Althena

41. Green District

"This is the Green District. Some people call it the park district or arts. There are a few packs that have territories in it. The main one is the Winter Moon Pack. They have money. They put on this event every year. It's the start of the racing season. The event is a huge carnival though. Rides, bands, you name it, they try to fit it somewhere. We're going to lunch. After that, we watch some horse races and leave. You come back if you want, that'll be the end of the formal stuff."

I grab Clayton's arm and use him to get out of the helicopter. He wasn't going to help.

"Sorry. This dress is big. I'm not used to this stuff."

"We'll figure it out. This way." He grabs my arm and takes off.

We get to a door and Mary sees us. "You look beautiful. A true princess."

"Thank you." I don't know what else to say to her. It's awkward.

"I'm here too, mom."

"You are an amazing prince, son. Always looking so handsome."

Dad comes over and stares at me.

Eventually, Clayton grabs my arm and pulls me into the building.

The chatter dies down when we walk in. Seems like people are trying to get a look at us.

"Clayton, it's wonderful to see you and your date is a stunner. Get her a champaign."

"Yes, sir." I get handed a champaign so quickly.

"Thank you."

"She's not my date. She's my sister."

"Sister?"

"Sister. She was playing hide and seek. We found her."

The alpha snaps out of his trance. "It's lovely to meet you. Welcome. I'm alpha..."

"Did I hear sister?" Another one runs over.

"We have a princess?"

I seem to be the main subject. They are staring at me. Some try to talk, but they keep getting cut off. Jax takes my arm and leads me away from the door.

"I got stuck at the door."

"I saw that. People are shocked. It'll die down." He hands me off to Mike.

"You are beautiful, babygirl." He kisses my head. I snuggle into his side, and he wraps his arm around me.

A few people introduce themselves, but it's so loud, and I can't understand much of anything.

Then Clayton appears again. "Do I have a date?"

"I'm your date." The girl that was at dinner runs over and takes his arm.

"Wonderful. I have to mingle with some people. You, stay close and look pretty."

"Of course." She smiles and follows him.

I side eye Mike. Him and Jax are avoiding my eyes and trying not to laugh.

Chris stands up and grabs Conners arm. "I want to mingle. Conner, stay close and look pretty."

Conner loses it. That sets Mike and Jax off. It takes 3 minutes for the boys to collect themselves.

Chris rolls his eyes and grabs my arm. "Let's mingle."

"We can both look pretty." I smile and the boys laugh again.

We make our way to the snack table and I eat a cookie. "This is amazing."

I'm talking to Chris, but a woman says, "Thank you, ma'am."

Then a man comes up to us. He has an expensive suit. Looks like he's made of money. He takes my hand and kisses the back of it. "It's lovely to meet you, princess?"

"Althena." Out of the corner of my eye, I see Mike focus on me.

"Princess Althena. I'm Delta Drogon from the Winter Moon Pack. I'm so happy you could join us."

"I kind of shocked everyone."

"Don't worry about them. Where are you from?"

"Crystal Falls. I lived there with my mom."

"Will she be joining us?"

"She died."

"I'm very sorry."

I shrug my shoulders. I'm done talking to him.

An arrogant acting man butts into the conversation. "So, you're the princess."

I smile at him. "That's what they say."

"You don't act like a princess."

I'm done with this one too. Chris is standing beside me eating cookies. He's not helping.

The arrogant man crosses his arms. "You want to go do something fun?"

I focus back on him. "What?"

He winks. "I have money, and I'm the delta for the strongest pack in Darkburn." Chris chokes. The other Delta rubs his eyes.

I pat him on the back. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"You'd look perfect on my arm. We can go have some fun first."

I stare at him for a second.

Chris rolls his eyes. "s*x. He wants you to have s*x with him because he's a delta. That's the fun."

"No. Go away."

He smirks. "I could get that attitude out of you. Maybe have you acting like a real princess."

I am done with this i***t. I clench my fist and swing it as hard as I can. I hit him right on the jaw. One of my rings cut into him. It knocks him back, and he trips on a table. He lands on his ass and glares at me. "You are no princess."

Clayton comes up laughing. "That was a hell of a hit. She's got you looking like a princess, jackass."

He jumps up. "HOW DARE YOU?"

Clayton smirks. "Careful now."

His date grabs my hand. "You have blood on your ring. Let's go clean it."

Mike rubs my arms. "You ok?"

"I'm fine. Going to go clean this."

"Alright. I'll ask Chris what happened."

I hear a crash before I get to the washroom. But I don't check it. I already know what happened. I let Mr. Dramatic tell Mike what happened. That was probably not a good idea.

She turns the water on. "Sorry, they were going to fight. I didn't figure we should be in the middle of it."

"That guy was an asshole."

"Both of them that were standing with you are assholes. One likes to flaunt money, the other flaunts his strength."

"The money was ok. He was polite and trying to make conversation. The other one has no class."

I get the flesh out of the ring, and we go back out. Mike puts his arm around me. He seems fine.

My dad is rubbing his face. "Well, maybe your son should figure out how to talk to a princess?"

"She punched him."

I nod and give innocent eyes. "He was trying to get me to have s*x with him because he's a delta. I'm not even sure what that means."

My dad turns around and punches the delta in the face so hard, he flies back into the wall. I hear some bones break. Then he grabs an alpha and body slams him to the ground. "GET OUT NOW AND STAY AWAY FROM MY DAUGHTER." Then he storms off after them as they get shoved out.

Mike puts an eyebrow up. Then he kisses my head. "You sure got the daddy's little princess card down fast." A few people around us chuckle.

Jax smirks. "Where did you learn to punch like that?"

"Monte showed me. We train with warriors sometimes. I put him in a headlock once."

"What did he do?"

"He kept knocking me down. Saying I wasn't standing right. So. I got mad and tried to pop his head off. Then he took us to the wolf training ground. That was fun. I forgot I was trying to kill him."

"I think I broke my hand on that asshole's ugly head." Clayton is flexing his hand. I reach over and heal it. "That's convenient."

"I figured it would be Mike that attacked him."

"He did." Chris gets up on a chair. "NOW WE GO TO LUNCH." He climbs down as people start filing out the door. "Let's try to keep the drama down for lunch. I want to eat and not be smashed."

"Sorry. That was my bad. He was pissing me off though."

"Yea. He started it. Not you." Chris takes my arm and we go to lunch.

Lunch is boring. A few speeches. The Winter Moon Pack alpha thanks everyone for coming and hopes we have a fun time.

Then we go to a stadium of some kind. We're in the royal box. So it's my group. Clayton and his date. My dad and Mary. Then the Winter Moon people are with us. I sit with Mike and watch a couple of horse races. Then I sneak to the back of the box and sit on the couch.

Conner sits beside me. "What are you doing?"

"Those seats up there are hard." I scratch where the bracelets are rubbing my arms. "My face is itchy."

He leans back on the couch and gets comfortable.

I do what he does and yawn.

"They did so well. We had no idea it was her first formal event." I open an eye and a lady is talking to Mary. She must be the Luna for the Winter Moon Pack.

"She was thrown into this life without warning. She's a natural at it. And they're taking to each other quickly. I figured my son would be stand-offish, but he claimed her as his sister right away. I'm proud of them."

"You should be."

I stretch and that wakes Conner up. "What are you doing?" He rubs his eyes.

Mary smiles. "All of you took a nap. But it's time to leave."

Clayton is sleeping in a chair and his date is sleeping beside me. Chris is in another chair. Then a couple of guys I don't know are sleeping too. I try to rub my eyes and Conner grabs my arm. "Wait and you can take it off."

"It's in my eyes."

"Let's go." Mary claps.

Chris jumps up like he's been awake the entire time.

Mike kisses my head. "We'll meet you at Mystic Moon. I want to watch the next race."

"Ok." Someone pulls me with the group.

Mary hands me and Clayton's date makeup remover wipes in the helicopter. I use so many of them. My face was covered.