What was wrong with her? She felt pride in seeing the blood welling along her brother's flanks. As if she enjoyed the fact she had injured her own flesh and blood. But perhaps that was normal? She would do anything to get where she deserved, even if that meant crushing a few wolves in her path. Her siblings knew she was ambitious, and if they refused to step down she would show them what it meant to deal with her. The brown she-wolf stood in front of her older brother, waiting for him to attack again. Before his attack once again she quickly traced over his body with her eyes, trying to see what would be his weak point. She focused her eye on his hip that she had injured. It was not a major wound, and she guessed it was probably only a scratch. But any wound could be made bigger with a little pressure. She was cut from her thoughts when she saw the bulk of her brother speeding towards her again. They weren't as far apart as before, so she wasn't able to react as swiftly as before.


Ioni twisted away and lunged forward before his chest slammed into her side, his jaws closing in around the scruff of her nape. Growling, the she-wolf twisted within his grasp. His jaws did not mortally puncture her skin, but rather held her tight, like a mother would hold a pup. She let out a snarl in annoyance in being caught like a kitten, but refused to give in merely because of his brute size. She twisted her head and clamped the air around his muzzle, instead to grab his snout, like he had just been trying. Ioni thought she felt flesh beneath her teeth for a second, but wasn't quite sure. Determined to win this battle, she fell to the ground, pulling his neck down with her as he was still holding on. With a shove of her hind legs she darted forward, and although he created some scratches along her neck that started to bleed, she had gotten away. Ioni turned as soon as she was safe, the fur on her hackles rising.


She felt as if she might be losing this battle, but once again figured she would try a tact. To get him to be angry. "What would mother say if she saw you now?" she snarled, eyes glittering, aiming to hit a personal string with him. All of the Tainn wolves had felt loss from the death of their parents. Ioni did too, of course, but anger too at their death. Anger that they had not chosen a proper heir before they died, instead of letting the oldest and biggest son to claim the pack for himself. And right now, Ioni wanted to get any leverage over Ruiko that she could. "She always saw you as her precious little angel. I wonder if she's staring down at you in admiration right now, or disgust," she growled, once again lowering her head and readying her muscles. Her golden eyes briefly grazed his wound before she leaped again. Instead of straight at him, however, she merely dodged around to his side, with his injured hip. She leaped, not for his hip like he may suspect, but for his tail. In hopes to grab his tail, but if it did not come through, she also lifted a paw, hoping to scratch his wounds and open them up more.

Indru missing? Even Weldering knew that it meant something was wrong. He doubted a wolf that had spent his whole life inside Relic Lore and with his family. He must have been one of the last wolves to have seen Indru still alive. But still he could not help but wonder what happened to the Swift River Alpha. Ah well in the words of Indru himself, no loss. The past few days Weldering had mingled close to sacred grove, he did not want to be too far from Ioni when she needed his help and as if on cue and expected Ruiko howled calling the pack together. He felt uneasy and nervous, he could not help but worry about how the others in the pack lower down in the ranks would react to him and also to Ioni's challenge. But it had to be done for the sake of the others, he was doing this for them. Ioni would be a much better leader - call it a gut instinct.


He arrived into a clearing where the pack were gathered a little late, he'd come from outside of the borders after all. His well chiseled black muzzle turning as he looked towards those present. Spooks he recognised as well as Borlla dipping his maw as he entered though it was not long before his icy gaze was set upon the fight in progress. He had arrived a little late but Ioni's back up was here as he begun to circle around towards the back of Ruiko. Immediately his hackles begun to rise, ears were dominantly pushed forwards as he also begun to set his defenses in place. His neck was scrunched up tightly while shoulders were hunched forwards. Balancing out all four of his limbs as he spread his weight, though as he watched Ioni attempt to rip off her brother's tail Weldering would first give the male a chance to back down now before he would literally join in.


By now Ruiko must have at least noticed him, even if only in the corner of the Beta's eyes Weldering's unusual colours unlike anyone else in Swift River or even in Relic Lore was going to be enough to draw attention to him. <b style="color:#0d5b8c; font-family:geogia; font-size:13px">"Ruiko enough. It's over. Ioni is the new Alpha." He growled lightly while still maintaining his defenses.

Despite his main goal to make his rebellious sister submit, the paws of the charging male were intricately careful as they avoided the outer circle of his family, especially the tiny figures of the two pups. Kinis was likely frightened beyond reason, and Borlla was probably more intrigued than anything else.


His jaws had closed around her nape, and while the large male attempted to keep the grasp tight enough to keep her put without breaking the skin, but that could only last for so long as the she-wolf viciously thrashed from his hold. She attempted to twist her muzzle around and grasp at his own snout, but the angle was awkward, and her teeth instead grazed the side of his face. It was a deeper gash than the one to his hip. Before he could lift a paw to push her down, the she-wolf fell herself – but the victory was short, as Ioni kicked away from him quickly. Cringing lightly as he tasted a light amount of blood upon his lips, he still did not hesitate to follow after her.


Ioni churned out a few more words – words that stung him deeply, but words he knew would be applied to her more so than himself. Indru was missing, and before the family had even gathered to talk about it, she was attempting to overthrow both brothers. He did not speak; his goal was still focused. She would learn her place. She charged once more, fainting to his hip, though she dove for his tail. It mattered little – the River wolf was not letting her out of his sight. Spinning with her, as she maneuvered for his tail and grazed his shoulder. As he felt her teeth, the male barrelled his shoulder forward, hoping to forcefully shove her back and down.


He had little time to forcefully push her to submission though, for a streak of silver and black caught his careful eyes. A vicious snarl rumbled in his chest at the idea of Weldering trespassing, and with gleaming eyes upon his new foe, though he could sense Ioni and her movements. Weldering’s words were what finally managed to anger him fully, and a sneer pressed to his lips. “Indru is the Alpha here. Ioni’s simply playing pretend because he’s not here to defend his rank at the moment. I see we’ve turned to a mutiny, though.” There was a small pause of his words, and as he regarded the lone wolf’s position, he cared little. They could both fight him if they willed it. He wasn’t letting two power-hungry wolves take his family. With that, the male once more streaked to Ioni, his muzzle lower to protect his nape while his jaws sought out to forcefully take her muzzle within them.

Her teeth clamped onto his skin, and once more was able to taste his blood fill her mouth. A rough shoulder, however, pushed her lighter frame backward, making her let go of his flesh. She stumbled slightly, giving him a change to pounce, but he wasn't fast enough. Or, well, he was distracted as another voice was heard. She immediately recognized it and turned her head to flash a grin at the newcomer, Weldering. Standing up, Ioni backed away from her brother, closer to the monochrome male with the blue eyes. His words made her laugh, and she let the laughter expel from her mouth. "Indru's the alpha? Please, have you even seen him around lately? We have no idea where he is, and I'm sure none of us want to be lead by some brother that leaves weeks on end without telling anyone where he's gone," she snarled, lowering her head. "Besides, don't you dare tell me that you would be willing to sit by with his empty spot tempting you. Who knows how long we'd have to wait anyway? Weeks? Months?" After her small speech, another snarl rumbled from Ruiko's throat at he charged at her again, head lowering.


Let's finish this, she said to herself. If Ioni had not been expecting Ruiko to charge again he most likely would have knocked her down. But she knew he would come sooner or later, so the moment his paws started to move she had already dodged out of the way, letting him trample down the ground where she no longer stood. Ioni knew that this fight must be scarring to many of her family members. Their sister, challenging their older brother for a greater title, with a loner on her side. Well, there was about to be a change in the hierarchy. A new, brighter dawn was about to come, with Ioni at the head of the family. Taking dainty steps away from Ruiko, Ioni kept walking around, making sure he wasn't able to tackle her with one swoop. She wanted to speak before they continued. "Weldering here agrees with me," she started, switching her gaze between her brother and the rest of her family. "Indru is unfit to rule the Swift River pack, and he is only a loner. How many other loners do you think would agree with me. How many other family members would agree?" she growled, taking in each of her family's gazes before looking back to her older brother.


"A mutiny is often formed because the leader is not taking care of his members properly," she growled to him, her dark words having an underlying meaning to them. She was openly suggesting both Indru and Ruiko were not fit to lead the rest of the pack. At this point the tawny female raised her tail, a sign of dominance. Ioni knew this would either end really good or really bad. She had Weldering to help her, but what if the rest of her family turned against her? Something inside of her doubted it, but she wasn't quite sure. Looking around once more, she stopped a fair distance away from Ruiko. "It's time to stop living in the past, Ruiko. Age and brawn no longer matters when it comes to who the leader should be. It should be the smartest, and you are not the smartest in the family," she snarled, lowering her ears and head to protect her neck once more. She noticed he often lunged for her muzzle, so she opened her jaws. If he tried it again she would be able to easily clamp her own jaws on his muzzle. Looking over to Weldering, who had almost been forgotten during her speech, she winked. Now, she said silently to him before turning back to her brother. She hoped Ruiko would attack her, ignoring Weldering. That way Weldering, if he decided, would be able to sneak behind Ruiko and pin him down. Together, they would bring down her older brother. Then she would be the leader.



OOC: I think Indru should come in now :D It'd be perfect timing.

The angered side of Ruiko was something he had never seen before. Perhaps after all he did break his cool and calm exterior for one thing, rank. Weldering could not believe that this Beta was just as power hungry as his brother Indru and would brutally fight his own sister for a rank that he did not deserve. Not only that but he was also living in some delusional fantasy land. It had been weeks, what made him think that Indru would even come back at all? As Ioni rightfully said what kind of Alpha should be allowed to return after popping off for some fun and adventure and leaving his pack behind for this chaos to break out. 'Who knows how long we'd have to wait anyway? Weeks? Months?' <b style="color:#0d5b8c; font-family:geogia; font-size:13px">"Forever...?" He added onto her list, if Indru was dead they would be waiting a very long time. Though Weldering paused allowing Ioni to take the lead, she was the one who was in charge around here, the boss per say. She also knew exactly what she was doing and Weldering was only backup should she need it. He assumed his words of support for Ioni alone were going to be enough to make Ruiko submit however he had judged that wrong.


He never came here with the intention of hurting Ruiko, he was hoping that the threats alone would work but now he had to help Ioni and comply with his threats as he carried them out. The pair of them, two large and strong wolves, had an exceptionally good chance of defeating Ruiko. Ruiko might have been a brilliant fighter but the odds were against him now. Weldering held his ground, defenses still set in place in case the Beta changed his direction of charge. Though he continued to pummel towards Ioni attempting to beat down the future queen of Swift River. He too let out a sneer of his own allowing the two to clash in combat as he stepped light on his paws around to the side. It was just what Ioni was expecting him to do and why not take advantage of Ruiko's turned back? Any wolf would in his situation.


He waited for the right moment and as Ruiko made his snap at Ioni Weldering's jowls fell open as he flung his head forwards aiming to grab the left hind limb of the other male coming in at a sideways angle as to try not to get 'mule kicked' in the face. Raising his own left forepaw he aimed at the same time to try and bring it down harshly upon Ruiko's back like a heavy slap. The point of this was to try to add extra weight to his spine hoping to bring him down into submission. All the while he evenly set his other paws down on the ground for balance and scrunched his neck up tightly.

Her inexperience and selfishness was going to be her downfall; as she slid away from him, the male followed his charge upon her expertly: his life was built on that of a warrior’s, Rihael had made certain it would be so for the two eldest Tainn brothers. Years of sparring and rank challenges with his brother, uncle and father and given him far more expertise upon the matter than Ioni had ever gained, and if she thought that she could simply side-step him like a cartoon character would a charging bull, she was sorely mistaken. Her casual walk was the biggest mistake, as Ruiko’s quick pace put him at her side and the male’s shoulder once more casually rolled from the side to knock her down: he wasn’t going to inflict mortal wounds to her, he was simply forcing her to submit.


Her words were all played nicely; the dramatics of a little princess who wanted to play queen. Her words were spun of fake gold, and Ruiko knew just from his sister’s devious ways that she was spinning a tale to gain more to her side of the story. "A mutiny is often formed because the leader is not taking care of his members properly." Her words stirred a small laugh from his chiselled muzzle, his eyes gleaming as he cast them between both opponents. “Don’t pretend that your ambitions are what everyone else desires, Ioni. You’re selfish act of pulling this during a time of pack tragedy only proves to everyone that you’re out to reap your own benefits.” There was a small pause as the large tawny male cast a glance to the silver and black wolf that had come to her aide. “I see you’ve found yourself a pawn though. The rest of the family wouldn’t back you up so you had to go to those who didn’t know you, hm?” There was a devious smirk upon his tainted lips now. The she-wolf was sorely mistaken to believe he was nothing more than stupid. Ruiko was a clever wolf, quick on his paws, and when he chose to be, his tongue. Even more, he was far more intelligent in the areas of battle and conflict than Ioni could ever hope to be right now.. simply because she had never learned tactics or techniques. It was his hot-headed temper that went against him, though in a situation like this, it only fuelled his power.


She opened her jaws in defense – a silly notion, as his teeth could still easily clamp about the top of her muzzle, which was all he needed to do to help force her down. But she was no longer his concern, for the moment the lone wolf charged forward (Ruiko was not stupid enough to leave his back turned to a threat), the corner of his eye caught the flash of silver, and with a low snarl, his eyes turned to Kenai quickly. “Get them all in to the safety of the den,” he growled fiercely, knowing the younger brother would be quick to do so: for this rank challenge had gone extremely wrong in Ioni’s attempt of a mutiny, and Ruiko was going to be damned if innocent Borlla and Kinis would witness the bloodshed that would come. Weldering grabbed for the male’s ankles, just as one of his paws lifting to try to knock him down. This was a rather ideal attack for the River wolf. Twisting his body, Weldering’s jaws managed to clamp about the male’s ankle, but Ruiko’s own jaws were already forcing themselves down to the exposed side of the silver wolf’s neck; his grasp was not the light, dominant treatment that he had been giving Ioni the entire time.. his powerful jaws were aiming to kill, for this wolf was on his lands. He stiffened his posture to keep from falling with the force of the lone wolf's paw, and as he was knocked back a bit, his own paw snaked up to reach out and grab the one forepaw that had Weldering still standing.

As soon as he had departed from Lífdís the Tainn had shot towards his home like a bullet from a gun, his long strides easily covering the distance in the ground-eating lope wolves could maintain for hours on end. Indru passed briskly through the Sacred Grove, his week recovering elsewhere feeling much longer, until he was met with the borders of the Swift River pack. Without hesitation Indru was about to barge over them and head for the dens but he swerved sharply to his left when the wind brought signs of an intrusion — a wolf's scent who should not have been on this side of the boundaries and was worryingly fresh. Though his thoughts were not as clear as normal, due to the dehydration and his eagerness to be home, it took no more than a few seconds at most for Indru to identify the culprit and snarl lowly in response.

As he neared the dens it was evident that not all was well, snarls and harshly spat words echoed through the trees before him and bristled his fur in anger as to what had happened, something which he had no doubt Weldering was involved in. Indru took a moment to take advantage of the distraction the raised voices were making, edging closer and keeping to the shadows now that he was downwind, quickly taking in what was taking place opposed to barrelling in unaware and much less able to try and solve the situation. The sight of Weldering so brazen and bold in his territory caused him almost give away his small advantage so viciously did a snarl threaten to escape from his muzzle, but he pushed it down, quickly taking stock of Ioni and Ruiko, who instead of seeing off the threat, instead were fighting between themselves. Annoyed suddenly at his brother it was soon forgotten when he realised his mistake as Weldering rushed in to assist his conniving sister, attacking Ruiko from all sides who then shot Kenai an order to remove the pups from danger. It was a smart move as who knew what Weldering intended to do with the helpless pups if he was low enough to ambush a family.

Having seen enough Indru hesitated no longer, confident that he knew what was happening and who the enemies were, one of which being their own flesh and blood. With a rush he broke from the tree's, his tail curling over his back, his head flicked up confidently and his fiery eyes flicking sharply between the two threats to his family. It was an intimidating sight as Indru had been a Leader for long enough, and witnessed his father pull much the same pose, to be able to know how to use his size and movements to remind other's of his rank. With a ebbing snarl Indru wrinkled his nose, lips pulling back and showing his teeth, keeping his movements stiff and ready for anything that came his way. He knew his arrival alone would have an effect on Ioni, she would not dare to challenge both brother's who she knew had much more experience than herself along with the many times they had individually showed their sister her place. She would submit now if she was as wise as he thought she was.

A rank challenge, even if this had become more serious than the norm, was not an uncommon occurrence (especially with Ioni around) and a matter than Ruiko could easily handle on his own. It was the presence of Weldering, who had the audacity to attack his rank and brother, that had made Indru so angry that it felt like his fur could pierce flesh it was so raised and bristled on his skin. Ruiko had made an attempt for Weldering's exposed neck and with a throaty snarl Indru dashed forward to snap at the other side, hoping that even he dodged Ruiko's attack his neck would fall near Indru's teeth for at least a flesh breaking wound. However successfully the attack went Indru knew that he and his brother would not let Weldering slide away safely.

The palpable sense of rising tension was quickly evident as the last Swift River member came to join the gathering, tossing words laced with scorn and challenge in Ruiko's face that Spooks did not understand. Although he certainly wasn't one of the brightest individuals that existed, there were clearly family issues going on in Swift River, something that Spooks couldn't quite wrap his mind around. Even if he had often bickered and fought with his siblings, family was still family after all.


Spooks couldn't help but flinch at the tawny female's cutting words, but watched as words turned to blows, eyes rounder than marbles and his mouth comically agape in an expression of consternation at the scene that evolved before him. He couldn't advert his gaze - it was like watching a car crash occur before your eyes, terrible to behold, but too captivating to look away. But the monochrome yearling was stirred out of his trance-like state as Ruiko's challenger tore into Indru's reputation, causing Spooks to bristle in indignation at the mere thought. Indru was unfit to lead Swift River? The very idea was staggering. Adamantly, Spooks believed that his leader must have had a reason to disappear without notice. Indru just didn't seem like that type of individual.


Right then and there, Spooks decided that this newly-named Ioni (courtesy of the arriving loner to her aid) was a meanie, but lingered on the edge of the fight, uncertain about what to do about the whole situation. He wished Indru was here. And to his surprise, the tawny leader appeared. Spooks gasped, somewhat more transfixed that his wish came true than the fact that Indru had just arrived.