Beonnie

About a week later, I was sitting in our regular booth having breakfast with Jack before he and Vidar would leave for the meeting with the Prospect. I was disappointed that he chose Vidar to tag along instead of me, but I supposed it was a bit more of a grown-up thing than a fun road trip. As it turned out, Hild and I had almost circled back to Berta's when we moved into the little town, so it would only take them a little more than an hour to drive to the Prospect. Vidar had not shown up yet with the car, and thus I found myself alone with Jack.

I was happy to hear that Henry had decided to, if not forgive, at least forget the incident at the school, and I was even happier that I hadn't bumped into him since then. I assumed it would be different when school started again, but as it was now, the spring semester hadn't even ended yet.

Vidar had made himself scarce lately, and I couldn't help but think that his stunt at the school had made Jack tell him to back off a bit. I had yet to see where they lived or meet the rest of the "gang," as Jack called them, but he had promised to bring Hild and me there this afternoon when she finished work, and they were back from the meeting. All in all, things were good, apart from the necklace thing. I sighed.

Jack looked up at me from his ham and cheese sandwich.

"You alright there, kiddo?

I fidgeted some with my necklace and looked out the window.

"I think I kind of made a mistake, and I don't know how to fix it."

He grinned.

"Who did you beat up this time?"

I couldn't help but laugh.

"Stop it. It's not funny."

"It was a little funny?" he smiled and finished the last bite of the sandwich. "Ok, so tell me."

I swallowed.

"Well, you know the necklace I have?" I raised the amulet towards him as if he didn't already know what I meant.

"Yes?"

"Well, when my father.. well, he gave me his necklace and a leather pouch, and apparently it already contained two more necklaces. Probably Hild's and her brother's necklaces.. "

"Oh, you have them?! This is great news, B!" he smashed his hand on the table out of joy and looked at me with a big smile on his face.

Damn.

"Well, I only have.. well, I kind of didn't know it was someone else's, so I gave one away."

He frowned.

"You gave one away?"

I looked out the window again, cheeks burning red in shame.

"I didn't know they were someone's, and I still have my father's.." I exclaimed happily as a solution to the problem. "It looks exactly the same as the one I gave away!"

He sighed but gave me a compassionate glance.

"They are personal B, so it doesn't work that way. They are infused with ancient.. spells if you like and only go together with the intended carrier. A little piece of the mother's and the father's blood is mixed with the iron when the amulet is created, usually before the baby is born. Beorn sent me his and your mother's blood when she was pregnant, and that is how I created yours."

"Oh." I hung my head. "Well, I guess I could ask for it back then."

He gave a short, saddened laugh.

"There is no need, B. We don't know where or who Hild's brother is, but, " he raised his voice again. " ..but at least Hild can have her necklace, right?"

"I guess. Let us just hope the name of her wolf starts with F too."

"Oh, there he is!" he waved to Vidar, who double-parked the car outside Patty's and turned to me. "Hild and her brother have the same parents, so it shouldn't matter. The necklaces activate your berserk capabilities. So, before you get used to wearing it, you are a bit more agitated than before. Easier to piss off, basically. Come to think of it, perhaps we should wait to give Hild hers?"

Ok. That felt about right, actually.

"I see," I pointed at what I thought were tree branches on the amulet. "Is it supposed to be a tree? "

"Well, a forest made of iron, more specifically," Jack smiled. "Can we finish this later? I think we are running late."

"Sure."

He got up, put some notes on the table for breakfast, walked outside, and jumped into the car.

Ben

"Alpha, your guests have just passed the gate and should be with you soon. They were two in the car, a Mr. Jack and Mr. Vidar."

I turned to Zac, who was sitting next to me on the second floor of the pack building, facing the windows towards the parking lot. It was a good place to gauge your visitors when they arrived, and as these two visitors were entirely new to us, we had decided to wait here. Zac seemed relaxed and eager for this meeting to go well, and I hoped it would be the case. We didn't know these people, and Zac hardly knew the girl, but their fates seemed intertwined, and I knew he would want her to get out of rogue status if she could.

A black car turned into the parking lot a couple of minutes later, and we stood up from the armchairs. Hands in pockets and tall, I knew we would make an imposing sight should they choose to look up when walking through the doors. Two men jumped out of the car, one blonde and one.. dark. The blonde was tall, well-built, and had similar features to Zac, whereas the dark man was... well, there was something out of place with his entire being. Like he had a lurking dark shadow surrounding him. The blonde person looked up just before entering the building, and I caught a faint smirk.

We turned around when we heard them approach, and before nothing, one of our staff members knocked on the door, opened it, and let them in before leaving and closing the door behind them. I didn't know what to expect from our guests; after all, they were rogues. Both started walking toward me to be greeted, but I noticed how they stopped in their tracks, if only for a millisecond when they saw Zac. It was apparent that he noticed, too, as a small wrinkle formed on his forehead. They quickly gained their composure, and the dark man extended his hand to me.

"Alpha King Prospect Connor, my name is Jack. It is a pleasure to meet you. Thanks for taking the time for us to discuss this."

We shook hands.

He smiled and indicated the blonde man next to him, who was still looking at Zac. "This is Vidar."

Vidar turned his eyes at me and also extended his hand; I took it and shook his hand too.

"Good to meet you both. This is my Beta, Zac."

Both eyes were already on Zac, who nodded to them and invited them to sit down in the armchairs around the small table instead of sitting around the meeting room table. One of our staff members came in with refreshments and offered them drinks, and when we all were settled, I turned to them.

"So, what can we do for you?"

Jack's eyes now turned to me again, they were black as a moonless night, and his whole aura emanated wolf. He felt more wolf than human. Not werewolf but wolf. It didn't feel menacing or threatening, but I was sure that could change if he wanted to.

"We would like to form a pack in your prospect. We have the numbers to do it now, and we only ask that our territory is increased with this small piece of land here, down to the lake so we can go fishing now and then," he procured a map and pointed at a spot near the small town near the southwest corner of our territory.

I leaned over. The small spot he pointed to was currently neutral territory, and the increase wasn't much, but it would make them share opposite sides of a lake with Alpha Neron Johnson.

"As you can see..," he continued. "We are not asking for much. We can use the neutral forest to run in and so on, and we are not all that much into running anyway, so it will be fine for us. Here we have our houses currently, and we just want this small sliver here."

I took the map and showed it to Zac, who nodded towards me. I turned back to our guests.

"Mr. Jack, your wish to form a pack will be granted," I nodded to them both.

Both smiled and looked at each other, grinning. I continued.

"We will this year have a Gathering and a Tournament of Packs. Now that you officially are a pack, you will be invited. Your pack's results in the tournament will decide the size of your territory. You can, of course, decline a larger territory, but you cannot claim land to increase your territory unless your ranking in the tournament is high enough. Is this clear?"

He nodded.

"What are the rules for this tournament?"

"Well, if you are only going for the rank of pack for territory size, a minimum of your 12 best warriors will meet another pack in a human form fight, and the winner continues in the tournament. The results will decide the ranking. If you are going for rank of territory and influence, or even the Prospect you have to join the Beta and the Alpha fights too."

I leaned back and grinned.

"I wouldn't recommend it, though."

Jack waved dismissively.

"We are not interested in power. We just want to live in peace in our small area the same as we have done for a good part of five to six years now. My only reason for doing this is because I want us to avoid the rogue status. I have heard that being rogue in this area not necessarily is good for you," he stared at me.

I stared back. Just because, in this case, the girl was young and innocent, it didn't mean all intruders were. It was our right to interrogate her, and we hadn't even done that.

"You are referring to what happened with a girl in your now.. pack. I won't offer you an apology since we have every right to handle rogues at our will when trespassing. However, the manhunt may have been beneath us. There were politics involved, and it was unfortunate that she was caught in the middle of it, even though she actually caused it."

He nodded thoughtfully.

"She does have a knack for getting in trouble."

Zac procured a pen and the official pack paper.

"So, what is the name of your pack then? For the records."

They looked at each other.

"Oh, we haven't thought about that. Something generic, we don't want to draw attention to ourselves," Jack frowned.

"The Ironwood Pack. Very generic but still meaningful," Vidar offered a small smile.

Jack opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Instead, he closed his mouth and gave Vidar a compassionate smile.

"And you will be Alpha, I presume?"

"I will," Jack nodded and turned to Vidar. "If you ever call me that, I will kill you."

Vidar grinned.

"And this is your beta?" I nodded towards Vidar.

Jack sighed.

"This is my troublemaker, so if that is part of the job description, I suppose he is."

I smirked and looked at Zac.

"At least my beta seems to think it is part of the job description."

It looked like Zac had to stop himself from sticking his tongue out toward me, but he gave me an amused grimace.

I leaned back.

"It is settled then. The Ironwood pack will make an appearance in the tournament as the newest pack in our Prospect."

I explained the formalities of forming a pack, entering the Tournament of Packs, and the traditions behind the Gathering.

"So, you will get an area of your own where you can erect living quarters, meeting halls, and training grounds unless you choose to use our training ground. This year we have extended it to be much bigger."

"Well, it all sounds great. Now we just need to train a bit, and then we can have our small beach by the lake," Jack smiled. "We own the land by human law but have our wall erected to exclude it since it is not our territory by werewolf law, but it will be nice to be able to include it.

He turned to Zac.

"That's some heavy ink you are sporting there, my friend."

Zac looked taken aback at the unexpected comment, and I certainly was.

"Well, I kind of like-" he stopped as the man took his hand and twisted it to expose the vulnerable side of his wrist, pointing at a tiny blue dot amongst all the black ink.

"What's the significance of this?"

I leaned over to take a look at what he pointed at. It was just a tiny dot, with the shape of a heart framing it, easy to miss in the otherwise heavily intricate pattern of Zac's tattoos.

I could see that Zac was a little taken aback by the question, and I knew him too well to see that the shrug that he pretended was nonchalant was forced. He withdrew his hand from the other man's grip with narrowed eyes.

"Why do you ask?"

Vidar leaned back towards Jack and whispered something to him. Secrecy was not something we were used to, and it was perhaps not meant as such, but it was disrespectful. Zac reacted immediately.

"We do not take lightly on secrecy in front of us in our own territory. You are now an official pack in this Prospect, and this is your Alpha King Prospect."

Jack sighed and gave me a meaningful glance.

"I told you he was a troublemaker," then he turned to Vidar and nodded. "Go on."

Vidar looked me dead in the eye and bowed his head in as much respect as he seemed to be able to allow himself to. Not much, that was.

"I was just telling Jack how your beta Zac looks just like one of our lost brothers," then he turned to Zac. "Your wolf. What does it look like?"

Zac frowned and looked at him.

"Again, why do you ask?"

When Vidar said nothing, Zac turned to Jack, and suddenly his eyes widened in recognition.

"You are the man from B's photo. With all the blonde wolves."

Jack gave him a confused look.

"I don't know which photo you are referring to."

Zac got up from his chair, and without a word, he opened the door, took some long steps over to his office, and returned with a photograph in his hand. As Jack turned it over, I could see that it was the one he had taken from the girl when she had fallen into our territory. Jack examined the photo carefully, allowing a small smile to enter his face. Then he gave the photograph to Vidar, who also scrutinized it.

"Is that Gammal? I can't believe how young he looks!" he chuckled and pointed at the picture. Jack nodded in reply and then turned to Zac again.

"Yes, that's me in the photo. Where did you get this?"

Zac had the decency to look at least a little ashamed.

"Well, going through B's stuff, I found it."

Both Jack and Vidar frowned.

Zac raised his chin.

"She was trespassing our territory. I had the right to go through her stuff and keep what I deemed was necessary."

Good boy.

Jack raised his hand in a peaceful gesture.

"Of course you had; I mean no disrespect. It's just.. this photo is very dear to me. These were, and some still are my men.." he pointed at the wolves in the picture and then on the boy with the babies. "..and this is my son and my baby twins. This is the last picture of us all together."

Zac sat down in his chair again, waving in apology to Jack.

"I see. Keep the picture, of course," he leaned back and paused for a second. "I also have this from her. But she gave it to me."

He fumbled in his pocket and took out a small silver amulet, and held it out to Jack.

"Be careful, though. It can sting when you touch it."

The atmosphere in the room changed immediately. Jack had reached out to take the amulet, but Zac's words made his hand fall back again. Everything fell silent and still as Jack and Vidar stared first at Zac and then at each other. Vidar shook his head in disbelief, got up from his chair, walked towards Zac, and held out his hand. Zac gave him a confused look but took the hand and was dragged up into Vidar's arms only to be embraced in a tight hug.

"Brother."

What?

Jack got up from his chair, walked towards Vidar and Zac, and held out his arms in an embrace that engulfed them both.

"I can't believe this," his voice almost cracked, in what was obviously an emotional moment for him.

Zac looked as confused as ever, with his hands still hesitating to return the hug or not. Finally, our guests realized their overstep and sat down again, still overjoyed with happiness, though. Jack looked at me, and I raised an eyebrow.

"I guess we should explain."

I nodded.

"I think we would all appreciate some transparency as to what just happened, yes."

Zac sat down again. Jack turned to him.

"Let me tell you something, Beta Zac. 32 years ago, two almost newborn twins came here with their older brother," he pointed at the boy with the twins in the picture.

"That older brother was B's father Beorn. The little baby girl was placed in the human child care system; she had a tattoo on her arm that said her name. Hild. The baby boy was placed on the doorstep of a werewolf family. I don't know where. If he was taken care of, he would be 32 years old by now, blonde, blue-eyed, and quite tall. He doesn't have a tattoo of his name on him, he... " Jack smiled at the memory. " ..he simply fidgeted too much, so I only managed a blue dot before I gave up. Right here."

He pointed at the inside of his wrist, and then he pointed at the wolves in the picture.

"And this is what his wolf probably would look like."

Zac opened his mouth. I didn't expect to look any less shocked than he did.

"What finally gave it away, though... " Jack leaned over and pointed at the amulet still in Zac's hand. "..was this. It is imprinted on its rightful owner the first time you touch it. It is a burning or stinging sensation. It won't sting if I touch it, only if.. my son or daughter does."

He looked up at Zac and smiled compassionately.

"It is good to see you."

Zac stood up, gave me an apologetic look, and walked out of the room. Jack immediately rose from his chair with a concerned look, but I grabbed him before he could follow Zac.

"I think it is best to leave him be."

He resigned. Then he shook my hand.

"Thank you, Alpha King Prospect. For this meeting and for what you have done for my.. for Zac."

I nodded, and they left.