As he was eating, he couldn’t help but glance around the room. He saw so many people there that he didn’t recognize. He saw Acharya and his pack. The alpha raised his hand in greeting to him and William returned the gesture. Acharya waved at him to come over and sit with them. William declined the invitation with a raised hand and a bowed head. Acharya smiled at him and returned his bow. William continued to look around the room as he tore into his pancakes.
He noticed a busty, pale skinned girl sitting some way down from him at the same table. She seemed very familiar to him. He knew he had seen her somewhere before but at the moment he couldn’t place where. He saw an extremely tall and lanky, white skinned, red headed guy sitting amongst a small group. If this had been anywhere else, he would have said that he looked out of place. But strangely he seemed to fit right in. He found himself truly amazed at where he was. In this room he saw all manner of size and ethnicity of people. There were brown men sitting with and talking with white women. There were black women sitting and laughing with white guys. There were a few people of Asian descent, and he noticed some people had the slightly tanned skin of Native Americans. He noticed some Middle Eastern people, like Aiman, sitting with people that were also Middle Eastern but had a different skin tone. He found himself lost in wonder at the world that he now found himself in. This was something that was worth protecting, this is worth fighting for. He wished, not for the first time, that the outside world could see and learn from what was happening here. The people here didn’t seem to care where each other came from, they were here and that was enough.
When he was finished, he got up from his place and placed his tray at the end of the counter, with a small stack of other dirty dishes. He caught Acharya’s eye as he was walking out the door and the man waved to him once more. Aiman nodded his head and Tara smiled warmly at him. Malikah and the woman whose name he couldn’t remember at the moment both raised their hand in a friendly goodbye. William nodded and raised his hand toward them.
William stepped outside the building and enjoyed the drop in temperature. The cavern was always cool, and he let his lungs fill with the cool air around him. He looked down both sides of the street and saw very few people out here. There was no sign of Ares either. Not knowing what else to do he headed for his room.
He had no real concept of time in the cavern. Except for the passage of time and the dimming and brightening of the cavern ceiling crystals he had no idea what time it was. It could be seven o’clock, or it could be ten o’clock, he didn’t have any real idea, but like in his forest, that kind of time keeping was irrelevant here. He walked home down the relatively empty street.
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He headed up the ramp to his room. He wondered what Ares had in store for him today. He couldn’t image what that might be. Maybe he’ll have me change back and forth from werewolf to human again. He shook his head and laughed to himself, that was a very real possibility but he hoped not.
He turned the corner into his apartment and found six people standing inside his room. He recognized Ares immediately and the wolf standing in the middle of the room, with the shiny black coat of thick fur with the patch of white on her chest. William’s face split into a huge smile at seeing his Alpha again. Aceso seemed to smile back at him. William had to resist the urge to run over and hug the wolf. She didn’t like being treated like a dog and she was not his pet after all. He was so happy at the moment that he didn’t see anyone else in the room. He held the gaze of the wolf for long moments. Through the gaze he felt a sense of happiness from her that he was glad for. He tried to convey how he had tried to see her multiple times since they had arrived. The wolf cocked her head to side in a question as he tried to convey all the pain he had gone through and how much he had wanted to see if she was ok. Aceso shook her head and rubbed her leg with her snout. She threw her head up toward Ares. William turned his attention to his teacher.
Ares stood there among the other people. Aceso had been the only one in wolf form but he now watched as she transformed into her werewolf form. He couldn’t wipe the smile from his face at seeing her safe and unharmed. The worry and responsibility that he had felt at her being punished because of him was very real and the guilt of what had happened to her because of him was something he had had to wrestle with for all this time.
He looked at the others that were in the room. There was a dark-skinned man, who was much taller than he was. He must have stood at least six feet five inches or so. The man was quiet, but he didn’t carry the air of stoicism that Aiman carried. Next to him was the busty girl that he had recognized at breakfast. She was short standing next to the tall and slender, well-dressed man but he knew that she was of a reasonable height. He would probably look short standing next to him too. Next to her was Aceso and Ares stood in the middle. On the other side of Ares though, was a rather average height white guy with decently tanned skin, brown hair and brown eyes. And next to him was another werewolf who had splotches of black, white, and tan fur throughout her body. William wondered for just a moment who all these people were. The thought came to him almost instantly. Five others, and with me we make six, if you don’t count Ares. Is this my pack? The thought was exhilarating and a little intimidating all at the same time. He looked at Ares for an explanation.