zachariah remains in the homeland, pretends to feel bad for his time in lucifer’s army, and worms his way deeper into the inner circle. they accept him with open arms, graciously accepting his lies as truths, and he begins to hear everything. he ties the loyalty of submissives to him like a vice, spreads his spies far and wide in the land, listens to the secrets they tell him. he is useful to his general in the only way he knows how, gathering information through charming smiles and carefully constructed politics. the alphas he had waged war against are fond of him, of his tact in tense situations, that they don’t think that he could possibly still be connected to the warriors that lucifer led, especially not after the brindled demon had left. he is bemused by their utter stupidity. he knows duma had also remained, but he doesn’t see her much: his connections to the army must be presumed as dead and gone, and he doesn’t think he could resist being close to someone who understands his resentment of the wolves around him if he was the commander again. so he kept his distance, continued to gather information, and waited.

the call to arms arrived and admittedly, he was one of the last to leave. the alphas had gotten themselves into a touchy situation with another pack and it would have been downright wasteful not to prod it into conflict before he left. and prod he had, enjoying every moment of it. he had left on the dawn of war, leaving the homeland without one of their most relied upon diplomats and headed for this new land lucifer had called them to. he traveled quickly in the beginning, a necessary to get himself out of potential war zones. once he was certain that he was in the clear, he had taken his time - there was no rush, now that the initial gathering of the army had taken place. he was late either way, and the annoyance it would bring certain members of the party was incredibly humorous to the man.

he entered the new lands without a thought, asking a passing stranger if they would be so kind as to help him find his way. through gentle fishing as they traveled, zachariah was delighted to find out about the mild conflicts that were amuck. one of the longest reigning alphas in the land had left, some leadership conflict was occurring in another pack, and malignant felicity was steadily growing, much to the wariness of loners. he politely excused himself from the other wolf’s company as he caught scent of haziel, following her trail until he found the scent of lucifer on the wind. it did not take the tall brujo long to reach the borders, nose wrinkling slightly at the scent of a multitude of females. so this was what his general had taken up? gathering most of blossom forest’s female population? he shook his head gently, both bemused and exasperated. if this was how lucifer wanted to grow his empire, by playing matchmaker or by spreading his seed, then that was his choice. still chuckling quietly to himself, zachariah released a smooth howl before falling silent.