Amusement

Your implication that I do not know the rules of male society, and your implied wish that I learn, would have once caused me to bite off your head, but times have changed. Now, it's just ridiculously funny.

Listen to your instincts, young cub, they will tell you the truth. The fear of me that you cannot understand, the respect you give me that you think is undeserved, they're your instincts telling you what I am. The leader of a pack, whose word was once law. You still feel it, no matter how hard I try to conceal it, and even if nobody listens to instinct anymore. So not only do I understand the rules extremely well, I made them once.

And yet, I flout them with impunity, with absolutely no regard for the consequences. Why do I live like I do? Unfortunately, though we are the same in age, you are still a cub, and you cannot understand. The pack that has nurtured you, the one you've learnt to lean onto for support, and the easy life of a conformist are perhaps to blame. A real pity.

Young cub, I can understand your consternation. I am everything your pack warns you against. The individual who mocks the rules you so assiduously follow. The rules that are supposed to unite you, bond you in brotherhood, feed you, the rules you sometimes dislike but follow neverthless because you fear the wrath of the pack, you fear being branded, an outcast, a pariah. And yet you see me live in defiance of those rules. Your pack tells you I've paid a heavy price, if only they knew! For I've lived experienced life alone like you never will in the pack.

So don't bother me with your meaningless initiation rituals. I know I don't belong, I don't want to belong. So don't try to assimilate me. It would be ironical. You may be smart, but in these matters, you know little of the truth. Even lesser than you know about me. So begone now, lest I kill you for fun.

They call me Akela, cub. It's not just a name, it's a way of life.

[With apologies to RK]