9 FEBRUARY, TUESDAY, 3AM
I had to admit, after hearing what Ki said about Cynthia Emerson, I was quite curious to meet her for myself.
The Lorent Girl's Academy Queen and officially accepted girlfriend of "the Young Alpha James" two years running.
I bet she would be someone who could troubleshoot my earlier attempts at interacting with Lorent girls.
Ki stopped outside along the hallway circumspectly, which made me stop too.
I heard a really sweet voice say, "Alpha, your tea must be cold by now. May I pour you another?"
I clapped my hand over my mouth and childishly wanted to snicker at the cloying sweetness. Oh, but what if that was her real voice? Then I would feel a little sorry for her for being stuck sounding like Bubbles. Because even though it's cute on a Powerpuff Girl - and Bubbles was my favourite, I never thought to hear it from a real life grown up person.
I could not hear Mate's response but I heard movement and the sound of delicate clinking.
"Will you really say nothing to me?" The sweet voice pleaded, "We hadn't seen each other for months."
Stoney silence.
"I think about you everyday." The sweet voice admitted.
"So you've said." Mate's deep rumbling voice was quiet.
"And you, Alpha?" The sweet voiced sounded hopeful, "Have you perhaps thought of me even once?"
"Not at all." Mate answered.
His tea wasn't the only thing cold. She should just pour the entire pot of hot liquid over him and leave. I know I would.
But Bubbles, I mean, Cynthia was more patient with cold callous alphas than I was, she sighed gently, "I suppose what was between us is better left a memory now that you are already betrothed."
"Some memories are best forgotten." Mate replied.
Cynthia made a small hollow laugh, "At least you are finally speaking to me now, even though your words are cruel as usual."
Ki signalled to me to move over to where he was standing. I realised that we could see their reflection in the large decorative mirror from where he stood. Sneaky beta.
Mate was sitting on an armchair by the fire. He was preoccupied by his screen for most part ignoring the most beautiful blond haired angel sitting across him. She was dressed in the white customary dress, jewels glittering from her hair and arms.
Woah... She looked like a supermodel version of Bubbles. I briefly imagined her in two ponytails and a blue frock. Even her eyes were the right color! Her body shape was all wrong though. She had a very urm... a very adult body.
Unlike me, who still had the body shape of the cartoon Powerpuff Girl.
Suddenly, I didn't feel like walking into the same room as Cynthia at the moment. And then I saw the food untouched on the silver tiered trays and recognized what a Macaron was.
I've seen them in cafes, sometimes at bakeries, but I've never tried them because they always cost as much as the bigger items in the display counter.
A colorful single bite cookies VS a generous slice of fancy cake. Heck, I could get two doughnuts for a single Macaron!
So yeah... I've never tried them. But now I saw them, there must be at least twenty of them on the tray. That's like two fancy whole cakes! Or 40 doughnuts of any flavour! And Ki did say something about a cream puff with fresh strawberries, didn't he? Fresh strawberries right smack in winter? What soccery was this?
I looked at the food left untouched on the table, and then at Bubbles. And then, maybe because it's food, but I immediately knew what I had to do.
I turned to Ki, "Can you just go in and clear some of the stuff on the table? Food shouldn't be left out too long. The guest might eat it and get sick."
At least that's what mum always said, but I've never gotten sick from any of it before. I guess I was blessed with a strong stomach.
Ki looked at me and smiled, "You are not going to show up your mate's ex-girlfriend?"
I'm not going to what now? Since when was that part of the plan? Perhaps I was overlooking some part of Lorent culture here, but there were more urgent matters to attend.
"I want whatever that has the fresh strawberries." I informed Ki, "Go clean up the table and I'll split the loot with you."
Ki chuckled at that, "Your wish is my command."
But just as he was about to step in, she made a sound that froze us in place, "Oh Alpha!"
"What the F*** are you doing?" Mate's low voice was terse. His mate bond was panicked. Lol. Wait no, this was no laughing matter.
Although Mate had not moved from his seat, and neither had Cynthia, the buttons of her dress was undone and she was sprawled on the sofa, her very short skirt hitched up inappropriately and her hair in disarray.
Ki immediately stepped into the room then, "Please excuse the interuption, may I replenish the tea?"
The panic in the mate bond eased just as immediately.
"Oh, were you here all along, Ki?" Mate asked.
"Yes." Ki smiled reassuringly. He immediately got to work at the coffee table as if he had not noticed Cynthia's state of one-sided unkempt passion.
No, I changed my mind. When it happened, it happened so quickly and I was so confused I hadn't realized. But now that I am writing this, I realised that it was rather funny.
Mate turned back to a teary looking Cynthia, his expression like granite, "Cynthia, get dressed and get out."
And then Cynthia screamed.
"Oh pop." I heard Ki say.
Mate didn't even flinch. Two seconds later, Alpha Lorent and Delta Emerson burst into the sitting room. They took one look and exploded in rage.
"What did you do to my daughter?" Delta Emerson roared.
"I leave you alone for a short while..." Alpha Lorent struggled to get the words out over his growling.
"You left me for 2 hours." Mate corrected irrately, "Two f***ing hours." Which didn't help the situation at all.
When Luna Edith and the Delta's mate rushed in shortly after, they had to squeeze past the servants who were crowding at the door.
Ki put down the food he was "replenishing" to go to the other entrance and send the loiterers away. He also ordered more tea to be brought up.
Funny enough, the hallway I stood in remained empty. Was this territory only for family members then? I carefully sensed around... This side of the house was empty.
Cynthia threw herself into her mother's arms sobbing, "I'm sorry mama. I'm sorry..."
"No, I'm sorry baby!" Her mama burst into tears in response, "I'm the one who should be saying sorry!"
Like I said, it was so confusing, the Lorent culture or whatever was happening here that I just stood there.
It was like watching one of those dramas that my mum had playing a few years back. She left it on for hours and the ladies in our pack discussed it as the same way the men discussed the news, and then the season ended.
When the show's second season started, Mum said she was over it, "I'm through with investing so much emotion on fake over-the-top dramas."
I wished Savy or Mum was around to add commentary so I could follow the drama unfolding in front of me.
Which was essentially what I was seeing right? Cynthia was doing some over-the-top acting, but for some reason, none of the parents seemed to realise this.
"Just calm down. Nobody did anything to her." Mate said tiredly.
"What are you saying?" Delta Emerson yelled, he looked at his daughter and mate clinging to each other in tears,"That my daughter did this all to herself?"
Mate smirked at that.
"James, you ******** **** *** (continued stars for about a paragraph long.)" Alpha Lorent was so furious he forgot to speak in English, and I found out where Mate gained his proficiency in Lycan language from.
Mate replied, but also not in English. I think the two of them were about to come to blows, or shift, or both.
Luna Edith just watch in silent horror. I remembered how Dad used to say Lorent ladies were meant to be seen and not heard. Speaking aloud would be in very bad form.
The servants arrived with more tea. Ki instructed them to serve and then he said, "The Young Alpha James is telling the truth. I witnessed it myself."
"You're his beta. Forgive me if I can hardly take your word for it." Delta Emerson snarled.
But at this point Alpha James looked a little hopeful suddenly, and then he sighed and looked resigned, "Although, I want to believe you Ki. This is not something that can be absolved with just your word."
"How about footages from the security camera?" Ki asked with his Killion dollar smile.
There was a collective pause and then Alpha Lorent asked, "When did we install security cameras, Ki?"
"Earlier this evening." Ki answered, his smile never wavering. He flicked open his phone, "It's controlled remotely from my phone."
Alpha James looked at his son who growled, "Don't look at me, old man. I didn't know."
They both looked at Ki, who smiled like a flower in the sun, "Forgive me, I had to protect my Alpha's interest."
As in the Young Alpha James' interest or the Alpha Princess' interest?
The servants finished up preparing the tea. If they strained to hear anymore, their wolf ears might pop out of their heads.
"Please make another cup for me." Ki instructed with an easy smile, "Half tea, half sugar, the rest milk."
For some reason, this piqued Mrs Emerson's interest even as she was still holding her tear stained daughter.
Mate raised a brow at it, and then I felt a tug on our mate bond, I've been discovered! But instead of turning around to look for me, he merely looked up and the mirror and narrowed his eyes at the blue hair at the doorway. Opps. I flattened myself against the wall.
I wondered how Mate knew the tea was for me. Was drinking very white tea so unheard of?
Ki played the video while the last remaining servant took an extra long time preparing my tea.
I could not see the screen though.
"Oh Alpha!" I heard the sweet voice gasp.
I froze all over again, even though I knew it was just a replay. And then I clapped my hands over my mouth not to laugh out loud because we all know I could be mature like that.
"We've seen enough." Alpha James said. His tone was clipped.
Ki turned off the screen I could not see.
There was a deep silence and then Bubbles started weeping. Her mama kept stroking her hair and saying, "There, there, my pet. Don't cry. Daddy will take care of it."
More silence. None of the men spoke. Bubbles cries were muffled against her mother.
Only Ki looked completely unpreturbed. He received my tea with thanks and sent the last servant on her way. She looked rather torn about leaving, "Is there anything else I can help with, Beta?"
Ki smiled at her, "Yes, now that you've mentioned it. If you can help me tidy the young Alpha's bedroom and bath, that would be very helpful. I fear I shall be detained here and cannot do it myself."
"Yes, beta." The servant curtsied and left rather enthusiastically towards my direction. It was her lucky day! Imagine all the gossip fodder she had gleaned overnight!
But oh s***. It looked like my cover was about to be blown. My first instinct was to retreat a few steps and run away, but the hallway had no where I could duck behind to hide and I would never make it around the far corner in time.
Okay, don't panic (because I was). I took a deep breath and walked forward. I'm the alpha. I can wing this... I can wing this... I can...
The servant had just stepped out of the doorway, she took one look at me and screamed, retreating immediately back into the sitting room.
"The...the goddess... goddess... She is angry!" The servant cried out in anguish, "Oh what should I do? What should I do?"
"Keep you head, woman." Ki answered her sternly.
"What goddess?" Delta Emerson asked.
"The blue hair!" The servant pointed at the hallway, "The goddess is out there."
Eh! My hair had been flaring as I psyched myself to face the Lorents.
The room was quiet now.
I decided that there was no point delaying the inevitable. If I were perfectly honest, part of me wished Boo was still around. Boo would have been able to confidently strut in.
But it was as if she never existed. Just Wolfie, who was only interested in you-know-who and was bound to only embaress me.
And then I had a brilliant idea. When at the Lorents, be a Lorent. Just go in and smile. I was a girl, so no one would expect me to speak aloud in front of an elder Alpha and Delta.
How hard could that be? I've seen Savy do it lots of times. Even Lizzy employed such behaviour on occasion. Even in Night Leaf, older male wolves never expected much from young girls.
It was a stupid expectation which I never followed, but in this case, it might work to my advantage.
Because I didn't want to be part of this Lorent drama. Even if my last name was now Lorent. Even if I would one day be the Alpha of this pack too. If Cynthia could act, so could I. Probably...
So Lorent drama stage right, I stepped in.
"Alpha Princess is here." Ki announced.