The smell of fresh manure was strong in the hot, humid air of the barn, as I scraped the cement paddock down. As I pitched it on the manure pile behind the barn, I picked up the faint sounds of Marie walking into the front of the barn and headed back to where I was working at. As she got closer I could smell her leather boots and a slight floral smell from her perfume over the smell of the fresh alfalfa hay I had unloaded into the barn the day before.

 "What are you doing here working? Shouldn't you be in the pack tryouts for positions? You know you are better than the other boys at almost everything." Marie said, standing just on the other side of the stations for milking the cows.

 "You know I do not care who they pick as an enforcer or tracker in the pack. Besides you know they will try and stop me from showing up the Alpha's son. No one is supposed to make him look bad and all the others will do what they can to make themselves look better to him and the alpha. So how is that fair to the rest of us, Marie? Even when he goes out hunting they all brag about how he kills the largest even if they have to swap kills with him. How is that fair competition?" I growl back at her.

 "You are better than any two or three of them put together...They work out in the gym just to show off to the girls, not to increase their strength or agility. They only wrestle or box with each other. I have seen your work. I know you can lift and move more than any of them. You go into town and learn different fighting styles from the gyms and schools in your free time. You fight the rogues there and members of other packs in the alleyways and unless severely outnumbered you always win. Besides, you know the council is sending members out to all the areas to find out who the mystery wolf is that keeps this town safe. How many vampires did you kill last month when they threaten to take over the slums?" Marie asked

 "We were not going to talk about this. Besides you know those answers as well as I do. You were there most of the time. Why are you not at the tryouts showing them your skills? You have worked side by side with me and trained just as hard with me in town. You fish and hunt with me in all our forms. You know our parents do not believe in these new elections based on popularity or money to buy your way into a higher status in a pack. You know most of these packs can only handle or hold small towns or small cities if they have enough members. All the old packs that hold the largest areas still do everything the old way. So are you going to try it out? You know they are doing tryouts at night also just in case a vamp might want to come and see how well they stand up to our wolves." I say