Narrative; Cisco Who: Cisco, and the Queen of America What: Demotion Where: The Wolves' Trailer Park When: Last night Warnings/Rating: PG
The wolves came at midnight.
The biggest one knocked on his door with two knuckles, and when Cisco opened the door, he had to look up at the biggest woman he had ever seen. She was exquisitely feminine, carved and muscled, with absolutely incredible skin two shades from the dark of the moon. Cisco was somewhat tongue-tied to meet her, but she made it easy by nodding a greeting at him and stepping back. He was presented with another woman. She was not beautiful, but elegant. The two women were related, which he could tell by both their comfort with each other and their cheekbones, but this one was normal-sized. She looked grim and battle-ready, long braids woven up high onto her head to reveal her full profile as she turned into his direction.
Her look was queenly. Cisco lowered his chin, then his head, and then his shoulders. If he'd been a wolf, his tail would have gone down too. Neither woman seemed bothered with his pasty nakedness in the middle of the night. Both were clothed in business suits and designer shoes. From his position, Cisco eyed triple-layers of Louboutin on the queen, and dove gray Nikes on her sister.
"Do you know who I am?" asked the queen.
Cisco turned his head, and rolled his shoulders back into standing. He was now looking into the queen's sister's eyes, despite where he stood on the RV threshold, she was that tall. He looked at her instead of the queen, but avoided the direct gaze of both out of effortless respect. "No. But I know what you are." She was queen. Her pack was somewhere else in America, but it was big. Perhaps it was all of America. He would believe it. She nodded.
Some of the tension from both women seemed to be ebbing, if only slightly. They had, perhaps, been expecting the kind of alpha that would deny their position out of ignorance. Maybe they were used to being attacked when they made house calls. His respect in lieu of attack made the queen's sister give way slightly so Cisco could step out into the cold night air. He still had no clothes. No one noticed.
"Do you know why I am here?" the queen said.
"No," Cisco said. It was a lie. Both women pretended not to know it. He was grateful.
"You have been a poor leader to this pack. The chaos here not only made national news, but your lack of control is apparent to any wolf that walks through this county. Do you deny it?"
Cisco listened to the Repose night. A bird called. Crickets sang. The other wolves were asleep and quiet. He marveled at the political acumen of both women. This was not a trial before his peers, but it could be, should she choose it. "I earned my place."
"How?" This time it was not the queen, but her sister that spoke.
Cisco inclined his head. "The one I displaced was a strong alpha, but a bad man. A murderer, a rapist. He killed my brother, alpha before him, but not in fair challenge. So I came." Cisco paused, and looked directly into the queen's face. Her sister growled a warning. Cisco looked away. "There was none better."
Both women were silent for a time. He could have been lying, of course, but he wasn't. Such a thing was easily verified, and all three knew it.
After a minute, the queen said, "You are lucky none more powerful came to take your place."
Cisco smiled and touched his glasses. "I might have been able to defend my place. You never know."
The queen's sister smiled. The queen did not. "That does not make you alpha," she said.
Cisco let his smile vanish. "I know."
"The alpha guides. He is the cornerstone of the pack. He prevents bites, he keeps the pack stable, together. He does not let the murder people in clubs, or run to other states. He makes sure that wolves are National Geographic, not Enquirer. Families that should have been stable here have left to seek better packs. You are a time bomb waiting to happen. You could let the whole pack run mad if one were to do so." Her tone gentled, slightly. "This is already a difficult place. The alpha here must be strong. You are not strong."
Cisco sat now, on the floor with his feet on his front step and his elbows on his knees. He rubbed his eyes under the lenses of his glasses. Both women stepped back at this obvious display of emotion and resignation. The queen's sister looked away, embarrassed. The queen's eyes did not relent.
Cisco sniffed, and put his glasses back on. "What now?"
"Another alpha is coming to the Capital." She said a name. Cisco was familiar; he was from six or eight hours away. "Some of his pack is willing to move with him. His beta will stay, and take his pack, be alpha there."
Cisco nodded, and waited.
"You cannot be here when that alpha comes." Both women watched him.
Cisco nodded again.
"Will you defy us in this?" The way she said "us" had a weight. Cisco felt her authority in his bones, his blood.
Cisco lowered his head again. It was a movement that those not born wolves might not recognize, but it was both assent and submission. It didn't require words. "Good," the queen said.
She turned slightly away from him, to look at the cluster of trailers. He wondered if she was used to better, or if she had seen all kinds of packs, in all kinds of configurations. "Sometimes these things do not work," she said, in the same neutral voice. "We cannot all be alpha. Nor should we wish it. It is not a failing."
She was trying to make him feel better. She didn't have to. It was good of her. He felt it wasn't a good idea to point that out. She said, "Usually such events invite punishment. They mean you have willfully abandoned your responsibilities. But we know this place. It's… just one of those. They are hard to be in. Things happen."
Cisco shook his head. "You have no idea."
She frowned at him. He tried to look innocent. It didn't work.
"You have been without pack before," she suggested. Her sister looked supremely uncomfortable. Cisco looked up at her, and then back at the queen. "Yes, in a way. I was with my brother's pack, but not really. I left. Went to school. It is… home. But not…" He trailed off, and swallowed.
"Then you can do it again. If you can't, know I've given the new alpha for this place full agency to deal with you. The wolves here may form on their own, or they will be able to find leadership in the Capital. But not from you. Move on."
"How long?"
She turned on one heel, and her sister moved to flank her. "Less than a week. Make your goodbyes."
He said nothing else, but watched them go, standing again in the silhouette of his door as they, and all wolves, moved away from him into the cold morning.