Meadow woke with a start.

She found herself sitting up and clutching her chest in a dimly lit room. There was a thin beam of light coming in from a nearly shut door and a light glow through the blinds from what was likely street lights. It took a moment but her eyes adjusted to the new surroundings.

Nothing looked familiar as she took in the small space, but it was all quite ordinary. Though it wasn't her apartment, her parent's place or even a friend's house, it wasn't a shack in the woods either. And more importantly, she was alone. The woman and the beast had not followed her there. She could hardly swallow the sickening dread and fear that bubbled up at the thought of her tormentors. Where were they? And were they coming back for her?

The feel of her heart beating against her breastbone truly startled her. She thought it was gone. Looking down, she saw that her chest was no longer an empty bloody cavity. There wasn't a trace of violence anywhere. Her heart was still there. It beat wildly - almost painfully - but it was there. No one had swallowed it.

Meadow let out a great sob of relief, but then quickly clamped both hands over her mouth to stifle the sound. What if the woman and the creature were near? What if they heard her? She didn't have any idea what she would do if either reappeared. The thought was enough to set her limbs trembling all over again.

Terrified to be caught unawares by them, Meadow scrambled off the bed and searched out the darkest corner to hide in. She didn't want to be sitting out in the open, completely vulnerable, if they came at her again. She needed time to think, time to plan an escape, if there was such a thing. 

But, while she was down on all fours, crawling across the poorly lit room, the door swung open and a large dark figure loomed in the bright light of the door way. Meadow screamed at the top of her lungs horrified that the beast-man had returned for her - to rip out her heart a second time.

But then the lights came on in the room and it was her father's friend, Eddie, standing in the doorway. His expression was panic stricken. Meadow was baffled. She couldn't begin to understand why he was there. Why would Eddie, of all people, come to her rescue?

"Meadow?" he called gently. "Meadow, are you alright?" he asked as he took a few steps and then crouched down in front of her.

Eddie could see from the look on her face that she wasn't quite with it. She appeared terrified and confused all at the same time. And that scream, it had been frightening to hear, like something out of a horror flick. What could have struck her with such fear just then?

"What's wrong?" he asked softly as he inched closer to her, desperately hoping all the while that Hedda was woken by Meadow's scream and would come running into the room at any minute to help him.

Meadow looked Eddie all over feeling increasingly bewildered. What was he doing here? Why was he acting so familiar with her? Next, she took in the entire room. They were in a patient room of a medical office. Meadow was in no doubt of that when she saw the examination table. But why? She didn't know how she got there from that purple swirling void of dust and lightening that she'd been sucked into. 

"Meadow? Can you hear you? Meadow?" Eddie was pleading with her.

Not knowing what else to say and half wanting to warn him of the trouble he might be in, Meadow blurted out in a forced whisper, "She ate my heart."

"What?" Eddie asked in complete confusion.

That statement gave him the chills. Was Meadow in her right mind?

"Hedda?" Eddie called out anxiously.

Hedda must know what to do. Eddie wasn't even sure he should help Meadow up at this point. What if this was some kind of strange sleep walking experience? He was afraid to wake her in the middle of it, in case that was bad for her somehow.

"She...she ate my heart," Meadow went on again. She wasn't sure Eddie understood her. He didn't seem scared enough. If the spectral woman had eaten Meadow's heart, whose to say she wouldn't come back and eat Eddie's too. "He...he tore it out of my chest," she warmed him while looking down at herself a second time to make sure she was still intact. "We should hide Eddie. In case...in case they return."

Eddie could not understand where these paranoid delusions were coming from. She didn't seem the least bit aware of herself and her surroundings. What on earth happened to her while she slept? Or was this the result of her hitting her head?

"It's the trauma," he heard Hedda say as she walked in the door. "Go on, help her up," she instructed Eddie with a calm and even voice.

He was relieved more than he could say to see that Hedda was not the least bit concerned by Meadow's behaviour. "Come on Meadow, lets get up off the floor. No one is going to hurt you. I promise."

Hedda stood by the examination table, where she picked up the heavy treatment blanket and draped it over her arm. To Eddie she explained, "Nightmares are not uncommon for people who've experienced a head trauma. I'd say she's not quite awake just yet. Still thinks she's living the nightmare."

"Do I wake her?" Eddie asked nervously as he pulled Meadow to her feet. She came willingly the moment he promised her no one would hurt her.

"Settle her back down here and then we'll gently talk her through it," Hedda instructed him.

She was surprised how careful he was with the human and how incredibly concerned he was about her welfare. It made her wonder, not for the first time, just what their relationship was and if he'd had anything to do with her concussion. Indirectly, of course, she knew Eddie too well to think he'd ever man handle a human for any reason. He was more level headed than most lycans, which she attributed to the fact that he was half human. They, on the whole, tended to be less rash and more emotionally stable than a lycanthrope.

Eddie settled her on the examination table cooing gently, "It was all a dream, Meadow. You are safe. Nothing will hurt you here."

She leaned in toward him, looking all around with anxious eyes, and whispered, "He ripped it out Eddie. I felt it. I saw it."

Something about her body language, the frightened look in her eyes and her tone, gave him the shivers. He would have laughed at himself for being creeped out but now was not the time.

"I've heard those bones before," she told him thoughtfully as she sat back and closed her eyes.

"Bones?" Eddie inquired with uncertainty as he looked to Hedda and pleaded with her to do something. She was currently checking Meadow's pulse, but that didn't seem like enough.

Meadow opened her eyes and she looked deeply confused as she told him quietly, "I've been there before. That shack, in the woods. I've seen it. He took me. He held me there until the bones rattled." She gripped Eddie's hand suddenly, which gave him an awful fright. "Don't let them take me, Eddie." Her eyes were imploring him.

"I wont, I promise," he told her emphatically. "You are safe. No one is going to hurt you," he assured her. To Hedda he turned helpless eyes and asked, "What do we do Hedda?"

Hedda ignored him as she took Meadow's blood pressure and then listened to her heart.

"It's still there, isn't it?" Meadow asked her so softly that Hedda almost missed it.

"Yes," she replied with a gently smile. "Do you want to listen?"

Meadow nodded.

Hedda plucked the stethoscope from around her neck and placed the earpieces in Meadow's ears while she pressed the diaphragm to a spot just above her left breast. Her heart was beating fast and hard. A sign she was in distress. Hedda's priority was bringing her anxiety down and lowering her heart rate to a more acceptable level. She hoped hearing her own heart would be the first step.

Meadow listened for the length of a minute and then she began to cry again.

Not wanting her to relive the horror of whatever nightmare had taken her, Hedda got her attention.

"Meadow, I am Doctor Hedda Wallin. Do you remember me from earlier today?" she asked in a calm and professional manner.

Meadow stopped crying to give the woman her attention. She looked her over and then she looked at Eddie who was smiling expectantly at her. But, Meadow did not remember the doctor. She shook her head.

"That's alright," Hedda said reassuringly. "It'll all come back to you shortly. Now, do you remember why you came to the clinic today?"

"The clinic," Meadow repeated thoughtfully as she looked around the room once more. She really was in a doctor's office. That was reassuring.

"You had an accident today," Hedda explained. "You hit your head on a patio door and fell through it. Do you remember falling through the door?"

Meadow saw a flash of something in her mind - her father's livid face - and then looked down at her hands. Her knuckles were covered in small cuts that had been treated. She turned her hands over and then back again before subconsciously reaching for the back of her head, which was very tender.

"You got some surprise news today," Eddie offered. "You went home to speak to your father." He didn't say more.

Meadow closed her eyes and considered those two phrases 'surprise news' and 'spoke to her father'. Her head hurt. She had a terrible headache. She wasn't sure if it just came or if she'd had it all long. Cringing she asked the doctor, "Do you have anything for this headache?"

"When was the last time you ate anything today, Meadow?" Hedda asked.

There were lots of things they could do to relieve the headache. Sleep would be the most effective, but Meadow was certainly too wound up for that. Pain pills, food and fluids would also help, if she could stomach anything.

"I ate this morning with Forrest," Meadow said and then, just like that, it all came back to her in a painful rush.

Forrest had inadvertently told her about Eddie on the boat, and she'd gone home to confront her father about him. He told her she wasn't part of the family and Eddie wasn't any of her business. She looked at Eddie now with recognition. This wasn't just some friend of her father's, this was her very own half brother. That's why he'd been so concerned about her. He's the one who brought her here after her father's unprovoked attack.

"I remember," she told him in a constricted voice just as her expression turned from surprise to dismay.

"Everything?" he asked her anxiously.

"Everything," she repeated in a little whisper.

"What do you remember?" Hedda asked as she watched her patient's countenance fall as if she'd been crushed by some terrible news.

Meadow ignored her for the moment though and said to Eddie, "The woman and the beast, they were just a dream."

Eddie nodded.

"The real nightmare happened at home, right?" she asked as she looked back down at her hands and began to cry softly this time - no heart-wrenching sobs.

"Yes," he replied quietly, dejectedly.

"Was Meadow's fall an accident or not?" Hedda asked Eddie with professional concern.

If the woman was a victim of violence, she would need to report it. And, she would send the woman to the hospital in Dermount, which was an hour or so south of Arrowfield. They could put her through a battery of tests to ensure she wasn't suffering from breaks, or internal bruising or bleeding that could lead to complications or even death.

Neither Eddie or Meadow said a thing.

"Look, if you've been the victim of violence  Meadow, I need to know the details. You could be suffering with internal injuries that I can't diagnoses here. I need you to tell me how you hit your head. Was it an accident? Did Eddie have something to do with it? You can tell me. No one can hurt you now that you are with me," she guaranteed Meadow.

Hedda didn't think Eddie was capable of hurting a human, but his silence worried her.

"I don't feel well," Meadow complained quietly as she laid back down on her side there on the exam table and pulled the blanket up to her shoulder. "Can you turn off the light?" she asked Eddie, who did so right away. The door to the brightly lit hallway was still open and let in plenty of light. But, it wasn't overpowering anymore. "I'm too tired to talk. You go ahead, Eddie," Meadow said as she closed her eyes and tried to get comfortable.

Hedda took up Meadow's wrist to read her pulse. It was strong. This weak spell had nothing to do with a sudden loss in blood pressure at the very least. So, it seemed Hedda had nothing to worry about in the moment.

She turned to face Eddie who was leaning up against the counter of the small cabinet unit. "If you don't tell me what's going on Eddie, I will be forced to go through her purse or her phone until I can find her next of kin. I'll even call the local police if I have to."

From behind her Meadow pipped up and said the most astonishing thing, "He is my next of kin."

"Next of kin?" Hedda repeated aloud while staring at Eddie with a mixture of surprise and hurt.

She felt stricken to the core. Had Eddie married this girl and never told her? They had been best friends since childhood. How could he do something like that and not say a word. Hedda felt wounded and she would have struck him hard if Meadow wasn't in the room.

Eddie could guess the direction of Hedda's thoughts from the devastated look on her face. He waved his hands innocently. "It's not what you think, " he told her quickly. "We are half siblings," he offered quietly.

"Siblings?" Hedda repeated. She wasn't expecting that at all.

Eddie had told Hedda that he and his biological dad had been reunited, but he never elaborated and she'd never pressed him for details. She only knew that he lived on the other side of Arrowfield. Hedda had been so busy running her clinic and writing research papers on werewolf physiology and traditional medicine in the time since, that she'd never made it a point to inquire about his biological father's details. She didn't even know the man's name let alone whether he was married or had any children.

"How many siblings do you have, Eddie?" she asked belatedly.

He smiled and answered, "I've got two younger brothers and Meadow. They are all full siblings," he added.

"And who exactly is your dad?" Hedda quizzed.

Eddie let out a nervous laugh before saying, "You aren't going to believe me when I tell you."

"That bad?" she asked nervously.

"Worse," Eddie sighed. "It's Niko Rask." 

Hedda whipped her head around to look him square in the eye to see if he was joking with her. But, he managed to hold eye contact with her, give her a half smile and a shrug of his shoulder. It was clear he was telling the truth. In response, she let out a low whistle.

"Good gawd, Eddie," she muttered. "How did you keep this quiet?" she asked dumbfounded. She was surprised the whole werewolf community didn't know and wasn't talking about it.

"I didn't," he said with a humours smile. "Everyone knows, more or less, it's just that you've been buried here in the clinic and never come up for air." He grinned at her.

She felt awful. Was she so self-absorbed that she never even heard a single rumour about his dad being the infamous Niko Rask? She was sure the whole werewolf community fifty miles north or south of the 40th parallel must have been buzzing about it. She wondered if the man still hated lycanthropes and if he was still as belligerent as ever toward them in public and private. Hedda couldn't imagine a more awful birth father than Niko Rask for a half-lycanthrope.

She looked at Meadow with new eyes though.

"This is Niko Rask's daughter?" she asked. "Does he have just the one?"

"Yes, just the one" Eddie confirmed.

"Gawd Eddie, this is the girl that went missing way back when we were in college. That was Niko's girl we all searched high and low for. The one the whole world knew was missing."

Eddie only vaguely remembered the incident. He recalled a girl went missing in the community for a few days, and it was some crazy monk that took her. But he didn't remember any connection to Niko. 

Hedda stood to her feet and came to stand by Meadow's side. She looked down at the younger woman who was dozing peacefully at the moment. Then she looked to Eddie. She felt quite ill for the poor girl.

"What is it?" Eddie asked gravely as he stood up from the chair and gripped Hedda's elbow gently. He was afraid she was going to faint. That's how pale she suddenly looked.

"This, this is the Crown Prince's Blood Bride, Eddie," she choked out fearfully. "How is it that he's never come for her after all these years?"

Eddie gripped Hedda's arm painfully. "She can't be. She's human," he protested. 

Hedda pulled her elbow from Eddie's fingers and with trembling hands removed a moonstone pendant from around her neck. She held it out to him. In the quasi-darkness of the room, the tear-shaped stone shone an iridescent pearly white.

Without saying a word to him, she gently placed the pendant on Meadow's upturned right hand. She was sleeping soundly enough that she was oblivious to the test Hedda was performing. The instant the moonstone made contact with her warm flesh it flashed a brilliant red and began lighting up the entire room in a radiant crimson glow.

Eddie plucked the pendant from her hand quickly. It turned back to its natural state the moment it lost contact with her. He stared down at it in wonder and in dread. How could his little human sister be the Blood Bride? He passed the moonstone back to Hedda and took up Meadow's hand in his. She stirred awake at his touch and looked up at him blankly.

Eddie didn't speak. He just held her hand and stared down into her searching eyes. How was he gonna keep her safe from the future that awaited her if the Crown Prince came to claim her? He already knew the answer. It was as obvious as the radiant red moonstone. He couldn't.