This is a clean version of a story which is also on Archive Of Our Own. It might turn out differently because I have to write it a bit different to make it that way, and it may change the outcome of my muse. This story occurs before Cry Wolf, and I'm planning to use this as a foundation to create a retelling of the Alpha and Omega books (which will probably come out way different than Patty's originals.)

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

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"I'm going to Asil's, wanna come?" Sage asked from the kitchen.

I stood form the chair, albeit slightly regretfully, and stretched, yawning. "Yeah, sure. Really, though, why don't you just fuck him?"

Sage sighed. "You know exactly why, Nicole, he's still mourning his mate."

I rolled my eyes. "God, he wants it."

My best friend ignored me. "Come on, loser," she said, and walked out the door. I followed her, closing it behind me.

"It's way too cold out here," I complained.

"You always say that," she replied.

"It's always true," I said.

Sage snorted, trekking to her car. I followed, sliding into the passenger seat and cranking the heater all the way up, then squeaking when it was cold and turning it off again. She started the car and I curled up into the seat, resting my head between my knees.

"Shouldn't you be used to it by now?"

"I've only been here one year!"

"This place has two modes, cold and colder."

"And inside," I said irritably, turning on the heater again now that the engine had warmed up, but we were already halfway to Asil's.

"Fine," she allowed.

Our relationship seems really passive-aggressive sometimes, but we're good. Stopping her car in front of Asil's hothouse. He didn't say anything at first when we entered, but when he did speak, it was unexpected.

"Nicole, you should go to Bran's house."

I raised my eyebrows, then checked out the pack bonds. Bran was really upset. "Why me?" I asked.

"You can be oblivious. Just go," he said, waving me out. Puzzled, I left the hothouse and started walking to Bran's house, ignoring the cold in favor of trying to figure out why Bran was in such a funk.I felt at the pack bonds more, and felt an absence— I thought I'd been dreaming when I'd felt the pack bonds break.

"Leah is gone," I told myself quietly, then started moving faster. "But how would I help?"

Pushing open Bran's door, the scent of his distress was strong in the air, as was the projection of calm presumably coming from Anna. I quickly trotted up to the room where they were, Bran's study, and opened the door to find Bran pinning Anna to the wall. No wonder her projection of calm was so weak. She glanced at me as I entered, and strengthened her calm, pushing it outward.

"Bran?" I asked. "Asil said to—" He quickly released Anna and grabbed me, and I probably would have squeaked had I not been doped up on Omega magic. Pinning my wrists against the wall, he growled at me, and I tried to break eye contact but couldn't. Anna's calm slowly started to sink in, his eyes fading back to warm hazel. He let go of me, shame in his eyes, and I wished Anna wasn't there.

"Asil said to what?" he asked after a few long seconds.

"Come here. The first thing he said when Sage and I went into his hothouse was 'Nicole, you should go to Bran's house.' Then he called me oblivious and just waved me out."

Bran's eyes got a gold glint to them again for a brief second, then it was gone, and he nodded. "Anna, you should go home."

"Bran," she started.

"Go," he ordered simply. Reluctantly, she nodded, even though she could have refused.

"Did he say why?" Bran asked once she'd left.

"Not why I'd help, if that's what you're asking, and I figured out the issue on my way over," I replied.

He just nodded again, and I didn't know what to say.

"You're still uncomfortable around me," he said after a moment.

"Things happened in my old pack, and when I was a kid. While this place—" I gestured at our surroundings and Aspen Creek in general, "—helps, thirty years of abuse is hard to heal from. It doesn't happen in a day, or a few weeks, or even a few months like in stories. It lingers."

"I'm sorry I didn't find out sooner."

"Bran, that isn't your fault."

"It's my job."

"Then it's an occupational hazard."

He huffed a derisive laugh. "You could say that."

"Well, I just did."

He smiled a little bit at that, his eyes on the floor, sitting on his desk and kicking his feet, but he still smelled upset. "Would you stay here tonight?"

Admittedly a bit taken aback, I replied, "Of course, whatever helps."

He nodded. "Thank you."

I shook my head, joining him on the desk. "It's nothing."

I froze as he touched my hair softly. Quickly withdrawing his hand, he apologized. "I'm sorry, I didn't know."

I shook my head. "No, it's okay. None of them ever did that, you just surprised me."

"Never?" he asked.

"Not like that, no."

He nodded in understanding. "Nicole?"

I looked at him.

"You're safe here," he said, and reinforced it with his dominance. For the first time in years, I actually did feel safe. I moved closer to him and he put an arm around me, and I relaxed a bit.

"Thank you," I said.

"It's my job."

I grinned. "You're good at it."

"There are a lot of people who would disagree."

"There are a lot of people who are idiots, Bran."

He smiled again. "True."

"Unfortunately."

He laughed again, but I was frustrated that he wasn't feeling much better.

"Bran, what can I do?"

The mood in the room became much more subdued. He shook his head. "Leah left a few days ago. Our mating bond was cut by a witch, along with her pack bonds, earlier today. The wolf is… more angry than sad, but not much more."

I sighed. "That doesn't tell me how to help."

"Just stay here."

Puzzled, I let it lie, but only from the finality and slight discomfort Bran emanated. I nodded. We sat in silence for a while, until I started to tense up again, my brain working itself up over being alone with a dominant male. I started staring at my feet and shrinking away a bit subconsciously.

Bran looked at me, concerned. "Nicole, I'm not going to hurt you."

"It's still hard to believe that most of the time," I said quietly.

He nodded. "I still can't trust witches."

"Why is that?" I asked.

"Maybe I'll tell you sometime," he said, and the subject was closed. "Want to go for a run?"

I nodded, both accepting his closing the subject and his offer of a run. "Yeah. I think we could both use one." Sliding off the desk, I turned to face him. "Meet you outside?"

He nodded and I left, going into the bathroom but leaving the door partially open so I could open it in wolf form. I undressed and folded my clothes, starting the excruciating process of the Change.

My wolf is tawny, with a black chest and ears and a black spot on my left eye, which is ice blue (my right one is gold, my wolf has heterochromia). My tail is tipped in black, like Bran's except his is white, and my muzzle is like caramel with pepper sprinkled throughout, as are my legs. My front left foot is black, and I have a little cloud-shaped splotch on my right flank, which Sage calls my 'cutie-mark' in reference to My Little Pony. I shook myself, then pushed the bathroom door open with my nose and trotted to the front door, exiting the house.

Bran was waiting as agreed upon, and his tail wagged a tiny bit when he saw me. Jerking his head north, as if to say come on, he started running in the indicated direction. Chasing him, I plowed through the snow, paying the cold no mind as I ran, the euphoric feeling of freedom being all that was on my mind. Most wolves loved the hunt most, but my favorite part was the chase; the wind blowing through my fur, my eyes watering from the wind, the trees flowing past me as I leapt over fallen logs and rocks. I raced after Bran, falling snowflakes sticking to my fur, then melting. I caught up to him, still running hard, and started to pass him. Redoubling his speed, his tail passed my nose and he left me in his tracks. Somehow, I started going faster, attempting to catch up to him. Ahead of me, I saw him turn back to his house, so I cut back without completing the path he had; we'd never declared it a competition, so I could hardly cheat, could I?

I fell over into the snow behind Bran's house and he gave me a contemptuous look. I let my mouth hang open and my tongue loll out, going inside to change again.