593 HAPPY NEW YEAR ONE-SHOT

THE STORY BEHIND DIAMOND RINGS

~ As told by an old Beta named Ki ~

A long time ago, when the Green Packlands was wild and unmerged, there was a beautiful Alpha Princess, whose beauty rivaled the Moon Goddess herself.

With bright blue eyes of the rarest lapis lazuli, silken midnight blue hair like a perfectly clear sky, her skin like the moonlight, her smiles like a chorus of twinkling stars.

The princess was not only beautiful to behold, but within her was a heart of gold. So pure and soft her heart was, that even if a man was too noble to be affected by her physical beauty, he would be so moved by her kindness and charm that he would be utterly enchanted.

It was so well known that it was said, that to meet the Alpha Princess was to fall in love, and although no man would dare to admit it aloud, the secret feelings were quite undeniably present.

Thus it was also said in bitter jest that while lesser beauties might walk on red carpets, or are showered with roses, the carpets the Alpha Princess stepped on were stained with blood from the broken pieces of hearts men would leave in her wake.

It was not only hearts that were broken by the Alpha Princess on a daily basis. The Alpha Princess had extraordinary strength and could break anything with her bare hands.

When the Alpha Princess came of age, wolves from near and far arrived at her doorstep in hopes of being her soulmate. But all of them had their hopes and hearts dashed.

After many moons, the Alpha King decided enough was enough. He had a kingdom to run, and all the bleeding hearts and crying warriors were hardly helping things.

He had a tower built by his castle and had his daughter locked at the very top. No man was to come near his lovely daughter, except for the one she chooses.

But how would the Alpha Princess choose her soulmate without meeting him? The Princess suggested, "Perhaps each man should bring me a gift, and I would mate the man whose gift I could not break."

Her father thought that it was an excellent idea and immediately the mindlink was sent, as well as the press release to every major news agency and network.

Before long, the pack was running smoothly again, and even with the line of suitors each bearing their gift, everything was done in a organized and orderly fashion.

And no hearts were broken, only things.

Alas! So many broken things! The Alpha Princess spent all her days in her tower breaking things, from pretty strings of beads to crystal vases. The costs of the broken things would amount to a sizable fortune comparative to the Silver Mountain Pack's annual budget!

It was quite upsetting for everyone, because her pack was a very environmentally conscious pack. Fortunately, they were also a resourceful pack and turned the local scrapyard into a profitable upcycling social enterprise.

The Princess could even crush a boulder of granite in her bare hands. (The warriors upcycled it to line the garden beds.)

Eventually, the gifts dwindled, and it seemed like there was nothing that the Alpha Princess couldn't break. Everything was peaceful and quiet once again.

One day, the Young Alpha from the neighboring pack paid a visit to the Alpha King. This Young Alpha was a strong and brave warrior. He was also a master tactician and as handsome as a god's reflection.

But unlike the sweet Alpha Princess, his beauty was only on the surface, because under the godlike beauty, was a heart as black as coal.

While making small talk with the Alpha King, he learned of the beautiful Princess' plight.

"Why has no one ever told me this?" He exclaimed.

(This was because the Young Alpha's deeds of ruthless violence was well known, so no one, not even his true beta, mentioned it to him in a bid to protect the beloved princess.)

"Opps." Said the Alpha King.

But it was too late for regrets.

"I too would like to present my gift to your daughter." The Young Alpha decided.

Since there was no other way to reject the offer politely, the King had no choice but to call his daughter down from the tower. He thought to himself, "Perhaps she would break his gift (and heart) before his very eyes, and he would not pursue this further."

The princess came down from her tower and fell in love at first sight with the Young Alpha.

"Opps again." Said the Alpha King.

The Young Alpha smirked, rather aware of the effect he had on the entire female population in general, "Here princess, let's see if you can break my gift for you."

Then the young alpha picked up a random piece of coal that had fallen out from the fireplace, "Here is my gift to you."

He had pridefully thought that this beautiful princess who was obviously infatuated with him, would allow his win.

But the Princess earnestly crushed the coal in the palm of her hand. She was too innocent and pure to cheat even for love.

When she opened up her hand, there within it sat a perfect diamond.

At this same moment, the Young Alpha also felt something miraculously strange happen within him - the dark black rock which was supposedly his heart cracked and in its place, was a clear crystal stone as dazzling and bright as the diamond itself.

And when the Princess smiled at him, it was like a bright light pierced into his heart, producing the effect of the kaleidoscope of rainbows.

"What is happening to me?" He cried out in horror.

His true beta (who was a very wise and long-suffering wolf) smiled, "You are falling in love, Alpha."

And he was. He had met his soul mate, and she had met hers.

From that day on, male wolves would give their soulmates the gift of a diamond. Later on, they fashioned the diamonds into rings. And humans, seeing the everlasting mating bonds between soulmates adopted the custom into their engagement ceremony.

"And that is why human men would offer a diamond ring when they ask a woman to marry him." Ki concluded.

The pups had just watched a movie and wanted to know what was in the black box when the man knelt down.

"Oh, so it wasn't a radioactive spider?" Young Silas sulked. He was very into radioactive byproducts ever since he watched Spiderman.

"Not every movie has radioactive spiders." His blue haired older brother informed him.

"Oh, but those are the best kind of movies." Silas insisted.

"I don't believe a word of it." The third boy crossed his arms, "I bet he made the whole thing up!"

Ki looked the boy straight in his peculiar eyes, one blue and one green, and smiled gently, "I'm also your father, Shiro."

"And I'm sure you have a good story to explain that!" Shiro shot back. At the age of 6, Shiro was the master of 3 languages and sarcasm well beyond his years.

"Actually, that's true, Shiro." Silas said, "Your eyes are exactly like Uncle Ki's."

Shiro's response was to throw a cushion at his brother, "Shut up Si!"

Three seconds later, all the pups were rolling across the living room rug.

Ben's heavy boots clomped into the house, his twins behind him, "What's going on?"

"They're just playfighting." Ki smiled his usual smile.

"Sam's not back?" Ben shrugged it off.

The two dark haired boys didn't need an invitation to join the fray.

Ben didn't wait for Ki's answer, "I'll leave Terror and Horror with you. I have to run the border patrol tonight."

And then Ben left before Ki could call him back.

"Uncle Ki, is Jelly coming too?" Dante (aka Terror) asked in mid-fight.

Ki smiled, "I hope not."

Five pups were already five too many. Ki missed his life as a swinging bachelor. Actually, he was still a bachelor, but it was hard to swing when everyone else seemed to take him for the free babysitter. It was somewhat ironic, why the one single available sexy beta was the one at home with the kids...all the kids, because a moment later, there was two knocks on the glass sliding door and Harvey let himself in, "Ki? You're home?"

He looked relieved when he saw Ki, "Oh good, I heard the commotion and thought you might have jumped ship."

"As tempting as it is," Ki smiled, "I'd rather not have the Alpha House burn down again."

Harvey shrugged, wry smile appearing, "Who knew the Alpha House was so flammable?"

He had his own pup by the scruff, "I'm going to leave Gerald here for a few hours. Ben said it was okay."

"Did he now?" Ki smiled very gently.

Harvey was too busy tapping on his phone to notice it, "Play nice with your friends, don't cause Ki trouble, don't break anything."

Damien (aka Horror) smashed the nearest vase from across the carpet, "Uncle Harv, Jelly just broke something."

Harvey facepalmed, "Ben's pups are as bad as he was."

"Just doubled." Ki smiled. Who knew what Ben had done to deserve it? But he very probably deserved it.

Harvey finished whatever he was typing, "Thanks Ki."

And he was gone out the door too.

Six pups. Ki counted just to be sure no one had gone missing just yet. One could never be too careful with these pups. He had been bitten more than once, quite literally, but young pups had a way of getting into trouble. Particularly these six pups.

"Can we watch another movie?"

"Can we have more magic candy?"

"I'm bored, Uncle Ki."

"Uncle Ki, Dante kicked me in the tail."

"You don't have a tail." Ki managed to answer.

"I do. See!" Damien unzipped his pants.

"It's really small." Silas informed him.

"That's not a tail. Please put your pants back on." Ki picked up Jelly by his scruff and out of the way from the projectile Dante had sent flying. He saved Jelly just before Shiro and Damien made a dive to avoid the hit. Jelly was the smallest pup, so he got stepped on a lot by the older ones.

But Ki was good at his job - and that included the babysitting. Besides he had a particular gift when it came to babysitting rancorous pups at night. He had discovered it quite by accident one particularly trying night. He still hadn't quite figured out how it worked, but ah well...it was a lifesaver and he wasn't about to question it.

"Time for bed." He announced.

"Nooo!!!" The pups made a run for it.

Ki glowed, "Sleep."

And suddenly, the pups were down. In little small heaps on the ground. Ki moved around silently picking up the small bodies and placing them on the various soft surfaced in the room. He covered them with the hand knitted blankets Savy had sent over for all her "nephews" last winter. They were hand made by Alpha's Gunter's old beta.

It only took another moment to pick up the pieces of broken vase, and sponge up the water in the carpet... 15 minutes later, the flowers and popcorn strewn on the floor was cleaned up, the plastic cups and bowls stacked in his hands, and except for the colorful knitted bundles of puppies on the armchairs, sofa, and love seat, the living room was back to its picture-perfect state.

Ki smiled and flipped off the lights, leaving the pups snoring softly in the glow of the blue fire.

He left to the kitchen to prepare a midnight snack. He mentally pieced together what he might make with some frozen puff pastry and the leftover escargot and cavalier. There might be smoked salmon and creamed cheese too. Growing pups always woke up hungry. And if not the pups, their parents might also want to warm themselves over hot food and drinks before taking their pups home.

The moment the lights went out, a single bright blue eye opened. Nothing moved for a full minute as Ki's footsteps faded away.

And then both blue eyes were opened, and JL4 sat up. The other pups popped up from where they were laid around him.

"So... what are we gonna do today, Alpha?" Shiro asked.

"Same as we do every night, Shiro." JL4 hopped off the sofa, nearly tripping over his own blanket.

"Try to take over the world?" Silas suggested hopefully.

"No." JL4 admitted, his fluffy blue hair had a serious case of bedhead, "Just the packhouse kitchen."

"Yes! I love raiding the kitchen!" Dante agreed.

"Me too." Jelly rubbed his eyes.

"Did you actually fall asleep?" Damien asked.

"No." Jelly lied.

"I wonder how long before my old man realizes we're only pretending." Shiro said.

"That was a pretty genius idea, making him think he has sleep powers." Silas grinned.

JL4 smiled his wide smile, "I know. That's why I'm the Alpha."