The Dog Master by W. Bruce Cameron

male of the Wolfen. You will marry Ovi, the dominant female, and have my grandchildren. This is how it is done among the wolves—the superior mating pair produces the best offspring, whatever the families they come from. This means one of your sons, my grandson, will go on to lead from there.”
    Silex drew in a breath. “Father. About Ovi. I … I love someone else, Father. Fia. I love Fia, and would marry her instead.”
    His father struggled to a sitting position. “No, you will do what I say,” he said dismissively. “You are lucky to even have a wife. Though recent births have given us daughters, the long period where only boys survived childhood means we now have far more single men than women.” He gave Silex a contemplative look. “I should have anticipated the problem, but for so long I was only thinking how good it was to have so many hunters. Now this is something you will have to solve. You might want to consider raiding another clan and taking some females.”
    Silex was shocked. “The Wolfen are not like the Cohort. We do not steal people. ”
    â€œWell. You may find your ideals do not suit the demands of leadership.” He motioned to Silex to help him walk, and Silex took his father’s weight on his shoulder as they limped down to where all the Wolfen adults were gathered by the fire. Silex glanced around for Fia, hoping to spot her, but he did not find her eyes. Instead, he saw Ovi, who stood gazing sadly into the flames.
    â€œWe are Wolfen,” Silex’s father began when he had everyone’s respectful attention. “We follow the ways of the wolf. We run when other creeds walk, so that no man can keep up with us. And we are led by a dominant male because that is what is best.” He coughed, looking dizzy, and Silex almost staggered with the change in weight. “My leg is turning to poison and I have a fever that will not pass. I will not live for many more days,” he continued. “When I am gone, my son Silex will be your leader.” He glared, waiting for an objection, but there was none. “And he will marry Ovi.”
    Silex glanced over and met Ovi’s eyes. She was three years older, her body rounded and her face pretty, though it was grave now as she stared back at Silex.
    â€œThey will have strong children.” This last pronouncement seemed to take everything out of the old man, and he sagged against his son. If anyone was going to challenge these pronouncements, now would be the time, when their leader was faltering and weak.
    No one said anything. No one defied him. Not any of the Wolfen men who might resent being led by a sixteen-year-old boy. Not Ovi, who probably had not known of the marriage plan until this moment. Not even Silex, who loved a girl named Fia but now, instead, was fated to marry Ovi.
    Ovi, his sister.

 
    SIX
    Most little children of the Kindred were frightened of Albi. She was big boned for a woman and had the same odd pale-eyed coloring as her son Palloc, though Albi had lived for more than three tens’ worth of summers and had a weathered, blotchy face to show for it. She had stopped tying her hair back when her husband was killed by a mammoth, so it was a long, tangled mess. Once a lighter shade of brown, it was increasingly wispy with grey. It gave her a wild, nearly savage look.
    Albi had recently taken to walking with a straight, stout tree branch, thumping it on the ground for emphasis when she was speaking. She had it with her now and was leaning on it, glaring at Calli and Urs with her strange eyes narrowed.
    â€œYou said ‘understand about Albi.’ Understand what?” Albi demanded to know.
    Calli kept her feelings hidden but when she glanced at Urs everything was revealed on his face: their secret afternoon, their forbidden vows, their heretical ideas of marriage. “Urs feels your son is too bossy as spear master,” Calli blurted. Nothing less than