Alcuin wondered at his ability to dismiss things so easily; just brush them aside with a single brusque command. Derek seemed in that moment to be as untroubled as the woodland creatures out there in the dark and more importantly, not at all like the intimidating tower of a man he had appeared to be much earlier in the day. “No,” Alcuin regarded the werewolf sadly. “but I am a part of the pack, am I not? For a time, at least.”
The notion of being part of a pack was still a very strange one, but it was one he had been more than willing to get used to. It never occurred to him that his time with them might already be numbered – especially with the circumstances being what they were. If what Derek had said about his master was the truth of it – and why would he lie? – it was very likely that he would be sent back. “I do not wish to leave,” he whispered, more to himself than Derek.