“You mean besides the pain in my abdomen where you just kicked me? No, I’m fine.”
He knew he shouldn’t have said it but he wasn’t thinking. Ares reminded him just where he was. As quick as the thought came into his head a pain ripped through him, rippling out from his gut and he collapsed to his knees.
William looked up and saw that Ares’ claw was clenched in a fist. The punch had come so fast he didn’t have time to even see it. The ability to breath left his body again and came back even slower than it had before. He felt like a fish out of water, mindlessly working his mouth trying to make his lungs work in an environment that they were not meant to work in. After a few fruitless gasps he was able to make his lungs fill and after a few more moments he retrained his body how to breathe and he was able to stand back up.
“You will learn your place, pup.”
William had never seen Ares mad. The large werewolf could crush him with his hands, literally, and seeing the massive eight-foot, fur coated, muscled frame of the werewolf mad was not something he wanted to see again. He realized that he was afraid of this monster.
After some very long silent moments Ares stepped away from him and allowed him a little bit of breathing room. William let out the air that he hadn’t realized he had been holding and inhaled. He watched as Ares walked around the room.
Ares whipped back around and faced William from across the room. “Get your stuff and go to the bathroom. Clean yourself. I’ll be waiting here so don’t make me come looking for you.”
William didn’t need any other encouragement he grabbed the toothbrush and baking soda off his dresser and practically ran out of the room. He skidded down the ramp leading from his door. He knew he shouldn’t be trying to run this fast but he felt that if he didn’t, he would just end up getting his ass kicked again. By the grace of some god that was watching over him he made it to the street unharmed. He darted off the ramp toward the bathroom.
He threw his unopened toothbrush on the sink and dug his fingers into the yellow box top. The perforated edge of the box gave way easily under his fingers. The he stopped. He heard water running somewhere in the back of the room. He heard several voices, both male and female, laughing and talking. He looked around the wall that secured and half hid the bay of sinks. The tiled floor gently sloped down toward a drain that was centered in between about two dozen shower heads. Standing in the running water, naked, were several men and women taking a shower together.
William ducked back behind the wall toward the sink. He decided that he would have to get used to the idea of showering with naked women another day. He ripped open his toothbrush packaging and wetting the bristles he dipped the toothbrush into his baking soda. He scrubbed his teeth and mouth clean. He rinsed and washed his hands.
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The showerheads were being shut off. He imagined running face-to-face with the woman from yesterday. She would be dripping water and he wouldn’t be able to look anywhere else except right at her naked chest and then he would get slapped. He shook himself out of the mental picture and grabbed his stuff off the counter. He turned and ran out of the bathroom, he hoped, before any of the bathers could ask him anything.
Thankfully no one tried to stop him and he ran all the way back to the building where his room was. He ran as fast as he dared up the ramp as it wound around the whole of the building. He tripped as he ran into his bedroom, and he almost fell over. He was able to catch himself by grabbing on to the entryway frame. He regained his balance and looked around the open but empty room.
Ares was squatting on the floor at the foot of his bed. He had his head down and his claws were folded in front him. It looked like he was praying. William tried to slow down and move with quiet steps. It didn’t matter. As soon as William entered the room Ares unfolded his hands and stood up to his full eight-foot height. “I expected you to be gone for at least a little longer.” Ares inhaled. “You could use a shower.”
William laughed. “You said not to take too long, so I didn’t.” William turned away from Ares and started to find a place to put his things in his dresser. He was also trying to hide his embarrassment from Ares.
“Don’t tell me you were embarrassed about taking a shower with your females. Were you?”
“No, I just… I just wanted to get back here as soon as I could, like you said.” If he could see himself, he knew his ears were bright red right now. Anybody that could see ten feet in front of them would be able to tell that he was just that, embarrassed.
William didn’t want to turn around. His ears exploded with the loud, full laughter of the shape shifter behind him. He wished he could find that hole he had thought about when Jacob was here. He had a feeling that, at least for the time being, there would be many occasions where he would want to crawl into that hole. He tried to ignore the laughter as it echoed around the room. He placed his toothbrush and baking soda in the top drawer of his dresser and grabbed his vest out of the bottom drawer. Summoning all the dignity he could he put his now clean vest on and took a deep breath. He tried to smooth his features and when he was ready, he turned around and faced his teacher.
Ares wasn’t laughing anymore but he had a huge smile on his face. “How are you going to fight our enemies and be a useful member to your alpha and your pack if you’re afraid to take a shower with your women?” William tried to look past Ares at the wall, and he remained silent. Ares let the smile slide off his face. “Maybe tomorrow you’ll be ok with our showering arrangements.” Ares took a step toward William. In that one step Ares seemed to grow a few inches and his mood turned from mirthful to serious. William was reminded about what it was like when he watched Jacob transform into his werewolf form. Ares seemed to change, and not just physically. Now Ares presence dominated the room.
William felt very small, but he wasn’t embarrassed anymore. He wasn’t afraid either. The atmosphere in the room was now like solid rock. There was no mirth in the room, but it wasn’t tense either. The room had become neither, warm nor cold. William didn’t feel quite safe here but he didn’t feel like he was in any danger. It was the most comfortable uncomfortable feeling that William had ever experienced.
Ares voice seemed to boom out from his being. His mouth didn’t seem to contain his voice and the sound touched William from everywhere at once. “William, the first thing I will teach you is how to change without our lunar mother.”