Wolf Lake

Chapter 2

My name is Aspen of the Ma'iingan Nagamo Okwiinowag, or Wolf Song Pack. It is believed that my people are descended from the great Ma'iingan who were sent to Earth by the Creator to mentor humans in the Beginning. These wise Wolves helped humans organize into tribes and clans, taught them to hunt and how to conduct themselves. The Ma'iingan showed humans how to work together as a community, to take on their responsibility for the care of the earth and its creatures, great and small. For a time, Man and Ma'iingan traveled and explored the earth together as partners. But, as time passed, Man forgot the lessons of the Ma'iingan and quickly also lost the ability to speak with the animals and earth around them. 

While most Ma'iingan gave up hope for Man and returned to the Creator long ago, some had fallen in love with Man and chose to change their forms in order to blend in and remain on earth. The descendants of the Ma'iingan who chose to stay became what are known as Werewolves. 

I am the second-born daughter of the current Wolf Song Pack’s Alphas, Holly and Marshall. As the original bloodlines of the Wolves who chose to stay with Man spread out across the world, vastly different cultures of Wolves have developed. While some have treated the Alpha position as an absolute monarchy, passed down by blood from father to son, or mother to daughter, others have developed a much more primal or animalistic hierarchy. Alphas in these packs are never long lived as they can be replaced at any moment if they are challenged--and killed--in combat for dominance. Still other packs choose to hold elections every decade or so for their leadership.

The Wolf Song Pack, for better or worse, does not have a strongly established Alpha culture. The history of the pack shows rotations between bloody violence as Alphas battled to the death for dominance and more quiet periods of elected Alphas, followed by more bloody violence. Thankfully, the most recent generations have seen peaceful transfers of power. This is thanks in large part to my grandmother and grandfather, Hazel and Buck. My grandfather came from the western Belknap pack, meeting my grandmother during a Gathering of unmated Wolves from multiple packs that occur across the country every month. To this day my grandmother still tells the story of their meeting with such warmth and affection. They were both dark furred Wolves and named after trees and they hit it off immediately. He made her laugh and her bold disposition and naturally confident nature kept him coming back for more. Buckthorn came from one of the most primally driven packs where he could be challenged into combat at any time for his position in the pack's hierarchy. While he was only a mid-level Wolf, he’d had to fight (sometimes his friends and family) to get there, and would have had to continue fighting in order to either remain there or to be able to move up. 

Currently most members of the Wolf Song Pack spend the majority of their lives in their human forms. Members enjoy careers and lives outside of the direct hierarchy of the pack, living both inside and outside of the human world. However, the Belknap and other primal Wolves spend a much larger portion of their lives in their Wolf form, hunting as Wolves, and taking much less from the human world. This extra time in Wolf form compounds their primal natures. My grandparents chose to stay with the Wolf Song Pack, my grandfather happily taking up a human job for the first time in exchange for a life not spent constantly looking over his shoulder. They married at 18 and 24, and Hazel gave birth to my mother Holly at 20. They lived peaceful lives in the quiet town of Wolf Lake. 

Only five years later, one of the largest packs out of Canada, the Northern Jasper Pack began absorbing some of the local packs to the north. They were challenging and killing the standing Alphas, then taking the defeated packs members and territory. The Wolf Song Pack’s Alphas at the time had been elected by its pack members and were not chosen for their strength. They were elected for their abilities and accomplishments as strong politicians who sought the betterment of the pack and local community. 

The Alphas of the Northern Jasper Pack, run by a primal matriarchal monarchy, killed the Wolf Song Alphas in combat. The pack was devastated by the loss, unsure how they would transition under a monarchy that dedicated so much time away from their established lives in the human world. Hazel on the other hand, rather than be despondent, was determined. She and Buck refused to let these strangers destroy their way of life. They would not let the savage lifestyle my grandfather had so happily left behind wreak havoc on their friends and family. They met with other members of the pack, finding overwhelming support for their plan. Hazel and Buck would challenge the new Alphas and take back the pack. The battle was brutal, my grandmother still carries some of the scars that never fully healed on her face and her body. She’s missing two fingers on her left hand and with age, has started to have a pronounced limp that she hides with a cane. 

But they won.

Hazel and Buck stopped short of the killing blows, offering a choice to the Northern Alphas. Queen Simonne gracefully accepted the offer, happy to save the life of her mate. The Northern Alphas were allowed to go back to their own territory alive and remain in power of their own pack and territory in return for a partnership treaty that would prevent the Northern Jasper Pack from ever attacking any of the local packs again as well as the agreement that should the Wolf Song Pack ever need their assistance, the Northern pack would come to our aid. Fostered by two strong women, the partnership has developed and grown that agreement over the last fifty years from a hesitant peace to a friendly relationship. When my uncle Hawthorn was born a year after the confrontation, many gifts were sent to congratulate Hazel and Buck on their first son. Now 80, Simonne still holds my grandmother (72) in the highest regards. Both are now retired widows and the Doynne of their respective packs, and they continue to keep in regular contact with each other.

My grandfather died unexpectedly at 46 in a drunk-driving car accident. My grandmother, still unchallenged for her position, continued to “rule” as the town's Mayor and as our pack's Alpha  for another decade until her 50th birthday. When Hazel announced her wish to retire, the pack determined that my mother Holly, now at the age of 30, should take over as Alpha with her mate Marshall. My mother had grown up with the desire to earn the Alpha position. Holly didn’t want Alpha given to her because of who her mother is. My mother has worked with the members of our pack every day, both in the Mayor's office and door-to-door. She and Marshall are beloved by the members of our pack. My parents were high school sweethearts, they married and had my older sister Willow when they were 25 and 28. Dad has kept bees and been the pack handyman while mom has kept the town running along with grandmother. I was born two years behind my sister and have always been much more of my fathers daughter while Willow has always taken after mom. While I chased bees and worked with my hands, Willow had her eyes on leading the pack someday. 

More power to her I say-- she, like my mother and grandmother, is a natural born leader.