When I woke up in the morning I had three long marks on the left side of my ribs and right shoulder, courtesy of the werewolf, their claws had poison in them that would leave permanent scars. Korinna put some paste on them to help them heal faster, but she couldn't do anything about the scaring.

"We have taught you all we can." Korinna looked at me "You will carry the legends and legacy with you."

"what about you?" I asked.

Hector smiled "We have completed our task, but now we have some final traditions."

I smiled sadly, I knew what this meant. They had no reason to stay, no reason to continue living.

Like all the other times I was laid down on my back. I had gotten a tattoo the other day for defeating the bear. It was a bear claw on my left side, on the top of my ribs.

"the last one is your family. You have brought honor to your ancestors." Korinna replied. As she finished the tattoo on my left bicep.

Korinna placed a band around my arm, above the tattoo. I looked down to see and intricate stitching. A wolf and Raven. Attached to it was a black feather. I looked up in time to see the Raven fly above us. Korinna stood me up as Hector draped the bear headdress over me.

The black paws resting against my shoulders. The two bowed.

Many hours passed and it was night fall. I sat in front of the fire looking into the flames.

"You have done well Alexandra Aniu. You are ready to leave our ancestral land and return home"

I nodded; it's been almost a month and I still had four days left. "I'm sure my family is worried... You'll be alone now, won't you?" I asked sadly thinking about the two of them when I leave.

They smiled gently "perhaps it's time for sleep, you have an early morning and a long journey home."

I went to bed my eyes closing gently, while I was sad about leaving Hector and Korinna I was ready to return home, to see my family. My mom and Eve and the pack. My time here was done.

I woke up just before dawn and began packing. I rolled everything into knapsacks. I had no clue how I was going to take them all, but I knew I couldn't leave them. They were tied to me.

Korinna appeared in the morning to help me. "these will always tie you to your home."

In the end I had the bison pelt, bear cape, bear rug, lynx blanket, my clothes, shoes, and an antler. As I was leaving my temporary home Hector handed me a package, it was a leather wrapped book. With a smile I place it in my bag.

"I guess this is goodbye"

"it is, but just like your spirit we will always be here" Korinna placed her hand on my chest, above my heart. "come, lets get you home"

I nodded and went to phase, Korinna brought me some knapsacks to carry my clothes and I took them in my jaws before joining Hector. The journey to my car was done in silence, only the sound of our paws touching the ground filled the air.

It took us far less time for us to get to my car, probably because Hector knew the layout and we knew were we were going. It only took a few hours to traverse the land.

As we got closer to the trail Hector stopped. When I changed into my clothes I purposefully changed into the ones I brought from home. I wanted to avoid being stopped by border patrol if I were in the clothing. Hector gave me one of the local tribes tags so that I if I did get stopped I had the proper paperwork for the skins.

They helped me get the stuff loaded into my car, before they left I hugged both of them.

"we have done everything we can to help you and you have learned everything you can from me. Now you must find your own path" Korinna spoke he hands cupping my cheeks. I smiled at her.

"you would make you father proud."

"thank you, both of you" I looked between the two of them "for everything"

"it's our job."

It was a bittersweet goodbye. Not only had I met my great grandmother, I met my people. I had gotten closer to my father and my heritage.

I looked in the rearview mirror as I drove away watching as the two disappeared. My eyes caught sight of the black wolf, she too disappeared in the wind. My spirit guide or just my imagination, I didn't know but she too was gone.

Once I got back to civilization I realized I was gone for nearly a month, just shy of a day or two. When I got back to Forks it was the day before Christmas. I made sure to call my mom the moment I could, but I refused to stop and phase to tell Sam.

I wanted to get home. I didn't stop, for anything except some energy drinks.

Unlike before I was going back home with a sense of purpose and the feeling of completion. I was ready to take my place in the pack as the Beta, the second in command. I was ready for it.

Far more than I had before.

I started driving along the main road towards home and the excitement began building. I was ready to see my mom and my aunt, it had been so long, or it felt like so long, so much had happened.

Snow had fallen recently, and I could see the tracks leading home, I was happy to see both cars parked in the garage as I pulled in. I hoped to surprise them, but I knew they heard the door, or I assumed they would have if they weren't blasting Christmas music.

I entered the house, and the intense aroma of the season filled my nostrils, cinnamon, and apples and maybe some brown sugar. It smelt like a bakery; I was glad the scents didn't overwhelm me, as that would put a damper on my homecoming.

When I stepped into the home, I found both my mom and aunt putting up the tree, the kitchen was filled with various platters of goodies and there were many wrapped boxes waiting to be placed under the tree. I thanked whatever gods were out there that I had the sense to go shopping early.

My mom was the first to notice I was home; with a bright smile and unshed tears she ran to me wrapping her arms around my taller frame. Eve soon joined in the group hug. I wasn't sure how long we stood there, but it was nice to be home.

Soon though they pulled away and looked at me with raised eyebrows.

"what?"

"Al, sweetie, you need to shower."

"yeah, you smell like you've been living in the woods for a few weeks" Eve added. I smirked slightly.

"I did actually, it was different, but I needed it."

"you can tell us all about it, but first shower and I'm sure you're hungry. How about we go to the diner?"

I smiled "I'd like that"

I ran upstairs to my room, the scent of clean linen filled my nostrils, a sign of recently cleaned sheets. The room was the same as I left it with the exception of the sheets. It had obviously been cleaned recently which was nice. Nothing was better than a clean body in clean sheets.

After a long shower, in which I scrubbed my entire body raw, I jumped out and grabbed a pair of joggers and a tank top. I walked down the stairs to find my mom and aunt putting everything away. I hurriedly went to help but stopped when Eve caught my arm.

With a raised eyebrow I saw her and my mom looking over me, they either didn't see it before or were too concerned with me getting clean to care. Eve's eyes caught the tattoos first, but my mom's eyes were set on the three scars trailing across my torso.

"Al? what happened?" my mom asked unshed tears as she traced the ragged scars that peaked from the top of my tank top. I didn't know what to say, Hector told me how important it was to not reveal everything, to protect them.

So, for the first time, I lied. "it was nothing, just an accident." I could tell they didn't want to believe it, but I gave them my best smile "Sometimes it's better not to know. But I'm okay. I'm alive."

"I don't like that you have to do this" she whispered.

I looked her in the eyes "It's who I am, who I was born to be. I gotta do this... I have to keep people safe because they don't know what's out there, I can't let them go through that. The same way you try your best to save every person who comes to the hospital."

My mom looked into my eyes and some sort of understanding passed through her. She nodded, relenting. "okay"

"let's see the tattoos" Eve replied. I showed them the one on my bicep first, then the one on my chest before turning around to show them my back. "um this one is big so I kinda have to take my shirt off."

My mom helped me lift the back of my shirt, but I could feel her stop halfway causing Eve to lift it the rest of the way.

"this is really detailed" Eve replied.

"it's the tribal one... I got four new ones in total."

I heard my mom sigh, she wasn't angry, but I knew she was concerned, I mean for the last 16 years even a little cut could cause some serious issues.

Plus, tattoos can be bad if you don't do them right and native tribes were known for not having the safest tattoo measures. In fact, the type of tattooing our tribe did was meant to make the recipient sick.

If they fought it off they were strong.

But I heal fast, I didn't need to worry about it. It hurt, but it was supposed to, the tactic, the placement all were reminders of our position, of our job. And a reminder of the pain we had to go through to be stronger.

"can we get dinner now?" I asked as my stomach growled earning a laugh from the others.

"yeah, we can get dinner."