The Alpha's Underworld Princess

Party Preparations

Valkyrie

The morning after dress shopping, I had Will take Tobias so I could oversee the party's setup. His nightmare was still raw in my mind, but he was so happy for the attention his grandfather was giving him. He seemed to have forgotten the whole thing. Penny was yelling at someone that the flowers were all wrong. Gale was correcting place settings. Amiee was working on the head table and checking place settings. I mainly focused on ensuring the platform was decorated to welcome the new pack members and that the bands had everything set up. They were doing sound checks when one of the chefs from the kitchen came to me and asked me to taste some samples he made.

I happily tried various things. I wouldn't say I liked a couple much, as they were fish, and I'm not a fan of fish. But the vegetable thing was good, and so was the steak.

"It's all delicious, James. Thank you for getting it together so quickly."

"Oh, Luna, it's my pleasure! I very much enjoy cooking for these types of things. It lets me be more creative." He then grabbed another tray with desserts—everything I requested. It all made me smile. There was also this lemon custard I really enjoyed. It reminded me of a creme brulee, but instead of vanilla, he used lemon.

"You outdid yourself on the desserts, which are my favorite part."

"Mine too." Last, he held out two small glasses of wine, and I hesitated. It was small, and I remembered Amiee telling me it was okay, and I didn't want to look suspicious. I sipped each one and selected one of the whites and one of the reds. Both were blends. I was all about crowd-pleasing—at least right now.

"Alright. I think things are all good. We should go get ready." I said to Gale and Penny. "Hopefully, Mom already took off." I looked around for Amiee and didn't see her.

"Yeah, she did," Gale told me. "Now let me torture you for an hour, getting you ready for my brother to enjoy later."

"Okay, come on. That's gross, Gale. Don't talk about my sex life with your brother." I said, and Penny laughed.

"We all know it is going to happen. The whole pack knows. And both of you will have your dresses in shreds by the end of the night." Gale said with a wink.

"Oh, I will not allow that. This dress is way too expensive." Penny looked horrified.

"It was Wyatt's money, so if it makes you both happy, go for it," I said with a shrug. We returned to Gale's room, where our dresses were. Amiee and Will were going to watch over Tobias at the party, and the twins were in the pack's nursery, which meant Steven put a force field of warriors around it.

Gale kept fussing around me. Doing things to my hair, painting a face on me. She gave me some overly sexy underwear to wear. They looked so uncomfortable, but whatever. I let her treat me like a doll for about an hour to make me look pretty. It made her happy and would make Wyatt happy. Plus, it was nice sometimes.

While I was pretty at the end of the hour, Gale and Penny looked hot. No one in the room would be able to take their eyes off of them. These tall, feminine creatures were everything I wasn't. Next to them, I felt small. Ugly. Of course, it wasn't their fault, and I didn't hate them for it. It made me wonder, though, how Wyatt could be proud to have me next to him.

When we finally got downstairs, the guys were all waiting. It took them about ten minutes to look as good as they did. I did hate them for it.

"You look gorgeous, Darling," Wyatt said, wrapping his arms around my waist and kissing my cheek.

"You will mess up my hair and makeup. And this took over an hour," I warned him.

"I will mess all those things up by the end of the night. I promise you that." I took a few deep breaths, starting to feel sick to my stomach. I didn't know if it was because I was going to have to stand up there in front of everyone, which I hated, or that I was pregnant. Or both. I'll bet on both.

"I'm sure you will, Alpha. But let's go get this over with? I'm hungry." I smiled at him, and he kissed me again before taking my hand. "Wait, where's Anthony?"

"Oh... um..."

"Here!" he shouted and jogged over. "I checked the patrols. Looks good so far."

"Okay, good." Wyatt nodded at him. "We can go get this over with now."

'You look beautiful, Love.' Anthony linked me.

'Thank you. You look... not like yourself. But very handsome. Maybe you will get lucky, and one of the alphas we invited brought their daughter or something, and you can find your mate. Tobias has been here for six months now.'

'Don't hold your breath on that one.' He almost seemed angry. I wanted him to be happy. I needed him to be. If he was, then whatever crazy feelings this bond was causing would calm down. They have been so much worse lately. It's almost as if I lost control over it again.

We got up on the platform, and Wyatt said a lot of the same crap he said at my luna ceremony about bringing people in the pack and how essential it is to stand together. That we were a family. He declared that he was happy to grow the family with our newest members and to share this moment with the pack and our allies.

'This is all so fake.' I linked Anthony, and he tried not to laugh.

One after the other, they declared loyalty to Wyatt. Benny was one of them, and it made me smile. I'm glad he decided to stay. We didn't usually bring wolves in so young, but being rogue, he did need a pack and didn't have one from his parents. It would keep him safe. He seemed happy here and said he wanted to. I told him if he ever changed his mind, all he had to do was ask to leave.

When it was done, I said some stuff that amounted to the same empty message Wyatt said, and then I had five new warriors declare their allegiance to me by mixing their blood with mine and kneeling in submission. All of them seemed well-intended, which was nice. That was not true the last time I did this.

Then I invited everyone to eat, drink, and dance, and the party could start. All I wanted to do was leave.