He caught the scent of the fifth pack mate as he strode up to them and once again the somber mood of the group had no effect on him, “Well? Do we have any idea what this is all about?” He walked over to Aceso, “What do ya say, great leader? What the hell is up with this super secretive Elder meeting that you had to drag me out of my warm bed for?”
Katherine looked out at him from under her long brown hair, “Why don't you just shut up and wait like the rest of us?”
Nicolas was about to say something or do something, but a very commanding straightening of Charles’ posture and a hard look from him kept Nicolas from speaking. The scout shot a hurt look at Charles and Katherine and ignored William all together as he simply let his body rock back and rest against the stone of the Tower.
William looked over at Aceso as her tail moved behind her. By that subtle gesture he knew that Aceso was just as unsettled by this meeting as they were. She had amazing self control and it seemed like she was more confident now then he had ever remembered her being, but this was definitely not what she had expected. Her tail had given her anxiety, no matter how slight it actually was.
“Greetings, once again pups.”
The sound of the clam, subtle, but powerful voice suddenly from his left caught him completely off guard. He quickly regained control of himself and glanced around the rest of the group to see if anyone else was as startled as he was. He saw Katherine give him a small smile. At least he hadn’t been the only one.
Aceso was straight backed as she turned toward the dark skinned Elder, Ansuya. “Elder, I Aceso, alpha of my pack…”
“No need for formalities here, Aceso.” Ansuya interrupted, “But, I thank you for the courtesy.” Aceso nodded her head deeply and retreated a step back into the small cluster of her pack. The Elder wore a pale green skirt with a off color purple blouse. The colors were soft and seemed to blend together.
“So, what the hell is the big secret that you had to wake me up for?” Nickolas demanded. “Was it not enough that I got you a new playmate to have in your bull shit Tower?!” Nicolas made no attempt to hide the disgust that he was feeling. William’s eyes involuntarily narrowed, why is he so upset? He couldn’t be this whiny over a few hours of lost sleep, could he?
Ansuya turned her full attention toward the muscular brown haired boy. She locked her gaze with his and stood the most still William had ever seen anyone stand. The silence around them grew; like a bubble, something tangible that seemed to increase with each passing second. Ansuya’s beautiful brown eyes bored into Nicolas’ own.
“You will be given your chance, one day pup, to prove yourself worthy of addressing me in such a manner.” Her soft voice boomed loudly in William’s ears out of the sudden and complete silence. “That day has not yet come.” With finality she angled her entire body away from Nicolas to address the whole pack. “There is news that you must be given and a task that needs to be performed.”
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William looked between Aceso and Katherine and Charles. None of them looked back at him, they kept their full attention on the Elder. Nicolas, however was studying his shoes, apparently.
Ansuya continued, “Chelsea is dead.”
The calm delivery of that one statement fell into William’s gut like a ten pound brick. Had Ansuya really just said that? Did she mean what he thought she might have meant? The obvious first reaction was that what he had just heard wasn’t possible.
“What do you mean…you mean like…like really dead?” Nicolas didn’t sound like he was having any better time putting any more reason to what he had just heard than William had.
“That can’t really happen here.” Charles said slowly rationalizing the news. “With all your great powers, you Elders wouldn’t let a girl just die. I refuse to believe that you would allow this to happen.”
Ansuya calmly looked over the pack measuring their faces and the emotions written there. “We did not allow her to die, nor did we have a hand in any of you surviving the ordeal of the Tower. The girl proved unfit for the challenge set for her and she perished. The city will mourn her loss and move on.”
“How can you be so cold, Ansuya?” Katherine asked suddenly, emotions warred with each other on her face. William could read anger and disbelief and shock all fighting for supremacy of her features. William wasn’t really sure what he should be feeling right now either, maybe Katherine was right to allow herself to feel all those emotions. “You came to us, you brought us out of the city. We kidnapped her from her workplace. And without any explanation at all we throw her into a box of nightmares and wait to see if she comes out on the other side? What the hell are we?!” Katherine’s war with her emotions was being won by pure anger. She stabbed a finger at the Elder “You used us!” She took a step toward Ansuya, who was just as relaxed as she had been when she first appeared. “I will never do anything for you again. You have lost all of my trust Ansuya Das, I am not a murderer.” Katherine whipped her head around and started to leave.
“I wasn’t finished Katherine.”
The calm quiet strength of the Elder’s voice stopped Katherine dead as she stepped. Without turning around Katherine grated out through clenched teeth, “Why should I listen to you?”
Ansuya moved with speed too fast for William to follow. One moment she was standing off separated from his pack, the next she was standing directly in front of Katherine, holding the twenty year old girl by the chin. The incredibly young looking Elder gently forced Katherine’s head up so that she had no choice but to look the Elder in her eyes. “You should listen to me because I am an Elder. The pain you feel at the girl’s loss is not unfelt by me.” She let go of Katherine’s head and once again addressed the whole pack. “This was a great loss for the city and also, possibly, a future pack. We Elders, hold this loss to be just as grievous a loss as the loss of Achelois and felt just as deeply.”
Ansuya turned toward Aceso, “But we have work to do and questions that need to be answered. Your pack will be split into two groups.” She looked around the pack, scanning over the individuals she had to work with. She nodded toward William and Nicolas. “These two will travel with me to the outside where we will meet a long time friend of the City and get what information we can about…”