WHAT AN ALPHA LOOKED LIKE

19 FEBRUARY, FRIDAY, AFTER GYM

All I wanted was a hair tie, but now that EJ had pointed out the transparency of my wet shirt, I became acutely aware that the front of my shirt was damp too, and I had to quickly buttoned up the cardigan. Once done, I glanced quickly at Henry and Marcus. They were standing in front of me, their backs to me. Liam was standing a distance away, some girls from the senior class had called him over.

"Yeah, that's fine." Henry was saying, "I won't worry too much about it."

"Yeah, but -" Marcus protested.

"I said its fine." Henry insisted.

"Okay, you're the boss." Marcus gave in, "But don't say I didn't warn you."

"I'll f***ing say whatever I want." Henry growled.

"Okay, okay. Geesh. It's all my fault!" Marcus waved Henry's ire down, but he was half smiling while he complained, "You can take all the credit, I'll take all the blame."

Henry smirked, "And don't you forget it."

Because Henry was the Alpha and the Alpha was always right.

From the back, Henry did cut the striking figure of a proper alpha. Okay, from the front too, but right now, I could only see his back. Actually, Henry was very Alpha. He looked like an alpha, he stood like an alpha, he walked and talked and everything like an alpha. Tomorrow was his inauguration right? Tomorrow, when he walked up onto the stage, he would look like a very proper alpha.

Actually, Bell too. Bell was also a very proper alpha type guy. Note that his name wasn't even really Bell, it was James Lorent III. Very proper alpha name. I remembered Bell's broad shoulders and straight back, the way he walked and moved... yeah, he was really... sigh~

I mean- he was just like a typical alpha type. Bossy, arrogant...you know, guys like Henry and Bell, they were the real thing.

They were born alphas, equipped with alpha wolves, alpha powers, dressed and fed with the best the pack could afford, and then educated by elite tutors, taught all the right etiquette and business customs, trained by the best coaches in fancy sword skills, and stuff like that.

From the day they were born, their pack's hopes were pinned to them. All the other wolves would look upon the sleeping baby, or the crying baby, or the pooping baby or whatever, and they wouldn't just see a baby, but they would see their pack's future alpha, the one to shoulder the financial burden, navigate the legal and administrative frameworks, juggle the foreign relations, build upon the existing infrastructures, and lead the pack into a better tomorrow.

I guess it could be a lot of pressure for a baby.

"All done!" Fluffy looked pleased, "Pretty Alpha's hair looks good like this."

Like what? Wait, Fluffy did my hair while I was zoning out? What did he do? Why did I zone out like that? Mum and Savy were right, I had been zoning off more than before. I tried to reach behind to feel my hair.

"No, no, Alpha, you're going to mess it up!" EJ warned. I stopped my hand, but had to give EJ a double take, "Why are you wearing my hair clips EJ?"

EJ pouted, "Don't they suit me? And they keep my hair out of my eyes."

He had five butterfly clips on one side of his head, holding back the red locks. Hmm... I should try to do that on Sabre, but Sabre's curls were tighter, I wasn't sure if it would look as cool. Meanwhile, Fluffy was putting narrow braids in his hair, "My hair's so short now. I can't really do it like before."

EJ helped him secure it with a beaded tie. I narrowed my eyes at the pouch in his hand - exactly how many hair things did Ki put into it?

"Haha! Girly boys!" Troy spotted us loudly.

The other guys were streaming out after their shower from the other side of the hallway. Some of them laughed, others just shrugged it off and made their way to the cafeteria. The great thing about getting into the shower first, was getting to the cafeteria early - like way before the lunch bell.

"Are you two reliving your fight dog days?" Henry smirked.

Eh? I looked from Fluffy to EJ and gave them a critical once over. They didn't look anything like fight dogs... more like boy band idol.

"It's just for fun." Fluffy answered, his usual smile in place.

"In what way is that fun?" Marcus raised a brow, but again Marcus was smiling. Marcus had been smiling a lot since they got the band together.

"Would you like a makeover?" Fluffy offered, "For the new band image."

"Hoi, hoi, it'll be awesome!" EJ declared.

"No way!" Marcus choked out, "I'm not wearing girl stuff!"

"N-O- No." Henry answered too quickly.

I imagined Henry with butterfly clips in his hair. Hahahahaha, "You could make quite a splash in it at your inauguration tomorrow."

"What the hell, Sam! You wear it!" Henry snapped back at me.

"I will if you will." I promised.

This caused Henry to growl, just a little, but only because he realized that I was a girl, so me wearing butterfly clips wouldn't be a big deal.

Fluffy turned back to Marcus, his smile quite genuine, "See. Fun."

Marcus shook his head and chuffed the way he did whenever he thought something was too funny, "I can't believe you guys. All this just to rile Hen up? You guys are crazy."

"Who the hell provokes an alpha wolf like that?" Henry growled.

EJ bounced and boasted happily, "We do it all the time at Night Leaf."

I wondered if EJ knew that they only did it to me, not Dad. I decided I wouldn't tell him.

Henry smirked now, his wolf was in the game, "I told you, Sam. You need to control your wolves better."

"My wolves are the most disciplined army in the continent!" I reminded Henry.

"When they are with James. With you... not so much." Henry pointed out.

I crossed my arms and sulked at that. He didn't have to remind me.

Guys like Henry and Bell... they were the real alpha type. But did that make me the fake alpha type? omo.

"Your inauguration is two months down the road, Sam." Henry had to add. I'm not sure why he was getting so naggy - he was seriously beginning to sound like my Mum, "That's a pretty short runway. Better get your head in the game."

Where did he think my head was? Hadn't I been working hard? Okay, no, I've been just doing whatever. But whatever I was doing was great, right? At least it sounded like that when the other wolves talked about it.

Marcus tried to soften it for me, "Look Sam, your pack's in a good position right now. Just pay attention to your elders' advice, and if you just stay focus and play your part, I'm sure everything will work out... or at least your betas would work it out."

"Or James." Henry countered.

"Oh right. I forgot, their packs were merging." Marcus remembered. He looked to me, "His investiture is next month right?"

And then Marcus stopped midway, "If Sam's mate is Alpha James Lorent III, is Sam still going to have an inauguration?"

Henry frowned for a moment, "I suppose it could work out either way."

"Why won't I have an inauguration?" I asked.

"Because inaugurations are for alphas, not lunas." Marcus explained as if talking to a small child.

"But I'm the alpha!" I flared just a little.

"Sam, calm down. Look, its fine... in fact, it might work out even better for you." Henry said, "With James as your alpha, you won't have to deal with keeping your wolves in line, or managing internal politics, or deal with financial estimates or account audits... you could just keep doing whatever it is you're doing."

"My Alpha says his luna is the real head of the pack anyway." Marcus shrugged.

(That's because your Alpha is a wimp! No, I've never met him, but that's my honest impression so far.)

"Just look at my Mum, not a care in the world... all she ever does is spend money and occasionally poke her nose into my business." Henry said.

(Was that supposed to comfort me?)

"No, I'm the Alpha!" I flared just a lot right now. Boo was NOT happy.

"Uh-oh." Marcus said.

"Hoi! Is our Alpha going to chi-ka-boom? Are you, Alpha?" EJ was enthusiastic, he turned to inform Henry and Marcus, "I heard it was terrifying."

(Just who EJ had been talking to at Night Leaf?)

"Not at all." Fluffy assured him, "Her wolf is just a little riled."

I'll show you a little riled! I turned to growl at Fluffy, my canines showing because I was all out to wipe that smile off his face. STOP WEARING THAT STUPID SMILE AND SHOW ME YOUR REAL FACE DAMMIT!

I guess he was right, I was a little riled.

I think I had mindlinked screamed at Fluffy though. He stopped smiling and his blue eyes looked at me, suddenly his wolf emerged to the surface, it was only for a moment, but for the first time, it was long enough for my wolf to make contact. And then his wolf faded back.

I forgot I was angry. Such a mysterious wolf... I wondered what his physical form would be? I blinked at Fluffy as if seeing him for the first time.

"Pretty Alpha, are you okay?" He leaned in close. I pulled back quickly even as I heard someone's camera take a picture - that someone had forgotten to turn off the shutter sound of his camera, reminding me that I was still on the paparazzi wanted list.

Great. Now there was going to be photos of me and Fluffy - I wondered what delightful tale they were going to spin out of that one.

"Yeah, whatever." I said. I shook my head so that my hair would fall back in place, "Let's go put our bags away and go for lunch."

So we did, because I was the alpha.

Well no, it was because the guys liked the idea of an early lunch.

Was I really the alpha? I wasn't like Bell or Henry. I wasn't born the next alpha. I was born Samantha Kingsley, Alpha Kingsley's firstborn daughter. From the day that I was born, my parents had loved me and even though I didn't live in a fancy big house, or had servants (I never really counted Martha as a servant-type), or whatever else Alpha kids were supposed to have, my memories of my puphood were happy ones. I grew up with a lot of friends - "big friends" (adults), and "little friends" (other pups). I had a big family... betas are family too, right? I always came straight home after school. Mum was always at home, or else I could look for Dad in the office, or Beta Lucas would tell me stories if I were waiting for Dad, or else I had Lycan Study Group, or Training Sessions, or dance/choir/etc, when Savy got older she became my best friend, and of course Savy and I could always go over to look for the twins... okay, just Lizzy. Ben usually avoided us because girls had cooties. I tried telling him I wasn't a girl but it didn't work.

"I'm a raccoon. I don't have cooties... maybe rabies, but not cooties." I had said. (I was really into raccoons back then. If you had asked me which was my favorite Care Bear then, I would have answered Bright Heart - the purple raccoon one.)

"Don't bluff." He answered and shut himself in his room.

Oh, wait... so the raccoon thing - don't tell me I was the one who started it? omo. Wow. Way to go, younger me.

In my defense, how was I supposed to know about Ben's incredible memory, especially since his Dad couldn't even remember where he left his car keys, or his phone, or his alpha's kid(me)? Never leave Beta Lucas in charge of watching your kid when you are at the mall.

But I digressed (as usual). My point was that I wasn't born the next alpha. I wasn't brought up as the next alpha. For most part, Savy and I had a really comfortable normal kind of childhood, and if I considered all the times the adults said to one another, "pups would be pups" in reference to my latest exploits, then I did all the usual things pups did too.

At this point, I didn't feel completely confident that the "Alpha Education" my Dad had set me on was the standard Alpha Education future alphas like Bell and Henry were getting. It had come to my attention of late that my Dad was crazy. I was beginning to understand why they called him the Mad Maverick.

I sat at the benches, eating lunch with my friends under the spring blossoms. The girls had come over to join us - even Janice was here. There was happy chatter all around me, the guys + Janice were debating what their band's unique sound should be... well, mostly the guys were debating. Janice was trying to be the peacemaker. The cool girls were teasing Jasmine about Liam tripping over his own feet because she had waved to him at his last practice. None of them bothered me in my reverie, or rather, I had "zoned out" again and they couldn't be bothered with me... This was nice, just being me, Sam.

I liked just being Sam too.