Ouroboros Spine under divine law of the opus magnum

For @Cara and sorry this took me forever to get up. My job consumes me on a regular basis haha.

By the time everything had settled, Mordecai had come back to bury her. Days later, he found himself checking the very place, if only to make sure it was not desecrated. For the most part, he found that Ptarmigan's burial spot was left alone and for that, he found himself thankful. There were far worse things that Mordecai had happened upon in his days, but in his case one of those was not finding an upturned grave.

He had not lingered long there though, favoring to move on beneath the chilly rain that fell. The leaves were thinning from the trees in the crisp wind, but for the most part the majority retained their autumn foliage strongly. The Spine had erupted into a mix of evergreens and color; the two contrasted each other greatly, but he paid them no mind. If things had been different, or had he been of the proper mind, Mordecai would have stopped to admire them.

Instead, his paces took him steadily towards the borders, where he found he lingered most days. This time not out of the question of staying or leaving, but in the hopes that he would find someone out there to bring in. There had been successes, but also failures on that part. He could not make any of them stay if they chose to go, and was only aware of those that had slipped out through their grasp. No doubt to find greener pastures, packs that had themselves together. He had yet to encounter Cara on these jaunts though, but not because she had been absent from their borders. Aware that she visited them regularly too, Mordecai avoided her.

But today, he would not.

agalloch — the astral dialogue

meep :) thanks for starting this baby

After Ptarmigan's rise and fall, the atmosphere had gotten heavier near the Ouroboros. Cara didn't know whether this was just the effects of the upcoming winter settling in the Wilds or if it was caused by the tense ambience the dark bitch's passing had left behind. It had been at that moment of fury and adrenaline that Sitri had ended Ptarmigan's life, and though it had brought tranquility and joy to her heart, the wonderful moment had not saved from clashig heads with another.

Like Sitri and Ptarmigan, they had been blinded by the moment -- or at least she had. Their fall out had stung in the young Queen's heart, not because he had challenged her but because he had voiced his opinion about her lack of experience in the throne. Cara was concious that her age was a disadvantage, she even knew that if it weren't for him and Kaname her reign might've not lasted longer than it had. She knew all this.
But she would never admit it.

After all, it had been Lecter who had appointed her as Jinx's successor. Even if there would not be another wolf in the universe that could live up to be what the Snow Queen had been, Cara still prided herself with the simple knowledge that it would've been Jinx's desire that she kept the Spine alive.

And that was exactly what she was doing -- even if she had stumbled several times, she had always gotten up to face the challenge. Even if in that case it had been her own packmate.
Of course she had had second thoughts about fighting with Mordecai, in the state they were in they could not afford to lose any other member. But she had been rashly driven by her pride.
Old habits die hard.


And new alliances are not easy.
Though for now the Spine was at peace, the damage done and the brudges burned were impossible to miss. While both Aphas had been doing their best to steer out of each other's way, it was time to talk.
There was a pending matter weighing heavily upon her shoulders and surely Mordecai's too.

Would the friction between them lead to the Spine's downfall?

No problem! I figured since you started our last one-on-one, I could do this one! <3

There was always plenty to be done in the Spine, a fact that he was becoming acutely aware of. Leadership did not come easy to the tawny Ostrega, but he had come from decent lineage. Only Mordecai had chosen to excel in other areas, leaving him now to only wish he had paid more attention to the way his father and mother had handled things. He wondered if they had ever had to deal with a cooperation that did not want to exist. He was certain that they had, given any stories he could have recalled in his youth of their ventures.

However, those thoughts were laid quickly to rest when he spied Cara mingling in with the thick forests that lined their broad border. If not for his conscious decision to not avoid her, he would have turned to draw himself further away from her. Mordecai had not hid that he wanted little to do with her now, as went the theme that he had played for the many weeks since her rise to power. His pace slowed as he bristled uncomfortably, steeling himself for what he anticipated to be a barrage of dominance and insults. A lesser creature would have found humor in the display from the yearling, but time had honed him to think differently than that. He had not found humor in her actions but once, and that had been in the beginning.

Gold eyes regarded her firmly, though not as an equal.

<3

While the blood pumping through her veins was not 'royal' she was just as devoted to the pack as he was. Freud Moretti had not been a man with many followers, after he had chosen his mate he had retired from pack life in order to raise his family in seclusion. Though it had not worked out as planned. Cara's mother had died a couple of months after their birth, leaving Freud to raise them single handed. It had not been easy rasing three girls alone, but in the end everything had proven to be fine -- at least with Cara. Though she ignored what had happened with her sisters she knew she was in a better place than them..

She continued to sniff around, making sure all borders were tended and that there were no strange faces around. Suddenly the slow movement of something approaching made her turn. She met the Ostrega directly, her eyes not faltering when sinking into his own. Their relation had been rocky in the past, and though they now shared the responsability of carrying the Spine upon their shoulders it hadn't gotten any easier.

"Mordecai" she barked blankly, awknowledging the presence of his fellow Alpha with a slight tip of her muzzle.

Kinda rolling with her approaching him, so if that's no OK let me know and I'll edit.

Surprisingly, he did not find the opposition he had expected. Had she accepted his intrusion into the Spine's leadership? Or maybe she was biding her time, forcing niceties while lying in wait for a moment to strike. His mouth felt dry, though it was far from it. The feeling that shimmied unseen up his spine was foreign to him; it was an inkling of paranoia. Leaving it to be studied at a later date, Mordecai remained still along the path as she drew near. Her acknowledgement was neutral enough, and for that he looked past the dip of her pale head rather than considering it deference.

“How is the rest of the border?” he queried gently. While their numbers were bolstered slightly, he found himself wishing they could have plucked more out of… well, wherever they came from. Some time had gone into the consideration that perhaps the Spine was simply too isolated, though he wondered if it only seemed isolated because of their deserters. Perhaps their neighboring packs were beginning to encroach on them here too, and that he found was an even more troubling note than previously deemed. After all, Meldresi had set up shop near them, so who else would have the same idea?

Though their relation still stood on shaky grounds, she had still had the delicacy of speaking to him with respect; even if her insides urged her to get him out and bring Kaname to rule by her side instead. There had not been any acceptance towards his subtle squeeze into leadership, she still looked at him with eyes of a Queen, not of an equal; but there had not been any rejection to it either.

Even if she would never verbally admit it, she knew that out of the two he was the best suited for the job. He had the charisma she sometimes lacked, and besides he had years of wisdom weighing upon his shoulder whereas Cara had none. She knew she had been pushed too early into it all, she would've preferred to become Alpha after a year or two, but the circumstances had forced her to take the throne.

Being a Queen was a job she loved passionately, but one she had never been quite prepared for. Still the power-hungry monster residing in her belly would not accept her withdrawal. She was far too involved to give up now. She not only comsidered the Spine as her home, but as the legacy of Jinx herself.

"A pack has moved near the Big Salmon Lake"she barked gruffly, she had scented them a couple of times before and though she had not gone and checked it out herself she did have a plan to send scouts later on.

"Perfect, other than that" she finished, her yellow eyes settling onto her companion's face.

It would have seemed his suspicions of another pack coming into existence was in fact right to consider. Cara offered up the information before she commented on the state of their quiet borders, leaving him momentarily surprised. It took him longer than he had wanted to in discerning the lake that she spoke of, however. Mordecai had no names for the territories like the others did, though he accepted the common names they had discovered for them. How they received those names and retained them was well beyond him, but he assumed there was history behind it all. Names and stories passed down through the generations and so on and so forth; some of them no doubt lost to time and renamed and retold about.

“Another one?” It was all he could offer at first, though the question seemed largely rhetorical. It prodded at kindled embers left aglow in his thoughts, but he kept his neutrality. Perhaps they were just as unaware of the Spine's existence as they had been of theirs. But it was also safe to say that maybe he had heard their howls in the night, somewhere, at some point. The wolves of the Wilds were beginning to branch out now. He wondered if their ranks held any of the deserters from the Spine, and that thought soon became set aside.

But more than that, he found himself lacking in an appropriate response to her beyond that. The borders were fine, the information that she had provided was fair enough. He considered asking her if this new pack heeded any of their concern but withheld the query. Mordecai felt by asking her thoughts, she'd almost surely take it as a chance to wheedle him out of power. And that was simply something he would not have.

For a brief moment she wished he said something else, something to shake the foggy aura of tension floating around their heads. Cara was a creature full of pride that would hardly ever seek forgiveness and had a lot of trouble reaching out to others. She had gone solo during her childhood and she uncounsiously continued to do so, even while being one of the main pillars of the pack.

"Did you want something?" she barked sharply, suddenly feeling annoyed by the fact her throne had to be split with him. Deep inside her mind she knew that having him there gave the Spine a greater support that she alone wouldn't be able to provide, but the jealousy of seeing him doing a better job hanuted her. As much as she wanted to, she knew that they couldn't keep ignoring each other forever. If they were to rule together they had to clear the air and merge with one another, it could be done the hard way or the easy way.

But by now you should've known Cara was not an easy wolf to deal with.
She had poured gasoline to the fire, feeding the flame that burned between them, now it was up to Mordecai to decide how to take her rough words.

In the silence that fell between them, he could feel the prickle of electric tension rising between them. It was uncomfortable, but it had always been there as of late. For as much as he wished it wasn't, he found himself growing familiar with that constant, if not mental threat that she lingered like a viper in the shadows. Mordecai felt Cara would have preferred him to fear her, but instead he found that feeling left behind in her wake annoying.

And as if to concrete that, her terse words shattered silence distinctly. His ears folded back, stung by the sudden intensity that had fired up. It felt out of nowhere, but nothing with her came from nowhere. Not even from the first moment they had met. “Not originally,” he found himself answering smoothly. “But now, yes. You could adjust your attitude for starters.” Even in light of the irritation he felt stirring like old embers of a fire, Mordecai managed to keep his tone level with her. His focus was undivided and settled on her, wondering how their meeting would dissolve and whether or not he would allow it to go to shambles too much.

omfg here we go

Little bursts of anxiousness went off in her head as she witnessed the inmidiate reaction the man had towards her words. He scrunched up his nose in annoyance and wriggled a little like her venom-coated words actually stung his skin. This made her feel somekind of satisfaction in her chest, and though she would've liked to answer with a big smirk on her face, the slight worry of getting into another altercation so soon after Ptarmigan made her keep her composture.

At least until the envious monster inside her head made her flare her nostrils and raise her tail in defiance once more, "It's hard enough to adjust to you" she snapped, her upper lip curling back to reveal her pink gums and razor sharp teeth.

Stupid and unprepared.
That's how Mordecai might have seen the girl, and honestly that what she felt like sometimes -- of course she would die before pronouncing such words and bleed out before making such confessions to the tawny Ostrega.

Her defiance had been coming for a long time. Mordecai had been anticipating it from the very moment he had made the decision to make his stand. Instinct tried to instruct him on how to react, but the grasps of logic he had let him refrain from hostility. Instead he gazed coolly to her, not amused with the front that he was nonplussed about it. She had her rights to be angry with him, she had her right to try and oust him. But this… this struck Mordecai as a tantrum.

His only recourse to her display was a return lift of his gums to reveal sharp teeth. He had already issued his warning to her; it would be up to her whether or not she pursued the matter. Like the first time they had met and rested on the cusp of an altercation, Mordecai would not be the first to throw the stone. He was confident he had done more in his stead than she had, and that confidence exuded silently from him. He had the support in their pack, not her. He did not fear those with their low opinions for his actions.

The damage was done.
Once again, the inexperienced yearling had allowed her envy to get the best of her, the green-eyed monster living in her stomach had shoved knife-shaped words up her throat placing her again in the tightrope. She would, however, not back down now, not after he flared his nostrils and bared his lips.

With her own gums and teeth exposed, she blew air out her nose like a bull seeing red. Having lost her crown before she knew getting in his face was like asking for it again, it was an option -- and her most feared one at that. Still she went on with her 'tantrum', narrowing her eyes at him and lashing her tail over her back.

Streams of self-confidence poured out of his pores, making the younger and smaller girl a bit nervous. At least with Ptarmigan she had had a more square fight -- they were both small females and they had both held the upper hand one time or another during their battle. With Mordeacai however, it was clear that she would have to push herself harder -- not only to defend herself but to stay alive.

"I won't ever leave this place, Mordecai" she barked, her voice frigidly serious. She meant every syllable, if he expected she would let him go through without putting resistance he was wrong. The Spine was her home and would hopefully be so until the day she died.
Though that day wouldn't be today.

Even though I feel like crap I keep wanting to reply to this, haha.

He wouldn't back down to her. Not now, perhaps not ever. To him, she had already proven her incompetence through behavior alone. It was hard not to be increasing angry with her, to not simply charge in and push her down and force out every ounce of submission he could get from her. It was probably what he should have been doing, rather than listening to the snippets and the snarls out of her. But he was reluctant to make that first move, to start something that he wasn't sure he wanted to find out what the end was. He couldn't let antagonism be the reason for it.

“No one is trying to push you out of the Spine,” he told her, more troubled inwardly by that statement than anything. Did she really think he would drive her from their home? Though he could not recall it, he knew inherently that she had made such a thing known. Just he felt she knew that there was no way she would push him to submit to her. They didn't have time for this, he realized. And if not both of them, then he didn't have time for this. It was nonsensical at this point in his eyes.

“You need to stop this, Cara. You're being foolish and it's only going to hurt you further.” Maybe talk was useless, but he genuinely did not want to resort to violence to handle her. It was a last resort of last resorts; her incoming responses would only let him know what he needed to do next.

Waves of uneasiness crashed against her skin, leaving the sensation of an overwhelming heaviness similar to the one the ocean left upon one's pelt hanging from her body. She wished Kaname were here, but at the same time she didn't. What would she be if her assasin saw her picking a loosing fight? Would it finally convince him to her stupidity too?

The female continued to stare at him in the eyes, though now her eyes portrayed something else than anger. Little seeds of fear were being planted on her chest, as the seconds went by and his unfaltering gaze continued to pierce through her body. It was an ominous look considering it wasn't laced with hatred or resistance as she might've expected. He was harsh yet civil, trying to assure that his intentions were not to drive her off.

Then what did he expect to do if she didn't submit? If he wasn't going to give the first blow and not going to drive her off what was he going to do? The girl's brows furrowed and the fine bridge of her muzzle scrunched up in a mix of confusion and uncertainty.

Before she could question the truth on his last statement, he cut her off with words that could only bring to mind the image of her dear father, Freud. He sounded just like him. "We cannot do this anymore, not us two" she exhaled with frustration -- not only at herself and her lack of ability to handle it better but at the prospect of having to settle this recurring problem for good.

He found a verbal foothold, it seemed. As though the thoughts of her mind were fast turning spools of thread suddenly run out of reel, he saw that look of uncertainty that was forcing her to reconsider. She did not act out in violence as she had displayed, because to do so would have surely undone every ounce in her statement of never leaving. It was a road that upon going down there was no turning back and once again the history of Ouroboros living up to its name. A cyclical history, pockmarked by perpetual change. And Mordecai, caught in the fray and so removed from the politics of it all found himself trying to bend it to his will and temper it evenly. He'd have none of the nonsense that had persisted, a point he hoped to wordlessly make clear in time. And it would start with her.

Her frustrated exhale punctuated her statement timely, and he continued his verbal climb away from their repetitive history. Mordecai gained his confidence bit by bit, but steadily. “There was never a we,” he chided gently. “There will not be a we to this. I believe you and I made that clear a long time ago.” He had made his thoughts in regards to her leadership ability clear ages ago, just as she had proven to not see much at all from his perspective. The accusation of being on the wrong side still stuck with him even after Ptarmigan had ceased to breathe. They did not view each other as equals and as far as he was concerned, she had slid beneath that so-called queenly status that she had adorned herself with. The Spine did not need an egotistic leader.

Down with every grain of sand sliding through the hourglass, Cara felt her throat get tighter and her head lighter. She wanted to yell at him and maybe even fling her body towards his, hoping the sole force of her frustration would be enough to knock him down. She was enraged by his calmness and his serene demeanour; while she felt like her eyes might just burts from her skull he simply sunk his eyes in her face, waiting for her to go insane.

No one, except the worthless piece of trash that had drowned her idol had ever roused such emotions from the girl's chest. But unlike with her, she actually felt self-conciouss around him. He had been a pain in the ass since they had first crossed paths, but he had also been her stabilizing rock when Jinx had died. In spite of the million reasons to lunge at him swirling currently through her mind, the one reason to not to stood above all.

If she tried to attack him, then the whole pack would fall into ruins.
The Ouroboros couldn't hold in more hatred among its members.
Like the day he had waded into the water where she stood, covered in tears speaking with the clouds, she needed to help him now.
If not for her own sake and safety, for the Spine's

She held her tongue and listened to him, struggling every second of his speech to curl her lips back and refuse to be spoken to like a child -- but even she, in the middle of her ignorance, knew she could not fight that argument.
She was far from being an adult -- at least a responsable one.

"There will always be a you and I, Mordecai" she barked, refusing to let him push her away so easily, "Not necessarily under these terms, however" she added after a bried second. It was a subtle way of telling him that regardless of who stayed with the throne, her relationship with him -- bad or good -- wouldn't end.

Now whether he wanted her as an enemy of as an ally was up to him.

As they stood there in the damp chill of the rain, Mordecai found himself getting tired of their interaction. It came upon him steadily and quietly, choking out any desire he had ever had of wanting to not avoid her. He only wished it could have been as easy as saying things were stark black and white, that it was as easy as choosing who was an ally and who was an enemy. But Mordecai did not see the world in such black and white terms, and perhaps never would. It was all something else, some shade pulled from a scale of gray, with an always evolving meaning.

Her words bored him, being so vague. Where they should have probably piqued his interest, he found that they were unappealing. “What is it you want exactly?” he opted to ask. There were too many answers he could have chosen himself for everything that fell not under their present circumstances. Maybe it was a build up to some grand scheme that would benefit her and her alone, or maybe she had a more reasonable request beneath it all. Either way, it wasn't his place to assume or even guess, so he waited.

Boring him was the last of her worries.
He was not there to serve as her entretainment either, though in the past he she had seen her more like a clown the image of him now was different. She had finally been slapped by the cold truth: out of them two, he was the best man.
At least now.

She knew in her heart that she would not be able to carry the pack upon her shoulder by herself, but she also was aware that she wouldn't be able to get him to cooperate with her -- not while she still stood as Alpha. Change among the ridges of the Spine was innevitable, it seemed, and now that she understood that she could see it all clearly.

If you can't fight 'em, join 'em
With a pleased expression flooding her dainty features, she pursed her lips before answering the Ostrega's question. The one that would serve as their verbal contract to finally make peace.

"I'll step down from leadership" she began, her tone coming out like a lulling purr that threatened to put him into trance, "If, and only if, I have the freedom to 'extend' the Moretti line into the Spine she barked, implying that it was time for her to claim hormonal desires. She had been thinking about it silently for a few weeks now. Even before she had realized she couldn't juggle a crown and a child at the same time she had already decided it. And seeing she was going to get one of them taken away, she might as well fight for the other.

With her neck craned forward and her ears perfectly poised to her his response she waited, her pale eyes piercing into him with a strange mixture of respect and arrogance glimmering above her iris.

She knew that calling her request a 'demand' would only create havoc in the prideful male's head, but there was no way to hide that her words were meant to be an ultimatum; one that she sincerely hoped he would agree on.

After all, a growing pack like the Spine would need heirs, and who would be better to birth them than the legitimately appointed Queen herself? Besides, Mordecai had no mate -- and had shown no interest in taking one. Young blood was needed in the pack, not even Mordecai could fight against nature's arguments.

Mordecai is rude and therefore this post wrote itself, haha. I MAKE NOTHING EASY.

Mordecai hated the politicking of it all and for a moment, wondered why he had ever felt any desire to lay claim to the Spine. Perhaps at the core of it, he too was also opportunistic. But maybe he wasn't any of those things at all, maybe it was simply her that he detested to the point of wanting nothing to do with any of it. Her arrogance was astounding, even now, and the saccharin lull of her voice was enough to make him ill at the thought she was proposing. But that too came as little surprise to him, as even he could not fully ignore the natural tuning of their bodies. Her time was coming, though he had no real way of gauging just how old or young she really was. A yearling yes, a headstrong one, but one that had begun to mature as they always did.

He let out a loud huff at her implication, his breath warm in the crisp air. “Why should I let you, of all wolves? You can't even show me proper respect, and you can't stand there and suggest this like you wouldn't already go ahead with it regardless of my or anyone's approval.” Her ultimatum may as well have been a demand. “Why don't you tell me why I shouldn't chase you out instead? What have you done lately to benefit this pack?” The hard edge he had kept from his voice made its appearance, his patience worn thin with her parading of me, me, me.

didn't expect less of him ;D Cara doesn't like 'easy' either

Cara wouldn't have blamed the man for wanting to simply take his hans out of the burning oven she had placed him in. She wouldn't have blamed him if he had lunged at that very moment with a million curse words dangling from the tip of his tongue. What she would have blamed him for was the pack's slow decay shall he not agree to her offer.

It was nature's course what would've ended up ruining their empire, but only because he had failed to pronounce the magic words that would revert it all. While his assumption of her going behind everyone's back to get her prize was correct, she still thought that having asked (even out of desperation) was proof enough that she was trying to change her ways.

She could've perfectly waltzed out without even awknowledging her inability to handle things. But she was offering a deal now, one that in her mind, and probably in reality as well, would benefit them as a whole.

Wasn't that what Mordecai had wanted all along?
"Because I out of all wolves, care about this pack whether I am running it or not" she barked, her eyes trailing around the edges of his own, she was not sure if that statement would somehow strenghten her cause but she was willing to try.
There was no need or even desire to lie to him now.
Every syllable was true.

"I have devoted myself to the Spine, isn't that enough?" she barked, feeling the urge to remind him how it had been her who had pieced it all together when Jinx fell into her early grave; how it had been her that with Lecter's blessing had pushed the four-member pack that remained into stability again.

Yes, she had lost many battles, but she had never backed out from the war.
I that wasn't the kind of subordinates he wanted for the Spine then maybe he wasn't even a leader worth the trouble in the end.

Her egotism was appalling; only now did he realize just how deluded she truly was, how power had turned her into a creature of which he readily wanted to push away. It was almost as though subconsciously from the moment they had met, something about her spoke depths about who she truly was. Anger was a bitter spark in him that he scarcely embraced, scarcely wanted within his body. It was hardly worth the energy spent to maintain it, but when it came about it, it certainly burned with fervor through whatever emotion he could have felt otherwise.

Even so, it was as though every word he said went right over her head, as if her wandering gaze that held his own would be enough to break him down. If that was her goal, she was wrong. “You act like these are some special feats, that they deserve recognition. Your stay here would not be so if you did not have devotion. So no, that isn't enough. You are no more devoted to this pack than anyone else beneath you or myself, because if that were the case then none of us would hesitate to cast them out.” He put considerable faith into things, but the fact held true. Those that stayed had their devotion, their commitment to their betterment as a whole. Her implication that she had gone above and beyond was moot in his eyes.

And in spite of his anger, he retained a sense of collection in his tone. “If you want the things that you seek, then you need to start acting like it. Right now you're on par with a disrespectful child, and if that doesn't change, you will find yourself out in the cold.” His words pointed, Mordecai made no mistake in suggesting he was done talking on the matter. And as far as he was concerned, anyone who displayed the same would find themselves out there with her. He had patience for many things, but there were far more things at hand then petty disputes and bemoaning over the things they wanted and could not have. Pressing to move on past her, he would not give her so much as a glance.

Pouring her feeling to him was no easy task for the generally secretive female. Besides Kaname she really confided in anyone especially is she though of them as a potential threat. Not that Kaname wasn't a threat, if he took his eyes of her hips he would make a formidable competitor.
But that was not the matter in hand right now.
Out of all the wolves of the Spine, Mordecai was the one that kept her on edge. He was an aged man filled with patience (not with her though) that had already proven to have the qualifications to be an Apha.

While she would've not expected him to recieve the proposition with a smile on his face and a congratulating pat in the back she did not think that he would attempt to shoot down the idea so quickly. He was smart enough to know that that how the course of life went, and that more importantly said method was what made packs stronger.

Why was he trying to defy nature?

The yearling stood still as he gave his response, suddenly turning to attack the legitimacy of her devotion by saying her compromise was no greater than any ohter. A muffled growl of protest tried to break past her gritted teeth as she narrowed her pale eyes at the man, an outraged expression spreading through her features. "I devoted my entire existense to the well-being of this pack." she began, " I never ran; not when we were at war with the Isle, when we faced the treason of our own or even when Jinx died. " she barked, all air of superiority that once resided in her chest fading momentarily to let him see she meant every word.

"I didn't run then and I won't run now, Mordecai" she added in an urgent voice. He could hate her all he wanted, her goal was never to play miss popularity -- she could live knowing he hated her guts but she couldn't live with him thinking she was incapable of change. She had already morphed from a competitive subordinate to a queen and back again.

She was childish and rash but she was no fool.
Cara followed the rules of nature, where the fittest survived above all.
It was an eat or get eaten world and she was a hungry creature that would fight until her last breath to get what she wanted.
And if in order to get it she had to step down and prove her ability to adapt, then so be it.

It wasn't that her accomplishments weren't good enough. Mordecai did not consider them to be extraordinary because they mirrored his own. He had not strayed from the Spine either, and the same also applied to Kaname and Sitri. They had stuck together through thick and thin, regardless of how they felt about one another. To him, that did not make her devotion any less than their own. But it was more than that to him, and he whirled around on her with teeth beared and anger unbridled at her protests. His movements were fluid and precise, and Mordecai moved to push her to submit with them.

“You just don't get it,” he growled. “You can't just walk up, throw down your title that you've held and expect me to give you everything you want. You can't even respect me.” And if she didn't here, it would only get worse for them both. Mordecai was not beyond violence to get results, though it was not an option he admired and teased often. It was a rare thing and this time, seemed reserved for Cara to provoke. He had enough of her badgering for the day, enough of her belief that she could so freely walk over him, throw her accomplishments in his face, and reliquish a title she had no right holding. And yet still expect something.

It wasn't her title or accomplishments that he cared about, it was her behavior.

The seconds that lied between her answer and his reaction seemed painfully eternal for the impatient yearling. She had never had to wait for anything, truth be told, she had basically recieved the old shaman's blessing while having just half the merits other, much expirienced wolves, in the pack had. It did not mean she was not suited for the job, she had been a good leader -- as good as she could be expected.

Hot air blew out of the female's nose as she tried once again to get him to see reason, 'her reason'. She did not even notice the moment his lips snapped back to reveal his gums and teeth, she was far to engrossed in being a mad bull she forgot to check for the bullfighter. Her punishment for letting the red in her eyes block her to the truth would be what would condemn her.

With a sharp yelp and a furious snarl of her own, the small yearling tried to unlock herself from the clutch of his jaws, shaking her head a couple of times before realizing she was only causing more injury upon herself."Don't ask what you don't give" she panted while squirming softly under in grasp. She had not forgotten how he had suggested they kill Sitri out of mercy when he had gotten rid of the plague that had usurped the Spine.

"We're on the same boat, Mordecai ", she murmured at last. Though they had different ideologies, and extremely different methods of getting their point across they both stood there for a common purpose.
Helping the pack thrive.

So, sitting up at my home store today. There is a wild little tractor machine outside smoothing the lot so it can be paved and HOLY SHIZZ IS IT LOUD AS HELL. EVERYTHING IS RATTLING ON THE SHELVES AROUND ME. ;__;

His grab for her connected. Mordecai held on firmly, not wanting to cause her harm. But he didn't have to when she seemed intent on doing it herself, and her attempts to break free only pushed him to force her down even more. He would not tolerate this, not a single bit. It did not matter to him what she said and in that moment, he cared not about what their common goal was. Though he understood she was doing what came naturally on more than one account, he was only interested in breaking the spirit that would cause her to fight with him.

If they wanted their pack to thrive, then they would have to finish that establishment of hierarchy then and there. He increasingly added pressure and weight to his actions, intending to force her down completely or prompt her to save him the trouble and the pain to do it herself.