Chapter 176

I wasn't sure how, I wasn't sure when, and I wasn't sure why, but what I did know was that Took literally held Rulac's life in her jaws. She had dragged him back to the rest of the swarm, his throat and most of his neck retained within her maw, and it was painfully obvious that Rulac was absolutely livid but willing to bear with the indignity for the chance at survival. Behind them, eight other keelish had worked to drag back two scaled deer corpses, which they dropped to the ground unceremoniously before continuing to watch the spectacle of Rulac's possible survival.

"What happened?" I asked, and though I felt a swelling of disappointment and discontent at the public nature of the fight, I wasn't angry at seeing Took in the process of establishing her dominance over the lackadaisical male. 

Under normal circumstances, I would have asked the most "highly ranked" of the keelish present specifically, but those were the two in the predicament in the first place, and then, I supposed the third would have been Brutus, but he seemed confused at best. Though he'd gotten much smarter after his evolution to khatif, Brutus still didn't pay much attention to the rest of the world outside of hunting. This obviously wasn't merely a little spat over the hunt itself. Before I could let myself be consumed with thoughts about establishing a true line of command, I turned to Ilne, who had been a part of the hunt, and she couldn't help the nervous twitch of her tail as she began to explain.

"Well, I'm not too sure, cause I was on the other side of the hunt, and–" her words cut short as I felt my frayed temper begin to run out. "Rulac kept bothering her throughout the hunt, then, when we weren't as successful as we'd like, he said something about how he should have led the hunt instead of her, and it'd be better if she were rutting than hunting."

I levelled a look at Rulac. Through the simmering rage that continued to build at his perceived mistreatment, he rolled his eyes at me and flared his frills in a way that somehow communicated that she was telling the truth. I'd wanted to be able to deny that I believed that Rulac would be so stupid as to say that… but of course he would and of course he did. His first real exchange with her had ended with him calling her "leggy" anyways, so there had already been a history of him being at least passingly interested, and he was a shameless tail-chaser.

"Took, release him."

She didn't hesitate to let Rulac's limp body slump to the ground, but before he could gather himself, she delivered a heavy kick to his ribs and sent him sprawling. Then, she stepped back and rolled her shoulders while working her jaw. Until then, she'd so unfailingly carried his body that I hadn't stopped to think about how heavy a khatif's body was, and how far she must have dragged him unwillingly along. As I calculated and thought, I nearly lost the opportunity to stop any further violence from continuing as Rulac began to recover and clambered to his feet, his eyes and posture promising violence while Took's easy settling into a combat-ready stance didn't bode well.

"ENOUGH!" I shouted, my magic only barely keeping on the non-violent side of [Crippling Cry]. "You're both members of my swarm, and both leaders under my command! Shut up and listen!" As my voice echoed over the assembled hundreds of keelish and wolfstags, there was no movement, much less any sound or whispers. "We are keelish! We are violence, struggle, and ambition made flesh! But none of my keelish will fight each other like this, you must be stronger, wiser, and more devious than those around you, but we work together!"

I stepped closer to Rulac. He'd recently evolved to becoming a khatif, and was now well over seven feet tall and could look down on me easily. I didn't care, and poked one of my claws into his chest, deliberately hard enough to draw blood. To his credit, he didn't react except to look at me without rebellion in his eyes. "You purposefully insulted and undermined one of my most trusted companions, one that I have named as my Beta in the hunt. And for what reason?" I let the question hang in the air, not expecting an answer. I did, however, receive one.

"Because I want to rut her, and I like to see the subtle ways she reacts. I find her amusing." Rulac's frank admittance of his reason took me by surprise, but also set the banked coals of frustration in my heart to blazing. Before I could lash back out, though, he continued, "I treated her as a foolish weakling, simply because it amused me." He turned towards Took as he continued, "In this, I was wrong. I shouldn't have discredited you, as you have gained your position from your dedication and strength, and you having become who and what you are is a reflection of yourself as well as the Swarm Alpha. Beta Took, Swarm Alpha Ashlani, please forgive me for my foolishness."

The honest apology took me by surprise, and served to weaken any additional chastisement that I might have wanted to dole out on him. Instead, I was almost forced to nod my head and accept the apology. When I looked at Took, though she stood tall and proud, she did barely flare her frills in acceptance. Now, the hard part.

"Took. I recognize that you were provoked, but even so, you are my Beta in the hunt. You are above every other keelish in the swarm, with the mere exceptions of myself, and Sybil who stands beside you. As such, you are expected to be better than the rest of the members of the swarm, to be wiser, more patient, stronger. I have the highest of expectations for you, and you have never disappointed them. Until today."

Took's eyes widened, and though she would never interrupt me, much less contradict me and in this public situation no less, I could see the indignation rising in her heart. I raised my hand, hoping to placate her. "You did no wrong in showing Rulac to his place. He disrespected you and myself, and he deserved to be embarrassed and defeated there for that. It was, however, unnecessary to drag him for miles through the jungle and into the assembled, complete body of the swarm, where now I am forced to publicly address this private matter that could have been resolved entirely between us three and the pack present at the hunt.

"Beyond that, congratulations in defeating the previous Swarm Beta in battle, in beauty, and in brains, as all three were necessary to bring you to this victory today." I smiled widely, and though I saw a hint of frustration in Rulac's eyes at my approval of Took's work, the scattered cheers of the assembled keelish quickly made him give up any further argument on that account. 

"Now," I shouted again, to the entirety of the assembled keelish, "let any who are hungry hunt, and those who are angry hunt, and those who are happy hunt. After all," I let a fierce grin cross my face and color my voice, "we are keelish, and we are violence, struggle, ambition, and unity made flesh!" I almost expected the feeling of sacredness to descend upon me as I spoke, but no such luck. Instead, I was treated to Rulac's request:

"Took, can I come with you on another hunt?"