William relaxed his tensed arms and tried to smooth away the anger and frustration that had crept on him through his thought process. A familiar thought floated up through his mind to etch itself on the black ceiling above him.
I hate people.
No sooner had he thought that when a shape moved into the den from the crevasse. William’s eyes identified Charles almost before his nose could. William raised himself up on his elbows looking at the tall werewolf.
Charles was focused on Aceso. “We brought the kill.”
Aceso had stood up upon Charles arrival. “Was it done how I asked?”
Charles nodded into the almost perfect black of the den, knowing that Aceso and the others could see him just fine. “Yes, he was a little stiff but overall, did quite well.”
Aceso nodded with a smile on her face, “Thank you, Charles.” She raised her voice and spoke to the whole den. “You heard the man, let’s go eat.”
The meal was subdued. They all took their portion of the kill and ate mostly in silence. Achelois still didn’t seem to want to have anything to do with Aceso and placed herself as far as she could from the Alpha.
William shot guarded looks at Nicolas, trying to figure out just what he had gone through, and what was going through his mind. Had he gone the route of the unredeemable asshole or was there the slightest bit of humility in him. William couldn’t tell. He seemed to be here physically but mentally it was anybody’s guess. He hadn’t spoken and had allowed Charles to divide the kill among the pack. Of course, he wasn’t paying as much attention to the blonde as he would have liked. He was suddenly starving and understood it to be a combination of how much the battle last night had taken out of him and also the healing effects that Aceso had used on him. It stood to reason that if changing his form used up energy and fuel, then wouldn’t healing as well?
Katherine had the same appetite as William. If anything, she seemed to be more ravenous. Charles seemed to know who needed what from the average sized deer and portioned out each member accordingly. William thought that this might cause a problem, being that Nicolas got the smallest portion. But the blonde ate in silence, his eyes sometimes focused in front of him and sometimes very far away.
When the carcass had been stripped of its meat, Aceso had Katherine go and bury the bones in a similar spot to where they discarded the bones from yesterday’s meal. “There’s no point in being sloppy.”
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William understood her caution and agreed with the decision. The test had been set for three days. That meant that the Elders could arrange another surprise for them tonight. The thought caused him to glance up toward the ceiling. He must have slept most of the day away. The ceiling crystals were already dimming into their nighttime starlight glow.
Once Katherine had returned, Aceso spoke to the group. “We still have a job to do.” She took time to look at every pack member even though Nicolas didn’t return her look and Achelois made a pointed effort to turn away every time Aceso looked at her. William knew that this was getting ridiculous, but he also knew that this was a problem that Achelois and Aceso had to work out themselves. “I want two three-man watch groups tonight just like last night. I will take first watch with Nicolas and Katherine.”
William saw Katherine nod. Nicolas just looked up at her. William was surprised by the expression on his face. It was familiar and yet he couldn’t put his finger on it. There was a familiar gleam to Nicolas’ eyes. A small shrug raised his shoulders as he lowered his eyes back down to the ground. William wasn’t sure what it was he had just witnessed. He could be relieved that at least Nicolas had responded in some way. What that said about how he was dealing with his performance in the test yesterday, William couldn’t say.
When nothing else was said he raised himself slowly from the ground, trying to emulate Aceso’s grace without much success. He looked down at his alpha. “Is there anything else?”
Aceso looked up at him and raised herself to a standing position as well. “No, we’ll go keep watch you know when to relieve us.”
William nodded and made his way back to the den entrance. He navigated the folded entryway and squeezed back into the den. He wasn’t really tired, but he wasn’t really in the mood to do anything either. He felt good and fat after the meal. Not painfully so, he wasn’t overbese, but pleasantly full. He laid down face first in his area of the den. The rich smell of warm cedar was still thick in the den, and he was content. He scratched at the deep carpet with his claws and feet.
The two things that were bothering him were Nicolas and Achelois. He really wasn’t sure what Nicolas was thinking or how he was reacting. That troubling gleam and shrug that he gave Aceso could be taken either way. Either he had realized just what a dick he had been making of himself and he was trying to curb those behaviors, or he was going to go right back to being an asshole and the rest of the pack was going to have to pick up his slack. He rolled over painfully onto his tail. With a grunt he lifted himself up off the floor and pulled his tail to comfort between his legs. In the new position he relaxed onto his back and looked up at the black ceiling. He wanted to give Nicolas the benefit of the doubt, he really did, if for nothing else for the good of the pack but something told him that Nicolas wasn’t going to be changing in any meaningful way anytime soon.
“That was pretty abrupt.”
He had been so lost in his own thoughts that he hadn’t heard anyone else come into the den. He looked toward the entrance to see Charles. He stood there looking down at the Enforcer. William rolled his head on the carpet to form a questioning glance up at him. “I was done eating and I didn’t see anything else that needed to be done so I came back here. Is there something wrong?”
Charles shrugged. “No, it just seemed to be a rather quick exit that’s all.”