I'M THE "="

Our meeting tonight was held in a newly converted conference room. The one next to the newly renovated warrior's gym upstairs. It was set up with tables facing each other and screens on all four walls so everyone could see comfortably. Wow, our facilities had upgraded yet again.

"Alpha Princess is here." Ben intoned from the door.

Most of the wolves stood up at my entrance. My Dad, Mum, Alpha James, Luna Edith, and Bell remained seated.

{Mate! -❤️ }

Ki pulled out my chair for me, and Wolfgang and my betas took their places, but nobody sat. Everyone just stood in place.

Because I was still standing.

And maybe it was the Wolfgang effect, but for some reason, all this felt just about right. I knew why they stood. I knew why they didn't. It affirmed my position in this pack. How did Wolfgang put it? I'm not the Alpha yet, but I WILL BE. It gave me enough confidence to take my time.

I made a pretty bow towards all my elders and smiled widely, "Thank you everyone for coming."

And then I sat down.

I could've curtsied Lorent style, I was definitely dressed for it. But I was going to be Alpha, not Luna. For some reason, knowing this made it very easy for me to be me.

Wolfgang had not said a word over the mindlink either, so I decided to take it as further affirmation that I was doing everything right.

"I'm told the meeting was rescheduled for my sake." I grinned as everyone took their seats, "Thank you for indulging me and allowing me the evening off to be a teenager on my last day of school."

I felt Wolfgang's surprise through the mindlink. Maybe he didn't expect me to all but admit that I just made everyone change their schedules so I could have a night out with friends. (It wasn't me! It was my betas... and Henry Bossypants.) Maybe he didn't know the reason for the rescheduling. Yeah, in hindsight, my betas PROBABLY didn't tell everyone that the reason why everyone had to clear their afternoon so that the meeting could take place a few hours early was because their not-yet-but-will-be-alpha wanted to go to her friend's pool party. Ahem, in hindsight, it might have been more professional if I kept my big mouth shut.

Luckily I was dealing with either very understanding or polite adults because the rest of the room only murmured a bit and then laughed a bit. All just a bit... in very polite measures.

"I don't mind my Princess having fun with her friends, but don't have too much fun without me." Bell smirked meaningfully at me.

And the adults stirred in their seats and laughed just a bit more.

It was nice of Bell to back me up. He also helped me chip away the initial ice, just a little more. {Mate~ ❤️}

A smile tugged on my lips, how was it that Bell could look so beautiful in an overcrowded office conference room?

And why was he seated so far from me? He was seated a whole table away! I recognized the young man next to him... His friend. The one who talked a lot. What was his name again? His friend wasn't looking very chatty today.

Everyone looked very serious and none of the tables were looking at each other. Someone cleared his throat, everyone else was shuffling papers, checking their laptops and devices, and in general not making eye contact with anyone else. One of those days, huh?

Ki placed water and a tube of jellybeans in front of me. I nodded a silent thank you but did not move to touch them.

Ben who was next to me had set up my Surface Pro in front of me. There was a loading screen... "B. Harv sharing document. Accept?"

Ben pressed, "Yes."

I looked back at the wolves seated around me while we waited for all our screens to load. Let's see what I had to work with:

On my table were just Ben, Harvey, Wolfgang, and Fluffy... Fluffy who had donned the blue-grey suit too, but unlike Wolfgang, Fluffy had worn his tie low and collar open to show half a black disc inked against his collarbone. He also folded up his sleeves to show his slave brands banding his forearms accompanied by too many bangles. The only other person with that many bangles on was Luna Edith.

Wolfgang and Fluffy sat next to each other. They were here in the capacity of my advisors, I realized belatedly. Both blond and blue-eyed, but one with his curls swept back and poised like a classic noble. The other his hair braided, bejeweled and tattooed, and very beautiful. Heller wasn't making empty boasts when he said he was sure his son was very beautiful. If Fluffy was a she-wolf, his beauty alone would probably be enough to start wars.

On my other side was Ben, short cropped black hair and emerald-eyed. He was leaning forward so I could only see Harvey's rust-red hair. I looked from my left to my right. It's like I decided to put the beautiful ones on one side, and then decided to balance it out with the cool ones on the other side. It was also like putting the two really crazy ones on one side, and balance it out with the normal ones on the other side.

Crazy Last Fire Wolf Professor + Messed Up Lava Powered Mountain Prince = Beta Next Door + Local Cool Beta.

Where I'm the "=". Because I keep everyone in balance. Hahaha. Okay, no. I just said that because it sounded cool.

Dad was on my right with the Night Leaf core leadership. They were all the usual expected faces: Mum, Beta Lucas, Mrs Beta, Beta Gerald, and Edna. I guess we were going to leave the Gammas out of this one. Hahaha. Good choice (but I was going to miss them.)

My army representatives sat at the table directly across from me. Stephan, Theo, Owen, and an old guy I didn't know. Titanium and Hank were with them. That's all our army captains squeezed around one table. It was funny because some of them were built like mini tanks and those that weren't, were still L and XL warrior types. They made the table and chairs look very small. Also, it did occur to me that if someone shot a bazooka over, it would be the insta-kill of our entire army.

The Lorent Pack was on the table on my left. They had two tables, Alpha James, Luna Edna, Gamma Michael (the guy who was unhappy that my betas ate cookies and took a coffee break at the Pony Cookie Shop at Harry's inauguration), and Delta... I forgot his name. The smiley friendly one. And also the old one... What's his name? Anthony's grandfather. The one who used to be retired but was now treasurer.

Oh, and Lady Amber and Roy too! I didn't recognize Roy at first because he looked very different clean shaven and his lanky brown hair was now short-cropped. He wore a clean and matching pressed suit. It's true a suit made a man. I mean, look at Ben.

But on Roy, it was dramatic enough to be one of those transformative makeover videos. We should've filmed one on Roy. Hahaha.

Bell was on the Lorent's second table closest to my left. (So near, and yet so far ~❤️ .) He was seated with Ki (MY Ki, but okay, since it was MY Bell, I'd grudgingly share) and Delta Oran (the healer, better known to my wolves now as Delta O) on his left. On his right sat his friend that talked a lot (I wish I remembered names better!), and Coach Emerson... Yes, my archery coach. And yes, I was surprised.

At first, I wondered if seeing me was as surprising to him as it was for me, except that he didn't look surprised at all.

For the most part, he looked like he was totally expecting me. He had this "Let's see what you can do, Blue." look on his face when he looked my way.

I was the one who didn't recognize the name Delta Emerson as Coach Emerson when I read it on the agenda.

Anyway, I realized the second Lorent table must be the new leadership Bell had selected and remembered, "Alpha James has exciting updates about the Glorious Lorent Pack's leadership handover. And we've got quite a lot of big decisions and pressing concerns (Ben's "pain in the arse") to deal with. But let's start with a bit of introduction."

Because if we didn't break the ice, we'll be in for one of those long miserable meetings where no one would dare to say what they really thought, which would just be a waste of time. I didn't need all these wolves to come here just to hear the Alphas decide on something and pretend it was a good idea.

I scrolled down to see the rest of the agenda on my screen quickly. The Lorent's new leadership was slated as item 3 on the agenda.

I looked up to where the official agenda was being screened, "Who's the official secretary tonight?"

I'm sure I could've mindlinked, but I was feeling wth. This was my meeting.

Edna raised her hand.

"Thank you in advance for your service." I decided to clap. The adults politely clapped too.

Edna blushed and nodded a modest bow.

"Okay," I got down to business, "I'm going to insert introductions as a new and first item on the agenda. Move the Glorious Lorents leadership updates up. This way we can break the ice, introduce everyone and special skills and expected roles in this merger."

"We'd continue with receiving the key leadership updates from the Lorent Pack straight after." I looked back at the screen behind me. Edna had quickly edited the agenda in real-time, "Great. By the time we reach item 3, we'll be the best of friends."

I was joking. Item 3 was bound to surface much "pain in the arse". Hahaha. As would items 4, 5, 6, and 7 through to 14.

And luckily for me, the wolves in the room were more receptive to sarcasm than Wolfgang and I was rewarded with some genuine chuckles amidst the polite laughter.

Don't get me wrong. I was okay with polite laughter too. It might be forced, but at least it meant they were trying to play along.

Just like I was politely pretending I didn't notice the wolves at the Lorent table who were not quite on my side. The ones who I felt quite sure were wholly unconvinced that a teenage girl could possibly be their next alpha, or that our merger would pull through at all.

But we were in a time of transition, and maybe if I gave them some time, they would come round on their own. Or maybe they were right, and I was just about to lead them all on a wild goose chase. Who knows?

I mean, I hadn't even read all the reports for today's meeting. And it was true that I was just a teenager. I wasn't even old enough to drive. I'm not sure if I'd trust someone who wasn't old enough to drive to lead a pack, much less spearhead the merger of three established packs. But here I was. And here they were. Surprise! (Sarcasm applied.)

"Okay! How should we introduce ourselves?"