MY KINDNESS IS CRUELTY

Harvey showed up at the end of lunch. He had rushed over to tag out Ben, whom Wolfgang declared was being "utterly useless." I saw Ben handover my phone to Harvey. I guess the numbers of "all the hottest guys in our pack" were in safe hands.

"Good afternoon, Alpha. Is everything alright?" Harvey looked concerned the moment he joined us.

Ben wasn't the only one feeling out of sorts. I guess I was looking out of it too. I sighed, but because I didn't have the words to express it, I just forced a smile at my good beta, "I'm fine."

I wasn't. It wasn't even a big thing that upset me, just a lot of little things I couldn't immediately put my finger on.

The new wolves had not been easy to get along with.

To make things worse, Savy and Lizzy weren't being nice or welcoming to the new wolves. They left me to strike up conversation all on my own. No assistance whatsoever. They were never like this before.

At first, I had blamed my Alpha Princess-ness for what seemed like a yawning chasm that I had to work extra hard to bridge over. Now I realized that Savy and Lizzy had been purposely building a glass wall to separate us from the new wolves.

They even interrupted me when I was so close to becoming friends with Sadie.

"She was so obviously flattering you." Lizzy explained, "I could smell her fakeness from the other end of the table."

"Maybe she was just trying really hard to be friendly." I defended Sadie.

"Sam, trust us. That kind of friend is no good." Lizzy told me firmly.

"It would only be natural for wolves to flatter the Alpha Princess." Wolfgang informed us, and then the tutor in him quoted for my benefit, "But honest correction is more appreciated than flattery."

"Yes, I know, Wolfgang." I wasn't in the mood for a mini-lecture, "Why do you think I put up with you and Ben?"

This earned me a wry smile from my tutor and a chuffing sound from Ben.

Wolfgang also had to air his grievances - even though it sounded like he was giving an objective analysis, I could sense his wolf feathers were ruffled.

In Wolfgang's POV, what was unforgivable was Blaine's outright disrespect.

When Wolfgang explained what Blaine did, Ben shrugged, "S***, now I'm even more p***ed."

According to Wolfgang, while he could understand that these wolves were not yet expected to understand pack etiquette in its entirety, some basics were to be expected. So Wolfgang might possibly (and very reluctantly) overlook minor slights. For example, when I got up to leave, they were supposed to say "Thank you for your guidance, Alpha Princess."

There were other even more minor infringements, all of which were interpreted as disrespect because even though these wolves were new and unaccustomed to pack lives, they were wolves, so their instinctive body language were "like an open book".

In short, I had been sorely disdained and snubbed by these girls, but what Blaine did was unforgivable - an insult that should be punishable by law. Like Wolfgang seriously quoted two different pack laws - but neither were in our Night Leaf law.

They were the dumb kind of rules like how the Alpha's head cannot be lower than anyone else in his presence. Life would be very hard for wolves who followed short alphas.

The only reason why Wolfgang did not intervene was because he sensed I would be displeased if he acted without my signal.

(What signal?)

"It's not like she could do anything with Luna around." Ben defended my lack of signal, "You know Luna is soft-hearted. If Sam did anything, it would only result in backlash."

(Well, I suppose that was one way to put it.)

"Don't worry, Hotstuff. Sam knows what she's doing." Ben promised.

(No, I didn't.)

And then Ben smirked, "And I'm not someone who'd forget to repay an insult."

Uh oh. We were supposed to be welcoming them!

"No Ben." Harvey put his foot down, and I was just about to feel relieved that my good beta stepped in when he added darkly, "Leave it to me. I'll make sure our newcomers received an appropriate welcome when term starts."

Normally, when my good beta says to leave it to him, I would feel relieved, but I didn't get that feeling today.

"'What do you mean exactly?" I asked carefully.

Harvey's mouth pressed in a firm line, "Do not worry, Alpha. They will know their place in this pack."

Which should be a good thing right? Like finding your place, knowing where you stand, being where you belong - these were all the ultimate goal of lycan legend heroes (getting the girl, riches, treasures, and glory were byproduct.)

"Well, ah..." How should I put this?

If I told Harvey not to bully them, would it seem like I thought he'd be a bully? If I told Harvey to take care of them and make sure no one bullied them, then would that give my busy beta even more unnecessary trouble?

"Does Alpha have further instructions on this matter?" Harvey asked.

Not really. I mean Harvey had been running as a warrior, helping his Dad with Beta duties, and leading the New Lead Academy all this while. How would I know how to do his job?

I shook my head, "No, you're good at your job... Just, be nice..."

Wait, would that sound like I thought Harvey wasn't nice?

"I mean, like those new wolves... Let's just pretend today didn't happen." I really didn't know how to put it into words, "Give them time to settle in."

Harvey looked confused.

Ben sighed, "Sam, what are you up to?"

"Nothing! I just feel bad for them. Like I know it's hard to go to a new school, and I think it'll be even harder if they felt like they were getting picked on from Day One - not that I think Harvey would pick on new students, I mean, just that maybe let's just forget about this small thing and give them another chance." Like all my ineloquence poured out.

"Indeed, Princess has a pure and kind heart, but you must always remember that as the Alpha, kindness without boundaries will leave your wolves to wander into crueler fates." Wolfgang preached.

"Yeah, Sam. This is just a small offense, no big deal. A small punishment to teach them a lesson is better than letting them off to make a bigger mistake." Ben actually agreed with the Fire Wolf. And then Ben smirked, "Unless you WANT them to get into bigger trouble... Then we can just look the other way."

Wait... WHAT? Why on earth would I wish that on anyone? Especially, girls my age who must have suffered so much hardship to get to where they are today?

"Sam's just being kind, Ben." Lizzy scolded her brother, "How else do you think she puts up with you?"

"Don't look down on Sam!" Ben retorted (although I felt quite sure she wasn't), "Sam's not a normal girl like you Lizzy... Forget it. Fine, since Sam says so, we'll just overlook this."

"But..." Wolfgang started.

"No buts, Hotstuff." Ben cut him off, "You said it yourself. You didn't intervene because you sensed Sam didn't want you to."

That's because I didn't want the new girls to feel uncomfortable or nervous.

"Just sit back and watch the show." Ben was confident. Me? Not so much.

"Understood," Harvey nodded a polite bow, "May I proceed with the planned orientation for the new students?"

"Yes. Just carry on as normal." I said. Maybe, just maybe, these new wolves will settle into school life, learn about the hierarchy in our pack, make lots of friends to run with, and live happily ever after.

"Good!" Wolfgang's expression was ominous though, "I'd like to see what kind of ungrateful troublemakers we've taken in."

Wait what?

"Oh." Harvey realized, "So Alpha wants to test our new wolves' true colors?"

"Wow." Lizzy said, "I'd never have thought to do that!"

"I told you." Ben shrugged, "Sam's way of thinking is different from you girls."

No, no, there's nothing different in the way I thought!

"Thank you for your guidance, princess." Harvey and Wolfgang bowed in unison.

"It's not! I'm not!" I tried to explain, "I'm normal! I'm always going to just be Sam!"

"Don't worry, Sam." Savy squeezed my arm, "Why are you panicking?"

"Because I don't want things to change among us!" I blurted out.

Savy smiled, "Do you think just because we grow up, we'd stop being sisters?"

Huh? What had this got to do with growing up?

"Everyone's growing up without me!" Lizzy complained.

"You'd catch up real quick." Savy promised, "And we'd go for runs together, and double dates… it'll be worth the wait."

"Yeah, I hope so." Lizzy sighed, "Being the last to shift is no fun."

Oh, I never really thought about it. I guess it was true, we ran together as pups, but now Lizzy was the only one unshifted.

"Maybe it's a good thing too." I tried to comfort her, "It'll give you more time to grow your wolf bigger!"

Maybe Jonah could share the secret of his big fluffy wolf with Lizzy. They say his wolf might be even bigger than Gamma Harry's - which was huge. Our Gamma Harry's wolf was so large, he had ever been mistaken as an alpha wolf from far. (This was according to Laura, who was naturally biased.)

Okay, whatever! The important thing was that I adverted disaster for Blaine and my new friends on their first day of school. It could be also just a misunderstanding with Sadie. Savy and Lizzy were probably just being careful of strangers. Who knows? Maybe we'd all be friends by Summer!

Shannon and I weren't always this close either. It just takes time. Goddess, I pray everyone would find their happily ever after (and leave today's incident behind.)