Chapter 66: The Alpha Mother’s Lesson
Selka looked down at Lyra, who was trembling with rage in her massive wolf form, her sharp fangs bared directly at her.
A few paces back, Tala stepped away, her eyes wide with sudden worry. "Lyra..." she murmured under her breath, terrified of what her sister was about to provoke.
Selka simply let out a low, smooth chuckle. "Trust me, kid. You really don’t want this," she said, her voice completely calm and even.
But Lyra’s chest rumbled with an aggressive, deep vibration. She was formally challenging her mother to a duel, demanding to be taken seriously.
"I don’t even need to be in my true wolf form for this, child. Just calm down and listen to me," Selka said, shaking her head slowly at her daughter’s absolute foolishness.
With an angry, echoing growl, Lyra lunged, her massive front paws unsheathing heavy claws to swipe at her mother.
But Selka moved with fluid, practiced ease. She casually stepped to the side, dodging the deadly claws without even shifting her feet from her spot on the forest floor.
"Have you completely lost your mind?" Selka asked, her eyes narrowing as she analyzed Lyra’s rigid, aggressive stance.
Lyra snapped, launching herself at Selka once more, her heavy jaws open wide for a crushing bite to the shoulder.
Selka didn’t even flinch. She reached out with her bare, paw-like hands and effortlessly shoved the massive wolf’s head to the side, redirecting her momentum into the dirt.
"You have truly lost your mind," Selka repeated, her tone dropping into a stern reprimand.
Driven by stubborn pride, Lyra threw herself at her mother again and again, trying to forcefully push her back, trying to make Selka acknowledge the challenge so she would finally transform into her true wolf form and fight.
But Selka moved like a shadow. Sweeping in elegantly, she slipped past Lyra’s guard and locked her powerful arms directly around the young wolf’s neck, trapping it tightly between her torso and her bicep.
Before Lyra could snap her jaw around, Selka hooked her leg behind Lyra’s forelegs and threw her weight forward, taking the massive wolf completely off her feet and dropping her heavily onto the ground.
Thud.
In a split second, Selka pinned Lyra’s head firmly into the dirt. She didn’t even use her full strength, effortlessly holding the young wolf down by resting the simple weight of her elbow right behind Lyra’s massive ear.
Lyra thrashed, trying to twist her heavy torso and slash at her mother’s back with her rear claws, but she was entirely immobilized. Selka was perfectly positioned behind her blind spot.
"Never in all the generations of children born from my womb has a single one dared to bear their fangs against me," Selka sighed, a deep wave of disappointment in her voice. "Do you honestly think your hot, boiling adolescent blood can outmatch my decades of experience being an Alpha? You have a lot to learn, child."
Lyra let out a muffled, frustrated growl, still aggressively straining against the pinning weight to get back up.
"...But I am actually very happy," Selka added quietly.
Lyra’s body suddenly went still. The unexpected words caught her completely off guard, her muscles freezing in the dirt.
"I am happy because I see how deeply you care for your brother," Selka continued, her voice softening into a gentle, maternal tone. "I know it was incredibly hard on you to watch him become the Alpha so early, right after your late father passed away. He has always acted entirely reckless, taking on massive dangers just to keep our pack’s bellies full and to keep our borders as strong as they have always been."
Lyra stopped struggling completely. The low, aggressive rumbling in her chest died down into a quiet silence.
"He had to learn the burdens of leadership much earlier than he ever should have," Selka said, her eyes looking into the distance. "And I know you look up to him. You want his chosen mate to be a glorious entity worthy of his position as Alpha. But trust me when I tell you this... Nuan meets every single requirement of what it truly means to be an Alpha’s mate."
Selka looked up, her gaze shifting to a silent Tala, before dropping back down to Lyra. "You two were just small pups—Koda’s generation was barely born—when your father died. While all your older brothers, and even Koda’s younger siblings, ran ahead to join the main hunts, you two were always left far behind in the den."
"But I am so proud that you two never left each other’s side," Selka said softly. "And despite how small you felt, your brother always praised you over a simple rabbit hunt. Of course you want to contribute to the pack now. Of course you want to lift the heavy weight of Kael’s responsibilities alongside the rest of us."
Selka slowly lifted her elbow, releasing Lyra’s head, and sat down comfortably on the dirt right beside her.
"But let me remind you of something, kids," Selka said, looking at both of her daughters. "Just because you eat the pack’s meat without physically bringing down the prey yourself, it does not mean you are a useless burden to the clan. Sometimes... wisdom, knowledge, and sheer presence matter far more than muscle."
"Even I do not hunt with you all most days. I let you learn your own ways, letting you stumble so you can soon leave the pack, find your own mates, and build your own clans. But a pack is not built solely on hunting together. It is about filling each other’s weaknesses and boosting each other’s strengths."
"I am still deeply respected by the other clans because of my deep knowledge of these territories and my presence at the borders. Otherwise, do you think your older sisters—the ones who left our pack years ago—would have hesitated to bring their foreign mates back here to take over our territory as the dominant breeding pair? They don’t dare try it because I am still alive."
Selka reached out and gave the side of Lyra’s furry head a playful, heavy smack. "So... stop acting like childish pups. Grow up quickly. Stop hunting baby elks and small deer just to prove a point to the pack. Go out, find yourselves some strong mates, and give your old mother a break already!"
With a heavy poof of grey smoke, Lyra shifted back into her human form. She didn’t get up; instead, she rolled over, buried her face directly into Selka’s lap, and began to sob quietly, her shoulders shaking against the dirt.
"And from this moment on, you will completely stop bothering Nuan," Selka ordered gently, stroking Lyra’s tangled hair. "She is the one your brother chose for himself, and she has contributed more to the survival of this pack than you realize—even before she ever stepped foot in our camp."
"She fed and nursed our starving, dying Alpha when he was stranded in the wilderness before he ever carried her here. She protected Kael from the Tiger clan using the power of the red evil, and she taught us how to control that fire to make our food delicious. And she is the one who saved Kael from the moose!"
"But... but..." Lyra sobbed, her voice muffled against her mother’s lap. "He only went out to hunt that massive moose because of her!"
"He went out because his own fragile ego was hurt that the pack successfully hunted a bison without needing his leadership," Selka corrected her firmly, her voice leaving no room for argument. "That is exactly what makes him naive. He is still completely unaware of what it truly means to be a real Alpha."
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