20 FEBRUARY, SATURDAY, 3:45PM
After the photo taking session, Alpha George went up onto the stage to give a speech.
"Thank you everyone, for your presents but more importantly, your PRESENCE." Alpha George paused for a moment, feeling quite proud of his play of words, "Yes, your presence is a gift to us. As my son likes to say, "We are only as strong as our allies." Today is a grand day, not just because it is the Day of Inauguration for the Silver Mountain Pack's Young Alpha, but because of all your esteemed presence. Today is a grand day because we are able to come together, from all the different colored packlands of our great continent - and even from packlands abroad in a concerted effort towards the continued peace and mutual prosperity our continent has enjoyed in the past years. With this, I would like to wish all my honored guests a pleasant stay at Gold City. I hope you've all received a gold card - it would provide free access to the luxury amenities at the various hotels and establishments around the city. The bus tour around the city will be leaving at..." Alpha George checked his thick gold watch, "Oh my... 15 minutes ago. Oh well, it will wait on our leisure."
He was that confident. I, on the other hand, imagined the empty tour buses going around the city like an empty carousel.
"Well then, a toast to my son, the Young Alpha Henry, to the Silver Mountain Pack, and to all who are here today. May prosperity overrun our children. Cheers."
After that, Beta Robert took over giving instructions on where to go if we had signed up for the spa, or if we had signed up for any of the different city tour routes. Guests who had not signed up were invited to rest and continue mingling at the VIP lounge on the second floor where they were serving free flow champagne and canapes, or else spend the free time at their own leisure.
We were reminded that the Inauguration Banquet would start promptly at 7PM at the Golden Dome. Cocktail reception started at 6.30PM. This was a closed door event and except for the official photographer team, there would be no media reporting (unlike everywhere else). The Alpha Inauguration Ceremony will take place at 9PM at the Silver Dome (next to it). It would be broadcast live.
Whew! I'm glad that was over. I looked around for my parents. I had enough socializing for the day. You know what would be nice? A nice long soak in the bathtub. I had my own attached bath - it didn't have a hot tub like the main room, but there was a very nice and deep bath that I wanted to try... with bubble bath. Excited!
"Come on, Sam." Ben came over to my side and led me out, "We need to get to Henry's party."
Wait, wait, wait! "Weren't we just at Henry's party?"
Ben shrugged, "We've got special invites to Henry's private party."
Sigh, I didn't want to go. I tried to think of an excuse.
Ben paused to study my expression, and then he added, "It's on a yacht and we'd be putting out along the bay."
"A boat ride?" My eyes widened at that. I had never been on a boat before. A boat! A real boat! The bathtub could wait.
Ben chuckled, "Yes, Sam. A BOAT."
What? Was I the only person who had never been on a boat? But I was too excited to care about Ben's condescending tone. A boat! A boat!
Bell met us just outside the ballroom. His expression was stormy because Alpha James was talking at him about something. I looked carefully about, but all the photographers from earlier were gone. The reception area was just a lot of Alphas and Lunas and their betas dawdling like high school kids after a school event... ah no, excuse me, I mean they were LINGERING.
Boat = Yacht
Dawdling = Lingering
Everything was fancy here.
Ben dropped his hand from the small of my back, only for Bell to take over - its like a game of pass the alpha for these guys. It's like they didn't think I could walk on my own without losing my way.
"Sam!" Mum rushed over, "Oh, hello Bell. How are you?"
"I'm well, and you Luna?" Bell answered, as if he always spoke this way.
Mum smiled and nodded, "I'm fine. Thank you for asking. Are you taking Sam to the Yacht Party?"
Bell nodded, "Yes, Luna. Don't worry, I will keep her close at hand."
"Thank you." Mum sounded very relieved, "Just now was quite a scare and I'm not sure what kind of party to expect from a Young Alpha and his Young Alpha friends..."
My Mum was amazing at coming up with things to worry about.
"Mum, its just a boat ride." I told her. I wanted to ride the boat! So excited! A real boat!
Henry's Yacht Party turned out to be a little troublesome because everyone had to change outfits. The guys had to wear white suits. I got to wear pants but they were also white. Loose white turtle neck long sweater, and white winter coat. Ki said it was going to be cold. The guys all got Navy Blue woolen coats. It was definitely less cold in the Gold Packlands than back home, so I'm not sure why my betas were acting like my Mum about it.
But whatever, it was worth whatever we had to wear because Henry's yacht turned out to be the best real boat I had ever seen. It was white and big and had sails! Sails!
"It's like a modern pirate ship!" I exclaimed when Bell let me out of his car. A red ant popped up immediately to valet park the car away for us.
My betas arrived in a car after mine. Ki took a deep breath and smiled at the scene, "This brings back memories."
"Let's play pirates!" I decided, "I'm the Captain!"
"Oh no." Ben groaned, and then he smirked, "This brings back memories."
Aw, come on! Now that Ben got taller, all of the sudden he was going to forget how fun playing pirates was?
Ki pressed his lips together, he looked altogether happier suddenly, "Aye, aye, Captain."
{Yay! Fun!}
Harvey came over after passing the car key to one of the red ants. He looked at the yacht and then at the water over the side of the pier, "Water looks choppy."
Ki shrugged, "It is winter, I suppose. Quite unorthodox."
Was it bad to ride on a yacht in winter? Why?
"Maybe the ride would be more fun if the boat moves more." I suggested. No one looked convinced.
We got on and the moment I stepped onto the boarding plank thing, I felt super excited all over again. I was going on a real boat ride! The other wolves were all wearing white too - only the people working on the boat wore blue jackets. Because of the color code, everyone became part of the decoration. I think Henry should have made a pirate themed party but wow, wow, wow, the deck! It was so huge! It didn't look this big from the pier.
For some reason, most of the guests hurried immediately off the deck into the indoor part of the boat, but the icy wind in my hair and the smell of the bay water made me reluctant to leave.
"Princess, better get inside." Mate tried to steer me in, "It's cold."
"It'll get colder when we're moving too." Ki explained.
I know it was cold, but it was a refreshing cold. Seriously, these guys had low tolerance to cold - must be the low fat percentages of their bodies. Hahaha.
It was definitely warmer inside the boat, but maybe because there were so many wolves. I smelled food and went to investigate the buffet. Ben took the excuse to join me. Bell followed too, but he didn't look the least bit interested in the food.
"Ah, Sam. Why am I not surprised to find you here?" This was Henry. He had a way of bursting into a conversation like his dad, with a loud insertion and his beta at heel.
I was indeed having a conversation - it was a very intimate conversation with a small skewer of meat, I think it said it's name was chicken kebab.
Ben quickly stopped waffling down the chow to act professional again.
After that Henry introduced us to a bunch of other Alphas. They were all guys, but what else did I expect since the guest list was for other alpha wolf friends Henry had. Trevor was invited too, but not River or Nicolas. Bell seemed to know everyone there. Some of them met at Alpha Conventions, others studied at Black Forest at one point or the other. Black Forest was a very established school for "raising the lycan leaders of tomorrow". A few of the guys brought their dates, but the girls were sitting in their own nook on the other side. One of the girls smiled at me and waved. They had food on the table. I was going to leave the guys to join them but mate kept his grip on my waist.
I wriggled a little to get free.
"Where do you think you're going?" Bell asked.
I looked at the girls table.
Bell shook his head, "Not those girls. They aren't worth your time."
To my surprise, none of the other guys too offence. Maybe they didn't hear it.
By now, there were three groups all hunkered down in the cabin of the yacht. The Alpha group which I was in, the beta groups - which were just my betas and Beta Peter, and the girls. I know, I was the Alpha - so theoretically, I was in the right group, but for some reason, I didn't feel like I fit in here. Maybe it was the conversation.
"Looks like you're the only one who has found your soul mate." Trevor said, using his glass to point towards me.
Mate smirked, "Yes, mine."
The guys laughed and congratulated him.
"Who knew, the Rebel Alpha would be the first one to settle down with a Luna?" One of them said.
Mate didn't answer but he looked way too arrogant than necessary. Wait, I was the Alpha! Who knew the Rebel Alpha would become a Luna? Hahaha.
Altogether the boat ride was 30 minutes long, and except for the pleasant conversation I had with Chicken Kebab and company, I was not allowed anywhere near the buffet to get acquainted with its residents. Ben did think of bringing me a can of coke. The rest of the time was spent smiling next to Bell and listening to the other young alphas compare notes and catch up with one another. Every now and then someone would complain about the rough sea, but other than that, you wouldn't even know we were on a boat. In fact, you wouldn't even know we were at a party.
We were back at the pier by 5PM sharp. I suspected the crew top deck were too cold and just wanted the party to be over with. By the time we were leaving, they were definitely less classy - and were in oranges life vests and woolen hats, looking more like fishermen than the fancy crew who greeted us when we were boarding. Only the captain was still properly in his uniform. He tipped his hat to see us off.
I looked regretfully at the deck as we crossed it to leave. What a waste! A 30 minute boat ride and we didn't get to climb on the decks, watch the water go by, or do anything remotely fun.
Plus I was still hungry.
We had to wait a little while for our cars and it was getting colder by the minute. It was the end of the day, and we were by the bay. The sea breeze got icy. I blew into my hands.
Bell took both my hands and held them to his lips and blew. His breath was hot.
Woah, I did not expect that! I snatched my hands out from his grasp, "What are you doing?"
"Aren't your hands cold?" Bell asked.
Yes, but now my face was hot.