"You know, I used to be afraid of the water." Leah mused, wiggling her toes as the waves lapped up around her ankles. She was standing at the water's edge, clad in a pair of shorts that most people would consider rags, and a sports bra.

Max made a noise in the back of her throat, nodding. She stood further away from the water, behind and to the right of Leah. The color had faded from her hair, finally washed out, and she hadn't been able to bring herself to dye it. Not since…She sighed through her nose. "You were?" She asked finally, dragging her mind back to the present.

"Mhm." The eldest shewolf nodded, tilting her face against the night time air. She was breathtaking, bathed in the muted moonlight that managed to slip from the clouds, stroking the angles of her body softly.

"What happened? To make you not afraid, I mean." Max shifted lightly on her feet, watching as Leah's head twitched to the side. The shewolf had been practicing on her hearing as of late and Max smiled, proud.

"I almost drowned. It was before all of this." Leah waved a hand, wrist flicking so her long fingers wiggled in the air. It was a normal gesture, and Max had learnt it was one that all the wolves unconsciously used. Because a flailing hand apparently mean supernatural mumbo jumbo. "Sam pulled me out - I was out here with him, Jared, Paul and Emily, being cocky as usual." Max couldn't hear a smile, but she could hear a self-deprecating smirk. "I went out too far and got dragged under. I was terrified."

"How the hell did nearly drowning make you lose your fear of water?"

"I realized that…yeah. Bad things can touch me. They can happen to me. I had fun that day at the beach, and if I had have let myself be afraid, I never would have gone swimming. Sam never would have asked me out, and I'd be stuck on the sidelines of all the water activities forever. If I let myself be afraid, if I never took a chance, I'd miss out on so much." Leah laughed, although the sound was a little wet.

Max realized, with a start, that the shewolf was near tears if not already crying. She moved forward silently, not touching, but hovering close enough to Leah that the other woman could feel her. Close. "Yeah?"

"Yeah…and then a few years later Sam left me, my father died, and I ended up being what I thought was a freak of nature." Leah turned to Max then, actually grinning. "I didn't want to miss out, so I forced myself to take a chance. Now my life is. Well, this." Another gesture, hands pointing at her own body.

"You're stronger for what happened Leah." Max kept her voice quiet, glancing up at Leah. "Don't regret that."

"I don't. I just wonder what life would be like if I hadn't ever stepped into the water that day."

Max smiled then, nodding her head. "If you hadn't stepped into the water, you'd still be afraid."

"Right – and if you hadn't let yourself trust Wil, where would you be?"

Ah, sneaky shewolf Max thought fondly. "To be honest? I'd have stuck around for a while, helped you guys as much as I could have, but I wouldn't have stayed. I'd still be in your heads, just…not here physically. I would definitely be gone."

"And the twins or another wolf might be dead for it." Leah pointed out, thinking back a few months. The Wendigo.

"Everything happens for a reason." Max agreed. "I'm just a little sad. He's the first man I've…stayed with." She explained. The months since Collin's death had drawn the women closer together. Max had felt the loss of Collin just as strongly as the wolves, had been just as angry at everything as Leah was. They shared similar thoughts on a handful of things the Alpha and Council were forcing the Pack to do. It was easier to stand together, alone, than it was to stand shoulder to shoulder with their brothers and younger sisters.

After the funeral, Max had quietly broken the order Jacob had given to Sam. What surprised them the most, is that he had stayed.

"He's a good man, he's just angry. He'll come around. I hear Jake wants to stick Emb on patrol with him." She added. "I don't know how well that'll go over."

"Jacob's starting that tonight. They're probably in the woods together now." Max looked over her shoulder, scanned the tree line with sharp eyes. "I think it's a good idea. Embry's a quiet wolf and Wil doesn't have anything to be angry over."

"I didn't say it was a bad idea. I just don't know how they'll take it. Wil and his wolf just scream protective daddy instincts, and Emb's never had that."

"Might be good for him then. I know he can talk to the other guys about manly things, but sometimes it's nice to have an older person to talk to."

"Yeah, and it's not like he's about to run to Billy for help." Leah muttered darkly.

"I wouldn't go to the Council for help if they were the last people on earth."

"Max?"

"Yeah, Leah?"

"How'd you know that that thing was a Wendigo?"

"I told you. I used to travel a lot, hunting things. Vampire's aren't the only enemies out there Leah. Are they the reason you wolves came to be? Maybe…but theres too many things out there to protect your land from. Too many to count."

"Tell me about them." Leah was staring at Max with hard eyes, eyes full of determination and fire. "I want – no. We all need to know."

They'd been too angry to think, too sad to learn in the past few months. Max wetted her lips, met Leah's gaze with her own. "Let me show you then."

Her hands lifted, fingers brushing Leah's temples. It would be just as easy to show her without touch, but the touch would keep the shewolf calm. Max closed her eyes, and she opened her mind.

Leah stood, silent and shocked.

ZZZ

"What the hell is that?" Joseph gasped, tossing a hand over his heart as he stared at the table.

"What's what, Joey?" Kim asked from the kitchen. She had Isaac beside her, the quiet wolfpup diligently drying the dishes she handed to him. She gave him a gentle smile, watched the way his ears flushed as he turned his eyes to stare firmly at the bowl in his hands

Joseph didn't answer. Instead, he glared hate at the red crayon that was sitting obnoxiously on Jared and Kim's dining room table. "Oh hell no." He growled. "Davey, kill!"

Jared raised both eyebrows, leaning his elbows onto the table. He had no idea what his pups were talking about, but he wasn't about to question them. It was the first time he'd had them at his house – things were…odd at Emily and Sam's, and Wil was on patrol – and he wasn't about to ruin it. He could do this. He could handle a group of kids.

Sarah nibbled her lips as she glanced at David.

David grabbed the red crayon, eyes narrowed at it. He growled a little, lips curving back from his teeth and then…then he was shoving the entire thing into his mouth, chewing it until it was a lump of red wax and soggy paper. He pulled it out of his mouth, dropped it into a napkin. Rolled it into a ball, hurled it at the garbage.

A collective cheer rose from the pups as he scored in one shot.

"Woo!" James gave David a high five, grinning like a fool. "Good shot, dude." Dude. These pups spent too much time listening to Seth talk.

"What the hell?" Jared echoed, staring wide eyed at the gaggle of kids in his dining room.

"We don't like red." Marie chirped airily, tugging her hair into a ponytail. "Right guys?"

The other pups murmured their agreement as they began collecting materials to doodle.

Even Edmund was getting ready to draw.

Jared shook his head, looking at the kitchen doorway where Isaac and Kim were watching. "Why don't you go draw with them?" She urged.

"It's alright. I don't mind watching." The pup murmured, shuffling a bit further into the room yet not approaching the table.

"Yeah, come draw with us 'Zac." David slurred, scraping a stray piece of red crayon from his teeth. "You can have…what d'you want? Blue or orange?"

"Blue." Isaac decided, finally slinking close enough that he was within reach. Jared took the opportunity to ruffle the boy's hair, even as he handed over the blue crayon that had been passed to him.

The only two that really seemed invested in the craft, were the girls. Glancing around at the pups, Jared's heart clenched when he realized all of the boys were humouring their youngest shewolves. Entertaining them. Making them happy. It was a strange emotion squeezing his throat, but it didn't necessarily feel like a bad one. It was…it was different, that was all.

Whatever either girl wanted, they got. Things were handed over with no question, no hesitation. Room was made to accommodate pointy girlie elbows, kicking feet clad in girl's shoes. Jared was more than a little confused. He looked once more to Kim, saw her watching the group with the same sort of fascination he was sure his own expression was full of.

She shrugged. He smiled, shrugged back, handed Sarah the brown.

"You kids excited for summer vacation?" Kim asked finally, breaking the strange silence that had fallen upon the cluster of wolves in her dining room.

"Yep. Wil's going to take us to the beach." Marie told her.

"He promised." Sarah added, nose crinkled as she began coloring in part of her tree.

"I just wish Paul'd come too." Marie huffed, sending a stray lock of hair out of her face as she flicked a crayon at Edmund's forehead. "But Wil doesn't want him 'round. Leah might come though." She had perked herself up with that thought, grinning widely.

"Wil doesn't want Paul around still, huh?" Kim mused, shaking her head lightly as she finished with the dishes.

"I think he's only really peeved," Joseph drawled, tossing Jared a smile – Jared had actually scolded him for saying pissed earlier, and apparently, the pup had kept that in mind – as he narrowed dark brown eyes, "At Jake and Max."

"Yeah? Then why no other wolves, aside from Leah?" Jared raised both his eyebrows, hoping the conversation wouldn't bother the children too much. He was actually enjoying having them around.

"Not no other wolves – we're over here aren't we?" David's nostrils flared in annoyance as Marie's foot caught him in the shin. "Only really Sam and Paul. Can't say I blame the ol' man anyway."

"Paul and Sam were the ones that jumped him." Marie explained finally, dropping her pink crayon onto the table. "I don't feel like drawing anymore." The girl zeroed in on Kim, watching the imprint carefully for a moment.

Marie remembered a time, months ago, when she had hated to be around Kim – because the woman always talked about Jared. She was only nine years old – she had just recently turned nine, and score, only seven more years 'til driving school – but she knew she was a smart nine year old. After watching Kim with Jared, rather than without him, she had realized Kimmy didn't mean to be boring. It was just that, Jared was the only thing she really knew anymore.

Marie had told Sarah all about it, and the girls had decided together that it was sort of...sad. "Kim? Want us to ask Wil if you can come to the beach too?" She asked calmly, staring at the older woman with eyes much too serious for a child.

Kim's insides twisted lightly with nerves, and she bit her lip. "Oh – if you want." She wasn't about to let the child know that such an offer had really meant a lot to her.

"Leave it to us." Joseph mumbled, speaking for both himself and his brother. "We'll run it by him t'night when he's done with Embry."

Jared winced. "That's tonight?"

"Mmhm." Joseph pulled away from the table, trotted into the kitchen. Brushed by Kim to turn the tap on, fill his glass with cold water.

Not knowing why, Jared moved from his spot at the table, to the big window at the front of the house. He fell quiet as he watched the woods, the endless chatter of the children a soothing backdrop to the concern he felt.

Kim glanced around the table before slowly taking Jared's place. Not a single one of the pups to much as batted an eye.

ZZZ

Embry was a quiet wolf, Wil noted. So far, they'd been running with each other for forty minutes, and all he'd heard was absent thoughts about homework, and one loud moment when Emb had been startled by a squirrel.

He still wasn't entirely used to the whole 'wolves in your head' thing, and he appreciated being able to get used to it with only Embry to worry about.

Oh. That hadn't been a stray thought – Embry's head was turned to the right, and thoughts of his mother were swirling in his head. Wil couldn't make sense of it all, only that she'd have been home from work for about an hour by then.

Hey kid, calm down. Wil had the sort of voice that people just listened to. Deep, and calm, only under special occasions was it filled with anger or disgust. Wilbur Black didn't need an Alpha order, to be high on the pecking chain to get heads to turn his way.

Embry lowered his ears, grey shoulders slouching. Sorry.

Wil shook his body, slapping at Embry's snout with a red and white paw. Don't be sorry. Nothin' wrong with worrying about your mom. No, in fact, as far as Wil was concerned, it was a good trait. He took a second to nip at Embry's tail, before startling his body into a brisk run.

Embry was close on his heels as they broke their patrol schedule, swinging by the pup's house to make sure his mother was okay.