Chapter 2: Being Different (written on August 31st, 2015)

The next mourning...

Meanwhile, on the outskirts of the Western Pack, a she-wolf named Lia woke up to the sound of laughing. It was the daughter she adopted many years ago, jumping and frolicking near the den. When she found her, she come not believe what she saw. It was a small pup all alone in a heap of mud. Her appearance was a little odd at first. She was pure brown, but had really round ears. Normal wolves have pointed ears. Over time, a lot more differences appeared such as a short tail and a hundred brown spots as the rest of her fur turn yellowish in color.

With all of this in sight, Lia knew that she would be subject to bullying by other pups so she secluded her and tried to keep zero contact with the pack. There were a few close calls, but overall nobody has seen her in the flesh. Because of this, she was very protective of her. It soon came to a head today as the wolf she named Erika, which meant "powerful," wanted to finally see the pack she learned as home.

She was named because of her sharp teeth. And it became a symbol of her temper and stubbornness as a pup. Though with time, she became friendly, light-hearted, and especially curious. Like today, where she wanted to meet the other wolves. Around the same period of Erika's adoption, Lia's neighbors had pups of their own. Erika wanted to so bad to meet them, and play with them, but Lia was too afraid that the neighbors pups would run away which would stir up rumors. During one of the close calls, Erika had tried to eat with the other pups. But it didn't end well. Erika was known to always be hungry and devour any food she could find. But luckily, Lia grabbed her before those pups could tell anybody.

However, the neighbors had always known Lia had a pup. They had just never seen her before.

But today though was probably the worst time to ever reveal Erika to anyone. Over the last winter is when all the young animals reach sexual maturity. Of course, Erika never went to Alpha or Omega School for obvious reasons like the neighbors' pups did. It meant soon, Erika would see them at the height of of mating season. Not only that but Erika herself had definitely changed physically even more different than her wolf counterparts. She developed a sort of bear-like stance and far fewer nipples than what is normal for she-wolves. But the most shocking revelation was in between her legs. When Erika had first asked why the girl pups didn't have what she had, Lia had no idea what she was talking about, but after she showed it to her, she almost passed out. Erika... had a penis...

After awhile of questioning Erika's gender, Lia was not very happy to know that she finally wanted to really see the pack at the same when the Betas that lived in their area would return as Alphas. The sound of her laughing and frolicking in the nearby fields only wanted to make her cry. She didn't want her little pup to be humiliated because of her deformities. She didn't want her pup to grow up into the independent full-grown she-wolf that she already was. The world was too cruel for Erika to be acceptable easily.

Later...

"Are you sure you don't want to come inside?" Lia asked her desperately. She kept biting her tongue for every second she had to wait. Her neighbors used to be her friends but ever since Erika was found, they have not talked much, if not anything. It would embarrass her too much if she just suddenly opened up to them.

"Not in a million years!" she yelled happily. "I can't wait for them to come so I can finally formally meet them! Then all of us can become lifelong friends!"

"Just be careful!"

"Don't worry about me, okay. I know what not to do."

"Really? List it."

"You told me to never be aggressive, never eat their food, and never show what's in between my legs."

"Good... Uh, oh..." The sound of pawsteps could be heard. Lia's heart was ready to sink while the opposite was happening to Erika. Lia took a few breaths to calm herself.

"It's going to be alright. It's going to be alright."

The pawsteps turned out to come from one of the neighbors who was just returning to his den. After the first glance of her, he froze in place.

"Uhh..." He didn't know what to say.

"Oh, uh, hi Jon."

"Uh, hi Lia. Um, who is this?"

"This is my daughter."

"Wait a minute, this is Erika? After all this time?" She nodded to him. She winced as he howled to spread the word.

Soon, everybody who lived in the vicinity came to see her.

"Uh, hi everyone..." Erika was a little nervous now. She wasn't expecting so many wolves to crowd her. But she didn't feel too bad. They seemed to be very interested in her physique.

"Wow. Was your tail always this small?" one of them asked.

"It wasn't when I was a pup," she answered. She began to feel uncomfortable with all of these wolves checking her out. She was about to ask Lia to come calm them down, but then one of the new Alphas sniffed her behind."

"Hey!" She quickly closed her legs up but it was too late.

"*sigh!* Eww! She has a dick!" the she-wolf yelled to everyone. The wolf's father scolded her for her language, but it didn't matter because now everyone was aware of it. From that point on, it was like everyone had let loose with their words. Erika was called "ugly, disgusting," and even an "abomination to wolfkind." The words hit Erika like a bolt of lightning. Never had she heard negativity about herself. Lia, who was watching the event, rushed in to save her. She hugged her and said to the crowd:

"Shame on you! Dare I even call you wolves! What would Winston say to you?!"

"He'd probably exile her for she is no wolf!" said one neighbor named Gregory. "And you too for harboring this... thing! I suggest to take it back to where you found him."

"I'm a girl!" Erika yelled. "If I have teats and sound like one, it must be true! So what if I don't have a long tail! So what if I don't have pointed ears. So what if I don't have the normal female genitalia! I least I literally have the balls to be nice to abnormal wolves!"

"Erika! Calm down..." Lia kissed her cheek. "Are you okay?"

"NO!" In an instant, the abnormal wolf jumped at Gregory and attacked him. The other wolves ran away screaming and howling except the new Alphas who came in to help but were no match to Erika whose powerful muscles fended off the wolves trying to get her teeth out of Gregory's face.

"Sweetie! Stop right now!" Lia screamed. This was her worst nightmare come true. Quickly, the abnormal wolf felt regret and let go. Gregory got up. His face was covered in blood and saliva.

"She tried to eat me!" he said. "I need to tell Winston!" As he ran off, the Alphas pinned her down as Erika gave up. Lia came beside her covered in tears.

"Why did you do it?! I told you not be aggressive!"

"I'm sorry mother! I'm sorry! Something came over me! I couldn't help it!"

"He was right," agreed one the Alphas pinning her down. "This 'wolf' doesn't belong here. Besides, as a pack, we must remain pure..."