"Thanks kid. The king and queen weren't happy about me letting you scheme." The elder wolf says scratching his chest.
I quite literally never saw this man scratch his chest. Like ever. I stared at it for a bit and realized either he was seriously marked up there or he's bugged.
I scrunched up my nose at him.
"What's wrong kid?" He asks.
I pointed at the bathroom and covered my nose.
"Is that your way of saying I stink?" He asks.
I growled.
"Fine, fine. Have it your way." He says going into the bathroom.
"What was that about?" Rei asks.
"Go get him some new clothes and put the ones he was wearing into the washer now." I say.
"Alright?" Rei agrees hesitantly.
When the elder wolf finally got out of the bathroom he was laughing.
"Damn you're sharp kid!" He says.
"Can someone fill me in?" Rei asks.
"They bugged him." I answer.
"What?!" Rei exclaims.
"Yeah. But how the hell did you know? I literally just walked in. And it's not like I could have told you through a mind link or anything." The elder wolf questions.
"You scratched your chest." I answered.
"What..?" Both Rei and the elder wolf say.
"What?" I ask.
"My chest could have just been itchy." The elder wolf says.
"But I quite literally never saw you even touch your chest once before today." I argue.
"By that logic you don't pee because I never see you do it." He says.
"Seriously. I didn't only think you were bugged. I thought you could have been marked up or something." I explain.
"Ok that's a bit better." He says.
"Has he really never touched his chest before?" Rei asks.
"Not even when he coughs. He uses one hand to cover his mouth and pats himself on the back. He doesn't even thump his chest playfully." I explain.
"Didn't know you paid so much attention to me." He says.
"Don't flatter yourself. I was watching you because I still saw you as a potential enemy." I state.
"Damn brutal honesty!" He laughs.
"Did you do the same for me?" Rei asks.
"No.. I just felt safe with you." I admit.
"Damn you're whipped." The elder wolf says.
I threw a pillow at him.
"Shut up." I say glaring at him.
He's just laughing.
"Wait.. if you thought he was hurt why didn't you have me check on him?" Rei asks.
"In a way I did. I had you grab his clothes. You could have seen blood or peeked into the shower and checked or saw used bandages on the counter." I explain.
"Huh.. didn't even check for any of that." She admits.
"Damn you're smart! Or just paranoid!" The elder wolf says.
"Both." I admit.
"Should have known!" He laughs again.
"You're laughing a lot." I point out.
"Guess I'm just happy to be away from those royal pains!" He cheers.
"Understandable. Although I did enjoy my alone time with Rei." I state.
"Also Ren how come you won't let me put your name on anything?" Rei asks.
"Because there's always a risk of them seeing it." I say.
"But what if I just say I gave you a random name?" She questions.
"That runs the risk of them asking why you chose that name and them using it to address me to the point of annoying me into giving them my 'real' name." I explain.
"Yeah I guess that's fair." Rei says.
"But what's the next part of the plan?" The elder wolf asks.
"Do you have access to the loyal wolves?" I ask.
"Yeah? A few centuries or so back I convinced these royal pains to let us have a type of pack gathering. They were really against it until I said it'll help our mental states and might get us to warm up to them more." He explains.
"Perfect. What changed after us being 'caught'?" I ask.
"We all get escorted there. They check to make sure we're not bringing anything that suggests escape. They stay for the first like ten fifteen minutes. Then they leave to let us have about five or six minutes of private wolf time then they come back and either we disburse or they let us stay for some extra time." He informs.
"Ok so first just keep an eye on everything. See what changes now that you're visiting me again. Then after like a couple meetings bring up separating the wolves. Just say you noticed that some of the wolves that got punished are now tense and uncomfortable around the ones who snitched. And you recommend dividing up the group so that no one feels unsafe." I brief him.
"Sounds like a plan. But when should I do this?" He asks.
"Right before the vampires leave." I state.
"Why then? Why not when they're gone?" Rei asks.
"Because it'll be more suspicious. This way it's showing he's not afraid of suggesting this. But also that this is more a topic that should be decided by wolves amongst wolves." I explain.
"But what if they react violently to this?" The elder wolf asks.
"Dealer's choice. To be frank you'll be able to decide what's best in that situation. Given how you've been around these assholes longer than me and everything." I state.
"Yikes I feel the pressure." He jokes.
Moments after our talk the triplets burst in.
"You've over stayed your visit mutt!" Heather says.
"We brought some games to play with you! Alone." Alexis says glaring at Rei when she said alone.
"Since you like to make statues I thought you might like drawing so I brought pictionary." Rava says.
The climax is upon us.