Scottied Estimations

My name is Cian. Cian Cruz and I shift into a fox when I want to. Many of the Shifters who live around here are part of the Tribe - a group of Shifters of all kinds of species. We have different cats, wolves, other canines, rodents - but we don't call them that - and even a bear. I was elected as their Chief - a concept considered weird amongst many other groups - primary Wolf Packs and Cat Clowders.

The last year brought us a lot of new knowledge. A beast controlled balance doesn't necessarily mean rampage or losing the human soul forever for instance. This was hard to accept and I nearly killed one of my best friends, Ben, over it.

We also realized how many of us shifters struggle, how many beasts feel suppressed. Doctor Parker and our new friend Puck optimized an herbal mixture helping beasts and human souls to interact - some of us even named their beasts now that they could communicate better. I did too and we decided on Red.
It was hard at first - as a beast controlled shifter Puck was met with skepticism and fear - but slowly he gained our trust. He and two friends now even tour the world to supply other shifters with herbs and the recipe.
Unfortunately many of the others are wary about him and since it was us who welcomed him into our midst instead of killing him, we are considered responsible for him and are under watch. Are we weak? A danger to our community? We need to be careful not to antagonize anyone or risk an attack - we wouldn't fare well in a fight with another group.

On the non-supernatural side of my life I managed to finally find a second developer for my company who Ben not scared away - Anya. She swears as much and shares his humor which means she nearly gets into as much trouble with other coworkers as Ben. At least she is a bit more controlled so no customer complaints about her - besides Witting of course who complains about everyone and everything.
It is kind of exhausting with literally two Bens but she does him good so I won't complain. Since I know him he never had been into a relationship but here we are.

What worries me the most right now is a group called 'Peaceful Existence' - a shifter hostile group formed by humans who are scared of us and our beasts. The strength and health they give us. The enhanced senses… it freaks them out. They were responsible for some violence against shifters lately. It mostly ceased at the moment due to some arrests by the police lead by Detective Novac but I somehow fear this is just the calm before the storm.

"Extraction Test 31, Subject Connor Russo. Is it still your own free will to participate in this Experiment to remove your beast?" A voice, not visible for the viewer of the record, asked the man in his forties who stood beside a chair like object with attached shackles. He only wore pants and was bare-chested
"I do." He answered "Like the 30 times before… really do we need to do this every fucking time?" he asked while he sat in the chair.
The man who had operated and adjusted the camera on its tripod came around to restrain Connor "Yes we do." He just answered "Comfy?" he added and Connor nodded "Let's get this over with. My beast gets more restless and angry with every try. It knows what we plan." The bound man looked at the other one who added some pads for a cardiogram, turned the machine on which showed a steady heartbeat. When he was satisfied he walked away again and steered to his workbench.
On it he took something looking like a huge flashlight "I slightly edged the crystal and replaced the bulb…" he explained "You said the last time you felt a drag?" he wanted to know and Connor nodded.
"Hurt like fuck too but somehow the connection only weakened and gained the old strength afterwards."
The other men nodded "Ok, let's try this then. Here comes the light." He grinned and bathed Connor in light from the flashlight which was broken by the Crystal.

Connor screamed and fought against his restraints. After maybe half a Minute a light emerged from his chest, formed into a wolf-like shape and was dragged towards the man with the flashlight. "YES!" he was ecstatic but soon realized his problem "GERRY!" he yelled and another man came rushing in "The glass! Hurry!" he commanded and the man more or less stumbled to the workbench, throwing down some tools while getting a glass with a lid to screw on "Damnit Gerry! Be careful!" the man with the weapon scolded. "No get it here and get the beast inside it. Be careful not to block the light with anything else then the glass!" he ordered and Gerry did as he was told. When the lid was screwed on, the light was turned off and the men carefully placed the flashlight on his workbench then taking the glass from Gerry before the nervous man let it fall and freed the captive.
The beast inside the glass swirled around restless, crashing at the walls trying to break through or break the glass by tipping it over.
The man just laughed and held the glass up "Connor! We did it!" his happiness was replaced by worry. Connor sat slumped in the chair, his eyes open but not really responsive.
The monitor showed that he had a heartbeat but a quite fast one. The man put the glass onto his workbench, making sure it couldn't be tripped over and then went to release Connor from his restraints.
Connor started to groan and blabbing incoherent things which led the man bark out another command to Gerry and the recording stopped.


Isaac Robertson leant back in his char after he had watched the recording he had been mailed by Jonas Armitage. The e-mail also stated that Connor Russo, the man who had willingly agreed to this experiment, was better again. He had been in a kind of shock after the forceful removal of his beast. After about three days his condition had improved enough that he had went home and started his new life as a non-Shifter.
'Good Work. Go on with phase two.' He wrote back and added 'As soon as we can acquire more of that crystal build more weapons.'
A smile brightened his face when he re-watched the recording. 'Soon.' He thought 'Soon we can defend ourselves from those Shifters. No more bullying. No more we-are-better-than-you attitude.'

Humming, Anya put two cups with steaming hot chocolate on the bar counter separating the kitchen from the living room. She still wore only her oversized TMNT T-Shirt she usually slept in. The sleeve had been ripped on one side last September by Snow (it was an accident, mind you!) when Puck formerly known as Beastlord flipped Ben's Balance. Even though she only wore it at home and for sleeping, she loved it dearly so she repaired it instead of throwing it out.
Ben and Anya had moved in together over the Christmas holidays after they officially had started dating after Septembers events and were living together for about four months now. Since Ben's place had been a single-room-bath-kitchenette thing they had chosen Anya's two room apartment to move in. Ben hadn't told Anya but one reason - besides the obvious space related one - he had immediately agreed to this had been if this wouldn't work out he could always rely on his parents to take him in until he found something new - Anya didn't have that luxury.
For both of them this was unknown territory. While Anya had been in a relationship once or twice, those had always been short-lived and never entered the moving in together stage. For Ben it was the first real relationship at all let alone living with someone he was romantically involved with. But they soon realized they were both on the same page with so many things and could be just themselves with each other that it worked out great and they enjoyed every second of it.

Ben sauntered out of the bathroom with just a towel around his hips, kissing her cheek "Fresh clothes are still in the basket." Anya said as she enjoyed the gentle touch and anticipated the question "I did laundry two days ago but haven't put it in the wardrobe yet." She explained.
"Not taking me along like that? And here I thought I'd give nude a try." he teased grinning. Anya looked him up and down smirking "So you won't need this then…" she grabbed the towel and made a run with it laughing leaving Ben butt naked.
"Hey…" surprised by that, it took Ben a second to react "… Oh wait…" he laughed, changing into his snow leopard form, caught up to her and playfully bringing her down on the floor.
Anya giggled. One second a huge snow leopard stood over her pinning her down, the next Ben was back to human.
"Got you…" he smiled and then gently kissed her. Anya, returning the kiss, hugged him to her "And stuck with me…" she smiled at him making him give a little laugh "God, I love you so much for being you…" this was met by Anya caressing his cheek, losing herself in his eyes "I Love you too…" he would probably never fully understand how much this statement meant to her - the feeling of being enough the way she was.
"You think Cian will buy it, if we both call in sick now?" Ben had put his forehead against hers, grinning and was clearly joking. Anya laughed "He would buy me being sick but you with your nifty Shifter health Snow gives you?"
Sighing Ben stood and helped Anya up "Well fuck… Thought so…" he smirked and went to get dressed. Anya was right behind him already losing her shirt. She threw it on the bed standing before him bare breasted and only in her panties.
"Love, now this is outright mean…" he laughed at his mate who collected some clothes for herself and a shirt for him out of the basket of fresh clothes she knew he would want to wear today. She handed the shirt to him laughing "Just to get you over this day, Benji." She winked and went for the bathroom when Ben groaned. "I successfully forgot about the Tribe gathering after work…"
Anya giggled, poking her head back through the bedrooms door, seeing his frustration "Come on… could be a company outing… thought those are worse?" she looked at him but he just shrugged "Usually yes… but we have some bloody visitors from out of town… so Cian already told me very sternly to behave."
Anya now came back into the bedroom and gave Ben another hug and kiss "He is such a spoilsport sometimes… and you are always nice as long no one is behaving like an ass." She winked leaving Ben in a happier mood again.

While she took a quick shower and got dressed Ben, after dressing himself, took the bread rolls out of the oven when the timer Anya had set went off. Afterwards he threw some eggs and bacon into a pan, seasoning it, so they could have breakfast when she was done. After she reminded him of the day ahead he needed comfort breakfast. His mom always made this for him back when he was living with his parents - she still did when he visited and was upset. This made him think of an unrelated topic and he didn't even hear Anya come back.
He must have made a face because Anya smiled in sympathy at him "Like every other day, this one only lasts for twenty four hours." she tried to cheer him up because she thought he still sulked about the Tribe gathering. "Yeah… you are right…" he sat down next to her and fidgeted with his fork and Anya's small smile froze for a second.
"Tell me what's wrong?" she wanted to know. It couldn't be just the Tribe gathering bothering him, could it? He seemed suddenly nervous.
Ben always had a hard time trusting a woman - ever since he was played by his first girlfriend in high school who only dated him to get to another guy she fancied, was dumped by the second when he was no more use to her helping her in college and the third outright robbed him after her lover knocked him out… and those where only the highlights. That the police at the time laughed at him didn’t help at all. But usually he was just being used or taken advantage of. He finally left it with insignificant one-night-stands and met any female with skepticism, suspicion and distrust - and a good amount of being snarky if he was honest.
When Anya had come into his life, trusting her came so naturally after a while, that it had scared him into closing off on more than one occasion: every time he became aware they got closer once again to be precise.
Anya knew the basics of what he went through and still just embraced him with all his baggage. She gave him all the space and time he needed. Even now she just waited patiently for him to answer or tell her something evasive she would accept for now.
"My mom invited us over for Sunday's lunch…" he stated "Whenever we want." He took a deep breath and shook his head "Sorry, I won't push you to do this if you are not ready. Forget I said something… I just had to think of my mom when I made the eggs." He gave her a slight smile.
Anya needed a second to answer and bought the time hiding behind her hot chocolate which had cooled down to a drinking temperature.
Family was a sore point for her. She never got to know the concept of loving and supportive parents or family in general. She had been no contact with hers for about a decade now. Ben didn't know all the details but a good part of her story like she had been always considered a failure for not fitting the family's line and how they tried to force her into a role and even a relationship she didn't wanted. She was scared to be pushed into someone else's image of how she should be to fit Ben or lose him.
But the last months she had realized how important his family was to Ben though. Ben had taken a leap of faith in trusting and open up to her and finally in being with her. She realized she had to do the same now. "No, you are right." She gave him a small smile "I should meet your family. They probably already think I'm kind of weird for not doing this earlier and evading…" she hid her face in her hands "God, they will hate me…" she groaned which made Ben give a short laugh.
"No they won't…" Ben took one of her hands gently in his, for one to meet her eyes again and second to kiss it. "Trust me, love. They will like you." He smiled at her and Anya nodded slowly. "So… Sunday…" she gave him a small smile which grew in confidence when she saw how happy this made him.

The day went by smoothly until short before quitting time they got a call from Hardigan who reported a bug. Hardigan wasn't the easiest customer to deal with but he usually saw reason and was fair so neither Ben nor Anya had the urge to just leave it till the next day and antagonizing their customer.
They were still debugging when Cian entered the lair. "We need to leave for the gathering… we have to help set up everything before our guests arrive…" He looked confused at the two developers who were still deeply involved in their work.
"Hardigan reported a bug on his prod… we still try to find out what is going wrong." Ben waved him off "Go without us… we join when we are done." He added but Cian groaned "Is this you trying to get out of that gathering, Bennet?" Cian said in dangerously calm voice and even used his full name "You know it is important we show numbers and unity as long as everyone is riled because of Puck." He reminded his friend.
"Not trying to get fucking out…" Ben replied with a slight growl and Anya looked up at Cian "We have a real bug on prod." She said "…not the 'wrong shade of grey' kind." She added and Cian believed her. "I hate doing this to you but any chance you can manage this alone without staying too late, Anya?" Cian wanted to know "I really need you there, Ben." He looked at the shifter again "Alanis couldn't get out of her shift at the hospital and Hanson just called - he is stuck in traffic down from his construction gig."
Ben and Anya shared a glance and the latter gave a small nod. "Can do." She confirmed. Ben was kind of top five if they would care to apply a hierarchy. He was considered snarky and sometimes an ass but he was trusted too and his opinion was valued in general - as long as it had nothing to do with women - plus he was not useless in a fight.
Ben kissed her cheek "Just mail and run if you don't want to call him later, ok?" he suggested which made Anya chuckle "Will do."
"Thank you…" Cian said to Anya and added "Don't stay too long… the world won't end if you can't solve it today." He gave her an encouraging smile and left with Ben.
One and a half hour later Anya finally knew what went wrong, had several options to fix it and found herself between stages five - 'Oh I see!' and six 'How did that ever work?' of debugging.
It was the moment Hardigan choose to call. Anya debated for a second if she should just ignore him but since she would have to consult him which option to fix he would prefer anyways, she answered the call.
Another hour later, Anya was riled because she suffered a case of imposter syndrome due to the stupidity of the bug. But she had managed to implement the fix, deployed it, confirmed it working and finally made her way to the gathering.



The atmosphere at the gathering was a more on the relaxed side. Their guests where three cat shifters on their way through who simply were curious about Pucks methods to get more in touch with their beasts. They were also curious how the tribe worked, with their multitude of different shifters and non-existent hierarchy in general - and of course how a fox shifter became the leader.
One of the shifters, a women in her mid-thirties with a royal kind of demeanor, was particular interested in Ben all of a sudden and approached him after everyone mingled when the general introductions had been done.
"So you are a snow leopard too?" she addressed him and gave a small smile, her voice seductive "So rare to meet another one." She sat down at the picnic table Ben had retreated to and basically claimed for himself and put down her plate and beer to sit next to him.
"I… guess so…" Ben answered reluctant, looking at the dark blond woman skeptical and insecure. Without Hanson or Anya there and Cian busy entertaining guests, he just wanted to keep to himself. Cian had stressed the point hard to keep them - and the clowder they belong to - on their good side so he didn't want to risk offending someone unintentional or cause a fight with fellow Tribe mates over some bullshit. He had gotten himself something from the BBQ grill and a soft drink and kept an eye on his phone in case Anya texted. He contemplated looking for Cian and telling him he'd head back to the office now the official part was over, when this woman decided to 'grace' him with her presence.
"I'm Belinda. Belinda de Santi. I didn't catch your name before." She introduced herself again in her silky voice because Ben made no move to take the interaction further. She held out her hand to him in a way one would think she assumed a hand kiss.
"Ben Logan." Ben awkwardly shook the offered hand not realizing what she had expected. Belinda, confused for a second, chuckled about what she thought was Ben's simple-mindedness. She could work on that with him as well as on his peculiar sense of styling.
"It's a pleasure…" she slid closer to him, nearly touching him with her shoulder now "So tell me… what can two snow leopards do around here to have a good time?" he looked at him with a smile.
Ben frowned slightly. Did she try to flirt or hit on him? "Well we have some nightclubs around like the 'Madnights' which your friend and you may enjoy…" he answered and really hoped she meant one of the two other guys she came with was a snow leopard too and she meant him she wanted to have fun with.
Belinda gave a light laugh "Oh silly…" she looked at him amused "I meant us two snow leopards…" she lightly touched his upper arm "You are more on the shy side, am I right? Don't be…" she added because Ben didn't answer and looked quite shocked.
Feverishly he looked for a graceful way to end this but didn't find one and just pulled away from her touch, halfway standing up "Listen, Belinda… I'm not interested, ok? And I'm not available." he looked at her.
Belinda pouted. "Aw… don't be so mean to me…" she looked at him, crossing her arms before her chest mockingly continuing pouting "… Cian promised you are all hospitable and welcoming." She added.
Ben froze for a second. Something in her voice made him believe that if he wouldn't play along for the reminder of the gathering, she would cause trouble. He had promised Cian and he loved the Tribe - their community so he forced himself to sit back down, grabbing his drink. He should have gone for a beer even if that meant Anya and him had to walk home.
"That's better…" Belinda smiled and put her arm around his shoulders for a moment "About that club you mentioned…" she started again and Ben just prayed for either Anya to turn up or a rampaging beast crashing the party or some other emergency. Anything would do including a meteoroid smashing him.



When Anya arrived at the park Cian chose to held the gathering BBQ, she was still a little stressed out. She knew she was good at her job but still her self-esteem and confidence wasn't actually high which led to customer talks where she sometimes inadvertently doubt her skills afterwards - like the one with Hardigan today. Usually Ben was there to scold her and kick her ass about it afterwards.
She was greeted friendly by various people while she was looking for her mate. Finally she saw him sitting with a woman she couldn't place - but then again they sat with their backs to Anya at a picnic table. Paper plates and the leftovers on it indicated they had eaten together.
What made Anya frown was, that the woman was quite touchy with Ben - her hand occasional on his arm - and sat really close to him. Was this woman trying to hit on Ben? Anya knew her mate well enough to see how uncomfortable this made him. He was tense, shoulders stiff. For a second she wondered why he didn't give that woman a piece of his mind and get out of the situation but put that thought aside for later. Now she needed to rescue her mate!

When Anya reached them she put her arms around Ben from behind "Hey Benji…" she kissed his cheek and slipped beside her mate, one arm still around Ben's neck. Smiling Anya now looked at the woman who glared daggers back at her.
"You must be…?" the woman started. Her voice was quite icy when she took Anya in. She was clearly a shifter - having those golden eyes and the moving tattoo.
"Oh sorry, how rude of me…" Anya's voice dripped from sweetness, feeling Ben relaxing under her light embrace. "I'm Anya… Hi."
"Belinda." the woman pressed through her teeth clearly looking for a way to tell Anya to piss off without using those exact words.
"My mate Anya…" Ben laid emphasis on the word mate so maybe Belinda would eventually stop annoying him "Belinda is one of the visiting shifters, love." Ben added which made Anya understand why he just endured this behavior. She would have to have a word with Cian later about him forcing Ben into this.
Belinda bit back what she planned to say. She didn't want to antagonize her prospective mate in insulting his soon to be ex-girlfriend in front of him.
"Did Hardigan give you a bloody hard time?" Ben asked his mate, more comfortable now she was around. "You look exhausted…" he added.
"Nah - he was ok. Just the usual after debugging self-doubt and I'm fucking tired after this day… and hungry." She smiled at Ben and he was only too happy to take the offered way out of Belinda's presence "Then what about you just sit down for a while and I get you a steak and a drink…" he kissed her cheek and didn't even wait for her to agree and already getting up and away from Belinda's touch.
"Thank you! You are the best!" Anya smiled. Ben basically bolted and Anya knew he would take his time before coming back but that was fine by her. She wasn't that hungry and mostly exaggerated to give Ben a breather.
"If you really like him you'd release him from whatever obligation you hold onto him so he can be with a shifter. Snow leopards like him and me are very rare - he can't waste himself to a puny human." Belinda sneered in a cold voice when Ben was out of earshot.
"What the hell?" Anya blurted out "It is his fucking decision with whom he chooses to be!" she replied angry. She couldn't believe what she just heard and focused on Belinda deciding for Ben as the thing that pissed her off the most from what that women just said.
Belinda huffed a laugh "You really think he is with you because this is what? Some romance fantasy of a wild beast finding his human princess?" she waved it off "He feels obligated by something you have done for him, obviously." She looked at Anya "I would be a suitable mate for him. Not a foul mouth and a bad influence like you. He could thrive with me." She stood up and left a bewildered Anya alone.
Was this Belinda right? Not that she believed for a second that Ben would prefer Belinda over her but did he feel obligated to Anya in some way? Anya thought back to the events which brought Ben and her to be together. She did save his life when she jumped after him into the river because she knew he couldn't swim. And it had indeed been her who first admitted her feelings after she brought him back into balance. Still… he would have turned her down if he wouldn't have felt the same… right? Anya felt tears build up but bit them back. She blamed her day for even thinking about this instead of just dismissing it for the bullshit it was.

"God, I love you so much I can't even find words. I would have lost it if you hadn't given me an excuse to get away!" Ben's return brought her back to reality. He put a plate down in front of her and a coke. "This woman is crazy as fuck!" he let himself fall next to her and only then he realized how distraught his mate was "Anya? What's wrong?" he wanted to know, suddenly worried.
"I…" Anya started but didn't know how to go on. "Do you feel obligated to be with me because I saved your life?" she finally blurted out, tearing up again.
"What the…?" Ben recoiled, realizing it must have something to do with Belinda because Anya had been perfectly normal ten minutes ago when he left her. "Whatever this Shithead said to you is bullshit. I have no idea what she intends with it but she just talks shit." He gently caressed her cheek so he could wipe away any stray tear.
Anya calmed down a bit "I think she feels entitled to you because you are both snow leopard shifters and you only waste yourself on a puny human like me because you feel obligated by something I did…" she relayed what Belinda had said.
Ben's eyes grew distant for a moment - a sign that Snow had something to contribute. Since some months Ben started to have kind of conversations with his beast Snow - mostly when the latter was riled by something. "Snow is pissed and wants you to stop giving a single fuck about her and what she says. And wants us both to know that even if she would be the only female in this realm he wouldn't be with her… and neither do I for the record." He finally relayed.
Anya gave him short a laugh "Figured that much when I saw you sitting next to her all stiff and tense… I knew immediately I needed to rescue you." she gave him a smile to show him there had been no jealousy involved. She trusted him absolute.
"I was so relieved when I felt your arms around me…" he laughed "No, I'm not with you because I feel obligated nor do I 'waste' myself on you." He smirked "You are my kind of crazy and that's why I'm with you… and why I love you." he kissed her and Anya enjoyed the gently touch. "Sorry I even gave this a second thought… I blame my after-debug insecurities. This day was wild!" She had completely relaxed under Ben's reassuring words and started to dig into the steak he had brought her.
"Plus she is a manipulative bitch…" Ben shook his head while he watched Anya eat "I mean the way she raised doubt in you… and in me." He gave a bitter laugh "When I tried to leave, she subliminal threatened to rat me out to Cian for not being hospitable and cause trouble." He sighed.
"Fucking Bitch." Anya agreed full mouthed.


"Anya! Glad you are here… Solved the bug or given up?" Cian joined the two developers while Anya still finished her dinner.
"Solved it." Anya smiled but her tiredness was visible "I already discussed it with Hardigan too after I finally found out what the hell went wrong and fixed it." She swallowed the last bite and decided to use the opportunity.
"Can we talk for a second, Cian… in private?" she asked him and gave Ben an apologizing glance. She didn't want to chew Cian out with an audience. That was probably not helpful.
"Sure…" her Boss agreed wary and Ben took the paper plates and empty bottles "I clean up while you are talking…" he offered because he didn't want Belinda to return to him "Ok, what's up?" Cian asked her when Ben was gone.
"I understand the Tribes situation is not easy at the moment with Puck stirring up the status quo, other groups watching us with eagle eyes. The threat of being attacked…" Anya started trying to be diplomatic. Her first instinct was a more aggressive approach but she didn't want Cian to go into full defense "But please… don't put Ben in a situation like this again by telling him to behave." She looked at a confused Cian.
"Well… he is quite unrestrained and has a loose mouth. I didn't want to chance…" he stopped midsentence and frowned "What happened?" he wanted to know, getting a feeling he might have messed up.
"One of the visitors - a Belinda - just tried to hit on him, not taking 'no' for an answer. He didn't dare to tell her off or go away because he didn't want to cause you or the Tribe trouble and she gave him the impression to do just this if he doesn't indulge her." She sighed "When I arrived he was all tense and stiff because she nearly sat on his lap..." She paused a second "Cian, Ben respects you a great deal. He'd rather suffer through something like this then to disappoint you." She explained.
Cian looked shocked, silent for a moment "Shit… I really didn't get Belinda doing this." he finally worded causing Anya to raise an eyebrow because he seldom swore "…thank you for telling me." He added and leaned back.

Ben returned and sat beside Anya again, putting an arm around her shoulder "Cian, when do you think it would be acceptable for us to leave? Anya is tired and I…" he was trying to find a way to tell his Chief that he didn't want to meet Belinda again but Cian just nodded.
"Go home…" he said with a smile "... and I'm sorry." He held Ben's eyes "Anya told me about what Belinda de Santi did. I know I said to behave but you don’t have to take someone harassing you."
Ben looked at Anya for a second, who just shrugged and hoped he wasn't mad at her for stepping in unasked. Ben nodded at Cian "Will keep that in mind." He got up again and offered his hand to his mate to help her up and Anya took it "See you tomorrow, Cian…" they waved and went off home.

"That's why you wanted to talk to Cian alone… to chew him out for my sake?" Ben had his arm around her shoulder again while they walked to the car. Anya's arm was around Bens back.
She smiled at him "That's what mates are for… watching out for each other." She answered and Ben chuckled "God I love you…" he kissed her head.

Belinda watched from a distance how the two walked away entwined. Her face was a scowl - how could she get rid of this human bitch?

Peter Carlson looked around the beautiful location he was visiting for a client who he was also supposed to meet here. The shifter was still a bit tired from last day's gathering so the outdoor appointment was much welcome because the fresh air helped him focus. Whatever got Cian to host a gathering on a Monday evening he hoped he wouldn't do this again any time soon. As usual Peter was a bit early on site so he could have a quiet first impression and walk around.
He let his eyes wander. There was little clearing in the ground devoid of grass or plants where a fire could be started. They only needed some stones for extra safety. They could place the tables around it and maybe use the fireplace for Marshmallows or something like that.
The bridge into the lake caught his attention next. Did they say something about children attending? Maybe they had to add a provisional railing to keep them from accidently falling into the lake. Peter walked the bridge and kneeled down to inspect the planks to find out how a railing could be added for the event without causing damage to the bridge when he heard footsteps. Thinking it was his client arriving he was in no hurry to look around "I think we could…" he started sharing his thoughts when he heard a nasty laugh.
"I told you it would be easy enough to fake a client to lure that shifter scum here." A voice sneered and when Peter turned around he saw two men he never met before. They trained what looked like an oversized flashlight with a transparent stone attached before the bulb onto him. "Who…" before Peter got over his confusion or could shift the man holding the flashlight gun pulled the trigger - or turned the switch for that matter - and a bright light blinded peter and bathed him. The light was somehow intensified and fractured by the stone - or was it a crystal? Whatever it was it made different colors dancing before Peter's eyes.
He finally snapped out of his shock and confusion, sprang snarling to his feet, trying to shift but it didn't work - he just couldn't change shape. He felt pure panic from his jackal. The beast was clawing around inside him, feeling dragged. Hot pain brought Peter back to his knees and suddenly it all stopped. A huge emptiness spread out inside him. Wide eyed he hugged himself and stared in disbelief at the yellow glowing apparition in form of a jackal slowly drifting away. It desperately tried to counter the pull and get back to Peter but it did not stand a chance.
Peter tried to reach out with his hand but found that he couldn't reach his jackal from where he kneeled, his legs not complying to move and get him up again. Paralyzed, Peter just fell over. He didn't lose consciousness though. Unable to move he had to watch how the two men pulled the apparition of light which was his jackal into a kind of glass, screwed it shut and, with a last disgusted sneer in his direction, left him lying on the bridge. Sunlight glinted of a pin fastened at the jacket of one of his attackers. A logo… He knew it from somewhere. He couldn't remember, couldn't focus.
Finally it hit him what just happened - the two men had stolen his beast. A tear ran down his cheek as he was still mostly unable to move, all alone with no one to find or look for him any time soon.

After some minutes which felt like hours to Peter he was able to move again slowly. He managed to fumble his phone out of the pocket of his jacket. Ben had always given him shit for not properly securing his phone. Today he was grateful he never listened to the developer because now he only had to push the button on the side, swipe up to get the dialing interface and just hold down the zero - for it was the speed dial for Cian.
"Peter, what's up?" the Chief answered on the third ring, in a cheerful manner.
"Help…" Peter just breathed out and immediately Cian's tone changed. "Where are you?" he wanted to know trying to sound calmer as he felt. Peter already heard a chair shifting, keys jiggle and sounds indicating Cian already left the room he was in. "The lake…" it took Peter so much effort to speak "…Oak Tree… Clearing…" he couldn't be more specific or talk any more. "I'm all alone…" he whispered short of crying.
"We'll find you… just stay there." Cian tried to calm him and hung up. He didn't get what Peter meant with 'All alone' until later - he thought the shifter just meant he was in no immediate danger or no one else around who could help him. While getting into his car he called other shifters in the area to help him find Peter.
Peter, after Cian hung up, just curled into a ball, hugging himself crying.

The first to find Peter about an hour later was Hanson Walker who returned to town somewhen during the night. Even though Cian had woken him up and he was exhausted from his construction gig over the course of the last week and getting caught in a five hour traffic jam, he immediately agreed to be part of the search party.
Peter still was curled up and silently crying. When Hanson rushed to him to check his vitals Peter just looked at him "I'm all alone…" was all he managed to whisper over and over.
"You are safe now…" the huge man tried to calm him and pulled out his phone, looking around if someone else was there, maybe sneaking up on them. Like Cian he couldn't make sense of the 'all alone' just yet. "Cian? Found him. I share my location." He just stated, hung up and pressed some buttons.
A short while later Cian, Alanis and some others came along. "I can't see any obvious injuries but he doesn't respond to me." Hanson informed them "All he says is 'all alone' and this he says over and over." he shrugged helplessly and was clearly shocked himself "And his eyes… they are blue! His tattoo is gone too." He added in horror.
Alanis kneeled next to Peter, touched him lightly "Peter…" she spoke in a soft voice "It's me… Alanis… Can you tell me what happened?" she caressed his upper arms when Peter looked at her wide eyed and tearstained "They stole my jackal…" he managed to get out.
"What do you mean 'stole your jackal'? Who… how…?" Cian was beside Peter now too, the information Hanson had given him about missing tattoo and eye color just sank in, but the younger shifter didn't answer just repeated 'They stole my jackal…' over and over while Alanis checked him up.
"He is in shock." Alanis informed the others "I could admit him into hospital but I'm not sure this would be the best option… I'd rather like we bring him home but someone needs to watch over him." She suggested.
"Agreed. I will call Novac too... We probably need help from the police here." Cian nodded and organized shifters taking turns to be with Peter.

It was the next day Cian joined Anya and Ben in their Lair for a coffee break - or hot chocolate in Anya's case. "How is Peter?" Anya wanted to know. Cian had informed all of the Tribe that something had happened to peter but had no more information to share other than he had been attacked, his beast seemed to be gone and they should all watch their backs.
"A bit better as it seems." Cian answered "Alanis called after she checked on him. He stopped crying and repeating the same thing over and over but is still in shock and hasn't spoken much." He sighed "Alanis thinks at this rate he maybe can tell us what happened in two or three days." He added.
"His beast is really gone?" Ben wanted to know, horror in his voice audible. Cian nodded "Yes, it seems so. That's why he repeated 'all alone' over and over." He confirmed in a grave tone "I don't want to even imagine how it would feel like without Red. This seemed to be the main reason for the state he is in." He swallowed, shook his head to expel those thoughts and pulled out his phone "Alanis send this too…" he showed them a picture of a pencil scrawled symbol "Peter scribbled it… looks familiar?" he asked even though he already knew the answer.
"Looks a bit like the 'peaceful existence' logo." Anya remarked and Ben nodded "Yeah, clearly their logo." He looked at Cian "Does that mean they did that to him? But how?" he wanted to know.
"That is our working theory right know but we have neither proof nor know the 'how'." Cian admitted and sighed again "At the moment I try to get a hold of Puck. Maybe he has an Idea how it is even possible to separate a shifter from its beast." He looked at them "Be careful when you go out. Until we know more I think it would be better not to go out alone." He advised when his phone rang.
"Aaron…" He answered the call and his face went blank and he paled while he listened to the wolf on the other end "I'm on my way. Have you called Alanis?" Cian asked and nodded at the answer and hung up looking at Anya and Ben "There was another attack. Chin Akara. He is in shock like Peter." Cian rubbed his face and let his fingers run through his hair in frustration and fear "We need to stop this!" he exclaimed while getting up "Ben, I'll need you. Chin was attacked somewhere more urban… maybe you get an idea how to find out what happened. Find some CCTV or private cameras maybe…" He ordered and Ben got up too after a short glance at Anya who gave him an encouraging look, kissing her on the cheek "See you later, love. Be careful on your way home." He gave her a lightly worried smile and Anya nodded "I'm no shifter so I'll probably be fine but I'll be careful… Watch out too… both of you." She called after them.
After they left she still looked worried at the Lair's door before she went back to work with a big knot in her stomach. She could hardly concentrate - she probably wouldn’t relax until later when Ben would be home.
She didn’t know Chin Akara but she had met Peter a couple of times. Memories of last year's star gazing event and watching the pegasids bubbled up. She couldn't fathom how someone could have jumped him - or was this something done from a far out of a hiding place? In how much danger were Ben and Cian at this moment?
She forced herself to expel those thoughts and go back to concentrating on the code on the screen in front of her. 'There is nothing you can do right now…' she said to herself, taking in a deep breath.
The rest of her workday was far from productive but she didn't care.


When Anya came home after work, Ben hadn't returned yet. Anya glanced on her phone for the umpteenth time but no texts, calls or whatsApps. Not from Ben nor Cian or novac for the matter - she took a deep breath and hoped this meant nothing bad happened.
She decided to prepare dinner. Maybe Sandwiches? She could put them together and toast them in the Sandwich maker when Ben was home. When she took out the toast package she dropped it. Multiple times. "Gawd… fucking concentrate…" she scolded herself and put up single toasts in a row, buttering them which went without incidents. Of course afterwards she cut herself in the finger when she cut the ham and the cheese.
When Ben came home, Anya was in the process to put a Band-Aid around her finger. "What happened?" Ben asked, putting his keys on the shelf next door "Tried to make dinner…" Anya answered in a grumble but was clearly relieved to see her mate save and sound. "I was worried…" she added blushing. Ben laughed lightly at that. "Sorry I worried you." His laughing got him a glare from Anya - which resolved into a grin when she stood up and gave him a hug "I'm just glad you are back." She let go of him and returned to the kitchenette to finish dinner.
"Chin is in a really bad state. Cian said Peter was the same when they found him." He sighed, his hands linked behind his neck and he walked restless around until he plunged down on the couch "This freaks me out, Anya." He admitted "Someone running around ripping beasts out."
Anya had put the first two sandwiches in the maker and walked up to him and hugged him from behind. Unable to find more than platitudes to comfort Ben she just stayed silent. She knew Ben wouldn't appreciate a 'There, there' speech.
"There was nothing which could help us find out whoever did this… They definitively planned that very good…" he whispered and held her hands tight. After a second he sniffed "Love… the Sandwiches will burn if we don't take them out now." He stated.
"Shit…" Anya hurried back into the kitchen and opened the Sandwich maker "Still good." She was relieved when she took the Sandwiches out and replaced them with two untoasted. This time she stayed beside the Sandwich maker to not let them burn.
Ben had gotten up too and joined her in the kitchen "Thank you… I'm starving…" he helped her put the sandwiches on plates and carried them over to the coffee table in front of the couch followed by Anya with two glasses. With their dinner they settled in the front of the TV and tried to relax as much as possible.

Jonas Armitage carefully put the glass down on the table in front of him. The floating, glowing light resembling a jackal inside it swirled restless around, crashing against the class every now and then trying to get out or get the glass to fall.
Jonas seemed to be in his fifties, balding and wore thick glasses. Over his Jeans and button down shirt he wore a white lab coat. He wore thin latex gloves over his hands too. Today no camera was rolling as he just planned to do some documentation. Connor Russo was more or less ok again so this part of his experiments where done too.
"You can try all you want you fucking beast…" he whispered to it "…but you are stuck." He flashed his white teeth in a grin. "I will find out all your weaknesses, how to hurt you and how to get rid of you." He threatened when the door to his basement lab opened.
"Jonas!" another man entered. He was younger than Jonas, a bit on the overweight side. He looked like the type who lived in his mother's basement "I have another one for you." He held up another of those glasses. Inside it a second glowing light - this one looking like some sort of monkey.
Jonas took the glass from him, the beast inside throwing himself against the glass in fury and silently screeching at him "Fierce little shit…" he laughed and looked at the man who had given him the beast "Great work, Gerry! And another species too…" he smiled approvingly "Now I can see if beasts react all the same way or if there are differences between species… Jackal and wolf are both Canidae after all."
While he started to fit a metal frame around the glass he glanced at Gerry every now and then "How does the freedom torch works out?" he wanted to know.
Gerry snickered "Did I mention I like the name?" he grinned but got serious again "It is stable…" he started "But the process is slow." He admitted "We really need to get the shifters alone and surprise them." He added.
"Yeah that is a problem…" he admitted "I still try to get my hands on a second crystal to make another torch… but no luck so far. They seem to be rarer than moon stones. So watch out for that crystal. We can replace everything else more or less easily." He sighed.
"You stressed this point very hard on every occasion…" Gerry grumbled while he watched Jonas work "…I still can't wrap my head around that shining light on fucking shifters strips them of their stupid beasts." He shook his head.
Jonas groaned "Not any light." He corrected "That crystal we talked about… Its special structure breaks the light in a very weird way. Kind of like a prism but this one does not refactor the light in its spectral colors. I'm not sure what exactly the crystal does with the light or how but it somehow creates a pull on the Beasts that dissolve the bond between host and those parasites." He grinned "Like hit the right tune and the glass will shatter…" he shrugged "I would never even thought about something like this if I haven't read it in those books Rajab organized from our police connection."

"By the way… Sarah asked if you could make copies from the books and give her the originals back." Gerry looked at Jonas who in turn looked up startled.
"Something wrong? I thought she said they would be buried and forgotten in the evidence room collecting dust… to quote her." Jonas wanted to know and Gerry nodded "Yes but she told me she overheard Novac talking to that wannabe Shifter king Cruz on the phone when he involved the Cops. He wants to bring back that abomination Beastlord… that thing could remember the books they secured when the Cops raided that abandoned warehouse he had one of his bases in." Gerry explained.
"Got it… I'll see to it and return the books to Sarah ASAP…" Jonas promised while he stuck a metal pole inside a tiny opening in the top of the lid which opened on the pressure from the pole "…now watch." He motioned Gerry to come closer. Jonas clipped to wires on the glass - one on the pole and a second one on the metal surrounding the glass. The wires led to a large battery with a switch on the front to turn it on and off. Jonas flipped the switch, static frizzle could be heard and tiny lightening could be seen sparking at the small metal pole. The monkey in the glass twisted in silent pain. "The other one reacted the same way…" Jonas explained to Gerry who smiled "Neat party trick…" he nodded in approval "We see if we can bring you more." He added
"Be careful. With every beast they will grow more wary and it will be harder… if they find us before I done more research and made more torches, all this will be for nothing!"
"Yeah, yeah… understood grandpa…" Gerry teased and vanished from the room leaving Jonas Armitage alone with his two captives.

As soon as Gerry had left the room Jonas reached for an old fashioned voice recorder and pressed a button on it "Jonas Armitage researching on beasts. I acquired another beast, a monkey like creature this time. As the other beast this one is mute too. It appears that those beasts need a human host to communicate. The monkey beast showed the same reactions on electricity as far as I see. I will start to repeat the other experiments I conducted on the canine beasts too." He ended his recording and went back to what he called work. Setting up the camera after all. He put the glass with the Jackal into a rack next to another glass with Connors wolf inside "Looks like you'll only watch today…" Jonas mused.

Thursday came and went uneventful. The atmosphere was still tense and nervous. They were waiting for news on how Peter and Chin were holding up. The former reported to be better. Communicating normally again, shock mostly gone but he seemed to suffer from memory lapses and this whole situation had traumatized him. There had been no reports of another attack today yet but somehow everyone seemed to just wait for it - wait for whoever was next. Anya caught herself jumping every time a phone went off. So neither Ben nor Anya could concentrate on their work. Luckily for them no emergencies occurred and no bugs which had to be resolved immediately jumped out to annoy them. Finally Ben pushed himself away from his desk on his rolling chair with a deep sigh "I give up. I can't focus at all." He put up his hands in defeat.
Anya leaned back in her chair, rubbing her face "Me too..." she groaned.
"I say let's call it a day or at least a very extended break." Ben said "Maybe we could go and see an early movie… something with a lot of action and no physics involved." He suggested making Anya laugh "Yes! Most sensible thing I've heard all day. I'm in…"
"They show an old Jackie Chan movie in half an hour and the theater is around the corner…" Ben, who already had his phone in his hands, looked up at Anya who grinned "Sold!" she answered and already sorted through her open programs before she shut off her Laptop.
"Then we only need to convince the boss of our plan." Ben winked.
"He will…" Anya was sure "Just make sure he knows we will treat every call like its Witting if we can't relax." She joked and drew a laugh from her mate.
They checked in with Cian who just waved them off, fully understanding they needed distraction. They all did.


The movie really managed to lift their moods. They had the cinema mostly for themselves this time of day and clearly enjoyed it.
"I really needed this." Anya linked arms with Ben and put her head against his shoulder for a second when they left the theater after the movie ended.
"Yeah me too…" Ben nodded "What do you think? Are you up trying to get some work done?" he asked when they entered a smaller alley leading back to the office and which was deserted as it was early afternoon and most people were still at work.
"Yeah… let's try…" Anya started when suddenly they heard screeching tires which sounded so close behind them they turned around. A black van which must have been quite fast stopped so abruptly its tires seemed to smoke.
Everything happened too fast. Neither Anya nor Ben could react. The side door of the van slid open with a screech and a man trained something like a huge flashlight on Ben and bathed him in light.
Bens insides felt like turned around. He suddenly couldn't feel Snow anymore. Just how something inside him was dragged out and fought to stay there but lost the battle. Ben fell to his knees only saw the light formed like a snow leopard appear in front of him and being dragged away towards their attackers.
When Anya realized what happened she stepped between Ben and the attackers, facing their enemies, trying to block the light but Snow was already ripped out of Ben. The inertia of the pull made Snow drift into Anya.
Anya's eyes, widened in shock and pain, when she felt the unknown presence inside her, bringing her down to her knees. What the hell was going on? Unbeknownst to her, her eyes started to change from blue to golden and her right cheek started to burn when a tattoo appeared. That was the moment she realized Snow was inside her.
Ben had been falling flat on the ground only be able to watch the events unfolding, looking at her shocked.
"Damn…" the man carrying the weapon swore and focused the light more on Anya now. She too felt how something grabbed for Snow trying to pull him out of her again but the feeling suddenly ceased.
She could only hear a "Fuck!" from the man, smoke rising from the flashlight and how their attacker made a run for it - with sliding doors and screeching tires.

Ben lay on the ground unmoving when Anya staggered to his side, more falling down than coordinated, finally kneeling beside him, trying to lift him up enough to place his head in her lap. Ben was in the same state Peter and Chin had been in if she remembered what Cian told them correctly. He was conscious, tears in his eyes - dark brown eyes. Anya had never seen or imagined him without shifter colored eyes. His tattoo was gone too - she probably had both now. Close to panicking because she didn't know how to help Ben, she frantically tried to figure out what to do. Cian! Inside her Snow stirred when she fumbled out her phone, calling Cian.
"Come on, come on…" she growled with every ring "…answer dammit…" she exclaimed the second Cian answered "Anya? What's wrong?" he asked in a tensed voice because even though he was used to Anya swearing like Ben did, she usually didn't do it before he had a chance to annoy her with something in a conversation though.
"We have been attacked!" she managed to get out, suddenly feeling dizzy and lightheaded "… we just left the theater and were heading back to the office… I don't know what to do…" her voice suddenly not more than a whisper. She couldn't focus on Cian's reply - only something about stay calm, stay where you are - something along the lines… Anya sagged against the wall behind her. Her heart was pounding, Snow running wild inside her, bringing her close to a panic attack and she was scared he would explode her head. She was breathing fast - short of hyperventilating when Cian found them a couple of minutes later.

"Calm down, Anya. Breathe slowly… Alanis is on her way too…" Cian tried to calm her but when he looked at Anya - really looked at her, seeing the tattoo and the golden eyes when she opened them for a moment, he froze in his tracks, after regaining his composure he quick-checked on Ben who was in the same shock like state as the others so he knew he probably wasn't in immediate danger so he attended Anya again.
Cian had thought he hallucinated before but Anya's eyes really where shifter golden and there was a tattoo like Ben had on her cheek. "Can you tell me anything?" he tried to speak slowly, distracting her but also hoped for information. Or was she gone like Ben?
"Two men…" Anya panted "one fat, blond the other… can't remember… sat in the drivers' seat." she nearly cried because she couldn't be more helpful.
'Steady yourself.' She heard a gruff voice 'Inhale. Hold. Exhale.' Was that Snow? 'Describe what you remember… you can do that.' he continued and it really calmed Anya enough to continue "They had something like an oversized flashlight… there was light…" it was still hard to speak "…Snow was ripped out of Ben…" now she really cried when she remembered the fighting beast dragged away from her mate who just doubled over trying to reach for Snow.
'Tell him I'm safe inside you… because you saved me… again.' Snow encouraged "I stepped in… Snow held onto me… is in me now…" she was interrupted by a loud bang somewhere close - maybe a car backfiring - which panicked Snow into wanting to shift and when it didn't work, it panicked him even more. Anya grabbed her temples "It hurts so much…" she tried to scramble away from her headache which was a futile action. Cian prevented Ben's head from banging on the ground when Anya's support was suddenly gone.
Anya couldn't get up, just rolled over and puked. She nearly blacked out then and there and only half registered how Alanis and other Shifters arrived one by one. She barely got how Alanis gave her a painkiller which kind of dulled Snow out but helped her a lot to clear her mind and ease the horrible headache.

The others had brought them home eventually and Alanis had thrown everyone out except for Cian. Ben was in shock like the others but way more responsive. He already started to form coherent sentences again, remembered flashes of what had happened one moment but then he kind of broke down again the next. Alanis could only speculate on why he was better off than the others but her money was on Snow not being taken away completely but being with Anya.
When Ben looked at Anya every now and then there was a mixture of emotions. Worry because he loved her and hoped she was unhurt - he hadn't been conscious enough in the alley to see how bad she had been. Then his eyes showed envy and resentment because Anya had his beast… his Snow and he missed him, lastly there was rage and frustration because he couldn't do anything to resolve the situation.
While Alanis checked on Ben and made sure there weren't other, undiscovered injuries, Anya's mind had settled down enough to enter a conversation with Snow.
'Sorry Anya… That pain and sickness… I panicked and tried to get back to Ben.' He explained 'When this didn't work I tried to shift with you… which didn't work too and I panicked even more.'
'Don't fret… its ok now… do you know what happened?' she wanted to know
'No. This light… it cut me off from Ben and dragged me away.' He sighed 'then you stepped in and I found myself inside you… the dragging stopped' he added.
'Sorry…' Anya winced lightly.
'You nuts? You saved me from being taken by those idiots.' He had gotten riled again and the headache started to return. Snow noticed and immediately tried to calm down again.
'Am I a shifter now?' Anya asked helpless when the short flash of pain subsided. She wasn't sure if her body had gotten used to carrying a beast or if this was still Alanis painkillers at work 'And is it always that way?' she added.
'No…' Snow answered '…you are not suitable…' He stopped because it sounded mean but he couldn't rephrase it 'Sorry but that's what it is. I can't shift with you. I can't enhance your senses much or make you stronger or notably boost your healing…' he paused '…this feels weird… being so unattached… on the other hand I never been able to have this kind of a conversation before…' he observed 'On the other hand I never caused Ben such pain … we need to find a way to get me back into Ben - and fast. I don't want to cause you permanent damage.' He stated 'Agreed.' Anya answered after a second.
"Cian… Any luck getting a hold of Puck?" She spoke in a quiet voice which didn't carry over to Alanis and Ben "Yes." He nodded "The others and him are on their way back. Two days." He looked at her worried "What is wrong? You have been kind of absent… unfocused… you feeling worse?" he wanted to know.
"I'm ok… Just had a conversation with Snow. The light those idiots shone on us somehow severed his connection with Ben and dragged him out. I stepped inside the light but was too late and Snow landed inside me." Anya gave him a short version "He also said I'm not suitable to carry a beast - so no shifting, no enhanced anything" She looked at Cian, unsure if she should tell him the other thing too but decided it didn't make sense to keep something from him "He is scared to cause me permanent harm - that pain I felt, he is convinced it is his fault. So we hope Puck can get Snow back into Ben."
Cian was silent for a second until he got up "I'll tell puck right away." He decided "More time to research for him." He squeezed her shoulder "Hang in… we will get through this together." He tried for an encouraging smile when Ben's phone went off - his mother calling again. Ben shook his head and Anya could hear him saying "I… I can't…" He gave the phone a forceful push so it flew from the table and clattered on the floor, Ben breathing hard. He was close to another breakdown.
"Mother's instinct. This is the third time…" Cian mused while he picked up the mobile phone to place it back on the table "I'll call her back and explain…" he promised Ben and turned his attention from Ben back to Anya.
"Shall I come back later? Or ask Hanson to come and watch out for both of you?" he wanted to know - he was aware that Hanson and Ben had a special friendship which had extended on Anya but she shook her head "I'm ok Cian. I can take care for us. If this changes I'll call you." She tried for a confident smile which she only managed in parts but she really didn't want anyone around here right now.
Cian nodded still worried "Ok… but really call if something is wrong. Promise?" he asked and Anya nodded with a weak smile "Promise." After a final worried glance Cian looked at Alanis "I'm off. I call you later." He said goodbye.

When Cian was gone Alanis steered Anya from the chair she was sitting, on the couch next to Ben. When she sat down and was comfortable Alanis used a small flashlight to check on her light reflex "How are you holding up?" the doctor asked.
"I'm better." Anya answered "Not sure if it's still the painkiller you gave me or if Snow is settling in…" she started but before she could continue about Snows warning about permanent damage Ben scoffed "Don't get used to him, I want him back!" He grumbled angrily. Anya looked shocked at him "What the fucking hell makes you think I want to keep him from you?" she asked a bit angry herself and added "Cian reached Puck. He will be here in two days…" she looked into Ben's eyes and saw all the hurt of losing Snow and the resentment and Anya made the mistake to try to calm him "I know you must hurt so much right now…" she started, gently laid her hand at his upper arm but knew that moment she fucked it up.
Ben stood up, shrugging her off in the process, tears in his eyes, silently crying again "You have no idea how I feel Anya, so cut it!" he spat "And cut your 'Puck will find a way' crap you are about to start too!" he rubbed his face "This is something never happened before. How the hell should he know how to fix this shit? You trying to be a fucking cheerleader doesn't help at all!" he shook his head "I… I can't look at you right now… Good night." He let the two women alone in the living room, slamming the door shut. Anya flinched at the loud bang of the door.
While Anya tried her best to not take Bens words to heart Snow stirred angry about how Ben just treated their mate - no matter how much he hurt this was unacceptable. Anya tried to calm him and to fight the reemerging headache coming with it.
"I… gave him something so he should sleep." Alanis gave Anya a look full of compassion "He is hurt, Anya. Don't judge…" she started but Anya didn't let her finish "I know Alanis. I know." She wouldn't leave him alone right now - no matter how mean he was to her.
"Ok…" Alanis gave Anya a light hug "…call me when Ben or you need something." She looked into her eyes "I left some painkillers and sleeping pills on the kitchen counter. Try to sleep. Both of you." Alanis gave Anya a small smile and left too.

Anya took a deep breath when she stood alone in their living room and tried to sort her thoughts. Eventually she stripped out of her jeans, throwing them carelessly on the couch and changed into more comfortable sweatpants she usually kept on the couch too and went for the bedroom.
When she reached for the doorknob she stopped in her motion to open the door, one hand at the handle and the other on the wood of the door. She let her forehead rest on it, a tear running down her cheek, debating with herself if she should go in there. He had been so angry, so hurt. Would he rather be alone?
Finally she just decided to chance it. She wanted to be with him, feel him and show him she was there. She silently opened the door, sneaking in before gently closing it again and snuggled behind Ben in their bed, hugging him while he had curled into a ball. He was clearly still awake but not responding to her hug - not throwing her out either.
He had stopped silently crying again but losing Snow had ripped a hole into him nonetheless and the sudden loneliness made him as devastated as the other shifters had been whose beasts were stolen… and it had made him lash out in frustration and fear. He already regretted the things he said to Anya but couldn't bring himself to apologize right now. When he felt her sneaking in, settling behind him and putting an arm around him, hugging him, he started immediately to feel save and sleepy. So very, very sleepy. His last thought being 'Please don't leave me…' and the wish he would have apologized right then and there but he was already asleep.
Anya finally felt Ben breath evenly - Alanis meds started to work and he had fallen asleep. Anya was relieved and just hoped it would help Ben and he would be more of himself later.
She lay with him for some more time before she accepted she wouldn't find sleep right now and silently got up again. There were so many little noises she never been aware before and it made her jumpy and she couldn't relax… After a second she put her stuffed tiger in her place before she sneaked out of the room.

Snow stirred inside her and wasn't happy with her leaving Ben at first but when Anya went into the kitchen, inspecting the fridge he realized what she planned - she wanted to make him a special comfort food.
Anya wasn't much of a cook - it was mostly Ben cooking - but she knew she could make him happy with it - well probably not happy but hopefully a bit better. She pulled out the recipe on a printed sheet with many remarks on it from one of the books in the kitchen cupboard and began to read. Soon she realized she maybe could do the basic chicken noodle casserole but not the special dish he or his mom made out of it because the notes were full of abbreviations she didn't understand - and Snow was at a loss with many of them too.
She bit her lip and debated with herself until she reached for Ben's cell on the coffee table. "Don't be such a wimp… she won't eat you…" she muttered to herself and looked through Ben's contacts until she found the one named mom. She typed the number into her own phone and took another deep breath before she hit the call button. She was something between nervous and scared and nearly jumped when the call was picked up "Misha Logan?" a soft voice inquired
"Hi, this is Anya Jarr…" she couldn't finish the introduction "Anya!" the voice gained a worried and excited edge at the same time "How is my son? And are you ok? Cian told us what happened." she wanted to know. Anya felt a bit of relieve because Ben's mom apparently not only knew who she was but also knew about her sons' condition. She hadn't been sure how much Cian would have told his parents. This made the whole thing less complicated for her "He is asleep right now but is pretty devastated about losing Snow." She sighed "But I think it helped a bit that Snow is with me and not stolen like the other two beasts." She added and there was an agreeing huff on the other side of the line "And you?" Misha asked again.
Anya hadn't anticipated this specific question. Why would it matter to Ben's mom how she was? "I… I'm good." She answered and thought she heard a relived sigh. Anya continued "Why I'm calling you: I want to make your special chicken noodle casserole for Ben." She winced lightly "The thing is I'm a really bad cook and while I found the recipe I don't understand the abbreviations used to alter it. Maybe you can tell me what 2 pinches RSP means?"
"Oh, this will do him good." Misha told her happily and Anya smirked "Only if I don't fuck it up." She blurted out, blushed. She just swore at her mate's mother. What a bloody first impression "I'm so sorry..." she hastily apologized but Misha just laughed heartily "You have met my son, your mate?" she teased and now answered her question "RSP means rose sweet pepper. Just grab some between thumb and index finger and spread it over the dish and you have a pinch." she explained and they went on for the rest of the instructions neither Anya nor Snow understood.
Finally the two bid goodbye "I'd say please take good care of my son but I see that I don't need to worry about that at all and he is in good hands…" Anya could practically hear her smile and blushed deeply "Please keep me updated, sweetheart, will you?" she asked and after Anya promised her, they hung up. After taking a deep breath Anya went to work constantly muttering "Please don't fuck it up, please don't fuck it up…"


Ben, the stuffed tiger in his arms, came out of the bedroom after a two hour nap with the casserole nearly done too. He looked startled, probably because Anya hadn't been next to him in bed anymore. He sniffed the air in disbelieve and finally his eyes found hers and he crossed the distance in an instant, hugging her. Anya had the feeling he shook a bit.
"I thought you left me…" he whispered "Because of the things I said… I'm so sorry" he added, feeling Anya returning the hug, making soothing noises and Ben just held her even tighter. "We are good Benji… I'm not mad at you." she assured him. They stood there in silent embrace until the timer went off and Anya carefully detangled herself from Ben to retrieve the casserole, Ben following her.
"This is my mom's special…" he looked at her in disbelief, tasting it right out of the dish "…this is great! How…" he didn't know how to end the sentence.
"So I didn't fuck it up… good." Anya was relived it hadn't turned out wrong. "I called your mom because I didn't understand most of the remarks on the recipe… I hope that was ok…" she looked a bit guilty.
"After I have been such an asshole… you called my mom so you could make me a special dinner?" he couldn't believe it.
"You have been in shock and you hurt, Benji…" Anya looked at him "And you are right… I can't even begin to understand how you must feel…"
Ben winced. He regretted saying this. Maybe it was true but she had just wanted to comfort him, make him feel save. Save enough to open up about how he felt and he just had shut her down "Still… It was uncalled for…"
Anya gave him a smile "Come on… let's eat…" she had taken out two plates and divided the food in the dish on them. While Ben Took the plates to the table Anya fetched something to drink and both started to eat.

A silence ensued which, for the first time since they had become real friends nearly a year ago, felt somehow awkward. Anya was unsure what to say in this situation with her hosting Snow and see Ben suffer from his absence. Ben on the other hand still felt bad about the things he said in his frustration and unsure what to say about.
And while Anya didn't hold anything of the things being said against Ben, she couldn't get it out of her mind either. Things said in anger usually tend to hold a grain of truth.
"Benji…" she started reluctant and suddenly not sure how to go on. Finally she decided to be blunt "…would it help you if I stay somewhere else until Puck can sort this out?" she looked at him helplessly.
Ben looked at her wide eyed. "No! Don't go!" he blurted out, scared she would just go away. "Please…" he added and rubbed his face "I regret all of what I said but that 'I can't look at you' line I regret the most." He admitted.
Anya nodded slowly "So what can I do?" she wanted to know emphasizing the word 'can'.
Ben sighed "You are already doing it, Love." He answered "You bear with my erratic behavior with an enormous patience…" he paused for a second, searching for words "This…" he started but changed what he wanted to say "I feel so lost without Snow. So empty…" he looked at Anya with desperation in his eyes that wrenched her heart. "I'm so used to his presence and what he does for me… I feel blind and deaf and like I have a blocked nose…" he had put his elbows on the table on each side of his plate and now hid his face in his hands "I'm just happy you are ok and that Snow is save with you." He ended.
If Anya would have planned to tell Ben about her own struggle she would have abandoned that thought after this confession. It would just dig the hole Ben was currently in so much deeper. So she just reached for his hand, squeezing it "Then I'll do just this. Be here and cuddle you…" she gave him a slight smile she didn't really feel "We can do this." She was sure. Tomorrow or Saturday Puck would be here and he would hopefully have a solution for Ben and for Peter and Chin.
"Yeah… I really hope Puck has an idea to transfer Snow from you back to me…" he nodded, paused because he realized how this sounded "But if not I'll get used to being a human again…" he looked at her - this time without any resentment or anger "And I know Snow is in best hands with you…" he added.
Anya was stunned for a second then gave him a small smile "I'm sure he knows a way or if not find one. He researched so much about beasts and the balance… if those thugs have a way to remove a beast from a body then he will find it out in no time."
Ben took in a deep breath "I can only hope…" he watched as Anya suppressed a yawn "Go to bed, love. I'll clean up." He offered but Anya shook her head
"I don't want to be alone right now as much as you do." She admitted. So they both cleaned up before they snuggled back into bed again.

"What did I tell you, huh?" Armitage was furious as he yelled at the two men "I told you to be damn careful with the Freedom Torch." He answered his rhetorical question himself. Grumbling he inspected the flashlight, carefully removing the crystal.
"The Crystal seems to be ok…" he looked scolding at the two men "Good for you!" then he looked further at the weapon "The bulb seemed to be burned out…" he mused and very gently put the flashlight down on his workbench "I'll fix it." He promised "You will find out who the girl was. The one the beast vanished into." He ordered and the two men were only two happy to leave the basement laboratory for now.

Anya stood at the open window in the living room after she had woken up with pounding heart and found it hard to breathe. The cool nightly air finally helped her to even her breathing, slowing her pounding heartbeat, calming down again. Dizziness settled in so she grabbed the window sill to steady herself. She felt Snow's guilt inside her. He blamed his presence for her headaches, the dizziness and the racing heart she just had suffered. He exhausted her and he knew it and as much as Anya wanted to deny it she knew it too.
Suddenly Ben was behind her and embraced her. "Since the attack you took care of me, listened to my worries and how I feel… and I not even asked you once how you were. I'm a lousy mate… Sorry." he whispered and put his forehead against her neck.
"No, you are not." Anya enjoyed the embrace, closing her eyes and taking in a deep breath, feeling better.
"So…?" Ben asked and Anya frowned "So… what?" she asked confused and Ben made a sound something between a groan and a sigh "How are you feeling?" he repeated.
"Ok-ish…" Anya answered honestly. Ben just held her tight while she breathed in some more of the cool air and waited patiently if she would share something more. After some silent seconds Anya continued "I'm not suitable to carry a beast so Snow can't connect to me the way he does with you." She started "I have the tattoo and the golden eyes but I can't shift, don't have shifter strength or much enhanced healing." She swallowed "But it seems Snow did enhance some of my senses a bit and it drives me nuts… all the noises and smells…" she admitted "I have a mean headache and I've just woken up to my heart racing so fast I feared I couldn't breathe anymore. Like a panic attack." She sighed and shrugged "Snow feels guilty about this and that his presence exhausts me and he fears he causes me permanent damage but it is not his fault. And I don't know how to make him understand that I neither blame him nor am I mad at him." All of this just bubbled out of her. She hadn't planned to tell Ben all this at this moment. He had his own problems to cope right now.
Ben needed a second to process all the information Anya just blurted out. "Yeah, you really have to get used to the enhanced senses." Ben couldn't keep the worry out of his voice when Anya turned around in his embrace. He felt helpless because he couldn't change a thing.
Anya's arms where covered in goosebumps and she shook a bit from cold when she hugged herself closer to him. "Let's cuddle you in a blanket to warm you up and I'll get you a painkiller." Ben suggested, having found something he could change and while he closed the window again he felt Anya nod.

The next day Anya had been into the office without Ben because of a long planned stupid consultant meeting that Cian, Ben and she both agreed not to postpone. So Anya had to cover for Ben here. She would have preferred to work from home to be with Ben. He was better after the night's sleep but still not in a condition to participate in life outside their home. He tried - he really had - but once outside his diminished senses freaked him out so much it brought him near a panic attack. So Anya called Cian and the three of them decided on Anya coming alone. Finally she was on her way home again.
She had a slight headache from sitting in the conference room for three hours to listen to a government hired consultant giving them recommendations for their government funded projects - half of them useless due to restrictions on the customers systems - the one he should know. The usefulness of the other half was debatable in her opinion - to be polite.
Anya sighed at the thought of it. As she told Cian afterwards she needed to sleep over it to see if she was just in a bad mood because of that whole situation that made her reject the ideas or if actually something factual argued against them. She would pitch it with Ben if he was up to it - maybe it would cheer him up to tank the consultant's concept or getting hyped because it gave new impulses.
At the moment Anya was distracted on her way to the subway. Snow had been feeling uneasy for the last minutes and she tried to find out why so she didn't notice Belinda who suddenly stood in her way, backing her into a side alley.

"How much longer will you plan to play this game?" Belinda hissed at Anya, her face close to Anya's who raised an eyebrow "I have no fucking idea what you are talking about…" she wanted to squeeze past the shifter but Belinda blocked her way "When will you release the beast so it can be back with whom it belongs and free Ben from whatever you hold over him?" she snarled.
"Snow is with me at the moment because he is my friend who I didn't want to see abducted…" Anya answered in a sharp tone. It was true enough - Snow was her friend - but that this all was more of a coincidence… this woman didn't need to know this. "As soon as we find a way I'm happy to see him reunite with Ben." Anya continued and tried to calm the beast inside her. Snow grew angry with Belinda and Anya had no experience to contain an angry beast plus her headache and the sickness threatened to return because of it. "And for Ben: I hold nothing over him." She added.
"Liar!" Belinda snapped and Anya had enough. This woman needed a reality check.
"Let's, just for a second, assume we are in bizarro-world where I break up with Ben to accommodate your ridiculous claim over my mate…" Anya looked at Belinda now who became thin lipped out of anger "It would still be Ben's decision who he dates after me and believe me: He won't magically like you just because I'm out of the picture. That's not how this works… and after the stunt you pulled at the gathering? He will not even consider you as a prospective date… Neither would Snow by the way." Anya stood her ground even when Belinda came dangerously closer - so close she could feel her breath "But this reality check aside: no! I'm not breaking up with my mate." She insisted.
Belinda moved so fast Anya couldn't evade the punch and hit the wall of the building behind her hard. The only thing Snow could do was to reduce the damage with the little healing magic he could provide for her.
Groaning Anya, who had collapsed on the ground after hitting the wall, tried to get up again but Belinda was already onto her a second later "I'll only say this one more time, human…" she started when suddenly two men appeared behind them. The two women hadn't even noticed the van pulling up and backing into the alley.
"I always knew you shifters only playing civilized. Ripping each other into pieces is more in your instincts, right?" one laughed, training the flashlight gun at them. "Two at once. Jonas will be so pleased…" the other one added. Apparently he never got the memo about only attacking one shifter at a time or the one about not to strain the gun - or the crystal to be more precise - too much.
Belinda apprehended the situation within a second. Her clothes exploded from her when she shifted and ran, leaving a weakened Anya behind to fight for herself.
"Let her run, get the other!" the first of the men yelled to the second who initially aimed at the shifted Belinda to change targets. He couldn't know Anya was unable to shift.
The second men changed target immediately and Anya, who still was on the ground, was bathed in the crystal-broken light. She felt how Snow was dragged out of her. How he fought. Anya fought too but could only watch as the light in form of a snow leopard left her. She tried to scramble up, but her whole body hurt and she didn't know if the reason was her hitting the wall or that snow was ripped out of her by force. She needed two more attempts until she was on her feet again.
"This is a fierce one!" The two men had expected Anya to be out like Peter, Chin and Ben had been so they concentrated on capture Snow into the glass and didn't pay her any attention. They were taken by surprise when Anya just launched herself at them. She didn't feel the vast emptiness Ben had described but losing Snow had short circuited her brain to attack without even a hint of a plan. She didn't really know what she had expected would happen - maybe she had hoped she just could grab the glass, shatter it and freeing Snow that way.
Anya already had her hands on the glass when she was knocked out by a punch in her face.
"Fuck…" the first man exclaimed, clearly looking around in panic and back to the unconscious Anya. How long had they been here already? Five minutes? "We need to move now." In a split second panic decision they just hauled Anya into their van and drove off. They should have left her in the alley but she could identify them. Taking her with them would buy them time... right?
While one of the men drove away at high speed the other had turned the still unconscious Anya on her belly, straddling her. He looked around "Throw me the tape!" he commanded and the driver felt around in the space between passenger and driver seat and when his fingers found it he threw it over his shoulder.
The second man caught it and used it to wrap some of the duct tape around Anya's wrists.

Belinda had watched everything out of her hiding place not even wasted a thought in helping Anya. She would have intervened, if she had seen a save possibility to save Bens beast but since that already had been stored away when Anya launched her attack there was no use. So she focused on her own and her beast's safety.
She debated for a second to just run to the motel they stayed in for the few days they spent here and forget about the incident. It would rid her of the stupid human bitch but those thugs still had Ben's beast. Without the beast there wouldn't be a reason for her to pursue him anymore - he would be of no use to her. Not that she fancied him in particular. He was a lot of work with that swearing and all but snow leopards were really rare to come across. If she ever wanted to have a save shot in having a child which turned into a snow leopard too, they needed to get Ben's beast back… and him seeing that she was the logical choice as a mate not the human. So she started to run to Cian's business address.



"She left maybe ten minutes after the meeting…" Cian just told Ben over the phone. Ben had called him because Anya wasn't back yet and he couldn't reach her and that worried him. Hosting Snow definitively took a toll on her and he was afraid Anya might have collapsed somewhere. "Maybe she stopped for takeout?" he suggested when his door, which had been ajar, was smashed open and a snow leopard burst in.
"Anya?" Cian was so surprised when the big cat entered his office that he didn't remember Anya may host Snow but wasn't able to shift. So when Belinda shifted back to human and stood butt naked before him he looked at her wide eyed.
"No not her." Belinda panted, disgust in her voice to be mistaken for that stupid girl "These 'peaceful Existence' thugs attacked and stole Ben's beast." She added still catching her breath.
"Cian! What's going on? What attack? What happened… where is Anya! Is she ok?" Ben was on high alert, slightly panicked and Cian pushed a button so he was on speaker since Ben's enhanced hearing was gone - and it was more comfortable too.
"From the start, Belinda." Cian asked and the Shifter told them what happened and that Anya had been taken by 'peaceful existence'.
"Why didn't you fucking step in and bloody prevented them from taking Anya!" Ben exclaimed when she ended. He was furious.
"Don't you swear at me like this!" Belinda countered "I had to watch out for my beast… There was nothing I could have done after that human lost yours."
"The name is Snow. Not beast. And Anya is my fucking mate you stupid dipshit and worth so much more than you. Use her bloody name if you talk about her!" Ben was short of losing it completely.
Belinda paled and Cian was not sure if she was shocked or furious so he jumped in "That’s enough. Both of you stop right here!" he spoke loud enough to silence the two leopards. At the moment he was happy Ben wasn't physically here.
"First we need to find Anya. Belinda, do you remember anything… anything at all what can help us… License plate, car brand or model, direction they went off… anything?" he wanted to know.
"Black van. Couldn't see the plate." Belinda shrugged.
"That's as useful as a fork for eating soup." Ben growled "Can you at least give us the exact location?" he asked and this Belinda could provide.
"Ok… I call Novac and get the police involved with Anya's abduction. Maybe he can do something with traffic cams." Cian decided and Ben grumbled "This will take ages until he has all the permissions needed… I will try to track her phone and see if there is a traffic cam I can hack." He said.
"Don't do anything illegal, Ben! You'll get into trouble." Cian warned him and heard Ben sigh - obviously he had planned to do exactly this… and didn’t intent to change this plan "I don't care, Cian. What is the worst that could happen to me? A fine? Suspended sentence? As long as I get Anya back save and sound I couldn't care less." He said and added "Cian, this is my bloody fault. If I wouldn't have wallowed in self-pity and held my shit together like Anya did she wouldn't have been out alone today." He insisted.
"Ben…" he thought about arguing but knew it was pointless "Ok fine… I still call Novac and get him involved. I'll be over to your place ASAP so we can coordinate." He hung up and fixed Belinda with a glare. He was angry too that she didn't help Anya but was still diplomatic enough to not raise his voice - but the controlled calmness was maybe even scarier than him yelling "You and your friends should leave the area. It is not save here at the moment as you see." He recommended. The 'Peaceful Existence' attacks gave him a very good excuse to ask them to leave. The sooner they were out of here the better.
"This may be a good advice. We'll be in touch." Belinda inclined her head, shifted back to leopard and left. She knew when she lost a fight - still… the war was far from over.

When Anya regained consciousness, she lay on concrete floor, she had a headache and half her face hurt. She couldn't mover her arms because something sticky held her hands on her back - some kind of tape?
Voices drifted into her ear and she tried to focus on them, to make out words to help her stay awake. The more of the memories from what had happened came back to her the more she was angry with herself. That she had been jumped like that - first from Belinda and then those idiots. That she had lost Snow and lastly that she had attacked without thinking. Well ok, what would have been the alternative? Letting them take Snow without a hint to find him - no. So she stopped being angry with herself for this.
The voices grew more distinct. There were four of them, all male. She recognized the two men who had attacked her.
"How could you bring her here? What the hell should I do with her now?" one man she hadn't heard before yelled. The other unknown voice barked a laugh "Let's just dispose of her, Jonas… She is nothing more than a shifter bitch."
"That easy, eh?" the man called Jonas asked "Don't you think someone will miss her? Look for her? Eventually they will find us, Connor…" he groaned annoyed but tried to calm down "I'll contact our financial backer, we need a new base…" he started when something on his workbench caught his attention.

Anya had managed to open her eyes a bit while processing what she just heard. They were debating to kill her… well not really debating to kill her - this seemed a fact already - more the fact how long the got to relocate their operation. Hot and cold she tried to fight the fear and clear her view - everything was still blurred. She needed to find a way out of here.
In front of her was a kind of workbench and she saw a man walking in front of it. She slightly moved her head so she could see what was on the workbench. She worried for a moment this made the four men realize she was awake but they didn't pay her any attention.
What she saw on the table nearly made her gasp in horror. She could see four glasses. Snow was in the one standing in the middle of the table and was connected with wires and tubes to various machines she couldn't place.
On a small rack like thing were three more glasses. She recognized a Jackal - definitively Peter's beast. Then there was something like a monkey and in a fourth glass was a wolf. Her heart skipped a beat. One of the two beasts belonged to chin - she didn't know what he shifted into but had there been another attack? There must have been. She raked her brain but could only come up with Aaron as a wolf or… damn she couldn't remember the name of the second wolf in in the tribe. Was it Chin? If yes who did the monkey belong to?
She tried to force her brain to suppress images of a helpless shifter lying somewhere all alone and hurt. This wouldn't help.
Ben, Cian. They would know if the monkey or the wolf was Chin's and in return who possibly was somewhere lost and needed help. This thought gave her a goal to work towards. Contact her friends. Get out of here alive. Save the beasts.
But to even get started with this she needed to get her hands free. Carefully she started to move her wrists, trying to loosen the sticky tape from her skin. Maybe she could slip out afterwards.

While she focused on her plan the man started to experiment on Snow. "Can you do the lightning thing again, Jonas?" one of her attackers asked the men with Snows glass and leaning on the bench. The other two had been following too.
"You liked that, huh Gerry?" even though Anya couldn't see his face she could practically hear his amusement. "Until now all beasts reacted more or less the same… let's see if a cat mixes it up." He mused, grabbed for his voice recorder and pushed the recording button "Jonas Armitage researching on beasts. I repeat the defined experiments with another beast - a cat type." He stopped the recording but held the device in his hands when he pushed the rod through the hole in the lid with his free hand, connecting it to the battery on the back of the table. Then he reached for the flip and let the electricity buzzing through the wires into the rod resulting in blue lighting in the glass which seemed to cause Snow pain. Like the others he started to throw himself against the side of the glass but changed tactics when he realized the futility of this action. He tried to go as deep down as he could and flatten at the bottom of the glass to evade the worst effects.
"Oh… interesting." Jonas made some notes "This is the first who tried to evade." He commented and started twist a dial on the battery increasing the electric buzz. "Let's see how you will evade now little parasite…" he mused and watched, increasing the energy every now and then.

Only the fact that her voice failed her prevented Anya from crying out loud to let Snow go. She doubled her efforts to free her hands. Even though Snow hadn't a voice she could feel his silent screams, his pain.
Suddenly the tape was off her skin - so it wasn't the real deal Ductape but a more or less cheap knockoff. It still enclosed her wrists tight but since it wasn't attached to her skin anymore, it rotated freely around her wrists and Anya started to work on slipping one hand out.
Her struggle didn't go unnoticed, though. One of the thugs slapped the shoulder of the one they called Gerry. "Lookie… sleeping beauty woke up." He leered at Anya. "Watch out she doesn't pull any stupid shit." Jonas called over his shoulder without turning around, focused on his experiment.
"Oh… what a mean glare you have…" the thug with no name laughed at Anya who really seemed to try to murder Jonas with her eyes.
Gerry suddenly noticed what she was up to "Oh no missy…" he started to walk over where Anya had been dumped, grabbing a roll of tape on the way. Anya froze - she probably wouldn't get a second chance. So, with her hands still bound on her back, she started to roll sideways, kicking at the thug who she took by surprise with that.
Noname hadn't followed Gerry because frankly, he hadn't thought it was necessary but now he started to charge but Anya had managed to get up on her feet. She ducked Noname thug and threw herself into Jonas, who didn't expected it and dropped Snows glass which rolled from the table and landed with a clang on the floor. Anya's hopeful look became one of despair when the glass held - just a crack appeared.
"Damnit Gerry! I told you to watch her!" he growled. Connor had grabbed Anya's upper arms to hold her tight. To Anya Jonas sneered "This is shatterproof you stupid cow!" he laughed "You really thought I'd chance it and put those things into something which would break easily?" he shook his head in disbelief of her stupidity and bent down to pick up Snow's glass which had rolled under the workbench.

Finally Anya had managed to get one hand out of the tape restrains. She didn't think twice and stomped down with her foot on Connors toes.
He was so surprised by this, that he yelled out in pain and let go of Anya's arms. Ignoring the advice most people would give to follow suit with kicks or punches to make sure the thug stayed down, she instead dived down herself, slid under the workbench and reached Snow before Jonas did. She pulled the glass close to her chest and wanted to crawl out the other side, get up and make a run but felt how she was grabbed by her ankle, and that someone tried to pull her out.
She could see Snow inside his prison crashing against the side of the glass with the crack in hopes to break free but in his light form he just hadn't any mass to speak of to make an impact.
In her panic Anya kicked, the pull stopped but the grip remained firm so she did the only thing she could think of: Smashing the glass with all her power down on the floor. Once, twice and every time the crack spread and finally the glass shattered.
"Fucking bitch…" Jonas tried to get a better grip on her and yelled over his shoulder "Rajab, Gerry. Get the torch and a glass. Move it!" he commanded.
Snow immediately emerged from the broken pieces of glass, came close to Anya, ready to join with her again. Yes he couldn't make her shift but at least he could give her the little healing power he could transfer to her to keep her saver.
Anya, still fighting the pull from Jonas, shook her head. "Run! I'm no use to you and you know it." she said "Find Ben!" she looked determined at the glowing cat before her "They just rip you out again… fuck, Snow! Get lost!" she yelled at him. She lost the fight against Jonas that moment too and was yanked out from under the workbench.

Snow debated for another second if he should ignore Anya's wished and just join with her again but deep within he knew she was right. If he joined with her, they just rip him out and trap him in one of those glasses again. He couldn't keep her from getting hurt but he could get help. Not only help for Anya but also for his brethren.
With a last glance at Anya he ran off in the opposite direction realizing he had no idea how to escape this laboratory. The door was closed, no windows he could see. He forced himself to calm down and think while he stayed in erratic movement, avoiding to be hit by the light.
"Keep still you fucking thing…" Noname who turned out to be called Rajab murmured while he tried to capture Snow in the light of his flashlight gun.
Finally Snow ducked into an open vent. He had no idea where this would lead him but it was an air duct so it had to go somewhere.
"STUPID IDIOTS!" Jonas Armitage let out a frustrated yell "It got away!" he had finally managed to pull Anya out under his workbench and now grabbed her by her neck and smashed her head to the concrete floor so she stopped struggling for a moment. "Gerry, Rajab… find the Beast. Catch it. Do whatever it takes!" he commanded and the two took off immediately.
"I know where the air duct ends…" Gerry took the lead.

Connor had organized a package of cable binders out of a shelf while Jonas had dragged the dazed Anya to a metal pipe running down the wall from top to button and branching of somewhere on the way. They fastened her to the branch with her wrists and cable binders. She now sat pressed against the wall, forcefully hugging the pipe with her arms and hands fixed slightly above her head. Connor decided then to bind her ankles too - just to be on the safe side.
"Let's see how you'll get out of this one…" Connor laughed "Can't remember if it runs hot water but you will find out…" he added with a sneer while tabbing the pipe.
Jonas squatted down in front of Anya grabbed her chin to force her to look at him "Why didn't it join with you?" he asked curious.
Anya just glared at him, feeling blood running down from a wound on her forehead where he had smashed her head to the floor over her eyebrow.
"Answer him!" Connor snarled and lifted his hand to hit her but Jonas stopped him "Not necessary. I think I know the answer." He let go of Anya's chin and looked at Connor "She said 'I'm no use to you' when she freed him." He smiled "She is the one the beast hid into when extracted by its original host. It couldn't use her like it with its original host. It couldn't shift with her." Again he focused on Anya and studied her face "You never carried a beast, did you…" it wasn't a question and an evil smile crept on his face when he stood up, Connor following his lead.
"Maybe she has a use to us after all… If her brain guarded her from merging or being taken over by a beast maybe it is something we can reproduce and use it to kill them." he looked down at Anya, grabbed her by the hair "Congratulations… I will pick your brain… literally."
He let go of her "But first I need to sort out a new lab. Just in case the beast manages to find its host and bring the shifters here." he looked at Connor "Clear the shelves, I'll pack the Tools and call the boss." He split up work

Ben let out a frustrated scream the moment he had hung up the phone. He was such an asshole and wimp! He should have pulled himself together and accompany Anya to the office and joined this stupid meeting. They would have been together instead of her going home alone. He could have… yes, what could have he done without his shifter abilities?
He had gotten up and walked restlessly around the apartment, rubbing his face while he waited for his laptop to boot. "If you requesting updates now I'll throw you out of the window!" he threatened the machine and took a deep breath. Anya would have laughed at this. It made him chuckle and indeed calm down.
Another deep breath later he sat down, as calm as possible. Yes, now he was in a condition he could help his mate.
First he tried to track her cell over a not really 100% legal program but he had no luck. Either it had been turned off or ran out of battery or was broken. Panic started to rise again but he fought it down.
He used a shady page he knew to find out where the phone had lastly been logged into a cell tower. This gave him at least an interesting result because it wasn’t the area she had been attacked and taken from. He replayed the conversation with Cian and Belinda in his mind to be sure. This gave him at least a direction they went.

Cian chose this moment to arrive at his place. "I have a direction!" agitated Ben greeted him. He had already started to pull up more shady and illegal pages on his laptop and opened some command line tool preparing to do more probably equally illegal things but put all of it in the background to show Cian his findings. "Here. Her cell is off but the last time it had connected to a cell tower it has been this area." He pulled up the background tabs again "If I can find CCTV of the van who abducted her here…" he showed Cian the place on the map Belinda marked as the point of attack "We now know the direction he went from there…" again the cell tower area "…and follow it from there to wherever they took Anya." He already wanted to start on a command line but Cian stopped him.
"Not you. Novac." He looked sternly at Ben who shook his head but Cian insisted "With what you found out he can do it faster because he actually has proper access. Plus I already talked to him. Abduction enables him to act without sitting around and waiting for permissions." Before Ben could protest Cian pulled out his phone and called the detective and brought him up to speed.
"Do I want to know how Bennet got the intel?" Novac wanted to know in a gruff and slightly annoyed voice "No you don't." Cian sighed.
"Agreed." Novac just answered "But you will not act on your own now. You hear me?" the detective insisted "This is human business not Shifter one…" he added causing ben to frown deeply. He definitively wouldn't sit around and just wait if the cops would find Anya
Novac thought for a second and came to the same conclusion, realizing how he wouldn't keep them away. Would he stay out if his wife was in danger? Not a snowballs chance in hell! So he decided to involve them and let them be a part of it so he could control the situation and not having shifters mess with the operation "But I'd appreciate your backup." He added "You need to play by our rules though - we don’t want them to get away because of some bullshit formal reason." He explained and this time, after a short silencing glance at Ben, Cian answered one worded "Agreed."
They could hear Novac breathe in relieve before he continued "As soon as I have a location I'll let you know. We meet there. You will wait for us, Cruz!" the last was clearly an order "We will." The Tribes chief promised and hung up.

After a moment Ben started to pace back and forth while he tried to will Cian's cell to ring. He knew he would go insane "Cian, please… let's head to the area Anya's phone was logged in last…" he pleaded "…I can't sit around much longer…" he added and finally Cian sighed "Fine… we can already get Aaron and some others on call…" he added while Ben grabbed for his phone and keys.
Cian had given Aaron a call and brought him up to speed, instructed him to reach out to one or two other shifters and that he would update him as soon as he had a location.
Ben was quiet the whole trip because he was overwhelmed by how less he smelled, heard and saw. He felt the same panic rise again which made him stay home this morning leaving Anya to go to the office all alone. No. He wouldn't let this happen again. He fought the panic attack down. He may be handicapped but he would manage. He needed to find Anya!

When Novac called they were already near the area Ben had specified. "I can hear you are already moving… but that is maybe a good thing." He sighed when he heard the noises of being in a car in the background "We could follow the van Anya Jarret was taken in via CCTV to that area Ben narrowed it down and could limit it further. I'll text you the updated area now." He started "Thing is, there is not much CCTV inside that area and we lost the van there. But it definitively didn't leave." He explained "How near are you already?" he wanted to know and Cian answered "About ten minutes from Ben's original guess…"
"Good." Novac answered "We will head out now too. If your Shifter senses can narrow it down further keep me updated but remember: Don't charge on your own. Wait for police backup. Everyone involved knows you are to be treated as backup so there shouldn't be any discussions." The detective reminded.
"Understood…" Cian answered "…and thank you." He added before hanging up. He knew that Novac took a risk in involving civilians into police affairs. Yes, they helped him with cases once or twice… Tamara had done with her PI business but this wasn't the same. So they had to be careful and make sure Novac didn't regret it or got into trouble for it. He sent Aaron the updated location and also the part they would snoop around so he could cover another part.

Since Ben was basically human now Cian concentrated with his Shifter senses on their surroundings. He knew Anya's scent - not as well as Ben obviously but they saw each other nearly every day. While they walked around they heard loud noises in a back alley, Trash cans falling down clashing.
Ben and Cian looked at each other and without a word they dashed into the direction of the noise. It could be a cat chased by someone or it could be just people having a fight and have nothing to do with Anya and Peaceful Existence but the same it could be Anya trying to make a run.
It wasn't Anya but Ben's initial disappointment dissipated the moment he saw she glowing light in form of a snow leopard backed into a corner, silently snarling. The two men who cornered him trained this horrific flashlight at him.
"SNOW!" Ben yelled distracting the men who turned around shocked and angry realizing the same second their mistake.
Cian was already charging, ramming his shoulder into one of the guys' chest. He usually never shifted to fox for physical quarrels except when the smaller size of red or his speed was needed. He was much more useful in a normal fight as human.
Ben on the other hand would have been more comfortable in his furry form but this wasn't at his disposal so he attacked the other man with the flashlight gun, trying to wrestle it from him. During their fight the first cops turned up yelling at them all to freeze so they could sort out who was who unhurriedly.
The surprise of the trained guns made the thug let go of the gun the same time Ben did and it feel on the ground, the crystal breaking out, shattered in three parts.
"No!" the man yelled in frustration "Armitage will kill me…"

Meanwhile Cian had introduced himself to the officer who indeed knew who he was and that he was supposed to be involved. The two uniforms read the two thugs their rights and then pocketed the flashlight gun as evidence but missing most of the crystal parts.
Cian didn't point it out. He silently pocketed the shards for Puck. He didn't know why he did that, maybe he sensed the crystal was an important part of the whole thing to make it work. He wanted to separate the parts.
Ben, as soon as the officer stopped training his gun at him, went down to his knees, his eyes looking for Snow who was still in the corner. "I missed you so much my friend." He opened his arms, a smile on his face, welcomed the spirit who ran at him and vanished inside his chest as soon as they connected.
As soon as Snow had heard Ben he wanted to join with him but he forced himself to wait until the situation was resolved. He didn't want to endanger Ben. But couldn't they hurry the fuck up? He had zapped through then venting system until he found a way out in the open but he was confused at where he was - or better where in relation to Anya and they needed to find her and fast. Finally Ben was free to welcome him again and as soon as he was inside Ben again he felt the instant connection, how he melted into him. The thing he had missed with Anya. He may not be able to communicate with Ben at the same extend he could with her but this was a real symbiosis.

Ben doubled over, hands on the concrete breathing through the pain he experienced. It was nothing like the one when Snow had been ripped out but it hurt all the same. Then he was flooded with scents and sounds and visual details.
Cian was at his side, steadying him "Are you ok?" he asked.
Ben grinned through the subsiding pain. He had one eye closed but the other showed the golden shifter color. The tattoo reappeared on his temple moving wildly over his cheek and forehead before it settled down, still a bit restless "Hell yes." He answered, forcing himself to get up because he felt Snows urgency and frustration because the ventilation had been a labyrinth and he wasn't sure how to lead the way to Anya.
"We need to find Anya. Snow is scared they will hurt her and frustrated he doesn't know how to lead us to her. Plus they talked about moving." Ben groaned a bit but caught himself before Cian would make him go into the car and rest. He would not sit this one out. "I'm ok, Cian. Just a bit exhausted… so I probably can't shift yet." He assured his Chief and Boss who looked worried at him but the fox shifter just knew he couldn't keep him out - the same novac knew he had to involve them somehow. Ben would do something stupid otherwise. "Ok… then let's see if we can't get those thugs to tell us where she is." Cian agreed and Ben walked determined in the direction the officers had vanished, Cian followed suit.
"Maybe them moving wouldn't be bad for us? We know they are here in the area. People loading cars are noticeable." Cian remarked to calm the beast inside Ben a bit in case they wouldn't get anything out of the two thugs.

When they arrived more cops had joined the scene and Novac had made it too. They made a beeline for him "Mr. Cruz." Novac greeted Cian and looked at Ben "You have your beast back…" he stated and Ben nodded "Snow made an escape and was followed by the two thugs your officers have arrested." He explained and Novac nodded.
"Good. Any idea where their headquarter is? The two clamp up." He asked but both shifters shook their heads until Ben spoke up "Can I ask them again? I swear I won't touch them."
Novac thought about it "Can't hurt to try but no threatening and no touching." He warned and led the way to where the two thugs were held in separate cars.
Ben, who was properly motivated, chose the one he remembered being part of the team trying to steal Snow in the first place and put his hands on the police cars roof so he wasn't tempted to slap or grab the man inside the car. His upper body the other hand was bent inside the car, close to the thug.
"Hi… you remember me? You ripped my beast out of me yesterday? And then abducted my mate earlier?" The last thing he just assumed "As you see I got my beast back and he is really pissed now." He gave him an evil smile "So I'll ask you this just once: Where is my fucking mate!" he fixed him with his stare. His golden eyes fierce and sparkling and his tattoo moving in a way scaring the man.
"You can't touch me… threatening is against the law…" the thug stuttered. Ben just kept looking at him. The thug looked at Novac behind Ben who just shrugged "He doesn't do anything…"
Ben simply raising an inquisitive eyebrow brought him over the edge. "Around the corner. First house. Number 15." He blurted out and Ben showed him his teeth when he smiled and pushed himself away from the door.
Cian already had his phone out calling Aaron. Ben was not in shifting shape and a fox was not intimidating. He had a gut feeling they could use an intimidating Shifter.

Anya still sat on her heels, pressed against the wall bound to this fucking metal pipe. She had tears in her eyes and was scared. They not only wanted to kill her they wanted to experiment on her first. She only hoped Snow had gotten away and would find Ben in time. She slightly shook in fear while one man cleaned out the shelves in boxes and the other was on the phone. She needed to calm down and think if she wanted to survive.
She used that her kidnappers where busy and looked around the room she was in. It seemed to be a kind of laboratory - weird devices, tables, shelves… a large workbench dominated the room with the three left beasts captured in glasses on it. And she spotted something else on the bench: Her Phone. Maybe she could use it to call for help? She would need to free herself, snatch it and find somewhere to lock herself in to call someone. That should be manageable… well unless she had been knocked out long enough that the battery had died or there was no service down here. Again panic rose.
After a moment of debating Anya decided to risk it. Maybe she could at least free the other beasts, cause some chaos and stall them. Once they packed up and moved locations it would be harder to find her. She started to test her bonds. The cable binders dug deep into her skin, incredibly tight, the movement causing the sharper edges to cut the skin and would draw blood soon. She bit back the pain and tried to bend her wrists in a way she could chaff and grind the cable binder on the metal pipe.
Unfortunately this didn't go unnoticed because somewhere above her the fixture of the pipe was loose and it squeaked when Anya moved her wrists. Both men stopped what they were doing. "Don't waste your time girlie…" Connor sneered but Jonas came over, grabbed her wrists painfully checking the binders. When he was satisfied the chaffing didn't damage the cable binders he went back to work - as did Anya.
"Stop that you stupid bitch!" Jonas snarled finally but Anya didn't stop. This time it was Connor who checked her bonds and grabbed her by her throat, squeezing it. "You are an annoying little shit… you know that?"
"I have been told so, yes…" Anya pressed through her teeth with way more calmness then she felt. Not showing your fear - rule one. She reminded herself. Connor let go of her and slapped her across the face "Shut up and stop moving." He commanded, then grabbed her bound wrists and forcefully yanked at them. "You will never…" he started and wanted to show her she had no chance to break the bonds or the pipe she was bound to but his brutal force achieved exactly this: the pipe broke free from the top fixture, broke away and ripped out from where it was connected with a another pipe.
Cold water splashed down and not only drenched Anya and Connor but also made the latter tumble and fall against the workbench. This caused a chain reaction of falling equipment including the glasses with the beasts. Peters Jackal and the Monkey survived the fall but the wolf glass shattered releasing the Beast inside. Anya expected it to zap away, using the same way out as Snow had, but it instantly neared Connor who backed away "No… I don't want you back, you filthy thing…" he exclaimed but the wolf charged at Connor and disappeared inside him.
Anya was somewhere between relieved that there was no Tribes mate lying somewhere in an abandoned alley waiting for help and fear because if this guy was originally a shifter this would make him way more dangerous now.

Conner had doubled over on the ground in pain, Jonas yelling and seemingly completely forgotten about Anya because he was trying to save his recordings and the glasses with Peters and Chins Beasts.
Frantically Anya tried to break free - the pipe may have come loose above her and still pouring water over her. But the fixtures around her still held tight and she was still trapped. She had no chance of breaking any of it. Swearing her eyes fell on her phone which had been fallen from the bench and had slid towards her. Maybe if she stretched enough she could reach it with her feet. She shifted her wrists which had started to bleed from her struggle to grab the pipe and pressed herself onto it as much as she could - every centimeter count here. She stretched her bound legs as much as she could and angled her feet in a way a ballerina would be proud of. Just a bit more… nearly there. Got it! She started to shuffle the phone with her feet towards her and was in the process of getting it on her lap - realizing she had no idea how to manage that trick or how to get it from there into her hand when an inhuman growl made Anya look up at Connor who was on his hands and knees on the ground in a puddle of water. His features started to change. He shifted. But it wasn't the usual shifter change he went through. Those were instant. This shift was slowly and painful as it seemed. His limbs gained in length, fur sprouted at some places. His face ended up stuck somewhere between human and wolf.
Gasping Anya realized what had happened. The beast had gained control and eradicated the human soul. A dreadful cold went down her spine - did that happen because Connor hated his beast and had willingly let it being ripped out of him - at last Anya figured that from the way he reacted to it - or would it happen to Ben, Peter and Chin too? Or was he no Shifter and the Beast had overwhelmed him? No. He had said 'I don't want you back' so definitively had been a Shifter.
Would she lose Ben when Snow rejoined with him? But Snow loved Ben… her thoughts where cut short when Connor scrambled up - or how should she call him now? Beast Connor?
His wild eyes darted around and stayed on Jonas who looked at him shocked. With a furious snarl Beast Connor hit him with the back of his big hand and sent him flying across the room crashing against a wall, falling motionless to the floor. He lifted his head towards the ceiling and roared then Anya's phone clattered to the floor from a desperate attempt to bring it to her lap or hands and Beast Connors head snapped towards her.
Still bound to that dammed pipe Anya pressed herself against the wall when Beast Connor walked towards her. Her eyes went wide with fear when Connor sniffed her and then let out another inhuman yell.
Anya closed her eyes and tried to shield her head behind her arms when she heard a loud crash. She opened her eyes a tiny bit just in time to see a grey wolf crashing into Beast Connor. Was that Aaron?
Then suddenly Ben was there, crouching before her, snapping the cable binders, freeing her wrists with that, her ankles followed. She slumped against him, her arms aching when they fell into her lap finally not forced up anymore. "Benji… Good to see you." she whispered and tried to hold onto him.
"I got you…" Ben clutched her tightly to him to shield her from anything the ensuing battle between Aaron and Connor could throw at them and picked her up to get her out of the line.
The Officers made room for him to leave before advancing further unsure how they could help the wolf.
Anya found Bens eyes - back to golden - and relieve flooded from her "It worked, thank goodness…" she stated "I was worried it wouldn't work." She added when she shifted her grip so Ben could let her down - she wasn't hurt that much.
Ben froze confused for a second. "Why? What happened?" he asked continuing his way out but set her down just supporting her a bit walking.
"That rampaging Beast…" Anya started "That was one of the Peaceful Existence guys. When the glass container broke the beast inside went straight for him and took him over… I was scared it would happen to you too…" she explained.
Ben hugged her close "I'm fine. Snow and I are a team. We trust each other… and it will be the same for Peter and Chin." He was sure. "If that guy was PE than he probably hated his beast." He added but made a mental node to tell Alanis and Cian about this just to be on the safe side before the other two get reunited.

In the lab the rampage continued. Usually it took about three experienced shifters to take down a rampaging beast so Aaron had no chance but tried to distract while Cian, who had stayed human, had drawn his gun.
"Target the head." He ordered the two uniformed officers "Wait for my call." He added. He didn't have any authority over the cops but one: Novac had made clear the Shifters were backup and two: this was a rampaging beast and clearly the Tribes experience and the cops where intelligent enough to accept this.
"NOW!" Cian pulled the trigger when Aaron was thrown of Beast Connor and the beast presented a clear target.
Beast Connor roared in pain and fury before he collapsed on the ground. Aaron, still in his wolf form, was limping slightly but was ready to launch himself at him again if necessary. Beast Connor stayed down, breathing hard for a moment before he died.
"Clear." Cian called for the cop's sake and they started to search the lab for other people. Novac found Jonas on the ground - his neck clearly broken.
"Pack it all up." He called to his men "We sort through it at the precinct." He decided.

With all the cops who had been called in for the raid two ambulances had arrived too - just in case. The medic, who quick checked Anya, decided to take her to the hospital because of the still bleeding wound on her forehead. It could well be a concussion.
Alanis was already there when the ambulance with Anya and Ben - who fought tooth and claws to stay with her - arrived. She originally wasn't on shift but Cian had called her earlier when all the hell had broken lose just in case someone from the Tribe got hurt and they needed Alanis special knowledge. Anya belonged to them even though she wasn't a Shifter and Alanis didn't leave her to someone else's care.
The first thing she did was to get Anya out of her wet clothes. Alanis kept multiple sets of spares around for when Shifters came in hurt - and many times naked. Alanis then treated the laceration on her forehead with a butterfly bandage after cleaning it and then doing the same with the wounds caused by the cable binders on her wrists and covered them with another bandage. While she did that she asked Anya various questions like if she had a headache or felt nauseous or what date it was.
In the end she didn't think it was a concussion but asked Ben and Anya to wait for a while longer and rest because she really wanted Puck, who was already on the way here from the airport, to check them out too.
Cian had arrived too, bringing Jackal and Monkey along only waiting for Peter and Chin to come here too so Puck could take care of all of them at one place.

Anya took a deep breath when she finally was alone with Ben. She enjoyed the silence after all the chaos and noise around her. She was half sitting on the bed, giving Ben enough space to join her. He was gently rubbing her arms to warm her because he just knew she was probably feeling chilly inside, their foreheads touching.
"Snow is worried about you." Ben stated out of the blue and Anya chuckled "I'm good... All back to normal. No more headache or dizziness… only the one caused by that thug." she answered and looked up into Bens golden eyes "I'd do it again in a heartbeat but I hope we can avoid it." She added grinning. Ben joined in with the chuckle. "I think he still debates if to believe you but he is calmer now." He relayed.
Anya's phone, which Cian had handed her in earlier after he arrived and made sure they were ok, went off at that moment with a stupid reminder for some bullshit she didn't want to deal with right now. When she turned the notification off, she noticed a text which she must have received between leaving work and now - it was from Ben's mom.
A soft smile spread out on Anya's face when she read it "Your mom is sweet…" she showed Ben the text she had gotten 'I just want to check in how the two of you are holding up… maybe you have a moment to chat later on.' It read.
For a second Ben wasn't sure if she had shown it to him because she felt pressured by his mom but then he realized what she had said and noticed her genuine smile and got how she meant it. He kissed her head and got his own phone out.
"Hi mom…" he said when the call was picked up and waited smiling for the wave of words of relieve and questions subsided "I'm good. Snow is back with me…" he answered a question and was bombarded with the next one. "Thankfully she was not affected as bad. Mostly shaken… she…" he paused and shared a glance with his mate, silently asking if he could share what happened. Anya nodded and made a go on gesture so he knew she was alright with him telling and so he did.
She pulled her knees up to her chest and hugged her arms around them so she could lay her chin on her knees while she watched Ben with a slight smile relaying todays mess to his mom.
"We are still at the hospital waiting for a last checkup…" he ended finally with a slightly worried glance at Anya who now saw the need to chime in.
"I'm fine… really. Just need my bed and some hours of sleep…" she called out a bit louder so Ben's mom could hear her too and a bit lower she added "And you cuddling me." She winked at Ben.
Ben smirked and put his mom on speaker for the reminder of the call and laid the phone down between them "That is good to hear." Honest relive was audible in Misha's voice over the phone.
"I'll probably just still be bruised on Sunday." Anya added when she remembered what they had planned the day after tomorrow.
"Sweetheart… Don't stress about Sunday now." Misha was quick with an answer "See how you feel. If you are not up to it then we can just have lunch some other time. That the two of you are well again is the most important thing right now. Make it a spontaneous decision Sunday, ok?" she wanted to make sure.
Anya was speechless so Ben answered "That is a good idea mom… I'll call you." He promises and hung up after they bid goodbye.
When the call ended Anya shook her head smiling, whipping a single tear out of the corner of her eye "My mother would never have cared how I was doing… the only thing she would have been interested in would be if my bruises are coverable with make-up so there wouldn't be questions asked."
"Mom really means it, you know." Ben assured her "If one of us is just not up to an afternoon with other people after what happened she won't be mad." He settled beside her again and put an arm around her shoulders.

A knock sounded on the door and Puck stepped in. He looked like a man-beast who had been nonstop travelling for about two days - which he had. He closed the door behind him but didn't come closer right now - he knew he scared most people. Plus he had caused Ben harm when he tried to flip his balance some months ago and the snow leopard Shifter never really grew comfortable around him the few times they had met afterwards.
"Hi Puck…" Anya gave him a slight smile. Ben tensed a bit, sitting up straighter but nodded welcoming towards the Beast.
Puck took it as a cue to come closer. "Hello Bennet, Anya…" his smile seemed more like a grimace due to the two long teeth protrude upwards from his lower jaw "Alanis asked me to check on both of you." He explained and looked at Ben, deciding to start with him.
"I joined with Snow again some hours ago…" Ben told Puck having lost all sense of time being in the hospital, waiting for tests, results and stuff. "…feels normal so far." He added and lifted his head in a position Puck could touch his temples like he usually did - it seemed to connect him with the beast inside the human.
While Puck carefully put his fingers on Bens temples without scratching him with his claws Ben continued "Only shifting is out at the moment. Still too exhausted but after what he went through…" he didn't finish the sentence. It should be clear that he didn't want to push his beast but give him rest.
Puck had closed his eyes, concentrating. "But the connection and Balance is how it should be, Snow is content but there is a slight worry." He let go of Ben and opened his eyes.
Ben glanced at his mate before he answered "He is worried about Anya." He stated and Anya continued "Snow felt how his presence hurt me and was scared he would cause permanent damage." She explained "But I'm fine now…" she added with a light smile.
"May I? Perhaps I can put Snow at ease." Puck gestured to touch her temples too and Anya nodded. Again Puck gently made a connection, smiling after a moment "Snow can rest assured there is no trace of him left inside Anya and if Alanis didn't find anything then there is no damage." He took a step back and looked at Ben and Anya.
"I wish you a speedy recovery Anya… and now I'll join Cian so Peter and Chin can get their beasts back too…" he started to turn around when Anya stopped him.
"Wait… Back in the laboratory a wolf beast was set free in all the chaos and it straight joined with one of the idiots… and took him over, made him rampage." She didn't know it would be important but what if something happened because she hadn't told them.
"Right… you told me when I got you out that basement." Ben nodded "I already told Cian when Alanis threw me out for the exam." He winked and Anya was relieved.
"I'll keep it in mind but I'm sure those who are in peace with their existence and their beasts won't have problems." He tried to assure her and bid his goodbye.



Saturday morning Anya woke up to a Snow Leopard close to her and fast asleep. Anya smiled to herself when the memories came back of why that was. Anya had been discharged from the hospital somewhen during the evening. She didn't suffer from a concussion and Ben had promised Alanis to take good care of her and made sure she rested well - and he stuck to his promise.
After he had made something fast for dinner - both weren't very hungry - they called it a night and went to bed. The exhaustion of the day and the time spent drenched with cold water and in wet clothes afterwards until she could change at the hospital kicked in with Anya and she started to shiver again.
Ben snuggled close to her but when she didn't stop being cold he tried to shift. It wasn't instant like he was used to but he managed after some seconds. He had wound his furry self around his mate and finally Anya stopped shivering and fell asleep. She slept wonderful that night.
She snuggled herself closer into Ben's wonderful soft and warm fur with a happy sigh. Ben woke up from this and, after realizing she wasn't cold again but just wanted to cuddle, rubbed his head against her cheek and neck. Anya giggled of joy "I love you too you fluffy kitty cat…" she laughed and even in his leopard form Ben managed to act an indignant look on his face for a second before he licked her cheek which only made Anya laugh harder.
Finally she looked at him lovingly and a bit worried "Are you just really happy you can shift again that you stayed snow leopard the whole night or can't you change back?" she asked.
Instead of an answer, Ben was next to her human again a second later "All good, don’t worry. I was just too tired to change back the night." He stretched and then looked at her "You look much better than yesterday." He stated relieved and Anya nodded "Feeling it too…"
"Then…" he sat up "Let's continue this with breakfast and a very lazy day of TV and videogames…" he grinned at her "Sounds like a plan?"
"I'm so up for this!" Anya agreed.

The rejoin of Peters and Chins Beasts went smooth. It was like Puck had assumed: Like Ben the Tribe Shifters where in peace with their Beasts and their Shifter existence so the balance persisted.
Connor Russo on the other hand had willingly participated in Armitages experiments as guinea pig, causing him and his wolf pain until he rid himself of the beast. When the wolf was freed in all the chaos he sought revenge, took over the body and rampaged.

The whole situation made Puck uneasy and he decided to research. That someone had been able to rip beasts out of their human hosts was a very scary thought not only for him but for all the Shifters.



The Police arrested everyone associated with the theft and torture of the beasts they could get a hold of including the police archivist Sarah Dungan who had passed Armitage the books. They still had the feeling there was someone in the background holding all the strings they hadn't uncovered yet.



There was a last 'Goodbye' from Belinda de Santi too in form of a letter she had put into Ben's mail before the group had left the city. On the paper was only written her contact info and the sentence 'When you had enough of this human and want more of a fun time, call me.' Belinda still seemed to consider it a fact that Ben would eventually leave Anya for her.
This pissed Ben of so much he wanted to call that number and give that bitch a piece of his mind but Anya convinced him otherwise: She proposed to put Belinda's number into as much online advertising bullshit as they could find so that she would be spammed with call center calls wanting to sell her stuff for the foreseeable future.

Sunday Ben felt her nervousness and offered her to take a rain check for lunch with his family but Anya shook her head. This would have been cheating because she felt good. If she chickened out today they could as well never do it. So they got into Ben's car and drove about an hour to where Ben's parents lived in a small two-story house with a yard.
"Just be yourself. 'Yourself' is amazing." Ben held her hand in a reassuring way and kissed it before he let them into his parents' house, never letting go of her hand. "Who's home?" he asked in the same cheerful way he did at their place when he came home and expected Anya to already be there which made her smile.
"You are late, cat boy! I'm already starving!" A widely grinning man about Ben's age and as tall as him, popped his head out of a door - presumably the living room. She assumed this was Ben's brother Samson - he was no shifter though. Ben seemed the only one.
"Oooh…" he looked amused at Anya "So you are real! I honestly thought Ben made you up." Anya blushed and grew insecure. She just realized that Ben must have taken a lot of shit covering for her not wanting to tag along for so long.
Before Anya could utter an apology two things happened. The first was Ben putting and arm around her lovingly and said "Sometimes I'm not sure either if I dreamed her up."
This seemed to confuse Sam because he had expected Ben teasing back and second Ben's mom came up behind Samson and lightly slapped the back of his head "Behave!" This made Sam realize there must be some deeper reason why Ben hadn’t brought her along before "Sorry… I'm Sam, Bens' little brother." he introduced himself rubbing the spot on his head, still grinning.
"Anya… the not so imaginary girlfriend…" she winked with a smile which relaxed Ben a bit because if Anya was joking around she was ok.
"Now go and help your dad set the table, Sam…" Misha shooed Ben's brother away.
"Hi Mrs. Logan, thanks for the invite…" Anya greeted Ben's mom with a soft smile. Misha frowned at her words "No no no no… don't you start on this Mrs. Thing… it is Misha." She pulled Anya into a gentle hug then did the same with her son "I'm so happy you two came despite the shitty week you had."
"Hi, I'm Carl… nice to meet you Anya." an older man carrying a chair passed them with a friendly smile - Ben's dad.
Misha's gaze stayed on Anya, taking in her appearance - the bruises on her wrists, butterfly bandage over her eyebrow and the green shimmer turning yellow on her cheek. "You just tell me if you need something sweetheart, yes? Cool pack, pain meds or just to lie down somewhere quite for a while…" Misha wanted to make sure. Anya was so stunned that Misha cared that much for her that she could just nod "I will… thank you." she finally managed to get out smiling.

When they entered the living room something in Sam's eyes must have set off Ben because he looked sternly at his brother "No make-up jokes!" he warned him off.
Anya realized that Ben was as tense as she felt. He never had told her that his brother gave him kind of a hard time. In addition to that he really wanted this to be a success - he wanted her to be comfortable with his family. And somehow he was afraid his brother could be what… too pushy? He needed to relax the same she had to… and he told her to be herself right?
"Well, to be fair…" Anya made a so-so gesture with her hand "…the last time I tried to do my make-up wasn't far from this." She joked with a smirk when they sat down at the table and Misha started to fill plates from various pots. Even though this was exaggerated Anya really was quite inapt with everything make-up related.
Ben looked at her for a second before his features softened and he relaxed too. There was a twinkle in Sam's eyes "Tell me Anya, how did you end up with that swearing grouch of brother of mine." It wasn't a question more a statement.
"Luck…" Anya shrugged and Ben added "Patience… a lot from your side." He pointed out and looked at Anya grateful and Anya winked "and sharing swears." she added. Ben laughed "I just remember how Cian made me promise not to swear in front of you when you started at the company…" - "And how it irritated the hell out of me…" Anya joined the laughs. They laughed a lot during that lunch and Anya started to open up to Ben's family in a way she hadn't expected.

After lunch Anya helped Misha to clear the table and joined her in the kitchen where Misha loaded the dishwasher. "You know, I started to worry for Ben…" Misha stated "…I felt how he wanted to be with someone and that he wasn't happy all alone…" she regarded Anya with soft expression "Suddenly over a year ago he started to tell us frequent stories about his new coworker, and that coworker became 'Anya' somewhen and how he enjoyed to have someone he could just be himself around and how much fun the two of you had together. And how happy he is now you two are together." she chuckled "…and when you called me just to make him his favorite dish, I knew I could stop worrying." Misha took a step towards Anya and gently touched her cheek "I don't know what the deal with your relatives is… Ben only told us that you are no contact… But you can be sure you are always welcome here, Sweetheart." Her eyes twinkled like Sam's had done "Ben loves you - I can't remember he seriously wanted to shut up his brother in front of anyone and Sam… he already adores you too."
A smile lightened Anya's face and she just hugged Misha "Thank you…" she whispered. When they broke a smirking Sam stood in the doorway with a plate they forgot "Like it or not, you have just been adopted into our circus now." He tousled her hair. "We needed a cat tamer…" he stuck out his tongue to Ben who had followed and ducked under a light swipe aimed at the back of his head again. A not serious brawl ensued between the brothers with Sam eventually calling out laughing "Anya, help me!"
Anya just rose her eyebrows "Good…kitty?" she half asked, shrugging and earned a bright grin from her mate.

They came back home late that evening because after lunch they had started some table top game Anya never heard of but seemed a kind of tradition with Ben's family and didn't find an end. When they finally snuggled up in Bed later, Anya had her head on his chest "Benji… I like your family…" she stated and Ben chuckled "That's mutual, Love." He grinned "And I told you so: just be yourself and everything will work out fine."