The walk back to the house was louder than Olivia had expected. Her mother had stepped far out in front of everyone. She could tell that she was still seething about not getting to finish the fight. Kaleb and Michael both told her that she had proven she was more dominant than Letha. All that earned them was a glare and complete silence from her. Dean strode happily next to Olivia. His massive fur covered shoulders hit right about her rib cage. She was almost certain that small children could ride him like a Shetland pony. He bumped into her every now and then, almost to remind her that he was there.
Olivia chuckled as Michael stepped in line with her mother and said something to her. She looked over at him, without breaking stride, and he fell back by Kaleb, who was nearly ten yards behind Virginia. The rest of the wolves played around, shoving and punching each other. Olivia noted how much they, especially the newer wolves, looked like pups in documentaries she’d seen on wolves in the wild. They played, but it was all in an effort to learn to fight and defend themselves. One of them was shoved forwards into Olivia. She stumbled and caught her foot on a raised root. She managed to, not so gracefully, face plant herself into the dirt.
“Whoa! Sorry!” the man said as he went to pull her up. Dean jumped in front of her protectively and snarled. Olivia lifted herself up onto her knees and whacked Dean on the side. He stood, hackles raised and teeth bared at the other wolf. Kaleb, Michael, and Virginia had all stopped and turned to see.
“I said I was sorry,” the man hissed at Dean. There was a threat of violence there. Dean’s chest rumbled with a low growl. Olivia watched the man’s eyes lighten and his face became slightly elongated.
“Do something about it then,” he growled at Dean. Dean lowered himself into an offensive position.
“We do not fight for dominance in different forms in this pack!” Virginia’s voice was clear over the low hum of growls.
"One of you needs to shift,” Kaleb said looking between the two of them.
“I’ll shift, he’s going to need all his strength,” the man said before he shrunk back into the woods.
“Feel free to leave if you would like,” Kaleb said to the rest of the pack. No one moved. Olivia’s stomach flipped, she didn’t want to watch this. But she couldn’t leave Dean that would look weak. She didn’t need to be looked at as weak before she even turns. Dean sat down next to her on the ground. She could feel his muscles quivering.
“What’s it like to have adrenaline while you’re in wolf form?” Olivia asked.
“It’s kind of the same as when you get it as a human,” Michael answered her, “The only difference is that it’s harder to come down from it when you’re in wolf form. You generally only get rushes of adrenaline when your body needs it. For a fight, or to run to save your ass.” Olivia nodded to herself. She watched as everyone began to settle, some climbed up trees to low hanging branches. Kaleb settled near to her and Dean. She noticed that he never really seemed relaxed, there was always tension in his shoulders and arms. He was always ready for something. She wondered if he ever relaxed. Michael lounged near to Kaleb, but away from Dean. Everyone seemed mostly relaxed, except for her mother. She crouched on the balls of her feet, one hand planted on the earth for what Olivia assumed was stability. Her other hand rested on one of her thighs. Her eyes were stark white as she watched someone across the large open space the pack had created in the middle of themselves. She followed her mother’s gaze to Letha. She was leaning against the trunk of a tree. Her face had begun to swell, the wounds seemed to be healing very slowly, Olivia wondered why. A few other female wolves surrounded her, they appeared to be coddling her. But Olivia assumed they were acting as protection for her. After all, her mother did look like a predator that spotted a weak and injured animal in a herd.
“Is it bad that I’m excited to see if your child inherited your ability to fight?” Michael asked Kaleb.
“Shut up Michael.”
“Yes sir,” Michael said with a salute. The bushes rustled where the man had disappeared. He was a large, larger than Dean, gray colored wolf. He looked like what the average person would think of when they think of a timber wolf. He had a neatly rolled up bundle of clothes in his jaws. He dropped the bundle in the lap of one of his friends and entered the clear area in the middle of the pack. They had cleared a space that was nearly the size of half a basketball court. Dean lifted his head and his body followed. Olivia wanted to grab onto his neck and not let him leave. She gripped a handful of his fur subconsciously. Her mother was suddenly there, crouching behind her.
“You need to let him go. This needs to happen. The longer we wait to find out where he stands in pack ranking, the more vicious the fights get,” she whispered to her. Virginia reached forward and gripped Olivia’s wrist lightly and pulled back. Olivia let go of Dean’s fur and he moved to the center of the area. Kaleb pushed into a standing position with a sigh and moved to the center.
“Colton,” he beckoned Colton to come closer, “And Dean. You know the rules, no death. Everything else is legal. This is a fight for dominance only. I expect you will both know when someone is the clear dominant. I expect that person to do the right thing and back off the submissive. If you do not, I will be forced to step in, and nobody wants that. If I see one of you going in for the kill I will end your life right then and there,” he paused and looked at Dean with a hard look, “Son or not. You will start as soon as I clear the fight area.” With that Kaleb turned on his heel and walked back the way he came.
"You got her?” he muttered to Virginia as he sat down next to Olivia. Virginia nodded. Olivia wondered if he really thought she would be able to do anything in this fight.
“You got this bro!” a girl with similar features yelled out as Dean and Colton started to circle each other. Colton was the first to move, he lunged forward, teeth snapping as he caught Dean’s front right leg. Colton ripped it out from under Dean, and bit down even harder. Olivia squirmed as she saw blood rush from Dean’s leg. Virginia clamped her hands down on Olivia’s shoulders holding her in place. Dean whipped around and buried his teeth deep into the fur on Colton’s shoulder. Colton yelped and dropped Dean’s leg. Dean managed to stand as Colton retreated back a few feet to size Dean up again.
Colton lifted his chin, exposing his neck. Olivia leaned as far forward as her mother would let her. She saw the opening Dean saw. Dean rushed forward. Kaleb closed his eyes and turned his head away slightly. Olivia knew then that it was about to get bad. Colton dropped his chin at the last moment. As Dean came up to grip Colton’s throat, he left his own exposed. Colton’s fangs ripped into Dean. From the back of his neck down to the middle of his shoulder blades was ripped open and bleeding profusely.
“Dean!” Olivia cried out to him. He stumbled a little but managed to stay standing. He turned just as Colton came back around and ripped open his left flank. Olivia cringed as she saw pink flesh become overrun with blood. Colton looked back at Kaleb, who didn’t move. Dean still, somehow, remained standing. Colton snarled, hackles raised, at Dean. Dean’s lips curled back, exposing his fangs that were stained in Colton’s blood. He lunged at Colton suddenly, his claws raked across the older wolf’s face. Colton yelped and fell backwards over himself. Dean must’ve caught an eye. Dean fell on him then, he ripped at the older wolf with his fangs. Dean held his throat in his jaws, feeling him writhe between them. He snarled through his fangs at Colton. Colton became still against all his instincts. Dean dropped him gently on the ground and backed away.
Kaleb stood, and began walking away. The fight was over, and Dean had won. Olivia felt like he should have some belt awarded to him. Michael peeled away soon after. The other pack members began to leave as well. Even the girl who had cheered for Colton slipped away. Soon it was just Dean, her mother, Colton, and herself left. Dean limped back over to Colton who rolled onto his belly. Dean nuzzled Colton’s face and began licking where his claws had opened him up.
“Why did everyone just leave like that?” Olivia asked after a moment.
“It’s not something we celebrate. It’s not something to be celebrated. It is a part of life. In some packs they do celebrate dominance fights, but here we think it’s wrong. We think it’s wrong to celebrate the fact that someone was basically ripped apart to establish dominance. The wolves take care of each other afterwards, like Dean is doing for Colton right now. Dean won’t leave Colton’s side until he is okay enough to walk. Dean is his superior now, and that comes with a lot of responsibility. Dean is now partially responsible for every member of the pack below him and he can feel that. It’s something he hasn’t felt until this moment because he couldn’t control his shifts. We didn’t let him around the rest of the pack because we didn’t want him getting into dominance fights if he could accidentally shift back in the middle of it.” Olivia watched Dean lick Colton’s wounds and nuzzle him.
“How many more fights will he get into?”
“I don’t know. It could turn out that he’s more dominant than Kaleb,” her mother answered.
“Could he be more dominant than you?” Virginia thought for a moment.
“I seriously doubt he is.”
“What was the fight between you and Letha?”
“It wasn’t a dominance fight if that’s what you’re asking.”
"Well, if she already knew she was submissive to you, why did she try to fight you?” Virginia dropped onto her butt next to Olivia and half turned toward her.
“In our world, dominance means a lot. It determines who is a part of what and how you behave in and around the pack. However, it is not absolute. Generally, there are more fights amongst the middle ranking members of the pack because dominance gets blurred. There is almost never a fight involving an Alpha, or Beta. They are put in place at the formation of the pack, and, unless they die, or want to step down, fights for those positions almost never happen.”
“I didn’t know that,” Olivia said.
“I know. Anyways, we are a violent species. We just are, there’s no getting around that. So we piss each other off and fight it out. It’s just the way we are. We call those domestic fights. But those fights are usually less brutal than a dominance fight. And an upper ranking wolf doesn’t generally get challenged, even in domestic fights, by a low ranking wolf. What Letha did tonight, breaking rank like that to come after me, was purely a human tactic. Her wolf wanted nothing to do with that fight, I could feel it. Which is why I let them pull me off of her.”
“You let them?” Olivia was wide eyed, it didn’t look like she let them do anything.
"Yes, believe me, if I wanted to finish her off just then, I would have.” Olivia didn’t doubt it, her mother had that, truth-in-her-words kind of thing going on. Olivia’s eyes traveled back to Dean. He was nudging at Colton’s side, trying to get him to stand.
“Where do you think he’ll rank?” Olivia asked. Virginia watched Dean help Colton into a standing position.
“High. Under Michael, or maybe under Sammie. He’s got his father’s dominance in him. Sadly, a touch of his mother’s too. He’s not an alpha, but he’s high ranking.”
“So he’ll fight Michael then,” Olivia said. Virginia could smell the fear radiating off of her. She put an arm around her shoulders.
“We’ll see. Michael may just give him the rank, you never know,” she said. That made Olivia feel ever so slightly better.
“What about me?” she asked as Virginia pulled her up. Colton and Dean both began limping back towards the house.
“What about you?” Virginia asked as they walked slowly behind the two wolves. Olivia compared herself to her mother. She was just inches shorter than her mother, which put her standing at five foot three. Her mother was toned, all over, even her legs. She had hips similar to Olivia’s. She was hardened, unlike Olivia who still looked naïve and new to everything. She noticed how her mother looked to be about twenty four, not old enough to have a teenage daughter. In reality, she was closer to forty.
“Where do you think I’ll rank?” Virginia was silent for a few moments.
“I’m not honestly sure,” she said finally, Olivia slumped slightly, “I look at you sometimes and see my hardness, and strength. And other times I see softness.”
“I don’t want to be weak like Dad,” Olivia muttered. Virginia gripped her shoulder and turned her so they could face each other.
“Softness does not equate to weakness. Do not ever think that it does. Softness in this world is needed. It is something that reminds us of our humanity, of our instinctual need to protect. If you were to be a low ranking wolf, I would be just as proud of you as if you were a high ranking one. Every wolf, Alpha to Omega, plays a key role in pack life. Low ranking wolves are more often the ones you want beside you in a fight. Being low ranking doesn’t mean you can’t fight. It just means you aren’t as dominant. And sometimes, having submissive wolves next to you in a fight can be better.”
“How?” Olivia seems almost disgusted at the idea. Virginia dipped her head slightly to catch her daughter’s blue-green eyes.
“They’re always more loyal. They would die for you before anyone else in the pack. They would never consider leaving you behind, because to them, you are their protector, brother, sister, father and mother. You are everything to them just as they are everything to you. The bond between a high ranking wolf and a low ranking wolf is one of unquestionable loyalty. There’s nothing like it in the world.” Olivia found herself smiling as her mother told her this. This made her hopeful for her future, no matter the direction.