t a short distance, I remembered that I had not howled a reply, I had no desire to burn my bridges at the moment. Tilting my head, a long, loud howl was

released in goodbye to the alphas. Disinterested in hearing their howling or yipping replies, I trotted forward. I gave enough face by saying my reply. A loud mourning howl echoed forcing me to freeze, from the sound it sounded as though some male was pleading for a female to wait. It seemed awfully similar to the young alpha I had been admiring. With a snarl I sped up, blanking out his howl, feeling annoyed.

Such a pity he had found his female.

My parents echoed, waiting behind for the yip of reply before catching up to my trotting form.

Shaking out my fur, I scanned the nearby surroundings, continuing forward at a slight leisure pace to admire the beautiful scenery.

Bordering this land was another alpha who was almost as wealthy as the one who hosted the gathering.

Though he only possessed seventy-five acres of wild lands, his pack was around one hundred and twenty strong last I checked; my pack was half a day’s run away. The vast land that stretched before me is about two hundred acres of forest and filled with prey animals ranging from moose, deer, wild boar, and, of course. the rabbits. Scattered among those are a few wild fowls, and a few pheasants.

The first time entering this realm in the maw of my mother I had been extremely excited, struggling to be released so I could run around and chase the prey both safer and easier to catch. I released a huff.

Food is abundant here, unlike our mostly barren realm.

Even after so long being here, I envy those who are originally from this abundant realm.

I suppose since our own gods gave up on us unlike those from the main realm, it can be understood that our realm-

This realm is the main. It had an abundance of wildlife we could use as prey, even though they were smaller, weaker and less tasty. The food was enough for us… to an extent.

Our realm, on the other hand, was falling apart. For some reason, whatever kept it alive is no longer there. Our prey was dying out at an alarming rate. Females who were unable to have a balanced diet can no longer enter heat and escape unscathed. Even for those who did, the development of the pups lean heavier towards males because of that. Males are inherently stronger.

Their resilience is much better than a female’s. And so, they formed, they survived. While females who formed are used as nutrients for the male sibling and the mother.

Females are not strong enough in the survival of the fittest.

That is where the males come in.

Females when entering heat are demanding of their males.

Males would fight for a female, proving they are the strongest and able to endure the heat of a she-wolf. This lasts for days or, in our olden tongue, moons.

Some males die from exhaustion. Since entering this realm over three centuries ago, females have had a higher rate of survival and birth.

Seven females had been born. It is just this world. The prey is following the same path as ours did. Another huff escaped me; I shook my furred head trying to get the thoughts under control but they are too many things to think about. Especially when I have an entire pack and my two sires to consider.

This part of the world was clean, not living under the cloud of smoke from factories and the noise of transportation they used. The subtle scent of rot, death and the cries of suffering, even though it was still polluted, was not as bad when compared to where the majority of the humans dwelled within their cities. The parasites themselves are not all stupid. They have the capacity to become beings that one can truly co-exist with, but they are too destructive and greedy.

Their failures are too high for them to be ‘liked’.

It is a frustrating thing when you have a parasitic species that destroys and hypocritically tries to rebuild… failing.

Many of our prey animals had gone extinct due to the humans who continued to expand in their greed. Our land used to be in the thousands since entering this realm and shuffling between the two; stretching over mountains and rivers. But now?

We barely had enough remaining. It was so pitiful—to the point that we had held onto as much as we could without being discovered by the humans or drawing the ire of the gods is a miracle in itself. Why would I consider this pitiful?

Clearly, we are ranked several tiers higher in the hierarchy than the parasites—humans—but we have been suppressed by all the other immortals whenever we tried to retaliate.

The gods! I hate them for being blind and these parasites; I hate because they are undeservingly blessed.

As for us?

We are stepping stones suppressed in our realm because it was dying and clearly this is a result of a powerful enemy. Will the Lyricals, gods, Celestial, Felidae, Myerkels, Jubatus, Daemon or Hyena kind help?

Never!

They rather sneer at us, looking on with indifference.

Any moment we will be like the serpentine, Dykrie, Resentare and dark Fae. Tethering on the verge of extinction.

‘Pup, your emotions are rioting.’ I bowed my head feeling slightly ashamed that I had lost control to the point I am unable to prevent my emotions from leaking into the sire bond.

A low whine escaped me in apology, my mother nudged me before returning to the side of my father sire. ‘As a young natural-born Selene-alpha our pup has a lot of pressure. She has no alpha to shoulder her burden. Her betas are protecting pack lands because we have made a lot of enemies while trying to help our kind. During the meeting, all of these things had come up. We have discussed this on the way here. Now we must focus on the future. If the alphas want to die then it is their thing. We will stay by your side in an effort to survive.’ Father after saying what needed to be said, he growled low and ran ahead. I watched him; glad I have gained my wisdom from him at least. My mother nudging me to run forward she bounded ahead to catch up with my father leaving me feeling as though a heavy burden had been lifted off me.