After some time however, he wondered if the signs he was following was in fact the trail of Aceso and Katherine. His mind became clouded with doubts. Had he and Charles been gone that long to allow Aceso and Katherine to travel this far away? He couldn’t shake the image of three grey werewolves coalescing out of the forest surrounding him and using him as bait so they could catch the rest of the pack. With these thoughts in mind and not wanting to put the pack in danger he turned around and sprinted back the way he had come. Whatever this trail was that he was following had started to stink and he wanted no part of it.
With his new found speed it didn’t take too long to get back to where he had started from. There was no sign of anyone in the small clearing. William looked up toward the ceiling of the cavern. The crystals had begun to dim even more and take on the appearance of the night stars. He took a moment to study his surroundings. There was nothing out of place. He couldn’t smell anything that alerted him to danger, and the woods around him had their usual quietness about it. He saw the tail of a squirrel as the rodent disappeared around a large tree trunk. Everything was as it should have been.
He noticed that the deer carcass was missing. The revelation to him was not so much disturbing as distressing. Where could Charles have gone with dinner? The obvious choice would have been to bring it back to their den. He thought he understood that eating outside the den would be safer because there would be less of a scent trail to lead unwanted visitors to their home. He decided to take the risk and go back to the den.
Using his usual technique of doubling back and zigzagging in misleading directions to shake anyone who might be following him he slowly made his way back to the crevasse in the cavern wall. He took one last look around the area in front of their den entrance. He could neither hear, nor smell, any intruder of any kind. Nodding to himself he sprinted over the open ground into the folded entryway and squeezed his way into the crevasse.
Once inside the snug corridor that led to the den, he could hear subdued talking and eating. He pushed himself through the entryway into the den proper. He saw all five members of his pack sitting in the middle of the den eating from the dear carcass that Charles had killed. He couldn’t help but feel a little irritated at being left out of dinner. He tried to not let his anger show as he seated himself in front of his area.
“Well, look who finally decided to show up,” Nicolas said around a mouthful of venison. “You know, Charles wanted to wait but we kind of outvoted him. Besides, I knew you would find your way home eventually.”
“Where have you been?” Achelois asked.
William grabbed a large chunk of meat from the carcass’s midsection. “I was out looking for Katherine and Aceso.” He ripped into the still warm meat. He felt the food go down his throat and plop into his empty stomach. He hadn’t realized until that minute just how hungry he was.
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Katherine looked up with surprise written on her face. “What do you mean you were out looking for us?” She glanced over at Aceso. “We were never far from that clearing. In fact, Charles ran into us as he was heading back to the den.” There was confusion and a little bit of worry plain on her face and in her voice. She looked at Charles and Aceso in turn.
William looked up from the portion in his hands. “I was following a trail of signs that I was sure that you two had left in your scouting.” He looked at everyone in the circle. “The trail led off away from our den. I followed it for a good while before I started to suspect that it wasn’t what I had first thought it was. So, I turned around and made my way back here.” He saw the concerned look on Aceso’s and Charles’ face. “Don’t worry I made sure I wasn’t followed.” He could almost hear the sigh of relief as Aceso visibly relaxed, and Charles bent down once more to his food.
William looked over at Katherine. She was eating a piece of the deer. She had a distant look on her face as if she was thinking about something.
“So, you figured out that you could have been walking into a trap, or some kind of ambush?” Nicolas asked. “That would have been great, the very thing that our alpha,” the sarcasm in his voice was plain for all to hear, “warned us about, you almost stumbled right into what we most wanted to avoid.” Nicolas clapped his claws together slowly. “Bravo, William. Bravo.”
“That’s enough, Nicolas,” Katherine said.
William looked over at her. She was looking right at the blonde with a piercing gaze. William was glad that she had never looked at him like that. It was the kind of look that a teacher could wilt a classroom with. Nicolas succumbed to the quiet power of controlled violence that Katherine was promising him with that look, and bent down to his meal once more.
“How far did the trail lead?” Charles asked.
William swallowed his mouthful and wiped at his chin. “It’s kind of hard to tell. I haven’t really gotten a firm grip on my speed, so I don’t really know how fast I was going or how much ground I covered.” William thought about the broken trail he had followed. There had been signs ahead of where he had turned around. “The trail could have gone on for miles or feet, I can’t really be sure. I know that when I sprinted back to the clearing where we met, it only took a few minutes.”
Aceso put down her piece of pink venison. “All right, tonight I want three people per watch team. The first group will be Nicolas, Achelois, and myself.” Nicolas groaned audibly and Achelois sent an icy glance at Aceso. Aceso looked around at the group. “We will use the fake den as our central point. I don’t want you to lose eye contact with any of your pack mates.”
Nicolas threw his hands behind his head and fell backwards into the soft pine carpet of the den. Achelois didn’t acknowledge anything that Aceso said, she continued to stare at the pack’s alpha. Charles nodded once and kept eating. William looked around the group and his eyes met Katherine’s. She didn’t move or say anything. William stared into her unblinking golden eyes. He saw something there that was at once beautiful and a little frightening. Katherine blinked and lowered her eyes back down to her unfinished portion of food and began eating again.
The pack finished the rest of their meal in silence. William looked over at Aceso. She had a thoughtful look to her as she ate. She was thinking of something or worried about something. William couldn’t really blame her. The sudden unprovoked attack that the grey werewolves had made on Katherine and Charles was disturbing. William couldn’t help but think that whatever this test was going to be, it was going to be a test of violence and fighting skill.