Imperial Thunder [The Mating Games #1]

Day 0 Part 1

ALPHA EZEKIEL MASTERS

"I hate to tell you this, but I just left a huge stack of paperwork on your desk that has your name written all over it in big, fat letters." His Beta announced in a completely unapologetic tone, even having the nerve to plaster a huge grin on his face, fully aware of how much he hated doing paperwork.

Unfortunately, there was more paperwork required as Alpha than he originally thought and while his Beta, Andreas, was supposed to help him with it, he always seemed to somehow worm his way out of it.

Alpha Ezekiel craned his neck back and tilted his head up towards the moon, the loud, frustrated howl shaking the forest floor at the thought of having to end his night going through some more paperwork, as if he hadn't spent enough time submerged in it all day.

Shifting back into his human form mid-howl, he rolled his neck from left to right before standing up to full height, catching the pair of shorts that his Beta and best friend had just thrown at him, aiming to hit him in the face but failing miserably.

"You'd think my Beta would help me out with things like this." Ezekiel retorted with a small smirk as he pulled on the shorts and fastened them as they were too big for him and he didn't want them rolling down.

Even though wolves were never too fussed about nudity, both him and his pack did not deem themselves as nudists and chose to remain clothed whenever they were in human form.

"Nice try." Beta Andreas snorted and crossed his arms over his chest, his light blues brimming with mirth that threatened to spill over, not even bothering to hide the fact that he was openly poking fun at his Alpha. "These are all pending transfers so you know you, as the Alpha of the mighty Imperial Thunder pack, such important decisions can only be made by you."

Ezekiel huffed but didn't try to stop the smile that his lips threatened to curl up into.

"Well, remind me to get a new Beta then."

"Very funny. As if you could ever replace me." Andreas rolled his eyes and clapped Ezekiel on the back as they walked out of the forest and began heading back to the pack house, having just come back from a night run around the border.

While they certainly weren't the biggest pack in the world, they had ranked the fifth strongest and most powerful pack in the world this year. While Ezekiel was immensely proud of both himself and his pack for all their hard work, he hadn't realised that the title would come along with a dangerous amount of pressure from both his own pack and others packs, to keep their place in the ranks next year.

With a total of two-hundred and fifty wolves under him in his pack – numbers that had nearly doubled since he had become Alpha seven years ago at the tender age of eighteen and taken over the pack from his father – these numbers had just continued to grow at an exponential rate ever since the pack rankings had been released last month just as they were every year.

He was even prouder of the fact that they had taken quite a jump in the rankings and risen from eleven to five. To think that his pack was ranked fifth out of a grand total of eighty-eight only motivated him to keep up these efforts, even if it meant triple the paperwork.

Maybe we really should get a new Beta.

Ezekiel snorted at his wolf and shot Andreas a wry look, only half-considering it.

While their current packhouse was sufficient to house all the warriors, single wolves and teenagers as mated wolves and families tended to prefer having their own house or cottage somewhere on pack lands for a sense of privacy, it would not remain this way for long. With all the new wolves that were interested in joining the fifth strongest pack in the world, most of these transfers being fellow Canadians from the only other Canadian pack, they would need to build a second packhouse to make appropriate housing arrangements.