Chapter 4: First Meetings

A few days after Chase arrived at the village and was shown around and given a room Chase was called in to meet with Morgan. He’d been shown around the manor his second day in the village and he’d spent the next day wandering the manor trying to memorize exactly where everything was.

Chase stepped up to Morgan's office door and knocked lightly, waiting for Morgan to give him permission to enter. Chase pushed the door open slightly and stepped inside. “You wanted to see me?” he asked, watching Morgan set aside what he was working on.

“Yes,” Morgan stated, motioning him forward. “I wanted to see how you're adjusting,” he said as he closely watched Chase approach. When Chase paused behind the chair in front of his desk Morgan chuckled and pointed at the chair.

“You can take a seat, you don't have to stay standing.”

Chase hesitated before sliding down into the seat. He didn't want to upset Morgan by remaining standing. “I'm alright,” he murmured.

Morgan nodded at him. “That’s good.”

The awkward silence that followed was rather uncomfortable until Chase broke it with a, “Is there anything I can do for you, Master?”

Morgan frowned in response. “You don't have to call me ‘Master,’” he said, sitting forward a bit.

Chase froze, his mind screaming at him that he’d messed up. “I'm sorry,” he whimpered tearily. “I’m sorry, please don't be mad, please,” he blubbered.

Morgan looked alarmed at his response and held his hands up placatingly. “Woah, hey, you're okay,” he said soothingly. “You didn't do anything wrong, I promise.”

When Chase managed to stop crying he offered him a warm smile. “You’re okay. Call me what you like, alright? I'm just saying you don't have to,” he explained. “We’re equals, you can call me Morgan if you like, I don't mind.”

Chase still looked uneasy but he’d mostly stopped crying while Morgan spoke. After a moment he stopped completely, sniffling and rubbing his cheeks. “I’m sorry,” he muttered quietly.

“You don't have to apologize,” Morgan said, smiling at him gently. “I get it. Simon told me you’re probably going to struggle with adjusting to a normal life again. Can… Can I ask how long they had you?”

Chase’s hand edged toward his pocket slightly before he caught himself. He didn't want to risk losing his worry stone. “What’s the date?” he asked. Morgan responded and Chase frowned.

“Six years,” he said, looking down at the floor.

“Six y—” Morgan started, scowling deeply. Chase looked up at him to find him glaring down at his desk. “I’m sorry I couldn't get you out of there sooner,” he exhaled. “You're never going back,” he promised. “You're staying right here with me,” he growled slightly before seeming to catch himself.

He coughed slightly and looked out the window to his left. “You're part of my pack now,” he said, “and the pack sticks together and cares for each other.”

Chase looked uneasy when Morgan looked back at him. “What do you want me to do, Master?”

Morgan briefly looked like he was going to argue with him before he stopped, almost as if he realized something. Morgan was silent for a moment more as he thought before nodding to himself and leaning forward to put his elbows on the desk.

“Alright,” he said. “I was initially just going to ask you to help out with the pups; Simon said he introduced you to Korrin already, yes?”

Chase nodded. “She was nice.”

Morgan chuckled. “She is. I want you to help her and the other lovely ladies with the pups. Help Simon with his clinic; organizing herbs and stuff, harvesting new herbs, that kind of stuff. If that’s not enough you can help out around the manor. You know, cleaning; laundry, dusting, mopping and sweeping, making beds, that kind of thing. When we go hunting you can help prepare our catch as well,” Morgan finished.

Chase nodded and gave Morgan a small smile. “I understand, thank you, Master. I won’t let you down.” Morgan looked like he was going to say something in response to that but held his tongue. “Is there anything else, Master?”

Morgan looked contemplative for a minute as if he was thinking over whatever he wanted to say. Eventually, he responded. “Not that I can think of just now but I’ll work up a schedule for you with the tasks I’ve just assigned you and give it to you within the next few days.”

Chase nodded, smiling still. Morgan kept staring and Chase shuffled slightly which seemed to snap Morgan out of the trance-like state he’d been in. “Is that all, Master?”

Morgan coughed slightly as if embarrassed, not looking at Chase as he nodded. “That’s all. If you want to keep busy I've got some stacks of books out in the library that you can rearrange and reshelve if you’d like.”

Chase nodded again and stood, bowing slightly with a quick, “Understood,” before he turned and hurried out of Morgan’s office. He headed down the massive stairs in the middle of the manor and made his way to the library to start on his new task.

As soon as he opened the door his attention was drawn to a large round table in the middle of the room with rows of bookshelves in the back of the room. Said table had stack after stack of books strewn across its surface as if someone had been reading extensively and hadn't bothered putting anything up between books.

Chase grinned to himself, rolling up his sleeves and moving towards the bookshelves to get a read on the organization method. After discerning the arrangement he went over to the table and went through the stacks, setting the books in new stacks that he could take to the shelves where they belonged.

When he finished sorting the books out he grabbed a stack, and as he turned to take them to the shelves he tripped, the stack toppling from his arms and scattering across the floor. He hurriedly gathered them up again, turning over a book that had opened and finding a diagram of what looked like a humanoid wolf.

Curious, he set the other books aside and picked it up, skimming the page before noticing a bookmarked page. He flipped to it and saw something about mating, quickly deciding he didn't want to read more, and snapped it shut. He gathered up the books again and stood up to go reshelve them.