Derceto? He wondered if she expected him to know who that was. His face had confusion written all over it. Ansuya was looking down at her dress again. He didn’t know if she was embarrassed or if this was some kind of game that she was playing with him. He thought back to that first meeting in the Tower. He remembered Huan Li and Ansuya. There had been Jacob and the old lady. He was pretty sure that she wasn’t Derceto. Then he remembered the two wolves. The reddish brown one and the larger golden brown one. He couldn’t imagine a harmless old lady ordering his execution so he figured it had to be one of the wolves, but he couldn’t remember what their names were.
Ansuya seemed to pick the thoughts right out of his head. “The red wolf that you met briefly in the Tower is Derceto.”
“Why?”
Ansuya stood up with all the grace and majesty of a goddess. She walked a few steps away from the bed and stopped to study his plain wooden dresser. “The other Elders and I have questioned her.” She turned back toward him and while she kept her face smooth and unreadable her eyes told a different story. “She acted on her own. There was something about you that she saw as a genuine threat to our city.” She walked toward him, recapturing his full attention, and sat down next to him on his bed. “She thought she was doing the right thing. There was no malice in her actions.” Ansuya looked into Williams eyes. William couldn’t hide anything from her while she was looking at him like that. He was losing himself in those deep brown eyes and he didn’t care. “William, I didn’t know, please forgive me.”
William felt like he had just been slammed up against a wall, forgive you? Ansuya was an Elder, why would she be asking for forgiveness. William’s brain wouldn’t work properly for a few moments. He found his eyes wondering around his room and stopped to study his black fur blankets. The soft, deep fur was familiar and the only thing that made sense at that moment.
“If Derceto acted on her own than it wasn’t your fault.” He lifted his eyes to meet hers. “You don’t have to be forgiven for something you didn’t have any part of.”
Ansuya’s eyes did something very strange. He couldn’t describe it, but it was almost like her emotions were being spoken through them. It was a very disconcerting thing to watch, and he had to lower his eyes to study her face and neck. Her slender, beautiful neck showed every muscle flex as she moved her head. He found that every part of this woman was fascinating. He could stay with this woman forever. The moment passed and he was able to look at Ansuya again without the overwhelming feeling of adoration.
“William, we brought you here to teach you. Part and parcel with that is that you would take your place as the Enforcer of a pack and help us fight our war. You can’t do that dead.” Ansuya shook her head and her black hair cascaded over her shoulders, hiding her face from him. “This ‘other’ that Ares tells us you have is a frightening thing, William.” She let out a small nervous laugh. “I have to admit that even I am a little intimidated by it.” Ansuya shook her hair away from her face and turned back toward him. “But that is no reason to kill you. Derceto set Nicolas up to fight you. Using what happened in that fight and your seemingly inability to control your rage she decided that you were rabid and had to be put down.” Ansuya paused for a moment. She heaved a deep sigh and it seemed to William that she was relieved to get all of that out of her system. “You attacking Ares didn’t help your case either.”
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William winced at the memory of him attacking Ares. He thought back to what had happened to him over the past few days. His inability to control himself at the underground lake, the uncontrollable rage that felt that caused him to try and throw that boulder. He had to smile at the memory.
“What is it that you find so amusing?” Ansuya had no mirth in her eyes.
William’s stupid smile was frozen on his face. He couldn’t let go of how ridiculous he must have looked to Hermes as he did that hammer throw that went all of six feet. He shook his head and studied his blankets once again. “It’s nothing, Elder. I was just remembered something that happened in the forest a night or two ago.”
Ansuya smoothed out her dress and laid a hand on top of his. “William I, as well as the rest of the Elders, are deeply sorry for what happened. We ask for your forgiveness.”
William moved his hand under hers but let her keep her hand on top of his. He looked into her eyes. “I already told you it wasn’t your fault. But if you need to be forgiven then I forgive you.” William pulled his hand out from under hers. “Besides if it wasn’t for those grey assassins, I might not have been able to change back into my human self again. I should probably be thanking Derceto for forcing me to change back into my human form. Otherwise, it might have been days, or never, and I would be stuck as a werewolf.” William paused and heaved a deep sigh. “If that happened than I’m afraid that Derceto’s fears might have proven to be more than justified.” He smiled at the beautiful Elder that was sitting on his bed.
Ansuya didn’t say anything, but her eyes drifted down to look at their hands on the bed. She pulled her hand out from in between his. She wore a look of deep feelings. William wasn’t sure if it was empathy or compassion or something else. It was a very striking look, the kind that masterpieces of art are made of. William was again enthralled by this woman’s beauty. He lost himself in studying every muscle curvature of her neck and arms. How the pulse in her neck was only just covered by the tissue there but the implied heartbeat was obvious.
“Am I interrupting anything?”
William jumped like a child that had just been frightened from a campfire ghost story. Ansuya, however, could have been made from stone. She turned her head toward the speaker, neither hurried or slow, her hair fell across her shoulders momentarily hiding her face from William’s view. William looked toward the door at the intruder. He moved his head to the side and standing there in the open entryway was his teacher, Ares.