“No. He went off looking for you." Nullik seemed puzzled and looked over Gregory's shoulder as if expecting their alpha to materialize there.

“Damn it."

"What''s up?"

“I was arguing with ULLa in the training glade and he walked in on us." “Arguing, huh? Does that word have some hidden human meaning along the lines of: Fucking Like rabbits?"

“What? No! It bloody well doesn't. Algra kicks my ass enough when she likes me. I'm sure as shit not about to start giving her incentive along the lines of screwing her mortal enemy."

Nullik nodded with the deepest of respect for his logic. "I hear that, brother."

"Brother?”

“Sure! Once you're in a pack then your pack mates are your brothers and sisters, right?"

“I'm not sure how comfortable I feel about that."

“Cuz you just porked Ulla?”

“No! For crying out loud.” Yet as he spoke his eyes wandered over to where Frelki was stood. The lithe, athletic female orc was looking over at the two of them with a truly enigmatic expression on her features.

"Woooh, well don't worry. You can totally fuck your sister."

“Nullik! Fucking gross!"

His friend laughed at that whilst one of the human slaves brought Gregory a fresh tankard of ale to drink. He took a sip and found it icy cold. Sweet mother of mercy, it was the most refreshing thing he'd ever tasted. After the morning he'd had, he took three large gulps of the stuff before sighing in sated bliss.

“Fear not, my dear human simpleton!" Nullik announced. "The bonds of a pack are meant to be close, but we're not quite that literal."

Gregory nodded. "Fair enough then, brother." With that, he extended his tankard and clunked it against Nullik's.

“And don't fear about ULf. Our alpha is the temperamental type. Always has been. Not to mention he's had the bright flame burning for Ulla since before he could walk properly. I'm sure he'll just go stare at a few lakes, write some terrible poetry, and masturbate furiously whilst crying out her name. Then he'll be fine." Nullik seemed confident enough.

Gregory raised a brow at that.

“As long as he'll be ok, I suppose."

“He will. Now if you'll excuse me, I just saw one of your friends waddle past with what Looked Like a bottle of fire water." He reached out and placed his hand on Gregory's shoulder with a sullen urgency.

“There is clearly work that calls for my great talents."

Gregory Laughed, and upon hearing that sound Nullik considered his work done. The orc departed in search of fire water and a presumable thundering headache in his near future.

Taking a smaller drink from his tankard, Gregory began walking amongst the bustling encampment and was immediately applauded when he stepped into the circle of bodies around the central fire. A large unidentifiable pig-like animal had been skinned and prepared to roast on a spit over that fire. Although he couldn't guess at what exactly the creature might be, it certainly smelled fucking delicious enough that his stomach immediately growled its approval.

The Runts were all seated there waiting for their dinner whilst being entertained by the workers of the camp. Valise was seated beside Frun, tending to the bruises and cuts he'd incurred in the proving match. Torren and Talina were also in attendance, with the latter seated comfortably in the former's Lap whilst slicing up an apple and feeding it to him. Although a part of him missed her, he couldn't deny that the pair of them looked extremely happy together. He couldn't remember Torren without that dreamy look in his eyes ever since the day that she'd first been with him.

Emmet was also nearby, talking with two of the human slaves who were preparing the upcoming Little feast. Everything that went on in Bolut's camp seemed to go through the filter of the old man, and despite his advanced years it was hard to deny he kept things running like clockwork around there.