Alpha Without a Pack...

Chapter 65

 He lowered his head and swung his antlers at us in challenge, Sidney yipped in a gleeful cheer, she was loving this. I hated hunted almost as much as Gavin did but this moment with how happily excited she was over the battle and how she was sending out instructions to everyone that had us moving in tandem with each other, she made hunting feel kind of fun. The bull put up a decent fight but in the end with Sid keeping his weapons pointed at her Beck, Bowen and Colton got the bull down to where Sidney quickly ended the old bull with an easy kill. With the bull dead at her feet the excitement quickly changed into a respectful and confusing calm as she regarded the carcass in an unusually thankful way. 

"A strong fighter and a wise opponent, be thankful for his life pup, he has given it to us in the battle of the law of tooth and claw. A life must be taken for others to live, ours was a merciful death to him compared to the painful one his wounds would have brought." I realized that she was comforting Gavin as he eyed the bull sadly, and he seemed surprised and thankful for her link. "Yeah, I guess it does help knowing that he won't suffer at least." He sighed out, Sidney trotted over and licked his ear in friendly comfort. Having done her part of respecting the animal and comforting Gavin for playing a part in it's death, her focus was redirected back to her hunger, and suddenly everyone was starving.

                                                      Asher

I liked having the she wolf at the head of the pack, with her in charge pack life was not just something I considered tolerable, it was enjoyable. Bowen had always kept the link to a bare minimum so we were ultimately 12 individuals following one leader. Sidney was completely different, she was the link to everyone and everything, she united us all. I could feel what she felt the same way she could feel all of us but she used the link to help us work together instead of commanding us. Sure Bowen had been a fair alpha never commanding unless he deemed it necessary, but Sidney was a whole new caliber of respectful. 

Even with her dominant wolf in charge of her actions she respected us and made us respect each other, she even paid her respect to the elk before allowing anyone to eat. I had always hated the connection of others running through my mind, but now it was only fleeting glimpses, everything passed through Sidney before reaching out at us. She seemed to have a sort of filter that kept us together and united but not to the point of losing our individual selves, it was amazing. I could admit that her rapid fire thoughts were something else to adjust to, I could feel everything from her even if she blocked the others from feeling my own emotions. She even made us respectfully take our turns and time on the carcass, she even stood guard as we fed ourselves. 

If any of us growled at another member she would give them a quick nip and make them sit in a time out spot until she allowed them to join the feast again, Beck got time out a few times. It was kind of amusing watching the way she scolded Bowen for trying to shove Simon over for a good spot, the look on his face as he pouted in time out was utter disbelief. He hadn't even bared his teeth but any show of dominance from any of us seemed to upset her, and she was quick to make her point. She was the only one with the power here, she was the alpha, we were her pack, and no one was allowed to yield power over the other members except her.

 That fact wasn't something I could understand considering I'd only ever known of packs having a distinct hierarchy, but it was something I could appreciate. I was more middle rank and I preferred the life of a lone wolf for the freedom of constant domination that it provided. I hated the thought of my free choice being taken from me, the only reason I'd joined Bowen's pack originally was his aversion to giving out orders. I had to admit though, if it was the little she wolf giving those orders neither my wolf or I minded the dominance from her. Only when every one had gorged themselves did she step forward to eat, strange considering the alpha was first to eat on a kill. I sent my curiosity at her as she chowed down, only to get her unease of the forest sent to me in return.

 She had been watching for danger to see if others would come to the kill only when she knew it was unlikely for others to come did she decide it was safe. Apparently she figured if no rogues were going to attack us while our teeth were occupied with food, then they weren't going to attack or they weren't nearby. So basically she had used us as bait to make sure the area was safe even sending one to the sidelines of timeout to make them an easy target had been part of her plan. "So basically she was willing to get us killed." Beck snarled in outrage. "No, I was watching, you were safe. Only testing if the pack danger." She didn't even glance at him as she continued to fill her own belly, Beck went back to grumbling to himself. 

It didn't look like she had any plans of going anywhere else anytime soon so we all settled in to get some rest until the sun came up for the official third day morning. Still hours after the sun rose she refused to leave the kill and made it clear we would stay with it until either all the meat was gone or she decided it was unsafe to stay. With that knowledge she sent half of us out to patrol the perimeter, I easily went with them to make sure the area was safe. We did end up finding a few stray rogues sniffing around and quickly got rid of them before confirming the immediate area was clear for the time being. When we got back Sidney was eating more of the elk as the guys watched her restlessly. 

It was strange that we could smell her heat and we knew she should be a bit crazier than she was right now, we also knew her scent would be drawing more wolves to where we were but she didn't seem overly concerned with any of that right now. She trotted over to greet us again and I sighed happily as she nuzzled up against my flank gently before greeting the others back as well. "The area is safe for now, but maybe we should head back to the house where it's warm for the night?" Poor Simon was getting tired of the cold and he wasn't the only one, but I absolutely loved it. 

"No." Her response was definite as she trotted over to a snowy patch, plopped down, curled herself into a ball and trapped her tail over her nose to keep it warm. "Well I guess we're sleeping outside tonight." I linked happily to some groaned complaints of the others but all were accepting of it eventually. We all had thick enough fur to keep us warm out here and nobody was about to leave Sidney's side while she slept. With the area cleared of threats we all spread out around where Sid lay and curled up for the night ourselves. The simple fact was if any threat tried to come through us they wouldn't get far, nobody would get through our guard tonight.

*Smiles friendly readers day 4 coming up next and now that Sidney is fed and rested there's no telling what she might do next.*