A HAREM BY ANY OTHER NAME

"I don't have a harem." I decided to put a firm foot down. It's really now or never. It was my own wistful thinking that this harem thing would just go away on its own.

"Of course." Fluffy obliged, but his wolf was glowing with such joy I knew he was messing with me, "Pretty Alpha has a SPECIAL TEAM."

"Yes, but no." I said. Gah! Curse my lack of eloquence!

"Then I won't have a Special Team!" So there! I had to make my stand clear, "I'm kicking all of you out."

"Will you cast us out after you use us? Where would we go now? This is the only family we have now..." Fluffy went into drama overdrive. Luckily, Harvey hit him.

"But big brother alpha..." Fluffy wasn't ready to stop just yet, "After all that has happened, who will take responsibility for me? How will I ever marry?"

"That's enough Fluff." My good beta said as he calmly pried off Fluffy's grasping hands.

"Regardless of how you feel, princess." Wolfgang decide to address the issue more seriously, "Your Special Team is the foundation of your FAO's security, from your personal security to the policy board, military arms, special force and intelligence unit... they are integral to your rising power."

Fluffy took the chance to jump back into the conversation.

"Take Hotstuff for example," Fluffy leaned his smiling head on the other blond man's shoulder, "Just one more beautiful man in your harem, but now we have access to Black Forest University's faculty privileges, every connection plausible to the Snow Moon Kingdom, and all the inner court workings of the Snow Moon Kingdom, their Pillar Ordinance, Royal Guard, and King Gunter's inner circle at your fingertips."

Wolfgang roughly pushed the other blond head away from himself, "You talk too much."

"Don't be rude #9. I am still your senior here." Fluffy beamed.

Sometimes, I'm not sure why my wolves put up with Fluffy.

"An Alpha is as strong as the wolves who follow him." Wolfgang decided to pretend Fluffy didn't exist and continue his mini lecture, but it got my attention because wasn't that what Dad told me too?

"You must know more than anyone else how your combined harem had fueled your wolf's evolution." Fluffy chipped in.

I took pause at that. I did kinda notice how with every new wolf who swore his allegiance to me, my own wolf's power was bolstered.

"ALL our powers benefited." Wolfgang admitted, "My flame not only rekindled overnight but fully recuperated and had augmented since I came into your keep."

Omo. Please don't say things like coming into my "keep." But ignoring the acutely embarrassing parts of what was being said, I guess I kinda noticed this too. My wolves had been growing, sometimes so much that I feared I would be left behind.

But if I'm hearing them right, it meant that just as my power was increased by their wolves' allegiance, their power was increased by mine.

"We are all committed to you, Princess." Wolfgang told me, "So do not speak casually of disbanding your Special Team. Even your Luna gains significantly in terms of both our specialized abilities, connections, and power. Not wholly, I sense he has darker and greater powers behind him, but enough for him to bear with our existence."

Fluffy smiled, "And yet he regularly tries to murder us…"

Wolfgang shrugged, "If he wants us dead, there will be no resurrecting us. He had only meant to warn us."

"In your case, multiple warnings." Fluffy beamed.

Wolfgang looked embarrassed and coughed into his hand, "I suppose he sees me as the biggest threat."

"Do you think Pretty Alpha loves you more?" Fluffy countered.

I decided I didn't like the direction of this conversation, "Stop. Okay, I get it. You guys are an indispensable part of my life. Anyway, I didn't mean I was kicking you out of my home, you're all like my own family."

The wolves around me nodded, but I was still struggling to find the words, "I just… I just don't want a harem okay?"

"Of course. That is why you have a SPECIAL TEAM." Fluffy was really enjoying himself more than a sane person should, "A rose by any other name…"

"No! That's not it!" I flared, but managed to catch myself and calm down. It helped that Harvey hit Fluffy again for me.

Okay, stay cool, Sam. Fluffy was just provoking me on purpose. I mustn't let him have the pleasure.

"I'm going to say this once, so listen very carefully." I said in my steeliest capisce voice, "I don't have a harem, when I say you guys are my wolves, I don't mean you're my… my…"

"Your concubines? Mistresses? Lovers?" Fluffy offered. I decided to purposefully ignore him.

"I mean, when I say you guys are my wolves, its because I've adopted you." I decided that was the best way to explain it.

"That's why we're your dogs." Fluffy agreed amiably.

"No!" I was genuinely upset now, "You're not a dog!"

"You don't deserve to be my goddess' dog." Ki added with a beautiful smile, "Only I get that honor."

"No!" Why was Ki making things worse?

"Why would you want to be a dog?" I scolded Ki.

"Lovers come and go." Ki shrugged, "But a dog is for life."

You know what? Let's just give up on this conversation. If we continued, I was sure to murder my own wolves. I took a steadying breath, "Okay, whatever. Be whatever makes you happy. Just know that I don't want a harem, and I don't want to hear that word used to describe the Special Team ever again. Okay?"

"Yes, Alpha." My wolves were surprisingly obedient suddenly. Maybe it was because my Alpha Command was leaking through a bit. I was really done with this conversation.

"So we can be whatever makes us happy?" Fluffy asked.

I took pause and narrowed my eyes at Fluffy, what was he up to now?

Fluffy's smiling mask stretched out, "Then, can I be your boyfriend?"

"NO!" I flared.

Harvey hit Fluffy, but I was beginning to notice that my good beta was not putting any force behind the smack. At least I was quite sure Fluffy had remained unhurt every time.

"Impudent." Wolfgang scolded him too. Fluffy beamed like it was high praise and I realized he was just messing with me as usual. Suddenly, I laughed. I was caught by surprise at my own laughter, it just bubbled out as I watched my wolves play, "That's not a compliment, Fluffy."

Fluffy laughed too, "Ah, but such heartfelt endearment, I cannot help but be touched."

Now we were all laughing, and I forgot why I had been upset. A rose by any other name, right? Even if they called it a harem, it was obviously not. They were all just lost wolves, now friends, brought together by circumstance and luck to run with me. I was really lucky like that.

Yeah, if I totally ignored everything they were saying earlier, it was just a normal day again. I turned back to my Mum and sisters who had just been wordlessly watching the exchange I just had with my wolves (Sabre more so because there were too many big male wolves around for her to act normally, but Mum and Savy were totally listening in like we were offering them the latest hot gossip.)

"See, Mum." I tried to conclude, "I'm just playing like this most of the time. If anything gets done, it's because of them. "

I gestured to the wolves around me, the same ones who were credited as the foundation of my rise to power and whatnot but they only looked at me like I said the earth was triangular.

Fluffy seemed to have found his tongue first, "Of course, Pretty Alpha has a SPECIAL TEAM and is always just PLAYING."

"Oh, by the way Hotstuff, while we're at it, I should tell you..." Fluffy leaned over to Wolfgang and lowered his voice to the other man's ear, "Pretty Alpha isn't cute either, she's TERRIFYING."

What's the use of whispering if we could all hear it?

Wolfgang frowned, "Is this some kind of code? What purpose does it serve?"

It served no purpose, because there was no code. WTH. Was Fluffy's goal in life to aggravate me.

Meanwhile Mum decided to pick up on her last discussion with me, "Just promise me you'll pace yourself, Sam. I'm not trying to hold you back, you obviously have natural talent in leading your pack. But just try to give yourself a break now and then... The last thing I want is to see my baby burn out. And be careful who you select for your Special Team. Don't be swayed by a man's external beauty..."

I had to stop her, "Mum, when have I ever selected anyone based on their looks?"

No one answered me, but all of them - My betas, Mum, Savy, and ever Sabre immediately looked at Wolfgang and Fluffy standing side by side.

There were a hundred things I thought to say - that I was just lucky, that these wolves just happened to be good looking, that I didn't go out of my way to choose them, they just appeared, if anything the vamps chose most of them, you know how all the successful fight dogs are unnaturally good looking, or maybe its their special bloodlines, or just that wolves in general were a good looking species. I mean, the cool girls at Winderhill said everyone from my pack looked like they stepped out of a movie, they even thought Dean was cute. My special team were made up of rather powerful wolves... maybe good looks corelated to wolf power? It could also just be the air around here, or the water... our barbarian pack had somehow produced wolves who were not just above average in size when shifted, but also above average in looks compared to the rest of the continent.

But you know what? Forget it. I could argue till I turned blue and no one would believe me. The truth in fact was that the wolves around me were considered good looking, even by our Green Packland wolf standard. The other warriors had said as much during our walkabout at yesterday's picnic, and even if no one said anything, I would have to be blind to not notice how the ladies would steal glances at my wolves when we walk by.

"You can't judge a book by its cover, Sam..." Mum continued.

"Mum, I'm not." I told her, and then I took it one step further, "Look, I'm not even going to recruit any more Special Team members, alright?"

And just as the words left my mouth, I felt a strong magic stirring - by now I recognize this feeling, some kind of portal had been opened, quite a large one, in fact. I looked towards to front of the packhouse.

"Ben's back, Alpha." Harvey informed me, "And he's brought guests."

Oh. Colored Mountain guests... I guess I had no choice, "Let's go see what's this about."