Beauty and the Beast

[Christine Montgomery]

These weren't drunken men looking for a good time. These were desolate wolves looking for revenge. It made all the difference in how they attacked her.

In the dark the wolves had a natural advantage, they too could hear Christine's movements and smell the fear she was feeling, while they gave off no scent and were essentially silent to Christine's human ears.

They attacked en masse, like a pack of wolves searching for a meal, pouncing on what they believed to be easy prey.

Christine, determined not to go easy, began using the spells she had learned with Bella. She was effective, beautiful even in the heat of battle, but it didn't last. The wolves - having already suffered one defeat with magic - attacked on either side of her, and one managed to tear the wand from her hand after sinking his teeth into her forearm tearing the skin.

[Aleksander “Alek” Eiriksen]

There was a metallic scent in the air suddenly and it was unmistakable; blood. Alek moved unnaturally fast to the scene just in time to see one of the attackers pull away from Christine, blood dripping from her arm. He roared in anger as his animal tendencies once again took over.

Alek pulled the first away from Christine, grabbing him around the throat and throwing him into the thick trunk of a nearby tree. The second attacked just as Alek swung and hit the man so hard in the chin that his neck could be heard snapping.

[Christine Montgomery]

In that moment Christine realized that there were few things more beautiful and simultaneously more terrifying, as an enraged Alek in the thick of battle. The raw power and skill of a lethal animal combined with the emotional expression on his face was knee weakening.

She didn't have much time for being weak in the knees as the attack was far from over. Christine held her wounded arm and scoured the area for a weapon. She found a branch and kept a protective stance.

"Alek!" she called out when one of the wolves came up behind him.

[Aleksander “Alek” Eiriksen]

He turned to Christine's warning but not before the third came at him and tore the flesh from the top of his shoulder down his back. Alek howled in pain as his shirt darkened with his own blood. He kicked the wolf backwards and lunged on top of him, beating him with his bare fists until the man's eyes rolled back into his head and Alek's hands were bloodied.

Breathing heavily, Alek turned to find the first attacker, the one who had bitten Christine, pulling himself up from the base of the tree he'd been thrown against. Alek moved swiftly and grabbed the man in a choke hold from behind. Alek pushed him toward Christine.

"You hurt my friend," Alek said in a cold, chilling voice. "Say you're sorry."

"S-s-sorry," the man breathed, clear disdain in his voice.

"Good." And with that Alek snapped his neck and let the body fall to the forest floor. He looked to Christine. "Are you-" Alek fell to the ground, the large gash on his back oozing blood as Alek fell unconscious.

[Christine Montgomery]

Alek's actions, while in her defense, were still awesome and terrible. Much of the death Christine had been subjected to was at the hands of evil men, and Alek's abrupt, remorseless, murder was terrifying. When he came toward her she backed away. As he fell she felt relief and turned to leave.

The sudden images of Alek's past made her stop. In the pensieve she had wanted nothing more than to hold the little boy that had so deeply been scarred and abused. That little boy still existed inside of the ruthless man. A man who had been nothing but kind to her minus a few anger management issues. She had killed those men in her defense, and while she didn't agree with the slaughter, she understood his responsibility and position.

Where logic told her to run, her heart made her stay.

"Alek..." she whispered moving toward him and attempting to lift him. He outweighed her by a significant amount and her arm was still bleeding. She rummaged the area and found her wand then levitated Alek back to the house.

Once there she laid him out on his bed and began to tend to his wounds.

[Aleksander “Alek” Eiriksen]

He awoke sometime later to find himself in his room, Christine fussing over him. He was weak from blood loss but werewolves healed more quickly than humans, especially so near the full moon. He would recover before the Raun, not that he was thinking of such responsibilities at the moment.

"Are you okay?" he asked in a groggy voice. He reached out to touch her face and felt the sharp pain of the wound in his shoulder. He recoiled instantly with a hissing inhale.

[Christine Montgomery]

"No don't move!" she said and winced when the pain became visible on his face. He was shirtless, but clean. It had taken her a while, but with magic she had been able to strip him from his clothes (preserving his modesty of course), and clean the dirt and blood from him.

She had finished cleaning the wound as was ready to apply a poultice, but he needed to remain still.

[Aleksander “Alek” Eiriksen]

Alek was loathe to take orders but the injury he had sustained was enough to require her attention and he attempted to remain still as she commanded. "Are you hurt?" he asked before remembering one of the werewolves had bit her arm.

"Your arm. He bit you!" Alek stirred again as the thought angered him and he desired to seek vengeance all over again.

[Christine Montgomery]

Christine had taken care of her own injury as well, she was surprisingly well versed in werewolf legend, though as she had never seen a werewolf she never had the opportunity to confirm fact from fiction.

She showed Alek her arm which had been wrapped, "I applied silver and dittany, but he wasn't a... I mean it wasn't a full moon so..." she was hesitant to bring up what had made her run in the first place and awkwardly finished, "I should be fine." she said averting her eyes.

[Aleksander “Alek” Eiriksen]

Alek grew angry when Christine referenced the curse he was laden with. He growl at the thought of her betrayal, and her stupidity for running head straight into danger. She could have died.

"What were you thinking going out into the woods on your own? Those men could have killed you!"

[Christine Montgomery]

"Well if you hadn't frightened me I wouldn't have run away!" she argued back. If he had just given her a chance to explain, a chance to accept him the way he was, even though she had been in the wrong. But he didn't. He raged at her, terrified her, chased her, and all but threw her out the door.

[Aleksander “Alek” Eiriksen]

He turned again to better face her, forgetting about his agreement to stay still, again feeling the sharp pain of his wound as he moved. He fought through it, though the pain was enough to make him feel woozy as he scolded her.

"You shouldn't have been in the basement in the first place! I demanded one thing of you while you were in my home and you deliberately disobeyed me!"

[Christine Montgomery]

He had her there, still not one to admit defeat, nor was she going to take full blame for how spectacularly awful the dinner date had been she countered, "Well you should learn to control your temper!"

She gave him a look which said the argument was done and she had won. To punctuate the ending she warned again, "Now hold still, this may sting a little..."

She pressed the poultice against his wound knowing that if he was well enough to yell at her like that then he was well enough, much to her relief.

Still as her hands tended to his ragged flesh her eyes watered. She knew it was her fault, and he was marred so badly because of her, though she could tell it was far from the first scar he had.

"By the way, thank you...for saving my life." she said softly.

[Aleksander “Alek” Eiriksen]

The stinging was child's play to the pain the wound itself brought on. He managed without more than a slight grimace at the initial sensation.

Most of Alek's body was scarred, more so on his trunk though his father didn't seem to care if the marks he inflicted were visible to others or not. Most of his childhood injuries were treated at the hospital, and the healers at St. Mungo's did their best to minimize the lasting damages of his assaults. It was evident that the hospital staff suspected Alek was being abused, his frequent visits easily gave it away, but whenever the MLE was called the officers always believed Alek's mother's stories of his "accidents". Over time Alek realized they didn't necessarily believe her tales, they just didn't care enough to save him. His distrust of the Ministry started early.

[Christine Montgomery]

Christine took Alek's silence as acceptance. She kept working at the wound on his back. The mixture she used would leech away the pain and keep it from getting infected while Alek's natural healing ability would mend the wound.

When she was finished she had somehow transitioned to brushing his hair away from his face. It was an oddly intimate gesture, but she couldn't stop herself. He had so much pain, she wanted to give him something soft.

[Aleksander “Alek” Eiriksen]

There was silence for a while as Alek relented to being taken care of and Christine played the part of his nurse. The peace was enough for Alek to consider his actions tonight in the woods. Why had he gone after Christine if he only feigned affection for her? Her being mauled to death would be enough to break his half brother and that was, after all, the goal. But the moment he heard Christine was in the forest a sense of dread came over him. He couldn't lose her.

He turned to better face her, again attempting to ignore the pain which was considerably lessened thanks to Christine's aide. He stilled her hand in his hair. "The forest isn't safe right now. Don't go there alone."

The Raun happened twice a year and during that time there were werewolves making camp nearby that Alek could not vouch for. He hadn't thought to warn Christine about it prior, as she should have had no need to go into the forest alone. And really, what was he supposed to tell her?

[Christine Montgomery]

"The Raun?" she asked, "Did I say that right?"

There was no use pretending she didn't know what she knew, nor was there any use hiding her interest - particularly her acceptance. It wasn't as though Christine were lining up to be bit, but she had an open mind and an accepting heart, and knowing Alek better helped her to understand the way he was.

She rested her hand on his cheek.

[Aleksander “Alek” Eiriksen]

Alek may have cared for Christine, but his curse was still shameful in the eyes of society and something he had tried to keep well hidden when not with his pack or his sister. He didn't want to talk about the Raun, or the wolves, or his past. There was too much there and no matter how understanding Christine attempted to be, Alek would always be a beast.

"Just don't go in alone, love. Promise me. And actually mean it, this time," he said with a look.

[Christine Montgomery]

She nodded lowering her eyes and taking her hand away from his face. He still didn't want to share with her, and she couldn't blame him. She hadn't done anything to earn his trust, other than not leave him to die in the forest.

"I won't go into the forest alone." she promised.

[Aleksander “Alek” Eiriksen]

It was taking considerable willpower to remain even tempered at the moment, as he wanted to continue scolding her for betraying his trust and running into the arms of danger. But she made a point that he simply couldn't ignore; she wouldn't have run into the woods if he hadn't frightened her into it. The gash on her arm was his fault. Then he remembered something that she would need to know, regardless of his shameful secret.

"Your arm; you treated it well and that will reduce the appearance but it will never fade completely. There are spells to hide the mark, but it will still be there. And, there's something else..."

Alek sat fully upright, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed. He looked at her bandaged arm as he spoke. "You may have cravings."