Twenty four years ago

Meinir looked down at the young cub in horror, "What on earth?!"

It gurgled and fidgeted but seemed to be looking up at Meinir with loving eyes.

Her mother looked up at her with a happy but tired smile, "Your little brother."

Meinir looked at her mother as if she'd caught her disrespecting their alpha. Her little brother... What no?... Meinir had known that something was going on, her mummy had been getting bigger and bigger, at first Meinir had thought she was ill, but now...

What would happen now that there were two of them? Now that mummy didn't have so much time to spend with Meinir. Meinir wasn't foolish, she had watched the other mummy's, whenever a new cub came along the older cubs always got pushed away.

She looked up at her mother with tear filled eyes but Meinir's mother was stern.

"You will protect him," her mother commanded, "You will look after your brother. I love you both equally- I will have no fighting between the two of you. Understood?"

"Yes, mummy," Meinir replied obediently.

"Now," her mother commanded, "Leave me and your brother to rest. Go outside and play with the others."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

Hafren looked at Meinir in sympathy as the young cub walked miserably out of the tent. Hafren was sure Meinir had been crying- not that anyone would ever be able to tell. Meinir was just like her mother in a lot of ways, and their stoic-ness and fear of weakness was something that they both shared.

"Hey, Meinir!" Hafren called over to her, "Look what I found!" Hafren held up the football. It was a little deflated and very muddy, but she was glad that the humans had left it behind. It wasn't often that humans camped close to their territory and she was glad that the elders had ruled for the pack to stay.

Meinir looked up with a sad smile but didn't stop, instead she headed straight for the tent at the furthest corner of their camp.

Of course, Hafren thought to herself, Of course she would go to them. But it still stung- knowing that however hard she tried to be a best friend to Meinir, and however much she wanted to be the closest thing to a sister Meinir had- she would always be second to Arianne and Ceri.

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

"He is such a flirt!" Arianne exclaimed to her friend as they sat in her tent, braiding together several strands of bark that would be used later to make a basket.

"I know," Ceri agreed, "But I do like him."

"Gerwyn?" Arianne asked in disbelief, "I swear he's dated every cub our age in the pack! Ceri, please, there are more wolves in the woods, and you deserve someone who isn't going to just muck you around. And it's not like you're going to have to marry soon now, is it? You still have at least a couple of years to find the right wolf. Why settle for less than your enaid cymar?"

Ceri smiled, "You know he could be my enaid cymar."

Arianne rolled her eyes, "Yes, and humans could find out about wolfbloods and form tiny little packs with us."

Ceri chuckled, "It's not totally illogical."

Arianne looked up, sniffing the air delicately. Ceri gave her a tired and irritated look.

"Not again," Ceri complained, "First when I'm trying to sort my herbs, then at lunch, and now too. Why can't she just play with Hafren?"

"Come here, May," Arianne called out, as the young cub fought with the curtain that hung over the entrance of the tent and appeared a few moments later with her hair dishevelled and her eyes looking slightly red.

Even though Arianne was only eleven, and still only a little cub at heart, it was in moments like these that the alpha in her shone out. Arianne was a natural born leader. Whilst she wasn't an amazing healer or particularly good at Eolas, and she would never master Ancian no matter how much her mother and father told her it was her birthright, when it came to looking after the younger cubs she was extraordinary. And she was already getting noticed for it, she'd heard the elders whispering, and even poor little Alric seemed more interested in her- although he still couldn't string a sentence together around her.

Arianne held out her arms and Meinir ran into them, throwing her arms around the older girl's neck and burying her head in the scarlet curls.

"Was it Elgar again?" Arianne asked, "I swear, he might be my best guy friend but if he's cruel to you again I'll get our alpha to send him the Kronock. Meinir was he cruel to you?"

Meinir shook her head, and whispered quietly between sobs, "I have a brother."

"Well that's great news!" Ceri exclaimed, "Awstin and Efa have been wanting a son for so long, they must be so pleased. And now you have a little brother too Meinir, isn't that just great? What name were they going to call him again?"

"Aran," Meinir answered, "But...but... Now he's here they'll just forget about me, won't they?"

Arianne looked at Meinir sympathetically, "Do you know how worried I was the day I came here? How worried I was being only nine years old and having to leave my old pack? I thought they'd forget me too. But then only last winter solstice they joined us, didn't they? You won't get left behind, carriad. Your mummy and daddy love you lots and lots and so will Aran. You know I bet he already does! And you have me too. Don't ever forget that."

Meinir smiled at the older girl, before brushing the tears out of her eyes, "Thank you."

"No problem," Arianne said, before standing up, Ceri joining her, "I'm tired of making these baskets, we can finish them tomorrow. Let's go find Hafren, she's been going on about that football so much and I've watched those humans playing with it. Who says that we can't round up Gerwyn, Elgar and Alric and have a go at this so called 'foot-ball' ourselves, eh?"

Present Day- Set two months after the end of Series 4

Emilia landed on the ground with a loud thud, earning an eye roll from Cadwr and a stern look from her mentors, Aran and Hafren. In fact, Hafren looked even more annoyed than usual, was it that Aran was being unnecessarily clingy now that Meinir had left? Or was it just Emilia misinterpreting the older girl's body language? After all, Hafren was grumpy most days.

"You scared all of the animals," Cadwr chastised her, "Just as well we're not hunting today."

"I was trying to surprise you," Emilia replied, nudging him playfully.

"By jumping out a tree?" Cadwr replied with a raised eyebrow, "You need to be more inventive than that."

"You surprised me," Aran said with a pale and disappointed look on his face, "That's a good ten feet Emilia! If your brother had seen you... I promised him I'd look after you, if you were to get hurt he'd skin me."

"Don't worry about Matei so much Aran!" Emilia tried to reassure him, "Matei's bark is worse than his bite. I do miss him though..."

"Next full moon," Aran answered, "Alric made Jana promised, every three full moons she must visit us."

"Why not every full moon?" Emilia asked, "Katrina can drive now. Why can't they visit every full moon?"

Aran looked at the little fire-walker with a sad smile, "It's a nice idea but Jana and Katrina have jobs and they can't just take time off whenever they like. Also we'll be moving to our summer territory soon, all the way in Firth, it'll be too far for them to travel every month. I miss them too, Emilia, I miss my alpha and Meinir but they are happy, I know they are..."

Hafren looked back at Aran with an irritated gaze, "Enough of the pep talk, we're supposed to be teaching them about medicinal plants, not reminiscing about the old times."

"But don't young remember how much fun we used to have as cubs?" Aran asked, "You and May were like sisters, and then when I came along and the way you used to be like a mother to me..."

Hafren snarled, black veins appearing on her face, "Enough Aran! Our alpha has given us a task, and it seems it's all on me to make sure it gets completed."

Emilia and Cadwr shared a covert eye roll.

"But what's the point?" Emilia asked, "I'm a fire-walker and everyone knows Cadwr's going to be a hunter when he's older."

Hafren gave the cubs an infuriated look, "And what if you were to get stranded and were injured? I'm pretty sure your lovely Matei would be devastated to hear that his ickle little sister died because of her own stupidity and pride..."

"BACK OFF!" Emilia snarled, eyes flashing yellow and black veins appearing on her hands and face, if Aran hadn't pulled her back then she was sure she would have attacked Hafren there and then.

"Enough!" Aran commanded, "Both of you!"

"Oh dear," Hafren said, her head held high, looking down her nose at the young cub, "We still have so so far to go."

"Leave it Emilia," Cadwr said placing a hand on her arm, before whispering to her, "Let Matei and Jana tear her to pieces when they come back."

Emilia nodded to him sincerely, "She's not getting away with that."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

"Enjoy your day!" Jana said to the woman she was serving as she passed her a cup of steaming coffee.

Katrina looked on with a thoughtful stare as she watched Jana race backwards and forwards. There was definitely something more to this than what was meeting the idea... Yes, Jana was hard-working... Yes, now that wolfbloods were out Jana had been using her wolfy super-speed at work to improve customer service... But there was more to it than that. It was as if Jana was trying to focus so much on working so hard to try to distract her from something else.

"Take a break," Katrina said to her for what must have been the tenth time, "You've more than earnt it."

Jana shook her head, "It's ok. I'm good."

"Well at least take some time off on Friday," Katrina said, before grabbing her apron, "You know, you and Matei. It's going to be your month anniversary of being together. And there is that sappy new movie on at the cinema. Back row, you two... Oh don't give me that look Jana, it's an important human right of passage."

Jana rolled her eyes, "Human, human. I might live in the city but I was raised as an alpha's heir, and tonsil tennis at the back of a cinema isn't an appropriate way for an alpha to behave."

Katrina shook her head with a laugh, "Compared to the way you and Matei behave, oh yeah, I know exactly what you two get up to in that den."

"Katrina!" Jana yelled, almost covering herself in the remnants of a coffee filter as she slammed her hand down on the side.

"And then last night," Katrina answered, "I knew someone was in the bathroom. And you never wake up in the night... Like ever."

Jana bit her lip, "Ok, yes, I might have snuck Matei in last night."

Katrina smiled, "Well I'm not judging. Your nearly seventeen, he's sixteen. It's all legal. I say go for it."

Jana blushed and let out a shocked chuckle, "Seriously?"

Katrina nodded, "And I'll get a key made for him too. I'm happy for you Jana. You deserve to be happy. But if Matei has a hot long lost cousin..."

"Like I said before," Jana replied, "I'll make sure to send him your way."

"Thank you," Katrina smiled, "Your the best non-human flatmate a girl could hope for."

Jana shook her head with a smile, and shrugged. Before sighing and turning back to face the counter.

"What's wrong?" Katrina asked.

"Oh, it's nothing," Jana reassured her, "Matei's got exams this week, I'm just worried for him, you know how much he wants to go to that special college. He's been revising like crazy. I guess I'm just a bit stressed too."

Katrina smiled, "Matei's a genius and he's going to ace these exams and then he'll be the most amazing doctor ever, I just know it."

Jana smiled, "All I've been hearing these past few days is about quadratic equations and nucleophilic substitutions. I thought we'd escaped all of that."

"Well that's what happens when you decide to date a school boy," Katrina answered.

Jana sighed, "There's nothing wrong with that is there? Me dating a schoolboy and... Well, you know... All the rest."

Katrina shook her head, "It's not like you're forty and he's twelve! And you two are unique. I don't think there are any rules that have even been written about wolfblood teen relationships yet."

Jana nodded, smiling.

"What are you smiling like that for?" Katrina asked Jana with a puzzled look.

"Oh, it's nothing," Jana said, hoping that she would feel better now.

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK
Matei came out of the exam hall with a huge grin on his face. That exam had been easy, and it had been physics, his least favourite subject, only two more exams and he would have finished his GCSEs and finished school too. It felt strange, leaving school and going into the adult world. He was surprised to admit that he was actually going to miss this place.

Selina ran to catch up with him, "That was amazing! I swear if we don't come out with A*s I'm going to be shocked."

Matei smiled as TJ caught up with them sighing and rolling his eyes, "Ok, ok. I get it. You two are natural geniuses. And Matei, your super-speed reading is like Ancian, it's an unnatural advantage."

"Whatever TJ," Matei replied, "Let's just head to the Kafe. Jana should be finished by now. Let's grab a drink before heading back to mine."

"So I can watch you two making terrible science innuendos again," TJ replied, "No way, and my mum said I've got to be back for six."

"Suit yourself," Selina answered, "But you do know there's discounted cakes on Wednesdays after five, right?"

TJ looked at Selina disapprovingly, "I swear you're going to get me in so much trouble with my mum. If I keep on breaking curfew..."

Matei rolled his eyes, "Let's just get going shall we."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

Jana ran over to Matei as she caught his scent, barely allowing him enough time to get through the door before flinging her arms around him and kissing him exuberantly.

Matei automatically wrapped his arms around her but he was shocked. What on earth? Jana had been so distant last night, and now. Gods, girls could be so confusing.

"How did the exam go?" Jana asked, looking up at him with a beaming smile.

"Erm, good," Matei said trying to regain his composure, "Really, really good."

Jana smiled at him exuberantly, before leaning in close to him, "Your place or mine?"

"Erm, excuse me?!" TJ asked in borderline hysterics, "Hello, I do have supersonic hearing just so you're aware."

"Are you sure?" Matei said worriedly, "It's just last night, I thought..."

"Don't be so silly," Jana said playfully, "Besides you need to relax, with all these exams and revision, I barely get time to see you."

"By Friday it will all be over," Matei promised her, "And then we have months and months ahead of us."

"I like the sound of that," Jana replied, with a little giggle.

TJ narrowed his eyes in disgust, shaking his head in disbelief, "If you've been using our den..."

Jana tried her best to hold back a guilt look, with no success.

TJ shook his head, before walking off towards the nearest table and sitting down furiously.

"So what should I get everyone?" Katrina asked, walking over to them with her notebook and fluffy purple pen.

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

Jana looked in the bathroom mirror, taking several deep breaths to try and calm her breathing. What the hell was going on with her? She thought she'd fixed the problem, but no matter what explanation seemed to make sense, nothing seemed to fix the issue. No matter what she tried.

And it was killing her.

In every way Matei was perfect. He always knew how to be charming and romantic and he was always kissing and hugging her, and even when they argued it was always about something silly and small and one look from Matei would start them both laughing until they ended up in each other's arms kissing again.

She loved every part of him and she knew he loved every part of her. And that was why she felt so miserable and why she was just trying to block out that feeling, because everything Matei was doing was right and nothing made sense at all.

Because hugging and kissing that was all great and all fine, but anything more than that just felt wrong to Jana and she didn't know why.

But the last thing she wanted to do was admit that to anyone. So she splashed her face with cold water, told herself to pull herself together again and go on pretend like nothing was going on.

Because there was no way she was going to break Matei's heart.

Or her own.