**** Disclaimer: I do NOT own the recognizable events, characters, or places in this story. Characters and events, as well as the Twiverse, belong to Stephanie Meyer. Forks, Port Angeles, and other real places belong to themselves, their own entities. ****

Semi-Trigger Warning:There will be talk of the injuries in the previous chapter, though not in too graphic of detail. Just letting my readers know!

Charlie waited for Bella, a well written note on the table had let his fear subside for a while as she had merely wanted to take a walk after a rough day at school. He knew she was pretty directionally challenged but Bella wasn't a dumb girl. There was a trail right outside their backyard, and she would know to follow that and only that. She wouldn't have gone too far either, with as clumsy as she was there was no way that Bella would have ventured very far even on the well beaten trail.

If that was right, Charlie found himself wondering, then why did his gut tell him that something was wrong? What was this feeling in Charlie's stomach as it dropped further with each passing minute.

Finally, as the sky darkened and Bella had still not returned home, Charlie gave into his intuition and called the cavalry in to help him find his daughter. Picking up the home phone he made the first call of many, although it was highly likely this would be the only call he would need to make.

The call picked up on the second ring and a gruff voice answered with a nearly audible half-smile. "We aren't fishing until this weekend, old man." Billy Black's smile faltered in the silence after his statement. He knew that it was Charlie's house that called, ID and all that. But there was no sound on the other end. His voice became anxious. "Charlie?"

"She's gone, Billy." Charlie was usually a man of few words but he found himself nearly rambling this time. "Bella, she left a note about a walk in the woods. I know her, she wouldn't go too far on her own. She wouldn't be gone this long. I know Bella, I know my daughter…"

"Charlie, let me call Sam." Billy said with authority. "He will find Bella; I know he can. I will call him and then Jacob and myself will be over as soon as possible after." With that Billy hung up and Charlie began to make the other calls around town. He tried the listed Cullen number only to hear a message about the number no longer being in service.

What the hell is going on? Charlie thought as he rang his deputies next.

Once Billy was off the phone with Charlie he called out to Jacob and told his son to get dressed and prepare for a trip into Forks. Jacob questioned him for about half a second before Billy silenced him with a simple sentence:

"Bella is missing in the woods."

At those words, Jacob's usually tan face paled and he visibly flinched. The woods around here, at night especially, were never safe. There were too many animals in them. Too many predators. Jacob turned and rain a little clumsily to his room to get ready to find the girl he was already crushing on. Sure, he didn't see her much… but that mattered little to the young Native. He knew. In his gut, he knew.

Billy quickly called another number. The rough male voice that answered him seemed almost annoyed when they nearly barked "Young residence," at him.

"Sam. I know that you are probably tired, and that I have no right to ask this of you." Billy heaved a sigh. "But I know that you respect Charlie Swan, I know that many on the Rez see him as family."

"I know what you mean, Billy." Sam replied, his interest caught now. Jared and Paul, both younger males, perked their ears towards the phone in the background. "What are you asking, Billy? As a council member all you have to do is ask- you know that the Protectors are charged with protecting all of the Quileute tribe, and that means those who have been accepted to us."

"Bella Swan, Charlie's daughter, do you know her?" Billy asked, hoping that the fact that not only was it Charlie's kin but also a female would help with the decision only Sam could make.

He could still refuse to help.

"Yes, I have seen her around. Is she not dating one of the Cullen leeches?" Sam's voice bristled. If Billy was asking this he had to wonder, had the treaty been violated? Were they looking for a girl, a corpse, or a new leech?

"She has disappeared. In the woods." That was all Billy had to say before Jared and Paul were both on their feet in the background and out the door- shedding clothes as they went.

"We will find her. Where will you be?" Sam's voice was tight. He remembered Bella from when she was younger. She and Jake had been very close as children and she had always had a light. A little too old for her age, but still, there was a fire there that he was hoping had not gone out.

"The Swan house." Billy replied as Jake yelled to his dad in the background to hurry off the phone. The teen was anxious.

"When we find her we will look for you there." Sam cut the call short and followed his two pack mates out the door. The younger wolves were already phased and waiting. They needed their Alpha to help them coordinate a search, even wolves needed to be organized.

Jared: Sam! What happened? The girl, Bella, wasn't she dating one of those treaty leeches?!

Sam: Yes, she… was? Sam's voice held a deep timber even in his mind, he was unsure of where to start to look for her but they needed to run to the Swan house first, at least from there they could look and not be worried about the humans if they ran fast. Paul, please run left flank. Jared run my right. I will take a straight shot to the Swan house. Smell for the treaty leeches, a leech you don't recognize, or a human. You know what Charlie smells like, and his daughter would have a scent somewhat like her father.

Paul made a small nod before he ran off to the left side of Sam, Jared hesitated before nodding and running to the right. There were only three of them, and seven treaty leeches. Jared was unsure if they would win a fight together, let alone separated.

Paul: Why are we searching for a leech fucker anyway?

Sam: Because even though he's had to haul your ass into lock up a couple times Charlie is still part of the Rez. They call him for anything that requires Police, him and him only. Billy trusts him, as do I. And I will be damned if we leave his daughter in these woods alone and dying… or worse.

Jared: Am I the only one here hoping that maybe she will be okay? Or is this pessimistic crowd the wrong place to be right now?

Jared was always known for trying to keep Sam and Paul from becoming too cynical when they were around each other. Sam was level headed, much more so then when he had originally phased, and kept his cool in most situations. He was a piss poor strategist, though, when it came to fighting. Paul, however, was very good at fighting and at planning attacks. Jared was the balance between the two. He could fight, he could be calm.

The wolves had been running just barely in the tree line when they arrived at the Swan house. There was a steady trickle of humans arriving but none in the woods yet. That was a plus for them because it allowed the wolves a quick moment to scent the area before deciding just what direction to go in.

Sam: Damn! This entire area smells like one of those leeches! Sam growled low, thankfully low enough that the group of humans on the edge of the woods did not hear him. They had yet to even shine lights into the trees, a small favor. He must have run all around here- to confuse tracking dogs or the Police.

Paul: Just what is that leech trying to hide? His eyes narrowed as his nose picked up a different scent among the acrid chemical smell of rotting death. Within moments, and without Alpha approval, he launched himself forward on the trail of this scent.

It was encapsulating the silver/grey wolf. A mixture of honey and spices, it smelled beautiful. That must have been the girl- there was nothing else that could make a smell this complex other than a human.

Sam: Paul! What are you doing!?

Jared: Follow him, Sam! He's onto something, I smell it now too. Can't you? A soft smell… like spiced peaches or green tea with honey. It's feminine. It has to be the girl!

Paul: Flank me Jared, Sam. The leech smell is still heavy. We may not be alone, and I want to be able to get this motherfucker if he still has her.

Sam: Usually I would be giving orders, but you make sense. Run ahead, we will watch your sides.

The wolves ran for nearly a full minute. The scent twisted and turned in multiple places, as if the leech had carried whoever made it over the changes in trail. To confuse trackers. He was thinking about humans, however, and not the wolves of the Tribe.

Why would he? Paul thought as the scent of spices and honey grew again. He stopped, there were three paths here- all of them decently strong.

Sam: Split. Paul take the middle, I'll run left and Jared to the right. Watch for leech.

Paul dug his nails into the ground and launched himself again, this time with a growl. This was becoming frustrating. The leech may not have been specifically thinking about the wolves when he made these trails but he was smart. And it was eating at Paul to have to admit that a leech had managed to think about something semi-correct.

Suddenly there was a new scent on the air. He could feel both Jared and Sam but neither tensed like he did. Paul knew that smell, he knew it very well. And instantly he screamed into his pack mind.

BLOOD!

Paul began to run even faster to the scent. It was growing and becoming something close to intoxicating, the smell of honey and spices topped with the coppery smell of blood and life. The rotting stench of chemical death, left behind by the leech, was the only thing to mar the smell that wound its way into Paul's senses.

A light beating, so faint he wasn't even sure he heard it, found its way to his ears. His own heart began to beat faster and adrenaline pumped hard and fast in his veins. She was alive! Barely, but this was life!

Once he found the girl, slumped in front of a tree, Paul found himself instantly phasing back to human. He threw the shorts that he had tied to his leg (a good idea from Jared, for once) as he ran to the girl.

Her pants had been torn off at the knees, her shirt was tatters from the bottom of her breasts and down to her pants, if she had been wearing a coat it was gone. The remnants of clothes the girl was wearing all had blood stains on them. But the initial sight he saw was not the most jarring thing about this moment- it was merely the tip of the iceberg. There was much more damage beneath the surface, Paul could smell it and almost feel it. The girl wasn't turning, but there was something very wrong with her.

And then he saw them.

The girl was literally covered in white, pale, fresh scars. Paul reached out and touched the longest one on her stomach and it felt cold- he wrenched his hand back as the girl hissed and tried to cry out. She barely had any energy, she was dying of hypothermia, and he was the warmest thing around. Paul could hear Jared and Sam coming, but she needed him now.

Wincing at the touch of the scars on the girl he gathered her body up as delicately as he could and held her to his overheated, and naked, chest. Her eyes bolted open at the contact and the terrified girl looked up at the Native who was holding her. Her eyes, not fully focused and barely alive, trailed a line up his arm and shoulder to his face and finally, his own eyes.

Paul gasped as he met the girl's eyes. The entire world shifted in that moment, the pull to the scent made complete sense now as everything that had once tethered the Wolf to the world became the girl in his arms. He pulled her closer on instinct when he heard the approach of others.

"Paul," Sam said as he held his hands out. Usually Sam wasn't one to be submissive- to anyone or anything. He rarely submitted in such a way even to Emily, and she was his love and imprint. "Paul, we aren't going to take her from you- but I need to look at her."

Paul twitched for a moment before grinding his teeth and leaning the body in his arms outward, so the girl was facing his two pack mates. The hair on the back of his neck bristled and his eyes widened as he watched both Jared and Sam be unable to look away from the mostly dead eyes of the barely breathing girl in his lap.

Growls erupted from Paul, a noise which scared the girl he was holding into choked tears. She could barely breathe- let alone cry.

"Paul!" Sam yelled, his voice deepening. "You will calm down until we get Bella to safety."

"You. Just. Imprinted. On. My. Imprint." Paul growled through clenched teeth, the girl in his arms began to push away from him and he held her closer. When she began to cry again, begging a barely coherent 'please…' into Paul's chest he immediately leaned his mouth down to her ear. "Relax, little Swan. I won't hurt you. Stay awake for me, but know I will not hurt you."

Sam made an instant snap decision. "Take her to my house. Jared, run ahead since Paul will not be able to phase and carry her that way- he will be slower than you by a couple minutes. Warn Emily that this is bad and that we will need Sue and Harry Clearwater. I will gather Billy from Charlie's house and bring him."

"How are we going to explain taking her to the Rez?" Jared asked as Paul stood, Jared was taking his shorts off again and tying them to his leg. "Charlie will question the hell out of that one, Sam."

Sam reached forward and ripped Bella's shirt completely off her. He winced at the obvious discomfort such touches caused the frail girl, and his heart ached to fix what he had caused.

"I'll take this, it is bloody and ripped. We can lie, she is barely conscious- I'm unsure she'll even make it to my house-" Paul instantly began to growl angrily. "Paul, relax, I'm being honest. I don't like those words any more than you do." Sam looked back at Jared and continued. "I will lie and say we followed a trail of broken branches into a clearing just on the other side of the treaty line, Rez land. Charlie will understand us taking her to the closest clinic and Sue is one hell of a secret keeper. Any other doc would question all the scars- if they even manage to see them." Sam took a deep breath and gestured towards the Rez- for even in the middle of the woods he knew which way was home. "Now go, and fast!"

Jared phased into a wolf on a jump and was off. Paul, gingerly carrying the precious girl in his arms, started off after him. Sam took a breath, he was about to lie to the Chief of Police, a man who he greatly admired. This was not going to be easy for the Alpha male. He only hoped Emily would be able to help Sue patch the girl up.

Phasing and running back towards the Swan house, Sam moved lithely in the dark to avoid the humans who were now searching. He would have to run around to show up from the other side of the houses, to seem like he came from the Rez.

Hopefully in all the excitement it would go unnoticed that he would have no vehicle.