[center][img]https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/7pjcqwk8bl7.png[/img][/center]
[center][h1][color=#7D5CB3]Kessler[/color][/h1][/center]
[center][color=black][sup]____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________[/sup][/color][/center]
[center][color=#812442][b]Location:[/b][/color] Church • [color=#812442][b]Time:[/b][/color] After everyone leaves[/center]
[center][color=#812442][b]Interactions:[/b][/color] Dom, Lucian • [color=#812442][b]Mentions:[/b][/color] [@Oso], [@Infinite Cosmos][/center]
[center][color=black][sup]____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________[/sup][/color][/center]

As before, Kessler sat at the table against the wall, behind the ring of chairs surrounding the table at the inner sanctum of the Iron Fangs' court, altar, temple, arena. Listened while Dom laid the ace on the line. Listened while Lucian gave his report, and deflected the decision back to Dom, while simultaneously turning the discussion over to him. Lucian looked away from the table, away from his Alpha, and both he and Dom looked to the big man in the corner, to see if he had any wordstuff worthy of their ears. 

Kessler continued listening, to his own breathing, to the silence of the room. He looked from Dom, to the eyes of Lucian, then to the floor. There was no great deal of love lost between he and the other man in the room, and Kessler was pretty certain he knew what Lucian thought of him. Too quick to act. Too much the good soldier, not enough of a thinker. But that merely spoke to how well Lucian knew him, which was to say, not at all. Kessler did not often disobey, but that was not due to a lack of care, or a lack of intellect. Dom (and Logan in his stead, in the past) had merely never given him cause to doubt an order. Because they were usually tactically sound decisions. 

What did Lucian know of Kessler's anger, and where that was most often directed? ([i]inward.[/i]) What did Lucian know of Kessler's rage? The only rage the big man had ever displayed had been orders passed down to him. Kess kept his own rage in reserve, under lock and key. There was a time and a place for that to be let out, to breathe. But he was pretty sure Lucian hadn't ever seen it -- though he knew that's what Shelby saw when he looked Kess' way: the big, broad, turned-blood soldier, good enough to do the dirty work. 

He finally spoke, and when the words were uttered, it was low, a rumbling baritone that the pack would've had to go quiet to hear. [color=f7941d]"Yeah -- I tend to agree with you, Lucian. I don't question our abilities. I don't question our loyalty. I don't even question our methods -- different though they may be."[/color] He looked into the other pack-member's eyes. [color=f7941d]"But I think it's me, Lucian. Why? Two reasons. First... I'm a turned-blood. You may not think that means much of anything, but I've known a human existence. And with what's to come, I think that knowledge will serve the pack. And second... I don't think you're a war-time Beta."[/color]

He stood, not to punctuate the moment, but because he'd said his piece. There was nothing more to be said about it. Unless Lucian wanted to fight. In which case, Kessler would oblige the man. But he had no interest in it, personally. He approached the central table, resting his knuckles on the tabletop. [color=f7941d]"That's how I see it,"[/color] he sighed. [color=f7941d]"...but we have work to do."[/color]