WHAT ELSE HAPPENED LAST NIGHT

20 FEBRUARY, SATURDAY, MORNING

Ki had driven over to the Lorents after he had finished cleaning up last night. Ki knew Bell would have gone there, he had to sign off some papers and settle his personal business before he could go hunt down the Rogue King. Bell would have been done with it too, except that his family returned shortly after, and his Dad had stormed into his suite (with his Mum and Lady Amber), and the two alpha wolves ended up yelling at each other 's faces because Luna Edith and Lady Amber had somehow managed to prevent them from actually exchanging physical blows.

When Ki arrived, Alpha James was so exasperated that he said, "I wash my hands of you! You never listen to me! Ki, you try to talk some sense into him."

And then Alpha James stormed out of Bell's suite.

"If anyone can talk him out of this foolishness, its you, Ki." Lady Amber said. Luna Edith added quietly, "He...he's be..be..been g...gone so long, please don't let him disappear again!"

After that, Luna Edith and Lady Amber quickly left to give Ki and Bell some space.

"I've been gone even longer, you know." Ki said bitterly.

"You said that?" I asked.

"No, of course not." Ki smiled.

"You're just the dog. Who cares?" Ben said, sipping on the flowery tea cup.

"Thank you for reminding me, Beta." Ki answered.

These two were at it again.

"And then what happened?" I asked.

So Ki spoke to Bell. He knew Bell well enough to know that any attempt to change his mind or talk him out of whatever he set out to do would be futile, so he decided to take Bell's side and help him instead. He kindly offered to act as Bell's proxy.

It was exactly the kind of help Bell needed so Bell took his offer and handed over some of this financial assets for Ki to manage in his absence. While doing so, Ki managed to extract more information from Bell:

Bell was recruiting a rogue army. The wolves in the Underground were mine, and would be transferred to the Princess Town in a few months.

We had all assumed that Bell would return with the Underground Army, but he had other plans.

As my army moved out, Bell was planning to recruit more rogues. His plan to dethrone the Rogue King was quite simple really. Even though I was still furious with him for making me so sad, I had to admit, Bell was quite ingenious about it.

Bell's plan worked on two very important facts about the Rogue King. The first was the reason he was very difficult to catch. He was like a shadow, slipping through his network of rogues. Not that the rogues loved or supported him, they were rogues, they had no real loyalty to anyone.

The second fact was that Rogues had no pack - because they had no Alpha. That was by definition. A rogue was a wolf without a pack or Alpha to be loyal to. If they were loyal to the Rogue King, what difference would that be to a proper pack wolf?

No, a rogue would only serve the Rogue King either under indifference, coercion, or for the money. It's hard for rogues to get a job and pay the bills in this world.

Now put it altogether, Bell was going to absorb the rogues into his army. He was an alpha wolf, so they would swear to him - and no longer be rogues. Those who would not submit to him, will die.

This way, Bell would absorb the rogues, causing the network of rogues to steadily shrink till the Rogue King is cornered, and then vengeance would be served, etc etc. (Just insert the usual villain fantasy of revenge here.)

To protect our packs - particularly me, Bell had been cultivating his death god identity, particularly among the rogues. This way, Bell would be able to do whatever he wanted (as the death god) without bringing backlash to Night Leaf (and me).

I can't believe Bell had been quietly working on this behind my back! Oh wait, no. He didn't do anything behind my back. He was doing it right in front of me.

After the last of the ex-fightdogs were transferred to the Princess Town, the Death God would publicly raise his rogue army to take over the Underground base, and from there they would bring forth the vengeance Mate wished to inflict on the Rogue King, and the world in general - particularly the Lorent Pack. I'm not sure if Bell remembered that prophecy about him, but he was definitely going to fulfil it if he returned to the Lorents with his ex-rogue army with the sole purpose of making their lives a living hell.

He didn't have most of the details worked out just yet because he had exploded unexpectedly last night. He never meant to reveal his plan so soon. He had wanted to accumulate more funds, sort out the details, and maybe enjoy being with me a while longer, but after what his elders said, he worried about my safety and happiness and realized he couldn't continue this dark path with me around.

Well, excuse me for getting in the way of your dark ways. Stoopid.

Anyway, Ki offered to help him sort out the details - how was Bell going to explain JL3 disappearing into thin air, and then reappearing again straight after the death god disappears? That would be too suspicious. So Ki advised him to take on two personas. By day, or rather, in public, he should appear by my side as my Luna, JL3, a handsome debonair and heir to the Lorent Pack.

Ben snorted at "debonair".

By night, he would be the death god. Problems solved.

As in Ki really solved it all - now, Bell will appear for ALL the public events, behave impeccably, and even carry out his Lorent Alpha duties, even if it were just superficially. Ki would do the rest.

And it turned out to be very easy to convince Bell of this plan, thanks to me.

"Me?" As far as I understood it, Ki was the genius who turned the situation around. Lady Amber was right to leave it to Ki.

"I might have used you as the trump card" Ki admitted, "You must know, goddess, that Luna Bell is particularly acquiescing when it comes to you."

Ki smiled his beautiful smile at me, "There is nothing he would not do to ascertain your happiness."

Oh yeah, then why did he make me so sad last night? Because he was a dumbbell, that's why.

I decided I was still going to be angry with him, just for a while longer.

"Wait, stop." Ben raised his hand and put down his ornately flowery tea cup, "So now, WE have to handle the Lorent Pack affairs and cover for him on top of everything else?"

Ki's smile never faltered, "Yes, Beta."

"Give me one good reason why." Ben challenged.

Ki gave me a side glance.

"Besides the fact that Sam will stop crying." Ben clarified.

I was NOT crying! I was mad, remember? Not sad, mad!

Ki shrugged in an elegant movement, and then he pulled out a single ring, "Beta, we now have JL3's seal. We can do WHATEVER WE WANT on Lorent territories."

Ben held out his hand. Ki reluctantly threw it over.

"Anything we want?" Ben examined the gold seal on the ring.

Ki smiled, like a flower to the sun, "Would I lie to you, Beta?"

Now Ben was grinning, "Good job, dog." He tossed the ring back to Ki, "Those Lorent's won't know what hit them."

And then my two betas laughed - like villains who had just hatched out a new evil plot.

I didn't laugh. I didn't see what's so funny, unless the joke was how I had thought my Mate was evil... but it turned out that the true villains were my betas.

Omo. Why?

I felt quite sure my life used to be less complicated before I became the Alpha.

"We better tell Harvey, we have some work to do." Ben realized it was too soon to celebrate, "Let's draw out the game plan this weekend."

"Understood, Beta." Ki smiled as he stood up from the sofa.

The two of them suddenly turned to me and bowed.

"We gotta run, Sam." Ben said, "The convoy will be leaving in less than an hour."

"Please remember to brush your teeth beta." Ki demurred as they turned to leave.

"Shut up dog." Ben answered.

I watched them disappear down the stairs. The scones and jams were still on the coffee table. I broke off the scone in front of me and made a mixed jam thing so that every nibble would be a new jam. Yum. But my favorite was the creamed cheese bits, and I wished there was a chocolate jam.

It was peaceful. Lulled by the soft buttery warm scones, I forgot to be angry. It was really good scones. I let out a happy sigh. Ki had made the tea just the way I liked it too, warm, milky, and sweet, with just a dash of tea.

Maybe I was being too mean to Ben just now. I mean, he didn't deserve that. I'm still not sure why he put up with it. Was it because he was the beta? Like the way Ki had to put up with Bell?

Should I be apologizing? But Alphas didn't apologize for anything right? All apologies were done by the betas. So should I tell Ben to apologize to himself? How did that work?

Part of me wanted to just forget about it and pretend I didn't just throw a hissy fit right into my beta's face first thing in the morning - well, his morning anyway. Everyone else was awake for a while now.

Oh wait... What about my kindle? Grrrr... that Ben was too sneaky!

I put the half eaten scone down. Ben said less than an hour to departure? He was supposed to be coming - all my betas were invited by name, which was cool. Beta Lucas' invite was like, "To Alpha Kingsley and Beta."

But ours had read, "Alpha Sam and Beta Ben, Beta Harv, and Beta Ki."

I think a sign of true friendship was forgetting the other party's full name - even on very formal invitations.

I mean, look at me and Ben - I didn't even know Ben was short for Benedict. Hahaha. And till today, I didn't know his family name.

Okay, no... That was probably just me. I wonder if Ben would one day come to resent me the way Ki hated Bell.

This kind of upset me.

I wandered back into my room and looked at the Surface Pro Ben had left on my dresser. I re-read Ben's note. He has sounded so sure I would be pleased.

Okay fine! I'll give his "Upgraded Kindle" a try.

I managed to access my documents okay, it was actually pretty neat - I found a tab that allowed me to rearrange the pages and even combine pages from different documents for easy reference.

BUT...and this was a really big "but" - all my notes and highlights were gone. ALL GONE!

I found the magic slot where the stylus was neatly tucked into and immediately got to work inputting all the notes. While flipping the cover to get it out of the way, I realized the entire thing was also a stand - it could prop up the screen and offer me quicker typing with the keyboard part.

Wow... And after 20 minutes, I got the hang of making the notes where I wanted them to go. I could stick digital Post It Squares onto the doc and then type onto it. I could write on it too. And if I tapped the highlight button, guess what? My stylus turned into a highlighter. What magic!

And that was when I realized what an idiot I was - why did I redo my notes? I could've just used my kindle. I was very sure it was somewhere around. Even if Ben won't give it to me, Ki would...

But by then, I was already pretty much set - at least with whatever I needed for Henry's party. Some party. Whoever heard of needing to read notes before attending a party?

From the daily itinerary to the PR briefs, and the list of the more notable guests we might meet, who they were and what they were known for, my betas had done quite a bit of homework too. They even included a small photo of each guest's face next to the description.

I used my annotation feature to draw purple mustaches on all the photos. Hahahaha. Ben was right. This was better than a kindle.