw Hallmark Movie.

The coffee table was laid out for tea in front of the fireplace complete with a large matching tea set and silver trays.

"Our Alpha and Luna will be over in a moment. Please make yourselves comfortable." Ki informed us.

Fluffy entered, hair swept back and dressed properly in the same uniformed navy blue suit Ki was wearing to pour our tea. He didn't speak. I think he wasn't allowed to again. Poor Fluffy.

And then Ki announced, "Luna is here."

Because my Mum stepped in.

Principal Laura stood up, "Luna, it is lovely to finally meet you. You have such an interesting home."

"Thank you." Mum smiled, "I'm so sorry you had to come all the way out here."

"Alpha is here." Ki announced as my Dad stepped in.

"Alpha Kingsley!" Madam Principal smiled, "I was just telling your Luna what an interesting home you have."

"Thank you." My dad nodded, "Please sit down."

We all sat down - except me, because I was already seated.

"Now, what trouble has my daughter caused this time?" Dad asked. He wasn't one for small talk either, I suppose.

"No, no trouble at all, Alpha." Principal Laura beamed, "This is just a standard house visit. Please meet Samantha's form teacher, Mrs Henderson. She is a very dedicated and caring teacher and would just like to understand Samantha's home environment a little better."

Dad paused, and then he asked, just to be sure, "So she didn't get into a fight or went overboard with a prank or...anything like that?"

Gee. Thanks Dad.

Mrs Henderson shook her head quickly, "No, no, Samantha has been a very good student."

Both my parents raised their brows at that.

It was Mum who recovered first, "I see. Thank you for your kind words, Mrs Henderson. How is Samantha doing in school?"

"Samantha is doing well. She works hard and is well liked by her peers and is generally well behaved in class." Mrs Henderson answered with more "kind words."

"Oh, really?" Mum could barely hide her surprise, "I'm so glad to hear that." (Read 'relieved')

Everyone drank their tea. It was pretty awkward. My parents had never experienced a "standard home visit" in which there was no problem to discuss.

And then Mrs Henderson put down her cup and said, "I heard some concerning things about Samantha which I would like to discuss with you, if you don't mind Mr and Mrs Kingsley."

"Please, Mrs Henderson, do tell us what is on your mind." My dad allowed. He actually sounded relieved. Now a home visit with a concern, that he could handle.

"Well, I hear that Samantha is engaged." Mrs Henderson paused to check my parents expression, when they only nodded, she said, "In this day and age, I am not sure if this is necessary. Samantha is still very young and has a bright future ahead. She could go to college if she continues to work hard."

"Alpha Kingsley is himself a champion of Education for all Lycan. He is the founder of Green Leaf Academy, as well as a highly esteemed member of the Continent's Educational Board. I won't be surprised if Samantha's educational road map has already been drawn out. " Madam Principal said in Dad's defense. And then as she considered her own words, she asked, "I wonder what plans you have for your daughter's education, Alpha?"

"She is still young, so at this point exposure to new experiences, cultures, and academics would broaden her horizons." Dad said, "But yes, I do have college in mind for her future, and her mate and his family are fully supportive of her education."

In that they will be paying for it? Hahahaha. Their betrothal gift was extremely generous.

But this wasn't good enough for Mrs Henderson, "Even so, pushing a child into a marriage arrangement will impede her physical liberty and as well as her ability to decide for herself what her future will be. It deprives her of the freedom of choice."

Freedom of choice? Since when were mates a freedom of choice?

I think it was at this point that something clicked in the minds of the other adults.

"But we're wolves." My dad answered.

"Yes, Mrs Henderson, I believe you are referring to a human right, which is all well and good. But Samantha is a wolf, her mate was predestined." Principal Laura tried to explain.

"But surely you can see that at such a young age, she does not have the maturity or discernment to understand what marriage involves or entails!" Mrs Henderson argued.

"Believe me when I say that we are very aware of that. This arrangement was made to honor and protect our daughter. The mating ceremony will be held after the 18th birthday but no one is forcing Samantha to do anything she doesn't want to." Mum said.

At this moment, Mate's car pulled up the driveway. We heard the car come in first and more engine noises. Motorbikes!

{Mate!}

And a couple of warriors that were not ours, but MATE!

Wolfie was very biased that way.

I cast a quick glance at Mrs Henderson. I wondered if this meeting with Mate was going to make things better or worse.

Ki had pulled open the curtains so we could see two motor bikes and a white convertible stop in front of the long porch. By now, the blue Merc and Principal Laura's car had been cleaned and put away in the garage.

It was snowing. And I realized the view from inside the Hallmark living room out of the glass doors was also a Hallmark winter scene. Mate got out of the car and onto the porch like some kind of male romantic lead. He tossed his hair, his expression stony even as he stuck a pose.

I remembered the Lorent princesses on the other side of 16th Street and was starting to think all Lorents had to pose for a moment whenever they got out of their cars. Then I realized that he was simply waiting for the Lorent warriors on the motorbikes to dismount.

The first warrior had an undercut and tiny sprout of the pony tail. He was glaring like the world owed him one. The second warrior was olive skinned with a deep set grimace, but he didn't look old. Maybe he had just spent his whole young life grimacing.

Bell tossed his car key to the glaring warrior and said something. The glaring warrior continued glaring but bowed quickly and got into the driver's seat to move the car away.

The grimacing one grimaced more and I watched in fascination when he picked up both motorbikes, one on each shoulder, and followed behind the car.

By now, I had gotten out of my seat and was standing next to a smiling Ki by the sliding door to watch, "That warrior can carry two motorbikes!"

"That's Neil. The one with the attitude problem is Jax." Ki informed me.

"They don't act like Lorents." Well except for the warrior uniforms.

"They were formerly from Jude's pack." Ki said. And then he straightened up to unlock and slide open the door for Bell, "Luna Bell is here."

The other adults either had not notice Neil hoisting TWO WHOLE MOTORBIKES across our driveway, or not found it in anyway particularly AMAZING. Come on, how many times in your life had you seen a person carrying a motorbike, much less two motorbikes at the same time? Why was I the only one impressed?

Everyone else was still discussing Mrs Henderson's concern. She had presented some statistics now about how early marriage arrangements put girls like me in higher risk of some stuff. These were all human statistics, of course. But what she said had caused my dad to frown and my mum to look concern.

"Lycan or human, I believe in protecting every child's right." Mrs Henderson was saying.

"That's very noble of you, Mrs Henderson." Mum lauded.

They looked up at Bell's entry.

Neil and Jax had left the vehicles outside the garage and took guard positions on our porch.

My dad smiled, he looked definitely glad to see Bell but he said, "Son, I have a no-guard policy on my front porch. You'll have to park those boys somewhere else."

Yes, that was my dad's attempt at humor.

Principal Laura laughed like it was the funniest thing, "You know, I myself have an open door policy in my school..."

Bell simply turned back to the two warriors, "Get off the porch."

So the two warriors got off and now guarded our driveway...which looked ridiculous and cold.

Ki shut the sliding door and drew the curtains again. He turned back to everyone with a smile. Well, that was another way to deal with it.

"Pardon the intrusion." Bell's deep voice intoned, "I heard my princess was detained at checkpoint."

Now Mate turned to me, he tenderly ran a hand down a lock of my hair, "Are you alright, princess?"

Why? Was he afraid they cut my hair? Hahahahaha.

"I'm fine." I waved away his large hand. I really didn't get why everyone was making the checkpoint episode such a big deal.

"This is James Lorent the Third." Mum thought to introduce to Principal Laura and Mrs Henderson, "He is Samantha's betrothed."

"We've already had the pleasure of meeting." Principal Laura stood up and nodded a bow, "Good morning Young Alpha. How is your father?"

"He is well." Bell answered blandly, "And how are you?"

Principal Laura laughed delighted, "I'm very well, Alpha James. So kind of you to inquire."

To me Bell asked, "Did you get into trouble at school now?"

I flared. Why did everyone assume that?

"No, my teacher's here cos she thinks I'm in trouble at home."

I still didn't know why Madam Principal was here though.

"Now that Mrs Henderson had met you, Alpha James, I'm sure her concerns has been put to rest." Madam Principal decided, all on her own.

Because Mrs Henderson seriously did not look any less concerned at all, "But Madam Principal! The kids say he runs a motorbike gang!"

Mrs Henderson had whispered this to Principal Laura, but we all had wolf hearing.

"Henry told her that Bell ran a motorbike gang." I explained and grinned at the adults' dumbfounded expression. Yeah, hahaha. I thought so too.

"Ki and I used to run with Jude and his pack when I was in highschool." Mate admitted.

Eh what? Jude's pack was also known as the biker pack. They liked to ride motorbikes and wear leather jackets.

"But we broke off from them shortly before Ki's passing-" Mate paused here, as if remembering that his old friend had not quite passed away after all and was still in the room with us, "Ki's passing OVER to your pack began."

Nice save, Mate. Hahaha. Nice save.

I remembered how Jude had not seemed to approve of Bell at all though, "So he kicked you out?"

Which was probably not the best way to put it.

"No." Mate growled lowly.

And based on the complicated feelings leaking from our mating bond, it wasn't a "yes" or "no" type of issue.

Mate immediately removed his hand from my back, and the mating link cut off. Humph. Stingy. Mate was a Scrooge at sharing when it came to feelings.

I looked at Ki, "So what happened?"

Ki looked perplexed, torn between his loyalty to me and his Luna.

"We had a falling out." He managed with a gentle smile, the one which he used as a mask, so I knew immediately he was hiding something.

I slipped under the thick curtains, and let myself out the sliding door, "Hey Neil! Jax!"

The two warriors were at the foot of the porch in a blink. They did not step on the porch though.

"What is it Princess?" Neil asked urgently. They both looked ready for action.

"Why did Bell leave Jude's pack?" I asked.

"Who? Rebel?" Neil looked confused.

Urm yeah? I nodded. So that was the name he ran by even before his fightdog days?

The two warriors relaxed when they realized there wasn't any kind of emergency. I'm not sure what life was like for them at the Lorent's, but here... the only times warriors had to react like that was if they forgot to do something AND Gamma Harry was about to check it.

Jax smirked, "What's the most common reason for young male wolves to fight?"

"How would I know?" I asked back annoyed.

The two guys laughed.

"Of course it was over a woman!" Neil chortled, and then he must have realized he was speaking to Bell's mate and made a whoopsie face.

"It was a long time ago." Neil tried to salvage.

It was HER!

I flared and turned back just as Ki threw open the curtains and sliding doors.

Mate was furious, but I was even more so.

"You fought over HER?" I stormed. My hair like a craze tornado.

"Who's HER?" Mate asked.

"Jude's woman." Jax helpfully supplied.

"Shut up." Mate snapped. Jude made an opened mouthed stupid grin, but Mate refused to be amused.

"It was mostly one sided, princess." Neil tried to say.

"It was a misunderstanding. I didn't sleep with her." Mate said tightly.

"But you loved HER?" My wolf surfaced, I wasn't sure which wolf, I only saw red.

"I'm quite sure he didn't, goddess." Ki immediately tried to pacify my wolf, but he couldn't help but add, "Before he met you, your Luna loved no one but himself."

"But I heard him say he loved her!" I accused.

There was a heavy pause. And then mate said firmly, "I'm very sure I had never told a woman I loved her."

"But yesterday morning!" I said, "I heard you say you loved HER!"

Mate's eyes widen and Ki stopped smiling for a moment.

Then mate admitted quietly, "I was talking about you."

Wait, what? I shook my head, "But you said 'I love HER' not 'I love YOU'!"

"That's because I was talking to Ki. YOU were supposed to be asleep!" Mate retorted.

Oh. Right. How embarrassing.

Mate ran his hand through his wild curls. He was obviously agitated.

Ki who seemed wholly bemused now came to our rescue with his usual Killion dollar smile, "I did tell you goddess, your Luna was incapable of loving anyone else before he met you."

Mate quickly regained his composure, "Since you are evidently fine, Princess, I will return to work."

Neil and Jax fetched the vehicles without further prompting.

To Ki, Mate said, "I want a full and detailed report of what happened at the checkpoint, including the names of all the men involved."

Ki smiled his Killion dollar smile, "Consider it done, Luna."