The Fenrir Saga - Part I

Chapter 11

--- Zac ---

From the pinkish glow in my room, I could deduce that it was still very early in the morning when someone knocked at my door. I rubbed the sleep off my eyes and opened. Ben was standing outside, fully dressed and with an impatient look on his face. Yikes. The plan was to let him steam off for a few days before running into him again. But here he was, beating me to it. 

He walked past me and sat in one of the two leather armchairs in front of the large window facing the lake in the distance. Unsure of what to do, I remained standing. He sighed.

"Oh, for heaven's sake, Zac. Sit down."

Hum. I sat down in the chair opposite his and stared out the window. It was a beautiful morning, but too early for this. We sat like that for a couple of minutes before he started.

"Tristan called just now, not being detailed. They have the girl."

I opened my mouth, but he motioned me to let him continue.

"But there are complications. Henry Johnson is with him. As I am sure you know."

The last sentence was bitter and cold. But I still felt like the conversation was going better than expected. I moved to talk, but a movement from Ben silenced me again.

"And there is a woman with them, too."

A woman? I had no idea who that could be and furrowed my brows. Again, he continued:

"The woman is in bad condition, and the girl is unconscious."

Now, I couldn't stop myself.

"Is she badly hurt?"

I braced myself. He looked up.

"The girl? No, just passed out. As I said, Tristan couldn't elaborate."

I leaned back in the chair and let out a heavy sigh of relief. Ben looked at me quizzically.

"This girl... she got to you? You seem to care about her."

I looked out the window again, trying to find a way to formulate a sensible sentence.

"She felt so extremely lost and alone, and I felt protective of her. As she was someone dear to me."

He moved uncomfortably in his chair.

"Family... yes. Zac," he started, and I finally looked him in the eye.

I could see that he was struggling to say something, something that meant something. So I waited.

"Zac, I love you. You are my brother and my only family, and I don't want to lose you," he said, putting his finger up in the air. "But you are stretching my patience here."

I breathed for the first time in two days, and the oxygen felt good in my lungs. I grinned.

"Well, if you weren't such an asshole all the time, I wouldn't have to."

Too soon?

He laughed.

"Jerk."

Then his smile disappeared, and he stared out the window again.

"I don't know what to do with the girl situation. We don't need her, and since the Johnson boy is also there, he can brief his father on her non-threat status. They won't be interested in her."

"The woman - is she human?"

"I don't know. Tristan only said she was in bad shape."

I asked if he knew where they were, and he provided the general area. We only sometimes visited this area, as it was dense with humans. We went into towns for everything you could expect but rarely socialised with humans. Not this pack, in any case