Kip's brows lifted in intrigued confusion as silence followed the zeta's revelation. "You've never linked another werewolf before?" Calix inquired of the zeta. The beta was not shaming the zeta, nor was his voice scornful.
"...Ae..." Syri hung his head in shame. "I am sorry. I do not wish to be a burden."
Calix was quiet for a moment before a soft smile came to his face. "This is no problem at all. Ibbi can give you a quick run down while Bevy, Kip, and I round them up. Ibbi loves to talk; this is will like a warm-up for him." The beta was gentle as he addressed the zeta before turning his gaze to the omega. "Right, Ibbi?"
"Of course!" Ibbi responded with an exaggerated nod. "It'll be a breeze! I'll get you all prepped and ready, Syri Inso!" The widest smile covered the omega's face as he walked over to Syri and motioned for the zeta to follow him.
'Syri I-Inso?' The zeta swallowed as he watched the omega exit the stables and stand to the side of the building. That was the first time Syri had been called 'Inso'. The zeta blinked his warm eyes several times as the smallest smile came to his face. Syri bowed to his mentors before promptly following the omega out of the stables. Kip and Calix watched the kind zeta follow after Ibbi before joining Bevy in rounding up the horses and two vorsts.
"Okay, so, it seems pretty straightforward, right?" Ibbi inquired of the zeta as he completed giving Syri a crash course on managing steeds from the flank position. Syri nodded his head in response as the steeds began to filter out of the stables. Bevy exited the stable with the last of the horses; Kip and Calix were the last to exit leading Ajax and Tryst by the bridle.
The two betas led the vorsts to join the team of horses before shifting into their wolf forms. "You'll do just fine. Don't worry, I can tell you'll be really good with them, Inso," Ibbi told the zeta before shifting into his wolf form. Syri watched the cloudy blue wolf happily yip as he joined the two betas and alpha.
'Breathe, Syri, breathe.' Aska's voice relaxed the zeta. 'I'll be right here. Plus, don't forget that you can link the vorsts. Use that to your advantage.'
'You're right, Aska. Thank you.' Syri was grateful for his wolf's support and encouragement. The zeta released a breath before shifting. The two betas paused in their tracks as they watched the beautiful wolf trot toward them.
'Wow, he's beautiful.' Kip commented on the zeta's entrancing elegance as the pink wolf reached them.
'Ae.' Calix agreed with the grey-eyed as he gazed at the beautiful zeta. 'His mate will be one lucky wolf.' The dark-brown wolf made sure the five were together before addressing the team. 'Let's go.'
Kip nodded to the pink wolf to alert Syri that it was time to head out. Syri lowered his snout in gratitude for the beta's signal and promptly joined the four in surrounding the team of steeds. Once in position, Calix gave a short yip to spark movement in the steeds. Upon Calix's yip, Kip and Bevy began leading the twenty steeds away from the stables and toward the southern gate.
Several of the guards and workers going about the palace grounds stopped in their tracks and stared at the pink wolf. Whispers and gasps began to circulate as the stable team passed by. "That one is new." "It's so pretty!" "I didn't know there was such a beautiful omega." "Now we have a blue and pink one. And on the same team at that!" Syri silently prayed the whispers would not reach the prince as he heard the reactions from the guards and workers.
The zeta shook his head to get rid of the potential consequence of the whispers as they passed through the gate and carefully sped to a slow gallop. Syri lifted his snout to the sky as he felt the wind ripple through his shiny coat. The steeds were extremely well-behaved, so the five did not have much trouble herding them to the correct field.
The morning sun shone on the zeta alluringly as the pink wolf gracefully bounded next to the galloping horses. Kip let out a yip alerting the team it was time to cut the steeds loose to roam. With the signal from Kip, Syri banked away from the steeds and made a one-eighty turn to come up beside Calix. Ibbi did the same and came up on the other side of the beta. Kip and Bevy banked away from the steeds until the horses and vorsts had been released to go about their morning exercise.
The five werewolves changed back to their human forms as they gathered beneath a great oak tree positioned toward the entrance to the field and watched the steeds graze about.
"Ahhh," Ibbi let out a sigh as he stretched. "That was an easy one. They did really well today."
"Mm," Bevy sounded in agreement as she sat down on the soft grass. Syri joined the alpha on the ground while the two betas leaned against the wide tree. "They're usually pretty rowdy. I wonder if it's because Ajax and Tryst are clearly exhausted," Bevy pondered as she gestured to the two vorsts who were lazily grazing. The vorsts were the first steeds to break away from the hyper team of horses and slow to a walk before nearly immediately beginning to graze.
"Could be. The vorsts do seem to affect the rest of the team," Ibbi commented as he observed the two grazing steeds. The five settled down and watched the sun rise into the sky as they continued to keep a watchful eye over the precious steeds.