The Wolf Pack

So far no actual wolves have popped into my current story, Night Howls on the Hudson, but they've been much on my mind. Wolves are a recurring theme in many of our series.

In Caffrey Conversation, Penna first used the term "lone wolf" to describe Neal in Caffrey Disclosure. Despite Peter's admonishment to avoid the tendency, Neal has only had limited success in controlling the urge. Henry is just as bad. To name a few examples, in Caffrey Disclosure, Henry cut Neal out of the loop during his investigation of Masterson Music. He demonstrated a similar attitude in The Dreamer when he took off to Argentina on his own to track down Vincent Adler. As for Neal, he concealed a secret scheme to thwart Matthew Keller in The Mirror, and for months he shielded his knowledge about a Braque painting from everyone except Mozzie.

What should provide their families some reassurance is that both men also possess another lupine characteristic—the desire to belong to a pack. Even for loners, the urge to be a member of a family group can be an irresistible force. Neal acknowledges it overtly in The Mirror when he and Henry discuss the adjustment Neal's made to working at White Collar. He tells Henry he thinks of the team as his wolf pack. A wolf pack has an alpha male as its leader. For Neal that's Peter. Neal's extended pack in New York City includes El, June, Mozzie, as well as the White Collar team and his friends at Columbia. And they're in addition to his Caffrey relatives.

Humans are by nature social animals, and the longing to belong to a group is common to most of us. In the Crossed Lines series, Maia interprets the call as loyalty to the clan. When her former self resurfaces after centuries of being suppressed by Electra, her clan no longer exists. Her response is to create a new clan from her current friends. It's not clear who the leader of the clan is yet, but Dean is a natural choice. As Sam's older brother, he's taken the lead in the family and Maia would readily sense his position of authority. No one knows about the clan Maia has created except Crowley. Does he also experience the same yearning? He's originally from Scotland and familiar with the clan concept. He confesses to having avuncular feelings toward Maia, but does he feel ties to any of her other members? He might toward Neal. His meatsuit empathized with Neal in the witch house. Both were art forgers and thieves. Crowley retains Hagen's memories. Are any of Hagen's emotions influencing him? You'll have a chance later in the story to judge for yourself

Wolves have a strong connection to vampires in Deborah Harkness's All Souls Trilogy, and that is reflected in my series Six-Crossed Knot. The structure of the vampire family tightly resembles the wolf pack. Not all are led by males. Miriam Shephard is the leader of a small matriarchal family. The references to wolves are often overt. Strict obedience to the alpha is demanded with hierarchical relationships rigidly enforced. Matthew calls his adopted son Jack a pup. The family is of paramount importance to vampires who otherwise would lead an extremely lonely existence. Their nature compels them to have limited contact with human society for millennia unless they're killed. No sane vampire wants to be a lone wolf, but there are a few renegades who've been so consumed by hatred that they've adopted a solitary life. The lone wolf in the world of All Souls is someone particularly to be feared.

Night Howls on the Hudson on Archive of Our Own
Night Howls on the Hudson on FanFiction