Samhain Publishing Ltd Weblog

The Druid Peak Pack

Quite a long time ago, I realized I wanted to write a shapeshifter story. In particular, a story about werewolves. This was before the paranormal wave hit, though the beginnings were starting.

To prepare for writing, I decided to research actual wolves. As a kid, I’d always loved reading about animals. I tore through Born Free, Living Free, Forever Free by Joy Adamson, then went on to read about the cheetah she raised. I read books by wildlife biologists (and I wanted to be a wildlife biologist) who studied wolf packs and named the individual wolves, studied coyote packs, hyenas, even dingoes. I read about the big apes and their complex lives. Anyway, point is, I’ve always been fascinated by animals and their dynamics. This was fun research for me.

So, I read books about wolves. And I watched videos (back in the day of the VCR). One of the first videos was titled Wolves – A Legend Returns to Yellowstone, wherein wolves are being reintroduced into Yellowstone Park. They had great footage of one particular pack called the Druid Peak pack. The most interesting aspect of this film was the social dynamics. In that pack there was an alpha female from hell. She ruled brutally, while flirting away with her alpha male. She ran off her mother before the video began. And she was very hard on her sister who remained. Her sister was the workhorse of the pack.

By the end of this video, or perhaps by the end of a follow-up video, not quite sure, the alpha female had run off her sister too, after many beatings. Being a lone wolf is not safe. Wolves are very territorial and lone wolves can get killed by wandering into another pack’s territory. I always wondered what happened to the hard-working beta sister.

Fast-forward a few years and I’m at my in-laws picking up a magazine with wolves on its cover, probably National Geographic. Which wolves do you think they’re writing about? The Druid Peak pack, and its environs. It’s a follow-up to the video(s). The beta sister has hooked up with another male* and they’re doing all right. I’m not quite sure if they’re on their own, or if they are part of a very small pack. That spring, they have pups. I’m happy to hear this.

But then the alpha female from the Druid Peak pack, her sister, comes to visit. It’s not a social call for old times sake. Alpha female has definite purpose in mind. She has come to kill her sister’s pups. When she leaves they’re all dead.

I was upset. I mean I’m trying to accept that wolves are wolves, but even there this violence seems excessive. The beta sister keeps going, presumably moving past her loss. (And, yes, I think animals grieve.) Next spring, she has another litter.

And the sister comes to visit again. I’m like, oh God.

But this time, the beta sister has had enough and she is not alone. With help, she turns on her sister and they kill the pup-killing alpha female before the pups are harmed. I can’t help thinking good riddance.

Then I realize, as I continue to read, that the alpha female also has pups, now motherless. My heart’s sinking. Because though I think this wolf was kind of psycho, I don’t think it’s her pups’ fault. The beta or former-beta sister returns to the Druid Peak pack, her pups in tow. And what does she choose to do with her sister’s pups? She raises them, with her own, and she goes on to be the alpha female of the Druid Peak pack.

The entire story in that magazine gave me the shivers. Evidently not all wolves are created equal in terms of quality of character.

By the way, there’s a recounting of much of this here. The pup-killing alpha female was 40F. “…many people have attributed [the Druid Peak pack’s] aggressiveness to no. 40F who eventually emerged as the alpha female and was viewed by some as a tyrant over her own pack as well.” The beta sister was 42F.

There’s another version of the story here, where 42F is called Cinderella.

The tale of Cinderella has always stayed with me and evidently she was a favorite of the biologists watching over the pack. Well, how could she not be? Wolves are fascinating and have fascinating personalities. Werewolves are, of course, not wolves. But I wanted to have knowledge of the wolf-half before I wrote. To date I’ve had three werewolf romance novels published. I’ve recently become interested in cat shifters and have done some research there, too (although much less is known about cougars). For me, one of the benefits of writing these kind of books is researching.

Jorrie Spencer also writing as Joely Skye
Puma to be released October 14

*Note that in some versions, Cinderella didn’t hook up with another male wolf, but was mating with the alpha male 21M. Certainly he and she became a close (and famous) couple after her sister’s death. But still, this taking care of the dead wolf’s pups is described as a “remarkable show of compassion”.