THANK GODDESS IT'S FRIDAY - NOT!

5 FEBRUARY, FRIDAY, MORNING

It had just occured to me that Thursday night trainings was incompatible with Friday morning school. I woke up dehydrated. There was a bottle of water left beside my pillow and a note.

"DRINK. -JL3"

Okay, JL3=James Lorent the Third. Was that how Mate signed off? JL3? Hahaha. He sounded like a flight number or something. What did that make me? SK1? I sounded like a skincare range.

But this made me realize that my Mate was Bell only to me.

"Mum says you need to wake up, Sam." Savy popped her head into the room. She was up early... No wait, I caught sight of my alarm clock, I was up late!

Arughh... I hadn't set my alarm last night! I threw off the blanket.

"Bell just left." Savy added. He said to make sure you drink more water.

Correction, Bell was Bell only to me AND the rest of Night Leaf and possibly Morning Light.

Wait, where's Sir Sparklalot? I flipped around the bedding...

"Oh, Sabre was playing with our ponies." Savy answered my unspoken question. I flared.

Who? Oh right, the little human. That name really didn't suit her. Who came up with that? Oh right. Me.

Savy had never thought much of my naming skills. Perhaps she had a point.

"And the betas have been up all night with Bell and Dad." Savy suddenly lowered her voice, "Ben and Ki had a fight halfway though. Liz says that whenever Ben doesn't have enough sleep, he loses control of his wolf..."

"Who won?" I wanted to know.

"I don't know." Savy said, "I was sleeping too. Sabre told me."

I took a quick shower and changed into my school uniform. It's much faster now that I knew to shift to wolf form and shake out the wet, before shifting back and changing.

Unfortunately, shaking out in the bathroom was a bad idea. I realised belatedly that I've wet the hand towels, extra towels, potpourri, and the parts of the bathroom that was wallpaper. I pretty much shook water out on everything. But I was late and in a hurry. Next time, I'd definitely make sure to shake off outdoors.

Going out to the dining room, Ki put a plate of toast and smoked salmon arranged in the shape of roses in front of me. There were avocardo leaf slices and cream cheese flower buds.

I looked at my plate and then up again at Ki. Didn't Savy say my betas were up all night in a meeting...

"I heard you had a fight with Ben?" I said.

There was a momentary silence. Mum cast a quick glance at Sabre who was sleeping on the sofa with three ponies. Sir Apollo, Chiron the zebra, and a pony I've never seen before, a lavender colored pony with wings. I guess that made it a Pegasus.

"Yes, goddess." Ki answered finally. His smile was gentle, his tone was a forced lightness. He placed an extra tall glass of juice in front of me.

"Who won?" I asked, although I already knew the answer by now. I just wanted to be sure.

"Ben won, goddess." Ki answered mildly.

I nodded. I thought so. I was jealous though. How did Ben get so strong?

Ki was a trained fightdog, and a beta whose strength matches Bell...

"That boy's wolf was ferocious." Dad said shaking his head, "It was a amazing fight, Ki."

"Thank you, Alpha." Ki answered, maintaining the forced equalbility in his tone.

Oh, they fought in wolf form. That would explain why Ben won.

"It's alright, Ki." I had gulped down my breakfast, and gotten up. I patted him on his back, "Better luck next time."

Ki's smile froze for just a second, and then he nodded, "Thank you, goddess."

I grinned, decidedly ignoring Ki's parlour. Ki just needed rest. Looks like it had been a rough night for him too.

Two knocks on the front door and Harvey let himself in with a polite bow, "Good morning, Alpha and Luna."

To me he produced his usual calm smile, "Good morning, Princess. Your car is ready."

Although my good beta was presenting his usual professionalism, he had a shadow under his eyes.

Wolves didn't usually get eye bags from one all-nighter. I wondered how many nights this guy had been up.

TGIF! I think my friends in school liked to say. I mean, I guess it's normal to be washed out by the end of the school week, but it's Friday, and...

And we are moving house in the afternoon. So presumably, Ki would have to help pack. I took a quick glance into the kitchen and noticed that Ki had already started work. There were various kitchen items grouped together on the kitchen counters. Didn't he say the boxes were only arriving this morning? It didn't look like he was going to get any rest after all.

Harvey and Ben would have school today too, and then something about setting up the Future Alpha Office? I frowned as I followed Harvey into the lift.

Was Harvey also driving me to school?

The lift was really quiet, "Are we still moving today, Harvey?"

"Yes, Princess. Everything is on schedule." Harvey informed me.

"What's everything?" I asked.

"The Alpha house renovation would be completed by lunchtime today. It's almost done except for a few defects and rectifications that Ms Chloe would supervise in the morning."

"Ki would have everything packed up while we are in school, Ben has scheduled a few warriors to help move the boxes over, and the unpacking should be completed by dinnertime. Meals today will be delivered by the Packhouse kitchen." Harvey paused to hold the lift door for me on the ground floor.

He continued again as we walked through the lobby, "Ben and I would have your new office set up in the Alpha Apartment by tomorrow morning. All the equipment has arrived, furniture will arrive in the evening. Ben had already set up the software and drivers in all the computers so they should all plug and play."

Another pause as we nodded good morning to the warrior doormen, and then Harvey spoke into the frosty morning air, his words shrouded in white minty clouds, "I've completed all the clearance and applications for the upcoming playdate on Saturday. The visas for our human guests have been approved and delivered to Marc yesterday afternoon."

The valet handed the car keys to Harvey, who nodded briefly, "Thanks, Jack."

Harvey opened the car door for me and continued the moment he slid into the driver's seat, "The Dungeon Party's RSVP list has also been updated. It was switched to a by invite only event due to overwhelming response and fire safety regulations, but is still on go."

Our car pulled out smoothly from the driveway. I looked out at where our home used to be... The construction boards had been taken down and now there was a brand new house there. Tada! It was only a passing glance as our car glided down the road, but it was a very nice looking house.

Harvey was still talking, "We've also had the guest rooms readied for your friends, in case they should decide to stay for the party. Security have also been detailed for the guest floor of our packhouse, as well as the surroundings."

"Night Forest's Reformation Proposal is in its outline stage. I've already started preliminary research and it should be ready tomorrow night for your input."

"And Ki's investigation report on Sabrina's origins has been submitted to your kindle."

"There are also a number of decision points that are pending your approval, including the allocation of Ciara Coven's tribute, and the town plan and timeline for the construction of Princess Town. But I believe these can wait till Sunday."

"What about Bell's army returning in April?" I asked.

"Luna Bell and your father had several discussions last night. The Underground army would be coming home to us in batches so as not to arouse attention. Stephan would arrive with the first batch sometime mid March. I'll compile the minutes from last night's meeting and file it in your Kindle asap." Harvey answered.

I tried to place the name Stephan but couldn't, "Who's Stephan?"

Harvey paused, "One of the fight dogs who had sworn to be your dog, the one named Seven.

Oh. Right. Stephan.

"But where would we keep them?" I wondered aloud. It's really happening, huh? A fight dog army was on its way to the Green Packlands.

"We plan to construct housing for them in the Princess Town by then. Ki had discovered a company specialising in prefabricated construction technology and we have tested it successfully on the Alpha house. It's fast and efficient. The only drawback is the cost difference which we hope to use part of the Ciara Tribute to cover. The details are in the Princess Town Timeline Proposal."

As I listened to the Beta beside me, I vaguely noticed the traffic light ahead turn amber and then red.

"Lastly, your Alpha Inauguration has been set on the 2nd of April..."

"Harvey, stop!" I yelled.

Harvey stepped on the breaks just over the stop line. The car jerked to the halt.

Woah.

Harvey looked slightly stunned. I heard him exhale quietly.

"Apologies, princess." He said finally, "That was my bad."

The light turned green and our car moved forward again as if nothing happened.

My beta was tired.

Actually, it sounded like all my betas had been running round the clock this week. No wonder Ben lost control of his wolf.

Suddenly, my own life seemed rather easy-going after all.

"Your Alpha Inauguration has been set on the 2nd of April." Harvey resumed once the traffic opened up to the quiet early morning highway. Now and then, another vehicle would pass us, but otherwise it was deserted.

"The invitations have been printed and the guest list should be finalized by the end of the month. As you know, the inauguration ceremony and celebrations will be stretched across the weekend, and throughout the Green Packlands but the venue of the actual ceremony will be at Gate City's Town Hall. This will be the last event the old town hall will host. After which, as part of the ceremony, the town hall will be demolished to make way for the construction of a new City Hall building. The elders thought it would be a significant landmark to your reign."

I nodded, unable to picture it entirely.

Harvey had a wry smile when he added, "I just thought you'd be interested to know that Ben has rented a wrecking ball crane for you to use as part of the ceremony."

No way!

"Are you serious?" I asked. I started to laugh.

And then Harvey smiled, "Don't worry about anything, Princess. Everything's under control."

"Except for Ben's wolf." I said.

Harvey's mouth turned into a straight line. He spoke the next words very carefully, "Ben is young. His wolf is powerful. He just needs to grow up."

"He needs to get enough sleep." I said testily, "All of you need more sleep!"

Harvey's tone was measured when he answered, "A beta's work does not allow for routine sleep. Ki and I knew this, I believe Ben understood this aspect of our life too. He just needs time to get used to it."

What did I tell you? The worst position for any wolf to be in his pack hierachy was the beta. This just cemented it.

Our car pulled through the school gate. I'm at school on a Friday morning. I waved goodbye to Harvey when I dropped off at the porch. I didn't feel very TGIF anymore though. In fact, I'm beginning to think that coming to school was the easiest part of my life.

And then I remembered, today we had to perform our fight scene from Romeo and Juliet. In costume and no uncertain amount of embaressment

Okay, let's just get it over with. I'm the Romeo. I can take it. I can take a lot of things.

Hahaha.

Yes, I'm also the alpha, and the sooner I finish school, the sooner I can help my family move and catch up on my Kindle reading. If I didn't want to be the stupidest Alpha in the history of our pack, I'd better do my homework. Who knew? Alphas had homework too.

I wondered if Harvey or Ki or Ben ever talk like this to themselves too. I tried to picture Harvey saying to himself, "I'm the beta! I can take this! I don't need to sleep (or eat, or pee, or poop, or have any fun for the rest of my life.)"

Hahaha. But that's impossible, right? Not even an Alpha can live without those things. And even if there was beta magic to do all those things, what kind of life would that be?

A typical Beta's life - but not my betas. No, my betas were going to live happy lives and say things like, "I've got the best job in the world!" (And mean it.)

But how do I do that?