William couldn’t help but be a little incensed at the indifference the man was showing. “What the hell did you do?”
Nicolas blinked and raised his arms in an ‘I’m innocent’ gesture. “I have no idea what you mean, William.”
“Then why, pray tell, is Katherine pissed off and wants nothing to do with you?”
Nicolas’s face took on a blank expression as he blinked looking back and forth between Katherine and William. “How should I know?”
William looked at Nicolas trying to read the man. There wasn’t the slightest bit of guilt written on his face. He inhaled and took in Nicolas’s scent. There was nothing in the way the other werewolf smelled to suggest that the man was lying. William looked back at Katherine for a moment. She was mad about something and the way she reacted to Nicolas, he was the culprit, but Nicolas acted as if he honestly didn’t know what had happened to make Katherine so mad. Without a word and taking much more effort than he wanted to admit he turned around and walked back toward Aceso and Katherine. Nicolas had done something to upset Katherine, but he had nothing to pin against Nicolas and had to discontinue the interrogation.
Charles walked out of a side alley and met William as he neared the two females. He glanced sideways at his friend. He looked contemplative as well. “What’s up, Charles?”
The tall black furred werewolf turned his head toward William. “You don’t know about what happened?”
William glanced back to see Nicolas following the two at a distance. “No, but I have a pretty good idea of what happened.” Charles nodded. “The only question I have is how far did he take it?”
Charles eyebrows rose as he glanced down at the shorted werewolf walking next to him. “Nothing all that bad but the man has a tough time taking no for an answer.”
William jerked his head up toward Charles. “He didn’t,” He felt his tail stand up in rage behind him.
Charles looked at William and, in a half, a second he realized the conclusion that William had drawn. He stopped and placed a hand on William’s shoulder. “No, he didn’t.”
William eased back in his mind but his body was still tensed. “What happened, Charles?”
The taller werewolf almost shrugged his shoulders. Instead, he waited for Nicolas to pass them. Charles led William back to the identical spot that he had driven Nicolas to a moment before. “Apparently, Nicolas thought that this morning would be a good idea to introduce himself to Katherine.” William shot a look toward the retreating form of Nicolas. “Katherine told him no but he kept at it. He didn’t do anything, as far as I know he didn’t touch her but the event was enough to upset Katherine.”
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“How do you know all this?”
Charles breathed a sigh. “Because I was there, for the end of it anyway.” Charles looked over at Katherine who still had her back turned to the rest of the group. Achelois had joined them as well. “I was going to invite Katherine to that holy place on the edge of the city this morning.”
“I was at the temple this morning, you never made it.”
“No, after what had happened, I watched Nicolas leave her room I tried to console her but she wanted to be left alone, so I did and I went back to my room instead.”
William looked at the blonde werewolf standing very easily on the outskirts of the pack. William couldn’t help but wonder what kind of man could do that to another person and then act like nothing had happened. Of course, there was always the possibility that to him nothing had happened and that she was just overreacting. How did he ever think that he was starting to be able to tolerate such a man? Charles didn’t say anything more and walked back to be with the rest of the pack, William followed.
William could not keep his hateful stare off Nicolas for long. He wanted to burn the man to cinders where he stood, all calm confidence, like he owned the place and the rest of them were there just to enjoy his company. William hated him and everything that he represented.
Efraim and a much larger man strode up to the pack out of a side alley. It took William a few seconds to recognize him. It was Mr. Davis. The thought struck William as odd. The wolf born in the city had only first names and he knew the first name of everybody else in the city that he met but this man was and probably always would be Mr. Davis.
The two stopped in front of the pack. Efraim took the lead and Mr. Davis was content to let the shorter man speak. “I told you at the beginning of all this that there wasn’t going to be enough time for you to be trained properly.” He looked at the members of the young pack. There was a sadness in his eyes that spoke to William. “However, we all have our jobs to do and the Elders have deemed you able enough for some field work.” He glanced up at Mr. Davis who had his thick arms crossed in front of his massive chest. “Mr. Davis will escort you to the exit of the mountain. From there, you are to capture three pairs of wild deer from the surrounding forests and graze land. That’s three males and three females for those of you not familiar with Noah.” He looked at the young pack. The postures of Nicolas and William, Katherine and Charles were not lost on him. “What happened?”
Katherine looked at the combat master and Nicolas was silent as death. The only sound was a low soft guttural sound from Achelois. Efraim looked back and forth between the members of the pack. He was not fooled and far from satisfied.
“If you think you are protecting each other by letting whatever happened between you fester and not telling me about it, you’re wrong and maybe you’re not as ready as I or the Elders think.” When he was met only with silence he scoffed at the pack. “Fine, we all have our assigned duties. I will get to the bottom of this, you can count on it.” He turned to Mr. Davis. “They’re all yours.”