4 MARCH, THURSDAY, CONTINUED
{Oh goddess!} Mum gasped in the mindlink, {What should we do?}
{Wait it out?} Ben suggested coolly in his usual apathetic monotone, {It'll blow off. Sam's temper never lasts very long.}
{Okay... how long exactly?} Harvey asked.
{A few minutes.} Ben answered confidently.
{Unless provoked further.} Fluffy chipped in.
{No.} More than one wolf told Fluffy firmly.
{But poor Bell!} Mum said.
{He'll survive.} Ki assured her, his gentle smile still in place.
I nearly threw Bell through the window, but then I won't be able to kiss him anymore, would I?
I pulled away and ended the kiss though. That was... actually quite nice. Maybe I should throw everyone else out the window instead?
Alpha Gunter was standing with his precious River. His beta and Wilhelm were on guard in front - the kind of position which meant I had to kill them to get to their alpha, but they were otherwise quiet. I think their plan was to let my wolves deal with it.
But I don't think River got the memo. Savy was still holding his hand, but he pulled out and put Savy behind him. Then he took a few quick steps forward from behind Wilhelm's blind spot, "Sam? Sam, you need to calm down!"
Wilhelm tried to grab River by the arm and pull him back, but River glowed and a bubble made of light appeared around him. It was quite a solid bubble too because Wilhelm's hand hit it quite soundly. It looked like it hurt.
"Sorry, Wilhelm." River said firmly, "But I need to do this."
Do what? I looked around, but aside for Bell who was still wrapped in my hair, me, and quivering blue metal blades, there was nothing else on this side of the room.
River faced me, determination etched on his face, "Sam, you need to calm down."
WTH! Was he trying to provoke me?
"River, come back this instant." Alpha Gunter ordered, "It's dangerous!"
Yes, yes. Listen to your dad, River.
{You better not hurt him!} Savy slipped into my head. I flared all over again. How dare she! She'd side River over me? WTH! Love really changes people huh? I should just throw River out the window!
Alpha Gunter stepped up. I think he sensed my intent on River. Lifting his hand, he cast Snow Field INDOORS! I growled at him as the snowflakes crystallized before my eyes and the magic protective barrier formed on their half of the room curving into my side so that it would also cover River's bubble.
How dare he cast a territory spell on my territory! I bombed dominance and half shifted into my new full fighting form, my claws now extended and a metallic armor of dark blue metal scales plastered across my hands and forearms. And of course my ears - but instead of fluffy big ears, it came out fully armored too.
My fur, like my hair, could turn metallic blades too.
Alpha Gunter drew his sword and took a defensive stance, "Alpha Princess, I will advise you to stand down."
"And I would advise you to run away." Boo smiled widely, "Although I won't mind an extra fight."
And then because it was Boo who was talking, she added with that elegant shrug I had copied from Lady Amber, "Do you want to end up in my harem too?"
"You want... My dad?" River blurted out in shock and turned to look at his dad.
No way! Don't say it like that!
I flared, "NO! I DON'T WANT ANYONE!"
And then I remembered why I had chi-ka-boomed in the first place.
"I DUN WANNA! I DUN WANNA!"
{He just had to provoke her.} Ben grumbled.
{He's just trying to protect us.} Savy defended her mate.
{Yeah, by provoking Sam. Genius.} Ben smirked, but he was being sarcastic.
{Yes.} Fluffy smiled, but he wasn't being sarcastic, {I was going to suggest this way too. It will expand her power quicker and she will be much easier to calm down when she has vented her anger on the Snow Wolves.}
{Hoo man, better them than us.} Beta Lucas decided.
{Luc...} Dad warned.
{But Alpha, Look! They obviously stepped up to provoke her on their own accord.} Beta Lucas argued.
And then my big bad (dumb) wolves folded their arms and kicked back to watch.
"Do not worry, Alpha Kingsley." Alpha Gunter said then, "I have some experience with disciplining young alphas when their wolves overtake their senses. I will not hurt her."
Wait, like how the Lorents shot at and chained up their young alpha and whipped him till he stopped?
Oh, wait, no, I remembered Heller and Haku mentioning the Great Teacher's whip of love. Tell me how that wouldn't hurt?
Like hell, I'd let him discipline me! Grrrr...
It was at this moment when Mum felt she had to take things into her own hands, "Samantha Kingsley! You get a grip on your wolf right now. And for goddess sake, put down your luna!"
Mum marched towards me, her mouth pressed in a firm line and her hands on her hips. This was usually a sign that I was going to be grounded for a while.
But that was when I was a puppy. Mum was a lot less scary now that I was in kraken mode. I flared warning like how proper sea monsters would show themselves in movies so that the audience can properly appreciate how fearsome they truly were. Let's see you ground the Kraken!
Dad realized too late that his darling had stepped out from the safety of his other wolves. He quickly stepped forwards too.
Mum brushed Dad's hand away, "Sam! If you don't stop your wolf, I will, and I promise neither of you are going to like it."
Which wasn't an empty threat. I felt Boo suddenly falter. Hahahaha... I forgot how Boo was scared of Mum.
Sigh... I put my hands up in the air and released Bell.
My mum wasn't even a scary kind of wolf. I mean, she was just a white wolf who healed feelings. Like wooo.... So scary.
But Dad's wolf was surfacing too. And in most cases, Dad's wolf was indulgent with me, except in cases when Mum might be even in the slightest danger.
I was mad... But not that mad - at least not mad enough to pit myself against Mum AND Dad. I mean, I still had to eat breakfast with them in the morning!
And I really didn't want to be grounded or anything like that.
My hair retracted and fell around my shoulders like Zara's favorite shampoo ad.
"You guys never let me do anything fun!" I complained. With Dad, it was usually more effective to whine and make puppy dog eyes anyway.
"We're letting you keep a harem, aren't we?" Savy grinned at me. She had also somehow managed to run out from the back of the room. She grabbed River by the arm, but instead of blocking her out, the light bubble popped at her touch, "But this is mine. You're not allowed to hurt him!"
I flared, "Shut up! I don't care! I dun wanna!"
Savy covered her mouth to keep from cackling out loud, "Good. Then it's okay."
What's okay? How was any of this okay?
"I dun wanna!" I reinstated. I wasn't going to back down no matter what.
"You don't wanna what, Sam?" Ben sounded fed up, "You don't wanna hurt Prince River, you don't wanna keep a harem, you don't wanna go to bed...what the hell don't you want?"
"Yes." I nodded.
Ben groaned, "I hate it when you regress like that."
I've regressed? He was the one who needed an attitude check!
"She's just tired." Bell told everyone, "It is past her bedtime."
Don't condescend me like that!
Aloud I said, "SHUT UP. I DUN WANNA!"
And then I cried. I WAS probably just too tired, and overwhelmed, and stressed out, and Arugghhhhhh!!! I HATED IT WHEN I MELTED DOWN. I HATED IT! I HATED EVERYTHING! GRRRRR.... Nothing made me feel weaker than losing it and melting down.
"Oh, Sam!" Mum sighed.
Bell calmly pulled me close against his broad shoulder and stroked my head so that my wolf ears shifted away. He dropped a kiss on top of my head and held my face in his large hands. Then he wiped my tears with the pads of his thumbs, "It's okay baby. You can go to bed. I'll take care of everything else."
Correction, nothing made me feel weaker than my luna. He had to be my kryptonite. I sniffled pathetically and whimpered. Gah! I was such a disgrace, I know.
My poor pack - stuck between an Alpha who melted down into a useless puppy after bedtime and a Luna who was definitely plotting some kind of evil atrocity under the guise of a White Lorent Prince.
But now Mum was by my side too, Bell had to reluctantly release me to her arms. She hugged me and rubbed my back soothingly, "Oh, my poor puppy. Don't worry, I won't let anyone hurt you."
Which made me cry harder, "I (hic), I dun wanna!"
It wasn't fair to pit all my weaknesses against me like that!
Mum glared at Alpha Gunter who had the decency to look abashed. He also put away his sword and stopped the Snow Field Spell.
"Go to bed, Sam." Dad decided then (but I wouldn't put it past Mum for prompting him), "We'll talk more tomorrow."
{Yes. When you can actually articulate in full sentences.} Ben had the nerve to mindlink.
"I DUN WANNA!" I yelled aloud at everyone (but mostly at Ben), and then I tossed my head and stormed out before I made myself out to be a bigger crybaby than I already did.
Wow, I was weak.
Once again, Ki followed me quietly. I stormed out of the conference room growling, down the landing to the first floor, out the front door, across the lawn, only stopping on the porch so that Ki could unlock and slide open the door for me to enter the pool room of my side of the house. Then, without even a word of thanks, I stormed up the stairs, all the way to the third floor, across the landing, past the sofas, and Ki let me into my room.
I was still mad. So there! Ben was WRONG! It lasted more than a few minutes!
Still growling, I got onto my bed and sat crisscrossed apple sauce at the foot of my bed while Ki went around doing his usual beta magic.
I could smell the lemon oils within my sheets, mixed with the familiar scents of laundry detergent, and me, and all the other things that were home for me. Including Lillybutt and Sir Sparkalot II, the only two ponies that made it on my bed. The others were still in their boxes somewhere... There was also the smell of hamster... Sometimes more so, sometimes less, but tonight it smelled of mostly paper lining, I barely smelled Lucky.
Either Ki was keeping Lucky's enclosure super clean, or Lucky was dead and the enclosure was really an empty shell.
I crawled over the bed to check the enclosure. Oh yeah, I needed a photo for Zara!
I needed my phone... But I got distracted because I looked in the enclosure and didn't see any sign of the little tuff of white fur, or movement, or life...
"Where's Lucky?" I asked while looking carefully at the paper bedding for any movement or maybe a little mound of white paper balls that Lucky might be sleeping under.
Ki put down the empty hanger off the gold birdcage rack and turned around. Without walking over, he took one look at the enclosure and said, "He's probably at Ben's."
Wait what?
"Who? Lucky?" Why did I feel like I wasn't following the conversation?
"Yes, goddess." Ki answered gently, "Lucky sometimes goes over to hang out..."
Wait, we were talking about Lucky, like my pet hamster right?
"Ben bought him a car." Ki informed me, and then he cracked a smile, like one of those rare real smiles, "He drives like a... like a very drunk alpha... It's really quite funny to watch."
Okay. A lot of crazies happened tonight. I fought the hardest fight of my life against a real Fire Wolf (and accidentally extinguished his flame), Bell killed him, and then someone (Adele?) revived him, Savy was holding hands with a boy, and then there was this harem thing, and I chi-ka-boomed and kissed mate IN FRONT OF EVERYONE!?!?! Oh... I can't believe I did that. Omo. And then I had a standoff against River/Alpha Gunter/Mum pretty much at the same time and ended up bawling like a dumb pup.
But for some reason, I had a feeling I was hearing something of a new level of crazy now.
It wasn't just that Ben was playing with my hamster and bought him anything - which on a normal day would be shocking news in itself, BUT...
"But Lucky is a girl..." No, that was not what I meant to ask, but it just came out. I think I was too confused to ask properly.
"Ah, so we thought." Ki smiled, "But he grew bigger and we realized Lucky is a male hamster."
Oh. I nodded. Okay, yeah. Zara did mention it was hard to tell when they were young. Wait, no. Why was Ben friends with Lucky? Lizzy maybe, but since when was Ben interested in small fluffy cute things?
"Luna Bell wants Lucky to be moved to his room." Ki informed me, "But he's spending so much time at Ben's that we think maybe just shifting his enclosure there would be better. Harv is worried about the little guy being run over on the road or driveways."
Wait, stop. My brain could not deal with this because it sounded like Ki was saying that my little white puff of furball was running over to Ben's house to play regularly on his own four little hamster paws.
Maybe I needed to sleep more than I thought. For some reason, my brain was finding it hard to understand anything tonight.
"Okay, Ki." I climbed into the bed and pulled up the duvet, "I think I'm going to just take a nap first..."
I yawned. Just a few minutes.
"Goodnight, goddess." Ki turned off the lights for me and bowed himself out.
I think I instantly fell asleep the moment the door shut me in the comfortable darkness of my room. I'll take Lucky's photo tomorrow morning. Oh right! I forgot to wear the diadem! Opps.
I opened my eyes meaning to jump out of bed and grab the diadem real quick. Last thing I needed was to dream travel to somewhere terrible... You know, like a vampire's harem.
Ah! So that was where I was last night, with Edward's HAREM. The Jewels of Ciara were the Ciara Lord's personal harem. Wow. Now that I saw it, I couldn't unsee it. Hahahaha... I was posing as the vamp lords harem girl. Oh wow. Let's just not ever speak of this ever - especially not in front of Bell, or my Dad, or Ben, or... anyone really.
One elephant went out to play, on a spider's web one day ~
Too many elephants. Wait a minute... I wasn't in my bed! I froze quite by instinct, flattening myself under the heavy quilt.
Okay, at least I was on a bed - but WHOSE BED?