- Roused

- Chapter 034

~ The New Alpha

The new alpha wolf lunges, his dark grey fur a blur! Young Briar Rose is pushed back over a rock, she pushes his still bloody muzzle up and away from her throat with her left arm. The alpha is going over her as she falls, she grabs at his throat with her right hand, grabbing his esophagus tightly as she is pushed back, her foot flies up from the leverage of the rock and catches him in the groin.

A horrifyingly quiet whimper escapes his constricted throat.

His inertia carries him over the hidden princess, bouncing him off of another rock, the rock that the girls' head barely missed; they roll over and Briar Rose is sitting on the belly of the new alpha, his esophagus in her fist!

"I Am Not Prey!" she growls, squeezing tight enough so the alpha cannot breathe.

After a moment of stunned shock the alpha nods and, the other wolves lay their heads on the grass. She eases her hold, and he can breathe, slightly.

"I don't want to hurt you! I came to meet you; I want to be your friend. Would you stop attacking me, please?"

The alpha nods and Briar Rose releases him and stands. He rolls over and lies on his belly before her and says, "You are not prey. You are alpha," and the rest of the pack agrees.

"I cannot be alpha for you, I am a man-cub, I cannot lead you as you need to be led. You must be alpha. You have defeated the alpha," Briar Rose gestured to the cooling body of the old alpha.

She was sorry he was dead, he had been a good friend, and had learned from him the ways of the pack. The new alpha had defeated the alpha and now he would lead the pack.

"You're never going to attack me again, right?" she asked, just to make sure.

"We will never attack you again, you are a friend to the wolves; forever," agrees the new alpha and the pack, on their bellies. The bloodlust had been on him, but to have been defeated so soundly and quickly by the man-cub has taught him respect for her.

"Good, I've spent lots of time with the other friends of the forest and I would like to be friends with you too. I made friends with prey, the bear; they can be grumpy, the fox; which can be very sly, and even the majestic unicorn. I can't seem to make friends with the goons. You seem noble, like the manners book says kings and queens should be. How do you do that?"

"Goons are enemies and we keep them from our territory. We are wolves, we know who we are. We are strong and we love our mates and pups. We hunt and explore and play. We do not deny our nature."

Briar Rose considered that, it was the same answer that the old alpha had given her. She would need time to think about what it meant.

Then Briar Rose thought of something. "I would like it if you didn't eat my friends, the squirrels, rabbits and chipmunks."

"Then what would become of us?" Asked the alpha, worriedly, "We do not eat plants like prey do. We would die. If you liked plants; would your prey friends not eat and die?"

Briar Rose thought about that, she ate plants and enjoyed them, and remembered what Aunt Fauna taught her about the animals and the circle of life.

"No, they would eat and live. I would like it, if you ate and lived, too." The hidden princess admitted.

Tongues lolled out of mouths all around her in wolfish laughter.

- End of Chapter 034

Author's Note: Let me make this perfectly clear, Briar Rose is a powerful person! She is more then capable of surviving and thriving alone in the forest. But alone in the forest she couldn't become the princess she is meant to be, and her kingdom could never reach the level they can together.

Did that get your blood pumping?...Review!