Beonnie

I was relieved to see them go. Had it not been for one of the boys in the group, I would have worked the rest of the evening with sticky hair. I was ever grateful as I could see how that story would pan out when the fall semester started. I did make an extra effort to be nice to the hero, and it was an easy task as he had an easy-going demeanor. He had light brown hair to the shoulders and light-brown friendly eyes. A typical brother type disguised as a jock.

As relieved as I was to see them go, I was even happier earlier when Vile stepped inside the restaurant's door to keep me company while working. He really was the best and as the big company had left, I was free to go. I took off the apron and scooted into the seat opposite Vile.

"What an asshole that girl was. What did you ever do to her?"

I frowned. I couldn't think of anything I had done apart from the Harry thing. But I had apologized, and she had seemed fine with it. It was still my best guess though. I told Vile about it, and he narrowed his eyes.

"Admittedly I know little of girls, but it seems low even to me."

"Yes, why is that anyway?" I gave him a quizzical look.

"Why is what?"

"There aren't any girls in Ironwood. No females, and how did you - like where are you from?"

He gave me an amused smile.

"Curious are we?" he leaned back knowing that he had my full attention and waited for me to grow impatient.

"Well?"

He shrugged.

"It is not as interesting as you think. I mean, you and Hild did the same thing - we just naturally gravitate toward each other."

"But we are not related?"

He laughed. 

"No. None is, well except for you, Jack, Hild, and Zac of course. And Beorn. The rest of us, we are descendants of Jack old - uhm, I mean we are descendants of the original shapeshifters. Bound by ancient laws, never alone and always with our brothers. And as for females, well, I suppose we are a bit shy..  buuut..," he gave me a smug smile. "The guy saving you - can we give him some airtime, please? What do we know?"

I grinned at him.

"I am afraid I can't help you there. I know nothing more than him being the perfect gentleman. And do we even need to know more?"

He gave me an eager look.

"We do, B. We do."

At that precise moment, the doorbell jingled again, and Vile's eyes widened first in surprise and then in evident satisfaction. I didn't have to wait long to figure out who it was, as a tall figure appeared next to me. I looked up. It was the brown-haired hero. He suddenly looked nervous.

"Uhm. Hi."

Vile immediately scooted over and made room for the guy next to him.

"Please, the hero of the day should not be forced to stand."

It seemed to relax the guy a bit as he smiled and sat down.

"Thanks. I'm Trevor," he waved his hand as a way of greeting.

"Good to meet you, Trevor, I am Vile, and this is.." Vile's eyes panicked as he didn't know what to introduce me as, Molly or B. But I beat him to it.

"My friends call me B."

"Cool. Well, I just wanted to apologize for Annie's behavior. We are not all like that," he gave us an embarrassed smile.

"Can I get you something? An extra dessert, perhaps?" I got up from my seat and fetched apple pie and cream for all of us.

It was clear that free dessert was the way to both guys' hearts as they happily accepted the plate in front of them.

"So, why is your friend so angry at B?"

"Oh," Trevor now managed to look even more embarrassed. "It was, well, I don't know if it's true, but Henry said you kind of hit on him and got angry when he didn't; well, I don't know. And since Annie is his girlfriend, I guess she got angry.."

"Annie is his girlfriend?" I blurted out before I could stop myself. It was evident on Vile's face that I had said it too fast and too abruptly and I tried to play it down. "I mean, oh okay, whatever."

After all, she had been quite public during the evening about her claim on him. Not that anyone cared of course. It was just.. news. And if she thought I was hitting on him - ok, fine. 

I obviously would have come up with something better than "a girl got angry because I rejected her," but fair enough. If that was the way he wanted to play it, I was game.

It turned out that Trevor was excellent company, and he and Vile seemed to have the same sense of humor as they were soon battling who could make us all laugh the most.

After a while, the pies were eaten, and we were the only ones left in the restaurant. Trevor gazed at me.

"Whatever happened to your lip? And your hands?"

"Fight practice," I grinned. It sounded cool when I said it, and Vile chuckled at my proud tone. Trevor didn't have to know that it was log practice and nothing else.

"We are fighting in the Tournament of Packs at the Gathering," Vile offered a smug smile. Also proud.

Trevor's eyes widened in surprise, and he half raised himself from the seat but then sat down again.

"Fuck. I didn't even realize you were werewolves. Wait hang, on. Are YOU fighting? Both of you?! Damn.. that means.." he gave us a crooked smile. "..that I am fraternizing with the enemy here."

Vile chuckled and smiled at me.

"Well, B and I are actually very friendly enemies in that case."

I yawned.

"And very tired enemies. I think I better get upstairs and try to heal some of the bruises. New day tomorrow, new logs to beat."

Henry

I heard the door open for what felt like the hundredth time this evening, but this time it actually was Trevor and the blonde guy. They had been hanging out inside the restaurant for a little more than an hour, and I had debated endlessly as to whether I should go inside or go home. I had not been able to decide and thus had been stuck in no man's land in the middle waiting for Trevor.

"Henry?"

I half expected Trevor to act guilty, but he didn't. Instead, he gave me a look of disbelief.

"What are you doing here?"

I got up on my feet.

"Well, someone had to make sure you didn't get lost on the way," it came out more angry than I intended, so I smiled to soften the eventual blow. Trevor was my oldest friend and undoubtedly free to wander about as much as he wanted.

He gave me a confused gaze, clearly very aware that he could do what he wanted and big enough to take care of any possible threats that would come his way. The blonde guy broke the uncomfortable silence by extending his hand to me.

"Hi, I am Vile. Sorry for borrowing your friend for so long."

"Henry. And it's ok. Just ask the next time so I can make him a bit more presentable," I joked. Vile laughed.

"Deal."

We all started to walk towards the small path at the end of the street, where we would turn left to go home.

"Did you know he is going to fight in the ToP?" Trevor blurted out, clearly impressed with his new friend.

"You are?" I gauged him. Had I been mistaken about his age? "I thought you were our age."

He grinned.

"I am. But we are such a small pack, so basically, everyone has to fight. Both me and my friend.." he tilted his head towards Patty's, indicating the girl. "..are going to fight."

I stopped, and rubbed my hands on my jeans.

"Uhm yeah, sorry about earlier. My gi... Annie had gotten the wrong idea."

"Your girlfriend Annie, you mean?" Vile said pointedly with a smug face. "Don't worry about it. My friend won't hold it against you."

I was pretty sure she was going to hold it against me if we ever met again, and given that I now had figured out that she was living in the apartment above Patty's, I was sure we would.

"So you are both fighting then? That's.. that's really cool," I was envious. I wanted to fight too. Then a thought crossed me. "You are only twelve warriors in your pack?"

Vile nodded.

"But you do realize that twelve is the minimum, right? A pack can fight with up to 30 warriors. Just to make sure that both strength and size are accounted for in territories. That is," I explained. "A weak pack with a lot of members still needs a certain territory size, so it's not like you will be facing only twelve others.."

Vile looked completely unfazed by the news.

"Oh well, more fighting for us then."

We had now reached the end of the path and stood on the bigger path leading towards school and our territory. Vile stopped.

"Well, this is my cue. I am going this way," he pointed towards the path going in our opposite direction and the thick forest that eventually swallowed it. He noticed our confused faces and continued. "I live in a small, tiny actually, gathering of houses inside there. So if you just follow the path and then turn left on a smaller one, you will find it. Or the gate, that is."

So close. I was surprised that we had never noticed them before.

We said goodbye and turned towards our territory. An awkward silence followed until Trevor spoke.

"I like them. It's good with some new people."

I caught his sideways glance at me and said casually.

"Well, brother. You know where they live now so, just follow the path."

He chuckled and then paused.

"Annie is an asshole."

I opened my mouth to answer, but he continued.

"I know, I know... I know all about how she is alpha blood, and you are alpha blood, and how great you will be together, and bla bla bla. But it doesn't make her less of an asshole. I saw you today.."

My eyes snapped up to him.

"..you didn't agree with what she did either."

Phew.