Law of the Pack Part V: Meeting Their Teachers
#4 of The Law of the Pack
"Where is everyone?" Kate asked Jim, as if he should know.
"I'm not sure. I didn't expect everyone to be gone," Jim replied, just as confused. "I figured there'd be at least a few of them at home, even if most were gone for the day."
"What do we do?" Kate asked, again looking for guidance.
"I suppose we wait," Jim replied. He sat on his haunches, and payed attention to his senses, for any sign of trouble. Kate sat down, with her back to his, so that neither had a blind spot. They waited for close to an hour, before anyone showed up. It turned out to be a young boy, about half of Jim's age.
"Who are you?" he asked. Jim answered.
"I'm Jim, from the Western pack, and this is Kate, from the Eastern pack," he told the pup. "Alpha school?" the pup's eyes lit up.
"Oh, you guys are betas?" he exclaimed excitedly, "That is soooo cool! Come on, I'll take you to see the alpha." Jim stood, and Kate turned around to join the others.
"Hey, didn't you guys live around here, before?" Jim asked.
"Yeah," the pup told him. "We moved, but not too far away."
"Why did you move?" Kate asked.
"You'd have to ask the Alpha. I don't know," the pup said, grinning. They walked a little ways further through the woods, and Mark began to smell the wolves that lived here. The pup lead them up to a rather spacious cave, and he went inside. A few moments later, a female wolf came outside, and squealed with delight.
"Jim! Oh, I haven't seen you since you were a pup! You've gotten so big!" she exclaimed. To add to Jim's confusion (he had no idea who this woman was), she came up, and threw a paw around him, pulling him into a hug. Kate raised an eyebrow, and Jim looked at her pleadingly to help him. "Oh, honey, you probably don't even remember me!" the wolf said, letting Jim away. When Jim didn't respond, she continued. "No matter, you were so little, that I suppose you wouldn't remember me. I'm Melissa, Eric's mate. Your father is William, and when you were little, we visited him, and you had just been born a few months earlier. My, how big you've gotten; and now you're here to train to be a good Alpha. How's the family?"
"Fine, ma'am," Jim replied, politely. "May I inquire into something?"
"Of course, hon," Melissa said, smiling. "Anything for my favorite godpup!"
"Why is it that the Alpha School is down here?" Jim asked.
"Well, that's simple. We alternate hunting school every year. Each year, the next person in the cycle holds the school. North, South, West, East; in that order. That stops any one group from having all their resources used, and it also gives the wolves an opportunity to learn some culture and techniques they may not pick up if their own pack taught their young every year. You're here because you've already gone through hunting school, and now you're coming back to learn how to lead others. Does that answer your question?" Jim nodded. It actually made sense, when he thought about it in those terms.
"So," Kate asked, "What are we going to do while we're here?" Melissa shrugged.
"That's a question for my mate to answer," she told the younger female. "Speak of the devil..." At this point, Eric walked out, to join the fun. Jim sniffed, and an oddly familiar scent came over him. Eric walked up, and embraced Jim, just as his mate had. When he released Jim, the younger male spoke.
"Excuse me, sir," he began.
"You don't have to call your godfather sir, Jim!" the wolf replied heartily.
"That must be it," Jim realized. "You just smell really familiar. I can't put a memory to the smell, but I know I've smelled you before."
"Well, that doesn't surprise me," Eric said. "I visited your family several times when you were a young pup. Your father and I spent many nights discussing issues with our packs."
"Heh," Jim replied, going over the idea in his head, until he concluded it was logically the best answer.
"Alrighty then," Eric said, "Let's get you two put up for the night, then, shall we?" the young wolves nodded, enthusiastically. Eric lead them to a smaller cave, several hundred yards from his own. "Here's where you'll be sleeping. Sorry, but you'll both have to sleep in the same den. Space is at a premium here, so we can't give you separate rooms."
"It's alright," Kate said, not too thrilled, "we'll survive."
"Well, alright," Eric said. "We just got back from a hunt, so we'll start tomorrow morning. Get some sleep; you'll need it." With that, Eric turned, and left the two wolves to get comfortable. As soon as he left, Kate found herself a corner, and settled down. Jim lay down in the other corner, which was relatively close to her corner, the den made for two people who got along well, or one person who needed lots of space, and closed his eyes. When Kate saw Jim's eyes close, she opened one, looking the wolf over quickly. When she saw Jim's right eye start to open, she quickly closed hers, and acted like she never opened them. Jim smiled. He had seen her eyes close again, and had been peeking when she was looking at him.
"You see anything you like?" Jim asked Kate, laughing.
"Dream on, wolfie," Kate said, raising an eyebrow.
"I totally saw you staring at me like I was a piece of meat. No eating me, got it!" Jim said, mock-angry.
"I wouldn't eat you," Kate replied, "you're obviously too gamey to eat. Now, you just go to sleep, and I'll go to sleep, and neither of us will eat the other. We've got a full day of school tomorrow."
"Right," Jim replied, stretching and yawning. It took him only a few moments to fall asleep, once he rolled onto his side so he was more comfortable. Kate likewise made herself comfortable, and it didn't take her long to find herself asleep, also, despite the foreign wolf laying next to her.