A/N I'd just like to thank Aradia Lestat-Ming Ue for her amazing Twilight fic, Healing Broken Hearts, which turned me on to my Twilight OTP (though I, myself, am an anti). I recommend it to anyone, fans and antis alike—in fact, I recommend all of her stories. The Twilight characters have actual depth and personality in her fics and are actually interesting enough to keep one's attention. Plus, Vanessa is totally kick-ass.

They were tracking me. Their paws were muffled against the thick covering of mulch and moss, but I could still hear them: the steady panting, the excited yips, the occasional bay when my scent grew stronger. I didn't understand why they were pursuing me so earnestly. Despite my status as Beta, I was still criticized, still accused of being a vindictive ex-girlfriend and just an overall bitch.

I peered down at them from my seat on a tree branch high above the forest floor. They were circling the small clearing, their confused snuffling reaching my ears all the way from the far-side of it. After a few more minutes' searching, a silver wolf—Paul, that egotistical asshole—picked up my fake trail and let out a clipped howl, which sent the rest of the pack off and running back to La Push. I grinned despite myself, feeling incredibly smug that I had bought at least a half-hour of rest before they discovered it was a false lead. Sighing, I leaned against the trunk of the tree and closed my eyes, trying to ignore the rough bark as it bit into my bare skin.

A quiet whine brought me back before I could even properly doze, and I stared lazily at a gangly, sand-colored wolf standing beneath my tree.

"Go away, Seth." I growled at him before closing my eyes again and trying to nap. But he whined again, this time louder and more insistent. I snapped my eyes open and locked on him, my mouth twisting into a snarl.

"I mean it. Get out of here before they realize you're missing."

"Too late."

I swore under my breath and turned my gaze to my steadily-approaching Alpha. He moved confidently, though he was completely naked—as was I—but he didn't do anything for me. Maybe because I had been changing his diapers since before I was even properly out of my own.

"Why were you hiding, Leah?" he asked casually, leaning against the base of the pine and watching Seth shoot off across the clearing to alert the rest of the pack.

"Maybe because I didn't want to be found." I snapped and glared up at the perpetually gloomy sky. I wondered vaguely what it would be like to live some place sunny, a place where you felt warm, no matter how high the AC was cranked.

"Not this again." I could practically hear his eyes roll. But I did hear him reposition himself, his skin scraping against the tree as he prepared himself for a long, foul-mouthed tirade, courtesy of yours truly. I had done it enough in the past few weeks for it to have become routine, but for some reason, the fact that he expected me to start ranting pissed me off more than the problem itself.

Well, I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction.

I pulled my knees to my chest and rested my chin on them, still staring up at the sky. I concentrated on willing the clouds to move, just a little. Even the tiniest change might allow a shaft of sunlight to pierce the dreary scenery of Forks, Washington. Jacob moved again, and I could smell the annoyance and anxiety coming off him the longer I stayed silent. Served the self-righteous prick right.

"Come on down, Leah. I'm getting tired of your little tantrums. Nessie's only five, and she doesn't even throw as many fits." he sounded so proud of his little jail-bait fiance that it made my stomach churn.

"Piss off."

"Be reasonable, Lee Lee. Jake's only trying to help." My eyes narrowed as a recently returned Seth begged to me.

I didn't bother glaring or screaming at him for using that nickname, because that would only further prove my reputation as a bitter ex-girlfriend. They all denied what they really thought of me, of course; but it was hard to lie when anyone of us could call up another's darkest secrets at a whim. They all hated me. Even Seth was starting to get tired of me.

Without a word, I dropped down from the tree, bending my knees to absorb what little recoil there was. I guess being able to fall nearly three stories and walk away with an extra spring in your step was a minor perk for becoming this. The pack had returned, all of them back in their day-to-day shapes (we could hardly be counted as human anymore) and placed in a loose semi-circle around me. I kept my eyes on the ground, straightening slowly as I assessed their positions.

The easiest break would be between Jared and Brady. Jared's too busy bullshitting with Quil,and Brady's still a bit green around the edges. The first chance I get, I'll change and blow right past the two of them and be halfway across the meadow by the time anyone realizes what's going on. As if those bastards would come after me anyway--

"Leah?"

Any further thoughts were sufficiently dissipated when I heard that voice.

His voice.

I grimaced and looked up, catching Sam's eye from where he stood a few yards in front of me. "What were you doing in that tree, Leah?" His tone was politely concerned, as if asking it had only been an afterthought to show good will. I knew if it had been my "perfect" cousin Emily up in that tree, he'd be all over her, checking for the smallest scrape and kissing her until his lips chapped. Thinking about it made me want to puke.

I backed away from him, trying to look cocky and confident while, inwardly, I was quaking. His appearance, his smell, his voice, even just a passing mention of him brought back memories. Some sad, some happy, and all of them painful. No matter how long I tried to convince myself otherwise, I was still in love with Sam Uley.

"Leah, just listen to me. The wedding's only a few days away. It would mean the world to Em if you could be there--"

"Really? She wants me there that badly?" I interrupted, a mocking smile taking place instead of the twisted snarl just begging to be let out. Sam blinked rapidly, caught off-guard by my tone but mistaking my smile as something benign.

"Well, yeah. You're her cousin. Of course she wants you there."

"What about you, Sam? What am I to you?" I asked, unable to keep the bitterness from creeping into my tone. "Why do you want me at your wedding?"

His eyebrows shot up in surprise, and he hesitated as he tried to think up an answer.

"You... You're my pack-mate. And my boss when Big Jake's not around," he flashed a grin at the young Alpha, who returned it with a cheeky smirk of his own. Ever since the La Push pack had merged with Jake's, to follow their rightful leader, the two had been buddy-buddy. "You've always been there for me. You're like... like an older sister to me, Lee Lee." His grin had softened, as if he thought he had said the right thing.

I, however, was having none of his bullshit. It took all my strength not to phase right then and there and tear his fucking head off. And the worst part was, I was completely capable of doing it; in addition to being the fastest runner, I was also the fastest phaser. He'd be dead and I'd be out of here before his body even hit the ground.

"'Like a sister'? Is that all I am to you? That I ever was to you? Does imprinting fuck your mind over so badly that you don't even remember the six years we were together? When we talked about the future? Our future careers. Our college plans. Our apartment we were going to rent." My voice quieted of it's own accord, and no matter how hard I fought them back, a few tears managed to escape and left red-hot trails down my cheeks. "Our wedding. Our children. Did you repress all that, to keep yourself from feeling guilty? Or did that bitch make you forget?"

A tremor ran through the pack, and before any of them could so much as twitch, Sam and I were our alter-fursona's, and he had me pinned against the dewy meadow grass.

Take that back! The command roared inside my head, accompanied by a menacing growl from his salivating mouth. Had I still belonged to his pack, I would have had no choice but to obey. But I wasn't his anymore.

No. I stared calmly up at the snapping black jaws literally centimeters from my own muzzle. Sam's angry snarls filled my ears, but my heightened hearing still picked up the subtle fizzing noise as the pack finally caught on and changed before the situation could escalate.

The weight of their combined anger fell down on me, doing a better job of subduing me than any physical means. They could feel Sam's outrage—as could I—and imagined what they would have done if I had insulted their imprintees.

I wasn't at all surprised that Jared, Paul, and Quil would have ripped me to shreds if I had said that about Kim, Rachel, or Claire. Embry and Brady, both of whom had yet to imprint, were only mildly angry with me, simply because they knew how much Emily meant to Sam, and how much their female fuck-buddies would mean to them when they found them. Collin was still confused over the entire "the other half of your soul" shit; since his girl was his fifty seven year old Health teacher, I guess that was understandable. But Seth... Seth's reaction hit me the hardest. He had imprinted just this summer on, honestly, the sweetest girl in the whole damn country. Molly had visited Forks for treatment at the vampire doctor's clinic (apparently he was one of the best in the state—who would've guessed?) for her Cerebral Palsy, and the two had all but fallen for each other on-sight. He was absolutely livid, his thoughts mingling with those of Jared, Paul, and Quil.

And Jake just stared at me, his dark brown eyes leering down at my spit-matted face with disgust.

You went too far, Leah. Apologize to Sam and quit being such a harpy.

There it was again. His favorite word for me. For some reason, it always stung more than any other slur.

Fuck you. I began to snarl and wiggled out from underneath Sam. He barked and made to tackle me, but a quick yip from the Alpha stopped him in his tracks. Jake approached the large black wolf, making Sam get down on his back and whine helplessly when the man had shown signs of trying to disobey. I stood there, gazing smugly at him as he was cowed and humiliated.

Apologize. That's an order. Jake said tiredly without looking away from Sam.

I sniffed loudly out of indignation, wishing I had human lips so I'd be able to frown. I didn't like being told what to do, pack status aside. I was always harped on whenever I set even a hair out of line. The rest of the pack shared their disgusting wet dreams with each-other, but the moment I wonder about who my Mr. Right could be, or who my Mr. Right had been, I get cussed out and mocked. None of them cared. They all had their other halves, their "soul mate", and didn't understand what it was like to have that taken away. They didn't care why I was bitter or why I was a bitch all the time. They only knew that I was, never bothering to hear my side or try and help. I was the odd one out.

And I didn't belong.

No.

A dozen pairs of eyes turned away from Jake and Sam to look at me. Even the two Alpha males (one current and the other previous) appeared shocked at my outright denial. A confused growl rippled through the pack, with a few telepathic hollers; the kind that grade-schoolers yell before the nerd gets beaten up by the class bully.

Say you're sorry. Now. Jake said in his Alpha Voice, a tone he hadn't used on me since I had defected to his at-the-time lone wolf pack. I shook myself, spraying bits of soggy mulch and grimy water into the air. Though it still had that authoritative sense that made my whole body shudder, it had been muffled. As if he had said it while underwater.

And now that I concentrated, I could no longer hear the others in my head. Faint inklings, mostly insults and threats, but nothing more than the emotion behind those words. It confused me, for a moment, but I enjoyed the semi-silence.

Lee... Leah... Jake struggled over the overwhelming silence to try and reach me. I flicked an ear at him, a doggy-grin splitting my face when he realized he couldn't hear me. Sam and Seth were the only others who found that they, too, couldn't hear my "constant nagging" either. The rest were no doubt too preoccupied by what their brethren were thinking to notice there was one less consciousness that added to the cacophony.

I'm leaving, Jake. Appoint whoever you want as my replacement. I'm not part of the La Push pack anymore. I couldn't be sure he heard me, as I had to practically scream it in my head, but I knew he could tell from my body language the gist of what I had said. The pack of wolves—who had at one time seemed as familiar as my own reflection—were now alien to me, watching me with dead eyes as I trotted to the edge of the clearing and disappeared into the foliage.

A long, mournful howl followed me into the depths of the forest, but I didn't turn back. I had chosen my path the moment I realized I didn't belong with them. That I could never belong with them. And that I had nothing left to tie me down to this gloomy little place. Seth would miss me, but he'd grow so preoccupied with Molly that I'd soon become just a figment. Mom would miss me too. But she had already moved off the Reservation and in with her new husband in Forks, so she, too, would heal in a short while.

I still couldn't believe I was related to that stupid leech-fucker. Even though I had only been his step-daughter for two years now, I thought Charlie deserved better than that brainless blood-sucker. Maybe I could move in with them for a little while. Until I found someplace cheap to go. Someplace with a lot of sun.

But, no. That was the first place they'd check. Despite my own confidence in my decision to leave, I had no doubt that Jake and the rest of them thought it was just my time of the month (though I no longer had one, thanks to magical werewolf mumbo-jumbo), and that I'd come crawling back with my tail between my legs, begging to be forgiven. So I'd have to lay low for a while, someplace where they wouldn't even think of looking for me.

I stopped just before the forest ended and the little town of Forks began. My nose twitched, assaulted by the smells that floated up from the various houses and businesses. Food. Dirty laundry. Sweat. Filth. Booze. The usual scents.

The wind shifted and a stronger, more pungent smell invaded my nostrils. I sneezed involuntarily and whacked my snout with my paw, trying to get that disgusting scent out. Sickly sweet, like moldy sugar, old chocolate, and factory-processed candy melted together and allowed to ferment in ammonia and anti-freeze for a good six-months. If I had eaten anything earlier, I would have been staring at the contents of my stomach by now.

But it was the last place they'd look for me. In fact, it wouldn't even be on the list. I hated the leeches, but their own musk would mask mine better than anything. Hiding out in their territory was my best option. But the idea was so crazy that even I was already having second-thoughts about it. But instead of turning back, I just let my tongue loll out as I set off at a lope, utilizing my speed to get me there as quickly as possible. The smell grew stronger as I skirted around one of the many winding roads and cut through a dense patch of forest as a short-cut.

The obscenely white mansion sat atop an equally obscenely manicured hill. I knew the Doctor and his mate were still living there. Only a few more months before they had to leave, lest they arouse even more suspicion. Bella—I refused to call her anything with 'sister' or 'my' in it—and her mate were somewhere in Australia, probably having their own self-generated disco in the middle of the desert. The small one that felt the need to dance everywhere and her emotionless void of a husband were probably here as well.

But I didn't care about any of them. Sticking up my nose, I trotted upstream of the river that ran beside the house, going on for about a half an hour before I reached a modest-sized yet extravagant custom home with a garage the size of a gym. I laughed, the sound coming out as some sort of warbled growl, before springing into a dead run and bolting to one of the many open garage doors that could fit a semi with room to spare.

Movement flashed in the corner of my eye, and I skidded to a halt to keep from running into the vampire that appeared before me. She bared her teeth, hissing as she flashed into a low crouch. Her blonde hair that hung down to her waist created a golden halo around her head as that stray shaft of sunlight I had wished for earlier pierced the clouds, making her skin glow faintly. My hackles raised and I braced my legs apart, snarling and snapping at the creature with spittle dripping from my mouth.

"Dog," she spat, her lyrical voice carrying all the bite of a cobra.

Faerie, I growled deep in my throat, letting the feral sound build up and rumble like thunder since she wasn't able to hear my thoughts like her abusive stalker brother. We stared each other down, all growls and snapping and snarls.

Then I relaxed and sat back on my haunches, my fur smooth and tail wagging slightly as I stared her in the eye. She too relaxed, returning to the favored standing position, her eyes crinkling in amusement as she showed her almost blindingly white teeth to me in the form of a smile.

She reached out to scratch my head with her perfectly manicured nails. I barked softly and let myself give in to the wolf instincts and enjoy the sensation. She laughed softly, the sound oddly delicate for one that possessed so much power.

"Leah Clearwater." she greeted me, her natural enemy, with unabashed warmth and a large, friendly smile. I returned it with my own Chesire-grin, wolf-style, and yipped energetically, my own version of a greeting for my mortal enemy of a best friend.

Rosalie Hale.

A/N Well, that was my first attempt at a Twilight fic. It's going to be multi-chaptered, so hopefully I can get a better feel for the characters as the story develops. Also, if you were offended at all, whether it's because of the cursing (this fic is rated M for language only, and perhaps some violence—there will be no lemons. I repeat: NO LEMONS) or the insults against some of the characters. I'm just trying to make everybody three-dimensional here, which may or may not turn out to be a chore. Anyway, please rate and review. Critiques and flames are welcomed.

Ah, also, I apologize for any spelling or grammatical errors. I literally typed this out in an hour and I'm too impatient and lazy to send it off to a beta and wait for the finished product.