PARTY WITH THE PRINCESS: HENRY'S KIND OF PARTY

4 MARCH, FRIDAY, 9 PM

I don't think I enjoyed Henry's kind of party. I'm not sure if it made me uncool to say so, but none of it was particularly fun. Most of it was too loud and too dark. The alcohol was on everyone's breath, and it wasn't just alcohol.

Henry pushed Janice around as he led us on the intro tour. I found myself wondering if that was how my betas steered me, but then I accidentally noticed his hand slide down her back to where it was no longer her back and realized no, my betas would never let their hand slide like that.

It was too loud and too dark so Henry and the guests would just be shouting in each other's ears. I didn't hear most of it. I can't believe I was saying this, and at the risk of sounding like Mum, the music was too loud.

It was also too crowded. More than once, I found myself pressed in a little too close to comfort against one of my betas. Like not only could I smell them "too close". At times, I could feel their body heat "too close". But it was either my Beta's jacket in my face or a total stranger. I think I must be lucky that my betas smelled like white tea and ginger flower (Ki) and pure mint (Harv). And that they were good Oreo biscuits that kept from squishing the cream in the center. My Oreo had the help of Torque and Ink too. But they were a two-edged sword. Sometimes they were the formidable wall that provided a bit of breathing room. Other times, they were the formidable wall that closed in on us too.

Ink was quite scary looking in the dark. He gave the effect of bumping into a demon by accident. Torque was like a mountain. Especially when he was towering over us.

Naturally, everyone would try to go around them, but short of breaking the egress window and tossing bodies out, it was physically impossible for everyone to step aside every time.

The dance floor was even more crowded. Come to think of it, were there even more people in the lounge now? I looked back at the entrance, part of me wanting out, part of me noticing that I was right, there was a steady trickle of people coming in.

Every now and then, Henry would take a photo with some of his guests. Henry was quite a different animal in front of his guests and camera. It was like he purposely wanted to be seen in disreputable company. The ladies often hugged or kissed him too. Nothing like the kissing couple out in the hallway, more like extremely friendly greetings, like in front of Janice, as Zara would say, ON PURPOSE.

They would also flirt openly with Ki and Harvey, which never happened at home, at least not in front of me. Neither beta would respond with anything more than a terse nod. Most of the time, they employed their well-practiced skill of pretending they didn't notice.

Sometimes someone we were talking to would reach out for me, or try to say something to me, but this was also intercepted by Harvey or Ki. Because of the loud music, I could only guess what they were saying.

Like based on their expression and gesture, and the odd syllabus I did hear over the music, I think most of them were so surprised to see me in person. And then they'd make some comment about me. This varied but I think they were generally compliments.... probably. Even if they said something insulting I couldn't hear them so I would have smiled and nodded

More than once, someone asked if we could have a picture together? They made a camera action... Like they'd hold up their phone and make some kind of camera action. Was it weird that the action they made was like an old-fashioned camera? No one took a photo with their phone this way.

My betas would shake their heads no, and I'd be escorted away. Someone handed me a black marker and a piece of white memo paper. I couldn't hear what he wanted.

{The gentleman would like an autograph for his daughter, goddess.} Ki explained. The man shouted something into Ki's ears, and Ki nodded, his smiling mask in place, {Her name is Stephanie. He says she is your biggest fan.}

Which was weird because I wasn't a celebrity. The man was though. He was human, but I was very sure I've his face somewhere before, I just couldn't place a name on it.

I signed it, "Alpha Princess."

And then I added, "To Stephanie."

I didn't know what else to say so I employed EJ's method and just drew her a smiley face.

And then I returned the marker and memo paper to the man. I hope I spelled "Stephanie" right.

He shouted, "Thank you!"

I didn't actually hear it, but I could see his mouth make the words, and then he looked at the memo paper and felt it necessary to bow as well.

He showed it to the woman who was next to him. She leaned against his arm to see better and admire the memo paper. She made all the impressed expressions too - sort of like how Mum would act whenever I brought home my spelling or tests with a star sticker on it when I was a pup.

I noticed very quickly that the people Henry stopped to take photos with were seldom the same people as the ones he introduced to us. I also noticed that neither of my betas seemed to be in a friendly mood, so I was pretty much ushered around between two coolly detached and firmly professional betas. Harvey and Ki introduced some of "my guests" to Henry too. They had to introduce me too because it was the first time I was meeting them too.

I couldn't hear enough to respond with anything intelligent. I didn't even care to try to yell over the music. So I just smiled and left it to my betas.

Oh, and none of Henry's guests or mine were walking around in their underwear/swimsuits. Just in case you were wondering. I'm not sure what the guys saw earlier. Maybe a mirage. Hahaha.

Or they could be guests from the Lesser Gold Lounge. There were two Gold Lounges in the club and somebody was having a wild party next door too. I did hear someone say they were actually here for the other party and decided to pop over when they received Henry's invite.

The entire ordeal didn't take long, maybe 20 minutes, at most 30. I knew it was over when Henry checked his watch again. Beta Pete excused himself and the red ants accompanying us to hunt down the rest of our friends. Henry yelled something into Harvey's ears. Harvey nodded.

The music slowed, and then heartbeat ba-dump, and then EJ announced, "Hoi hoi! I had fun, but our time is up. Last one!"

The ambient lights turned purple and the strobe lights flashed pink, "So I'm on top of the world, eh~"

So the dancing went on.

Meanwhile, Henry didn't wait. The moment Torque and Ink carved a path out for us, he left the Gold Lounge, his arm still around Janice. He leaned in as if kissing her. I wasn't sure. The lighting in the hallways was shadowy and her hair blocked out his face when he leaned in. I adverted my gaze and focused on getting out too.

My betas and I followed behind Henry and Janice at a polite distance. There were a few people hanging around just outside the party. Some of them were holding drinks and chatting with people from the party next door.

Neil and Jax pushed themselves quickly away from the wall outside where they had been left to guard, "Yo, Princess."

{Report.} Harvey ordered as we passed them. They fell in line behind Torque and Ink who had come in with us and we all followed Henry and Janice down the deeply carpeted hallway.

{We confiscated firearms from one of the guests, but we let in everything else.} Neil reported, {Ram came up for a bit, but he had to help disarm the guest.}

Harvey nodded, {Noted. Thanks.}

Ki sighed into the mindlink, {Don't look so shocked. Young alphas are notorious for this kind of parties.}

{I didn't expect it to be like this.} Torque admitted.

Me neither.

{They're still so young.} Torque said, {Especially our alpha. I don't like it.}

{As Sir Wolfgang had said, experience is the best teacher.} Harvey advised. Why? Did my good beta have a lot of experience in attending wild parties?

{I don't like it either. But like it or not, this would be part of our alpha's itinerary in the future.} Harvey instructed, {It's better to be prepared to deal with it.}

Neil shrugged, {Once you've seen one. You've seen them all.}

Jax waggled his brows, {Come down in a few hours and you'll really see it all.}

{It's the closest thing to a vamp party you'd ever see in lycan lands.} Ki informed Torque and Ink (and me, since I was obviously eavesdropping again), {A necessary evil of a young alpha's social life. Your Luna Bell also started throwing such parties from the year he shifted. It is one of the fastest ways to grow their network, influence, and media presence.}

Which explained why Henry was doing this, and taking those pictures. I knew he wasn't like this. I knew who the real Henry was.

{Rebel's parties used to be the wildest things around.} Neil remembered, {I used to wake up and wonder how I survived.}

{Remember that party where we had to race our bikes across Gold City's Founder Square? And the warrior patrols were on our tail? And we had to ride off the cliff to escape?} Jax asked, {I really thought I was going to die.}

{I bought my first insurance plan the next day.} Neil said, {Rebel used to be so wild, it was scary.}

{Yeah, Jude always said he'd either get someone killed or kill someone one day.} Jax said, and then quickly slapped his hand over his mouth, "S***."

Like he said the last word aloud.

Ki gave him an open palmed slap on the back of his head and told him, "Idiot."

Henry was ahead of us, his arm around Janice, and his face in her hair. He stopped walking and turned around, "What?"

Oh nothing, Jax just carelessly said Jude's name. Jude was now the number 1 scum of the universe. The very mention of his name put Dad in an immediate bad mood so naturally, none of our wolves were so stupid as to speak it. The exception being Jax.

But it's not like Henry would understand that.

"Jax said something dumb over the mindlink." I explained instead.

At this, both my betas slapped their hands over their mouths too because they naturally assumed they had misdirected their mindlink to me or something.

{Ah, s***} My good beta said, but only over the mindlink to Ki. I laughed because it was so funny that my good beta's private words mirrored Jax's so closely. Especially since Jax had somehow cemented his reputation as our pack's favorite local idiot.

The glass elevator opened for us and Henry stepped in with Janice.

I stepped in and stood on his other side, "You know Henry, maybe you should stop wasting your money like this."

Henry spun around like I just stabbed him in the back. Money had always been Henry's first love after all.