Now I'm curious, are mimic alphas aggressive or are they neutral? (I'm not too up-to-date with your universe, so I hope you don't mind me asking.)
Mimic Alphas are not ALL aggressive. Buddy is also considered an "alpha class" camera mimic and he's benevolent to all of his pack members, he's even patient with Fiend!
He lets everyone eat at the same time and with the same amount of portions, he helps look after newborns and young, congratulates new parents when they give birth and allows them to bond with their little ones for weeks at a time, and he even protects the young and injured from outside threats. He's a golden leader, just like Veteran!
However, his previous pack had an alpha that was the polar opposite of him.
Buddy came from a pack that didn't treat each member equally and fairly. Peons were treated like borderline slaves that built nests and did the dangerous hard labor that would result in death. Peons were also only allowed to eat whatever remained after the rest of the pack was finished eating. Mostly just scraps...even stripped bare bones.
Buddy spent most of his early life being worked day-in and day-out with only scraps of food as his reward for his tireless effort. The behavior is certainly not universal and is only sourced and encouraged by what alpha is currently in power.
The alpha of Buddy's previous pack was cruel, controlling, and selfish.
While Buddy only got scraps and a cold hard place to sleep, the "royals" of the pack would gorge themselves on food brought to them from their underlings and would keep the better parts of the nest to themselves and their offspring.
Pretty soon, Buddy began to fall behind in his efforts because of him being malnourished and abused. His situation was only getting worse and worse as the days went on. He was starving to death...and his alpha didn't care.
Eventually, he had dissenting thoughts and wanted to leave the pack. He thought long and hard about his situation...he could leave the pack and go on his own with a sliver of a chance for survival...or stay and slowly starve while he worked himself to death for an alpha that didn't care for him. After lots of quiet thinking, and one fateful night with a lot of hope and courage, he simply got up and abandoned his pack while they slept.
From what I remember him telling me, he was a loner for a while.
Going from place to place, scrounging around for food and morsels. But his weakened state only worsened and one snowy day in January...he collapsed and waited to die.
Then...he met me.
It was the first time he ever felt cared for and felt like he was worth anything as I carried him back to the base on my back and nursed him back to health.
After such a horrible start to his life, Buddy swore he would NEVER be like the "alpha" that he abandoned.
In Buddy's words: "He was more like a dictator than a leader. Alpha's are supposed to care for their pack, not abuse them and neglect them. One that does so should never be considered a true alpha."