Although the hero is one of the Wolfkin, he is also outside them as he is a half breed. Again, you created a well structured culture, which seems based more on the wolf pack than on the werewolf myth. Tell us where you got the idea.
Most of the time, when shape-shifters are depicted in literature (at least the good guys), they may change their form but their mind always remains "human." And when I first sat down to write the book, I thought that was what I would do too...until I had to really get in the character's head and ask "what would this scene be like from the perspective of someone who was in the form of a wolf?" If a shape-changer has two forms, would the human (or in Yozerf's case, nearly human) always be dominant? That is, would they be a human who could turn into a wolf...or a wolf that can turn into a human? Or would they be some weird mix?
So I made the decision that, if I was going to bother having him change into a wolf, then he would BE a wolf, darn it. I tried to show a change in thought patterns, in ways of identifying himself. But I also made sure I had a certain amount of "bleed through"; i.e. he's never purely one thing or the other. His instincts about mate and pack are very strong, even when he's not on four feet, and he has to deal with that and all the complications it causes.
It made sense, then, that the Wolfkin as a whole would live in packs, if I was going to give them real wolf instincts and desires. That would be a strong urge. In the end, my shape-shifters aren't humans OR wolves, they're both, and neither way of being has a dominant claim on them. That is, they don't have a "true" form. Both are equally valid
