A Cat in Wolf's Clothing
Title: A Cat in Wolf's Clothing
Author: hunters_retreat
Rating: PG
Word Count: 2500
Summary: There was no alpha in the pack that could stand up to his father though, no one but Jensen, and yet here Jared was holding his ground, a beta who should be weeping on his knees for protection.
Author's Note: Written for the j2_everafter challenge! Thank you to the Mods of the comm for running it (and everyone for participating because I freaking LOVE this challenge :P). This is my entry for the Disney movie, Dinosaur. Enjoy!
A Cat In Wolf's Clothing
“He may smell like one of us, but he isn’t and we all know it.”
Jensen could feel the low rumble of agreement through the pack. His father spoke the truth and the whole pack knew it. No matter what else was happening, the pack was ready to back him. It made Jensen’s heart race and he had to lick too dry lips. His mouth felt like cotton but he stood tall, waiting for his own moment. His father was pack alpha, but Jensen was next in line and he wasn’t afraid to stand up to the alpha.
“No, I’m not one of you.”
Jared’s words were strong and sure even as he had to look up at the Alpha who stood on the highest point of the rocky outcropping. Jared was a strong were, the sort of were that anyone would be proud to call mate. Someone Jensen would be proud to call mate if only the other man had been raised like one of them.
“I wasn’t raised by a wolf. I wasn’t raised in a pack like this. I was taken in by werecats and they don’t live with the same pack structure that wolves do, but that doesn’t make it wrong. You don’t have to fight like this. The packs don’t have to be at war. Werecats are able to work out territory disputes without killing once another and so can we!”
“We aren’t cats! We are wolves and we don’t bow down to another pack’s claims!” The Alpha bellowed. Half the pack went to one knee in the face of his anger and the rest cast their eyes down in fear of retribution. Jensen kept his head up, unable to look away from the werewolf that stood in the direct path of his father’s rage. Jared stood strong as well, hands clenched white at his side in his fight to stay upright against the obvious displeasure of the strongest were of the pack.
“Then you sentence the others to death.” Jared’s words were softly spoken in contrast to the Alpha’s rage, but there was a level of disgust that surprised Jensen. It shouldn’t, not after the long and arduous journey they’d undertaken together to escape the summer fires. Not after Jared had done so much to protect the werecats he’d been friends with since they took in the abandoned wolf as a child. Not after Jared had protected and encouraged the weaker weres on the trail to make sure they could keep up with the pack. There was no alpha in the pack that could stand up to his father though, no one but Jensen, and yet here Jared was holding his ground, a beta who should be weeping on his knees for protection.
He found his hackles raised and he barely bit back a growl at the thought of Jared bowing his head to anyone but him.
“If the pack goes to war, the other pack will tear the elderly and young apart. You’ll leave the werecats with the sick and they won’t even make it to the fight, will they? You’ll leave them alone to suffer whoever happens upon them.” Jared spit on the ground and growled deep in his throat. “This isn’t a pack. A pack protects those that are too weak. A pack takes care of its own. And an Alpha does what it takes to ensure the survival of the pack, not just the survival of the fittest.”
The Alpha roared as he shifted, his wolf emerging with the same salt and pepper color as his hair. He charged for Jared and before Jensen realized what he was doing, he was charging himself. Though he leapt down a man, he was running on all fours before he hit the ground. He pushed Jared back - the werewolf hadn’t even tried to change form, another habit that came from being raised by cats - and stood his ground as the Alpha came to a halt before him.
He’d never stood up to his father like this before but Jensen knew it was the only way to keep Jared alive. The wolf didn’t understand their pack structure yet, not the real nuances, but the challenge he’d just delivered was too much for the Alpha. The only problem was that Jensen agreed with Jared completely. They shouldn’t be leaving the others behind and it was that sort of mentality that had robbed Jensen of his two older brothers and one younger sister. As much as he loved and respected his father, he never planned on running the pack in the same way.
His father growled deep in his throat and the sound washed over him, pain and shame filling him as he defied the Alpha. He held his ground though and gave an answering snarl back.
“Jensen,” Jared’s voice was hesitant, concerned, and Jensen would have loved to have reassured him if he didn’t know his father would attack if he turned his attention elsewhere.
The Alpha took a step closer and Jensen dropped his body down slightly, ready to leap into action at the slightest provocation. He knew his father, had been trained to take over as the pack Alpha his entire life, so he knew there was no room for mistakes. His father would leave him bloody for this betrayal and it was a death sentence with them on another pack’s terrain.
His father stopped, head tilting to the side as if he was trying to understand his son. It was too late for that though and Jensen realized that no matter what he said and did he would never be the Alpha his father wanted him to be. He would never leave his people to die just because he was too proud to bend his neck. He would never leave the sick or young or elderly because they were slowing them down. He could never make those choices and it was only Jared’s arrival that had helped him realize what it was that had stunted him most in his father’s regard. He would never be a cold Alpha who cared only for the strong. The pack was only strong when they kept each other strong. They needed to fight for each other - not with each other - and that was the answer Jared had been showing them all along.
Jensen was filled with sorrow at the loss of lives they’d allowed, as a pack, and his howl echoed in the forest around them. He didn’t know what his father read into the sound but he bared his teeth then and Jensen knew that there was no turning back. His father had drawn the line in front of Jared, and Jensen had stepped firmly across it. The Alpha might have left a beta alive after such a challenge - with a strong beating to show him his place - but another alpha who challenged him could have no place in the pack hierarchy. Jensen would win to become Alpha himself, or he would die protecting Jared; the man who would be his mate if only Jensen had wizened up quicker.
When his father pounced, Jensen was ready. The Alpha came at him straight on, snapping for his muzzle but Jensen danced out of his way, turning his muzzle just enough that he could snap back before the wolf moved out of range.
“Jensen, don’t do this,” he heard Jared say but a quick glance showed the rest of the pack keeping him out of the fight. It wasn’t just the werecats either. Though the Alpha had the support of the pack, there were more than a few who had lost people to the Alpha’s unbending ways and they were willing to keep Jared safe. At least until the Alpha challenge was over. He didn’t have a way to explain to Jared that his father would never relent and that by challenging the were he’d forced the confrontation. He had no way of explaining it was the Alpha or Jared who had to die tonight and Jensen had no intention of letting Jared go. Not when he finally realized what the other man was.
Instead, he kept his head in the fight. His father had more experience in this sort of battle, but Jensen was a strong alpha and had been in more territory disputes than he cared to remember. His human form was marked with the scars of many battles and he’d always come through victorious. He was larger than his father and stronger. The old man should have remembered that.
When the Alpha charged in again, Jensen brought his front feet up to throw his father’s aim off. The wolf tried to sidestep it but Jensen kept him at bay, keeping his momentum from pushing through Jensen’s defenses. He snapped back again, trying to warn his father off. It wouldn’t work, he knew that, but he couldn’t help but give the man the chance to turn aside.
The Alpha was stubborn and full of pride though and Jensen felt his father’s hackles rise further, warning him that the fight was about to turn nasty.
It was only years of fighting other packs that allowed Jensen to get away from his father’s jaws the next time and he responded with a sharp bite to his father’s neck when the other wolf overshot his mark. It wasn’t the right angle to do more than draw blood but the clearing was suddenly replete with the stench of his blood and Jensen growled at the whimpers of the pack.
His father didn’t wait to attack again and Jensen took advantage. His father’s rush was off balance in his rage and Jensen didn’t just counter the attack, but pressed on, teeth snapping, drawing blood, pulling bits of fur and flesh through his teeth as he connected to the Alpha. He felt teeth clamp down on his shoulder and snarled against the pain but the Alpha lost his grip and slid to the dirt as Jensen bucked him away. He came up with teeth bared but he was unsteady on his feet and there was blood in his eyes, dripping down his nuzzle to land on the dry dirt before him. Jensen wanted to stop and lick the injuries clean but he wasn’t that son anymore. His father had raised him to be the pack Alpha, to be strong and sure in his leadership and Jensen had never been more certain of anything in his life. If the Alpha kept them on the track they were on, they would all be dead soon.
Jensen feigned left and struck right, his father’s equilibrium distortion allowing him to get the one up on the old man. Jensen’s teeth bit down on the wolf’s neck and as he turned his head the wolf was thrown to his back. Jensen jumped on top of him and found his neck exposed as he tried to get away. He leaned down and clamped his jaws over the vulnerable expanse and felt his father still under his teeth. It was his right to kill him. It was the way his father ran the pack but Jensen wasn’t that man.
He felt his father’s body tense and then he shifted from wolf to human form. It threw Jensen off him and suddenly his father was sitting before him, bleeding and shaking from exhaustion and pain. Jensen shifted as quickly and stood over his father. His wolf had neither pity nor mercy, and neither did his human eyes as he looked down upon his father.
“You have two choices. You can submit to the authority of the new pack Alpha, or you are cast away from us, to find a way in this world by yourself or whatever pack would take you in. How do you choose?”
This father looked at him with disgust in his eyes and Jensen took a deep breath. “Father, you are a hero to us. You can stay here in honor,” he whispered.
His father frowned though, as Jensen had known he would. “I don’t need your pity. You think you can bring this pack to greatness, Jensen?” his father demanded. “You will lead it to ruin, with this cat who smells like a wolf. They will never accept him as one of us and you will never find a true mate with him. He is too cat-like to understand our ways. You will die miserable and alone.”
Jensen shook his head and exhaled slowly to calm himself. “You are dead to us then. Leave this pack with whatever supplies you can carry and that we can spare. If we meet again, be prepared to take your place at my feet or my mercy will not be so great.”
The others moved aside as the former Alpha passed through them. He was handed items as he went, a water canteen, blankets, food, some clothes even, and then he was turning back to look at Jared.
“You think you’ve won boy, but you have no idea what you just got yourself into. You hated me as Alpha, but I only wanted to keep the pack strong. My son has other things on his mind. We’ll see how you fare under him when the rush of your first heat is past.”
Jensen bristled at the insinuation but his father was already walking away from the others. He had no doubt he would get far enough away to fashion some sort of bag the wolf could carry and then he would be miles away.
“Jensen,” Jared’s voice was close then, too close for Jensen who was still running on adrenaline.
“Jared, you said you could talk to the local pack and try to get us passage through.” He looked up at the were and saw his slow nod. “Don’t make this something I live to regret.”
Jared nodded again and Jensen turned to walk away but Jared’s hand on his wrist stopped him. “He wasn’t right. I know what it means to be a wolf. I might have been raised by werecats but I was never like them and they didn’t try to make me one of them. Werecats don’t mate like wolves do, I know. But I’m still a wolf, and I would bow down to you as alpha.”
Jensen’s head spun with the possibilities, with just the thought of Jared spread out beneath him for the taking. He had other things he had to take care of first though and making sure the pack was loyal to him had to take precedent. “My father was a fool to think you would be a weak were just because it was cats who took you in. I won’t ever make that mistake.” He smiled for Jared, then nodded back to the others. “I’ll take the scouting party to the east and see if I can get a scent of the other pack. Figure out what you need from me by the time I get back. The pack is trusting in you Jared, don’t let us down.”
He shifted before Jared could answer but the strongest members of the pack were already shifting with him to look for the other weres. He left behind his two strongest supporters to make sure that Jared was well protected, as well as the pack, and then they were off. It was time to find the other pack and see if they could change the world as they knew it.
Author: hunters_retreat
Rating: PG
Word Count: 2500
Summary: There was no alpha in the pack that could stand up to his father though, no one but Jensen, and yet here Jared was holding his ground, a beta who should be weeping on his knees for protection.
Author's Note: Written for the j2_everafter challenge! Thank you to the Mods of the comm for running it (and everyone for participating because I freaking LOVE this challenge :P). This is my entry for the Disney movie, Dinosaur. Enjoy!
A Cat In Wolf's Clothing
“He may smell like one of us, but he isn’t and we all know it.”
Jensen could feel the low rumble of agreement through the pack. His father spoke the truth and the whole pack knew it. No matter what else was happening, the pack was ready to back him. It made Jensen’s heart race and he had to lick too dry lips. His mouth felt like cotton but he stood tall, waiting for his own moment. His father was pack alpha, but Jensen was next in line and he wasn’t afraid to stand up to the alpha.
“No, I’m not one of you.”
Jared’s words were strong and sure even as he had to look up at the Alpha who stood on the highest point of the rocky outcropping. Jared was a strong were, the sort of were that anyone would be proud to call mate. Someone Jensen would be proud to call mate if only the other man had been raised like one of them.
“I wasn’t raised by a wolf. I wasn’t raised in a pack like this. I was taken in by werecats and they don’t live with the same pack structure that wolves do, but that doesn’t make it wrong. You don’t have to fight like this. The packs don’t have to be at war. Werecats are able to work out territory disputes without killing once another and so can we!”
“We aren’t cats! We are wolves and we don’t bow down to another pack’s claims!” The Alpha bellowed. Half the pack went to one knee in the face of his anger and the rest cast their eyes down in fear of retribution. Jensen kept his head up, unable to look away from the werewolf that stood in the direct path of his father’s rage. Jared stood strong as well, hands clenched white at his side in his fight to stay upright against the obvious displeasure of the strongest were of the pack.
“Then you sentence the others to death.” Jared’s words were softly spoken in contrast to the Alpha’s rage, but there was a level of disgust that surprised Jensen. It shouldn’t, not after the long and arduous journey they’d undertaken together to escape the summer fires. Not after Jared had done so much to protect the werecats he’d been friends with since they took in the abandoned wolf as a child. Not after Jared had protected and encouraged the weaker weres on the trail to make sure they could keep up with the pack. There was no alpha in the pack that could stand up to his father though, no one but Jensen, and yet here Jared was holding his ground, a beta who should be weeping on his knees for protection.
He found his hackles raised and he barely bit back a growl at the thought of Jared bowing his head to anyone but him.
“If the pack goes to war, the other pack will tear the elderly and young apart. You’ll leave the werecats with the sick and they won’t even make it to the fight, will they? You’ll leave them alone to suffer whoever happens upon them.” Jared spit on the ground and growled deep in his throat. “This isn’t a pack. A pack protects those that are too weak. A pack takes care of its own. And an Alpha does what it takes to ensure the survival of the pack, not just the survival of the fittest.”
The Alpha roared as he shifted, his wolf emerging with the same salt and pepper color as his hair. He charged for Jared and before Jensen realized what he was doing, he was charging himself. Though he leapt down a man, he was running on all fours before he hit the ground. He pushed Jared back - the werewolf hadn’t even tried to change form, another habit that came from being raised by cats - and stood his ground as the Alpha came to a halt before him.
He’d never stood up to his father like this before but Jensen knew it was the only way to keep Jared alive. The wolf didn’t understand their pack structure yet, not the real nuances, but the challenge he’d just delivered was too much for the Alpha. The only problem was that Jensen agreed with Jared completely. They shouldn’t be leaving the others behind and it was that sort of mentality that had robbed Jensen of his two older brothers and one younger sister. As much as he loved and respected his father, he never planned on running the pack in the same way.
His father growled deep in his throat and the sound washed over him, pain and shame filling him as he defied the Alpha. He held his ground though and gave an answering snarl back.
“Jensen,” Jared’s voice was hesitant, concerned, and Jensen would have loved to have reassured him if he didn’t know his father would attack if he turned his attention elsewhere.
The Alpha took a step closer and Jensen dropped his body down slightly, ready to leap into action at the slightest provocation. He knew his father, had been trained to take over as the pack Alpha his entire life, so he knew there was no room for mistakes. His father would leave him bloody for this betrayal and it was a death sentence with them on another pack’s terrain.
His father stopped, head tilting to the side as if he was trying to understand his son. It was too late for that though and Jensen realized that no matter what he said and did he would never be the Alpha his father wanted him to be. He would never leave his people to die just because he was too proud to bend his neck. He would never leave the sick or young or elderly because they were slowing them down. He could never make those choices and it was only Jared’s arrival that had helped him realize what it was that had stunted him most in his father’s regard. He would never be a cold Alpha who cared only for the strong. The pack was only strong when they kept each other strong. They needed to fight for each other - not with each other - and that was the answer Jared had been showing them all along.
Jensen was filled with sorrow at the loss of lives they’d allowed, as a pack, and his howl echoed in the forest around them. He didn’t know what his father read into the sound but he bared his teeth then and Jensen knew that there was no turning back. His father had drawn the line in front of Jared, and Jensen had stepped firmly across it. The Alpha might have left a beta alive after such a challenge - with a strong beating to show him his place - but another alpha who challenged him could have no place in the pack hierarchy. Jensen would win to become Alpha himself, or he would die protecting Jared; the man who would be his mate if only Jensen had wizened up quicker.
When his father pounced, Jensen was ready. The Alpha came at him straight on, snapping for his muzzle but Jensen danced out of his way, turning his muzzle just enough that he could snap back before the wolf moved out of range.
“Jensen, don’t do this,” he heard Jared say but a quick glance showed the rest of the pack keeping him out of the fight. It wasn’t just the werecats either. Though the Alpha had the support of the pack, there were more than a few who had lost people to the Alpha’s unbending ways and they were willing to keep Jared safe. At least until the Alpha challenge was over. He didn’t have a way to explain to Jared that his father would never relent and that by challenging the were he’d forced the confrontation. He had no way of explaining it was the Alpha or Jared who had to die tonight and Jensen had no intention of letting Jared go. Not when he finally realized what the other man was.
Instead, he kept his head in the fight. His father had more experience in this sort of battle, but Jensen was a strong alpha and had been in more territory disputes than he cared to remember. His human form was marked with the scars of many battles and he’d always come through victorious. He was larger than his father and stronger. The old man should have remembered that.
When the Alpha charged in again, Jensen brought his front feet up to throw his father’s aim off. The wolf tried to sidestep it but Jensen kept him at bay, keeping his momentum from pushing through Jensen’s defenses. He snapped back again, trying to warn his father off. It wouldn’t work, he knew that, but he couldn’t help but give the man the chance to turn aside.
The Alpha was stubborn and full of pride though and Jensen felt his father’s hackles rise further, warning him that the fight was about to turn nasty.
It was only years of fighting other packs that allowed Jensen to get away from his father’s jaws the next time and he responded with a sharp bite to his father’s neck when the other wolf overshot his mark. It wasn’t the right angle to do more than draw blood but the clearing was suddenly replete with the stench of his blood and Jensen growled at the whimpers of the pack.
His father didn’t wait to attack again and Jensen took advantage. His father’s rush was off balance in his rage and Jensen didn’t just counter the attack, but pressed on, teeth snapping, drawing blood, pulling bits of fur and flesh through his teeth as he connected to the Alpha. He felt teeth clamp down on his shoulder and snarled against the pain but the Alpha lost his grip and slid to the dirt as Jensen bucked him away. He came up with teeth bared but he was unsteady on his feet and there was blood in his eyes, dripping down his nuzzle to land on the dry dirt before him. Jensen wanted to stop and lick the injuries clean but he wasn’t that son anymore. His father had raised him to be the pack Alpha, to be strong and sure in his leadership and Jensen had never been more certain of anything in his life. If the Alpha kept them on the track they were on, they would all be dead soon.
Jensen feigned left and struck right, his father’s equilibrium distortion allowing him to get the one up on the old man. Jensen’s teeth bit down on the wolf’s neck and as he turned his head the wolf was thrown to his back. Jensen jumped on top of him and found his neck exposed as he tried to get away. He leaned down and clamped his jaws over the vulnerable expanse and felt his father still under his teeth. It was his right to kill him. It was the way his father ran the pack but Jensen wasn’t that man.
He felt his father’s body tense and then he shifted from wolf to human form. It threw Jensen off him and suddenly his father was sitting before him, bleeding and shaking from exhaustion and pain. Jensen shifted as quickly and stood over his father. His wolf had neither pity nor mercy, and neither did his human eyes as he looked down upon his father.
“You have two choices. You can submit to the authority of the new pack Alpha, or you are cast away from us, to find a way in this world by yourself or whatever pack would take you in. How do you choose?”
This father looked at him with disgust in his eyes and Jensen took a deep breath. “Father, you are a hero to us. You can stay here in honor,” he whispered.
His father frowned though, as Jensen had known he would. “I don’t need your pity. You think you can bring this pack to greatness, Jensen?” his father demanded. “You will lead it to ruin, with this cat who smells like a wolf. They will never accept him as one of us and you will never find a true mate with him. He is too cat-like to understand our ways. You will die miserable and alone.”
Jensen shook his head and exhaled slowly to calm himself. “You are dead to us then. Leave this pack with whatever supplies you can carry and that we can spare. If we meet again, be prepared to take your place at my feet or my mercy will not be so great.”
The others moved aside as the former Alpha passed through them. He was handed items as he went, a water canteen, blankets, food, some clothes even, and then he was turning back to look at Jared.
“You think you’ve won boy, but you have no idea what you just got yourself into. You hated me as Alpha, but I only wanted to keep the pack strong. My son has other things on his mind. We’ll see how you fare under him when the rush of your first heat is past.”
Jensen bristled at the insinuation but his father was already walking away from the others. He had no doubt he would get far enough away to fashion some sort of bag the wolf could carry and then he would be miles away.
“Jensen,” Jared’s voice was close then, too close for Jensen who was still running on adrenaline.
“Jared, you said you could talk to the local pack and try to get us passage through.” He looked up at the were and saw his slow nod. “Don’t make this something I live to regret.”
Jared nodded again and Jensen turned to walk away but Jared’s hand on his wrist stopped him. “He wasn’t right. I know what it means to be a wolf. I might have been raised by werecats but I was never like them and they didn’t try to make me one of them. Werecats don’t mate like wolves do, I know. But I’m still a wolf, and I would bow down to you as alpha.”
Jensen’s head spun with the possibilities, with just the thought of Jared spread out beneath him for the taking. He had other things he had to take care of first though and making sure the pack was loyal to him had to take precedent. “My father was a fool to think you would be a weak were just because it was cats who took you in. I won’t ever make that mistake.” He smiled for Jared, then nodded back to the others. “I’ll take the scouting party to the east and see if I can get a scent of the other pack. Figure out what you need from me by the time I get back. The pack is trusting in you Jared, don’t let us down.”
He shifted before Jared could answer but the strongest members of the pack were already shifting with him to look for the other weres. He left behind his two strongest supporters to make sure that Jared was well protected, as well as the pack, and then they were off. It was time to find the other pack and see if they could change the world as they knew it.