Beonnie

We spent a couple of hours in the mall. Hild got some office clothes, and I got some high school clothes, and then we got pyjamas, underwear, shoes, general chilling clothes, and whatnot. We bought stuff for the apartment, like utensils, towels, bed linen, and many other boring things Hild thought we needed. Harry got two bowls and a nice soft bed to sleep in. We went back to the apartment two times to drop things off, and on the third time, our stomachs rumbled, and we went downstairs to Patty's to get something to eat.

It was now afternoon and almost empty, somewhere between lunch and dinner guests. Only a handful of patrons were scattered around the place, quietly speaking about everyday things. Nothing was out of the ordinary except for a scent that I couldn't pinpoint to anyone in particular. Eventually, I noticed something, well, for lack of a better word, something dark in one corner. 

It was a man with dark hair, dark clothes, and darkness around him. What was most perplexing was the scent. It wasn't a werewolf; it was more... wolf. The funny thing was the scent was only there for the first few seconds, the time it took to register it, but when I tried to locate the source.. it was gone. Me pinpointing it to the... man... in the corner was more about him looking apart from the rest of the guests at the diner.

Hild was completely oblivious, so she was not the reason we sat down in the other corner at what probably would become our favourite table. She had her back against the entrance, whereas I had complete coverage of the place. I could, therefore, clearly see when Vidar entered the diner, his eyes scanning the site like a robot. I half-expected him to come over and sit down again, but he only acknowledged me with a smile before his gaze swept the rest of the place. His eyes locked onto the darkness in the corner. He made his way over and exchanged a few words with the man, who turned to look in our direction.

I should've felt awkward about it. Had Hild noticed, she probably would have become nervous or annoyed or something, but she was still beaming about today's successful endeavour. I couldn't agree more; we had outdone ourselves. And yet, still so much to do. So, we had more pressing matters than someone ogling us from a corner. Getting our shit together, as Hild would put it, and get on with our lives.

I probably also should've felt anxious about the apparent glances shot from the other corner towards our direction, but I didn't. No advances were made, and we finished our meal talking about how completely awesome we were. 

As we paid for our meal, for a second, it felt as if the men stirred in the corner, but ultimately, they never moved an inch, even as we left the diner. I was still unsure why I thought they would, but the last couple of days or weeks had made me jumpy about anything unusual.

We went back to the cabin and packed everything. It didn't take long, but it was dark outside when we finally finished. We had filled our bags as much as we could. Still, Tristan had outdone himself shopping for groceries and some clothes, so we were also carrying plastic bags filled with stuff when we finally entered the reception area with Harry in tow. He had spent the day waiting outside the cabin like a good boy, but as per some internal protocol he had, he only looked offended when I patted him on his head and told him just that.

Checking out was a simple procedure, and as the checking out policy was 24 hours' notice, we also walked out with cash in hand. We intended to return the entire amount; Hild was adamant about it. But looking at the time of the day, the not overwhelming but still many things we needed to carry, and Harry, she sighed and suggested we use some of the cash to get a cab back to our place. I heartily agreed. It had been a long and good day, but I was so tired. I was about to return to the reception to ask them to call a cab for us when someone stepped out of the shadows in the parking lot. 

Vidar.

"Need a ride?"

Hild looked like she was about to cry.

"What are you doing here? I.. We.. can we just be left alone, please?"

The long day and so much more weighed on her, and I knew that she was afraid that today's accomplishments had been in vain, as we had apparently stumbled across yet another creepy guy and had to go running again.

Vidar looked as if he was taken aback.

"I...," he said, then looked at me, and it looked like he was making a decision. He raised his eyebrow to me, questioning if I could... and I could. A familiar scent waved over me: werewolf. He was a werewolf and told me this in the primitive language of odours, hoping it would help us trust him. I nodded.

"He is like us."

Her head snapped up towards me.

"But I thought you said he..?"

I frowned.

"I know, but I couldn't smell it before.." I said and looked at Vidar. "How did you... do that?"

He smiled heartily.

"Get in the car, and I will tell you about it."

We grabbed our stuff, and it was first then that I noticed that Harry had not said a word. His eyes were fixed on Vidar, but no growl passed his lips, and no teeth were bared. His eyes never left Vidar, though, not even as he jumped into the car. Vidar seemed completely aloof around him but wisely decided not to engage with him. 

When we had made it out on the highway, Harry and I in the backseat and Hild in the front next to Vidar, I leaned forward. I needed to know.

"So, how did you do that? With the scent?"

I could sense rather than see that he smiled.

"We call it cloaking. You girls should learn it. Only a few werewolves can do it, but we are... well, different. However, I bet you can learn too. At least she."

He nodded towards Hild. 

"But how?" I leaned further between the seats, eager to know the secret.

"OK, I don't know if you have heard about pheromones. They are a type of hormone that signals our current state to others. Not everything, but like if we are scared or angry or, uhm, horny. Heh. Sorry."

I nodded. Pheromones I had heard of.

"Ah yes, like when men think that women are more attractive when they are ovulating than when they are not?"

He looked towards me for a second, seemingly impressed. Then, back at the road.

"Exactly so. So, anyway, pheromones are normally released when we are emotional because of, for example, fear, adrenaline, lust, or love. In situations where we are overwhelmed by emotions," he said and then continued. 

"But our particular group of werewolves.. our ancestors developed techniques to do many different things, including cloaking. Cloaking means you can control your pheromones, suppressing your scent to zero. So you know babies.."

Hild interrupted him.

"Are there any baby sacrifices involved in this? Because then I do not want to hear about it!"

He was shocked.

"Baby sacrifices? What kind of primitive animals do you think we are?"

I also noticed that he seemed, at least to some extent, aware that Hild was somewhat oblivious to being a werewolf. Hmm.

".. well, you know how babies can hold their breath when dropped in water when they are very young?" he didn't wait for our reply. "Anyway, this is due to something called apnea. It happens to animals that dive. The cold water reduces their heart rate and thus their need for oxygen. It could also constrict their blood vessels."

"Ok,.. uhm?"

"Anyways, our ancestors didn't know about this, of course, but they did develop a similar thing where if you focus long enough, you can cloak your release of pheromones and thus your scent. With time, you can do this without effort, making life easier here."

He told us about the breathing technique and mindset for cloaking, and we even managed to do it. Hild was, of course, not required to cloak since her wolf was, well, wherever wolves went when they were drugged away, and thus, she smelled almost like an ordinary human.

"So, practice this as much as you can until you can do it even in situations where you normally feel emotional or stressed."

I pondered over what he had said.

"You said earlier that this would make our life "easier around here". What did you mean by that?"

He shrugged as much as one can do when also driving a car.

"Well, our small town is situated just at the south-eastern border of the Prospect territory. And on the western border of the Silver Moon Pack. To the south, we have a sliver of neutral territory, meaning that our town has a high frequency of werewolves. I mean, take the high school. It's packed with werewolves."

Oh.

"Vidar?"

He parked the car by our apartment and turned back towards me.

"Yes?"

"Why are you so nice to us?"

He smiled.

"Well, does there have to be a reason?"

Hild snorted.

"There is always a reason."

He looked at her.

"Perhaps, but it doesn't have to be bad."

With that, he helped us out of the car, carried most of the bags upstairs through a side door so we didn't have to go through the restaurant, and then stayed for half an hour, allowing us to practice our cloaking. 

"There, now you got the hang of it!" he leaned back on the sofa, grabbed one of the pillowcases we had bought, and put it over one of the new pillows. He fluffed it and put it down.

I smiled and sighed.

"Phew. This will solve a lot."

Hild came over with coffee for Vidar and sat down with her cup on the sofa opposite the armchair.

"Like what?" she looked quizzingly at me.

I started to fidget with one of the new pillowcases, unwilling to meet her gaze. Vidar sat up, noticing that something was bothering me. And something was. Hild didn't know the rules, but ever since Vidar had said there was a lot of werewolf action in this town, I had had a lump in my throat that had only grown larger and larger as the evening passed.

"Girl?" he said while resting his elbows on his knees and leaning towards me.

I fidgeted some more, then I swallowed and looked up at them.

"I... I was exiled from my other pack."

Vidar's eyes widened in surprise while Hild looked between us.

"Is that... a bad thing?"

Vidar gave me a sympathetic glance, huffed, and offered:

"It's not a good thing."

I bit my lip and felt the tears in my eyes as he continued.

"It is like being disowned by your family. And it also makes you a bit of a target when meeting other werewolves, especially when you trespass their borders."

Hild leaned back on the sofa again, nodded, and gave me an understanding look.

"So that is why they were chasing you."

It was more of a statement than a question, but I nodded, tears escaping and falling down my cheeks.

Vidar's head snapped up.

"Who chased you?"

I sighed. Hild sighed. Vidar looked between us and sighed. We all knew that secrets were kept hidden, but none of us had decided yet if we wanted to trust each other. I trusted Hild. Hild trusted me, but Vidar had nestled himself into our lives too fast. We didn't know anything about him, and he didn't even know our names. Not the real ones and not the fake ones. He was attentive to the apparent tension in the air and raised his hand in a calming motion.

"We can cross that bridge later, but it sounded like the cloaking was solving a more pressing problem for you. What was that?"

I dried my eyes and looked up.

"Well, tomorrow we were going to register me at the high school for senior year, and if packs are living close, then I would probably bump into them at school and being a werewolf and unaffiliated.. well, it would be... embarrassing."

I knew it was silly, but I was already nervous about being the new kid in town. I had no friends at my other school, but at least I was left alone. Being alone, I could handle. But this time, since my father was unknown, I had hoped that I might have a slight chance of making friends. However, if there were many werewolves at my new school, and they avoided me because I was a rogue, there was a good chance that the humans would also avoid me.

"You are afraid they will bully you?"

I hung my head down and bit my lip again, tears now flooding over again.

"I know it is silly. I just... I wanted to make some friends. "

"Oh no, sweetie, it is not. Of course, you want friends," Hild got up, walked over to me, sat on the armrest, and pulled me towards her chest. "Maybe we will wait another few days so your wounds have healed better, too. We'll figure it out."

Vidar looked uncomfortable, and eventually, he got up from the sofa and awkwardly put the pillow back.

"I... I have probably outstayed my welcome here. I should go."

And then he left.