THURSDAY, 11 FEBRUARY, 11AM
Lunch was a hearty affair of stuffed pasta and beef goulash. Everyone else had breakfast and wasn't due for lunch till 1pm though. Plus they were currently on active duty so no one was allowed to eat.
When were my betas ever not on duty?
Anyway, I ate in the living room in front of the TV while the news played and Harvey and Ki actively and dutifully updated me.
Fluffy was here, along with the good natured Owen, which surprised me because I thought they were at the Underground. But here they were, guarding my door, smartly donning our Night Leaf Navy warrior jackets, inclusive of their Delta ranks pinned on their high collars, looking like they've been Night Leaf all their lives.
"What about the rogue hunt?" I asked.
It seemed like the rogue hunt might have to be called off due to inclement weather. The Luna Bell had been rather p***ed at the weather, then again he was usually angry about something or the other, so I shrugged it off.
Actually, it wasn't just the rogue hunt. There was a good chance everything was cancelled. Even Valentine's Day. I mean school might not be opened for the rest of the week if the snow storm kept rearing up like that.
The traffic on the causeway was running only one way for now - back home, and would be opened for only the next few hours before the next storm broke.
Priority today went to those trying to get their butts home... Like me. So it was one way traffic.
It took warriors from every pack in the Green Packland working in shifts overnight to clear the roads just so that everyone who wanted to get home to their families in the packland could do so today. We were expecting to be snowed in again by nightfall and every night after that, maybe through the weekend too.
Everyone was bracing for the worst snow in Green Packland's history. Even worse than the memorable snow week we had when I was a pup.
On the TV, Gate City was facing a real threat of closure until next week, not yet though. The city was still fighting to keep running - or at rather trekking - knee deep in snow. Essential services would remain opened of course. I watched as the news showed a post man walking about with a snow shovel on his shoulder. He told the reporter that he liked to be prepared.
And then the TV showed our dark green snow ploughs clearing the emergency lane of the Gate City hospital while the news presenter talked about how a lot of the next few days would depend on the weather, but there were talks to keep clearing the roads every night just for the few hours of usage each day.
The Alphas just had to agree on the cost and manpower distribution, or else we'd just hunker down for the extra long weekend.
A lot of warriors will be down for cold and long hours this weeks.
Harvey explained to me that for Night Leaf and Morning Light, the Alpha's office main priority was that none of their wolves would be too adversely impacted by the closure. Many of us had small businesses in Gate City so it was likely we would have to be ploughing the roads for some of us to come out to Gate City safely, at least tomorrow.
They could stay at the Langston for a few days I guess. Unless it was really expensive (it came with free parking and breakfast though).
Or they could run in and out in their wolf form. That was always an option for us, but on second thoughts, given the deep snow and that not every wolf was used to running off-road nowadays, that would certainly spell disaster, or at least another search and rescue mission.
They found the two missing wolves from Jude's pack. One of them had fallen into a deep ravine. The snow had covered it, anyway, they could barely see anything while running last night. The storm was blinding. Yeah, it was best to stay on the roads... Especially the ones on the plough route.
It was a good thing Ki was at Gold Packlands when the storm hit. It wasn't as bad over there. He even managed to drive out to pick Owen and Fluffy from one of the larger Red Packland towns near the Underground. Traffic was slow though, so by the time he got to Gate City, some of the shops had opened, and he managed to buy me clothes.
Wow, this had to be like the worst snowstorm of my life, and my beta found time to buy me a change of clothes. I suppose the Alpha of Moon Bell shouldn't be seen wearing a grubby school uniform out of the hotel.
I mentioned that as a joke, but Ki had nodded sagely, "It would have been quite scandalous."
"What? Why?" I wanted to know. My betas paused.
"What do you mean, princess?" Harvey asked carefully. I'm beginning to notice how my betas liked to ask "what do you mean?" when they were stalling. It was like they were trying to gauge how much they could get away with not telling me.
"I mean, why would it be scandalous?" I wanted to know. Then I realised that my betas were unlikely to give me a straight answer and turned to Fluffy who was smiling as he stood at the door with Owen, "Fluffy, why would it be scandalous?"
Fluffy smiled wider, "I imagine Big Brother Beta checking into a hotel for a night with a cute young girl in a school uniform would be quite scandalous."
The other wolves growled at him so he shut up promptly.
"I made sure the staff knew we were in seperate suites." Harvey felt he should assure me, "I called down from my room for extra towels after dinner last night, and had breakfast delivered and the room made up in my suite early this morning."
Ki nodded his approval, "I expected no less from you."
"You didn't use the free breakfast buffet token?" I asked. Why? Why? Why?
Whatever it was, at least we were definitely using the parking tokens!
"The goddess had wanted to sample the breakfast buffet." Ki explained on my behalf.
Harvey nodded with a wry smile, "I'll arrange for it."
I shook my head, "No, nevermind."
The point here was a free buffet that we missed. If we had to schedule a breakfast event and return another day to pay for another breakfast (and parking), wouldn't that be completely opposite of free?
I probably needed a true Night Leaf wolf to understand. That's why no matter how perfect Harvey and Ki were, Ben was irreplaceable. I was quite sure Ben would have woken me up for breakfast, and eaten with me to make sure we made the most of it.
Anyway, I've finished my lunch and we should check out and get going before the road closed again.
I looked out of the window, everything was covered in big and little heaps of white from way up high where my window overlooked.
From here, I could actually see the causeway. There was already a steady line of cars.
Yeah, I wanted to get home too.
The door bell rang, "Room Service, Check Out."
Ki retreated immediately into my room with an empty black bag. I heard him putting my things away.
Owen checked the view finder and opened the door for a man in a grey suit and a leather binder. The man bowed, "Good morning, my name is Sam. I'm the head manager today."
"Over here." Harvey was suddenly back to speaking in clipped sentences.
"Oh, my name is Sam too!" I told Sam with a grin. For some reason, the more reticent my good beta was, the more I felt I needed to make up for his lack of friendliness.
Sam, the head manager, smiled at me but obligingly opened the leather binder and placed it on the coffee table in front of Harvey.
I went over to see what was happening.
"This is the bill for the A Suite. And your tab, sir. Please sign your acknowledgement over here."
I dropped down to the soft carpet to see how much it was... It was truly like a small fortune! Definitely the worst way to get free parking.
Harvey's lips pressed together, "I called down earlier to have the A Suite put on my tab."
"Ah... Sorry..." Sam fumbled.
The doorbell rang again, "Room Service. Check out."
Owen looked at us, Harvey nodded, "Open it."
Another grey suited man came in, "Good morning..."
The grey suited man looked surprised to see Sam. Sam frowned, "Is that the combined tab?"
"Ah, yes." The second check out guy said and handed Sam the exact replicate of the leather binder.
Harvey was frowning. He shut the leather binder that was on the coffee table and gave that to Sam too, "I would suggest you check your system to locate the duplicate billing and print me the updated tab, before I sign anything off."
"Yes sir." Sam bowed, "Terribly sorry, sir."
Both men bowed themselves out.
Harvey sighed and pinched his brow.
Ki came out of my room with the black large bag all full up and my backpack, "A hundred apologies, goddess, but I was unable to find your phone."
My phone?
"It's in my bag. I haven't used it." I told Ki.
Ki shook his head, "I've checked your bag, goddess."
Hmm... I went over and dug around my school bag. Weird, it was quite, quite, gone.
"Could it be left in school, princess?" Harvey asked me kindly.
Which was how he usually was, but it surprised me because he was being so cold to Sam and the other guy just a second ago.
I frowned at my bag and shook my head, "I usually just leave it in my bag."
Ki smiled, "Understood, goddess. We'll take care of it."
I suddenly remembered Marcus saying that it might be stolen if I left it in the classroom. I frowned. It couldn't be that coincidental right? Maybe I did leave it under my desk? Or at home?
I helped myself to a can of coke and a snicker bar. It just seemed like a waste not to eat more, "Do you guys want some?" I asked.
"Thank you, but we're on duty now, Alpha." Owen said.
I picked up the bowl of candy and went over to them.
"You could take some for later." I suggested. I noticed Fluffy look at a black chocolate bar, so I pushed that into his back pocket for him.
Fluffy beamed, "Thank you, kind and beautiful alpha."
Owen looked scandalised, which was so funny I laughed. I gave Owen a milk chocolate bar. He accepted it with a polite thank you and quickly slipped it into his jacket. But I think he just didn't want to have it shoved into his pocket.
Their reaction was pretty funny until they noticed the two silent betas behind me. When Fluffy and Owen suddenly looked serious, I turned around to see what killed the fun.
My betas were not amused.
But Ki smiled the moment I turned, "Goddess, there is ice-cream in the freezer, would you like to stuff that in their pants too?"
This earned him a low growl from Harvey. I laughed because it was funny to watch the guys try to restrain their desire to have fun while remaining professionally on "active duty".
Ki took out the ice cream. Was he serious? He set them on the coffee table with spoons for Harvey and me. Then he took more out for the guys.
Harvey narrowed his eyes at them.
I sat on the floor nearest to the one labelled Macadamia Nut and opened it. Heehee. I called dibs!
Harvey frowned at his untouched chocolate mint.
"Get used to it, Harv." Ki urged him as he started on his own strawberry champagne ice-cream, "The goddess enjoys spoiling her dogs, I would know."
"Do you guys want to sit down?" I asked.
"We better not." Owen decided. He cast Harvey and Ki a quick glance before adding, "We're still on duty."
Fluffy decided to spell it out, "Our Alpha is the cutest, but we must protect you. If anything happened to you, there would be no one who would spoil us and we would be left in the hands of your scary betas and Luna."
I chuckled at that. Surely he was exaggerating.
"As long as you know that." Harvey decided. He picked up his ice cream.
So the deltas ate at the door, while Harvey, Ki, and I ate around the coffee table. Harvey remained in his chair while Ki sat next to me on the floor.
"Yeah! Eating together is the best!" I decided.
We were still enjoying the ice-cream when the doorbell rang again, "Room service! Check out."
Owen checked the door and opened it again. Sam took a double take at the guards eating ice-cream at the door, but politely pretended not to notice.
He brought the leather binder over to Harvey again, "I'm terribly sorry for the earlier mix up, sir. Thank you for your patience."
Harvey put away his ice-cream. Sam opened the leather binder and placed it for him on the coffee table. He also took out a pen, but Harvey had his own fountain pen.
I watched with interest as Harvey checked the tab and signed it. I just wanted to get some inspiration to what a proper signature should look like. I've only ever seen Dad or Mum's on my school papers. And both their signatures were illegible. Mum's literally looked like she was drawing grass.
Harvey's signature was bold and cursive, and completely legible. He signed at the bottom of the tab, "Harvey Langston".
Eh? What?
"Take note, my Alpha does not pay anything during her stays here. Open a tab on my account." Harvey instructed coldly.
"Yes, sir." Sam bowed.
Harvey shut the leather binder and returned it to Sam along with another ten dollar tip. Sam accepted it with thanks, bowed again, and excused himself immediately.
Wait what?
Ki picked up the bags and passed it to Fluffy and Owen to carry.
"Are you ready to leave, Princess?" Harvey smiled as he put his wallet away. Now that there were no grey uniformed people around, he was back to his usual good beta smile. He was very calm for someone who just signed off a four digit tab and had a five star hotel named after him.
Ki didn't seem at all surprised. Was I the only one who didn't know?
I nodded stupidly and stood up. Harvey stood up too, and then guided me out of the suite, across the wide and thickly carpeted corridors to the lift.
Oh wait, he said it was his parent's investment. I thought he meant his family's suite. Now I realise the entire hotel was Beta Gerald's retirement plan!
As in drive around the pack every Sunday in a beat up tin can pick up truck Beta Gerald?
You think you know somebody! But then they turn around and surprise you.
Hahaha, and my Alpha Dad wanted to build a hut on top of a hill.
Once again it was clearly shown to me, the difference in levels between the Alpha and Beta mindset.
Why did they follow us anyway?
Dad was the Mad Genius, I mean Maverick of the Green Packlands and the father of modern Lycan education. But Beta Gerald was the guy with the hotel.
I wondered what secrets Beta Lucas had? I mean, besides the gyara that was in our dungeons. I should ask Ben sometime.
Yeah, maybe I could just ask Ben the next time I see him, "Hey, Ben! Does your Dad own a hotel?"
Oh no, even better, I could just ask, "Hey Ben, what's your family name?"
You think you know somebody!