“Wolves, in the wild, have the hierarchy, but our packs only have a couple of designations. Alpha’s, Betas, Gammas and Omegas. Everyone else in the pack lives within the hierarchy but also separate from it.” I went over basic wolf structure.
“We know all this,” Aurora called out and laughed with her group of mean girls.
“If you knew that, then this pack shouldn’t be having the issues that it is having.” I tossed back. “Are you a ranked wolf, Aurora?”
“I will be.” She tossed back and I laughed.
“Do you know the probability of an Alpha wolf mating to an unranked wolf?” I cocked my head and stared her down. She glared at me. “The answer, if anyone else was wondering, was zero. Zero per cent. Even if the man liked the woman, the wolves would never agree. The female wolf would roll over and bare her belly and the Alpha wolf would tear into her for ever thinking she could make him bow down to her. That’s what an Alpha female does. She supports her mate, but also pushes back, stands up against him. A weaker wolf could never do that.” I stared Aurora in the eye when I said it all until she looked away finally.
She needed to understand that she would never match with my father. “What is the issue you were talking about?” One of the mean girls called out, breaking the tension.
“You have unranked wolves acting like they are ranked wolves and using their power to demean, bully, and command other wolves to do their bidding.”
“So?”
My anger flashed with her smarmy voice. “So, what if I commanded you to do jumping jacks until you died?”
She reared back and stumbled over her words. “You can’t do that.”
“Who says?”
Her eyes darted back and forth, hoping someone else would say something, but everyone else stayed silent. “The Council.”
“The council also states that unranked wolves cannot wield power over weaker wolves.” I countered back. “So what, the council is good enough to save yourself but not good enough to follow?” The silence was deafening.
I waited for the reality of what I said to sink in. “What? You said it yourself. I can’t command you to hurt yourself. Fine, let’s go with something else. What if I commanded you to give me all of your money?” I stared down at the girl and she looked away. “Something you’ve done I see.” I snarled. My eyes flashed. “What’s your name?”
“Stephanie.”
I slammed my aura out, and Nix took control as I raged. “Do jumping jacks until I tell you to stop.”
Stephanie’s eyes widened, but I turned away to reel in my wolf. She started bouncing up and down, and some girls chuckled and I snarled. “You think this is funny? Do you want to join Stephanie? Being made to do something and not being able to stop yourself is a horrible feeling.” I whipped back to the girls, and Nix snarled again. My power struck out again, dropping everyone to their knees. “Everyone here will do jumping jacks until I say stop.”
Everyone started, even Tina and Lynn, but I commanded them to stop. “What are you planning?” Lynn turned to me.
“The three of us will go around and command each girl here to tell us if they wielded any power against another. If they say no, they can stop. If the answer is yes, leave them jumping.”
Tina nodded. “For how long?”
“I’ll tell them to stop.” I curled my lip and started for Cas. “Have you ever used your power to command another person to do something against their will?”
Cas huffed out a breath. “No.” Her face was rosy from the exertion, and I smiled.
“You can stop.” I let out a little power to release her from the command and then I clapped her on the shoulder. “It will get better.” I moved on.
Tina and Lynn walked through the crowd with me and released more and more women. Until we had a small group of girls that Amanda and Aurora were surrounded by. This didn’t surprise us.
I walked back to the front and turned to face everyone. Forty women were standing around, some had their hands on their knees and some looked to be catching their breath. The remaining eight girls were huffing and puffing, still doing jumping jacks.
“Everyone else can leave for the day. Tomorrow we will do this again. So more protein at all meals, and I will see you tomorrow.” I called back and the women all left except for the ones still jumping.
“Did you need us to stay?” Lynn turned to me and I nodded.
“Yeah. I need you here for when these girls drop.” I watched over them and waited. Their legs and arms shaking with their movements.
“Stop this,” Aurora called out, and I laughed.
“Or what?” I called back.
