The Narration

Terry said that our community had been spared by divine powers. Harboring an Alpha within a territory ruled by another Alpha was indeed treason regardless of whether we were aware of the situation or not. However, by some miracle, the Alpha received a vision ordering him to let Terry and all who had unknowingly pledged loyalty to him go stand on their own. The Alpha could not go against a Goddess, he would never stand a chance, so he let us go.

According to the instructions given to him, we were to each receive a token, and we were to take all our belongings and head West. There was an unclaimed territory that we would have to develop and make into a home, someday. The Alphas in the whole region would not bother us, so we were going to be safe. For at least 50 years, we were to be left alone with no invasions or the divinity herself would intervene on our behalf.

When Terry told me that part, I admit I was relived. We would not have to worry about outside attacks. All we would worry about was internal conflict, and we would probably tear each other apart before we got to 50 years. Terry was not born an alpha, he had become one 3 years ago when he first received his wolf. With that said, he had no Alpha instincts, even the will to exert dominance over others. He was painfully average, but he had the strength of an alpha. He was a threat to the current Alpha and he had to go.

That is how we left our pack, pitiful really.

The journey to our next destination took us 1 month, 2 weeks and 5 days. Moving with all the wagons and the 'token' we had each received proved more of a hustle than we had anticipated. We had to constantly source food, had to make sure we were keeping safe, and had to make sure that the situation was not getting to us. It was getting to me though, and I was looking for a chance to vent it out on someone, anyone really.

To get to the most western part of the region, we had to go through one mountain range with a thick forest. Food was not scarce in such a setting. The women and children collected what we lacked in herbs and spices from the forest, and the children would be seen running around until they wore themselves out only to sleep in the wagons - the journey continued. The valley that followed would gently ease into the sea. it all seemed peaceful until one, halfway into the journey, Terry disappeared/

He was gone for a full day. Since we could not move without him, we had stopped. And panicked.

No one had seen him. We all thought the pressure had gotten to him and that he had run. I was starting to think that way too, even though he was my closest friend, even though I knew him better than anyone, I doubted him. Was it the stress?

The as I settled down to rest, since look out duties were left to the older generation, Terry sought me out. He had moved so quietly, quieter than I had even seen or heard him move. He seemed bigger, and darker. As if something had completely altered him. This was Terry, but he wasn't my Terry. He almost looked like an alpha.

"Where are we going?"

He didn't respond, he simply grabbed my wrist and pulled me behind him, he was heading to a secluded place for sure. But he could have at least told me me where we were going. He had left us all day without a word and he came back to drag me to an unknown place without explaining anything.

"Terry, let me go. I'm not very fond of you at the moment." He stopped, turned to me and looked so surprised it would have passed for comical if I wasn't so upset.

"What did I do?" Did he just sound afraid? That took the dark alpha aura he was oozing off him completely. He still seemed bigger, but he just looked like my Terry now. I wanted to smile. I should have smiled. But I was scared, and our supposed alpha had left us.

"You really want me to explain to you that you're responsible for the 70 lives here? To explain to you that an alpha does not leave his pack unprotected, especially when they're scared?"

"I didn't leave."

"Then where were you? We looked all over for you!" I was sure tears had started forming in my eyes, but I didn't care. This whole thing was stressful. I was being selfish, but I had to let this frustration out.

"We've been exiled Terry, whether you like it or not, you're the center of all this. Most of us even blame you for losing our home because of a guy that did not even know that he had made us his pack. And then you left without a word. Do you realize how scary such a thing is? We're in the middle of nowhere. The other packs have been told to avoid us but that holds only if you are here. And you left. You left Terry. Without a word..."

By this point, I was whimpering. I thought I would be screaming, but I was tired.

Terry, on the other hand, seemed to be holding it all in. He took a deep breath and held me to him, which was surprising. He had never held me this close before.

"I'm sorry, Bella. I did not think that far. I'm still getting used to being considered an important person." He sounded sincere enough, this really was my Terry.

" You could have at least told me. I would have told the others to calm down."

"I did not go on my own, the divinity paid me a visit," I was shocked, enough to get out of his embrace, then he said, "I'm trying to take you to a place where I can explain everything to you."

"Is that even allowed? To share such information with me,"

"Of course, come on. It's my turn to let out part of my frustration."

After that he led me to a rock with very creepy surroundings, I could hear the bugs creeping around more than usual, and a frog, why did he bring us here? We could have easily found a better place.

After I had settled down, he began his story.

The divinity had decided to raise a pack with different customs from the rest, that was why she had given Terry the power of an alpha, but no instinct to go with it. For now, Terry was just a symbol of an alpha. Rank in a pack was determined at birth, if your father was an alpha, and you happened to be the first male child, you would inherit such a rank. The children that followed would have strength, but not compared to the first child. On the other ranks - beta, gamma, omega - the same rules were applied. This made it easy to abuse your power if you so wished, no one who was weaker than you could stop you. But it also ensured loyalty.

The alpha instinct was what made alphas our beloved leaders. The instincts made them care about preserving their packs. But that's as far as they went. If preserving them required kindness, they would be kind. If preserving them required torture, the pack would be tortured. And at that point, there would be no one to help. So in the end, it all came down to what the alpha's nature was like. And unsurprisingly, most of them were cruel.

Our dysfunctional pack would follow one rule, fight your own battles.

To achieve this, every generation would have a tournament at least once. Here, everyone with power from a rank would have that power stripped, and they would fight with only the strength they obtained through training. Every person you defeat becomes a subordinate, whether they like it or not. And they will not be able to break that bondage until the next generation tournament.

The last 3 standing would have to fight for the ranks of alpha, gamma, beta. Whoever comes at the top, automatically has the whole pack in subordinate to him.

Having everyone fight at once would be chaotic, so every family would send a representative, that way, if a representative from one family defeats the other, then a whole family's rank is determined.

How a family chooses a representative would be up to them.

A generation would be those born between 10 before and after the first heir to the current alpha is born. Meaning when the son of a current alpha reaches 22, anyone between the ages of 12 and 32 could participate to represent their families.

Loyalty, would be fought for.

For now, Terry would be our alpha until his son reached an age where he could fight his own battle. Approximately, that would be 30 years from now, if Terry every found a mate.

When he has finished explaining the situation we were in, all I could think was, "I don't want to fight."

But what I wanted did not matter. The next day, Terry explained the situation to everyone. The men who were frustrated that they had left everything behind were happy they could do something about it someday, the women that had been oppressed and pushed to the side for so long saw a glimmer of hope, and the people that had suffered under the rule of the higher ranked wolves were relieved, they would not have to suffer that much for long. Everyone was happy.

Our new home was beautiful, and vast.

We would thrive here, we had the resources required. All we could do was hope for a better day.

And so goes the history of the Tabono Pack.