Disclaimer: I own nothing but the original plot points and any original characters therein. No copyright infringement intended.

A/N: I'll be posting a chapter a week of this. Happy reading.

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Shine on forever.
Shine on benevolent sun.

Shine on upon the broken.
Shine until the two become one.

~Jambi by Tool~

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Chapter 1
Prologue

Shouts of outrage rang throughout the tiny red house as the two friends expressed their dismay with the ref's call. "You gotta be kiddin' me," Charlie Swan grumbled as he glanced at an equally disgusted Billy Black.

"That last flag was complete horse shit," Billy agreed as he rolled his chair across the floor toward the kitchen. "You want a beer?"

"Nah, I gotta drive home pretty soon, but thanks."

"Yeah, I really shouldn't either. Jake keeps a close eye on how many I drink these days. He'll give me all kinds of hell if I have another."

Charlie chuckled. "He's a good kid Billy. You're lucky to have him."

Billy rolled back into the room and took a sip of the water he'd grabbed instead of the beer he'd really wanted. "Don't I know it. His sisters stay gone almost constantly these days." He looked down into his lap and shook his head. "Not sure what I'd do without him." He glanced up at his friend. "It's not fair to him though."

Charlie stood and put a hand on his shoulder. "That boy loves you Billy. Don't sell him short. He'd probably get mad if he heard you talking like this."

Billy chuckled ruefully. "Yeah, he probably would."

The ring tone on Charlie's phone grabbed their attention and he pulled it out and answered.

"Chief Swan…"

Billy watched him listen for a moment and then he met his gaze, a solemn expression on his face.

"Yep, I'm close. Be right there. Got it."

Flipping the phone closed, Charlie shook his head. "Damn."

Just then, a twelve year old Jake and his friend Embry came tearing into the house. "Dad! Something really bad's going down at the Lahote's! There's an ambulance and cop cars and everything!"

Billy held up a hand to quiet his frantic son and looked at Charlie with solemn eyes. "That the call you just got?"

Charlie glanced at the wide-eyed boys and back at his friend. "Yeah," he said with a weary sigh, "maybe you should come along since this is also tribal business. I may need you."

Billy placed his water down on a low table and rolled to the door. "Jacob, you and Embry stay here son. I'll be back when I can."

When they rolled up and parked at the Lahote residence, it was just as the boys said. The ambulance was there along with two police cruisers. The front door of the house was wide open and light spilled out onto the small, sagging front porch where an officer stood guard.

After helping Billy out of the car and into his chair, Charlie approached his officer. "Frank, what'a we got?"

The man glanced at Billy quickly and then met Charlie's gaze. "Hey Chief, we have one victim—thirty two year old female, the medics are readying for transport. She's been badly beaten Chief, but they tell me they're pretty sure she'll make it. There's one deceased—thirty four year old male, looks like he was stabbed with a kitchen knife. And finally, one fourteen year old male; he's been beaten but not nearly as bad as the woman. The medics say his left arm and collar bone are broken, so he'll have to be transported too… but Chief?" He sighed and ran a hand through his hair as Charlie waited. "He's the one that killed the male. His mother, the female victim, told us the kid did it to save her."

Charlie hung his head and cut his gaze over to a grim looking Billy who was staring back at him. "Well," he said, shaking his head slowly, "Let's get in there and see what we got."

Charlie helped Billy into the house and walked into the living room where he could see a panicked young kid. Though obviously hurt and favoring his arm, he was struggling and crying as he was held back from his mother who was now on a stretcher. Only years of experience allowed the seasoned Chief of Police to stifle a cringe at the sight of her; she'd been beaten to a bloody pulp and was almost unrecognizable.

When he got close enough, he could hear her rasping out through split, swollen lips, "Paul, calm down baby, it'll be all right. I love you."

Still, the kid struggled on as his frightened and panicked gaze flitted from his mother to the medics. "Mom! No, you can't take her! Where are you taking her?! Lemme go damn it! I have'ta go with her! Lemme go!"

Billy rolled forward then, his voice low and resonating with authority when he spoke. "Paul Lahote! Calm down son. You won't do your mother or yourself any good by panicking, so just take some deep breaths and calm down. We're here to help you. You're safe now."

Charlie was amazed when Billy's words seemed to get through to the kid who stilled in the medic's hold as tears continued to stream down his beaten face.

One medic working on the woman caught Charlie's attention. "Chief, if you want a statement from her, ya better get it quick. We need to roll. She's got fractured ribs and from her breath sounds, her right lung is in bad shape."

Charlie gave a nod and stepped forward into her line of sight. "Mrs. Lahote, I'm Chief Swan. Can you tell me what happened?"

She blinked once and began her wheezing response. "I came in from work and my husband, as usual, was drunk. He was bea—beating my son, Paul… I tried to stop him and he started beating me like usual, but this time, he didn't stop after a few punches and kicks. He just kept going and he looked cr-crazy…" Her breath hitched and fresh tears traced into her bloodied hair. "P—Paul tried to pull him off me and couldn't… the next thing I knew, my husband collapsed and fell to the side of me with a—a knife sticking out of his neck. Then I told Paul to dial 911." She grimaced in pain and choked on a cough and the medic stepped in.

"That's it Chief, we gotta roll, sorry."

Charlie nodded and backed out of the way for them to wheel her out and looked over at the kid as the medics strapped him to another gurney.

He stepped forward and smoothed inky hair back from the distraught boy's beaten face; a boy that was only a year older than his own daughter, Bella. "Don't worry kid. We're gonna take care of you and your mom all right? You just get better for your mom,'cause she's gonna need you. You just think about that and don't worry about anything else."

The kid looked from Charlie's face to Billy's and back again before nodding. "Yeah, okay," he croaked, "I'll try."

They started to wheel him out and the kid grabbed Charlie's hand, his vivid hazel eyes wide with fright and bright with tears. "I ki—I killed him!" His eyes closed tightly and his chin quivered as he struggled with the enormity of what had happened. When those panicked and piercing eyes flashed opened again they locked on Charlie, full of fear and apprehension as he swallowed thickly before finding his voice again. "Am I—am I gonna go to jail?"

Charlie studied this scared, bloodied, and beaten kid for a moment and anger welled up inside him at what he and his mother had obviously gone through for who knew how long. He gently squeezed the kid's hand and shook his head, his voice choked in a rare display of emotion as he answered. "No son, not if I have anything to say about it."

He placed the kid's hand on his chest with a gentle pat, gave the medic a nod and they wheeled him out.

With a sigh, the Chief of Forks PD rubbed his suspiciously misty eyes and looked around at his officers and the crew from the coroner. They all stared back with solemn faces. It was clear that every last one of them hated working scenes where kids were involved. "All right," he said gruffly, "let's get this scene processed and the body outta here. I'm sure we'd all like to go home sometime tonight."

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A/N: This is a re-post of my first wolf pack story. Thanks to Sabrina Michaels for encouraging me to get off my ass and re-post this here. I will be doing a bit of revising of the chapters as I go. If you're new to this story - Welcome. If you've read it before - Welcome Back. As always, reviews are appreciated.

Light and love,

~Spudz