Chapter 45: Say What?

A/N: Hi everyone. Well here is another chapter. Hope you all enjoy it. It will probably be a while before I update again but I do intend to end this story at some point. So read, enjoy and let me know what you think.

"Siku, you can't be serious about this! Why did you have to go and challenge Karr?", Jenna questioned once again raising the topic of the alpha's duel set to happen tomorrow. The red she-wolf currently lay on her side, her paw just having been tended to by the recently departed pack healer.

Siku's ears perked up as she put down the bone she had been chewing on. "Jenna….", Siku sighed, "We have been over this…... The way you are being treated by the leadership of this pack is just plain ridiculous. Karr can't treat you like some third-class wolf worth less than an omega, I just won't allow it. I'm going to tear him a new one tomorrow and make him kiss the ground you walk on and nothing is going to change that!"

"Can't you just talk to him about it? Why does it have to be a fight?" Jenna questioned cocking her head to one side in confusion.

Siku felt a migraine starting to set in. Off-course her sister didn't know how this society functioned and that bozo had done a piss poor job of explaining it to her if he had even bothered to do so.

"Sis, this is a wolf pack, our society functions around fights. While lower wolves argue their causes in front of the leader for most cases, wolves fight each other during mating season and if you can't accept your leader's judgement and don't think he is up to the job you challenge him and if you can – like me – tear him a new one and put him in his place for making stupid decisions", Siku explained, her voice turning childish towards the end of the explanation.

Jenna opened her mouth, words forming on her tongue, but Siku spoke before the larger she-wolf could utter her first word.

"Jenna, please just drop it. Things are different here than they were back where you came from. You can't please everyone here, you have to stand up for yourself," Siku said, "talking means little here, granted it isn't completely worthless, you can't completely rely on it. Jenna, I'm not trying to make you feel bad, but you are too soft spoken at this point in time. You have to stand up and not take stick from anyone. Granted you have lashed out at one or two wolves but you act so meekly at all other times, being meek in a pack just means that you will take anything lying down. Plus you can't just blindly follow orders like a drone, you have to question ones that you feel are wrong, we are part of the pack by choice, not slaves. Now go to bed, I need to rest for the big day and you have to too."

With that Siku laid her head down and let her mind wander into the realm of dreams, but not before a single idea went through her mind – her plan for the pack once she tore Karr a new one – and it brought a smirk to her lips.

Jenna slowly lowered her head to the ground as she tried to wrap her mind around everything Siku had just said and the smirk that currently lay on the now sleeping wolf's face did not lessen her feelings of uncertainty.

"Am I really being so meek?" she questioned herself in her mind as she slowly closed her eyes. "Of course you are…. You let me take control and then just wrest it back when I decided to put these idiots in their place" replied a voice in her head, and before Jenna could react, she was pulled into the realm of darkness.

(Mindscape)

"What the…," Jenna spoke as she looked around her, only seeing darkness. "Welcome back, so nice to see you again," a voice spoke, "now…. why the hell did you go back on our agreement. I thought we understood each other yet here we are with you again suppressing me."

In front of Jenna's eyes, a figure emerged, a figure Jenna thought looked remarkably like herself save for the fur being a darker shade of red, glowing red eyes filled with anger and a scowl across the figure's face.

"Remember me…... of course, you do… if it weren't for me your sorry ass would still be spilling tears into the fur of a wolf you barely knew and this pack would be nothing but fur rugs or jackets," the figure spoke snidely as she approached Jenna.

"Your….." Jenna spoke only to be cut off. "Who else do you think I am….. just look at you," the other she-wolf spoke as she circled Jenna, "so soft, so weak, so indecisive…. So lost," she continued to circle her counterpart, "so helpless, so meek…. So GOD DAMN USELESS!" the she-wolf screamed staring Jenna in the face.

"But…," Jenna started only to get a paw across the jaw, knocking her to the ground. "I don't care what you have to say… you merged with me when we agreed on trying to save this pack and then what did you do…. WHAT DID YOU DO?" the entity screamed in Jenna's face, "you locked me right back up THE VERY FREAKING MINUTE WHEN I SHOWED THESE GUYS THAT WE WERE THE BOSS."

Jenna in the meanwhile had slowly recovered and made to stand up only to find herself unable to do so. Looking around, her expression turned from confused to terror as she found herself bound to the floor by what could only be described as dark tendrils. She looked back at her alternate personality only to find it grinning maliciously at her.

"Oh, you aren't suppressing me this time around….. I had a taste of what the world was like and would have been happy to share but you denied me after offering me the chance…. Now let's see how you like it in here while I take the driver's seat," the she-wolf spoke before Jenna felt herself be pulled into the darkness and everything went black.

(Outside the mindscape)

Red eyes snapped open as the she-wolf slowly took in a lung-full of ice cold fresh air. Slowly climbing to her feet, the wolf let out a huff of frustration. "Is she a masochist or something….." she thought to herself as she restrained a whimper from pain as she put weight on the wrong paw. "I could have mopped the floor with Balto and she actually let herself be reduced to this mess," she growled to herself before turning to face Siku who continued to sleep.

"Sorry sweetie, but I'm going to be putting a halt to your little plan," the she-wolf whispered before she slowly trudged out of the den unseen by any of the night guard, "but first I have to get used to running this body and make sure I'm at 100 percent."

With that, the she-wolf disappeared into the surrounding forest only to return to the den as the pre-dawn light kissed the eastern sky. A clear change noticeable to anyone who took long enough to notice – her fur was darker, glowing red eyes and she no longer limped or showed any signs of ever having been in a fight. Jenna was gone and the she-wolf in her place had a mission.

(Noon)

During the day, no-one had noticed anything suspicious about the red furred she-wolf as she limped her way about the entrance of the healer's den. Come to think of it no-one had seen the healer since that morning when she had gone in to check on her patient. What no-one knew was that the she-wolf currently lay in the land of dreams lying hidden in a dark corner of the self-same den hidden behind a rocky protrusion that emerged from the ground, Siku having departed earlier in the morning to get herself ready to face-off against.

As noon approached, Siku had returned and both she-wolves made their way to the clearing where wolves continued to gather preparing to watch the on-coming fight that would decide the future of the pack.

As the sun reached its peak, Karr announced his presence, letting out a loud howl and making his way past wolves, Marron at his side, confidently striding his way to the center of the gathering.

His eyes rested squarely on Siku and the red she-wolf that sat beside her. He would not have given the she-wolf a second glance, but something caught his eye, her eyes, they were red, he was certain that they hadn't been red before. However, he played it down, thinking that it was just some trick by the white she-wolf she stood beside to throw him off. However, little did he know that things were going to change very soon.

Siku strode forward, her eyes narrowing as she stood in front of Jenna and glared down at the alpha, or soon-to-be former-alpha, that stood in front of her.

"So… have you changed your mind or do I have to mop the floor with you?" Karr bellowed at Siku, his fur standing on end to make him appear larger as he tried to use pure physical intimidation to make the smaller she-wolf back down.

"The only thing changing will be you when I rid you of the part that makes you a male and beat you comatose with it!" Siku growled right back, causing many males around her to instinctively step back and cross their legs, their tails tucking between their legs in fear.

"Fine… if that is what you want. There will be no mercy, we fight until the opponent cannot continue, be it them dead or knocked unconscious. And when I win, I'm going to make sure you are awake so that I can personally drag you out of this pack for your insolence!" Karr growled as his muscles tensed.

"Now! Does anyone have anything to say, anything to add to this before the challenge goes down?" Karr announced as both wolves prepared to face-off.

"I DO!" a voice behind Siku announced and before said she-wolf could turn to face the voice, thump, she fell to the ground out cold, courtesy of a sharp blow to the back of the head.

All eyes turned to face the perpetrator, Jenna, as she strode over the prone form as Siku and stared down at Karr, "Siku will not be the one fighting, you will be fighting me!"

Marron instantly jumped forward "you dare interfere with an alpha's challenge. This is an outrage, this cannot stand! WOLVES…. Get her!"

"HOLD YOUR GROUND!" Karr bellowed as every wolf froze mid-step.

"Karr what are you doing, this goes against the laws laid down for an alpha's challenge," Marron spoke a look of confusion on his face.

"Brother, if she thinks she can take me on, why don't we let her? Besides….," Karr spoke addressing only his brother before raising his tone and addressing the rest of the pack, "… she will pay for her insolence and what better way to imprint a lesson than to humiliate her in front of the pack to make her learn her place."

"Fine, I accept your challenge, the same conditions stand. If you beat me you are the new alpha and if beat you, I'm going to drag your battered and bruised body out of this pack as an example for everyone to see, and Siku can join you on your trip, regardless. Those are the terms, Jenna!" Karr announced, taking a threatening stance, sure he would get the she-wolf in front of her to back down.

Jenna though strode forward till she stood face to face with Karr, a smirk planted on her face, her red eyes boring into his "and when I win, I'm going to drag your sorry ass by the tail through each and every den and in front of every wolf and make it perfectly clear – YOU will not be just an omega, you will be an outsider with no rights within this pack and no right to challenge for the position of pack leader, and neither will your brother. Agreed?" Jenna said, her casual tone and smirk infuriating Karr.

"Fine, but you stand no chance, Jenna!" Karr growled lowly only to get angrier as the she-wolf's smirk turned more sinister.

"Who said I was Jenna!"