Later, after Logan dismissed them, Pyro and Kurt went to their dorm to see Wolf.

"Vy didn't you tell us you could do that?!" Kurt asked accusingly.

"I don't care about that. I want to know where your clothes disappear to when you change."

Wolf laughed. "Well, Kurt, I was waiting for the right time to show it. And Pyro, I have no idea. I never really thought about it. I suppose they just go under my fur.

"How can you NOT think about it?!"

"I guess I'm just used to it." Wolf shrugged. Then he changed the subject. "Do you think Logan's gonna let me out for dinner?"

"Probably," Pyro said, "But you never know with him."

"Yeah right," Wolf said, "He's just like the other teachers. No real threat."

Pyro looked away. "He can be. You really shouldn't provoke him like that."

"Ya," Kurt agreed, "You don't vant to get him mad."

Wolf couldn't believe it. "Man, he's got you two whipped! What's so scary about him?"

Kurt and Pyro just looked at each other.

Soon the topic turned to brainstorming possible pranks they could get away with.

"So how is our new student doing, Logan?" Professor Xavier asked later that evening during a teacher's conference.

Logan groaned. "He's got quite an attitude. Seems like he doesn't listen to a word I say."

"I agree," Scott said, "He wasn't showing me any respect."

"Well, that's not exactly unusual," Logan said to him.

Scott glared at him a little.

"He was arguing with me in my class," Ororo added.

"Mine too," Jean agreed, "He was also ignoring me when he was playing desktop football with Pyro."

"He ignored me in chem class, too," Hank said.

Logan groaned again. "What is WRONG with this kid?! No one acts up like that on their first day to this kind of school!"

"Actually," Professor X said, "I might be able to explain it."

All heads turned his way.

"Let me ask you all a question first, though. When he acts up, does he look you in the eye?"

"Yes he does, actually," Jean said, "Straight in the eye. And he didn't look away either. I had to break contact."

"The same thing happened to me," Hank agreed.

"He tried to look at my eyes, but he couldn't really see them because of these," Scott said, tapping his glasses.

"Okay," said Xavier, "Just one more question: Along with looking you in the eye, did he try to make himself look bigger and tougher? Hunching his shoulders, hair standing up, snarling, anything like that?"

"Oh yeah," Logan said, "There was a lot of that."

The others agreed.

"Does that mean something?" Ororo asked.

"He seems to be trying to establish a 'pecking order'," The professor said. "He's challenging everyone to find out who he is stronger than, and to find the 'alpha male' of his 'pack'. I think Wolf is having trouble separating the animal instinct from the human."

"Okay," Logan said, "So what do we do about it?"

"Well, Logan, you're going to have to establish yourself as 'alpha male'."

There was a pause as Logan let this sink in. "What?"

Professor Xavier took a deep breath. "He needs an alpha male that he will submit to and who will instruct him. After he sees you as alpha male of his pack he will begin to obey you. When that happens you can start working on helping him separate his wolf and human instincts."

"I get the whole alpha male thing," Logan said, "But why do I need to do it?"

"Because you are his team leader."

"But not the leader of this school. That's you."

"And aren't we all thankful for that?" Scott added, then smirked when Logan glared his way.

"I may be the head of the school," Professor X began to explain, "But I am in no way an alpha male. In order to establish an alpha male, wolves will fight each other, often severely injuring their opponent. I cannot physically fight Wolf and win, and that is the only way he'd accept me as leader. You, however, can fight and win. That's why you need to be the one to do it."

Logan thought for a few seconds, then sighed, "All right, I'll let him fight me next time he challenges me like that. It's earlier than I wanted to let him, though."

"Another thing, Logan. He's going to fight to kill. You absolutely cannot let him do that. You will have to get pretty rough with him. Also, social animals like wolves learn from the leader when the leader bites them or attacks or something similar. With Wolf, at least for now, when you punish him it will have to be-"

"Physical, I know," Logan said, interrupting him. Then he stood up, "If you'll excuse me, there's some research that I have to do."

Ororo found Logan in the library later that night. He had a big stack of books on the table next to him, open to various pages.

"This is unusual," she commented, startling Logan from his reverie.

"What is?" he asked.

"You. In the library. Doing research." She looked at one of the books. "Animal psychology?"

"Yeah," Logan said, stretching his back. "I wanted to get a better idea of Wolf's mindset before I have to be 'alpha male'."

"Hmm," she said thoughtfully.

"What?"

"You seem to be taking an uncommon interest in your student."

"I just don't want to mess this up," Logan said, then sighed, "There are so many things that I could do wrong with him."

"You don't worry so much about your other students."

"My other students don't have this whole man/beast identity crisis going on."

Ororo laughed. "Fair point."

"Besides," Logan said, "Something about him reminds me of me. I can't say I was like that at my age, because I really don't remember. But if I could, I bet I'd be something like that."

"I bet you were like that too," Ororo said, "And don't worry. I'm sure you will do fine."

"Thanks."

"After all," Ororo teased, "You are something of a beast yourself."

Logan chuckled. "Very true."