Wolf of War
A Patricia Briggs werewolf fanfiction
Chapter Eleven:
Dominance
Ares drew in a breath, and then slowly let it out.
The pole barn wasn't the warmest of places, but it beat being sat out in the cold around the fire pit, and it was spacious enough for he and the other new wolves to sit and meditate with a modicum of peace and silence.
He wasn't an expert in meditation, or even all that well versed in the process, but he knew that the best way to try to connect to his wolf—who he thought of as a spiritual, metaphysical part of himself, now—was to attempt to clear his mind, and then…simply try.
He worked to conjure up in his mind the picture of the forest clearing that he had 'awoken' to before, when he first met his wolf.
I am here.
He turned around, and spotted his wolf, sitting just a few meters away, close enough to leap from the ground and tackle him, if he'd chosen to do so. As if the wolf shared his thought, the lupine gave what he would have sworn was a canine-toothy smile, tongue lolling out of the side of his muzzle. He was more certain of it, when he felt a wash of warm giddiness crest over him.
"Good to see you again, Ares," he said to the wolf, resolving at that moment to stop calling him 'the wolf'.
The gift of your name puts a running joy in my heart. It is…not the way of nature, but I can find a place for it within me. I thank you for this gift.
"I am pleased to be able to give it," he grinned, genuinely happy to be able to give his wolf spirit something of his. "Besides; we are both…well, we're not 'one in the same', but we are together, and you are a part of me, and I am a part of you. We are…we share the same spirit. We are connected. So why shouldn't I call you by my same name?"
The wolf seemed to pause, and cocked his head at him for a moment or two.
You claim our bond. Truly. I can find no doubt in you.
"Should I not?" Ares smirked gently. "You and I are a part of one another, aren't we?"
We are, wolf-Ares returned, It is simply…different, to discover that there are those who accept the truth of nature…without a great deal of struggle.
Ares chuckled. "It is a part of my job—part of my learning, of what I have trained for, to be able to accept the truth of things…and I 'struggle' to do that every day of my life."
Wolf-Ares seemed to nod at that. Good. That will make the sharing of our…as the Alpha says, it will make the sharing of our gifts, much easier than I would have expected.
"So what do I have to do? How do we share these gifts?" Ares asked.
Nothing; it is already done. You must learn how to access what we share, but I will offer you my understanding to help you whenever it is you need my help.
"Well, I need help with accessing and making use of my dominant ability with other wolves."
Wolf-Ares seemed to smile again, that canine-toothy grin from before. I can help you with that, wolf-Ares responded. Concentrate on my words, and try to envision doing what I tell you…
"There is more to your ability towards dominance, than merely defining the rank you may hold with another wolf."
The Marrok's voice cut through the silence, startling him, and likely disrupting the efforts of the others' to contact their wolves.
"Those of you who are companions to female wolves," he continued, and looking pointedly at the women for a few moments, before turning away, "might have likely discovered by now that your dominance can also assist you in selecting a mate, either by helping you to sense those who may be better suited for you, or to steer away from those who might be less than suited for you." The Marrok offered a ghost of a grin. "If, and mind you, this is simply an example, if you are challenged by a male your wolf companion is not completely disagreeable to, but who you don't like, your wolf may either aid you to win your challenge, or…she may try to influence you to…accept the new reality."
"To hell with that," Tamara groused a bit darkly. Ares smirked a bit to himself, but kept the expression off of his face; he wouldn't have been surprised if Diana and Penelope had the same thoughts about the matter.
"It is a fact," the Marrok returned, "how you may feel about that is not. And how you may feel about it is likely irrelevant to your female wolves; if you wish for them to understand your feelings, you will need to communicate those feelings to them."
Ares noticed a bit of movement from his peripheral vision, and turned to see the blond male, Christopher, shifting in his seat all of a sudden.
"How do you…um," he stammered just a bit, "…how do you…deal with…um…male wolves?"
Ares chuckled to himself, having an idea of what the other male meant; the Marrok also chuckled, but did so more openly.
"As I've said to the females; if you wish for your wolf to understand your feelings—and to be more clear—if you want your wolf, or your wolves," he glanced over the rest of them then, including Ares in his passing gaze, "to understand your human feelings, values, mores and conventions, you will have to communicate those things to your wolf." His gaze turned back to the younger male. "Just because you tell your wolf that being horny and starting a fight with an available female is not the way to sate that urge, because that isn't the way that humans do that, doesn't mean that your wolf will listen." He chuckled again at the dusky blush that bloomed in the young male's face. "That is one of the most important reasons why you are still here; to learn to communicate with your wolf, and to gain at least some passible measure of control over your wolf's un-human urges."
"How does our ability to be dominant help us to control those 'un-human urges', as you say?" Diana offered, her tone respectful but curious.
"Because both require you to learn to communicate with your wolf," the Marrok replied, "Essentially, you are…teaching your wolf your values, and your wolf is teaching you their values. That communication is, dare I say, vital to your being able to live with humanity with your wolf, and in learning how to best get a handle on those gifts that your wolf brings to you.
"So with that in mind," he continued, "I shall ask: who among the six of you, believes that they have managed to communicate with their wolf?"
Ares held himself quiet; he wanted to see who else would speak up and say that they'd connected with their wolf…or who was willing to admit that they hadn't. He watched Diana raise her hand, like a child in class with the Marrok as the teacher; Darius also raised his hand. After a few moments, Christopher, and then Tamara did so also, but by how tentatively they seemed to do so, he figured that maybe they hadn't managed to do as well as they'd hoped.
"Anyone else?" the Marrok asked, glancing a bit at Penelope, but making a point to look at Ares as well. The young brunette with blonde highlights shook her head; Ares gave a very tentative shake of a hand.
"You've had more time than the others to learn to connect with your wolf, Ares Xavier," the Marrok gave him a gimlet eye and the ghost of an amused smirk. "Surely you've managed to connect with your wolf at least once; while modesty and humility are wonderful human traits to embody, your wolves will respect truth far more readily."
Ares sighed. He could see what the Marrok was up to, could see where this conversation would go, and for a few moments he resisted the bait the Marrok was offering—more to the others, really, than to him, but still. On the other hand, he could understand what the Marrok was up to, as well; he was thinking more like a wolf, and in that light, the matter would have to come up at some point, if for no other reason than to make the point—which was that the Alpha—whether that be the Marrok, or him, since he'd been all but given the responsibility of leading the others—was the leader. The Marrok was giving him responsibilities—of leadership, of guidance, of being the face of the truth for those who he'd been Changed with, among other things—and he couldn't shirk them.
"I suppose that is true," he sighed softly. "I have connected with my wolf."
"I thought as much," Darius offered, drawing the attention of everyone else there. "I was pretty sure, with the way you handled that wolf, uh, Garrak?" He turned to look at the Marrok then, who gave a brief nod. "Yeah," Darius turned back to him. "You're more dominant than he is, and probably more than any of us here, too. Well, except for the Marrok; no offense, sir."
"None taken," the Marrok offered in a dryly amused tone.
"So you think because you're dominant enough to roll over Garrak, that makes you special somehow?" Tamara shot at him, her voice tinged with confusion and anger.
"Never said that—" Ares began, but was cut off by Tamara.
"Or that because you can 'communicate with your wolf'," she continued, cutting through his attempt to respond- she even made quotation gestures with her hands, "that that means you can be more dominant than any of us here?"
"Are you gonna let me—" He tried again.
"And now you think you get to decide what's right and what's wrong, now that you 'have the power'—"
"Enough!" Ares growled at her, letting a little bit of his anger slip.
She is challenging you, his wolf spoke to him.
"She's not strong enough to be a challenge," he answered back; he didn't know that for a fact, but he strongly suspected it.
That does not mean that she will not try, his wolf replied.
"You're not the Alpha!" Tamara snarled back at him. Her gaze locked with his, and he could see the wolfish shift of her eyes. "And you're not my Alpha!"
You will have to show her that you are more dominant, his wolf continued, You will have to hurt her.
"Not something I want to do," he growled back, angry at the prospect, but more angry at the fact that she was making that a prospect for him to have to consider.
He could almost feel his wolf giving the animal equivalent of a resigned shake of his head. If you are ever to be an Alpha, you must be an Alpha.
If he was ever going to live up to what the Marrok was looking for in him—and he was beginning to realize, even now, that that was what the Marrok was doing—or even live up to his own wolf and what he felt of their bond and their abilities, if he was going to be responsible, then he was going to have to start being responsible.
"Then let us be the Alpha," he gave his wolf a mental nod.
"If you think you can do better, I wanna see you try," he growled back at her, his tone dropping low and dangerous.
Tamara all but roared at him, and charged.
He could feel his wolf sliding in next to him, so to speak, sliding more inside of him, more merging with him, and with that, he could feel the senses of his wolf coming to the fore. With his senses heightened, sharpened, he could almost feel time moving differently around him. He watched as Tamara seemed to slow down just a bit to his senses, giving him plenty of time to see her launching a fist at him, plenty of time for his wolf to tell him of his irritation with this new wolf and her impudence, plenty of time for him to decide just what he was going to do.
As she swung, he leaned away from her, just enough for her to miss him, but not so much that he couldn't catch her. He caught her arm with his own, and using her momentum, he trapped her arm by slipping his arm down the length of hers and capturing the back of her neck in his hand. Before she could even understand what he'd done, he pulled her forwards and pushed her down- and at the same time, lifted a knee and drove it into her stomach.
He could practically feel her surprise that he'd struck back at her, that he hadn't simply stood there and allowed her to hit him. He could feel the fight leave her, as she was suddenly, surprisingly, robbed of air to breathe. He let her go, and she staggered forward a step or two, before she wrapped her arms around herself, and partially collapsed to the ground, trying to catch her breath.
"So now that we're done with that," Ares started, then caught himself. "Or maybe I should ask—are you done?"
Tamara shook her head, lifting her gaze to glare at him; her wolf snarled back at him through her eyes. "Not done," she panted through gritted teeth, and slowly stood up, before launching herself at him once again.
You are going to have to hurt her, his wolf expressed to him again, the longer you allow this to continue, the weaker you will seem as an Alpha; toying with her does your leadership no good.
He didn't respond to that, as he blocked a pair of thrown punches and dodged out of the way of a kick aimed—for his stomach or his thigh, he wasn't entirely sure, but he wasn't going to stand still to let her hit him to figure it out. She spun on her heel, lashing out with another kick that could have hurt if he hadn't moved yet again, followed by another attempt to punch him which he blocked, and by a knee shot to the groin that he was already shifting out of the way of when she attempted it, making it miss more by luck than skill.
But it was the attempt that came next, a paw—a paw!—to the stomach, that he managed to stop, that shocked him and made his blood boil.
She's trying to do more than challenge you now, Ares, his wolf told the shocked portion of his mind as he saw her partially transformed hand into a nightmarish version of a paw, with rough, sharpened claws extended from the ends, Enough is enough.
The part that drove his blood to boiling agreed, and he allowed his wolf to have more control, though he still kept enough back to more guide the actions of the wolf in ways that they could both agree upon. His vision sharpened yet again, and once again Tamara seemed to slow down, more so than before. The wolf wanted dominance; he wanted retribution, but between them they knew that the wolf in Tamara needed to be stopped, right now.
He gave a bit of a twist to her arm with one hand, and with the other he slammed a palm into her arm at the shoulder in the back. He could feel a meaty thud-pop feeling, and then the young woman at the other end of that arm screamed holy hell. The wolf in him almost didn't give a damn, as they then kicked the legs out from underneath her and rolled her to the ground on her stomach, nearly twisting the arm behind her.
Tamara howled some more in pain, and Ares took back some of the control he'd given over to his wolf, but let the wolf have his say nonetheless.
"That is enough," he growled, letting the wolf add timbre and undertone to his voice that Ares assured him would get through to her wolf. It must have worked, because Tamara seemed to find it within herself to grow as still and quiet as she could in her condition. Ares continued, "You are done. Challenge me again, and next time, I will break every bone in your arm from your shoulder to your fingertips. Got it?"
Tamara gave a jerky nod of her head, whimpering and moaning heavily in pain.
He sensed a looming presence nearby, and turned in that direction; he felt his wolf snarling through him, but toned down the want to growl. His gaze met that of the Marrok, but the elder wolf looked at him for only a moment before shifting his own gaze away.
That shocked him, shocked his wolf, and allowed him to retake control of himself. He stopped himself from giving voice to the first words that crossed into his thoughts, thoughts his wolf seemed more than willing to give voice to if he'd allowed it, but he couldn't completely let go of his want to know why the Marrok of all people turned away from him like that.
"…Is everything alright?" he asked the older wolf.
The Marrok turned his gaze back to him for a few moments, before he nodded.
"Your wolf," the Marrok responded gently, though his voice carried clearly. "My wolf would have seen yours as a challenger, and in the moment, you may not have backed down as you should. I have no interest in killing you, at least not today." The Marrok offered a bit of a grin, but Ares could see in his eyes that he was serious.
Ares smirked in return, and shifted his own look away, both to show that he understood the Marrok's words, and to show that he had no wish to challenge the elder wolf.
He certainly didn't want to die any time soon.