Unexpected Visitors

"I'm telling you I can walk around the house alone, mom. My ribs are broken not my legs."

"Couch! Now!" Her mother demanded a pile of cookies in her hands that she placed on the living room table.

Since Eleonora had returned home yesterday, she was practically glued to the couch. Her mother didn't let her walk around without any help and made sure she was taken care of all the time. Eleonora loved and hated her mother at the same time for that. But she couldn't stop but feel restless after this time. Thankfully she could work from home, she was self-employed and had her own little security company. So far, she was the only employee, but she earned enough money to come by. The only thing she couldn't do right now was meeting her clients because of her injuries. Her job was based on a lot of trust and that included meeting her clients personally, some of them were from a big company others were a private household.

The only other distraction, Eleonora would called them the light of her day, were the visits from Lora, her best friend.

Lora was a nice girl with a tendency to be extreme in certain situations. She was favous back in high school and is it still to this day. Eleonora always thought she took after her mother, the Luna of the pack, as her role model. She could jump from zero to one hundred in the blink of an eye, yet she was one of the most tenderhearted and caring person she knew. Eleonora's mother could only be topped by Lora in that fact. A few years ago, when the two girls were still in high school, a local company tried to cut down a large part of the forest. And Lora, the nature loving freak she is, destroyed all their machines in one night, some say she used her bare hands to break the metal vehicles. She came to class the next day, pulling car pieces out of her back and placing it in front of Theo and Eleonora, "The Alpha should do something about this fucking problem, or I'll have a word with him." She said to them. In a matter of a day their father, Alpha of the pack, had handled the situation. Some gossiped that it was out of the fear of the things that Lora would do next. Theo and Eleonora had bet that she would have jumped the people responsible in her wolf form until they had fled out of fear. Everyone was glad it didn't come to that.

Eleonora missed her company already. The day was boring, and she got tired of the tv programs rather quickly. She wasn't the type to sit around, she needed fresh air and a change of scenery occasionally. Starring at walls for the past three days didn't do her any good and the urge to go for a run and look for the rogues herself didn't help in that matter. She looked around and listened for a moment not seeing or hearing any of her family members.

"Good." She let out a breath. Eleonora stood up carefully, she put on her slippers still making sure not to move her body too much since the pain was still a bother. "Three more days." She repeated the words almost like a chant. That would be the time when her ribs are finally healed as doctor Thomas had said. The bite wound on her side was healed already but broken bones took a while longer than flesh wounds. But she didn't want to complain, humans had it a lot harder, their bones would take month to heal where she only needed to rest for a week. Thank the Goddess for werewolf healing.

Eleonora took one step after another, making her way to the garden door. She peeked out, seeing no one but the patrol, she let out a breath and walked out, sitting down on the hanging bench that was located on their porch.

"Sneaking out, I see."

Eleonora flinched at the sudden appearance of an all to familiar man. "Do you blame me for wanting some fresh air, Tony?" Eleonora responded with a light smile on her face. Tony was the beta of her father and more like an uncle to her, she knew him since she could remember.

"Wait here a second." Tony rushed into the house, Eleonora could hear furniture being moved and the clacking of some plates. A minute later Tony came out again with a bunch of pillows tucked beneath his arms, maybe six or seven, and he gracefully balanced two bows with ice cream on top of them. "Don't tell your dad. This is his favorite ice cream, he stacked it away in the back of the freezer." Tony wore a bright smile on his face.

"Don't worry, my lips are sealed." She smiled reaching her arms out for the bowl full of chocolate chip ice cream. Not only her father's favorite ice cream but hers too. Tony placed the pillows on the bench for Eleonora to arrange them for her to sit more comfortably, she didn't even want to think about the chaos that Tony had left inside.

Tony took his ice in one hand and helped himself to sit on the railing of the porch. He took a huge bite of his ice cream just like she did. "I heard you fought some rogues, three if I remember correctly. I hope they look worse than you do." He smiled at her, another spoonful of ice finding it's way into his mouth.

"It was more like one, the two others surprised me. And here I am." She gestured down her sides with her free hand that wasn't holding the bowl of ice cream.

"At least you get some battle scars."

"Sorry to disappoint. Doc said no scars will be left at the end."

"Man, you have your first rogue fight and don't even get a fancy scar out of it." Eleonora had to laugh at Tony's remark, he always knew how to lighten the mood. But she regretted laughing the moment the pain stung her side, and a look of guilt was left on Tony's face. "Sorry, I remember it hurts like hell with broken ribs."

"The worst part is it hurts most when I'm laughing. Mom already banned Theo from seeing me."

"I can see why." Tony said amused.

"So, what about your battle scars?" Eleonora asked curiously. And just as she finished her question something in Tony's eyes lit up, excitement she guessed.

"Oh, I have a lot of stories to tell. This is the first- " He rolled up his sleeve to reveal three long scars right next to each other, Eleonora guessed they were claw marks. "My first rogue attack. Your father and I were just 15 playing out in the forest until two rogues came at us out of nowhere. Man, we had some luck that day, your father even won against the rogue that gave me these marks." He rolled his sleeve down and pushed the bottom of his shirt up, revealing his stomach and a scar that covered half of his stomach and side. "This one, this one left me on the brink of death. The old Alpha of this territory gave this to me."

"The one that dad fought?" Eleonora asked curiously. She loved to know more about the old stories.

"That's right kid. That nasty Alpha tried to attack the people of his own pack that night. But leave it to me, I stopped that crazy guy just in time. After a while your father joined the fight and took him down." Tony's gaze had driven off to a far place, as if seeing the old story right in front of his face. "We lost many people that night." He said in a low voice. "Anyway, that is a story from the past." It is a story Eleonora knew too well. Even when she was a child the pack members had always talked about how her father took over the pack and saved the pack members from their old Alpha, the man was a brutal and ruthless werewolf, killing even his own people. Her father was originally the Alpha of a neighboring pack, but the people of this territory pleaded to him that he saves them. It was a risky move from the people and also for her father, but he tried to help. At first with talking, then with the help of the council and some other packs but nothing helped. In the end a fight broke out. The pack members that fought for the old Alpha either died in the attack, were punished for their crimes, or left the pack to life a different life. About half of the people remained here and the two territories that her father was the Alpha of now joined together, making it one large territory. The people who remained in the pack were grateful to their new Alpha and Luna who were kind and helped everyone.

"You and dad sure are amazing. I couldn't even take down one rogue." Eleonora snapped out of her thoughts.

"You said it yourself, they took you by surprise. There is nothing to feel bad about. Next time you'll get them." Tony looked so determined that it made Eleonora believe every word he said.

"By the way, do you know where Klaus is? He found me after the attack. I forgot to ask dad about that." Eleonora remembered she wanted to thank Klaus who was on patrol that night, he had come to her help and brought her to the hospital.

"Oh,right. Klaus and the othr guys did say something about that. He's on patrol around this time. I'll give him a call to come by when he's free."

"Thank you."

"Good." Tony patted his pants and stood up. "I have to see your father now; we have to talk to some of the other packs about this matter."

"Were other packs attacked?"

"No, not yet. But the alpha of the Crescent Moon Pack said that they have sighted more rogues in the past few month. We'll be sending some help over there to strengthen their patrols soon." Tony explained, getting ready to leave.

"Sounds good." Eleonora fiddled with the last spoon of her ice cream.

"For gods sake, can't this damned gate open normally." Eleonora snapped her head to the side hearing the shrill, and too familiar voice storming through the gate. "Isn't anyone there to help me? Mom? Dad?" The young woman stepped inside, her arms full of bags and a suitcase behind her. Her eyes scanned the garden and the porch until they met with Eleonora's. The woman let go of all her belonging an ran up the stairs, landing hard in Eleonora's arms. "I thought you were dead and I'd be coming to your funeral!"

"Ouch!" Eleonora exclaimed breathing hard and pushing the woman from her hurting rips. "I'm very well alive, Dede."

"Goddess, you had me worried!" Dione, her sister calmed down a bit and removed her arms from Eleonora's side, looking down at her sister a little smile came to Dione's face as tears filled her eyes.

"What are you doing here? You're supposed to be in Europe."

"You can't expect me to keep studying when Anna calls me, saying you were attacked by rogues and in the hospital." She crossed her arms before her chest, seemingly annoyed that her sister didn't believe she would come. "But I see you're still alive and well."

"Yeah." Eleonora said guiltily. "I have a few broken ribs, but it won't take long until I'm all good again. By the way I tried calling you the past days."

"I left my charger in my room and my phone gave up as soon as I reached the airport."

Eleonora laughed, followed by a sharp pain, she scolded herself internally for laughing again. She took a few deep breath and the pain lessened, but didn't vanish completely.

"Broken ribs mean no laughing, sis." Dione said in her all to scolding and professional voice. "Dooes it hurt when you breath too?"

"I know. And yes, but I think I mastered a way of breathing that it doesn't hurt too bad."

"But aren't you the lucky one, you have your personal doctor now." Dione exclaimed with a bright grin on her face. She was referring to herself.

Dione wasn't a real doctor, not yet, but she was studying in college to become one. The Luna of a pack in Europe was known as one of the best doctors, for both humans and werewolves, and a few years ago that Luna had opened a small college for werewolves to attend to and to be able to become great doctors themselves. Dione always wanted to be a doctor and when the college opened and news spread about it, she was more than excited to study there. Since she was of the smart side she was able to finish school a year early and start college with 17. And from the calls that their parents received it was clear that the Luna of the pack had taken a liking to Dione. She even taught her in private lessons. And when Dione turned 18 the Luna and Alpha of that Pack even held her ceremony instead her family. Her family on the other hand was watching it via video since they couldn't attend at the time and Dione didn't want to leave to return home.

"Right." Eleonora almost jumped up from her seat at the thought. "Happy Birthday Dede." She flung her arms around her sister and dragged her down into a tight hug. Ignoring the pain since her little sister was more important now. "Sorry, we weren't there at your 18th birthday."

Dione chuckled under the hug. "Well, I expect one hell of a party as soon as you're healed again."

"But I'm not happy that it took me to almost die for you to return here. And I believe it is just temporarily."

"Well, you know me best." Dione responded, her hands firm at her sides.

"Let's go and find mom and dad. I bet you didn't tell them you were coming here."

Dione giggled. "Not a word. I bet dad will freak out seeing me."

"Believe me, he won't let you return to Europe if it was his choice."

They laughed and went inside, Dione helped her sister to find a comfortable place, made a coffee and sat down. The two caught up on the things they had missed since Dione had left for college and what they would plan for her stay. In the evening the other family members returned and Dione was welcomed by a lot of tears. Her father the most, as soon as he walked through the door, calling him shocked was an understatement. He had to hold onto the door frame or he would have dropped to the ground out of surprise.