PARTY WITH THE PRINCESS: YOU DON'T KNOW YOU'RE BEAUTIFUL

I stepped into the brightly lit glass hall with Henry. He had put my hand in the crook of his arm just before we stepped in, and you know what? It felt completely natural as if we walked around like this all the time. (We did not!) But there was something oddly familiar about how everything played out. It was like standing with Bell, but without the buzz where my hand touched his sleeve. It seemed that all rich young alphas were taught to enter a social gathering in the same way. Henry paused at the entrance as if surveying the hall, or looking for a familiar face, or maybe just the buffet table. It didn't really matter what he was pretending to look for, in reality, he was posing. And you know what? I posed too.

Immediately the two official photographers (marked by their big black large lens cameras) rushed over. There was a quiet ripple as the guests closest to the entryway noticed our arrival and recognized us. Henry, otherwise known as the Young Alpha of the great Silver Mountain Pack was a prominent face in the Gold Packlands since his inauguration. Actually, with his face pasted over the LNC media channels every couple of weeks in one way or the other, I think the whole continent would be able to point him out by now. This guy would not be able to rob a bank without getting identified.

And there was me. I don't think my media coverage would lose to Henry's - not that this was a competition, but if it were, it would've been a close fight. The Alpha Princess was like the "new darling of the media" and the "Green Packland's sweetheart". Which was weird in so many ways, yes. I don't know who came up with these headlines. I imagine it would be an old grumpy dude like the news guy who hated Spiderman, but I had long given up on making sense of the LNC's headlines about me.

The hall wasn't all that large, maybe the size of the training hall in our Pack House basement, just really glittery. I think they were going for the crystal and glass look with the glass walls and chandeliers and white tablecloths. Some of the guests took out their phones to take some photos too. I guess it was like two rare Pokemon suddenly appearing arm in arm in their sparkling form - if you were into catching Pokemon with your phone.

I knew without looking that Henry had his PR face on. I hated Henry's PR face. But you know what? Instead of slapping it off him, I was okay about smiling and standing still so my picture won't come out blurry or disgruntled looking. I had to thank the paparazzi and my fellow junior paparazzi schoolmates at Winderhill for the daily training. I didn't have a PR face though. I just made a normal smile, the very same one as when the adults made us pups stand closer and tell us to "say cheese."

"The Young Alpha Henry is here." Beta Peter announced - you know, just in case some should have not noticed the commotion or recognized what a big shot had graced their party.

But once Beta Peter did it, Ki had to chime in too, with all the usual charm he smiled and announced to the guests, "Alpha Princess is here."

Some of the guests actually clapped. I wasn't sure how to respond to that. Normally, a lycan would bow politely if they were the traditional respectful type. Younger lycans didn't bow to just any alpha nowadays, only to their own. Beta Lucas had said young wolves were too cocky for their own good, "Back in my day if you didn't greet the alpha with a bow - even a minor alpha, your head would be chopped."

Dad said to leave it. Mum assured me later that it was just an expression. I had figured out Mum had to be right. It's not like alphas back in Beta Lucas' day would walk around with axes on their shoulders.

The clapping was new, but there were a lot of humans. Henry smirked and nodded in acknowledgment. I gave the pattering of applause a small wave, which might just be weird to them too, but they confused me first.

"Oh my god. They're so natural at this." I accidentally overheard Leia tell her date.

"Well, they have to be." Marcus shrugged, "They will be the next alphas of their packs after all."

"I don't know how Sam does it." Jasmine sounded jittery, "I feel nervous just watching her."

"It's her star power." Krystal explained.

"No wonder." Zara said, "I've always wondered how she makes my heart go badump."

Zara felt she had to elaborate when the other girls didn't agree immediately, "You know when she does that thing with her hair, and it all floats up, and then she looks you in the eye and talks... I can't remember anything she says, but wow, my heart says yes."

"Hoi, hoi!" EJ gasped, "That's exactly how I feel when she talks to me!"

"Star power is for real." Zara marveled.

"For real, for real!" EJ affirmed.

Henry must have felt my hand tighten on his arm. He turned towards me and growled lowly, "Leave it, Sam. Stick to the plan."

I believe the plan was for them to stand around Abigail and bait HER - not me! Grrr...

But I managed to pat Henry's arm with my free hand, "Chill, Hen. I got this."

Mostly because I knew it would have the opposite effect. Hahaha. It's so fun to mess with Hen.

Since Hen was still wearing his PR face, all he could do was force a fake smile and shake his head as if I had said something amusing. And you know what? I did NOT fake a laugh and pretend that I had the delightful wry humor to entertain the young alpha Henry so. Stupid Henry with his stupid fake parties, and fake PR face. I mean, I'd understand if he was hiding something, like an illicit political motive or unsavory personal morals or prevailing incompetence... but this was Henry we were talking about. Henry who was really everything in the making of a good alpha. He was intelligent, level-headed (when he wasn't mad), focused, loyal, principled, fair, fearless, tenacious, and had foresight. Did you hear his presentation at his inauguration? This guy was financially savvy and ambitious, but the reason why my lucky sense of direction would put my money on him was that he was very cautious with risk.

Unlike me, he always weighed each decision carefully before selecting the risk option that suited him. I imagined that this would be a necessary ability to steer your financial investments, and also your pack's directions if you didn't have a lucky sense of direction to guide you.

But most of all, Henry really wanted to be a good alpha. It's not that he ever said it in words, but actions spoke louder than words. As his friend, I could see plain as the day that he was working hard towards becoming the alpha. Actually, even total strangers would know with the LNC broadcasting his every charitable cause and orphanage visitation, Henry's popularity had long surpassed his own father's. He was, after all, "The People's Prince." If you guessed this was coined by the LNC, you were right.

But my point was that the real Henry didn't need to wear a PR face, throw parties, or act like he cared. The real Henry would be a great alpha just as he was.

"Sam, control your wolf." Henry leaned closer to hiss at me, "It's coming."

I laughed then. If we were in a scary movie... but we were not, so what came through the crowd was just Abigail being dragged over to us by her parents. It looked like quite the effort. Not only did her parents have to wriggle through the crowd of onlooking guests, they had to drag Abigail along with them. Abigail was slender, but taller than her Mum by a full head, and her Dad by half a head. Abigail was actually the only girl taller than me in class. The random girls had said she should be a model.

Tonight, Abigail was wearing a long white silk dress with a single slit up her dress. It was kind of like my dress, except my silts were more hidden by the folds of fabric, and my bodice was encrusted with crystals. Also, whilst I had the bolero, her dress had an extra flap over one shoulder. With her hair done up and her makeup and lash extensions, she really did look like something that stepped out from one of Krystal's magazines.

I would have imagined someone stepping out of the magazine in a cool and elegant way. Abigail had dug both her super high heels into the marble floors of the glass hall, so she didn't arrive quite so gracefully.

"I don't want to talk to her." She was whining quietly to her mother.

Her mother was a short rotund lady with a very pleasant face, "Come now Bibi. It will help your Daddy's business."

"But she hates me." Abigail whined.

"I'm sure it's a misunderstanding." Abigail's mum sounded confident, "I hear she's the sweetest angel, just like my Bibi."

I'm not sure how to break it to you, but I'm not a sweet angel. And neither is your daughter - but this would probably not be the right time to break it to you.

"She's more like a demon." Leia got to work immediately.

"Fallen angels are angels too." Fluffy felt he should remind her (and everyone around her.)

Abigail and her Mum looked around to see who said that, but it was kind of crowded as even more guests gathered around us. I think they expected the host to announce something since they had pretty much dragged the birthday girl up to the front.

Abigail's dad didn't wait for his daughter, the moment his family stepped out of the crowd and past our guards, he released her and offered us his hand, "Ah! Young Alpha, Alpha Princess!"

When Henry didn't take his hand, he bowed deeply, "Welcome to our humble party."