The next morning, I excitedly looked over at Took (who had triumphantly took her spot at my feet last night as we were all going to rest... after she had shown Oncli that he had no prayer of beating her in a fight) to see what changes had come over her because of her evolution to beta. I looked all over for about a minute, during which Took began to wake and looked at me curiously.

"What?" While she wasn't polite, I could tell she was making a bit of an effort to actually speak.

"I was just wondering if you feel any different, now that you're beta." I replied, somewhat sheepishly.

Took rose to her full height and proudly posed... she was still the same size though. Maybe a couple of centimeters longer? "I am proud beta. True beta."

"So you don't feel any different, like, physically?"

"... No...?"

Ok... [System], what's going on here?

[While you have designated your subordinate "Took" as your beta, she does not fulfill the requirement to evolve to become a Beta, as you are not an Alpha.]

Oh, yeah. That was a requirement.

Getting over my disappointment, I turned to the pack as a whole, which was beginning to stir.

"Now, under normal circumstances, I might want to leave you two," I said, pointing at Vefir and Silf, "here to work on the den, I wonder if Percral will do something to you if we leave you here alone. Further, we might sustain injuries or even fatalities if we are missing a part of the hunting pack, so I can't afford to leave anyone else here to protect you. So, you're coming with us."

Vefir looked surprised, but Silf leaned over and spoke quietly in his twin's ear, then Vefir settled down and both nodded to me in agreement.

"Good. Then, let's polish off the rest of the meat from yesterday and get to the hunt." I turned to Foire. "How're you feeling today?" He gingerly shrugged. "What am I supposed to get from that?"

"I'm working at about 70% of my peak." Foire's voice was a strange mix of husky and high-pitched, and I realized that this was actually the first time that I had heard him speak. While he normally exuded confidence, once he spoke, he seemed... almost embarrassed.

"Ok, then will you be capable of filling your position today? Or should I have you solely in charge of scouting, and focus on the killing blows myself?"

"Just scouting please."

"Done." Continuing, I turned to Oncli, Vefir and Silf. "Oncli, today I need you to take a little more of a lead on 1. teaching these two to track, 2. teaching them the basic signals we use, and 3. showing them the opportune moment to enter in the fray and quicken the kill. Clear?"

"Super clear, Boss. Clear as... I dunno. Something. Treel, you're smart, what's something that's clear?" Treel, for her part, simply ignored Oncli, and the twins seemed to be getting a read on his dynamic in the pack. I shook my head, annoyed, and turned to my own breakfast.

...

We all left together, making sure to have the twins in the center of the pack, and I was glad I had taken the precaution. Percral had two of his goons waiting outside the entrance to our den, and they seemed ready to attempt to lift the smaller males away, but seeing that they couldn't easily reach them, they immediately retreated back to the safety of their pack. I was going to need to sort this out, and soon.

I started to feel some urgency about evolution, and internally decided to try to get most of the way to 10 kills today. Looking around, all three of the alphas were still here in the den, so it must be early still. With a sign, I directed the pack back to our hunting grounds of the day before.

Once we entered the cover of the forest, I immediately deferred to Oncli, as always, and he was a surprisingly diligent teacher to the twins, pointing out basic signs on which of the trails would be the most profitable to follow, and how to tell which are the Toothy Bullfrogs that have become our go-to prey. I was able to learn a couple of things myself from what he taught. Once a profitable path was chosen, Oncli led the way, and we approached yet another mating pair of frogs. With Foire's successful scouting, we made our now habitual approach. Having learned my lesson from yesterday, when I sent my shock troops forward, I made sure to make enough noise to startle the male (the frog on top) into fleeing. With the male out of the picture, we made quick work of the female, with me, instead of digging into her sides like previously, mounting her back and ripping into her eyes like I had in my (mostly) 1 on 1 yesterday. Biting into the eyes was, even under the influence of my [Bloodlust] disgusting, because they exploded when ruptured, squirting blood and other bodily fluids into my eyes and down my throat.

Regardless of any discomfort I felt, once the frog was hobbled and blinded, I motioned for the three males staying back to finish her off, and called to Took and Treel, baring my teeth in a bloody grin.

"Follow me. Let's find that runaway."

It was a chase now, a type of hunt that was unfamiliar both to the keelish and previously human me. We tore through the brush, and listened to and followed the panicked hopping of the fleeing frog. Under the influence of a constantly [Bloodlust] from the blood on my face, I was the most eager of us three. Once it was in sight, about 100m from the site of its lover's grave, Took shrieked, "VICTORYYYYY!" and threw herself on its hind leg. It fell heavily from the air, wheezing in pain. Treel, not to be outdone, latched onto the same leg, and heaved to the side as hard as she could, eventually pulling the frog completely onto its side.

I'd never had such an easy opportunity to rip and tear into the soft, exposed belly of one of these frogs, and I took it. I burrowed into its stomach, just below its ribcage. The soft flesh stood no chance when confronted with my tearing maw. I dug in, and, just before my blood-filled eyes, I saw the still-beating heart of my prey. Biting ferociously, I ripped it from its place, immediately stilling the struggles of the gasping, panicked amphibian.

[Evolutionary Progress: Young Bloodletter Keelish: 7/10] flashed in the corner of my vision as I pulled myself from the cooling carcass. We three began dragging our prey back to the rest of the pack, and, when we were a mere 30m away, I heard Vefir scream in pain.

I rushed forward, and quickly saw what was causing him pain: a wolfstag cub had his torso in its mouth and was shaking him like a rat.