Aceso began to understand, “And if we didn’t lose any time with Nicolas’s workout schedule, he would get stronger and faster, quicker.”
William added, “Exactly, and if it works for Nicolas, than it could work for the rest of us too, making our pack that much stronger, and in a shorter period of time.”
Aceso shrugged her shoulders, “It might work. It’s worth a shot in any case.” Aceso looked up at William, “I’m really glad you made it through, whatever it was you had to fight through.”
William smiled but a sudden somber attitude gripped him and the smile slid from his face, “I’m sorry I dove carelessly and broke my arm and leg.”
“It’s only the third time it’s happened, no big deal.” Once again Aceso lifter her eyes to bore into his own, “I am your Alpha and I will always be there to take care of you and the rest of my pack. You heard Efraim, it’s my job.”
William looked at the calm features of his Alpha. Her black ears straight and tall on top of her head, her bright white splotch of fur on her chest, her steady golden eyes, she was far more than just the sum of her parts. She had proved it to him and to the rest of her pack many times over. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you today…I won’t let it happen again.”
“I know.” Aceso looked at the darkness where Katherine and Nicolas had disappeared. “You’d better get going too. Get something to eat and relax for the rest of today.” She brought her full attention back to William, “If I need you for anything, I’ll know where to find you.”
William nodded, he knew that he had been dismissed and without another word he turned, dropped down on all fours and ran back to the City under the Mountain. He didn’t know if Aceso was following him or not. Sometimes she wanted to be alone and this may be one of those times. Being summoned by one of the City Elders rarely meant good news.
He felt his self generated wind on his snout and it whistled in his ears. The underground air was never stagnant and it was always cool. After being driven like a dog all day on the obstacle course, it was good to simply let his body run. His tail was waving in the wind giving him balance where it was needed. His fur rippled as the air currents tugged at him from different directions. He followed the cavern tunnel as it wove its way through solid rock. He put his nose into the air and inhaled sharply at the air around him. The city was close.
He dug his claws in and pushed himself to greater speeds. The pack bond that he shared with Aceso, and now Katherine, allowed him to be untouched by fatigue. This is what he lived for. The air flowed easily into his expanded werewolf lungs as his legs swept effortlessly under him, eating distance at speeds that he still marveled at.
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He jumped up and rebounded off a curve in the stone and he was released back into the great cavern that housed the City under the Mountain. It felt good to be back in this expanded space, he could almost forget that he was underground altogether here. He sped along one corridor and then he switched back to follow a small off shoot then cut sharply to the left. He raised his nose to air around him and inhaled. The smells in this city were the best indicators of where he was and where he needed to go.
Being back here running through the streets always reminded him of his first trip here. Escorted by his teacher Ares, he had had no idea where he was going or how the massive eight foot tall werewolf had known one left turn from another or how he had kept his direction at all with all the switchbacks and cuts and dead ends that this place housed. Ares had eventually explained the why behind the mind bending construction of the city.
‘The City under the Mountain was created for werewolves. Therefore, we saw no reason to make it easy to navigate for any beings other than werewolves. With our heightened senses we can know where we are at all times and where we need to go. If an enemy was to breach the cavern and enter the city whoever it was would find it most difficult to move in any direction. That confusion and lack of direction alone would thwart most intruders and for those that had come here for a specific purpose, the city would help us to do away those intruders with little difficulty.’
‘Do away with.’ William had learned much about whom the werewolves were fighting and why this city needed weapon smiths like Billy. Those shadows in the Whyte Plain weren’t the only enemies the werewolves had and all he had to do was remember how he had gotten here in the first place, and who Aceso and he had been running away from to understand that there was still a lot he didn’t know and a lot that they, as a pack, had to prepare for.
William made one last sharp switchback and jumping into the air landed on his hind legs and walked upright. The black polished obsidian of the surrounding buildings reflected his form coldly back at him. He had gotten used to the hard exterior of his new home. He reached out and glided his claws along one of the walls. The cool stone was so different to anything he had known before he came here and yet, now that he was here, the stone was as much a part of his life as this form that he carried himself in now, seven feet of vicious, tan furred vengeance.
He walked the all too familiar path that led to his home. His room on the third floor of the building down the street from the bathroom. He had to smile at that. There was a reason why people had addresses but then again here addresses were useless. You would need an index the size of a dictionary just to name and map all the side streets switchbacks and weird angles this labyrinthine city had and then what? An address would be just as useless unless you could somehow put into words the subtle smells that mapped the city for its inhabitants. He had lived here for a couple of months and he was still getting lost… sometimes.