Alphas Choice

F I F T Y - S E V E N

We finished up our breakfast quietly before Myra talked my ear off about the ceremony tomorrow. I stood to go get another coffee, and we were going to wait in here until 8:30 to start decorating. I was walking back to the table when a high-pitched voice yelled my name.

"Princess Grace!" I turned in time to see Ava launch herself at me, and I caught her and spun around so I wouldn't spill my hot coffee on her.

I set her down, smiling. I set my coffee on the table next to me and curtsied to her, which she did as well, wearing the dress I washed last night.

"Good morning, Princess Ava. How did you sleep?" Her smile grew even wider as she grabbed the skirt of my dress.

"The bed was so comfy! I just got up, Rosie made me shower and get dressed before I came down to eat. I am hungry." She pouted.

"Well, you know Ava, a princess must always be clean and dressed when coming down to eat, I had a shower this morning as well when I was starving. Would you like to go pick out some breakfast?" She nodded eagerly and grabbed my hand.

I brought her over and grabbed a plate, and she picked what she wanted and grabbed some juice. I heard someone and saw Rosie coming up behind me wearing the dress I had given her. She bowed as she approached.

"Good morning, Your Highness, I apologize about Ava, I've never seen her so lively, not since that night...I'm sorry she is all over you."

"Nothing to apologize for at all. Please grab a plate and get some food in your belly. I'll take Ava off your hands so you can sit and enjoy your meal." I said and winked as Ava was talking a mile minute about all the food that was laid out, Rosie chuckled and nodded.

I carried Ava's plate over to the table I was sitting at.

"Do you guys mind if Princess Ava here joins us for breakfast? I think the other wolves would like a little break..." I laughed a little looking at them, Eli stood and bowed to her, Ava smiled at him.

I set her plate down, and I grabbed a seat next to her across from Gabriel. She crawled into her seat and looked at her plate. Then, I could see her looking at me from the corner of her eye. She wasn't touching her food.

"Is everything okay?" I asked her concerned, she folded her hands under the table and shyly looked at me.

"Could I sit in your lap, please?" She whispered.

I pulled her plate over in front of me and lifted her into my lap. Her large smile was infectious, and everyone at the table returned the smile at her. She dug into her meal, and we continued to talk about decorations and planning for tomorrow. How many wolves had sent word that they would be in attendance. Ava finished her plate and leaned back against my chest, getting comfortable.

"She seems to feel comfortable with you, little Mate." Gabriel whispered so Ava couldn't hear.

"Children and animals seem to gravitate towards me, I think I'm just non-threatening, I really don't know, baby. I will amuse her for now the poor thing. She went through something that no child should have to go through." I said sadly.

"You are a natural Luna. This pack is lucky to have you, and so am I."  He said kindly.

I could hear more wolves coming into the dining hall and turned to see a stream of kitchen staff coming in smiling. Over the next ten minutes, half the pack showed up to help decorate.

"Told ya there would be a lot here to help." Myra said smuggly. "They all love you already." She stood and walked over to the group standing next to Hannah and Felix. "Thank you all for coming, we are going to be decorating in here as well as out in the backyard. There are lots of lights to be strung. If I could get a few strong men to carry this box here out back, that would be appreciated." I saw Axel and another big man step up smiling, grabbing the box, Axel looked tired. "Thank you, okay, so with all these hands, it shouldn't be much work. We need some flower arrangements done. We have stems of flowers cut in water in the fridge. We need two per table and three nice ones for the head table, as well as some rose petals pulled from the stems, a small basket full will do." A few she-wolves from the kitchen and cleaning staff stepped forward and headed for the kitchen. "Great, we need an archway constructed of branches and vines, anything you can find that looks nice for outside. There are two stages that need to be brought up from the basement, the smaller one for the outside and the larger one to go in here to raise the head table. The floating boards we use to make a dance floor on the back lawn also need to come up. No one wants to ruin their heels! Lastly that I can think of is all these ornaments need to be looked over and this hall needs to be decorated, any decorations or flowers leftover will be sent to the front foyer for the arriving wolves to see. Please decide what you would like to help with and ask myself or Miss Hannah here if you have any questions! Thank you again for taking time out of your busy day for this!"