Beonnie

Hild took fooooreeeever on the phone. We had been home for almost an hour and we hadn't left for the pack yet. I tugged her top and motioned for her to finish her phone call, but she just brushed me off. Finally, she hung up and turned to me.

"Alright, alright. Calm down!"

"Calm down? We are going to go to Jack tonight, remember?"

She rubbed her face.

"Right, right. Ok, so what are you waiting for then?"

"You."

She laughed and grabbed her keys and her phone and whatnot and ushered me through the door. We went downstairs and fetched Harry, and started to walk towards the woods. Jack had explained the way more thoroughly, and after a quarter of an hour's walk, we found ourselves standing in front of a big gate with a tiny peephole in it. There was no indication that anyone would live in this place or any indication of life whatsoever, and my light knock on the gate sounded like thunder in the thick silence surrounding the area.

The gate swung open almost immediately, without any questions or inspections. I had at least expected a "Who's there?" but - nothing. A tall, blonde boy about my age greeted us.

"Very welcome to the Ironwood Pack, miss B, and miss H," he winked at me and grinned. "My name is Vile."

"Vile?"

"Yes, pronounced with a long "i", I know it spells bad here, but where I am from it is common," he explained and shrugged his shouldes, not really bothered at all.

We shook his hand, and looked around while Harry positioned himself by the gate. 

The gate morphed into a high brick wall in both directions, edning a large opening in the forest. A bunch of cottages where located in the middle, all facing a large pole erected in the center of the clearing. Had we crossed the opening with a slight turn to the left, we would have found ourselves in the forest again, however less dense and containing a training ground of sorts. 

It was a cosy setting, with lights both from inside the houses, but also from lanterns hung from  wherever there was a higher point, be it a tree or a roof. One of the bigger cottages had its big doors open and excited voices emitted from it, but as we approached I noticed that they died down. 

"Soo, this is us. All the houses, well some are empty, are someone's living quarters and this.." he indicated the bigger house we were now walking towards. "..this is Jack's house. I mean, the Alpha's house, of course. Heh."

"Call me alpha again, and I will hang you from a tree," Jack came out from the house and grinned towards Vile. He opened his arms and engulfed both Hild and I in large, warm hug. "Welcome, kiddo, welcome Hild."

His cottage was larger than the others, and yet it felt a bit crowded with about a dozen largely built men already in there. As we entered, I counted ten pairs of eyes turning towards us. The room looked cut out of a Viking photo book. 

They were all of different ages, but all were tall, blonde, blue-eyed, and had proud faces. Even the youngest, Vile, looked like he had fought many a wars and won them all singlehandedly. They all looked like they could win battles singlehandedly. Bulk, bulgy, and muscular, they were a sight for sore eyes.

"Alright, alright," Jack ushered for silence. There was no need, though because as soon as we entered the room, you could hear a needle fall.

"This is Hild; you all know who she is, and this little kiddo here is B. Beorn's daughter."

He turned to us.

"And this is... Karl, Arvid, Boe, Fjalar, Bror, Gammal, Gorm, Halvar and Toke. And Vidar you know of course."

Everyone greeted us with a nod and a smile, except for Vidar, who took five long strides towards me and pulled me into his arms.

"B," he mused into my hair, and I did lose my breath for a second. Or two.

Jack cleared his throat, and Vidar let go. My teenage brain immediately labelled his release as reluctant, but he did go back to the corner from whence he came.

A long table stretched across the room, and at Jack's request, we all sat down. Vile grabbed my arm before I could do anything and indicated the chair next to him. I sat down smiling. Everyone seemed so warm and welcoming, but I did notice that I was not the main concern for most of them. Hild was treated like a royal, fussed over like she was made out of porcelain, and I wasn't even sure she was allowed to chew the food herself; someone had probably offered as pampered as she was.

Vile turned to me.

"So, Vidar, huh?"

I gasped and smiled.

"Shush! And no. It's nothing like that," my cheeks blushed at even the thought of it. Or, heh, like I hadn't thought about it. Of course, I had. My cheeks were probably blushing because of the warm room, but Vile wouldn't know that. I could pass as an innocent in this.

"You sure?" he gave me a smug smile. "I could swear he keeps glancing your way."

"He is a bit old.. isn't he? How old is he?"

Vile shot Vidar a sideways glance, earning him a slight turn of Vidar's head in our direction.

"I think he is like 24-25 something. So a bit older than us, but is it too old? Not so sure. Not with that face."

I already loved Vile. He was the first one my age who had a conversation with me lasting longer than five minutes. We were the youngest ones there, with Vidar's pretty, and pretty smug too, figure being next in line in age. 

As it turned out, my high school registration had sparked something in Jack, and Vile had also been prompted to register. I was overjoyed when I heard it. We spent the entire dinner talking and chatting like old friends.

At the end of the dinner, Jack stood up and once again ushered for silence. This time needed.

"Ok, my friends, I have some announcements to make!" he looked around, and everyone silenced. "First of all, from now on, we are known as the Ironwood Pack."

Cheers erupted.

"Secondly," Jack held up a finger in the air. "Because of this, we need to enter the Tournament of Packs at the Gathering that will be held in August. This means we have to fight.."

Loud cheers were heard even before Jack had finished his sentence.

".. against other packs to earn a rank."

Even more cheers. They sure seemed to like fighting.

"The fighting is in human form." 

Even more cheers. 

"And in the.. tadaa.. minimum of twelve."

"PHALANX," erupted in the room, and if possible, even more cheers were heard.

"I am not allowed to fight, though. The warriors fight in the rank tournament, and since I have to pretend to be an alpha, I cannot fight with you."

Solemn swears were heard, but only Vile raised his voice.

"But that will not make a full phalanx then; we are only eleven."

Jack looked at me and smiled.

"B will fight. That will make you twelve and a full phalanx."

Cheers erupted again, until...

"Absolutely not," Hild stood up. "She is a seventeen-year-old girl, and you want her to fight in a tournament?"

"She doesn't have to fight, but she needs to be there to make it twelve," Jack said dismissively. Like it wasn't a big thing to fight in a tournament filled with werewolf warriors.

"I can fight," I couldn't, obviously, but new eruptions of cheers were heard, and Vidar gave me an appreciative look. Be still my beating heart.

"You know how to fight?" Vile whispered with an impressed tone.

"No," I chuckled. "But I suppose I can learn?"

---------

A couple of days later, it was evident that learning would be painful as Vile once again flipped me over, making me land hard on my back.

"Ouch," I groaned, sat up and slowly moved to stand up with the help of Vile. "Can we do something else, please?"

He grinned.

"No," he got into a fighting position again, and slowly and painfully I mimicked his movements. "You need to learn this, or you will not last long against someone who doesn't think your face is worth saving."

"Naw. You think my face is worth saving?" I said with a smirk.

"Bah. I said someone else. I have standards I'll have you know," he lunged at me again, but this time I was prepared and managed to both move and fend off at the same time.

"Maybe you should worry more about your own face," I danced around, overjoyed at my first small victory. It was, of course, stupid - as I immediately was flipped to the ground again.

"You kids started to warm up yet?" Vidar stood over me in all his splendor. He looked remarkably untouched, and with all the dust Vile had had me bite since we started the training, I felt like a pile of dirt next to him. He held out his hand and dragged me up towards him. I made an effort to bump into his chest as I got up, and it was like bumping into a rock. Was there anything with this specimen that wasn't perfect? I backed away and turned to Vile, who tilted his head.

"Stop swooning, you simpleton. Let's get him."

Vidar smirked and got into a defensive stance. Vile and I circled him for a while until Vile finally lunged, to absolutely no avail - as he was easily fended off by Vidar. I took my chance.

I shouldn't have. I wasn't flipped this time, I was thrown onto Vile, and there we were in a pile of losing.

"You have no balance. You can't fight when you are tipping over all the time," Vidar held out his hand and dragged me up. Once standing, he put his finger under my chin and tilted my head upwards towards him. "And I am concerned about your face."

At least, I think that was what he said; my teenage brain couldn't process the words. I was busy staring at the shape of his lips as they moved when he talked. Soft. Inviting. So close. I swallowed.

"Alright there, young lady," Jack lifted me up and threw me over his shoulder. "Vidar is right; you need to work on your balance. So, off to the logs with you."

With me over his shouldes he walked down toward the lake, where "the logs" apparently, and not very surprising, actually meant some logs floating in the water. I was grateful that they seemed pretty broad, as Jack unceremoniously dumped me on the ground at the beach in front of them.

"Alright, kiddo. Your first task is to be able to stand on one foot on one of them."

"But.." I worried. "I am not dressed for this." I looked down at my T-shirt and shorts, knowing very well that this would be a wet exercise.

"Bah. No one cares."

I cared, though. But no one cared about that. However, since no one actually was around, I had no arguments left. Carefully I waded out to one of the logs and attempted to climb up. Eventually I managed to, but not without becoming drenched to the bone on my way toward this meager sucess. Jack left me to it, and a couple of hours later, I had at least managed to stand on one leg a couple of times.

I was now dirty, soaked, with a blood stench in my mouth and a cracked lip, but I had managed a day of training at least. I held my head up high as I crossed the training grounds walking towards the gate to go home. I was glad there was a side door at Patty's so I wouldn't have to walk through the restaurant in this shape. 

I had just passed the training ground when I heard someone catching up to me.

"B, wait!"

I turned around and saw that one of the other men came jogging towards me.

"Hang on! I got some dry clothes for you. Uhm.." he scratched his head. "They will be a bit large, but I thought perhaps it would be better than being completely drenched."

Oh.

"I.. thanks.. uhm..," they kind of all looked the same, so I wasn't sure whom I was speaking to.

"I'm Toke," he grinned. "I suppose we all look the same."

I took the clothes from his hands and looked around as to where to change. Then I decided that the Vikings probably could handle a bit of exposed skin and started to pull off my T-shirt. I quickly put on Toke's and noticed that everyone had their backs toward me when I emerged again. The T-shirt was long enough to almost pass for a dress, but I quickly decided otherwise when Jack emerged from his lodge, giving me a stern look.

I was now dry but looked like either someone doing the walk of shame or someone who found her clothes in a dumpster. I decided that I would make it work. I took my wet clothes in hand and turned back towards Toke.

"Thanks!" I smiled and waved, and noticed his sideways glance towards Vidar who hastily approached before he smiled back.

"No worries.. umf," the last was said during a futile attempt to remain standing when Vidar wrestled him down.

I slipped out the gate and started to walk back to Patty's. I had promised to help out in the restaurant that evening and needed to get back in time to make myself presentable. I didn't want to stress our finances, and working extra was a way for me to get some money to spend on clothes or things like that.

The walk was uncomfortable, but it turned into somewhat of a nightmare when I approached the small path that led to my street. In the opposite direction, also heading towards the path, a group of people approached. I sniffed - and yes, werewolves. I stopped in my tracks, hoping that the distance would be enough to give me some cover, but I could still both see and feel their eyes linger on me and my pathetic appearance. I even faintly heard someone murmur, "wondered what happened to that poor girl" as they passed. I raised my face as I stood only to find myself face to face with Henry Johnson, who was last in line.

His eyes widened in recognition, and he half opened his mouth. I immediately broke eye contact and tilted both my gaze and my face down, not wanting him to notice my red cheeks, the cracked lip, or my general appearance. He paused for a second but then continued to follow what I presumed was his family.

I only managed a short prayer that they were not heading to Patty's, but of course they stopped outside to wait for someone, forcing me to pass them again. I ran past them as fast as I could and up the stairs on the side of the building.

Hild looked up at me from the sofa when I entered the apartment.

"Oh my, what has happened to you?! I swear I will kill anyo.."

"It's fine. It's mostly the work of logs, actually. The good news is if there is ever a need to stand on one leg on one, I am your go-to person," I allowed myself to slump down on the sofa before taking a shower.

"Whose clothes is that? They reek."

"Oh, I didn't notice. Mine was wet," I indicated the wet pool of clothes inside the door. "These are Toke's."

She looked smug.

"Oh, not Vidar's? Why do I imagine that he didn't take that well?" satisfied with her small victory over Vidar, she sat back on the sofa and continued with her work.

"You don't like Vidar?"

She smiled.

"Of course I do. I just think it would benefit him with some competition. He is too aware of his own splendor. And a bit of a trickster."

I shrugged, excused myself, and took a long and well-deserved shower before I changed into the attire that Patty preferred. White blouse and black skirt, hair in a bun. Glancing out toward the living room to double-check that Hild was not approaching, I also quickly put on some mascara and tinted lipgloss. Only to look good for the guests, of course. Nothing else. 

I double-checked so that I didn't look too beaten up, but both the logs, Vile and Vidar, had been careful about the face, and only the cracked lip was left as a remnant of today's activities. Satisfied that I had done what I could not to scare Patty's guests away, I went downstairs into the restaurant, only to find Henry Johnson in the middle of a large company of mixed-age human werewolves. They had booked half the restaurant, and it was evident that there was a celebration of some kind.

Patty rushed over.

"Oh, dearest dear, thank you for helping out today! Can you start with the big company over there while I finish these tables over here?"

I nodded and wanted nothing more than to go back upstairs and move out. Instead, I grabbed a notebook, a pen and put on a smile.