Sometimes I feel like Luke is trying to make my life difficult. We've only been at this mall for thirty minutes and I've already had to stop him from getting into a fight. TWICE! Luckily, I was able to stop Eli from putting all of them out of commission for the rest of the week, or vice versa (seriously, Eli's stupid back-talking ass is going to get him into some serious trouble one day). But then they just had to gang up on those betas while I was busy talking. If it wasn't for the fact that we've been friends since forever I would have ditched him already.

"Fucking relax G-dog, we didn't injure those betas THAT badly," Luke says, exchanging high-fives with the others in the group as we walk away from the scene they made.

"Tell that to the paramedics checking on them right now," I say. They aren't really paramedics, but actually gammas who happened to be nearby. Still, they have a lot of cuts and bruises to heal between those two. "You need to cool it with the overreactions and fights before someone gets seriously hurt."

"Oh please, when you become head alpha and make me one of your commanding officers, all we'll be doing is kicking ass and banging chicks." Another round of high-fives go around and now I have to put my foot down. Vic, already knowing what's about to happen, starts walking ahead to our destination. At least I have one sensible person in this group.

"Luke! Being a commanding officer is not a game! You will have an actual responsibility to protect the pack from real threats. Not pick fights with anyone who pisses you off every single day. Also, when I get my Luna I'm not going to be screwing around anymore. "

"I got it, I got it. All work and no fun. Sheesh, your Luna better be something else if she's going to keep you this boring," Luke says patting my shoulder.

I'm sure he does comprehend the responsibility it holds. He just likes to act all nonchalant.

AllI can do is sigh as we make our way to our destination, the Expressstore. The one at this mall mostly sells formal wear since there's a lot ofalphas that want to look their best, but can also quickly ruin a nice suit ifthey need to transform quickly. Though, I did hear about a new place that just opened up that's cheaper so who knows how long this place will stay open. Still, I want to look good when I meet my Luna, so might as well go for the best choice in town. As soon as we enter the store, I see Vic talking to the store manager, probably telling him what we're here for.

When the manager spots us approaching, he excitedly strides over to us; eagerly telling the others to browse through the store's collection of the finest suits they have to offer. The boys rush to the clothing racks trying to find the best suit for them, while Vic and I wait for the manager to retrieve our orders. I had already come here previously with him since we wanted our suits to be tailored and customized for the big event. Might as well have the finest outfit for yours truly to look good in. The manager comes back with a pleased look on his face as he hands us our suits covered with plastic protectors. We both got classic styled black suits, however mine had the pack's insignia embroidered in gold on the left-side lapel. "I hope these suits are to your liking," the manager says, giving a little bow to me.

"Yes, thank you for your hard work," I say, dismissing him. We start to make our way to where the others, when I hear an agonizingly shrill voice call my name. "Grayson, is that you?!" I groan as I slowly turn to the source of the annoying squawking. Which belongs to non-other than Kristy Brown, aka the ex from hell. I wish I could time travel back to freshman year me and punch him in the face for choosing to date this beast. Sure, she might look smoking hot on the outside; with her dark chocolate hair, light blue eyes, and Double-Ds that rich daddy dearest bought for her. But on the inside, she's a mega bitch that for some reason, I wasted two years of my life with.

She struts her way over to us with her two equally annoying friends following behind her. Tossing her styled hair over her shoulder she looks at me through her long fake eyelashes, trying to casually push up her already spilling out boobs. "What brings you here?" she says as seductively as that foul mouth can muster.

"Not you, I can tell you that," I retort.

She lets out a fake laugh and slaps my arm a bit too hard to call it playful. "Come on Gray-bear, don't be so mean. It's been a while since we last chat."

"Yeah well, I have errands to run so I'll have to end this "nice" chat here," I say turning to leave.

"Aww what, that's no way to speak to the future Luna."

I pause and turn back to her with a confused look. "What are you talking about?"

"You never know; I could be your soulmate. Which would make me the next Luna for this pack, as well as the best Luna ever known. I mean my daddy is one of the current head alpha's most prestigious advisors, so it's practically fate."

I quickly look her up and down, and let out a bitter laugh. "Yeah, sure. I'd rather have Vic here as my soulmate than you any day." Vic gives me a confused but amused look. I've never really swung that way, but I have had to consider that my Luna could be a guy. Hopefully, the moon goddess isn't that cruel. "We'll see very soon Gray-bear, come on girls, I need to go pick out the perfect dress for my big night." She flips her hair at me again wafting her natural scent of cashmere in my face before leaving the store.

I know. You said that many times while I was dating her.

Oh. And I'm guessing you do know who it is.

Well then, you're no help.

This is why I'm 95% sure that Kristy is not my soulmate. If Onyx doesn't like her than there's no way I'm meant to be with her. Still I can't help but be slightly worried of the possibility. We finally get back to the others who have picked out their suits and are flirting with the chicks at the register; and, of course, Luke somehow found a completely gold suit to wear. "Dude, what is that?" I say pointing to the flashy outfit he's holding.

He gives a smug grin while admiring the tacky thing. "This is my masterpiece. See, you guys aren't the only ones who can get a custom suit. I just ordered one that matches my style."

"I thought this was my birthday party that we're having, shouldn't I be the center of attention" I say jokingly while I pay for my suit. "Besides if you wear this people probably won't be able to look at you because they'll have been blinded by its ugliness."

"Shut up! At least it's not sold black and boring like yours." I pick up the suit and show off the hand-stitched symbol on the front; he just scoffs and mutters a "whatever" as we leave the store. "Now that the boring shopping is done with, let's go get some booze for the after party!" one of our alphas in the group says. We all cheer in response and race out of the mall to our cars. It's practically tradition for all of the teens to party hard after the new head alpha is crowned and he finds his Luna. I heard stories of my father's after party ending with their bon fire exploding from someone throwing a firework into it. Lucky fuckers. Obviously, we have to one up that!

Once outside, I get to finally reunite with my gorgeous baby: a sleek black 2020 Chevrolet Corvette with a gold and black interior. It took so much negotiation and hard work to get this thing of beauty; thankfully my father was willing to pay for most of it as an early birthday present. Of course, I have to cover insurance and repairs, but after driving it for the first time and hearing it purr it was all worth it. Vic is the only one I trust to not totally trash my new ride so him and I climb into it to go get the good booze. Meanwhile, Luke takes the others in his truck to Walmart to go get snacks, cups, and anything else people might want to drink.

"Hey Vic, I need to ask you something. Do you think Luke will make a good commanding officer?" I ask as we get onto the road. He gives me a look that pretty much says 'Really dude?' "Okay so yes, maybe he doesn't seem like the best choice, and yes maybe he can't fight incredibly well, and yes, he does get angered easily. But we've known him for a very long time! Which means he's way more trust worthy than most alphas, plus he's not afraid to take on any enemy. So, I'm sure he knows how important his role will be."

All Vic does is shake his head and go back to looking at his phone.

We roll up to our favorite liquor store in town, which is our favorite because the store owner, Sticky Ricky, is willing to sell to anyone who has enough money. I once saw a couple of middle schoolers walk out of there with a bottle of Jack Daniels and some wine coolers, so there really is no limit. "Heeeeeey! Sticky Ricky, whats up man!" I shout as we enter the shop, giving him a quick bro-hug at the front counter.

"Well, if it isn't the next crowned prince of the pack! Let me guess, you're buying twenty of everything for the massive after party next week," he says.

"Ha! You wish I could buy that much shit."

"I do, I really do. My pockets feel real empty right now without the usual hundred-dollar bills filling them."

"What happened this time, Rick?"

"I swear I don't know what happened this time! One minute I'm at the poker table racking in thousands of dollars, the next I'm getting kicked out of the casino onto the cold sidewalk!" he says, crossing his arms over his chest and shaking his head.

"You probably got super drunk and started losing badly like you always do."

"Aaaah whatever, that bitchy omega waitress was probably using her pheromones to get me to keep ordering at the table. I need to find better hobbies. Or better casinos," he says rubbing the backing of his bald head.

"Yeah, good luck with that," I say, knowing that he'll be back there in the next two weeks. Vic comes up to us at the counter with four baskets full of all types of liquor. "Wow, you guys might as well buy what's left in the store at this rate. I'll even give you a 10% birthday discount if you do," Rick says ringing up all of the bottles.

"Yeah, while I'm at it I might as well buy the store too and have you work for me," I joke paying him with cash. Little bit of advice for those who are buying hard liquor while underage, don't use any cards. Cause any purchases you make can be seen by your parents, and fuck that mess.

"Well shit, I can retire early in that case."

"Nah, you'd probably blow all of the money within a week and become a beggar."

"Hey I thought you were giving me a job?"

"Changed my mind." I give him a smug smile as me and Vic grab all of the bags containing our bounty. Waving goodbye we leave the store, and outside I see someone checking out my ride a little too close for comfort. "Can I help you man?" I ask giving my keys to Vic to put the bags in the trunk.

"More like can I help you. I mean you did ask me to meet you here," a snarky female voice responds. Oh, I know who this is.

"Jaden stop creepin' around my ride, I thought you were trying to steal it," I say giving her a small shove. Jaden has always been pretty odd. I first met her freshman year when she scammed Luke out of his Beats headphones for knock off Jordans, and he came complaining to me about it. She said that she'd give them back if I became friends with her, allowing her to "expand her reach for new cliental". Ever since then Jaden has been that person that acts super professional and stoned faced, like Vic, around adults; but can switch in a second to a weird goofball who some how has anything you need on her. To this day I still don't know where she gets any of it.

"Hey don't hate on me so much, it took a lot of trading and deals to get what you wanted for the after party. And I see that your wasting no time gathering all of the alcohol in town," Jaden says, picking up one of the big bottles from my bags.

"Hey, that's not for you to drink in ten seconds," I say taking the bottle back from her and giving my bags to Vic. "Are you sure that your people know to bring them after the adults leave?"

"Yeah, yeah get your panties out of a twist. I'm a professional and so are my guys," she says unscrewing a bottle of Fireball that she some how stole from me. Well that's one more thing I'll have to by again later. Vic gives me a thumbs up as all of the bags are secured and in the trunk. I'm about to text Luke to see where he is when I get a mind link from my father.

Grayson, I need to speak with you at the pack house.

Yes, sir.

"Well I gotta go, important head alpha business and all that junk. Make sure you dress like a decent person for the party," I say to Jaden as I climb into my ride. She just flips me off as she's downing the Fireball, and I drive off.

*****

I straighten myself up outside of father's office and knock on the door, waiting until I hear an "Enter" from inside, and enter. Father is seated at his desk which is covered in papers like usual (when I take over I'm seriously getting something or someone to organize my stuff). "Ah, son have a seat," he says not even looking up from the papers that he's holding.

"What's wrong father?"

"Recently I have been getting more and more reports about rogue sightings at the south and east parts of our borders. Only a few have gotten to close to our territory but our men have been able to deal with them easily. Still, there is a clear difference in their movement patterns from regular rogues we have seen in the past, not to mention that they are traveling in groups instead of being alone or in pairs. Which has me to believe that a large group of rogues are forming a "pack" somewhere southeast from us," he says.

"Well that's not unheard of, there have been rogue "packs" before but they usually disperse within a month or two. Those idiots will start fighting over selfish-things and go back to doing things solo soon enough," I say leaning back into the chair.

"Well these sightings have been going on for three years. So, I suggest you take this more seriously," he says, giving me a stern look. I quickly straighten back up at this. Three years?! I've never heard of rogue packs lasting that long.

"How come I'm only hearing about this now?"

"Because we had the same assumptions as you did in the beginning, that they would disperse after a few months. However, the sightings kept happening sporadically and eventually only happened south and east from us. So, they have definitely taken this time to settle down with an actual base. In the past few months, they have been steadily increasing, which most likely means that they are planning something soon."

"I can lead a ton of our warriors down southeast and wipe them out by surprise. Easily."

"I had already thought of that. At this point, we cannot accurately predict what their numbers are since nothing like this has happened before. I'm not sending you into a possible blood bath. Plus, even if you took all of our warriors just in case, that would leave the pack venerable to attacks."

I sigh and rake my fingers through my hair. "Well then, what are our options?"

"For now, you need to focus on next week's celebrations. We do not want to worry the pack with a threat we don't have much knowledge about. Meanwhile, I will be arranging meetings with nearby allies and possible allies to see if they can help us with this problem."

"Yes sir," I say standing up to leave. If that's all I'm allowed to do for now then I might as well go back to the boys and get the rest of the supplies. I also might get Jaden to look into any info about this new rogue pack.

"Good, you are dismissed," he says looking back at his papers. I'm almost out the door when I hear him call out again. "Also, son don't go yapping to your little friends about what we discussed. This is a serious matter that I do not want spreading like a rumor."

"Yes sir," I say giving him a little salute as I close the door. I don't know why he needed to stress that; I wouldn't tell everyone about this. At the most I would tell Vic and Jaden (Luke is kind of a chatter box). Hopefully, when I'm put in charge, I can get their help on this problem; cause whatever this is, I have a bad feeling about it.