Riding on the high from my speech, our smaller pack began to move towards Shemira's pack's den.

While I would have preferred a more stately approach, it was obvious that, if I wanted to arrive at the front of the procession, I would need to jog in a less than stately way. After a brief moment's thought, I figured it would be best for me to be in the front of the pack at the cost of showmanship.

We arrived, and I saw several of Shemira's guards staring, aghast at our approach. Evidently, they had heard my little speech, and weren't sure about what they were supposed to do. Their initial reaction to our approach was to return aggression with violence, but when they saw my new, intimidating frame and my even more intimidating Beta, they seemed to have been paralyzed in indecision.

I now had a window of opportunity, and I seized it.

"Shemira, come on out. We need to talk."

After a short moment's wait, I saw Took, Treel and Brutus beginning to shift forwards, evidently wanting to force their way in. I gestured for them to slow a moment, and waited just a moment longer. Then, from behind me, at the exit to the rest of the den, came the familiar, soft voice. "Oh, I had hoped that it wouldn't come to this. Why couldn't you just decide to follow me?"

I turned and was surprised to see two figures. One was, unsurprisingly, Shemira. She stood, self assured, next to Greel. Now that I had grown quite a bit, I realized that he was quite small for an adult keelish, just a tiny bit taller than Took, but definitely weighed less.

As Took and I both stood up to our full heights, I could see Greel begin to doubt himself and Shemira begin to panic. I grinned and stepped forward.

"I had hoped it would come to this. Couldn't you just decide to follow me?"

Shemira whirled to Greel. "You need to hold to your end of the bargain. You wouldn't want to be known as an oathbreaker to a spawnling, would you?" I could see that with her words Greel's pride was stoked, and, with a flash of something across his eyes, he stepped forwards.

"Now, listen 'ere yeh shits. This 'ere's yer alpha, 'n yeh gotta follow 'er. If'n yeh don't I'll make yeh. 'Stand?"

I glanced at Took, who was seething in annoyance and pent up energy.

"Go ahead, but don't kill him."

She needed to hear nothing more, and, like an arrow from the bow, shot forward.

Greel seemed amazed that a spawnling only 12 days old would have the audacity to initiate a brawl with him, and took a second to respond to Took's provocation, but at that point, it was too late. Even though she was far from adulthood, she had evidently experienced at least as many evolutions as he had. Quickly, as she rushed forwards, her new mane pricked up, making her seem larger. She shoved into Greel's chest, and he bent down to try to bite her by the neck and pull her off. Unfortunately for him, his teeth skittered off the flexed scales, and he couldn't find a place to grip on her neck before she had hooked both her arms on his legs and wrenched them backwards. With his supports gone, Greel was thrown heavily onto his back and the entire spawnling population heard the air whoosh from his lungs as he made impact on the packed ground. Took seized the advantage and latched firmly onto his exposed neck, and Greel quickly went still.

With Shemira's external support downed, I stalked forward. I hissed into Greel's ear, "Now that you've lost to a single spawnling, do you want to keep pressing your luck? Or are you going to retreat back to where you belong, hm? Given how weak you are, I can't imagine your pack or the swarm will miss you if you go missing, will they?" Greel continued to make no movement, and, after a tense 10 seconds that must have felt like an eternity to him, I gestured for Took to release him. For a moment, I wondered if Greel would court death by attempting to start the fight back up, but he quietly slunk back to where he came from, leaving an aghast and afraid Shemira in his wake.

"There's your problem, Shemira." I spoke as I slowly turned around back towards her. "Your capability and power comes from others, not yourself. You could control him, a little, but not enough to keep your pack. Now," I continued forward, stepping close enough to Shemira to touch her, "do you submit? Or do I need to make a display of force?"

Unsurprisingly, Shemira quickly changed her tune, and stepped closer towards me as she gently nuzzled into my chest. "I knew we needed to work together. Now I know that I just need to serve you, and not you me. I'm sure I can serve you well as your Beta, better than this brute here." She gestured at Took while I scoffed and pulled away.

"Listen here, you will follow Took at all times. I know she is unquestioningly loyal to me, and she will put you in your place if necessary, and, maybe even smash some sense into that scheming little head of yours. How's that sound?"

Her expression soured for the briefest of moments, but then Shemira was back to smiles and charisma. "Well, I could certainly be your--"

I cut her off. "Sybil here," She stepped forward, "is my Gamma. You have yet to earn any position of power or influence. And, again, you will be under the constant supervision of my Beta. Maybe she can show you the ropes?" I lowered my head (noticing that I was now about 15cm taller than Shemira) and smirked in her face. I swore I could see the ingratiating smile twitch for a moment on her face before she, with a spring in her step, positively skipped over to Took. She was going to be a pain, but I still saw her use.

I then gestured for Shemira to call the rest of her pack in and submit. They came out, 23 of them excluding Shemira herself, and I stood tall.

"Listen, your alpha has decided to submit to me. You are now my packmates. I or my Gamma will assign you to your positions over the next day. You will be expected to work hard and follow the direction of your senior packmates. Otherwise, welcome. We will descend as a swarm on these lands and take what we will, by fang and by blood!"

There was some reluctance from some of the newcomers, but I could 'feel' that some of the weaker-willed new recruits were already swayed by me and my new [Innate Leadership] skill. This whole hostile takeover thing was going surprisingly well! I was then distracted by a flashing [System] Message.

[Growth achieved. Status updated]