hi cora!!
so basically it’s very natural for alphas and betas to establish a hierarchy within members of their own gender in the pack. i’ll use alphas as an example bc that’s what you asked about, but betas operate off of much the same instincts.
so usually one alpha will sort of casually claim dominance over another. it can happen in various ways - intensively and constantly scenting them, telling them what to do, wrestling with them and pinning them. the other alpha can just accept this claim, but usually they will instinctively push back and try to in turn establish dominance the other way around. more often than not, this pushing back and forth results in a physical fight. these fights can be pretty brutal and it’s not unheard of for them to end in serious injury or even death. whoever manages to subdue the other person then gets to give them a claiming bite, which is a blood bite to the back of the neck. it tends to be very painful while it heals, but cuddling and scenting with whoever gave the bite soothes the pain completely. once the hierarchy bond has been established, the alphas tend to reaffirm the bond with playfighting and wrestling, scenting and other displays of dominance and submission. sometimes the fighting cycle repeats itself, especially around mating cycles when the alphas/betas go into rut, but it’s not usually as brutal as the first fight.
hongjoong has had these sort of hierarchy fights with both mingi and yeosang, and yeosang and mingi has had one too. they didn’t hurt each other too badly - yeosang gave hongjoong a concussion and mingi bit yeosang in side, but all was well in the end 😭
the hierarchy between the alphas in the kim pack is hongjoong - yeosang - mingi, in case you’re wondering!