Mask | ✓

8

"Any luck so far?"

I lifted my head and glanced at the doorway where Maia stood. Her brown eyes were directed downward and focused on a piece of paper in my hand. One of the applications was sent in.

I'd been taking the time to go over and sort through all the applications. So far I'd sorted them into two piles: The Maybes and The Hell Nos. There were more Hell Nos than Maybes.

"It's a work in progress," I told her.

Once I was finished sorting them, I'd compare the Maybes and see the difference between their applications. Then I'd decide which ones, if any, to bring in and do a field test.

"I'm just happy that there is progress," Maia said. "Who are you considering so far?"

I placed the paper that I'd been looking at into the Hell Nos and focused on Maia.

"This is the applicants that I'm considering," I gestured to my right side where the Maybes sat. "And these are the ones that are a definite no and out of the question."

Maia nodded, took a seat across from me, and began to look through the papers. "Tell me about the ones you're thinking about."

"Well, as you can see the list is pretty small. There are only five so far. Three women and two men. One of the women is from the Lunar Falls Pack which is a smaller one like ours so they may fit in a little better, the other two are from far-out packs, but they have a good history so they might be worth inviting down to come and see how they fit in. One of the men was actually recommended to me by Alpha Gray and since he also has a good reputation I thought we should at least consider it, and then the last one is actually from the Red Eclipse pack. We talked a little after everything with Alpha Demos so he could possibly be right for the role."

"They definitely have the training for it," She said.

"Yes, but you can be well qualified for the job and still be an asshole. That's why I want to bring them in before making any decisions."

Maia nodded and placed the papers back on the desk. "Are these all the applicants?"

My eyes moved across the room to where another stack of papers sat. "I wish."

It'd surprised me how many people had applied, but at the same time, I should've expected it. A lot of the applicants were children of head warrior families but were second or third-born children. They still had warrior blood in them however and this was their opportunity to move up the ranking ladder. Not many packs were looking for head warriors, or any type high ranking members, outside of their pack or closely-allied packs so it made sense that they would take any chance they could get.

It was that desperation that worried me though. The last thing I wanted was some power-hungry piece of shit running around my pack and I'm sure that there were some bad apples amongst the group. In fact, I'd already found some. There were names that I'd been familiar with due to scandals, past encounters, and many other situations. Those were the types of people I refused to consider. I was trying to build up the Howling Night's reputation not destroy it completely.

"Do you want some help?" Maia asked me.

I shook my head. "No, go ahead and go back home to Inez. I'm sure she's waiting for you."

Maia smiled at the mention of her mate. Though their relationship was still fairly new, there was no doubt that the two of them were made for each other. Though I couldn't say that I was the biggest fan of Inez, I knew that she made Maia happy and that she was a good ally to have. Not to mention that she was also close with Reo's mate: Boston. It was for these reasons that I was willing to put up with the smart-mouthed woman if it meant that the others were happy.

"Are you sure?" Maia asked once she snapped out of her lovesick trance. "It would go faster if there were two of us."

I waved her off. "No, I'm going to want and have to view all the applications either way. Plus you know that I like to dissect these types of things and I don't want to keep you all day. Go ahead, I got this."

Maia looked hesitant, but with a little bit more prodding she eventually gave in. That just left me and a thick stack of papers. Sighing to myself, I got up and moved to go grab them. Once I returned to my seat, I looked at the first one. A man named Peter Ramirez.

Peter's application was pretty standard. There was nothing about him that stood out to me. He wasn't bad, but I wasn't sure how good he was either. My eyes scanned over his application and just as I was about to set it down, something caught my eye. The pack he was in to be exact. He was a member of the Silver Night Pack.

Nixon's pack.

I stared at the words for a long moment. I knew that the Silver Night warriors were trained very well and given that it was a warrior pack, they had to be able to listen as well, but would he be able to fit in our pack where things were more relaxed? I wasn't so sure about that.

The sound of the phone ringing caused me to tear my eyes away from Peter's application. I stood up from my chair, stretched, and walked toward it.

"Hello?"

"Hello! Is this Alpha Tatum speaking?" A voice asked causing my brows to knit together in confusion.

"Yes, and who is this?"

"This is Nolan Hart of the Silver Night Pack. I'd like to invite you to come to visit our pack to discuss something if you don't mind."