Prologue
Lexie

As I zipped my suitcase closed, I felt my heart sink to the pits of my stomach. All of this was completely unfair. With a loud huff I dropped down onto my bed. How could my mother do this to me? How could she take away my summer vacation. How could she send me away.? How could she...

A knock on the door dragged me out of my inner rant.

"Yeah?" I snapped.

The door swung open. "Hey, don't get an attitude with me."

I bolted up. My best friend, Kat, was leaning on the door frame. Her arms folded across her chest and a smile on her impish face. Behind her was my other best friend Brittany. She smiled at me sympathetically. She knew the reason for my dark and sharp mood. They both did.

I gave them a small smile. " Hey guys. Sorry I snapped."

Kat shrugged and swaggered into my room fully. "It's to be expected." she said with a sigh. "How are you holding up?"

"I am mad beyond belief!" I sighed and laid back on the bed.

"That's to be expected too." Brit said as she sat in my bowl chair. "But I think you are blowing this up a little to much."

Before I could speak, Kat broke in. "How can you say that? Lexie is being taken away from us for a whole summer. How is she blowing this up?"

Britt sighed. "Oh please. She is just going to visit her grandparents. Chill out guys."

"Her grandparents in La Push. Where ever the hell that is."

"Look, I'm ony trying to make the situation a little better."

"Well, all you are doing is pissing me off."

"Chill the attitude Kat. You are to strung out and need to calm down."

Kat took a step towards her. "You don't need to tell me to calm down."

I thought it was a good time to step in before this turned into a huge ordeal. Not that Kat would ever throw punches at Britt or me, she just tended to get all worked up over little things and it cause unnecessary blow outs. The last thing I wanted was one of my friends walking out in a pissed off mood.

"Guys, relax please. This is not helping."

"Sorry" they both murmured.

I looked over at my friends.

Kathryn walked over and sat on the top of my desk. Her small petite form giving no hint to her big and bag personality. Kat was only one inch over five foot. Her dark brown hair framed her childlike face. Light purple clip in streaks broke up her dark waves. Eyes the color of melted dark chocolate were heavily line with black eyeliner. Her red lips pulled tight in frustration and her pale cheeks blushing with anger.

Brit was sitting quietly. Her raven hair was cut in a sporty bob and stopped an inch below her chin. Her chestnut eyes shown with her apology. I could see pink blush dusted on her mocha colored cheeks. Sitting down she seemed a normal height but really she was tall for a girl standing at five foot eight.
I felt the heaviness form in my heart again. I didn't want to leave. The three of us had has so much planned this summer. We only had so few left.

The week after school had ended, my mother had set me down and told me I was going to spend the entire summer in La Push with my maternal grandparents. I had begged her to reconsider. It made no sense to me. I hadn't been to La Push in seven years. She had stopped me from going. 'I am forgetting where my home was,' is what she told me. I had loved it there once. It was a place of peace and comfort to me. All of my best childhood memories happened there. I shut my eyes and thought back to a my childhood. Like the day when I first leaned to swim. Or climbing trees with my only friend, Seth Clearwater.

Seth.

I had almost forgot about Seth. About all the Clearwaters. Those memories were painful to think about. But now that the memory gates were open, everything came flooding back to me. Mama Sue braiding my hair with flowers and beads. Going fishing with Papa Harry. Telling old legends from our tribe during a backyard camp out with Leah and Seth. Seth and I had be close. Almost brother and sister. We would play around and almost always one of us ended up hurting the other.

From the time I was three till the age of nine, I had gone to La Push at every possible opportunity. I secretly think the reason my mom had sent me away so much was that she didn't really want me around. She had had me when she was young and foolish. Ideas of love and a chance to leave Washington had drawn her to a man that promised the world but only gave her me.

I was fine with her sending me away. My grandparents and the Clearwaters had given me all the love and attention I lacked and craved from my mother. Then it all was taken away.

"Earth to Lexie." Brit said, tapping my forehead.

I opened my eyes."Mmm?"

"You completely zoned out."

"For real. Are you gunna be ok?" Kat asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, don't worry. Like Britt said, I'm only going to my grandparents'" I forced a smile on my face. Brit smiled and nodded, glad I was agreeing with her. Kat on the other hand, was not so convinced. It was hard to lie to her. She had a way of always knowing how people felt. She stood by my bed giving me a hard questioning look. I looked at her with pleading eyes, silently begging her not to push me. She sighed and sat down on the bed with Brit and me.

"Lexie, Steven will be ready in five minutes," my mom called out to me from the first floor.

All three of us stiffened. This was it. This was goodbye for a whole summer. The three of us were never far away from one another. It had been like that for the past four years. Ever since Kat had moved in. And before that Brit had been here.

Anger bubbled up inside me. "I hate this."

Brit put her arm around me. "I'm sure everything will be fine."

"Yeah," Kat chimed, "and if they'er not, I will come and kidnap you." She laid her head down on my lap. I smiles and played with her hair as she hummed. I felt a little stupid for being so emotional. It was only for a summer. And I really did miss going to La Push and seeing my grandparents. I just hated being away from my life here in Seattle.

"I'm gunna miss you guys." We shared a tight group hug.

"Lexie, it's time."

We let go of each other. Brit smiled weakly. "You better call us." her voice was shaky. "Yeah, everyday." Kat was steady as ever but I could still see the sadness in her eyes.

"Lexie!"

"I'm coming," I called down. I grabbed my bags and walked down with my two best friends. My mother was at the bottom of the stairs waiting. She held my five year old brother on her hip. We didn't say anything to each other. I just looked into my mother's face. I looked like her. Same fine strong bone structure of our Quileute ancestors. Skin of copper silk. Long waves of light chestnut hair and almond shaped eyes. I was looking at my self at the age of thirty-two.

My stepfather walked in. "Ok Lex, let's get this in the car." I looked over at him. He was really a sweet man and took care of us. His green eyes were warm and friendly. His brown hair was sun streaked gold from working off shore in the sun.

He was out of place in our family. A pale face. I smiled at the old slang.
"Bye Mikey," I told my baby brother and kissed his cookie cover cheek.
"Bye-bye sissy. I gunna miss you."

"Bye Mom." She looked at me and nodded. "Behave yourself."

I nodded and walked out with Steven and the girls. No emotion. Never any emotion shown to me.

Steven and I loaded my suitcases into the trunk of his black Neason. Steven slammed the trunk shut after it was packed. " Alright, time to hit the road. You are going to have to move your car Kathryn." Kat's dark plum colored mustang was parked behind our car in the short driveway, the bumper sticking slightly out the end. Kat was in our grade but still a year older than Brit and I.

I wondered why she brought her stang in the first place. She only lived two houses down. "Are you two going some place?"

Brit look guilty. "The boys called a last minute practice and I'm tagging along." "The boys" were other members of our clique. They had said their goodbyes to me the day before at the surprise going away party Joey had hosted for me. Four in total, they makes up a band called Blissful Sorrow and Kat was their lead singer. This was another reminder of all the fun I would miss during my exile in LaPush.

"Oh," I said meekly, "Well, I guess you better get going" I heard the sadness in my own voice. I saw Kat's face tighten. "Don't worry about me," I said for the millionth time. I stepped forward, wrapping my arms around her small frame. Brit came and joined in the hug.

Steven let us have our last moments, understanding better than my mother how painful this was for all three of us. After a minute, I conjured enough courage to step away. "Alright, well I'll see you guys at the end of August," I told them, trying to make my voice light.

"Take a lot of pictures," Brit ordered.

"Like you have to tell me." I heard the emotion in my voice.

"Enough of the sob fest," Kat grumbled, "get your ass in that car. Don't draw this out anymore."

I smiled and hugged her. "I'll miss you too Kat." I let go and got into Steven's car. I opted to sit in the back. I got car sick, so I was planning on spending the whole trip in a drug induced sleep. I watched out the back windshield as Kat and Brit pulled away in the mustang. They turned right. I went left. I sat back and took my carsickness pill. Waiting for the drowsiness to kick in, I closed my eyes. This summer was going to suck.

Seth

I growled at the loud and extremely annoying beeping echoing in my bedroom. I reached out and slapped my alarm clock into silence. I didn't have the strength to open my eyes enough to check the time. It felt like I had only slept for five minutes. My eyes opened slightly to glance at the glowing red numbers. It was six o'clock. It had been four hours since I had crashed. I still felt dead tired.

With a low groan, I sat up and stretched. My back and joints popped in all the right places. It was dark outside my window. The patter of rain was loud on the roof. I had about thirty minutes till I needed to relieve Leah for patrol. I fought with myself for five minutes on weather or not I should go back to sleep for a little while longer. Knowing that I would only sleep through my patrol time, I got up and left my room.

I didn't expect to see my mother. She was usually at Charlie's by now. So her sitting at our old small kitchen table was a shock.

"Hey mom. I thought you would be at Charlie's." I walked over to the fridge and grab the jug of orange juice.

Before I could even think about drinking straight from the jug mom said, "Use a glass, Seth."

I smiled and grabbed a cup from the cabinet. "So, why aren't you over at Cheif Swan's?"

"I was just about to head over there. I just wanted to speak with you first." A lump formed in my throat, making it hard to swallow my juice.

Shit, what have I done now? "Am I in trouble?" I asked quietly.

My mother chuckled and shook her head. "No, I just wanted to talk to you about some things."

Wearly, I sat down across from her. She sipped her tea, then set the cup on the table. "I talked to Jacob yesterday. I asked if he could give you some time off."

That caught me off guard. My mom never really interfered in pack business. She let us do as we please of the most part. "Why would you ask that?"

"Well," she said quietly. "I was talking with Mrs. Wells the other day." I waited for her to continue. She took another sip of her tea before she finished. "You remember Lexie, don't you?"

I raised an eyebrow. "The imp that used to beat on me all the time?"
My mom gave me a look. "As I recall, you got a fair amount of licks in when the two of you had a fight."

I smiled. "Yeah, I remember her. Why?"

"She staying here with her grandparent's for the summer," she answered.

That peeked my interest. Alexis Dixion, known by friends and family as Lexie, hadn't been to La Push in seven years. For some reason, she just stopped coming. We had spent a good part of my childhood together. She was one of my bestfriends at the time. It was funny how much things had changed since then.

"So Lexie is coming back. How does that and you telling Jacob to let me off connect?"

She sighed. "I want you to hang around with Lexie. She hasn't been here in a long time and well, she might need a friend."

"Mom, I haven't seen the girl in years. For all I know, she's now a girly priss and only wants to talk make-up and clothes."

"Seth, you were her bestfriend. You know she is not like that."

I stood up from the table. "I knew a little girl mom. Not a teenager. Sides, what about the whole pack thing. Being around me could be dangerous for her."

My mom shook her head and whispered, "You have more control than that. Just don't tell her anything and you'll be fine."

That was the problem. I remember never keeping things from her. Lexie and I told each other everything. Which is why it hurt so much when she stopped coming and didn't say anything or even wright. I shook my head. This was not the time to let childish emotions get in my head.

"Seth," my mom continued, "this would be good for you and Lexie. You two will have a lot to catch up on." She smiled her warm motherly smile and that was that.

With a sigh, I said, "Ok mom, I'll watch out for Lexie."

"Good. She will be here late tonight. You should go see her tomorrow." She got up and came around the small kitchen table. I tried not to balk as she kissed my forehead. "Now, I have to go feed Charlie. I made some chicken for dinner, it's in the oven."

I smiled and nodded. She grabbed her purse and coat. I called out a good-bye as she walked out the door.

This was a weird turn of events. I had never in my wildest dreams thought Lexie would return to La Push. The abrupt stop of her visits and lack of communication had made it clear that she just didn't want to be here. She had been nine last time I had seen her. It must have been the approaching teenage girl years that caused her to drift. Now with her being older... Nope, still can't see a reason for her coming back.

It was irritating also. Now I had to be pulled away from my duties to play welcome wagon. I got up and went to get dressed. I might not have to do a patrol as I had thought, but I was awake now with no hope of going back to sleep. A run would be good. For a normal person, the rain beating down would out them off a naive run. But for a werewolf, it was just another perfect day to get in some exercise. I pulled off my old wore sweats and slipped on some faded cut offs- I couldn't phase till after I was in the cover of the trees.

The air outside must have been chilled, as was common for this area. The rain was coming down hard and my hair and pants were soaked in a minute. I took off at a dead run heading straight for the beach and the woods. Running was one of my favorite things about being a wolf. The speed and power in my body. The added height and muscles were a bonus also. Soon I was on the pebbled covered beach. My mind was blank and calm. It was peaceful, here in La Push. I could never think of living somewhere else. I was glad for the gift of my ancestors. I was glad I was given the ability to protect my people.
"Yo, Seth," someone called out to me.

I stopped and looked around. Colin ran over from the lining of the trees. I wiped the rain from my eyes and smiled. "Hey Colin."

He smiled. "I was about to take your patrol then I saw you running over here. I guessed Jake didn't tell you that he switched us."

I shocked my head and said, "No, my mom told me. I was just out for a run. I wanted to c,ear my head."

Colin nodded. "I feel ya. So, do you know why?"

"Yeah," I said through clenched teeth.

Colin waited for my answer. "Well?" he asked impatiently.

"You know Mrs. Wells right?" He nodded. "Well, her granddaughter is coming to spend the summer here. My mom wants me to hang out with her."

He looked confused. "Why do you have to babysit some girl?"

"Me and Lexie were friends when we were kids. I just haven't seen here in years. For all I know, she turned into a diva."

Colin chuckled. "I feel ya. When is she getting here."

"Tonight but not till late. I have to go pay Hera visit sometime tomorrow." I sighed and ran a hand through my sopping hair. The rain was a light drizzle now. I looked out at the crashing waters.
This summer was going to be a strain.

Ok I made the decision to rewrite my first fanfic. I started this story five years ago and when looking back the badly written chapters bugged me. So I am changing things up and starting fresh. Hope you like it.