What It Means To Be Me

Putting A Wolf In Front Of A Television

~Tanner~

I pouted on the small blanket in the corner, not happy in the least with this stupid punishment. I hadn't done anything bad. He wouldn't let me have dinner for something as stupid as eating peanut budder. Which he had left out, so it was his fault. Then when I decided to get myself food, he got super mad. I jumped to my paws and began shredding the blanket, clawing at the fabric in annoyance.

No fair no fair no fair!

I thought Cole might chastise me for projecting that thought, but when he didn't respond, I got even angrier. When the blanket was just a bunch of fabric pieces, I stalked around the room and peed in the corner, then narrowed my eyes on the door. Every time I paced by it, my body felt uncomfortable, so there must be something up with it...probably to keep me inside.

Let me out.

I shouted the words through my thoughts, but when no one replied for a second time, I decided I was going to get myself out... but not through the door. Stopping my pacing, I walked over to the large white wall separating Cole's room from this one and got up on my hind legs. My bad one hurt a little, but I was far too focused on digging my claws into the wall to care.

Knock it off, Tanner, now.

The dangerous, deep voice snarled through my mind from the other room. It made me immediately excited to know that I was finally getting attention, so of course, I kept at the wall. Before long, the door handle shook, bringing my attention to it as I dropped back down to my front paws. Seeing Cole's face had my heart rate thundering in my chest.

"Tanner."

The shout just made me more excited. I moved to run past him, but he blocked my way and snarled, his face slowly morphing into his canine form.

I wanna see it. I want it. I thought to myself eagerly. Knowing that he'd shift if I made him angrier, I quickly ran back to the wall and began raking my claws through the white thin portion. I even hit a few beams of wood, too, just to make sure he was mad enough to change. When he finally did, I couldn't keep my eyes off of him. His wolf was a gorgeous pitch black, which appeared dark blue when light hit his fur a certain way.

Mine.

I barked to him, getting a questioning look, before I lunged for his wolf. If his friend, Orlando, hadn't just stepped inside the room as I was jumping, I would have had Cole. As it was, I got kicked in the face, then pinned to the ground again.

Nooooo. Coleeeeee.

His wolf snarled in my face, snapping its jaws right next to my eyes in warning.

"Cole, you need to figure out a way to get through to him. I have a strong feeling he's an alpha, and if he is, he's not going to take orders from you," Orlando said as he knelt down next to us. I glared at him but didn't dare move much farther since Cole had the upper paw right then.

Tanner?

Hearing Cole's voice in my head made me wiggle beneath him, eager to hear him talk, even if it was about a punishment for tearing apart his wall.

Tanner, do you want to learn?

Oh. I knew what that meant, but did that mean he wanted to teach me things?

I like learn, I replied eagerly, the aggression I'd previously felt draining when given a new thing to take my attention. He backed off of me a moment later, and I jumped to my paws, wagging my tail like I'd seen dogs do when they were excited.

Okay. Come on, Tanner. Follow me please.

I did as told, happily tromping after him into the living room. He told me to go sit in front of the television, so I did exactly that, then waited. I was silently hoping he'd bring peanut budder, but I knew that was pretty unlikely.

~Cole~

I hadn't honestly thought Tanner would listen when I asked him about learning, but the pup was seriously a scholar if I'd ever seen one. He didn't understand a whole lot, but he definitely loved learning. When he was seated where I'd told him to go, I shifted back into my human form and put in a video. It was one of those little kiddie ones that went over the basics, but at the same time, it slipped in more advanced things as the characters on the screen interacted, so I figured it would be perfect for Tanner to start off with.

While the show started, I grabbed a spare comforter from my closet along with two big pillows and got them set up, snickering quietly at the fact that Tanner was already so into the show he didn't even notice what I was doing right behind him. An alpha was always aware of what was going on around him, so he had some work to do in that department, eventually. Once I had everything settled, I got up and popped some popcorn, then returned to the blanket and looked at Tanner.

"Hey Tan, com'ere?"

His ears flicked backward for a moment, then he looked over his shoulder at me. Confusion showed on his features, but as soon as he realized I had a nice comfy blanket and food, he snuggled right up against my side. I was a bit surprised he wasn't attacking the bowl of fresh popcorn, but his attention was still more focused on the show.

Good. You need to learn so we can live here together without either of us getting hurt, I thought to myself. I knew he would have to go eventually since two alphas under the same roof just didn't work, but I wanted to at least be able to set him up for success before we got at each other's throats further. As the show played, I switched between popping popcorn in my mouth and slipping some into Tanner's. We got through at least eight episodes before I realized it was close to two in the morning. Tanner was still intently focused on the screen, though, giving little grunts or whines whenever something interesting happened, so I set the half-eaten bowl of popcorn next to him and patted his head, getting his partial attention.

"I'm gonna go to bed, Tan. Whenever you want to turn the TV off, just nudge the bottom of the screen, okay?"

He gave me a quiet yawn and snuggled in beneath the comforter I'd brought out.

"Have a good night. We'll talk again in the morning."

I was going to tell him to stay out of the kitchen, but I knew I had put everything away now and if I reminded him of it, he'd probably be more likely to go against me just in spite.

Darn, having another alpha in the house is going to be work.

Shaking my head, I got up and sauntered sleepily into the bathroom to brush my teeth, then went into my room, being sure to shut and lock the door in case Tanner tried to get in...since he had before. Thankfully the time he'd managed it, he hadn't really been aggressive, but I wasn't going to risk it now. Once I had tossed off my clothing, I fell into bed, drifting off in minutes as I listened to the quiet show playing in the other room.