Chapter 3: An Interview with an Alpha

Well, dear readers, I know you’re used to getting travel advice and information from me, but after the recent changes in the world, I feel I need to come out and shift the focus of this blog. I’m more than just a weary traveler. Turns out, I’m a werewolf.

Last week, I wouldn’t have believed anyone who said something like that. But like so many other people, my eyes have been opened. And rather than hide from this new world, I’ve decided to take my skills with me and open up the world for all to see. So instead of just traveling to roadside attractions and exotic locations, I’m going to take you with me as I travel into the world of the werewolf.

I’m still trying to put together what all of this means, and I thought it would be good to go to an expert for the answers. While there are a lot of new wolves in the world after last week, it’s not like lycanthropy just suddenly showed up. There have been wolves among us all along, hiding among us and living their lives.

Since they know how to live as a wolf, I thought it would be good to ask one of them for advice. In particular, I found Connor, who claims to have been a werewolf since the seventeenth century. He agreed to talk with me about what I can expect and about the unprecedented uniqueness of our current situation.

In his words, “It isn’t usually easy to turn someone. Normally, it’s a difficult and dangerous process. You have to bring someone to the very brink of death and hope that enough of your saliva has gotten into them to infect them with the virus. Assuming that it works like a virus; that’s a pretty new theory. I’m not really comfortable with it, but it seems to be the easiest way for people to wrap their brains around it.”

Me: So you don’t think lycanthropy is a disease?

Him: A disease suggests that it can be cured and that it needs to be cured. I don’t think that’s a fair assessment. This is a blessing. It brings agelessness with it, very near immortality, and a sharing of your spirit with another being. It’s too mystical and magical to be explained with science. But the science metaphor seems to work to help some people understand it.

Me: Okay. So it used to be pretty rare for someone to shift?

Him: It was never an accident, that’s for sure. I’ve turned about a dozen people over the last four hundred years. But only about half of the people survive the process at all. At least, that’s how it always has been.

Me: So half the people you try to turn would die?

Him: Yes, it’s very tragic when that happens, and is one of the primary reasons we didn’t turn people very often. Everyone had to be in agreement, and it would still be a very tense time. Nothing like this (gestures around at the world) has ever happened before.

Me: Let’s shift gears a bit. For those of us who are newly changed, what kind of things should we expect to deal with?

Him: Well, probably the biggest thing is your inner wolf. It’s going to react to the inner wolves of the people around you in some pretty intense ways that can be confusing or even frightening if you don’t understand it.

Me: Can you give me an example or two?

Him: Sure. One way to look at it is that every inner spirit has one of three basic ideals. Either your wolf is dominant, neutral, or submissive. Most are submissive. I’m not good with numbers, but the neutral spirits are pretty rare. Maybe one in fifty. The dominant spirits, which we’ve taken to call alphas, are about one in ten. The rest are more submissive.

Me: Okay. And what does each of these things mean?

Him: Well, a submissive spirit will want to find an alpha to submit to.

Me: You mean like, sexually?

Him: Not necessarily, but it definitely happens. Our wolf spirits aren’t human, and it’s hard for us to really understand the urges sometimes. A lot of young wolves will see it as a sexual connection, but I try to discourage that because it’s not entirely accurate. The alpha wolf will want to protect the submissive wolves, and the submissive wolves will feel an urge to obey their alpha. It’s almost like imprinting, sometimes.

Me: So the first alpha they meet, they imprint with?

Him: Again, not always. But it happens a lot.

Me: And what about the neutral wolves?

Him: I like to call them omegas. They are more or less immune to the power play between alphas and, for lack of a better term, betas. They don’t feel the need to submit, but they also don’t feel the need to protect.

Me: So being an alpha is like being in charge?

Him: That’s a common misconception. Yes, the alpha ends up more or less in charge, but that’s not the core desire of the inner wolf. The wolf wants to protect his pack. He wants to provide for them. It’s more like a parental feeling than any kind of actual domineering.

Me: I can see how sex would confuse things.

Him: The interaction of wolf spirits is absolutely not sexual. Not in any way. It’s more of a dynamic of protection. The alpha naturally wants to protect and provide for the beta. The beta, in turn, naturally wants to help the alpha and make him as strong as possible. So that he can better protect them.

Me: So every pack is one alpha and a bunch of betas, with the occasional omega thrown in for good measure?

Him: That would be ideal, but no. There are often several alphas in the same pack. Packs tend to be pretty big, with as many as fifty or even a hundred members. When that happens, each pack tends to form subgroups that identify together, several betas to one alpha. That alpha then submits to the alpha of the whole pack.

Me: So then there’s an alpha of a bunch of alphas? All living in peace and harmony?

Him: Again, ideally. But there are always conflicts, and sometimes the inner beast holds sway and things get violent. So there may be the occasional challenge or need to beat someone into submission.

Me: That sounds horrible.

Him: It does, but it isn’t horrible. It’s the way things work. Once everything is settled, the violence goes away. It’s not like you just keep trying to fight the alpha until one of you dies. You fight once, and your inner wolf becomes satisfied that the other alpha is stronger, and thus more able to protect you. At that point, it settles down and starts to treat that alpha as YOUR alpha.

Me: This is all Greek to me. I’d think that people would just keep struggling.

Him: Why? It’s not about exerting control. It’s about what’s best for everyone. The alpha is a selfless, and often thankless, position. You don’t get power; you get responsibility.

Me: Do people get to choose if they are an alpha or not?

Him: No. Your inner wolf has its position, and it will be happiest if you let it take that position. Like I said, it’s not about egos. It’s about what is best for the pack as a whole.