Beonnie

I limped through the forest for about an hour before approaching another cliff overhanging another lake. You would think that I would have a good amount of fear of caves, but I couldn't resist when I saw an opening under the cliff facing the lake. It was the perfect place to rest. There even was a tiny sliver of rock in front of the opening, like a porch. It was a beautiful place. I lay down, peeking over the edge into the water, where a blonde wolf stared back at me. It didn't take long before I fell asleep, letting my limbs heal as much as possible.

I woke up a couple of hours; that was my guess, at least, later. I removed the bandage on my leg and tried to walk on it. It seemed to have healed fine, and I paced around in my cave, happy to have a normal limb again. I knew I should run a bit on it to gain strength, but I enjoyed my little hiding place too much to leave already. I laid down again, halfway inside and outside the cave, peeking into the water and looking at my reflection. I looked like a miniature version of my father's blonde wolf, Frejrir. I leaned further out, trying to gauge my size, but the stone porch had become slippery, making me ungraciously fall into the water. Well, at least no one saw it.

I heard a chuckle behind me and turned around. No one was there.

The sound came again, but I located it somewhere over me this time.

I looked up. The clumsy black wolf peered down at me over the cliff edge. He tilted his head as if teasing me, and I swear I saw a smirk on his face.

Bah.

Apparently, he needed to be reminded that he was the one falling into the water the last time. I mimicked his movements from our previous meeting, and he huffed, disappearing from the edge. I managed a few seconds of disappointment before his large body came lunging over me, and with a feigned shock looking at me, he tumbled into the water. I laughed. He swam towards me, resting his head on my porch as if asking for permission.

I moved further inside, making room for him, and he climbed up, towering over me as he filled up the entire opening to the cave. Essentially, he trapped me inside the cave with his body but quickly moved inside next to me. He nodded.

I went to the opening again, making room for him, laid down, and rested my head on my paws, suddenly tired again. But it was a relaxed, comfortable tiredness.

He copied my movements and laid down next to me, resting his massive head on his equally massive paws.

Then he turned to me and looked at me intently.

"Hi."

Heh. I had forgotten about the mind-link thing at the Gathering. We didn't know each other, so it would have been hard to focus our minds on each other, but we could establish the first needed connection now that we were in proximity.

"Hi."

I felt almost shy.

"Nice place you got here."

"Thanks, I found it myself."

"You alright there?" he indicated the pile of bandages next to me.

"Uhm, yes. Just a bit clumsy this morning."

"A clumsy werewolf. That's new."

Uhm.

"Not to me. And look who is talking, Mr. Fall-over-the-cliff."

"Heh. So, why are you out here?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, why are you not at the Gathering?"

"Well, why are you not at the Gathering then?"

He huffed while I frantically tried to find a reason to be out here. I could tell the truth, of course, but I wanted to be not B this time. B got so much attention, and I just wanted to be normal, not the only girl fighting—just B. Kind of girly and stuff, B.

"My wolf needed to be let out," he paused. "I connected with him the first day we met, and we are not in sync yet."

Ok. So he was my age then. Heh.

"Oh. I see. I didn't know you could be out of sync with your wolf. Mine has also been new for a couple of weeks."

"Me neither," again he paused. "We just don't seem to get along, or rather, he always feels angry."

Henry

"Angry?" The blonde wolf tilted her head towards me. "Like all the time? Now?"

I sighed, rummaging around in my head. No, not now.

"No, not now," I wasn't even sure I wanted to talk to a stranger about this, but then again, this was not anyone I knew, and she didn't know who I was, so it should be fine.

"Well, that's good, I guess. Do you know what makes him angry?"

I tried to pinpoint what triggered it.

"Well, today I was.. at the arena with my friends, and suddenly he got annoyed and wanted to be let out."

I mean, that was it, right? I was at the arena with my friends, and Rune wanted out.

"Well, that doesn't sound like a reason to be angry. To hang with friends?"

No, it doesn't. But...

"And the last time, that was the first time I shifted, then I also just kind of hung with my friends watching one of my friends practice for the fights."

"Was someone injured?"

"No. My best friend's best friend was there today, but he seemed fine."

"Hum. Maybe your wolf wanted to fight, too? I mean, maybe your wolf isn't angry, just like bored? I shifted so much in the beginning and just ran around. Maybe he needs to do wolf stuff? Maybe.."

I waited for her to continue.

"..maybe we should go hunt?"

She sounded upbeat, but then she continued.

"Only, I don't know how to do it. My pack is not much for hunting, and my two friends have not shifted yet."

It almost sounded sad that she unconsciously mentioned having only two friends, but neither of my friends had shifted, no matter how many they were.

"Neither has any of my friends. But let's go hunt."

We left the cave, and I could see how she took tentative steps with her left front leg but seemed to decide it worked fine. We ran comfortably, starting with me in the front and her following behind me until I realised my speed could be too fast for her and her injured leg and consciously slowed down, so I fell behind her. I had a great time. Rune seemed at ease; she was funny, the weather was good, and we even caught some rabbits.

We ended up on the cliff on the opposite side of the lake from the Gathering. It was now late afternoon, and I had ignored so many mind-links from my friends that I didn't know if I still had any when I returned. Rune didn't seem to mind; he was content with his one new friend, and she was easy to hang out with. No pretence or anything like that; just easy. She didn't know my rank, and I supposed that could have something to do with it, though I didn't expect her to be the type to care about such things.

"Well, I should go.." she hesitated for a moment. "Thanks. This was fun."

I smiled. Or whatever wolves did. And took a chance:

"Maybe I will see you again tomorrow? At the cave?"

"Rabbit for breakfast? Sure."

She darted off to the left side of the lake and me to the right. Tomorrow then.

My good mood disappeared as soon as I set foot in camp. The first thing I saw was Annie sitting on the bench by the entrance. Instead of approaching her, I turned on my heel and went to my parents' quarters. Perhaps I could pretend to have spent time with them.

"Henry, dear. There you are. I haven't seen you around at all," my mother hugged me tightly, utterly oblivious that I was 17 and perhaps not a baby anymore.

"Hey, Mom.." I hugged her back. Perhaps I needed some comfort after all.

She leaned back from the hug, frowning.

"What is wrong? You didn't protest the hug."

I didn't know what was wrong. I just knew I had felt good for the last couple of hours, but now I felt.. less good.

"Don't tell Dad," I didn't know why I said that. I just wanted to figure out this out of sync with Rune before my father became all alpha and stuff. "I have connected to my wolf."

She beamed.

"Oh, but Henry. That is wonderful. We should have a party or something. A dinner perhaps.."

"I don't get along with him."

She stopped her party planning, smiled, and looked at me.

"What do you mean?"

"He gets annoyed and angry at things, and I don't know what to do."

She tucked some stray hair of mine behind my ears.

"Henry, dear. Your wolf is not some distant cousin; your wolf is you, part of you. If you don't get along with your wolf, it means you are conflicted about the things you do. Your wolf is just more intuitive than you are. You need to figure out when and why you react."

I gave her a quick hug and turned back to the forest. I walked along the back of the camps, pondering over where to go.

I knew the problem, didn't I?

I was walking towards the problem, wasn't I?

B.

I wasn't interested in finding my mate right now. I was also too young to have a fated mate already. So, I was breezing. I really was. I just happened to enjoy breezing close to B. She was pretty cool. She smelled really good sometimes. She looked good in a fighting pitch. It could be the leather suit, of course, but still.

I dared to think about how Vidar's design for a leather suit would look on her, but Rune stirred too much, and I had to let it go.

Annie. I forced my thoughts to her.

I wasn't in love with her; I knew that. I wasn't in love with B, either. I just liked to think about her. A lot.

But all of this didn't matter at all. My father had decided that Annie was the best choice for me, and I had little to no say in the matter. It was what was best for the pack. It always was. I just had to conform to the idea and commit to it. That was all.

Then I thought about the blonde wolf. She was a welcome break from everything: fun, easy, anonymous, and kind.

Tomorrow.

I turned around and decided to walk back to our camp. Annie, Skylar, and Tate were sitting by the entrance, and I walked over to them.

"Where have you been all day? You've missed all the fights," I could feel Tate getting a little bored of hanging with the girls all the time and felt a pang of guilt for leaving him all the time.

I took Annie's hand. She was just as much a victim in this as I was. Perhaps a willing one, but still. She gave me a surprised look, probably confused with all the mixed signals I had been sending lately.

"I'm sorry for leaving you guys. I have connected with my wolf. His name is Rune, and he has craved attention lately. I had to go out and run," I said, giving them an apologetic glance.

"Your wolf? Wow," Annie smiled and squeezed my hand.

"Yeah, he is kind of cool," I smirked, proud. Rune was cool. "So, are we going to the bonfire or not?"

I had decided I didn't have to waste all this energy thinking about stuff. I just had to figure out what Rune wanted and then go with that. Within limits, of course. Leather suit. So, I would let him take control for a bit and then take things from there. And Rune seemed aloof with the idea of going to the bonfire. And perhaps, not that I was thinking about it, but maybe we would meet the blonde wolf there.

We didn't. Not that I would know if we did or not. I had no clues as to who she could be. The colour of the fur was not necessarily in harmony with the human hair colour, so that wouldn't help. Not that there were that many blonde people around, actually only one girl my age, but I knew that she both had been out when I left her, and she was also wearing a warrior bracelet, not allowing her to shift until the evening. So, B was not the blonde wolf.

Trevor

Finally, B returned from her run and compared how she looked in the locker room; this was a miraculous improvement. Her arm was almost healed, and her eyes could open and close like normal ones. Man, did she look bad before. I chuckled at the thought.

"What?" Vile turned to me as we sat on the benches around the fire.

He didn't look too bad, considering he had been in the same fight as B. Some minor bruises were all that was left, and they would fade in another hour or so.

"What?" he nudged me in the side when I didn't immediately answer. I punched him on the shoulder.

"Nothing. Just thought of how B looked just after the fight."

He laughed.

"Hah. I am glad Hild wasn't here. We would all be dead," he grinned. "Well, not you, of course. She likes you. But who doesn't?" The last thing was muttered out, and he turned towards the fire using a stick to rummage around in it.

"I can't help being so irresistible," I joked. We both knew very well that Hild adored Vile more than anything, except for B, of course.

He threw me a sideways glance and shook his head, grinning.

This had turned out to be a great summer. My other friends were great, and all, or well, Henry and Tate were great, but ever since Annie and Skylar entered our lives, it just hadn't been the same. I didn't even know why Henry bothered. Or I knew, but still, I didn't like them.

So, meeting Vile and B had saved summer. He was funny, easy-going, friendly, and just cool to hang with. His pack was more relaxed than mine, and B was cool, too. Vile had this way of making people feel good about themselves around him. Whenever I met him, he would crack a joke or say something that made me forget almost everything else. And he looked good. I mean, for a guy, he looked good. Even now, just stirring the fire, I could see his muscles flex under the soft fabric of his T-shirt. Blonde locks all over the place on his head sometimes pulled back into a bun, and his blue eyes were always smiling. No wonder he was a girl favourite at the tournament, after Vidar, of course.

The best part was that he also seemed to enjoy hanging with me. Henry was otherwise always the main man, so it was nice to have someone that was just mine. Well, and B's. But both were my friends, and I doubted that even Henry could sweep in and steal them. I would allow him B, but not Vile.

I felt a pang of guilt for thinking like that about my oldest friend. Where Henry had been as easy and outgoing as Vile before, getting older had meant more alpha considerations. Then, with Annie in the picture, he had changed slightly, becoming more serious and distant.

However, he had been different since he, out of the blue, had come up to me and hugged me a couple of days ago. Less distant and more involved.

B came out, ready to go, with a baseball cap on her head. She didn't like the attention she was getting since joining the fights and just wanted to be left alone. But she also wanted friends, hence the crazy decision to fight without her berserk power. Which I wasn't supposed to say anything about, and I didn't. She took my hand, and we started to walk towards the bonfire. She was very much like that, always holding hands or touching in some way.

As we arrived, we spotted Henry and the others and sat beside them, with B between us, head hanging low. We chitchatted as usual about the fights and how Ironwood had won their group and now would be challenging the teams that came lowest in the second group to gain ranks. It was not uncommon, but what was unique was that people thought they could gain even more ranks. Annie had been quiet the whole time, and I knew she didn't like either Vile or B, so I was surprised when she asked Vile if he had a girlfriend, pointedly looking at Skylar.

I could sense that Vile became uncomfortable at the question, and even if I knew that he didn't have a girlfriend, I still, for some reason, became nervous about what he would say. Maybe he had found someone here at the Gathering? I didn't want to lose my friend now that I just found him, and him finding a girl would mean less time for me. No. To be honest, what I felt was something close to jealousy.

I didn't want Vile to have a girlfriend because I had started to suspect that I might feel more for him than I would for a friend. I didn't know how to handle that situation just yet; my feelings were still too new and unexplored.

I had sufficed in knowing that I had the benefit of his company, and that could be all it ever was.

I almost exhaled in relief when he said no, and I felt that B had probably also been nervous as she squeezed my shoulder in evident need of support. Henry tried to ease the conversation by cracking a joke, looking reassuringly at me, and apologising for Annie's question or something.

B didn't need my support because of the girlfriend question, but when Annie invited Vile to sit with us during tomorrow's fight and suggested we could all go eat, I could feel her shoulder slouch at being excluded from the invitation. I knew Vile would reject it because of her exclusion and managed to feel a pang of disappointment, but B whispered something to him, to which he protested, but she insisted, and he accepted. I was happy he would join us tomorrow but mortified for B. I put my arm around her back and pecked a kiss on her shoulder. She was incredible, and I couldn't understand why Annie disliked her so much.

Someone started to talk about something else, and I sat like that for a couple of minutes before B slumped even further until she finally put her lips to my ear, so close I could feel her breath on me.

"I need to go. See you tomorrow. Take care of our amigo."

And with that, she left.