CHAPTER 277: CHAPTER 277 - BUILDING UP A PACK... OR STEAM HEAT?

The rest of the day passed in a blur of fairly mundane activities. I’d walked Zoé closer back toward her school, with her promising to think about what I’d said regarding Paul even though I didn’t really berate her on it.

I watched her disappear around the corner before heading back home. Anise was awake when I returned, looking appropriately wretched as she nursed what appeared to be her third cup of delivered hydration - judging by the brand bottles that didn’t come from my fridge.

Her pale blue eyes were rimmed with hangover red... and her usually perfectly braided blonde hair hung limp around her shoulders. Apparently she took it down before using my shower.

Not that washing up completely erased all of the smell of sweating alcohol, but I’m going to excuse that as a sensitive nose on my part. Could also just be the cans in the garbage needing taken out?

"I am so sorry about last night. I don’t usually... well, that’s not entirely true. But I don’t usually do it at other people’s homes without permission."

She began to speak before I could even sit the convenience store bag on the counter. I didn’t look at her as I dug through it for the medicine I’d bought. The pharmacist suggested that aspirin was the safest go-to.

...And that if my friend already slept it off, then she was through the worst of it as much of it would have processed by now. Or so she said after asking a few questions to make sure that ’alcohol poisoning’ was unlikely.

"It’s fine."

Responding while walking over and tapping the small bottle on the coffee table, she managed a weak smile before I shake my head and sigh dramatically.

"Though if you actually *plan* to drink yourself into a daze and snore on people’s living room furniture... then I think it would not be fine?"

"Fair enough. Did you eat? I was thinking of ordering something as an apology."

Moving back toward the kitchen, I waved her off with a plan to prepare a few things for later. I’ve found that I can almost always eat... but I’m a bit less jumpy at the prospect of ’free’ food than I may have been when I got to the city and had no funds.

"I did eat earlier. Besides, you should probably stick to bland foods today. Or so the internet says."

The rest of our interaction was brief. Anise gathered her things, confirmed our meeting time for tomorrow morning at the shoot location... and left with another unnecessary round of apologies.

An afternoon of running through poses again ensued in front of my makeshift studio setup. Generally trying to convince myself I was as prepared as I felt. That using my time on this ’final’ bit of... personal professional choice? - was not somehow too much of a waste.

By early evening, I was exhausted in that satisfying way that comes from most forms of productive feeling preparation. I’d laid out everything for tomorrow, my phone was already charged, and even managed to eat something more substantial than the convenience store snacks that were in the bag I’d brought home.

Sipping a cup of... *not* excellent tea that I’d tried to produce using an electric kettle and this world’s efficient looking bags... my mind inevitably drifted. Specifically, to what had happened when I’d annexed Zoé.

I pulled up the pack roster interface again. Because there had been changes to *every* entry. Each person now had both the Tracking and Mentoring lines... though only the teenager actually had the latter ’Active’.

Diving into my mindscape and prancing about on fox feet - oh how I miss being able to do it in reality - I eventually meander to the back of Vrika and swat lazily at the spirit’s tail. As a start to conversation, not just to be annoying.

Do these features just have something to do with the number of pack members I am adding? Is there a theoretical limit and thresholds it is not explaining to me? Or is there something... specific about her that triggered this?

I hadn’t thought of it before, but when annexing a young student who is actually a rather intelligent werewolf then coincides with a pack perk like | Mentoring |? Claire had likely *given* me the | Tracking | function.

Such a thing just fits her personality too well to be mere coincidence, right? Or am I just looking for questions that don’t necessarily have the answers I want them to...

As for why it was inactive for nearly everyone? Perhaps it was about need or intent. Zoé was actively seeking guidance, actually listening to advice, and I’d been actively giving it.

The others... well, Claire certainly didn’t need mentoring from me even if she may need some form of therapy. Edgar was the one dispensing wisdom my way, even if I’d pushed him towards medical aid.

And Anise, while friendly, was hardly looking for a teacher. Though she was sometimes looking to be my foster mother and wingwoman rolled into one? Or perhaps just a surrogate aunt and niece.

Yeah, I’m not really sure what the difference is. My parents had no surviving siblings by the time I was born. Royal life is surprisingly prone to... ’mishaps’.

My lazy wolf stirred in my mindscape, offering no strong insights into what I’m asking it as a ’sounding board’ but plenty of restless impatience. It wanted action on another front, not more system distrust and analysis.

Yes, I know you’re bored with my theorizing. But this could be important. If adding specific people unlocks specific abilities...

It would mean that building a pack in an apocalypse wasn’t just about the protection of numbers - it was about some other quality in them that made everything run smoother. Surveillance and teaching are clearly beneficial at a wide factor.

Other pack perks could be for... what? Bonuses to inter-pack combat? Something to do with mysticism? Maybe even just diplomacy?

I set down my too bitter tea and rubbed my temples. The apocalypse countdown showed just under forty days remaining. If I was going to build an effective pack, or even decide if I wanted to try and build one without truly knowing what that meant for the future...

"Understanding these mechanics rather quickly would appear to require more testing."

But first, I needed to address the more immediate concern of a rousing and antsy black wolf. Because it can sense the undercurrents of my thoughts and knew where I’d be going with them for hours now.

Kyrie’s swift response and the video of her had reminded me just how much I’d been relying on connections I’d never properly... acknowledged with repayment. The truth was, I felt that I owed the Alpha.

Not just for the warehouse access she permitted recently or for the immediate response to my call for help. But also for that nice little foot rub... and for the silly woman’s *insistence* on making all of this a challenge that denied me an outlet.

It’s not personal. It’s transactional. Friends with benefits. I just need to provide those benefits, correct? Such is how contracts work.

A neat, uncomplicated arrangement that acknowledged the physical attraction between us without the mess of emotional entanglements. It’s one of the few things I think the society of this world should be proud of, in the middle of all their sex craze.

"...Even if it does kind of feel like an excuse to have as much of it as possible? No, but that’s not what I’m doing!"

If it was, then I would not have been as patient as she has. About not pushing for more. Too patient, perhaps. If she’d just called first, maybe begged a little... I could have smirked and won and the stalemate would have been over with!

But the video Claire had sent showed Kyrie asking about dates. I watched to the end this time - it was only a few seconds before it would have stopped anyway. Then I began staring at her contact information.

[Flickering Candlelight]

It would be simple enough to text her anything. Send a picture. Maybe suggest we discuss something in person. Tonight. Now. Make it clear it’s not a date this time...

The rational part left of me pointed out that I’d purposely been avoiding contact for days and that reaching out now would send mixed signals. That I was playing dangerous games with someone whose feelings ran deeper than mine.

But the other part of my mind - the part that remembered skilled hands and patient brown eyes and the way she’d looked ready to tear apart anyone who threatened me - that part had already decided.

I do owe her. And she did say I could call anytime I needed anything. Needing to settle a debt is... needing something.

The fact that what I needed was physical and hormonal and had nothing to do with constructive concerns was irrelevant. Debts were debts, regardless of how they were paid.

Especially when the debtor had already tacitly agreed to the ’method’ by not firmly saying no to the relationship title I used.

I tapped her name before I could second-guess myself further. And it rang only once. With a warm, slightly surprised greeting on the other line.

A noise that made me hum with a sense of pleasure I didn’t want to look at all too closely.