He was being lowered onto a soft warm surface. His eyes opened and the blurry picture he saw was of plain black shiny walls. He felt warmth surround him and he rolled over under the warm furs of his bed. He didn’t close his eyes but watched as Ares turned around and started walking toward the door.
“Ares.”
The eight-foot-tall werewolf turned around and looked down at his barely conscious student. William’s throat hurt and he tried to swallow but nothing happened. He hadn’t had anything to drink for a while. He tried to keep his eyes open but they closed on their own. “Why did you protect me back there?”
William didn’t open his eyes, and the silence stretched out into the darkness and he felt himself slip away. He struggled with his own fatigue, and he forced his eyes to open as he jerked himself back to wakefulness.
The werewolf was still standing as he had when he turned back around to face William. Ares looked at William with the compassion of a parent. “I stopped the greys from killing you because whoever ordered your death was wrong about you. You kept your word, and didn't give up. In that moment I knew that I had to uphold my end of the bargain and not give up on you.” Ares turned toward the open entryway to leave.
William tried to watch the werewolf leave but his eyes closed by themselves, and he was asleep.
William woke up in his room. The flecks in the ceiling brightened as he opened his eyes. He wasn’t sure if they brightened as he woke or if they were that bright already. He was shocked to see someone else in his room and he felt embarrassed that his still naked body was half uncovered by his skin blankets. He threw the furs back over his body and tried to compose himself as the dark woman in the room smiled at him.
“Your modesty is flattering, pup, but unnecessary.”
William looked up and saw that the woman had dark brown skin. He recognized her immediate as the Elder Ansuya. She was wearing a gorgeous dress whose skirt was a pale blue green. The upper body portion of the dress was a light green that reminded him of Easter for some reason. Over her right arm she held a long blue shawl with the same hue of green on the fringes. Her head was dressed with a simple but elegant string of diamond that came down over the middle of her head and ended in a diamond cluster that rested on her forehead. She wore diamond earrings.
Ansuya smiled at him and walked over to where he was lying down on the bed. William sat up and propped his not quite recovered body against the cold stone of his bedroom wall. Ansuya rearranged her dress and sat down on the foot of his bed.
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William was very nervous. He was very aware that this woman was an Elder and he had not forgotten that it was the Elders that had sentenced him to death. Was it possible that she had come to finish what the grey werewolves had started? He tried to remain calm and plan for an escape. However, Ansuya had placed herself in the room perfectly. If he bolted for the door, she could cut him off and he realized that any muscle tension or movement that he made would be felt instantly by her through his bed. She’s good and probably why she’s an Elder.
“How are you feeling this morning?”
The question was unexpected and caught him completely off guard. He couldn’t hide the shock from his face and he looked around for a moment as he tried to comprehend what she was asking. He looked down at the black furs on his bed. “I’m feeling ok.”
Ansuya’s eyebrow arched. She let her hand fall to the bed. The motion and angle of her arm and the way her dress flowed over it was hypnotic. William found that the more he looked at this woman the more he wanted to look at her. She oozed grace and poise with every motion. She twisted her body, giving William a full view of her profile. Her dress accentuated her curves, and he felt a stirring under the sheets. He shifted where he sat hiding his body’s betrayal; at least he hoped that’s what he was doing.
Ansuya leaned toward William. “William, why do you think I’m here?”
William shook his head. He had to keep his mind clear. “I don’t have the slightest clue,” he said with a shrug of his shoulders.
Ansuya arched her eyebrow again. “Aren’t you the slightest bit interested in the reason for your near assassination yesterday?”
William felt like he had just been gut punched, that and the sudden need to pee for some reason. He squirmed trying to ease the pressure his bladder felt. He remembered that those grey werewolves had said that the Elders had sentenced him. He took a deep slow breath in and met her deep brown eyes. “I was… a little concerned about that, yes.”
Ansuya’s face became stone. Her eyes told him that she was feeling a cavalcade of emotions, but her face betrayed none of them. “William, the Greys told you they were there at the behest of the Elders.” William nodded once. Ansuya took a deep breath and smoothed out her dress with her hands. As she was concentrating on the folds of her dress she said to the fabric, “That was only partly true.”
William’s eyes narrowed as he comprehended what he had just heard. He leaned forward; Ansuya had his full attention. “What do you mean ‘only partly true?’”
Ansuya finished smoothing out her dress and keeping both hands in her lap she turned back to face William. Whatever she had done before to make his flesh react the way it had she wasn’t doing it anymore. William felt very small and very weak all of a sudden. The light in the room seemed to diminish, and Ansuya’s presence filled the four corners of the room. He wouldn’t have been able to take his eyes off her even if he had wanted too.
“William, you are going to make your own judgments, I understand that. What I want to make clear to you is that we, the Elders, and the people and wolves of this city are not your enemy. The Elder Derceto was responsible for ordering your death.”