Blacktail Deer Plateau We don't need no education

Peregrine answered Dante's first question with a brief anecdote: "When I came to the plateau, Hawkeye was the Alpha female and when she took me as her mate—just a few weeks after I arrived—I became the Alpha male simultaneously. Isn't that the law of the wolf most of the time: the Alpha's mate becomes his partner in rank?" His head cocked. "But we already have a wonderful Alpha female, so I gave Fox the Beta female rank instead." He paused, then added, "I have other reasons as well. Fox has acquired three trades in addition to her experience ruling the creek. Also, we only had the one female leadership rank open and there were no other immediately eligible candidates," he finished, feeling as if he'd made a strong case.

The Alpha male nodded his swarthy head in response to Dante's remark. "I'm sure you are not the only one who's questioning me right now. I'm happy you came to me and asked, rather than just decide I'm some kind of hasty moron or something." He smiled at the Gamma. "Do you have other questions?" he prodded gently, wondering if most of his wolves would feel more strongly about Fox's rank or the Alpha male's sudden breaking of not one but two natural laws as far as mates went. "Feel free to ask me anything, friend."