“So, what is it?” Gideon looked at his Beta with his brows furrowed.

He knew thatReid would never distract him at a moment like this.

Not when he just brought hismate to his house to spend time with her morning after you were gone as Ireceived the news about local packs training together with foxes and werebearsright next to our territory.“Foxes and werebears, you say?” Gideon rubbed his chin, which he had shavenclean just this morning before meeting Riannon.

Now his usual stubble wasn’tthere and it felt weird...Foxes, werebears and werewolves hated each other.

They were all subjects toLycan’s and it was usually hard to make them stay civil with each other.And now they were training happily together.

Only that both Reid and the kingknew that there was nothing to be happy about there.They all were not one hundred percent satisfied with the lycans’s rule.

All of themthought that they could do better.

Not even realizing that it was the lycans whokept them from killing each other and going to war.

There was a big differencebetween lycans and other kinds of shifters.

And it wasn’t just the fact that theywere physically stronger and more powerful.

It was the fact that in spite of theirpower, they could control their feral beasts inside of thembetter than anyone else and were capable of making reasonable decisions at alltimes.They could have submitted everyone using raw force.

Just like their ancestorsdid back in the day.

But now lycans preferred to avoid wars where it wasnecessary.

And sometimes Gideon was questioning that decision.

Because eversince the lycans went onto this peaceful path, everybody wanted a piece of them.Unfortunately, they were not ready for the new ways.Now the rumors were spreading all over the kingdom that an uprising was in theworks.

But it was still hard to tell which packs were involved in it and when would

they start acting.

Or if they already started...“The warriors will deal with it, you know that,” Reid placed his hands in hispockets, leaning over the wall, “But...”“It’s just the tip of the iceberg and we still don’t know who is causing all that,”Gideon said out loud what they both were thinking and then looked at his Beta,“And you still think it’s a good time for a White Party?”“Actually, I do,” Reid smirked and Gideon remembered that he made him hissecond in command for a reason.“There is not much to tell,” the Beta shrugged his shoulders, “It’s simple, really.Let them believe that we have no idea what is going on.

I am sure sooner or laterthey will show themselves.

All we need to do is watch them carefully.

Luckily, ourspies are in place.”It was not a bad idea and Gideon knew that.

At least it was definitely better tomake them believe that they didn’t have a clue about what was going on.

If theystayed visibly alerted then their enemies would lay low.

That wasn’t what hewanted.

He wanted to act.

Fast.

He wanted to be done with it and concentrate onhis mate.“Fine,” the king grunted, “White party it is then.

Why the hell it is white by theway?”“You are asking the wrong person,” Reid chuckled, “All that is on Savannah.”“Got it,” the lycan king prepared to leave but stopped to give a quick glance to hisfriend,“ And, Reid, I will have another small task for you...”Savvanah open the doors to a spacious light room with a loud bang and stormedin, pulling Riannon after her.“And this is where you are going to be staying!” the girl giggled cheerfully, “It’s theLuna’s bedroom!”

Ria almost choked trying to say the next word, “What? Is it even okay for me tostay here?“Of course!” the lycan princess waved it off, “I wouldn’t have prepared it for you ifit wasn’t! My mum used to live here.”“Your mum?” Ria suddenly felt that the room was too hot, “As in the formerqueen?”“Yeah,” Savvy shrugged her shoulders, “Do you like it? Should I changeanything? We can change everything! Oh, I feel that it’s going to be so fun!”“Erm, no!” Riannon tried to calm the girl down, “It’s amazing! I love it! No need tomake any changes.

And I am...

humbled by the honor of being able to live in thisroom.”“Aww,” a cute smile curved the princess’ lips, “You are so sweet! Reid told methat you are sweet! And Kyle told me that you are sweet.

But you are evensweeter!”“Th-thanks,” Riannon did not know how to deal with all the excitement aroundher.

It wasa bit too much,“How about the dresses?” Savvanah changed the subject abruptly, “I told you Iprepared you some! Didn’t I?”“You did,” Ria obeyed when the girl grabbed her shoulder and pulled her intowhat looked white dresses of every shape, fabric and size.“Look at this,” Savvy grabbed the first dress she saw and placed the hanger ontoRia’s chest, “It’s as if it was made for you!”The Luna looked at herself in the mirror, not even knowing anymore what wasthe right way to proceed here.

The dress in her hands was from one of the most

popular now bridal designers.“Uhm,” she mumbled, “I don’t know, Savvy.

Isn’t it a bit too much...of a bridaldress?”“Of course, not!” the girl snorted, “Why would you even assume that?” sheflapped her long lashes innocently and now Ria was wondering if she wasoverthinking it all...“Well, it’s Vera Wang,” she pointed out, showing the girl the label.“Tsk,” Savannah rolled her eyes, “Vera Wang does evening wear too!”Riannon forced a smile.

Yes, Vera did have evening gowns in her collections.

Itwas just ...

this dress definitely wasn’t from one of those.“Busy?” Gideon knocked on the doorway of the room, his eyes lingering overRiannon holding the white dress and widening slightly.As for her, never had she ever been so happy to see the king before.

Maybe hewould be able to save her from trying out all those bridal gowns?He saw the desperation in her eyes.

He knew far too well that his sister shouldhave been taken in small dosages and it was silly of him to leave the two of themalone on the first day.“Riannon,” he came closer to her with a little smirk on his face, “How about I giveyou a little tour of my pack? It may be useful for you in the future.”“What a great idea!” Savvy chimed in, “I will go too!”“Don’t you have a party to plan?” Gideon shot his brow up, demonstrating to hissibling that this conversation was over and she was better to find something elseto do.

Luckily, Savvanah knew how to take a hint.

And this time she chose to dowhat her brother wanted.

“Oh, right!” she pretended to remember all that suddenly and rubbed her eyes,“Icompletely forgot.

And yes, you are right.

There is so much to be done still.

So,I’ll be seeing you two later, I guess.

It was a pleasure to meet you, Ria.”“Likewise,” Riannon smiled, realizing what kind of game they were playing andmeeting the lycan king’s gaze.“Shall we?” he stretched his hand and she accepted it without thinking twice...comments, I was not feeling well over Christmas at all.

I still don’t.

I understandthat some of you would want to stop reading the book because of theinconsistency in daily updates.

But I am afraid sometimes things are out of mycontrol and what I do now is the best I can do at this moment of time.

If you stillfeel that it’s not worth going on with the book, it is up to you only.

I still wish youall the best and happy holidays ahead.For the ones who stay with me on Ria and Gideon’s journey, I will be updatingdaily until the 31st of December.

31 of December and 1st of January will be myday-offs as well.

And I hope to get back to normal daily updates from the 2nd ofJanuary.