"It's okay. It's her birthday, and she can cry if she wants to, or throw a cake, or whatever." I indicated at the cake my Mum was cutting. "No harm's done."
And then the birthday girl growled at me, "Just shut up, you bitch."
Freya gasped. Beta Gerald turned a dark shade of red that I did not know was biologically possible.
There was growling. I held up my hand to signal whoever was growling to stand down. My Alpha was out now.
Mum and Savy looked at me wide-eyed. Was there something on my face?
"Your eyes…" Mum gasped, very quietly.
I looked at Harvey, who just shrugged and held his hands loosely up in the air. He was going to submit to my hand and stay out of it.
Haylee gave another stricken look, this time toward Harvey. First her dad, then her brother… Now she squared up to me, her otherwise pretty face contorted in anger.
"Haylee, please!" Her mum tried to pull her to the side.
"No, Mum, you don't understand." Haylee pushed her mum away and pointed at me. "You let her fool you! All of you have!" Haylee pointed at her dad, then her finger moved to land on her brother. "Especially you!"
"Haylee, enough!" Beta Gerald growled lowly.
"No, no," I waved. "Let her get it out of her system. I can take it. Please continue, Haylee."
"Do you know what they call you in school?" Haylee asked me.
"I don't go to your school, but in my school, they call me Sam," I answered coolly.
Haylee ignored me. "The guys say you're a monster."
I nodded. "I can see where they're coming from."
"They call you the crazy bitch." She chose not to acknowledge my quip.
"Yeah? Name those guys," I challenged.
"You don't believe me?" Haylee was out for blood. "Do you know how much you're hated?"
"Names first," I said.
I saw Harvey blanch. Why? Did he know what she was talking about?
"Take note, Beta," I said.
Harvey took out his phone.
I turned back to Haylee. "Who called me a crazy bitch again?"
Haylee looked uncertain now.
"If you can't name them, you can't quote them," I told her. "And since this is our first time meeting, I don't think you have any firsthand material on me, do you?"
"Nix! And Marlow, and Ethan." The names stumbled out. "You beat them up on Thursday and then kicked Ethan off a moving truck."
"And you believed those hyenas?" I asked her.
"They were calling you crazy bitch one week and then princess the next!" Haylee screeched at me.
Excuse me, what now?
"You beat them up and forced them to call you princess! You try to seduce every guy you meet, and if that doesn't work, you beat them up or abuse your position as the Alpha's daughter."
"It's always Sam this and Sam that. You're not even in our school. But you're the Alpha's daughter. Big deal! You're not even that pretty!"
"Even your own pack—Dean, he's just an Omega—but he keeps thinking maybe you might like him a bit. He told me about it, but I can see you're just leading him on."
"You're just leading him on, and now you're taking my brother too! Making him call you princess, making him drive out to fetch you from school."
"And now, in front of our parents, you're all nice and friendly. That's so disgusting!"
"Wait, stop," I said. "Let me get this straight—you're not mad because we accidentally invited your family to dinner and messed up your birthday plans?"
Haylee shook her head. "My party is tomorrow, but you're not invited," she added spitefully.
Hahaha. She's less angry-looking now that she got all that out of her system.
"And you're not mad because you're secretly against our pack merger? Or that our pack not merging earlier caused your dad and brother to take on so much work, robbing you of a childhood with them?" I continued.
Haylee gave me a blank look. "What are you talking about?"
"Nothing. Just overthinking, as usual," I said, letting the load of guilt and unwarranted empathy slide off my shoulder.
"So… you're just mad because the boys call me princess?" I asked Haylee. "Actually, I told them to stop, but that pretty much backfired."
"Harvey picked up the nickname and used it as a code name last night so it wouldn't reveal who I am to the rogues. Now he just thinks it's funny."
"And I don't seduce anybody. I'm too young for that kind of thing. Plus, it's really un-Alpha. If I wanted something, I'd take it," I told her straight.
"Dean is my best friend… I don't really know what he told you."
"And the boys treat me like one of the boys… Actually, most girls talk to me like one of the boys too. They say it's more effective."
Haylee was now hiccupping, her tear-stained face staring at me, somewhat shocked.
I couldn't quite remember if there were any other accusations. I had lost count.
"And lastly, I don't pretend to be anything. I'm the same whether at home, in school, or with my pack. I only know how to be me." I shrugged.
And then I realized that was it. I was always me. If she still wanted to hate me now, I couldn't help that.
"So anyway, I was pretty excited to meet you. There aren't any girls the same year as me in my pack," I told her. "And if you still wanna be friends, that'll be cool—we can go to my room to hang out and eat cake. But, you know, if you still want to hate me, I guess that's your choice too. We can just keep it civil and stay out of each other's faces."
"I… sorry," Haylee said really quietly. "I believe you."
Haylee was shorter than I was, so I patted her head. "Okay, let's go upstairs."
"There's only 15 minutes to the meeting, Princess," Harvey reminded me, his voice calm and quiet.
I nodded. "Hurry! Fifteen-minute girl talk! Harvey, you can't come. Stay here and keep an eye on the adults!" I ordered.
Harvey bit back a laugh. "Yes, Alpha."
Muahahahaha. Wolfie laughed like the crazy baddies in Power Rangers TV shows.
{I am the Alpha!}