章 402: LEAVING THE LANGSTON
THURSDAY, 11 FEBRUARY, 1PM
The moment the lift doors opened, you could cue the hip hop beat and the rich gangsta rap and play everything in slowmo, and watch me and my cool wolves march out of the Langston like we owned the place... Which we technically kind of did, since Harvey turned out to be a Langston.
And everybody played along like the background extras in the MTV. All the grey uniformed persons stood in two rows to bow deeply goodbye. And the largely spiffy crowd who would were the type who hung around the lobby of the Langston turned to stare.
Short of any of us throwing money in the air, waving hand signs, or getting up close to the camera to rhyme in your face, we were VVVVVVIP.
But in reality, of course none of it happened in slowmo. We all walked at a brisk unmusical pace, staunchly ignoring the domino effect it was having on the grey suited staff lined up to see us off.
I'm guessing Sam (the head manager today, not me) had decided that we were really important.
It probably didn't take longer than two minutes to get to the door. But it was a really uncomfortable two minutes of walking while staring straight ahead and pretending not to notice the bowing and head turning.
I never knew this sort of thing could be so uncomfortable. On TV it had always just looked cool and slow mo, with everyone's hair and make up perfect, right... No one said anything about needing to scratch an itch, or worry about farting, or tripping over their feet, of or having long flying hair with a mind of its own that could whip out anytime at the guys behind it. Nor did they show how real the embaressment was when you had to walk between two rows of bowing people, calling things out like, 'goodbye', 'thank you for staying at the Langston', 'see you again', and 'hope you had a nice stay with us'.
I didn't know how to respond. They bowed down once they spoke, so unless I stopped and waited for them to straighten up again, it's not I like could say, "Thank you for the hard work." Plus they spoke and bowed on both sides of me at the same time. Which side do I answer? As if to save me the trouble of figuring it out, Harvey's hand on the small of my back propelled me towards the front exit at a speed that barely allowed me to register the human faces and smells individually, much less speak to anyone.
For all we knew, they were just that happy to see us off. Like, the scary betas were finally leaving, yay!
Because I wasn't delusional. I knew I was probably the least scary one among them. Unfortunate, but true.
Our cars, both of them warmed and waiting ready for us, were sitting pretty just outside the hotel. Of course Harvey had to tip both the valets for their trouble.
Omo! The tipping at the Langston! I don't care if Harvey paid all my tabs, the tipping alone would probably deplete my personal savings!
But once in the car, I could relax again. I noticed how the streets were surprisingly busy and Harvey explained that everyone was probably taking this short window of relatively clear weather to stock up for the next few days.
That made sense. Not everyone had a bombshelter in their basement stocked with everything from toilet paper to ice-cream a la Beta Lucas.
We got to the causeway and joined the line of cars. They couldn't open the VIP lane for us this time because it was still snowed in, so we stayed in the queue with everyone else.
"Apologies, princess." Harvey said, "We will have to wait in line."
"That's okay." I answered, "I feel more like a real wolf when I wait in line like everyone else."
Harvey smiled wryly at that, "A real wolf, princess?"
I nodded, "Yeah. Real wolves line up."
Then again, real wolves lined up behind their alpha, and I was the alpha. So what I was saying really didn't add up, but Harvey only chuckled, "I see."
The warrior wolves on duty bowed their heads as our car passed. Ki's car behind us was stopped momentarily though. The warriors didn't recognize the two new "Night Leaf warriors" riding with him. Opps.
While the warrior uniform could fool the humans at the hotel, we couldn't fool the warriors on duty.
The line of cars kept moving, so did we. I looked back just to make sure Ki's car wouldn't suddenly have to pull over to turn up the now icy dirt path to the hidden checkpoint bunker.
"Don't worry, princess." Harvey told me, "Ki's with them, and they are in the Alpha's car."
I nodded. Plus these were our own Night Leaf wolves on duty today.
I sat back and faced forward again. Yay! I was home.
"There's no place like home!" I decided.
Harvey smiled, his usual wry smile, "It's good to be back."
Yeah. The Langston was nice, but home was the best.
Half an hour later, I was being hugged by Mum and Sabre. Savy hung back on one of the overstuffed armchairs in our hallmark living room. I could tell she was happy to see me, but unlike me, she was a cool teenager now.
Basically, I was being treated like a lost kitten returned home.
"Thank you for taking care of her and bringing her home safely." Mum told Harvey with heartfelt gratitude.
"You're very welcome, Luna." Harvey nodded a polite bow.
"You boys too." Mum said, patting Ki on his arm affectionately, "Thank you for bringing her home safe and sound."
"Mum..." I growled. Seriously, my mum could be really embaressing.
Dad came into the house then. This surprised me because from what I had heard, I would have thought the Alpha office was really busy right now.
Harvey, who was nearest to the sliding door, unlocked and opened it for him to enter, "Alpha is here."
All the guys bowed, "Alpha Kingsley."
Even Owen, who had looked rather bewildered since we arrived home.
Dad simply walked over to me, and patted me on the head. Thus assured that I was indeed safely home, he nodded, satisfied.
He recognised Fluffy with a nod, but did not fail to notice the newcomer, so he had to approach Owen to assess his wolf.
"This is Owen." Ki did the introductions, "He is one of the Deltas in our Underground Army."
Dad nodded, and then he smiled broadly, "I am your Alpha Sam's father. Welcome."
Owen nodded a bow quickly, "It's an honor to meet you, sir."
Owen was hard for me to understand. Okay, I know, I said that about every fight dog I've met. But Owen was hard to understand for a different reason - he was just too normal.
He wasn't masked with a smile like Ki or Fluffy. He wasn't frozen and stone-faced like Stephan or Theo. Owen was normal, and overall a polite and nice guy. Even his wolf was even tempered and steady, and whilst my Wolfie could sense his deep sadness and loss, he wasn't embittered or broken or hollowed out like the others.
Which made him really abnormal for a fightdog, if that made any sense to you.
Dad spoke to Harvey next, "It was good thinking for you to turn out of the line home last night and shelter in Gate City. The causeway was a mess all night and most of this morning."
"Did Sam cause you any trouble?" Mum worried. It's like Mum's two biggest anxieties flipped like a pendulum between me getting into trouble or me causing someone else trouble. In other words, Mum seemed to believe some kind of trouble would certainly occur whenever I was out of her sight.
"Not at all, Luna, the princess conducted herself without fault." Harvey assured my mum.
Naturally, my mum, who was well acquainted with all my faults, did not believe him, but she managed to keep her smile on, "Is that so?"
No. I was sure Harvey was just being nice too, Mum.
Ki smiled and assuaged my Mum's doubts smoothly, "It's true, Luna. When we were leaving, the hotel staff came to see us off. It caused quite a scene, but my goddess took the impromptu public appearance in her stride with impressive composure."
Now Mum was frowning, "Public appearance?"
Ki nodded sanguinely, "Yes, Luna. My goddess is the Future Alpha of Night Leaf and the Alpha of Moon Bell. Her appearances to the public thenceforth would require some amount of circumspect."
Mum looked me up and down and then touched my hair as if seeing it for the first time, and then she sighed, "I'm afraid you are right, Ki. I always see my puppy, but the world would see all this quite differently."
What did she mean by "all this"? I flared and sulked at her, "I'm always your puppy." I plopped down next to my cooler more teenagerish little sister.
Savy grinned and leaned her shoulder against mine, "Nice puppy."
Sabre climbed up to join us, "I'm a puppy too."
I laughed at that, and let the little girl climb up on my lap. A smile forced itself on mum's face when she looked at us, "Yes fine, you're all my puppies, and I'm so glad you're all home and safe now."
I was always safe. I mean, compared to dream travelling to the vampire's coven or fighting off a couple of rogues... Last night was just a stay at the Langston.
After that, Beta Lucas and Ben came over too, presumably to get Dad's signature for something and fetch him to the next meeting. Dad was having back to back meetings all day.
Harvey immediately asked if he might be of assistance. While the other men conferred together, Ben dropped down on the sofa next to me.
"You're back." Ben said.
"Yeah." I said.
Sabre wriggled off my lap and into Savy's lap to put some distance. She still didn't like Ben all that much, which seemed to suit Ben just fine.
Ben handed me a new phone, "This is for you. I've mirrored your previous phone into it and remotely activated a um...the disabling function on the old phone. It won't be usable anymore."
"What disabling function?" I know I wasn't really the techiest person, but I was quite sure my phone didn't have a disabling function."
Ben grinned at me, "Don't think too hard about it."
I punched him till he admitted that he had planted a dormant worm in my phone. Not the good old fashion earthworm prank type, more like the virus malware prank type. Once awaken, it would disable the phone and every other computer it could hack into via its local WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity.
I paused, "That's kind of extreme."
Then again, so was the swat team. It was a very Ben thing to do.
"Don't worry, I used the GPS tracker on it to make sure it wasn't near a hospital or anything like that." Ben tried to assure me, but it only gave me new possibilities to worry about, "That's really dangerous! Where did you get something like that?"
Ben grinned, extremely pleased with himself, "I made it."
I face palmed. Sometimes Ben was so smart, I feared he would accidentally explode the world or something bad like that.
"Don't worry, Sam. Harvey made me attach a failsafe on it." Ben said.
So if Harvey hadn't stepped in, that "disabling function" would have been released unchecked?
"Did you know where your phone was, Sam?" Ben asked then.
I shook my head, "Did I leave it in school again?"
Ben laughed, "No, Sam. It was in the Central Covens territory."
Eh?
"You didn't know?" Ben asked.
"Of course not! Why would I know?" And then I realised what Ben was really asking me, "I didn't go there! I was in school like I should be. You can ask Henry or Marcus if you don't believe me."
"I believe you." Ben said, "I always believe you."
He shrugged. His shoulders... They looked like he got just a bit broader again.
I was really jealous, these guys... The moment they shifted, their bodies start a wolf enabled growth spurt...or maybe it was the magic of puberty. But it wasn't just Ben, Henry and Marcus and Liam were all broadening and muscling up at an enviable rate.
I was the only one who wasn't getting taller or physically stronger. What my Dad said was right, the moment the guys shifted, they grew up fast, and strong, and tall. I was quickly falling behind.
It's very unfair. The guys get new upper body strength and height, girls get... What did girls get? Nothing very useful for kicking butt, if you asked me.
I punched Ben again.
"What?" He asked me, grabbing his upper arm. Ever since punching Henry there, I've learned it was quite a satisfying place to punch a guy without doing any actual damage.
I shrugged, "I just felt like it."
Ben shrugged back, "Whatever, Sam."
Dad decided then that it was time to return to the office. The FAO (Future Alpha Office) would assist with the communications lines so that the adults could focus on the inter-pack discussions and actual action plan for the storm.
They were also going to set up a storm shelter at both Night Leaf and Morning Light packhouses for minors who's parents were still at Gate City working or young families who's men were outfield on warrior duties during the next few days.
And I knew, nevermind prepping for Vday gifts. If the storm was going to be everything the weather forecast said it would be, we'd be prepping care packages and shoveling a lot of snow for the next few days.
Hahaha. Savy won't need a Vday dance dress or heels, what all of us needed were our snowsuits and boots!
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