"What else would you like to know, little pup?" Basileus inquired. For being a king with many duties ahead of him, he seemed supremely patient.
I scrunched my brows to think. "Are you capable of transitioning back into a human? Into Matt's form?"
"A traditional lycan is not capable of shifting. We have only one form." His eyes seemed to glow more brightly. "When he was in control, we did shift twice back to human. I may be able to now, but I'm not sure. I haven't wanted to experiment and I haven't had the need."
"It would come in handy when you need to travel through human territory, though."
He nodded with a smile. "Yes, it would."
"So why can Peter shift into a human then?"
"My Beta is...unusual. Before I died, a pact was made with the world's most powerful oracle. She knew I would be returning and she knew I would need someone who would recognize me. Someone who would not let my legacy die. Who could I trust more than my Beta to do this?" he asked rhetorically, but I still shook my head. "We didn't know how long I would be gone, though. So she had to siphon all of her energy into a bond of immortality. Because of this immortality, he needed to be able to accommodate to his surroundings. This is why he can shift into a human. My Beta alone has that unique power."
Eyes wide, I peered around him to look at Peter. The man stood naked while speaking with Danny. I wanted to roll my eyes.
"Is he still in the nude?" Basileus asked, chuckling.
"Unfortunately."
He cackled and shook his head. "Maybe he's trying to impress the oracle."
I cringed. "Angelica wouldn't dare!"
That made him laugh harder. Said woman was smirking when I glanced at her. This time I did roll my eyes.
"Does he not have a mate?" I queried as I gave him my full attention again. "How does it work for lycans?"
"No, we don't have mates," he told me. His good humor began to slip from his face like a mask. "That came much later than my generation. I suspect the mate bond was given to wolves as a gift of identity. Since fewer and fewer of your kind were banding in packs and spending more time as humans, you needed something to remind you who you are. Most importantly, it would help prevent reproducing with ape descendants."
We were both quiet for a moment.
"It's a big deal, isn't it?" I asked. "We're supposed to stick to our kind. We're supposed to mate only with wolves. Mating with ape-humans is a disappointment to you, isn't it?"
He grimly nodded his head. "We are not them. We have our own ways—ways that need to be protected. Do you see how the ape descendants have destroyed pockets of this planet? They are reckless and selfish. They do not care about the earth or Nature."
With that, he bent down to smell the grass and close his eyes. He lingered for a moment before sitting tall again. "This is our planet. Nature is our guide. Occasionally, Nature has stepped in to deliver death by mass illness or natural disaster. It has tried to defend itself, but the apes are just as much under its domain as we are. Children of the earth. It doesn't wish to kill them."
"I..." The words were reluctant to come from my mouth. "I have a sense you are going to propose a solution. You clearly think ape-humans are a problem."
"I believe they have grown to be a problem with their population size," he corrected. "They do not all need to be eliminated; they are not all bad. They are only dangerous in exceedingly large groups."
Eliminate. A chill crept through my body.
"So what do you want to do about it?"
Basileus rose up from his haunches to tower above me, even as he was on all fours. I took that as my cue to stand up. Our eyes connected and felt almost glued together.
"Nature brought me back when it knew it needed to," he reminded me. "I have a feeling it is time to wage war on the descendants of apes."
My face blanked. I was stunned by the possibility. A war between humans and wolves? It would be bloody and there was no certainty that we would be the winning side. I shivered and bit my lip.
"You don't like the prospect of war, do you?" he inquired.
"Who does?"
A grin stretched across his black canine lips. "I, myself, am a fan of war." Leaning down he licked the side of my face with his long tongue and said, "War is glory and war is treachery. Both of which I live for."
"You're strange," I remarked as wiped his saliva off with a scowl.
"And you are not?"
I stuck my tongue out, making him chuckle. "Why are you so...humanistic now? I thought you were an animal. I thought you couldn't speak. And now you're smiling and laughing."
Basileus began to lead me towards the others now, his clawed hand at my back. "I couldn't understand anyone and no one could possibly understand me. There was no point in trying to talk."
"Hmph."
"Now that you two have caught up," said Angelica as she peeled herself off the tree, "can we form a plan?"
"Yes, we need to assemble a meeting," Basileus replied.
I realized then that Angelica had spoken speaking French. It was nice that I wouldn't be the only one who could communicate with him. Peter didn't really count in my book.
"Would you mind being my translator, Angelica?"
"Not at all." She smiled at us both.
Why didn't he ask me to translate for him? I was so conflicted by the fleet of emotions fogging my judgment that I was delayed in noticing our approach of the group. Tandan's eyes were practically blazing at the sight of Basileus' hand on my back. The smile I gave did nothing to relieve him.
"Alpha Daniel," Angelica said, "would you mind allowing us to convene in your home? Basileus needs to have a meeting place to get everything together."
"I would be honored." Daniel bowed a little. He probably felt embarrassed about the way he'd treated the king up until this point.
She explained their dialogue to Basileus, who nodded solemnly. Daniel called us forward to enter his home again. Basileus followed along with the others. He and Angelica whispered to each other in French, but I couldn't eavesdrop thanks to Tandan. He'd given me the look that told me we needed to talk. Basileus seemed done with me for now, so I lingered in the yard with him while the group migrated inside.
"What did you two talk about?" Tandan asked.
"Uh." I took a deep breath and shrugged, thinking back over the conversation. "All kinds of things. Like how he and Matt are going to be stuck in that body forever, until death. He doesn't know if he can shift back into a human. As far as I can tell, he has no motivation right now to try."
Nodding, he casually took another step closer to me. We were less than an arm's length apart now.
"This is all pretty crazy, right?" He shared a smile with me. "I mean, you can understand French now. Ancient French, according to that weird ass, Peter."
I chuckled. "Yeah, it's crazy."
Tandan was quiet for a moment. I was beginning to think we were going to leave it at that when he said, "What is he planning, Lee? Why does he need to hold a meeting?"
"Tandan...we shouldn't—"
"Tell me. Cut the bullshit. If it's going to involve you, I need to know."
While biting my lip, I shrugged again. "It might not involve me. I don't know what he wants from me yet."
"So why tell you?"
"Because...it's going to be a big deal soon. Real soon."
"Then what's with the secrecy if I'm going to find out anyway?"
"He wants to call wolves to war against humans," I told him. "And, I think, become ruler of the world."