Twilight and all of it's characters belong to S. Meyer

A/N:

This is a new story that's been floating around my head for a few weeks now, so I thought I'd give it a try. Please remember that it is AU even though a lot of the universe will resemble Meyer's version. Some of the changes I've made from the actual story will be glaringly obvious, others not so much. So if you see something that doesn't match up with Meyer's universe, keep in mind that it was probably a conscious change. You should be able to pick them out as we go along, and hopefully the changes will eventually make sense to you.

Right now, I think this story will be done completely from Bella's POV, but we'll see how the next chapter goes before I say that this is a certainty.

Thanks to anyone who takes the time to read this. I hope you find it enjoyable. Now on with the show...

Bella

I knew I was going to be late for the meeting, but was taking my time anyway. Maybe I didn't have a choice in what I was, but that didn't mean I was just going to blindly follow orders for the rest of my life. Finishing the last bite of the apple I was eating, I tossed the core into the trash, and then finally headed out the door.

It was a pleasantly warm evening, one of the first warm ones we'd had of the spring, and instead of taking advantage of the nice weather, like I wanted to, like my body was yelling at me to, I was stuck going to this stupid meeting.

I started walking towards Jake's house. I was pretty sure he'd be gone already, but I was looking for excuses to delay heading up to the meeting. Jake lived only a couple of houses away from mine, so it didn't take long to get there. Knocking on the door, I headed in without waiting for an answer.

"Jake? Uncle Billy?" I called out as I entered through the kitchen door.

"Bella?" I heard Uncle Billy call out from the living room. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you already be up at the meeting?"

Uncle Billy was my mom's brother and Jake, his son, was my cousin. Jake and I had grown up together. Just a year older than me, he was more like a brother than a cousin. When my mom died, almost ten years ago, Uncle Billy and Jake were the ones who helped my dad and I get through it.

We'd been living off the reservation at the time of my mom's death. I remember I'd been up at Uncle Billy's house that night, because Charlie also had to work, and so hadn't learned till later that there'd been an accident, that she'd been hit by a drunk driver. The call came in and parol cars were dispatched, this was back before Charlie was Sheriff, back when he was still just a patrolman. I found out later that he'd been the first one to arrive on the scene that night.

He's never once talked to me about what he'd found when he arrived at the accident, but Uncle Billy tells me it was bad. I know he had nightmares after that for weeks. I'd wake in the middle of the night to his screams, his crying.

Dad and I walked around in a depressed haze for months after mom had passed. Then, one day out of the blue, he decided that I needed to be up on the reservation, closer to my people, closer to my mom. So he put our house on the market, bought a house that had just been built right near Uncle Billy's house, and moved us back to the place my mom had come from.

Mom and Billy were from the Quileute tribe. They'd both grown up on the reservation up at La Push, just as their parents had, and their parent's parents had. My mom was the first one in our family to leave the reservation. She had planned to get out of Washington, maybe head to New York City or Miami. Instead, she'd met my dad right out of high school, fell in love, got married and had me. She'd gotten off the reservation, but only as far as Forks, the next town over.

I was glad we'd made the move after her death. I knew it was a bit awkward for Charlie at times as he wasn't Quileute, wasn't even Native American, but it helped me feel connected to my mom in a way that I wouldn't have been able to anywhere else, and it kept us close to Uncle Billy and Jake, which I was grateful for.

The tribe took us in as if my mom had still been alive. They never treated Charlie as an outsider, never made either of us feel as if we were anything but family. And though I was often called 'the hafling,' I knew it wasn't out of malice, it was just what I was. I was a child of two worlds in a way, and walking those two worlds would always be a part of my life, of what made me me. So I wore my nickname with pride, and challenged anyone who would think to use it as an insult.

"Hey Uncle Billy," I said as he rolled his wheelchair into the kitchen, a gift from the diabetes he was constantly fighting to stay in control of. "Jake leave already?"

"Bells," he said with a sigh.

"What?" I asked as innocently as I could manage.

"Quit stalling and get your butt up there. Putting it off won't do you any good, they'll just wait for you and the meeting will end up running later because of it."

"Geeze, Uncle Billy. You're always thinking the worst of me," I said, feigning injury.

"That's just because I know you so well, I know that innocent facade is just that, a facade. Now get your stubborn butt moving before you get Jake into trouble. You know that he'll be covering for you."

"All right. I'm gone," I said with a laugh. Bending over, I gave him a kiss on the cheek before running out the door.

As soon as my feet hit the pavement, I took off down the street at a full run, not because I was in a hurry, just because my body was calling out for the exercise. The warm night air was getting to me, making me itch for a nice long run. I hoped the meeting would end early so I could get out for a little while before Charlie came home from work, though I wasn't holding my breath.

I ran until I got to the house, then paused just outside it. The lights were all lit up, inside and out, and I knew the others would be waiting inside. Still, my instincts demanded that I take stock of the situation before I headed inside. Closing my eyes, I allowed my senses to take over, listening for anything out of place, any warning signs that danger could be nearby. When my body registered no threat, I quietly snuck up around to the back of the house. Even late, I couldn't deny myself my little game.

As quietly as I could, I climbed up onto the deck on the back of the house. I peered up into the window, getting a fix on as many people inside as I could. I was in luck, only Emily was in the kitchen, and she'd be the one least likely to notice me. With barely a whisper, I quickly opened the back door, slid in, then closed it behind me. I was out of the kitchen without Emily ever having realized I was there.

Heading towards the living room, where I knew the others would be, I quietly slid up along the wall, getting as close to the entranceway as I could manage without being discovered. Trying to pin everyone down based on the sound of their movements, I located Paul when he started complaining loudly about my lateness. Smiling, I knew I had my target.

I pictured the layout of the living room, seeing the two long beat up sofa's and love seat in my mind. It was a wide, open room, the center of the house, and I could hear Paul pacing in the center of it. Turning the corner into the room, I registered where everyone was in the blink of an eye, and before anyone had the chance to look in my direction, I was over the couch closest to me with a leap, landing on Paul and knocking him down. I had him pinned beneath me before he'd so much as managed to exhale.

"What the hell?" he said as he pushed me off, his annoyance showing as he did.

I smiled as I hopped off him, knowing the surprised look on his face as he went down was worth any consequences that I might face.

"Bella," Sam's voice came with a warning.

"He shouldn't have been talking about me," I said, only half-heartedly trying to defend myself.

"You should have been here on time then," Paul spit out angrily, brushing his clothes off as he stood up.

I rolled my eyes at Paul. I knew I was pushing it with him, but couldn't help myself. Paul's temper had been worse than usual lately, and I knew he was dying to pay me back for my little stunt, but I also knew he wouldn't dare attack me, not in front of Sam and Jake. At least, not if he wanted to live.

I walked over to where Jake was sitting on the one couch, and playfully pushed at Quil until he moved over. When I sat down, Quil pretended to yawn and stretch, then laid his arm around my shoulders. Lightly, I punched Quil in his side and with a laugh he removed his arm. This was our little game. Quil half-heartedly flirted with me every chance he got, and I shot him down. It annoyed Jake, having his best friend constantly hitting on his cousin, but even he knew that Quil was only playing around, so he let it be.

Looking around the room , I nodded at the others. Everyone was there already, even Leah, who was looking like her grumpy old self. Not that I blamed her for her bad moods, but spending so much time in close proximity with her, I was sure getting tired of them.

I looked back at Sam, who was staring patiently at me, probably waiting for my excuse for being so late. "I got lost, " I said with a shrug. Quietly, Jake groan next to me at my answer.

"You got lost?" Sam asked in disbelief.

"Sure, why not," I said, trying to hold back my laugh.

I stared at Sam, knowing he knew I was lying, but waiting patiently to see what he'd do about it. I held eye contact, knowing this was key when it came to dealing with him. Don't be the first to look away, ever. It showed weakness and as a werewolf, that could mean death if you happened to find yourself in the wrong situation.

I hadn't always been a werewolf, none of us had actually. Yet besides Emily, we'd all suddenly found that we'd become creatures right out of a fairytale. Until just a few years ago, we'd all just been normal kids, trying to deal with life on the res and all of the complications that came with that. But all that changed when the Cold Ones moved back to town three years ago.

The Cold Ones history intertwined with ours as far back as my great-grandfather, Ephraim Black, who was the one to sign the treaty with them. They were a family of vampires, the same family, in fact, who signed that long ago treaty. They didn't age, they didn't die, though we knew they could be killed from the history that's been passed down to us through the ages. We've sworn not to kill or expose them though, as long as they kept their promise not to feed off of humans. You see, these particular vampires were vegetarians, forsaking the blood of humans for the lesser blood of animals. As long as they stuck to this, we'd leave them alone and they'd leave us alone in return. Course, that didn't mean we'd ever trust them, that we wouldn't constantly be vigilant for any break in the treaty from them.

The return of the vampires, a family that went by the name of Cullen, after so long meant the return of the wolves. Scattered throughout our tribe was a gene that gave us the ability to shape-shift into wolves. As long as the vampires stayed away, this gene stayed dormant. But with their close proximity, it activated the shape-shifter in us, and those of us with it hidden in our system went through the change.

Sam had been the first, going through the change shortly after the Cullen's made their return to Forks. He was the oldest amongst us, the largest wolf amongst us, and also our Alpha, our pack leader. He was there to help each of us through our change, though no one had been there to help him through his.

My change had come just eight months ago, one of the last. Jake had changed before me by about six months, and everyone thought that meant I'd be safe from it. Usually, from what we could tell, only one member of each family branch changed, and almost always the oldest. Not only was I younger, and a female, which was also rare, Leah and I being the only female wolves ever heard of, but I was also only half-Quileute. To the best of our knowledge, only full-blooded Quileutes ever made the change. To say that my change came as a surprise to both the pack and the elders was putting it lightly. Once it happened though, they accepted it as if it had always been expected. But what choice did they really have, it's not like they could de-wolf me.

Finally with a sigh, I could see that Sam had decided not to challenge my alibi, deciding it would be better just to move on.

"All right, moving onto business," he said, calling the meeting to order. "Anyone have anything to report from patrols?"

Jake, the pack Beta, our second in command, was the one to answer. "Everything's been clear. It seems as though they're doing their best to avoid our border as much as they can. A couple of times we've caught their scent, but it's never come close to crossing our line."

The pack and the vampires shared a border. The vampires hunted the woods that ran along the border, but tried to avoid crossing over onto Quileute land at all costs. If they ever did, we'd have the right to attack and kill them. It was written into the treaty. So far, we'd never had the opportunity to enforce this, but we were all looking forward to the possibility that the chance might arise. Well, most of us were anyway, forbidden from border patrol, I doubted I'd ever get the chance to cross the vampires scent, let alone hunt any of them down.

Thinking of the fact that I was forbidden from guard duty, I let my head fall back on the couch cushion behind me in frustration, tuning out the meeting. I knew I was going to have to have it out with Sam, and soon. He was being too protective, even considering it was Sam, even though I understood that he felt justified.

Not long after my mom died and my dad moved us to the reservation, I tried to run away. I was only like eight at the time and the area around the reservation was familiar to me, but not enough so that I didn't quickly get lost. I found myself wandering the woods, alone and very scared. They had search parties out looking for me, but it had still taken them almost two days to find me. Jake told me later that they begun to fear that they wouldn't find me alive.

Sam, just fourteen at the time, was the one to find me. He picked me up and carried me all the way back to Charlie, soothing me with calming words as he did. Somewhere on that long walk back to my dad, Sam had made it his mission to become my protector and ever since, he watched over me like I was his little sister and, in a way, I was.

Sam had become my family, even if we weren't related by blood. He checked in on me regularly, even before my change, and I spent almost as much time up at his and Emily's house as I did at Uncle Billy and Jake's house. So I understood that he'd want to shield me from the vampires as much as possible, that it was his instinct to, but I had to make him understand that it was my job as much as his to guard the reservation from the vampires. As much as I wanted to avoid fighting with him, it wasn't in me to sit back and let others take all the risk.

Making up my mind that I'd talk to him again after the meeting, I tuned back into the rest of the meeting. Unfortunately, it was just the same boring stuff we covered at our meetings every month. I tried to focus on what was being discussed, but was having a hard time doing so now that I'd decided to talk to Sam.

After what seemed like forever, guard duty for the upcoming month was assigned and the meeting ended. I leaned into Jake and whispered that I'd meet him outside. He answered back by telling me it wasn't going to work, knowing without me having to tell him what I planned, before he stood up and walked out the door, resigned to the fact that he knew I had to try anyway.

When the room had cleared out I walked over to Sam. "Can I have a minute?" I asked.

"Sure. And while you're at it, maybe you want to tell me the real reason you were late tonight."

"Sam, you know as well as I do why I was late."

He let out an exasperated sigh before saying, "Bella, you can't keep fighting this. This is your life now. I know it's not the life you would have chosen for yourself, or even the one I would have chosen for you, but it's the hand you were dealt. The sooner you learn to accept that, the better off you'll be."

"It's just not in me to blindly follow. I've adjusted to what I am, what we all are, but it frustrates me suddenly not having control over my life. I don't like answering to another, even if that person is you."

"I know, which is why I give you as much leeway as I do, but you have to pick your battles, Bell. I can't let you continue to undermine my leadership in front of the others like this. If you don't start being smarter about your little protests, we're going to have a problem."

Using this as the springboard I needed, I jumped into my argument. "So let me have more freedom. I won't chafe at the bit so much if I had more control. Let me go on patrols with the others. It's not fair for you to keep me from doing so, to keep me from the very job I was born to do."

"It's too dangerous for you," he answered back, as he always did when we discussed this.

"No more so than for the others," I said.

"You know that's not true. There's more of a risk for you than the others, there always will be. As pack leader, it's my job to protect members of my pack as best as I can, and I believe that means keeping you away from the vampires as much as possible."

I groaned loudly in frustration. This was the point we always came back to, and the one argument I'd yet to break through. I knew that Sam was right, that there was a slightly higher risk for me than for the others, but I didn't think it was high enough to keep me away from doing my job.

The problem came in my wolf form. Unlike the others in my pack, my fur was a light silver in color. Day or night, it stood out like a beacon. At night, it seemed to almost reflect the moonlight off it. Jake once told me that it actually looked like I glowed out under the moon. And during the day, it caught the sunlight and shined. I was unable to blend with the forest around me like the others, with their brown, dark grey, and black coats did.

I often wondered if the color of my coat came from being just half Quileute. Maybe my blood, mixed in with that of my European ancestors, is what caused my coat to be so light. I'd appreciate the fact that my coat made me stand out from the rest of my pack more if it wasn't keeping me from doing the things I wanted to do.

"Sam, this is my birthright. I have just as much a right to defend our land from the vampires as you do, and more so than some of the others. I'm Beta to this pack, it's humiliating to be forced to watch on the sidelines as those under me guard our lands from our enemies."

For the first time in Quileute history, the pack had two Beta's, Jacob and me. Pack hierarchy was determined not by age or size, but by bloodlines. Jacob and I were direct decedents of the last tribal chief, Ephraim Black. Our lineage meant that we had a right to the Alpha position, if we so chose to take it. Neither of us had any interest in the position, though, and as such we'd both become Beta's.

Being Beta wasn't a position either of us had chosen, either, but we didn't really have a say in it. Unless someone from the pack challenged us, and they'd have to take us both on to become the undisputed Beta, then we were stuck with the position. The pack was forced to follow our commands, it was in their blood to do so, unless our commands went against those of the Alpha, which had never happened.

So, for the first time in pack history, the pack had a male Alpha and a female Alpha. It might have caused us problems, if Jacob and I weren't so close to each other. We generally backed each other up in all decisions, and definitely looked out for each other's backs.

"The pack understands that I'm not undermining your role as Beta, they've seen enough proof that you are completely capable in your position, but I won't take the risk of exposing you like that. I'm sorry, Bella, this is my final say in the matter. As your Alpha, I'm ordering you to stand down on this. We can discuss it again at a later point, but for now you're staying off border patrol."

I closed my eyes in frustration and anger. When I knew I wasn't going to be able to contain my temper enough to reign in my mouth, I turned around and slammed out the front door, not even bothering to seek out Emily and say good bye to her, something I always did.

I stepped out into the night air and immediately located Jacob, sitting on a large rock about two hundred feet away. Though it was dark, I could see his eyes watching me, even at this distance. One of the advantages of being part wolf was the extra fine-tuned senses. Not only could we smell and hear better than humans, we could see farther and had night vision. Not to mention, we were stronger, faster, and lived longer. It was like whatever had decided that we'd be stuck going through our lives as half-human, half-wolf hybrids took pity on us, giving us all of the wolf's strengths and packaging them in a human body. I still hated what I'd become, hated what it meant for my life, but I did enjoy some of the perks that went along with it.

Jake contemplated my face for a few seconds, before standing up to meet me halfway. "Well?" he asked, already knowing from my exit what the answer would be.

Instead of answering him, I closed my eyes and allowed my anger to dissipate. I let the cool night air caress my skin, and the smell of salt water to permeate my nose. I knew that nature would calm me in a way that words never could.

When I finally let go of most of my anger and resentment, I opened my eyes, looked at Jake and said, "Let's run."

He smiled in answer before turning around and taking off at full speed. He headed the opposite direction of our houses and with a return smile, already knowing where he was heading, I took off after him, taking up his unspoken challenge.

We raced down to our spot on the beach and, as my feet pounded the pavement, then the dirt, and eventually the sand, I knew that once again I'd end up kicking Jake's ass. With a laugh thrown over my shoulder as I passed him, I took the lead and headed off into the night, knowing he'd be just seconds behind me.

A/N:

Again, thank you for taking the time to read. I hope you liked it and that you're willing to stick around to see where it goes. I think it should be a fun story, or I hope so anyway. Drop me a line or two to let me know what you think so far. Thanks!

~TCG