Alpha Training - Chapter 8: Stepping up

The time flew like the eagles over the valley. Niera got her second litter a few weeks later. After she had stopped thinking about who the father of them was, she had been excited to have them and was happy when they were born.

She got two more girls and two more boys out of her father's contribution. One boy and one girl had the typical red markings of her father, the girl with a dark red and the boy with a light red fur. The belly of the girl, Nenya, was white, where the belly of the boy, Nico, was dark.

The other two pups looked like the slit image if Niera. To the markings at her snout and her belly fur, they looked like a small version of her. She named them Haku and Hina.

Her older cubs, of the first litter, already started to play with the other young wolves and were outside the den for the most parts of the day, only coming back in the evening. Niera again had all the help she needed with the cubs from the other beta females, who also had their own cubs to care for.

But now Niera also had more experience and contributed just as much at looking over the pups of the other females. It was hard to tell the mother of the young litters other than for those who looked exactly like Niera, because the pups just went to the next female in range to get their drink and they all cared for them as if they were their mothers.

Because her first litter was still just one year old, they came back to the den in the evening and Niera had a keen eye on them being on time. She remembered how strict her mother had been in the past and began to understand the reasons after she got her own pups.

She had to scold especially Abu and Pietro, a black furred pup with mint green eyes like his mother Nena. The two boys were very adventurous and often stayed past daylight before returning to the den.

These two were also clearly the strongest of last years cubs. They clearly took the lead in the group of the young wolves and often ventured far beyond the protected area of the dens.

One day, Niera got a shock, when she suddenly saw the two boys appear in the middle of a hunt, a good mile away from the dens. In their drive to explore their surroundings, they had lost the orientation a bit and went the wrong way, further away from the dens.

Niera and Nena tucked them into a bush until the hunt was over and then picked them up by their scruff and carried them home, while the hunting party was pulling back the prey.

When they got back to the dens, Niera put down Abu and started to scold him so loud, that all wolves heard about it and came to watch. Nena just stood next to her, also having placed Piertro next to his friend, and looked at the pups with a stern face, but left it to Niera to give them a word or two.

The pups shivered from embarrassment and the fierce look at the face of Niera, who gave them a lecture for nearly an hour, before she told the pups to follow them home. Both boys had to stay close to the den for three days, with one of the beta's watching over them. They were not allowed to leave the eyes of the caretaker for even a minute and after that, they never got near the hunting grounds again.

It was not, that the pups did stop their exploring. They just made sure to stay within sight of the safe pack grounds to not run into their mothers when they were on a hunt.

The second litter grew up just as fast as the first one and the next winter came with the cold grasp and frozen paws. Hunting became harder again and the weather got even colder than in the previous winters Niera had experienced.

The pups of the pack met every day at the big plateau, just below the beta den, because the parents did not want to get lost and freeze to death. There were always at least five females around the plateau to have a watch over the pups and Niera also lay at the edge of the small path in front of the beta den to look down on the playing pups.

The cold weather did not take away the playful drive of the pups and they were fighting and brawling all over the plateau. The smaller pups, of the last litter, were in a corner with a few females, protected from the rough games of their older siblings.

Like every winter, a few of the pups already had died. Some slipped and hit a rock, others got lost, because they did not listen to their mothers, and froze to death before they could be found. Luckily, Niera's pups were not under these casualties.

Knowing the danger for the pups, she had a keen eye on all of them and even caught Abu and Pietro a few times, when they tried to sneak away. She did not want to lose any of her pups.

She knew, that after the winter, the two boys would most likely leave the pack. They had talked about this with her and it was not rare for young wolves to leave the pack, and the valley, to venture outside and see the world. Most of the young wolves that went outside were those, who had promise in strength but would never come past a beta rank in their life because of their heritage.

But to allow them to take their life into their own paws, Niera was very careful to ensure they survived this winter.

"Niera, can we leave you alone with the other females to watch over the pups?" Pinya came down from the alpha den, where she had been called earlier.

"Sure, I have been doing it up to now, and I have no problem continuing, but what happened?" she asked and looked to the older female.

"Abu?!" her cry was so loud, that her pup winced and stopped in his tracks. When he saw his mother turn her head, he tried to sneak out of her vision and escape the playground again. With his tail tucked between his hind legs, he turned around and ran back to the other pups, mumbling something that Niera could not understand from her spot.

"We will put together a search party for Vinya." The beta said. "She went after Ian, who went missing this morning, but she did not return yet, and neither did any of the others of her search party. Khara will lead the search party and he asked all betas to participate, while you take the command here and make sure none of the other pups go missing."

Niera growled a bit. All the betas were on the search party, but she had to babysit? Then again, she was sure that the reason for that was, that Niera had proven herself to be very good at keeping the pups in check. She had been trained a lot by the constant tries of Abu to escape and her son was the biggest troublemaker under them.

"Okay." She said after a while of silence, following her son with her eyes, who noticed his mothers gaze and instead of following the direction he took before, he turned around and pounced on Pietro, who followed him and soon the pups were in a playfight with each other.

Pinya left and she saw her joining a group of wolves who silently rushed down the path towards the exit of the pack habitat.

Niera was a bit worries about Vinya. It was not usual for her to overstay a leave without any message and it was weird that she did not even send any of her search party back. Sure, she most likely had taken a few capable trackers of the lower ranks, but even if they were no betas, Niera knew that a few of the lower ranking wolves were nearly as capable in hunting and fighting than the betas.

A lot of adult wolves came up to the big plateau and placed themselves around the edges, blocking all paths. Niera was sure, that Pinya told them to support her. It was good to make sure no additional pups would go lost.

Most of the wolves were females, but a few males were mixed in as well. A bit further down, on a smaller plateau, Niera saw the playfights of the younger wolves, who stayed behind and trained their fighting power to someday challenge one of the betas for their rank.

There were, after all, only two ways to become a beta. One way was, if an alpha candidate finished alpha training, just like she did, and the second was to defeat a beta in a fight for the ranks and take the place of this beta. This was the reason, why many capable fighters were not betas and the ranks changed sometimes.

Usually, only alpha and beta females got pups and only the alpha and beta males could breed with them, which was why these ranks were that popular. Even Niera had to fend of a few challengers, because even if she finished alpha training, she could still lose her rank to a challenger.

Saliza barely defended her rank at the start of the winter. The only rank, that was not chosen by a fight, was that of the alpha female. This was always chosen by the alpha, but only from the ranks of the betas and it was a rule, that everyone knew, that alphas only chose a beta that completed the alpha training as their alpha female.

An alpha male was barely challenged, at least not in the Western Pack. The most prominent reason for that was, that the alpha was respected by the whole pack. The only fights for the right to be the alpha would come, if the old alpha stepped down because they felt ill or if they died.

Niera heard stories, that in the past there had been some rogue wolves coming from outside the valley, or from one of the other packs, who challenged the alpha, but Khara fend of multiple of them before Niera joined the pack and since she joined, no foreign wolf came here.

The pups under her got nervous. The tension from the adults was noticeable strongly and it made the pups feel just as tense, even more, because they did not know what was going on.

That so many adults guarded them was also very unusual and Niera did her best to not show her own worries and looked down at the playing cubs with a forced smile and a warm gaze to not make the atmosphere even worse. She was the highest-ranking wolf here at this moment and the thought of having the sole responsibility for all these wolves below, made her even more nervous than the other adults.

She tried her best to not show any of this and while she listened to the fast beating of her heart, she observed the nervous games of the pups and the silent watch of the other adults.

It was creepy, that most of the talking between them died down and they just watched the kids without the usual chatter, but she knew why the adults were silent. It was the same reason that she had her ears perked up and waiting.

They all wanted to make sure to not miss a single sign of either the search party, or of the guards, that were at the entrances of the sleeping grounds to make sure no enemy would enter at these vulnerable times.

Niera understood, that if now of all times some other wolf or another predator entered their sleeping grounds, she would have the responsibility to lead the attack to defend their pups and pack. Her tail nervously swished back and forth, but over time, her heart slowly calmed down with the lacking of any warning howl or other noise from the borders of their pack ground, that she could barely see from her location.

The return of Pinya and the other beta females was a shock not only to Niera but to the whole pack. Niera saw a small group returning and a short howl of the guards told her, that they were allies. But the howl had sounded painful and ended as fast as it started.

Niera rushed towards the returning group and the moment she met them, shortly before they reached the big plateau, she froze in her steps. On the back of Pinya was Vinya, the alpha female and Mirya had a pup in her muzzle, which Niera identified as Ian.

The deep wounds and the dried blood, in addition to a missing leg for the cub, showed clearly, that they were dead. Niera stumbled and nearly hit the ground but in the last second, she fortified her mind and stood strong. She was the one in charge at the moment and she could not show weakness or terror.

She could not move a muscle, but she also avoided from showing any weakness and causing chaos in the wolves around her that looked just as stunned towards their leading female body, that now was softly let drop down in front if Niera.

With a shaking voice, Pinya explained what happened. All of the females looked exhausted and Pinya and Saliza had scratches at their hind legs. They were not deep or life threatening, but Niera could see that they hurt and blood was still tickling out of them.

The report took a while and all, even the cubs, were silent and listened to the shaking voice of Pinya.

The group under Khara tracked down the scent of Vinya and finally found her at a river. A bear somehow had made it into the valley and around Vinya were the dead bodies of her search group. Five wolves, including the alpha, were dead in under Vinya was the dead body of Ian and another pup that traveled with him.

Khara fought with the power of anger and together with the betas, he drove off the bear. In the explanation from Pinya, the bear had been massive.

A lone long howl got to their ears over the silence when Pinya made a pause. Everyone knew this howl. Everyone knew what it meant.

It was the howl of their Alpha, but it was not directed towards them. It was the call for the other alphas. And a call for arms for a threat. Niera never had heard it before and even so she felt the tension in the howl.

She imagined hearing the anger and sadness in the howl, but a few seconds later she was sure that it was her own anger and sadness, that made the howl sound like that.

Without thinking, she put her nose into the wind and started a very low, mourning howl. At first it was just her soft and calm voice. Her voice did not shake, but it had all the sadness, that she felt over the loss of Vinya, in it.

In this moment, Niera understood how much the she-wolf had meant to her. She had been a mentor, a friend and a second mother for her. Stern, but caring. Powerful but sensitive.

Her voice echoed from the rocks around her and a few seconds later, Pinya also pushed her head into the neck and joined in. More and more of the wolves joined in with a soft, calm melody.

Each single howl was silent, more silent than ever before, but together they grew into a buzzing noise, like a swarm of bees, traveling over the valley and joining with the angry howl of Khara.

Even the pups imitated their mothers and joined into the howl. Niera could see from the corner of her eye that the other pups of Vinya stood a few steps away from her and with tears in their eyes joined into the last respectful goodbye to their mother.

The sun slowly vanished behind the edges of the mountains, but they still howled for a while, until the darkness sank around them, and the stars started to show their beautiful glimmer.

Niera picked the alpha female up and brought it to the alpha den. They placed her inside and the pup next to her.

Niera did not have to say anything. All the other wolves followed her. The pups of Vinya were directly behind her and her own pups as well.

"Take all pups with you to the beta den and care for them. Get a few of the lower ranking she-wolves to help you." She told Pinya. "Saliza, Mirya and Nena, get the stronger wolves and secure the entrances to our sleeping grounds. If anyone approaches, howl and I will come."

The beta females nodded and while Pinya, with the help of a few other females, made sure to bring all pups to the beta den, Niera lay down around the mourning pups of Vinya, who lay in the middle of the den, crying and whimpering.

"I will stay with you tonight." She reassured them and licked over the faces of the little ones. The older pups of Khara and Vinya lay down next to her and snuggled against the older she-wolf.

She heard the other wolves leaving the den, just two females staying in front of the den to be three in case Niera had to leave.

Her ears faced the entrance of the den and listened to each noise from the outside. She heard the howl of a big group of wolves. She knew that this was the call for war, but they were not fighting against each other. It was the hunting party, compromised only from the alpha and beta males of each pack, to hunt the bear.

Niera was sure, that the alpha and beta females were protecting their sleeping grounds just as Niera just ordered. In times of crisis, it was the job of the males to fight the intruders and the job if the females was to protect the pack and, most importantly, the pups.

She heard the calls of different hunting parties from the different directions of the valley. They circled to find the bear and around midnight, she heard a long howl that signaled that one group found him and that they called the others in for the attack.

The growls and howls mixed with the roars of the bear were audible for over an hour, until it finally stopped. The pups between Niera's legs cried themselves into sleep, but the older pups looked frightened to the entrance of the den with each roar and howl. When the noises finally piped down, that looked with big eyes into the night, just like Niera.

The silence did not tell them the outcome of the fight. Niera was sure that a hunting party of wolves from all packs could never lose, because of the high number, but she felt her heart beat strongly, waiting for any indicator for the outcome.

She took a deep breath, when she heard a strong howl. It was clearly Khara and shortly after the howls of the other wolves joined in. It was the triumphant howl of victory and she heard some of the wolves outside in the sleeping ground replying to the howl.

There were more howls from all edges of the valley. Niera sighed. It seemed that the danger that they had been in was over now and at least Khara, she recognized his howl, was alive. She hoped that all the others were also alive and healthy.

"You can sleep now." She whispered to the older pups next to her, that also looked quite relieved. "I am sure your father will come home soon."

Niera did not close her eyes but kept her ears faced to the outside while she watched over the pups, who soon all slept tightly snuggled up to her. Her duty was not over yet. She had to react to any possible warning the guards would utter and get out of the den to protect the pack, if another threat would arise, but the night stayed silent, until the morning dawned with the first red rays of sunlight that directly fell into the den.

The return of the beta males and Khara was silent. Only a low howl greeted the warriors back to their home. Niera waited in front of the alpha den and joined Khara, Bahg and Chael to go inside, where the yearlings and the smaller cubs waited, snuggled together.

Niera left the family alone to mourn for Vinya and left the den to organize the pack together with Pinya and the other alpha females.

They also got shortly briefed by one of the other betas how the hunt for the bear went.

Luckily, all of them made it back, but they reported, that two betas of other packs had been seriously wounded in the fight with the bear. None of them, not even Khara, had come off unscarred. The bear had been massive, by the report of the beta, and it had been a fierce warrior.

They had fought nearly the whole night, chased the bear, surrounded him, attacked him and then chased again, until they finally brought him down.

The exhausted groups of wolves split up again when the morning dawned and returned to their packs to mourn their deaths.

The days that followed were very silent and it was mostly Niera who led the pack now. She took the task without asking, making sure that Khara had the time to mourn for his wife and take care of his pups. She sent one of the beta females to him every day to make sure he ate something and that the pups were alright. Even though Vinya had been quite old, it came as a shock for Khara, that she died and the pack understood that he took his time to take his last goodbye.

Under Niera the pack slowly got back to the daily life, even though a curtain of sadness hang upon them all. The hunt and the daily work they had to do was much more silent than before and there was very little joy.

Even the beta-males did not visit the beta females' den to have some fun and lose some of their energy. The energy the had in the past seemed to have been spent with the fight against the bear and Niera made sure to give them time to recover, while she got a few lower ranks to join in the hunts to keep the pack well fed.

But the days of sorrow went by and at one day, Khara appeared in front of his den again, his eyes focused and warm again, like they knew him. His howl echoed between the rocks when he greeted the pack and the response sounded much happier than they felt the last days.

With the recovery of their alpha, and the healing of the last wounds of the bear, happiness slowly got back into the pack and the live began to normalize again.

But Niera still was busy these days, because even if Khara was back, she continued to organize everything and continue with the responsibilities he left her with.

It was no surprise to anyone in the pack, when a few weeks later, Khara announced, that Niera would change to the alpha den and be his next alpha female. Everyone had been expecting this and even though Niera had worked for two years towards the goal of becoming an alpha, her heart was heavy from the thought that she only got there because Vinya died.

She had loved the old alpha like a mother and it took her a few more weeks to get used to lay next to Khara in the cave, with the smaller pups of Vinya and her own cuddling against her altogether and watching over the yearlings of herself and Vinya.

The kids always had loved her, so they transitioned to the new situation much faster than the older wolf.

They had brought the body of Vinya and her dead pup to the waterfall and let it drop down with their last howl. This was a tradition for saying goodbye to members of the pack.

Now there was only a faint scent of the she-wolf left in the den and Niera's scent started to cover it more and more.

Niera still felt insecure in the new position. She sure love Khara and she found comfort in cuddling against the big wolf and taking in the scent of his fur, but other than the job as the leading beta, that she had known for a while, being the alpha was very new for her.

She was not sure if she could fill the role, even though she found it much like what she had done since Vinya died. She just felt the responsibility and the tension of everyone relying on her and comparing herself with her second mother as a heavy load.

The beta females supported her as much as they could and she visited the beta den every day to play with the pups, that she cared for in the last months together with her fellow beta females.

She even brought her own pups and Vinya's pups there to join in and with the laughing of the playing pups and the many wolves that asked her for decisions or opinion, she soon found herself losing the sadness in her heart and growing more accustomed to the role as an alpha female by each day.

Despite her size, that still was quite small, she was respected by anyone in the pack and they trusted her calls and commands as much as they did trust Khara's and after a few month, it felt normal for everyone that the old wolf and the young she-wolf led them and she became the center of the pack.