Evie woke up to the pain pulsing in her face. Slowly she reached her hand up and felt the bandage that loosely covered the wounds. Slowly she sat up on the bed she had been sleeping on. Looking around, she was in a small but cosy room filled with wooden carved furniture that blended into the wooden slate walls. On the far side of the room, a mirror was perched atop a low set of draws.

She gently lowered her feet to the ground. A low creak groaned out of the wood as she shifted herself into a standing position. Hesitantly, she made her way over to the mirror.

Her hair had been brushed back into two loose ponytails that sat either side of the base of her skull. Someone had cleared wiped away the days of dirt and grime that had left her skin brown that last time she had seen her reflection in the river water. And there was a large white bandage sitting underneath her right eye down to her top lip. There was a smaller secondary bandage just right of centre that sat on her chin.

Slowly she reached up and grasped the edge of the larger bandage. Taking a few deep breathes through her nose in order to steady herself, she prepared to view the damage the rouge had done to her face.

'I wouldn't do that if I were you,' Evie jumped back startled by the unfamiliar voice.

Whipping her head around - causing the pain in her face to intensify - she locked eyes with a tall man that stood in the doorway. His dark curls were pushed off of his forehead and green eyes looked at her with curiosity.

'You should probably sit back down for now. Your still pretty weak and I haven't really been able to get you to eat anything for the last few days,' he said as he stepped forward.

Evie's eyes bulged out when he said days. How long had she been out of it!? Almost sensing her question, the dark-haired man spoke.

'You have been sleeping for the last four days,' he said.

The stranger stepped forward and carefully lead Evie back to the bed. As she swung her legs back up, he helped her adjust the pillows to prop herself up and pulled the blanket over her small frame.

'Pretty impressive what you did to that rouge,' he said as he filled a cup with water and handed it to her.

'Yeah, I smelt him all over you and went to finish him off, but I didn't need to. Quite a surprise actually. I found your things though,' He stated gesturing over to Evie's two bags. They were piled up in one of the corners that she had clearly missed before in her survey of the room.

Looking back to the mystery man she spotted the letter she had given to Alpha Ian in his hand.

'Yeah, sorry I looked through your shit. Couldn't have a total stranger staying in my house without trying to figure out who they were just a little bit could I now?' He stated with a shrug of his shoulders. Evie thought that this was fair enough and that she probably would have done the same were they in opposite positions.

'I do have a few questions though. What is your name? For a letter of introduction, it only really tells me who your related to, and alas I do not know a Marie or Joanne,' the man said.

'If it helps any, my name is Curtis,' the green-eyed man said.

She thought a few seconds before answering. Was she even really Evie anymore? She did not think so. Deliberately, she opened her mouth, but she could only produce a soft grunting noise, her vocal ligaments stiff after not being used for days. She tried again.

'Eve.' It was quiet but Curtis heard it.

'Well Eve, I presume that Ian could not take you into his pack for some reason or another and sent you up here to me,' Curtis stated. Eve nodded her head in affirmation of his assumption.

'Is your previous pack still after you?' Curtis asked the question that she dreaded the most. There was no way that he would be willing to help her if she brought danger with her.

Nevertheless, she still had to tell him the truth. He had a right to now if she was putting him in harms way.

Eve nodded her head in affirmation once again.

'Right then. Here is what is going to happen next. In a few more days, your wounds should have nearly finished healing. After that you are going to start training to fight. I can't let you stay here without being able to defend yourself - you'll just be a burden to me. Once you are proficient enough, I'll send you on your way, I do not know how long that will take. But, in order to have a life again you will need to be a warrior. There will be no complaints when I train you. You will do as I say, when I say. In the meantime, whilst I train you, you will help around the cabin. You are not going to be a freeloader. It will be hard work. There will be points when you want to give up. Don't. If you are not willing to do exactly what I have just said you can go ahead and leave right now. Understand?' Curtis looked directly into Eve's eyes. He was beyond serious about every word he had just uttered. But she was too.

'I understand.' Eve managed to say strongly, despite the lack of stretch in her cheek.

'Okay then. Let me change the dressings on your face and then you can have something to eat,' Curtis stated as he sat down on the edge of the bed.

Carefully, he started to tug at the corner of the larger bandage. Eve winced in pain, breathing in and out steadily until Curtis sat back to observe the uncovered wound.

'It will probably be alright to take out the stiches tomorrow afternoon. I was hoping you would still be asleep when it came time - it is going to hurt like a motherfucker. Do you want to see now?' Curtis questioned Eve. After a few seconds she gave a firm nod, and Curtis helped her over to the mirror.

Reflected back at her, was her face held together by over two dozen individual stiches. The wounds had scabbed over leaving three dark red lines running diagonally down her cheek, one continuing down through both her top and bottom lip. She could barely recognise her own face.

'Stitched you up as best I could but you are going to have some impressive scars once you have healed up,' Curtis broke the quietness of the room.

'Do you want me to cover it back up?' He asked gently.

Eve shook her head in denial. What would be the point? The damage had already been done.

'Alright. Come down the hall to the left when you are ready. I've got some soup ready for you.' He said before walking off.