Shemira having submitted, I turned to the pathetic keelish who had decided to bend the knee to her. The four that had been beaten retreated, especially their de facto leader who still looked shaken from Took’s heatbutt. There were ten of them, and if I hadn’t focused on getting as many of my pack to the level of [Exceptional Individual] as I had, I suspected that it would have been difficult to deter them from a hostile takeover. Again, I was reminded that my greatest reliance would be my own strength first, and elevating the strength of those loyal to me second.

“Welcome to the pack. If you try this again, I won’t be so lenient.”

The males all looked at each other before one spoke up. “We will just return to where we came from.”

“No.” I made firm eye contact, my attention and wrath both firmly bearing down on him and the rest of the interlopers. “You all decided to come here and support the brood’s Alpha. You cannot change your minds now.” I then turned to Treel, Foire, and Vefir. “Each of you take three. The last will go with me.”

Unceremoniously and without hesitation, the pack of adult keelish were divided from their fellows and I figured that with their general weakness of body and will, they wouldn’t pose any long-term problems. Having now separated the new troublemakers, I turned to the rest of Shemira’s pack. With her nineteen original members of the brood and ten new additions, we matched in numbers when not counting myself, so I needed to be careful to separate the dissidents sufficiently.

Before I could begin to take any action, Sybil sidled up behind me.

“How did Oncli die? You did not bring his body back.”

I felt my jaw clench, the rage redoubling within me. “Something got him.”

Sybil nodded slowly. “That is a disappointment. And you were not able to fell his killer?”

It was only with a surprising swelling of patience that I kept myself from snapping verbally and physically at Sybil. “Obviously not.”

“Next time then.” Then, with a measured, blase tone, Sybil continued, “You will need to select another Beta.”

“Suns burn you, Sybil, he hasn’t been gone an hour!”

She leveled a stare at me. “We will continue our conversation later. For now, what do you want me to do about these new members of the pack?”

With the slight pause in our conversation, Shemira inserted herself, leaning intimately into my chest while looking up at my face. Before I could question or chastise her, she spoke.

"I always knew we needed to work together. I know what I just did was wrong, and now I know that I just need to serve you, and not you me. I'm sure I can serve you well as your Beta, better than any other… options available.” The derision was clear in her voice as Shemira looked at Sybil and Took while rubbing herself against me.

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“Are you insulting my subordinates?” My voice sounded flat and emotionless even to me.

“I would never! I simply can fill both positions occupied by these two, and be a true supporter in every role.” Her tail twisted up and tickled the inside of my thigh, and for a moment I actually considered her offer. Then, I reached down with both arms and I swore I heard a quiet chuckle as I reached down. Without changing my expression, I picked Shemira up where I dangled her upside down for a moment. For a moment, she looked at me, absolutely baffled. Then I dropped her on her head, where her skull made a pleasant thunking noise on the ground.

As Shemira tried to gather herself, I lowered myself to look into her eyes.

“You’re stupid if you’re thinking that I’m about to give you control over even a single member of the pack. You are hereby assigned to Took’s leadership every time we leave the den.” Shemira began to try to argue but I snapped my teeth shut less than an inch from the tip of her snout, silencing her. I continued, “When we are in the den, you are assigned to Sybil. If she so desires, you will wait on her every command.”

I didn’t ask for confirmation or understanding as I turned to Took. “Keep an eye on her. Don’t let her do anything, just make her hunt.”

Took nodded in agreement and began to drag Shemira away. She paid no attention to the wheedling and whining and simply used her greater strength to drag Shemira away. Before long, Took led a pack of about fifteen out of the den to go for a hunt. Shemira followed along, reluctantly stepping alongside Took who made sure that the former Alpha was never out of arm’s reach.

I began walking in to my quarters, Sybil directly flanking me. I only barely kept myself from stomping as I entered into my bath and began to cleanse myself. The scrubbing of the sands didn’t calm me as it usually did, and I felt the emotions bottled within me continuing to pulse within and agitate me.

“You need to select a new second-in-command.”

“Enough, Sybil!” I didn’t even try to keep the heat from my voice.

“Alpha.” Her voice was even, reasonable, and stern. “You have been able to keep your position precisely because you have maintained strict order within the pack. You cannot afford to surrender your greatest advantage now. It will lose you all that you have and are.”

“Can I not mourn my friend’s death?” I felt my voice begin to break as I finally acknowledged that Oncli was my friend, and that he’d died without my being able to do anything about it.

“Mourn if you need to. Don’t let it affect the rest of what you do.” Sybil’s voice was again without any emotional inflection. It somewhat served to pull me out of my state, and I nodded.

“I’ll let you know when I wake.”

“Rest well, Alpha.” Sybil stepped out and gave me space.

Finally left alone, I let the emotions wash over me, allowing [Bloodlust] to fully slip. The rage slowly faded and was replaced by a surprisingly sweet feeling of acceptance. Oncli had died, but it hadn’t been as tragic as it could have been. He had willingly left to scout, and he’d never wanted to be, in any way, unable to contribute to the pack, and I doubted he’d have been left able to hunt after the initial strike by the terrorbird. Either way, I needed to harden myself, to be more willing to embrace losses. Keelish were meant to use their numbers to overwhelm their foes, and sacrifices would come hand in hand with that reality.

Convincing myself of that, I finally turned to observe the updates from the [System].