Bab 528: DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES
19 FEBRUARY, FRIDAY, CONTINUED
Harvey's simple answer had surprised me.
When I had asked him, "Why do you call me Alpha?" I wasn't sure what kind of answer I was looking for. I didn't know what to expect, but I didn't expect this.
"Because you're my Alpha." Harvey's gravelly voice was sure and steady. I almost believed him at once.
But I've been doubting myself a lot lately. Swinging like a pendulum, Alpha... Just a girl. Alpha... Just a girl.
I knew I was the Alpha - at least, I knew I had an Alpha wolf.
But as Dad once said, "An Alpha isn't an Alpha because of his wolf, but the wolves who follow him."
Yes, very zen. I still didn't understand the half of it, BUT I understood that it did mean you needed wolves who followed you.
Let me think, did I have wolves who followed me? I mean, I had a lot of wolves yes. I even had an army (at least in name). But how many of them would follow me? I mean, really follow me, and not just when they felt like it.
"How do you know I'm your Alpha?" I asked.
Harvey seemed to consider this, but he wasn't thinking of the answer, he was thinking of why I was asking. Did he think I was testing him? Maybe I was, but mostly, I was looking for an answer for myself.
"Just say it plainly, Harvey." I said, "I just want an honest answer."
"Well to be perfectly candid, Alpha, I didn't think of you as my alpha when we first met." Harvey confessed, "I had thought you were..."
Harvey hesitated again before carefully wording himself, "I thought you were a girl, like my sister."
"Haylee?" I asked.
"Yes." Harvey nodded, "You were both the same age, and like Haylee, you were beautiful, innocent, and spoiled. I knew you were Alpha Kingsley's daughter, it was confirmed when the trainers introduced you. Even Delta Flynn fetched your training mat for you."
Wait, you thought I was receiving special treatment as the Alpha's daughter? You thought I was... I was... sp..spoiled? What? WTH?
Harvey's mouth twisted in his signature wry smile, "Boy, was I wrong."
Hell, yeah! Good beta! I'm glad that got cleared up.
"I realized you had a powerful alpha wolf from the first time when you used it to alpha command me. But I think I only really accepted you as my own Alpha after we rescued Alpha Kingsley from the rogues." Harvey reflected, "I've been a full warrior since my first shift, I've fought rogues more than once, but I've never felt so alive as I did the first night we baited the rogues at your pack house. I realized that was because I was running with an Alpha."
"And over time, I realized you were very different from my sister, I mean you are also beautiful and innocent, but you're not helpless at all. Each time I followed you, you surprise me in different and amazing ways. Not once had you turned to me to rescue you."
"You're only in the year of your first shift and already your courage and skills in battle are second to none. I don't even have to mention your fighting abilities, or your uncanny ability to understand and solve complex issues, or your foresight and leadership among even wolves much older than yourself."
"So I call you Alpha, because while you look like a princess to the rest of the world, my wolf knows you as my alpha." Harvey concluded, "And I am proud to be one of the wolves who personally runs with you, who protects you, and who spoils you."
Eh, wait, what? I AM NOT SPOILED!
"I'm the Alpha, you guys should be spoiling and protecting my Luna instead." I grumbled at the window.
Harvey laughed and surprised me again, "What fun would that be?"
I sulked at the window, "I'm not spoiled."
Harvey immediately conceded, "Apologies. I used the the wrong word."
He thought about it for a moment, "We do not spoil our cute alpha. We, ah, we SERVE our TERRIFYING alpha with fear and trembling."
CUTE? Now that was just plain insulting!
And then he laughed again. He was teasing me! How dare he! My good beta was teasing me!
For a "terrifying" alpha, no one seemed particularly afraid to tease me. Not even my good beta. I flared a little, but I couldn't help but laugh too. It came out as a happy chuckle.
It was rare to see Harvey drop down his guard so much when he was around me. It was nice, when Harvey laughed like that, it was like the veneer of professional cool beta had melted off.
Harvey appeared a lot younger suddenly. I mean, he was in high school too, so he wasn't that old, but sometimes I forgot he wasn't all that much older than I was. Especially when Harvey was in his serious beta mode.
The car pulled up the front porch. I could see white Lorent Mercedes parked outside our garage.
"Shit, I'll have to park in the packhouse." Harvey muttered, and then he seemed to realize I was in the car with him, "Apologies, Alpha."
He ducked his head and quickly got out of the car. By the time he opened the car door for me, he was back in his perfect beta persona, "Have a good evening, Alpha."
Ki had come out to the porch to receive me, "Good evening Alpha."
And that's how I was passed from one beta to another.
As Harvey had informed me, I was late for dinner. The Lorents were all here, but it seemed like everyone had waited for me.
Ki announced me in the living room where everyone was dressed formally.
"Alpha Princess is here." Ki announced.
"Oh Sam! You're finally here!" Mum looked relieved, "I heard the traffic was a nightmare!"
I had instinctively made a beeline to my mate and in all happiness pounced on Bell, {MATE!!!}
I couldn't help it, I had caught his scent the moment I stepped into the house.
Yes, Mate, in the flesh. And he smelled amazing when caught me just as always and then put me down to face my elders. I quickly bobbed a polite bow, "Hello Alpha James, Luna Edith, Lady Amber."
I looked at Charles and tried to figure out what to do. He was older than me, but he was my Mate's younger brother. I was the Alpha, but he didn't bow or greet me either... Then again, neither did Savy. In the end I decided to categorize him at a "Savy level" and offered him a smile and a friendly, "Hello, Charles."
"Hi." He nodded a small bow then.
"Good girl." Lady Amber approved.
Luna Edith gave me the usual sudden quick hug, but I was coming to expect that, so my heart only skipped a little bit at the unnatural contact. This would take me a while to get used to. Even my own mother only hugged me after near-death experiences. The closer to death she believed me to be, the harder and longer the hug.
"Oh, Sam!" Mum gasped, as if only just noticing my school uniform, "Go wash up and change, quickly."
I shook my head and grinned, "No point keeping dinner waiting."
Far be it for me to keep hungry wolves from their dinner. No matter how classy, a ravenous wolf was a ravenous wolf.
"Then let's have dinner." Dad was in agreement.
Dinner was like hallmark fancy dinner kind of level. The lighting was warm and bright, there were crystal glassware and fine bone china and shiny silverware, and Mum and Dad really opened a bottle of wine - a vintage gifted by Alpha James and Luna Edith - not that I could drink any of it. I was under-aged, remember? I wasn't going to complain though. Mate was sat next to me, and his glass of wine smelled really weird, like grass, sour berries, and a dash of glue. Maybe fancy wine was just grape juice gone bad - like gone really bad, but Mum noted the "lightness" of the wine's flavour, and Lady Amber praised it's "rich coloring" (which was the Lorent's favorite gold). Why did they call it white wine when it was clearly not white?
Milk was white.
That was the color of snow you shouldn't eat.
Rich people were weird that way. Tonight, it looked like Ki had prepared rich people food too. For starters we had canapes with black little beads on top...caviar or something, and raw fish with seweed and rice - okay, this one I knew was sushi and I liked the salmon ones, and a slice of brown paste thing on an equally tiny piece of toast.
Everything was in bite size pieces. I tried to take smaller bites to make them last longer.
And then there was oyster with lemon juice... My dad gave it a misgiving look but downed it. I pushed my side plate over to Bell. He raised and brow and nodded, imperiously accepting my "offering" without a word.
Mum enjoyed the oysters, she was very pleased because it was a perfect pairing with the wine.
Soup was happily one of my favourites. Actually, I liked all of the soups Ki ever made, but this one was the crayfish chowder one - the one that tasted a lot like Moshiro's lobster bisque, better actually.
At least that was what I thought it was, until Luna Edith commented how this was the best Lobster Bisque she had ever eaten.
We were having real lobster tonight? At home? Wow! Mum really went all out. I couldn't wait for the main course.
I took a peek at Savy, she looked happy too. Ki's cooking always made everyone happy. I was glad she was here.
Sabre was at Mrs Beta's place though. Mum felt she was too young to sit through a whole dinner. She only agreed to go because Lizzy invited her for a stay over and not because Lizzy was babysitting her.
To my surprise, our main course was one of our usual family favourites. Baked chicken, rolled up and stuffed with spinach and cheese. Ki even roasted an assortment of colorful tiny tomatoes, and set everything on a dallop of mash potato, smeared across the plate in the shape of a crescent moon.
This made me super happy. I liked Ki's usual cooking even more than his fancy cooking.
"What a beautiful ballotine!" Lady Amber gasped.
Ki smiled like a flower in bloom, "You're very kind, Lady Amber."
"Not at all. I'm only stating facts." Lady Amber answered.
"This presentation...." Luna Edith admired her plate, "It's very enticing... The flavours... And the colors... It's exquisite."
"Yes, yes... This is very good." Alpha James agreed.
I had no idea... I thought this was baked chicken.
I didn't remember any of us praising the dinner they served us so much either. (Were we supposed to? Omo)
"It's one of our family's favourite." Mum smiled, "Ki is like a magician in the kitchen."
"He never cooked for us." Alpha James complained, but he was smiling, "Ki, why didn't you show off your talent back home?"
"If he did, it would only be to poison us." Bell said.
"Only you." Ki answered with his usual smile. He poured more wine for Bell and winked.
Lady Amber laughed, "You boys, all grown up and still joking around! It's fine here with family, but be careful outside, others might not know you were joking and misunderstand."
I chewed my chicken and considered how Lady Amber had in two sentences established our relationship as family, clarified that it was a joke to avoid any misunderstanding, and soothed over whatever issue that might trigger Bell to chi-ka-boom. Because Bell's mood was like a heavy overhanging nimbus cloud. The big heavy black ones that would storm any minute.
"What makes you think they're joking, Aunt Amber?" Charles smirked. Did he sense the rain cloud too?
"Oh you!" Lady Amber scolded lightly, "You're just as bad!"
Charles just shrugged, "Don't say I didn't warn you..."
Lady Amber swatted his arm lightly, and then Lady Amber took a more serious tone to Bell, "James, your investiture is just around the corner. In a month, you would be the Alpha of the Lorent Pack."
"Goddess, help us." Charles rolled his eyes.
"You wanna do it?" Bell challenged, "You're welcome to it."
"Urgh, no thanks. Keep it." Charles shook his head and waved his hand as if to fend it off, "It's nothing but trouble!"
To my surprise, Alpha James laughed, "It's troublesome, but it's worth it." He looked to Dad for affirmation, "Alpha Kingsley would know, being the alpha involves sacrifice, but it's also very rewarding."
"I never saw it as a sacrifice. It was what I had chosen to do." Dad answered. I looked to see how Alpha James would take that direct contradiction. To my surprise, he laughed again, "Well said, well said."
And then Alpha James turned his attention to his firstborn, and suddenly the laughter disappeared from his eyes.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone