From Above the Treetops

VIII

I was once again letting myself into the pack house in the middle of the night; creeping back before the sun had risen. As soon as the guy had fallen asleep I had collected my stuff and crept out, making my way back here. My stomach grumbled and I strolled to the kitchen, collecting a slice of pizza from the pantry.

I chewed the cheesy slice as I headed out of the kitchen, back into the dark entranceway. Just by the front door was that guy again. He was fumbling with the lock, trying to turn and lock it quietly so that he didn't wake anyone up. If you ask me, he was being overly cautious. Nobody really cared if you were sneaking out late, anyways. We broke the curfew all the time.

"Another party?" I asked, knowing I would make him jump once again.

I was right, of course. The kid leapt, startled by the sudden appearance of a person. Let alone a ranking pack member.

"Uh, yeah. Just got back." He mumbled, shuffling his feet.

"I can see that." I laughed, "Sweet dreams."

He gawked at me and I smiled, shaking my head. What can I say? I was in a pretty good mood. Whenever I saw him, I had just gotten laid, so he tended to see the most cheerful side to me. What a fortunate guy.

"Sweet dreams, Xan." He whispered back, which was quite cute.

It was probably the first time a pack member had said that to me.

I jogged up the stairs stealthily and headed for my new room on the top floor, ready for a long sleep after an eventful evening. Of course, the universe had other plans as I neared the top floor, spotting Xavier just leaving his office. He eyed me for a second before pulling the office door closed behind him, gliding towards me.

"It's good that you just got back, not that you should have been out in the first place." Xavier sighed, "They've moved the pack meeting forward, to tonight. They just sent me to collect you ."

"At this hour?" I was surprised.

"Get used to it, kid." Xavier laughed, "This will be the story of your life from now on."

"I'm just going to grab my papers... And freshen up." I smiled sheepishly.

"Probably for the best, but hurry up."

Whisking past Mila and N.J's rooms, I headed for my own door and flung it open. I pulled off the shirt and jeans I was wearing and changed at a lightening speed into something more appropriate; some plaid trousers, a cardigan and a white linen button down seemed okay to me. I spritzed myself with cologne and grabbed the papers stacked neatly on my new desk, glad I had gone over them early.

As I strode past the rooms once again, a pang of guilt hit me. I hadn't had a chance to talk to them about my pending promotion yet because I thought we still had some time before I had to go to the pack meeting. I'm sure they'd understand, but I did want to tell them beforehand. I pushed it down and tried to channel Icarus' innate confidence before I walked in there.

He was sharp brained and focused on the task ahead, per usual, but I was a little muggier. I hadn't slept and had spent the last five hours clubbing and what not. Icarus wasn't happy that I was letting the team down and I wasn't either. I needed to cut down on these escapades, maybe even cut them out altogether. What if I had been needed while I was out, and I was gallivanting around the neighbouring city? I was lucky to have come back in the nick of time.

Icarus and I both agreed: work came first.

I first knocked on the great wooden door before Xavier pulled it open and held it for me as I entered the room. I shook the elders' hands first, going around the room after and respectfully shaking others hands, despite knowing them all pretty informally. I knew it was the appropriate thing to do.