Silver Claws

35. Waste Not

I pile Akela's plate with eggs, covering almost the whole surface. She shoots me an irritated look before directing a thought right into my head with all the tender sweetness of a loud speaker. 

Are you planning to chew my food and spit it into my mouth next Howler? Since you seem so keen on treating me like a fledgling today.

I am not! 

Yes you are, I am capable of assessing both the needs of the weather and making my own plate!

If you actually ate more than bread on your own I'd believe you.

I then received a very pointed image of her breaking a plate in half and shoving the pieces into my teeth. "Drama queen." I murmured. She shows the point of one canine, but I know her fur is smoothed out. She snatches the plate before I can put it down, her arm brushes mine as she places it in front of her. The bond pushes us closer like a wind gale that we refuse to bend to.

Maybe I was hovering a teeny tiny bit. Except it had only occurred to me this morning that I couldn't remember the last time I saw her drink water. And maybe, maybe I was a bit pushy about making her wear long sleeves in the increasingly cooler mornings. The past few days I had made sure she ate every meal, and was slowly getting some strength back. We had been glued to each other every day, either helping with training, running patrol, or playing with Ryan. Each day we take a walk just before dinner to relax, just the two of us. Sometimes we would talk, sometimes we didn't spoil the quiet night sounds. 

 The only time we were apart was when we went to sleep, or tried to sleep at least. It felt physically painful to say goodnight every day, but the small distance made it easier for us. I felt like we were beginning to get the hang of being partners for the sake of the pack, slowly moving towards tolerating each other.  

I only wished I could say the same about the rest of the breakfast table. My Dad and I hadn't spoken in at least a week. I told him I wanted to delay the move southward until we hunted down Darius, and the conversation still smarted in my head. He wasn't pleased in the least, but eventually agreed that it was for the best, he would stay with the pack while we, Akela and I, would head for the south. 

My gaze drifted down to Trevor, who quietly cut up his food gracefully without looking directly at anyone. Cara sat next to him, leaning as far away from him as her chair would allow. She was pissed that he lost his position as the second to say the least. If she didn't knock it off, I was sure that Akela would step in. Reed was locked in his own stony silence, it felt strange without him joking around. His parents have seemed to relaxed around him though, they were proud that their son was so strong. Even if he didn't say it, I know that it was a huge relief. 

Everyone seemed to notice the change with Akela and I, at least that we were both making an effort to get along. Mom was especially proud, but I think she was taking it the wrong way. We weren't looking for anything more than a co-worker relationship. Maybe eventually, we could even be friends. I didn't allow myself to think beyond that, one step at a time.

Not to mention one of the best parts about this week had been that I hadn't seen the Oracle even once. I may have been a bit worried about why she made it seem like the fight between Akela and my Dad was supposed to happen just after the Big Beta Brawl but hey, maybe now we had nothing to worry about. Everything would be fine. I would overlook the feeling of ice in my stomach that I felt every time I thought about it. Akela was less concerned, she was confident about winning any fight. In fact she thought more about how it would affect me. 

I have a bunch of calls to make today with the other pack locations, you can listen if you like but its not very interesting. A few other meetings too, so I'm inside all day.