Little Wolf

Ch 58 The Alpha Plays

I was eager to return to Sister, but was giving the wolves a chance to rest up before heading back. I was feeling good, playful even.

I snuck behind my omega, creeping up on him. I pounced, scaring the crap out of him, hissing with laughter and going in to hug him, shoving him back toward his interrupted meal.

I went around obviously stalking my pack members, rolling around and playfully poking or sometimes even nipping the most nervous before running off. I pretended not to see when Max tried to rush me. I ran away from him, weaving between the kills, rushing and knocking down others in the process.

When I came across someone who didn't want to play, and probably never had, I turned around to face Max, sticking my rump high in the air before the growling wolf. Max swerved around me, purposely colliding with the wolf. I was quick to spin around and shove the wolf down before his teeth found their way into Max.

I bounded away, chasing Max, glad he could play. I herded him back toward the other wolf. I abandoned Max when I went by, jumping on the somber wolf. Max stopped running from me and came back to help me.

I laughed as we rolled around, Max with his tail held high, me on my back waving my paws in the air. The wolf we attacked walked stiffly away.

"Didn't you know wolves play?" I asked the disgruntled wolf.

"You're supposed to lead!" He exclaimed sternly, having shifted to man to avoid me.

"Loosen up already," I laughed. "I'm leading them in play," I added impudently.

I figured I could get away with it since I was an alpha king now. I laughed at myself as well, even if it was in a way true.

I let him be, going after the wolves around him. They looked at him uneasily before responding hesitantly to my play. He laughed at me when Lobo came out of nowhere, running at top speed and bowling me over.

We both laughed when the tables were turned and he spun around with a yelp. Grace had found his ankle and was clinging to it. Gypsy King was right behind his daughter, his hackles up in warning. I grabbed her, tickling and rolling through the grass with her.

Our play surprised so many of the wolves. It had never occurred to many of them to enjoy life as a wolf. I howled out my joy in life, grinning when Max joined in. I loped around, singing out my pleasure in these wolves, bumping them, encouraging them to howl with me.

Some raised their snouts eagerly, others had trouble figuring out how to howl, or were too nervous to do something that, to them, represented being feral and getting lost in the wolf. I raised up to stand as a furred man.

"Sing out as men if you wish. There is no harm in singing, is there?" I laughed, motioning with my arms, encouraging them to sound out and embrace that iconic part of being one with the wolf.

Suddenly it was as if the air parted before me, making a tunnel through which I could see Sister, somehow knowing she could see me as well. I smiled and nodded, howling about the success of the hunt. She howled back at me, joining in our celebration.

It was time to go back.

I took up the orange backpack myself, ignoring the offers from my one omega and Max to carry it for me. Standing on all fours, I considered my second omega. The wolf in him could do nothing but submit to me, but the man in him hated me and was full of anger. My eyes fell to his nether region before returning to his face.

Shame or embarrassment had him dropping his head and tucking it under his chest.

"Do not forget why I marked you as I did, or how you became my omega," I growled at him. "I look forward to seeing your pack and meeting your women.

"He is no longer our leader," a man said coming forward. "He forced himself on our wives. We've long suspected the only reason he bit us was to have his own harem, but we didn't know..."

His voice trailed off, shamed that he allowed a bully to destroy his family's life.

I shifted slightly, but not enough to affect the pack on my back. "It's never easy," I told him, "dealing with the unknown, learning about what you didn't even know existed. I would still like to come meet everyone. It will help with the transition to a new life, knowing someone is there for you all."

"We can't stay there," another man said, tugging on his new leader's arm.

"There is a place," I started hesitantly, looking toward Max, "but we have a few things to work out first."

Max nodded, looking eager. I turned back to the men.

"Can you give us a month before you come check it out?"

"Depends on where he is."

"Tell me about your situation there."

They seemed hesitant at first, then the new leader shrugged.

"He owns a farm. That's where we all stay."

His look dared me to ask more, but I figured it could wait until we were alone. Everyone had already heard how I expected people to be treated. This would be the first they would see of my rule. I had to wonder if I would end up with a dungeon like in Sister's stories. There were aspects to this I really hadn't considered.

"Let me talk to my friends. Somehow I think we can work something out." I turned to my omega. "Whatever we work out will only be temporary, so these wolves can feel safe. Your farm is yours. Your pack no longer is, by their choice. Do not bite another again. Accept that your life has changed, hopefully for the better, becoming what it should have been."

He saw the sympathy and pity in me, despite the command. I couldn't help it, knowing his own life had been warped the day someone bit him. I had seen the old scar on his shoulder the day we fought.

Too many of these wolves had been bitten. Men who had no idea before today how to live with the wolf they had been infected with. I grieved for the lost life and freedom they had experienced, understanding Sisters tears on their behalf. What they suffered was opposite of how they should feel with the wolf within them.

I headed back, soon changing my loping to a serious run for awhile, calling out for my pack to join me.

My howl was longer than it had ever been, more complex nuances embedded in its rises and falls, the sound of it echoing my new authority.

My pack answered my call, even those who had trouble before. They had shifted to wolves, and the wolf in them could not refuse the call of their alpha, for that is what I was.

I was their alpha, leading by example, ruling by my fangs and my strength.

I was their king, issuing commands to ensure the well-being of all the members in my kingdom, human and wolf alike.

But most importantly I was their brother.

It was my responsibility to watch out for them, guarding their backs, keeping them safe, ensuring their survival. They were my wolves, and I would protect my own, including those who were not physically wolves.

I headed back to Sister, my brave Luna.

I understood better now, and accepted, the complications involved in leading both these members of my pack and the ones I haven't met yet, into celebrating their lives as wolves.

I howled again, sounding out my name, my oath to both Sister and Spirit Wolf, to be heard by all in my wolfsong.