Wolves and Men

He sat down on his haunches. He straightened his back, just slightly, and with both his claws he lifted the great bulk of the animal and ripped her hind leg off. He always got a small amount of satisfaction out of that small gesture, a small reminder of the power he now wielded and what he had not possessed only a short while ago. He lifted the leg and sucked the blood from the flesh and the marrow from the bone. Still warm. He let the nourishment sink into his empty stomach and he closed his eyes. Calm and contentment flooded his body and mind. Nowhere in all of the human idea of civilization was there a feeling like this. The feeling of truly earning your nourishment and the contentment and sense of natural order that accompanied that feeling; this was the true meaning of life. Death was necessary and through death life is given to others, the natural order. He opened his eyes and torn into his kill with fervor that few humans could imitate.

He could taste the meat in ways that he never could as a human. The deer meat he ate was tender, as if it had marinated in its own blood. The pulpy flesh was filling, and he savored every bite. He consumed the first leg in minutes while still enjoying every flavor of it. He ripped off the second leg and devoured it as well.

As he continued to eat, he felt his stomach begin to fill. He noticed just how much he could eat now; the downside however was that he had to eat this much every time he was blessed by his mother. His mother. He looked up and could see her pale visage through the tree branches. She was in her heaven, and all was as it should be. He smiled to himself and continued to eat his kill.

The smell and the trail of blood he had left behind had begun to attract others from his forest. The other predators of his forest, the coyotes, and of course his cousins the wolves. He watched them approach him as he continued to tear into the side of the carcass in front of him. They were majestic animals in grey and white and black fur. They walked and hunted with his permission, and they bowed to his supremacy. The old grey of the pack was standing inside the shade of a nearby tree. His golden eyes were looking at the fresh kill on the rock.

He remembered the first time the two of them had met. It was a night like this. He had been reborn for the first time and for the first time he had had to deal with his animal instincts as well as cope with what had happened to him on his human side. The two sides were a jumble of shock and raw emotions. His human side panicked seeing his hands had turned to claws and he couldn’t speak, only utter guttural dog like growls. He was hungry and his animal side sought the hunt. He could barely keep the two sides separate and he almost lost himself in his blood lust. His nose had picked up prey and it was he could do to not run off after them with the sole purpose to kill.

As he wrestled with these two sides of himself, he turned around and there was the biggest grey wolf he had ever seen. He was standing on a rock outcropping above him on the hill. The wolf bared his teeth and issued the challenge his gold eyes locked upon his target.

He didn’t know what to do, he had enough to deal with and then it happened. His animal side took over and pure instinct flooded his conscience, and he met the challenge with a howl and he jumped up the ledge and attacked.

The old grey was not the alpha of the pack for nothing. He jumped down and to the side easily dodging the newcomer’s clumsy uphill attack. Before he could land and pivot back toward the wolf, the old grey jumped up and snapped at his tendons catching his leg just below the knee. He howled with the surprise of the attack though for some reason the razor-sharp teeth of the wolf did little real damage. He twisted around and brought both of his hands down in a hammer blow upon the wolf’s snout.

This attack was not anticipated, and the old grey was thrown off his leg. The wolf’s snout was bleeding from the blow, but he wasn’t finished. The old grey was the alpha of the pack, and no intruder was going to usurp him. The wolf growled and jumped up. Its attack was blocked by his raised arm and the old grey was left dangling, almost comically, from his arm refusing to let go.

His animal instinct was to kill this challenger but his mental fog lifted, and he saw the creature for what it was, a proud predator protecting his pack and territory. He felt a deep understanding with the wolf as it hung from his arm. The wolf’s gold eyes were still hostile, but he meant no harm to the creature. However, he could afford no rivals in his forest. He lifted his arm and the weight of the wolf over his head and punched it in its underside with his other hand. He swung the beast down on the dirt and grabbed its snout in his hand. He removed the jaws from his forearm and clamped the wolf’s teeth shut. The wolf worked to free itself twisting its body left and right.

He yanked the wolf down to the ground forcing a yelp from the poor beast and looked it in the eye. The wolf stopped struggling and he let go of the proud beast. The wolf raised itself up and with his pride and dignity on display, turned away from him. He walked back to the rest of the pack with his tail hanging low. His human side almost felt sorrow for his proud opponent, but this too was the natural order. There could be only one alpha and there was no room for competitors. He did what felt right and a howl of triumph erupted from his lungs.