--- Beonnie ---

The impact never came. Someone caught me, and when I came to my senses, I realised I was curled up in someone's arms. Unsure of how to handle my current predicament, I did the most cowardly thing I could think of and kept my eyes closed. If I couldn't see them, perhaps they couldn't see me. Heh. It was a stupid plan for all apparent reasons, but I wanted a few seconds for damage control before facing my fate. However, the damage control report returned bad as every part of my body ached.

"Is she dead?"

I heard Tristan's voice from a distance, so obviously, he was not the warm body I was cuddled up against.

"No. She is breathing, and her heart rate feels normal. So I think she is just.. sort of.. chilling?"

I could feel Zac's voice from inside his chest and was surprised that he described my heart rate as normal. It should be fluttering.

"Uhm.. hullo?"

Warm breath on my face told me that he was now looking down at me, and a slight shake indicated that he was aware that I wasn't passed out.

The unexpected care in his voice was overwhelming. The pain - overwhelming. My current situation - overwhelming. Being killed by a bear, even if it was only almost - overwhelming. My life - overwhelming. Blood taste in my mouth - overwhelming. My father dead - overwhelming. 

Pain. 

I shifted towards the warmth and cosiness of his embrace, grabbed his T-shirt, and tried to get even closer. Then the tears came.

--- Zac ---

Well, this certainly was.. something, and I hadn't even had breakfast yet. What had started as a ridiculously early meeting request from Tristan had now escalated into this bloody mess.

When I stepped into the small clearing where Tristan and Dhalia waited for me, I sensed a presence already. My wolf Frej had been completely aloof, though. Since there was no breach of borders just yet, I focused on what my brother and friend wanted.

Tristan was my brother in all ways but birth, and I wanted all good things for him, so internally, I was thrilled that he had found his mate. However, I was the Beta of this pack and the extended arm of my alpha, and I had to keep some composure. 

I was reminded of the presence of a fourth person when I thought I heard a gasp from above. I also smelled an approaching bear, which put me on edge. Had they not noticed the presence of both wildlife and other werewolves? 

The way Tristan answered confirmed my suspicions. They were oblivious to anything except the wonder of their mate. Again, the bear alone and whatever it was did not alarm Frej, but still, I wanted to make sure. I looked up.

I heard a second gasp from over the waterfall, and things escalated. A young girl came flying from out of nowhere, trying with her entire being to get a grip of the rocky cliffside on her way down, but to no avail. I heard a thud and a crack when her body bounced against a small cliff, and suddenly, I had her in my arms. Frej had reacted long before me.

"Protect."

Tristan asked if she was dead. She wasn't dead. I didn't believe that she was unconscious either. I was pretty sure she was just gauging the situation. I gently shook her.

"Uhm.. hullo?"

She grabbed my T-shirt and started to cry.

Having only a brother, I wasn't prepared for this situation. I didn't exactly know what to do with crying girls. I mean, sure, she was heavily injured and was bleeding from several body parts. Her head looked like a blunt head trauma was happening, and I was pretty sure that her arm was broken. But shouldn't she then sort of scream in pain rather than sob?

"Protect." Frej again.

"Not really helping out here, dude," I replied.

However, as his advice was the only one to be had, I listened and held the girl tighter in what I hoped was a reassuring way. Her sobbing decreased, and eventually, she seemed to calm down. We were now a big mess of blood, sweat, tears, and dirt, and I tried to put her down to inspect her wounds better.

"No.. no," she put her hands around my neck and started to sob against my shoulder again.

Ok. It was time to take charge before this situation got out of hand.

"Shh.. all is.. uhm, well."

All was not well.

"Everything is going to be alright," I murmured into her hair anyway.

Well, there was a 50-50 chance at least.

I raised my head and nodded to Tristan.

"Take your T-shirt off and tear it into scraps. And try to take mine off, too. Get a piece wet, and let's see if we can do some damage control here."

He nodded, took his shirt off, and threw it to Dhalia, who started tearing it into long scraps for bandaging, wetting some of them in the water. Tristan ripped my T-shirt off from behind and did the same. Dhalia approached me hesitantly, and I shifted the girl in my arms so we could look at her better. Finally, she opened her eyes, blue and looked into mine.

"Dad?"

Her head injury was worse than I had anticipated. Not good. However, before I could answer, she blinked a couple of times and continued:

"Oh. Not dad. Dead. Mama bear. Snakes."

It didn't clarify anything. She looked at me again, and I even hinted at what looked like a faint smile before she said:

"Zac."

And then she passed out.

I was dumbfounded for a second. We all were.

"How did she know your name?" Tristan was as shocked as I was.

"I don't know. I have never met her before," I answered, carefully putting the girl on the grass.

Dhalia was the wiser.

"You said she probably had been up there for a week? She could have heard us talking about.. well, mentioning you, I guess."

"Ah. Yes. I suppose that could be it," I answered, trying not to think about what had been said.

Dhalia handed me another wet cloth, and I kneeled beside the girl. A careful examination later, I concluded that she had a broken arm, a pretty deep cut on her leg that probably needed stitches, the same with a cut on her left shoulder, but it was the cut on her forehead that had me troubled. It wasn't awfully deep, but I was more concerned about what the hit had done to her. A concussion wouldn't be too far to guess.

What now?

Taking her to the pack hospital or even to the pack doctor would mean bringing a stranger into the midst of our territory. A no-go. It would also, but I suppressed this argument as I didn't want to admit it was real; even though it was real, it would also mean attention from our alpha, and Frej didn't like that for some unrevealed reason of his own.

Our alpha was.. well, he was once a great alpha. He still was, but he hadn't found his mate, and as the years passed, it had changed him. From open, caring, and strong to doubting, uncaring, and less strong, and then to the empty, distant shell he was most of the time these days. I didn't want this young girl to be paired up with someone in the pack and forced into an unfated relationship, which I was sure would happen. I couldn't let that happen.

I got back up.

"Okay. Tristan, go back to either your room, my room, or someone else's room and get hold of a first aid kit. Dhalia, you can go. But DO NOT—and I repeat—do not mention this to anyone."

Dhalia averted her gaze at the beta tone of my voice.

"Yes, Beta."

I realised that I had been too harsh.

"And Dhalia.."

She gave me a careful glance.

"I am glad to have met my friend's mate."

She smiled, and they both darted off.

I knew Tristan would take at least some time to return, so I started with what I had. I used the wet cloth to clean her up as much as possible, and then the T-shirt scrapes Dhalia had constructed to bind more minor cuts on her legs and torso. I put pressure on the cut on her leg and managed to bandage her shoulder pretty well. Fresh out of things to dress her wounds with, I looked around.

I then noticed and opened her backpack, hoping to find something useful to dress her head with. I got hold of a T-shirt that certainly had seen better days. It wasn't clean, but it was clear someone had recently tried to clean it in what I expected was rainwater. I tore it to pieces and used it to bandage her head, where, to be honest, it only did a halfhearted job.

Unsure of the next course of action, I opened the backpack again. After all, the girl was an intruder, and some questions begged to be answered. It contained more clothes, chocolate bars (hah!), papers belonging to a Beonnie Hotisson, a leather pouch, and an envelope.

Noticing that the papers only pertained to a scholarship for Beonnie, who I assumed was lying passed out in front of me, I aimed for either the envelope or the leather pouch. I hesitated. I couldn't explain why. We needed to know who we were dealing with here. I grabbed the envelope and opened it. It contained a neatly folded, much smaller envelope, some papers belonging to a Beorn Hotisson, and some photographs. I turned them around to have a look.

The first was a picture of a blonde boy standing in front of a wooden house, holding two almost newborn babies in his arms. He was smiling proudly. I turned it around to read on the back where it said, "Beorn and the twins." Ok. The second photograph contained what looked like an older version of Beorn holding another baby in his arms, smiling proudly. I turned it around and read "B and B." Beorn's age, combined with the sharpness of the picture, made me guess that perhaps this was what Beonnie had looked like as a newborn.

Looking at grown-up Beorn, I had to admit that with a slight head injury and a mild concussion, I could agree that Beorn and I had a resemblance: blonde, unruly hair, blue eyes, and straight noses. I understood how a head trauma patient could have some milliseconds of confusion.

I flipped over the third photograph. If I needed clarification before, it levelled up. The photograph was taken in front of the same wooden house as the first, but now Beorn and the twins were not alone. With them were ten werewolves in their wolf form and one that I assumed was also a werewolf in his human form. I paid no attention to him. The werewolves were what caught my eye. They were all big and had light blondish fur.

It wasn't like blonde wolves were utterly unheard of, but 95% of all werewolves had a darker colour, in some shade of brown. Alphas were most commonly black, and then there were white or silver werewolves, but they were scarce. But I hadn't seen this many blonde wolves at the same time. Come to think of it, I had only seen one blonde wolf before, and that was Frej — my wolf, to be exact.

Frej had so far been quiet, but now I could feel him stir. The unhelpful bastard offered no explanation, but perhaps there was none to be had. It could all just be a coincidence. I did, however, fold the photograph and put it in my pocket.

I then focused on the smaller envelope I had found and the photographs. It had "To B and S on their 18th and 0th birthday" printed on the front. Alright, alright, I know I shouldn't have, but I peeked inside. The smaller envelope contained a silvery necklace with an amulet. The amulet was round and included the letter "S" and some tree branches or something. 

I had noticed that Beonnie was already wearing something similar when I bandaged her shoulder. It seemed harmless enough. I neatly folded the envelope again, turned my attention to the leather pouch, and peeked inside. It contained some glimmering things, but I couldn't determine what they were, so I turned it upside down and poured the contents into my left hand.

Something stung to such a level that it felt like a white lightning bolt had originated from it and now ventured into my hand, up along my arm, and through the rest of my body. White flashes danced in front of my eyes for a second, and then... everything returned to normal. 

I looked down at the contents in my hand. Two more necklaces, one silvery and one like oxidised silver, looked just like the birthday present and the one Beonnie had around her neck. Both had an F instead of an S, though. The oxidised one seemed to gleam at first, but then again, it didn't. Unsure of what had stung me and finding nothing but the necklaces and some old coins, I carefully put them back into the leather pouch.

That was when I noticed a pair of blue eyes looking at me.