"I DON'T WANT TO MATE HOTSTUFF!"

4 MARCH, THURSDAY, CONTINUED

Alpha Gunter nodded, "I understand now."

Pray tell, what exactly did you understand? I'm honestly afraid to know.

"Perhaps, Anastasia might challenge the Alpha Princess as soon as possible to remove Wolfgang from further disgrace." Alpha Gunter offered stiffly.

My wolves nodded encouragingly.

"Until his redemption," Alpha Gunter continued, "I request they might reside in Night Leaf and that Anastasia be accepted as Wolfgang's mate and a guest resident here..."

More nodding all around. I mean, this was even better now, right? I wouldn't have to deal with an extra mate for four years.

"No." Wolfgang said, "Alpha Gunter, I thank you for your care for me all these years, but I cannot mate Anastasia."

There was a silence and all the nodding around the table stopped.

"Yo, Hotstuff. You can't mean you'd rather be Concubine Number 9." Ben goaded.

"If this is my fate, so be it." Wolfgang answered stubbornly, "I will endeavor to do my best."

At this point, all my big dumb (bad) wolves started exchanging side glances.

Even Harvey's jaw dropped slack just a bit. I don't think they expected their plan to backfire so brilliantly like this. I briefly wondered what kind of she-wolf Anastasia might be, that Wolfgang was this desperate not to mate her.

This would all have been hilarious if it hadn't involved me.

And then, because Wolfgang wasn't the kind of wolf whose pride would not allow him to be easily bullied, he had to stand up to my dumb wolves and declare, "Don't look down on me. No matter what my position, I will prove to be the better man among you."

"Oh, will you?" Bell leaned forward in his seat. If a cobra were to look at you this way, it would be a good sign to back off quickly.

But Wolfgang took it as his turn to smirk, "You may be the luna, and I know full well how to respect hierarchy. But I also know that the heart is not won by the number of deaths in your hand, nor the number of heads that turn to your good looks, nor even your soulmate bond. The Alpha Princess is young now, and naturally does not understand the love between a man and a woman, but eventually the day will come when she is grown. And how will you know she would choose you then?"

"Because he is my soul mate!" I flared, "I will always choose Bell."

"As is only natural, princess." Wolfgang nodded approvingly, almost condensendingly, before turning back to taunt Bell, "Bear in mind, Luna. Her naivety will be your only advantage over me."

And "as is only natural," Wolfgang and Bell ended up growling while glaring daggers at each other.

{What have you done?} I bemoaned to my wolves.

{Apologies, Alpha. That was... unxpected.} Harvey winced from his seat, {And unfortunate.}

Gee, you think?

{You guys better fix this mess!} I growled into the mindlink.

{I'll be happy to make them disappear.} Bell offered, {I don't like it either, you know.}

Which wasn't helpful at all.

My patience was wearing thin by now... In fact, I must be holding back a true blue chi-ka-boom by a single thread of control.

It was way past midnight, there was a party still going on out there - I could hear it muffled but only because of the soundproofing in our conference room. It was a very loud party. It sounded like everyone was still having a good time outside.

Inside though, I was THIS CLOSE to krakening and kicking the Snow Wolves out on their butts for being so culturally difficult. But if I had to be honest, I was far angrier at my own dumb wolves. This could just be my anger talking, but my wolves, despite their high IQ, EQ, and whatever Q you wanted to count, were first-class idiots.

Suddenly, I heard my Dad's regular musing echo inside my memory, "Why do intelligent people do stupid things?"

I was only remembering though. Dad wasn't mindlinking me.

Like every now and then, when my Dad was dealing with a mess - like a serious fight, the kind where the wolves involved turned out to be pigheaded, bull-horned, stiff-necked mules, Dad would sigh and wonder this.

From the way Beta Lucas told it, it was quite a common mutation among strong wolves. And everything was always worse when their inner circles got involved and their combined manly pride was on the stakes - especially since their pride was made of very thin glass - also according to Beta Lucas.

I remembered being very concerned because it sounded serious. I had never seen a wolf shift into a donkey with a pig's head and horns before.

"Hoo boy, it's even worse when there's a beauty involved. Those are the worse kind." Beta Lucas shook his head when I asked him about the mess Dad was frowning over the next day, "All hell breaks loose."

I went back and asked Dad about it.

"What has Lucas told you now?" Dad wanted to know.

"Nothing." I answered because Beta Lucas always said, "If your dad asks, I told you nothing."

Beta Lucas was my greatest source of "nothing" growing up.

Dad sighed and went zen on me so I knew this problem wasn't going away anytime soon, "Jealousy is the rage of a man, he will show no mercy when he takes revenge."

Over the years, I've come to learn that Beta Lucas had a very sketchy past with a lot of beauties involved.

"It was donkey years ago!" He would claim in his defense, "I can't be held responsible if they can't forget me."

There were some homes back in Night Forest, and a handful in Morning Light where he was still unwelcomed to this day.

The funny thing was how I had always assumed that Dad was trying to understand those crazy wolves who had attacked Beta Lucas "completely unprovoked". Funny because I was starting to suspect Dad was asking about his beta. The way I was right now frowning at mine.

WTH. How were we going to get out of this now?

Perhaps my good beta thought the same, he was looking to Ben now, {What now, head beta?}

Ben turned to Fluffy, {Dog. Advice. Now.}

Seriously? We were asking Fluffy? Had they heard his best-laid plans for fixing everybody's love life in school? The one that would've been named the Titanic if it were a boat?

{We could just let Hotstuff stay. At the very least, he would be a constant thorn in our Scary Luna's side.} Fluffy suggested, still smiling. I think he was enjoying himself a bit too much.

{And our Alpha Princess?} Harvey worried.

{Old-fashioned wolves like Hotstuff are quite honorable.} Fluffy smiled, {He will keep a respectable distance from her... at least for now.}

{He'll probably champion her purity as long as we make it clear to him that it is customary for princesses to remain pure till her first mating ceremony.} Ki added. He didn't hide his amusement either.

{Then let him champion her purity for a few years before returning him to Snow Moon.} Ben shrugged, {And Anastasia... heh, whether he wants to or not he's going back home to her - Makes you wonder what kind of b*** she is, huh?}

{Language, Ben.} Harvey reminded him,{Alpha is still on-link.}

So it'll be okay if I was off-link? And seriously, the language wasn't the worst of it!

{Right... what do you want to do, Sam?} Ben decided to ask, sounding like he just realized that I might actually have an opinion.

Right... why thank for asking! WHY DIDN'T YOU GUYS ASK ME EARLIER - like BEFORE you got us into this fix?

I was the alpha! You guys shouldn't be making these decisions on your own!

"So be it. Stay as long as you want." Bell deep voice brought all of us back to the meeting, "But know that she will only love me. If you provoke me even in the slightest. I will kill you, and not even the goddess would be able to save you from my hand."

I said don't decide these things on your own!

"Ki, will show you to your new quarters." Bell inclined his head. And that was that. Nobody flipped the table or yelled in my face. Nobody exclaimed, "Oh Sam!" Nobody lectured me or even told me to reconsider anything. Maybe everyone was just too shocked. I know I was. Half the time, I was still kind of expecting the guys to laugh and say, "Just kidding - you should've seen your face!"

Because my face... I couldn't even begin to imagine what was on it.

As Ki bowed and dutifully showed Wolfgang out, Bell growled lowly at their passing, "Welcome to the family, Hotstuff."

And because Wolfgang really didn't know when to run away, he bowed stiffly back, "I will be in your care, Luna Bell."

After Wolfgang's departure, our meeting wrapped up quickly. Ki returned soon enough and the table started discussing what should be included in the MOU. I barely followed, it sounded like a lot of terms and conditions and stipulations and whatnot.

"It seems that Sir Wolfgang is quite taken by your Alpha Princess." Alpha Gunter noted when we were done.

No, I'm sure it was more that he did not want to be taken by Lady Anastasia.

"This is truly a dilemma." Alpha Gunter sighed, "He is one of our kingdom's four pillars. I fear our foundation will topple without him."

"Yet he had served the kingdom tirelessly and passionately without once desiring anything for himself...until now." Alpha Gunter paused here a moment, as if for dramatic effect, and then he turned to his beta and continued, "Tell me, Glenn. What should I do?"

"It's not in my place to say, Alpha." Beta Glenn answered correctly.

Sometimes my betas answered this way too - but they always told me what they thought anyway, because we weren't a traditional pack... And because my betas liked to flex their superior intellect in front of me.

But traditionally, the alpha was the head. Nobody told an Alpha what to do! But what if the Alpha was really clueless (like me)? Surely even the Great Teacher needed guidance sometimes.

Alpha Gunter breathed another wintery sigh. It came out like a wisp of white cloud. I guess he was more affected than he was otherwise letting on.

He looked to his son, and then he decided, "No matter what, I must redeem Sir Wolfgang. However, regarding his relationship with the Alpha Princess, perhaps we might consider..."

"No." I crossed my arms. Look, I'm all for preserving the lycan culture, observing customs, and respecting other wolves. BUT I had enough, "Hotstuff can stay until the time comes for you to redeem him. Have Anastasia or anyone else come to challenge me for him. I'm sure Hotstuff has plenty for female admirers. It can't be hard to find someone who is able to cook."

I figured it wouldn't hurt to give him a chance to escape Anastasia's clutches. I mean, how hard was it to find someone else whose cooking was better than "not poisonous"?

"Make sure she is able to really cook." I warned.

"I understand." Alpha Gunter said, which usually meant that some kind of misunderstanding had sprung up.

"Trophies are worth more if they are hard won." Alpha Gunter quoted, "I will make sure the challenger comes fully prepared so that you will treasure him all the more."

I opened my mouth and then I shut it.

WTH.

And then something inside me just snapped and everything exploded so that I only saw red, "I DON'T WANT TO MATE HOTSTUFF!"

My hair krackened across the table, hitting the light fixture and wall behind me like a fusion of metal blades and whips, "I DON'T WANT TO MATE ANYONE!"

The wolves around me all got up and made a quick scramble to the other side of the room - except Bell who remained seated next to me smirking.

Beta Lucas tried to evacuate the ladies, opening the door for their exit, but Mum shook her head, and then Mrs Beta decided she must stand behind her luna in this matter as well.

I threw the nearest empty chair across the room, but just at a wall though not the wolves, even though they shrank further back from my half of the room. The chair bounced off, the revolving wheels under them spinning before they hit the carpet.

I threw a couple more, "I'M NEVER GOING TO MATE! NOT NOW! NOT EVER!"

No, I didn't know what I was talking about. I was just SO MAD. I was mad at the Snow Wolves, at stupid lycan traditions, at my own dumb wolves, at my own soul mate - WTH did he mean Hotstuff can stay? WHO MADE BELL IN CHARGE OF MY HAREM?

Wait no! Suddenly, I remembered the source of my frustration, "I DON'T WANT A HAREM!"

My hair wrapped around Bell. Pulling him up close to face me, I pretty much yelled in his handsome face - full alpha bomb and all, "I DUN WANNA!!!"

Because we all know how my wolf was eloquent like that.

"I DUN WANNA! I DUN WANNA!"

Bell didn't fight me, he didn't even try to wriggle free, but his wolf did feel endangered enough to start fuming cursed fumes. As if a bit of black smoke would scare me! I growled and grabbed him by his collar, and then I kissed him on his stupid mouth.

Stupid Bell. Stupid Betas. Stupid everything!