THE ALPHA PRINCESS' WOLVES ALL GET PIZZA

26 FEBRUARY, FRIDAY, 2:45PM

All in all, we took just a little more than a morning to wrap things up in the Warlock Land... NOT!

But it really did seem that way. We returned to our base camp at the end of the last lunch hour.

Let me explain. Our warriors usually had 3 lunch hour shifts ("Not to be confused with three hours of lunch!" - Quote, Beta Lucas). It helped our kitchens keep up with the demand. The first hour would start at 11am. The second was from 12 to 1pm. And then the third and last lunch hour was from 1pm to 2pm.

But because of the influx of warriors from the Underground, and the Snow Moon and Lorent packs, the last lunch hour was extended to 3pm today.

And our lunches had been delivered to the base camp because I had said we would be back for lunch.

Unbelievably, despite all that had happened in the warlock lands, we made it back for lunch.

Maybe Fount was trying to slow down time while waiting for his stone to be returned or maybe he was trying to delay the aging effects or his inevitable death?

Whatever the reason, the time flowed differently depending on which part of the Warlock lands we were, and none of the reported accounts matched.

Luckily, our Night Leaf admin wasn't too picky about little details like that. It was the Snow Moon's Beta Glenn who noticed the inconsistency in our timelines and came over to consult us over lunch.

While Harvey and the Snow Moon wolves had only been in the Warlock lands for about 12 hours, Bell's report indicated a full night hunting down Beta Lorent, Ben and my Special Team reported 48 hours, and Ki's full report only accounted for about 36 hours.

While Harvey and Beta Glenn frowned over their screens and tried to figure out how to explain the discrepancy, I made a face at the bangers and mash placed in front of me for the second time today.

Normally, I'd be happy to eat bangers and mash everyday, I've even suggested so to Mum, but she had disagreed that the different types of sausages was considered "good variety".

But that was before I saw Ruby and the weird purplish red marks on her arms. It was also before I had reached out my hands towards Bell and found my fingers a weird blistery pink which I realised also looked like a kind of sausage.

I picked up a bit of mash with my fork and put it in my mouth, just so the rest of the table would be able to eat.

{Ben, I want to eat pizza.} I mindlinked.

{What? Why?} Ben stuffed a sausage into his mouth, and picked up his phone to make the order. I pushed my plate over so I wouldn't have to stare at sausages.

{The usual?} Ben asked in mid chew.

I nodded, swallowing the urge to gag.

"What's wrong?" Bell looked up from his plate and frowned at me. Bell was eating properly, fork and knife and all.

Actually, so were River and his party. On our side, Ben and Harvey were eating one handed with a fork. The other hand was working on their screen. Of course they had their excuse: Harvey was showing something to Beta Glenn in explanation for whatever betas discussed in low and hushed tones with each other. Ben was ordering pizza on his app for us. Mostly me, but I had peeked at his screen and he had ordered 20 extra large ones. 20!

The last time we ordered this many, we were throwing a dungeon party.

"Princess?" Bell persisted quietly.

The other wolves looked up and I felt the color creep up my cheeks. Mum appeared in my mind a la good conscience, "An alpha shouldn't be picky with food."

"Well, it can't be helped." Wolfgang shrugged knowingly, "Your princess is probably unused to the rough fare served to warriors."

"Oh, I see." Bell frowned.

What, no! It was nothing to do with the food! (And don't call our packhouse kitchen's original recipe "rough fare"! This was the best kind of stuff!)

"Ki, order something from Momoshiros." Bell instructed.

"Yes, Luna." Ki answered.

"No! No need!" I had to stop Ki. I didn't want Momoshiro's! Not when I had pizza coming!

"I ordered pizza." Ben explained on my behalf.

Bell raised a brow, "Pizza, princess?"

The other wolves in earshot perked up visibly - even and especially my special team at the next table.

"Some of us were starving for the last 48 hours, Luna." Ben answered testily, "The princess was concerned about her wolves' welfare."

"Also the princess wants to eat pizza." I crossed my arms to face my Luna squarely.

{Cute.} Bell smirked, "Fine, do what you like. You may put it on my tab."

"Understood, Luna." Ben smirked and doubled the order.

The wolves at the next table cheered.

And Ben, being the bossy beta that he was had to stand up and announce, "Our luna is buying pizza. Delivery will be to our packhouse dining hall. First come first serve. Say thank you to your lovely Luna!"

"Thank you lovely luna!" My special team shouted with much glee.

Bell glared, and then promptly decided to ignore us.

Hahaha, 40 extra large pizzas! Wow.

"Ben, you might want to order more." Harvey informed him, "Alpha Kingsley and Alpha Gunter are returning with the Underground Army and their men."

Eh? Where were they returning from? When did they even go out? And with the entire Underground Army AND their own warriors?!! Something was definitely up.

Well, it did explain why our reception had been so peaceful and quiet, and neither River nor I had been hauled up in front of our alpha dads or the elders to give account for our actions... not yet anyway.

Ben picked up his mobile, "This is Beta Ben. Regarding the order to Night Leaf Packhouse. Have you received it? Good. Triple it."

That's like 40 X 3...

"Yes, whatever toppings you have is fine. Staggered delivery is fine too." Ben allowed, "As long as the last one arrives before 5."

120 extra large pizzas!

"Yes, charge it to the same card." Ben finalized and hung up.

To the rest of us, Ben announced, "All the Alpha Princess' wolves gets pizza till 5.30pm. Share it with the others. Ink and Cobra, you're in charge of receiving the deliveries."

"Yes, beta!" My wolves shouted.

"All the Alpha Princess' wolves get pizza, huh?" Keanu smiled at me from across the table. River stopped eating and looked up, "Do you want pizza too, Keanu?"

Keanu poked a fork into his sausage and considered it, "Night Leaf sure feed their wolves well."

"They sure do little guy!" Torque leaned back from the next table and slapped Keanu across his back.

"Hoi hoi!" EJ called out from the other end of the table, "The food here is THE BEST!"

Fluffy smiled, "Sometimes the princess feeds us ice cream too."

"Maybe you pipsqueaks should move over here and gain a few pounds, eh?" Torque suggested happily.

Barry hit him over the head, "Idiot, that pipsqueak is Snow Moon's prince!"

To our table he yelled, "Don't mind him, he is all brawn and no brain!"

"Ah hahaha." River laughed weakly, "Is that so?"

"Sorry, sorry, I spoke without thinking!" Torque returned with an embaressed laugh, "Just join us for pizza later then."

Wolfgang was frowning at his plate, his knuckles going white while holding his fork and knife, "Unforgivable."

What? Everyone quietened suddenly.

"Ah, don't mind him!" River quickly tried to excuse the fire wolf, "Wolfgang's always like that."

Wolfgang put down his silverware, it was so quiet, you could hear it clink quietly on his plate.

"What's the deal with this pizza thing?" He growled lowly.

"Please excuse our wolves, Sir Wolfgang. Our Alpha Princess spoils them, and when not on active duty, they are often left unbridled." Ki smiled gently,

"Its just pizza, Wolfgang." River added.

"Exactly!" Wolfgang stood up, completely ignoring Ki, "Shut up, you human prince!"

Eh, wait, so Wolfgang's not mad with us? It was River's fault again?

Wilhelm stood up, but Wolfgang held up a hand to ward him off, "Even you know that its JUST PIZZA. You're young, I know. You're inexperience. BUT look, the Alpha Princess is just as young as you are, yet with JUST PIZZA, she is able to raise the morale of her wolves, secure their loyalty and identity to her, and initiate inter-pack relations between her warriors and her allies."

Wolfgang studied his hand, "Even back there... it caught me off guard and I hadn't understood, but now I see that when she had suggested the friendly match between our packs, she was forging towards the future relation between our packs."

"I see." Beta Glenn put down his silverware too, "Immediately after a successful collaboration, the Alpha Princess had the foresight to create future opportunities for our packs to continue a close association."

"Oh, wow." River said, "Sam, you're amazing."

I shook my head and tried to explain, "Ah, no. I was just having my own fun..."

"No, princess." Wolfgang waved it off, "It's too late to play down your abilities in front of us. No wonder Alpha Gunter was full of praise for you."

"Yeah, Sam." Ben smirked, "They caught you. Just admit you're amazing."

Was he being sarcastic? He was taunting me, wasn't he?

Wolfgang gave River a dirty look, "Compared to this useless prince of ours, the difference between a REAL alpha born bloodline becomes unforgivably glaring."

"But Prince River had come a long way," Wilhelm argued in his prince's defense, "He played a key role in the the battle against the warlock."

Wolfgang nodded, considering Wilhelm's words (even though Wilhelm was also human), "You make a good point."

To River, Wolfgang decided, "Fine. In consideration of your contribution towards the mission's success, I will give you another chance to redeem yourself. Watch and learn properly, young prince. Don't you dare lose like that again!"

"Ah, yes!" River stood up and bowed. I resisted the urge to face palm. River, you make it too easy to bully you. Don't apologize, don't agree so easily, and don't bow to someone who isn't ranked above you!

But I didn't say anything because I didn't want to make things worse for River.

I had always suspected this, but now I knew for sure, River was having a hard time managing his wolves back home. He was their young prince, that should be equivalent to their young alpha, right? But none of the wolves showed him proper respect - okay, none of my wolves showed me "proper respect" either, but that kind of made me feel even more for River's plight.

I guess in this way, River and I were really in the same boat. We were both young alphas who had to work hard to win over the allegiance of our home packs.

I pressed my lips together to keep from saying anything. This kind of thing can't be solved by an outsider. If we wanted the allegiance and respect of our wolves, we'll have to earn it ourselves.

"Alright, River!" I stood up and slammed the table in front of me, "I challenge you! Let's work hard and climb to the peak of our packs!"

Of course, I had to set the conditions, "Three years. Let's see who comes out on top at the end of three years."

Our position in our pack would be conferred on the year of our 18th birthdays, so any later and it would be meaningless.

"Right." River nodded, looking determined all over again, "I accept your challenge!"

My wolves cheered, because they were idiots like that.

"I don't get it!" EJ announced, "But go Alpha Princess!"

"You too, pipsqueak!" Torque cheered, "Do your best!"

"Alpha Princess VS Prince River in 3 years. Betting account is now open, -150 for Princess. +130 for Prince." Ink announced.

Wait, what?

"Heh, don't look down on our prince!" Wolfgang got fired up immediately, "14 grand on the prince!"

"Whoop, we got a big one!" Barry announced to more cheers.

Wolfgang responded by catching River by the collar and shaking him, "You hear that? Don't you dare lose!"

If you didn't want to lose that money, don't bet it!

"Oi, guys." Harvey calmly pointed out, "This isn't supposed to be a fight."

My wolves were totally unfazed.

"Come now, big brother beta." Fluffy beamed, "We all know that when it comes to our alpha princess, even if it didn't start out as a fight, it will end up as one."

Urm... thanks? Wait, no. I don't think that was a compliment.

"I'll match Sir Wolfgang's bet on the Alpha Princess, then." My good beta decided.

What? Et tu, Harvey?

"25 grand on my princess." Bell decided.

"Eh! Mou!" EJ protested, "If you guys bet so much, you're going to make the rest of our bets look like small change."

"It's only natural," Ki smiled his bright smile, "It just shows the confidence your leaders have in our princess."

"25 grand on Prince River." Beta Glenn was then forced to put down.

River and I looked at each other, and then we both laughed weakly at each other.

"I don't know how this happened." I admitted apologetically.

"Ah well," River said, "They always just end up doing whatever they want."

Was it bad that I totally understood what River meant? Sigh. I guess it wasn't just River. Despite the (unwarranted) praise that the other wolves liked to heap upon me, the reality was that I had a long way to go too.

I had always thought that being the Alpha was standing up during the ceremony, or running out to take down the enemy, or bearing long hours in the office (purely by observing my dad), but... it looks like it was a little more complicated than that. Real life was annoying that way. Three years. If I worked really hard everyday for the next three years, surely by then, I would be someone my wolves would be proud to call alpha and show "proper respect" to.

"Geez, looking at the both of you, I can't help but feel you're both thinking something troublesome." Keanu complained.

"What?" River blinked.

I shook my head, "I wasn't! Don't lump me with this guy!"

"Essentially, aren't you both cut from the same cloth?" Keanu smiled. He had said so before, but I refused to accept that kind of slipshod association.

"No." I told Keanu in no uncertain terms, "Because my cloth is made of pizza."

I know, it didn't make sense. But I had just given up on making sense of anything anymore. Whatever, I was the alpha. If my wolves don't learn to accept that in three years, I'll just... I'll just beat everyone up!