--- Henry ---

I could tell that the woman had thousands of questions, but at that pivotal moment, my phone chimed.

"The car is here."

We walked up towards the main road together, and when approaching it, I reluctantly placed the girl on the ground and walked up to the road on my own. After further instructions, two black cars finally found my location and pulled over. Somehow, I convinced the drivers that I wanted to drive back alone because I had a "sexy" date along the way, and with meaningful winks, they left in the other car.

I went back for the girl, noticing, with some irritation, that Tristan was already carrying her in his arms. As we approached the car, the woman turned to us.

"Tristan, why don't you take the wheel?" she asked concernedly. "Henry must be exhausted, and the girl could rest in the backseat. I'll keep you company in the front."

He agreed and gently put the girl in the backseat. I opened the jeep's trunk to place the backpacks there while the woman jumped into the passenger seat. A low growl behind me made me turn around. The black dog looked at me expectantly.

"I... ok, dog. Get in then," I pointed towards the trunk. He muttered in approval and jumped in.

We started to drive, with Tristan and the woman conversing in the front. She asked him about werewolves, and he explained most of what there was to know.

"I mean, you know the basics, right? You have a wolf; most of the time, it is just like a voice in your head that you can talk to, but you can also shift to wolf form. You heal much faster than humans, you can mind-link with people in your pack, and your senses are heightened. The wolf wakes up around the 18th birthday, sometimes sooner if they are powerful werewolves like alphas or something special happens. The Alpha is the pack's leader, and his second in command is the Beta."

"So, the alpha is always male?"

"Yes."

"And everyone always follows what he says?"

"Yes, of course. He is the alpha."

She seemed to ponder this for a while and then continued.

"But why?"

Heh, what a question. Ridiculous.

"Uh, how do you mean why?" the question was far out there for Tristan, too.

"Like, why do you always do what he says?"

"Well, he is our leader. It is safer for the pack to follow our leader. He is the strongest and knows what is best for the pack."

Yes. Exactly so.

"But what if he is an asshole? Like, what if he does something you disagree with?"

Uhm.

"Uhm."

"Like when you explained about mates and your mate and all that."

Tristan glanced back towards me. I understood he was uncomfortable, but I had heard the rumours about Ben Connors' treatment of fated mates. I didn't know Tristan was one of the victims, though. Nevertheless, no one criticises his alpha in front of another pack or non-pack members. He must have slipped his tongue with her but couldn't continue now that he knew I was paying attention.

"Well, he is doing what he believes is best for the pack, and I also want to do what is best for my pack. Your pack is like a huge, extended family."

She nodded contemplatively, and that particular part of the discussion died out as she continued to ask about the wolf part.

I dozed off.

The drive was a couple of hours, so it was just after noon when we finally arrived in the town. The girl was still passed out or sleeping; we were unsure which. We stopped at a grocery shop on the way, and Tristan went inside to stock up on food, toiletries, and some clothes for our new friends. The next stop was outside a motel on the outskirts, and Tristan parked the car and went inside to get a room. 

It was not a luxurious motel by any standard, but it seemed nice enough for the occasion. After all, we were carrying an unconscious girl and had a pretty beaten-up woman in our company. It was unclear how a five-star hotel would react to that. Tristan returned with a key in hand, and we moved the car close to a couple of cabins behind the motel. 

Tristan opened the door to one of the tiny wooden houses. It was cosy and clean, with a living room area combined with a kitchen. Two doors led to a bedroom with a big king-sized double bed and a big bathroom.

I placed the girl on the bed and returned to the car to get the shopping bags and the backpacks. I almost jumped backwards when I opened the trunk as the dog growled and gritted his teeth towards me. I moved to the side, and he immediately jumped out and placed himself to the left of the cabin's front door, where he promptly fell asleep as if his job was done. His protégé was safe, and thus he could sleep.

When all was settled, an awkward silence ensued again. Tristan gave Beta Zac's phone number to the woman, but I couldn't find any "official" reason to give her mine, so there was little I could do to keep in contact if I wanted to—not that anyone said that I did. I was breezing, cool as a cucumber.

 A goodbye later, I was alone in my car, driving home.

--- Hild ---

I closed the door after our friends had left and sunk down on the sofa for a minute. The last 24 hours had heavily burdened me, and I realised I needed to compartmentalise them so I would not be overloaded with sensations, emotions, and realisations. Some traumas required to be addressed, but I decided to think about them... tomorrow.

First and foremost, I needed to figure out if I should shower or go to the police and make someone pay for the crimes committed against poor Kurt and against me. Under any other circumstances, I would go to the police and let them take the evidence needed, but I was reluctant tonight as the girl was also involved. Considering the state of the perpetrators when we left, at least some punishment was delivered. I figured the police would come to the scene soon enough anyway, and murder charges would follow for them.

So, I went for a shower — a long one. Then I took a long look in the mirror. I looked like shit. My body was covered with minor wounds, as if someone had had some fun with a sharp knife. The cuts were not deep, just enough to draw some blood. Bruises were everywhere. I was pretty sure there were some wounds on my inner thighs, and it hurt badly and was sore between my legs. My face was terrible. My left eye was swollen shut and covered in bruises. My right eye and cheek were sporting a purple-yellow colour scheme.

I patched myself up with help from the girl's uniquely pharmacy-filled backpack and some of Tristan's shopping. It would take some days, but nothing was broken for eternity.

Then, it was time to help the girl.

Hoping she wouldn't mind, I removed her clothes and bandages. I put a towel on the bed, rolled her over on her stomach, and started to clean her up. I dressed the needed wounds, but she seemed to be healing well. A second towel, and I rolled her over to her back and did the same with her front. A wound under her left knee was deep, and I cleaned it properly before dressing it again. A deep gash on her arm got the same treatment, and an older one on her shoulder, too. She had gone through a lot.

I wish I could've washed her hair, but it would have to wait. I removed the bandage on her forehead and cleaned the cut and some newer cuts she had before taping some of them together and putting a bandage over it all. That would have to do. 

I wondered why some of the wounds seemed older and felt a pang of worry about what the girl had been through during the last couple of days. I didn't remember her from earlier in the evening in Kurt's house when I was still conscious, but I supposed that Laverne or any of his thugs had picked her up somewhere.

There was just one more thing to fix before we called it a night. I opened the front door and ushered Harry inside the house. He growled but followed me. I took off my T-shirt, put a makeshift bandage on him, and cleaned his wounds, too. They were wrapped in fresh bandages, and then I put a bowl of water next to him and a blanket on the sofa for him to sleep on.

It was not late at all. It was around 6 in the evening, but I brushed my teeth and crawled under the covers next to the girl, and as we were all safe, clean, and warm, I fell asleep immediately.

--- Zac ---

Tristan came back in the afternoon. The minute he returned to pack territory, he mind-linked for a car to pick him up. He was too exhausted to run. Alpha wanted to meet him directly, so I arranged for some sandwiches to be delivered to Ben's room, and then we waited for his return. Tristan entered the room several minutes later and looked like a mess. His shirt had stains of blood, dirt, and sweat, and so did his pants.

Alpha gave him a scrutinising look.

"Are you alright?"

Tristan sat down with a sigh and pulled his fingers through his hair in a vain effort to make him more presentable for the meeting. He looked at the sandwiches.

"Can I?"

"Yes, yes, and let's get started. I can smell that Dorothy started on a batch of cardamom biscuits, so let's raid the kitchen afterwards."

I chuckled.

"You know you are the alpha, right? You can just ask for them."

He smiled.

"But it is more fun to sneak out and steal them."

We had gone back to our old ways. The early morning conversation bridged the gap, and no hard feelings were left. Not on my part, at least. I was surprised at how easily it had gone from bad to good. I couldn't pinpoint it, but it actually felt as if Ben's lousy mood the last couple of years since a couple of months had... gone lighter. Not much, but a little bit. Perhaps things could be mended even more.

We had spent the day together, trying to clean up the mess he had created in his living quarters. It hadn't sounded good, but only minor things needed replacement. However, enough was broken for Tristan to look twice when he entered the room.

"Anyways," Ben continued. "Tristan, tell us everything."

Tristan leaned forward and grabbed a sandwich while we leaned back as if expecting a good story.

"Ok, so we.." he hesitated, looking at Ben and then at me.

"He knows Henry was with you," I said with a small smile. Ben said nothing. Tristan nodded and continued.

"We followed her for... what was it... two days until we finally caught up with her at the edge of a trailer park," he said, stopping to take another bite of the sandwich. "She has been running from us all this time, but now she completely forgets about us and enters a house at the outskirts."

He paused and scratched his head.

Ben leaned forward.

"And then?"

"And then I get a bad feeling or something, so I have Henry wait in the garden while I creep up to peek inside the windows. There is a dead man.."

"A human?" I asked, hoping it wasn't a werewolf.

"I think so; he is in the bedroom. There are three other men and a woman in the living room. I can't see what is going on, but I see the girl-"

"B."

He looked at me.

"B?"

"Her name is B."

"Uhm, ok. Well, so I see B walk into the room, and then, and then she kicks their asses."

Tristan looked at us hesitantly as if we could explain what he described. We couldn't, of course. Werewolves are much stronger than humans, but 17-year-old werewolves usually could not kick three grown-up humans' asses.

"Ok." Ben started. "Did she leave any wolf trails?"

Always the Alpha. Werewolves were, for natural reasons, well-kept secrets, so when someone went bananas in wolf form in public, damage control always needed to be done.

"I.. she, she wasn't shifted."

We stared at him.

"She wasn't shifted?"

I stood up. How could this be possible? All her injuries, running through the woods for days... it just didn't make sense. She had just connected to her wolf, and she shouldn't be able to shift yet, and still... somehow, she managed to beat up three men. Ben shot me a look.

"Were we wrong in deeming her a non-threat?"

"I don't think so," Tristan started. "It will sound strange, but I think she would have killed the men in there if she hadn't caught a glimpse of me through the windows. It made her stop. I think she was just trying to save the woman."

I sat down again. Tristan continued.

"But her eyes, her eyes were; it was like she wasn't there. One of the men threw a bottle at her head, and she had a new gash on her arm, but she didn't seem to care. Like she couldn't feel it."

He leaned back in his armchair, and we all pondered in silence over what he had just told us.

"Then what?"

"Well, the woman drags her out of there, and I think the plan was to run via the garden, but there she bumps into us and screams at us, and then the girl, B, collapses. I manage to convince the woman that we are friendly, and she is in pretty bad shape.." he gestures at the blood on his sweater. "so I carry her, and Henry carries B, and there is a dog that follows us. We run like that for a while, and then we stop, and I call you."

"And Henry?"

Tristan smiled.

"Henry didn't see anything about what happened in the house. And to be honest, I don't think he ever saw anything else than B after I had him carry her around. He was so smitten by her," he chuckled.

Hum. Vanilla scent.

"And B? What did she say?"

He stopped laughing and shot me a concerned look.

"She never met him. I placed her and the woman at a hotel and paid for a week, and then Henry drove me to our border and drove home. B hasn't woken up yet, as far as I know."

Ben stirred in his seat.

"The woman. Who was she?"

Tristan shrugged.

"I don't know, just a woman. Black hair, mouthy, and pretty beaten up."

I looked at him.

"Kind of mouthy?"

He smirked.

"She was, I mean, it was bad. I don't know for how long or exactly what happened to her, but no one does that to a woman and lets her live afterwards. She was lucky B came along. But she was tough. She was in pretty bad shape but still had an attitude about things—like you on a bad day."

"Asshole."

He grinned.

"Was she a werewolf?" Ben asked, and I noticed the tension in his voice. 

"I.. yes," Tristan had noticed it, too, and seemed to take care with his words. "She was, but she didn't know that she was. How is that possible?" 

"She didn't know?" I asked, even though he just said just that. "Huh."

A silence ensued until Ben put his glass down on the table.

"Ok. So, this concludes this mess. Let us hope that this girl and the woman live happily ever after and that we never have to concern ourselves with them again."

I huffed. Ben looked at me apologetically.

"Come on, Zac. Don't you think this girl has already given us enough to do?"

"Fair enough."