Chapter 2

Shay's POV

After, I hung up the phone with Seth. I headed out to Emily's. I was almost there when I heard the howl. I recognized it as Brady. Then when I got out of the car in front of the house, all the girls were outside on the porch, looking out at the trees. I hurried up to them, my bag in hand. Sara turned to me first. "Did you hear that?" She asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, it was Brady, right."

"I think so." Emily said, taking my bag and put it inside for me.

"Do you know whats going on?" Jez asked.

"I think so. Seth called me not too long ago and said he, Brady and Collin were behind a kids house. They thought that he was going to phase at anytime." I explained and everyone's attention turned to me.

"Who is it?" Rachel asked.

I shrugged. "He said his name was Chris and that he just moved here. He lives a little ways down my road."

"Huh." Sara mumbled and looked out at the woods.

"I hope no one gets hurt." Emily murmurs, sitting down on a chair. She turned her head so I could see the long, thick red scars that ran down the side of her face. I doubt I was ever going to get used to them.

"You think, he phased?" Kendra asked.

I nodded. "Why else would Brady howl. He must be calling Jake."

Jez sighed. "I guess my slumber party is off then."

Bree put her arm around Jez's shoulder. "Don't worry. We'll have another one."

We then moved inside, all crowding into the combined kitchen and dining room. I leaned against the counter by the sink. We waited, not really talking. We didn't really have anything else to do. About twenty minutes later, they finally arrived.

Seth's POV

"Alright. Here we are." I announced to Chris when we were close to the edge of the trees behind Sam's house. I saw him look at the house through the trees and felt a prick of nervousness from him. I saw his ears move toward it.

"I can hear them. Inside, their hearts beating." He said, sounding a little unnerved.

"That's normal. You have extremely good hearing. It's not as strong when your human but it's still a lot stronger then a normal person. All of your senses are enhanced." I said just as Jake walked up to us, a change of cloths in his hand. He appeared to be a lot more relaxed then he was before. "That's Jake." I said when Chris looked at him a little confused.

"Are you serious?" He asked in surprise, looking Jake over.

"Yep, he's big isn't he?" I said, laughing a little.

"That's because he's the born Alpha. He the biggest and then it's Sam." Brady said.

"And I thought you were big." he muttered to me.

I snorted. "I'm only about medium size."

"Wow."

"Is he ready?" Jake asked and I nodded.

"Ready for what?" Chris asked, a little panicky.

"Relax, he's going to tell you how to change back." Brady thought.

"Oh, okay."

"Good." Jake said, turning to Chris. "Okay, it's easy. It shouldn't hurt like it did before, just relax and try and think about changing back. It'll get easier once you've done it a few times."

Jake instructed and Chris closed his eyes and did what he was told. I saw him start to change so me and Brady did the same.

A few seconds later were all human again. "Urg." Chris groaned when he saw me and Bradybeside him. He covered his eyes.

We laughed and pulled on our shorts. "You get used to it. You can't be self-conscious, living in a pack."

Jake handed Chris a pair of jeans and he pulled them on quickly. "That wasn't so bad, now was it?" Jake asked, smiling.

Chris frowned at him. I laughed and patted his shoulder. "Come on." I said and we started walking to the house.

"Shouldn't we be cold?" Chris asked, looking up at the dark sky.

We laughed again and glared at us. Brady hit his back. "Take your temperature when you get home. You'll be in for a surprise."

I chuckled as I fallowed Jake through the door. I looked around the crowned room and spotted Shay leaning on the counter. I walked to her and put my arm around her shoulderand kissed her cheek. I saw her blush as she leaned into me. All the time, I felt eyes on me and I looked up to see Chris watching us. I winked at him and he looked away in a hurry.

"Everyone this is Chris." Jake introduced.

Everyone smiled and answered with a hello.

A half hour later, everyone was in the living room, Sam and Jake had just finished explaining everything. Chris and his mother both sat, side by side on the couch. Chris ran his fingers through his short black hair, eyes wide and unbelieving. "Wow." He whispered.

"Do you have any questions?" Sam asked.

When Chris didn't say anything, I did. "I have one." I announced and everyone looked at me. "Why doesn't she look surprised?" I said and motioned to Anna (Chris's mom). Everyone turned back to her.

"Yeah and she didn't look too surprised earlier either, when he started changing. "Brady said from beside me.

"And what were you talking about before he snapped?" Collin continued.

"Those are good questions." Jake agreed.

Anna looked around at us and fidgeted as we all stared at her. " I already knew it was going to happen." She murmured, uncomfortably. "I moved us here because I knew it was going to happen soon and I hoped that you could help him."

Jake leaned forward. "How did you know about us?" he asked, narrowing his eyes at her.

She flinched."Um. I noticed some changes in him in the last few months and they reminded me of some stories that my husband had told me before he died five years ago. I did a little research on the legends and came up with you guys."

"So why didn't you tell me?" Chris said loudly, turning to her.

"Well, what if I was wrong. I had no idea if the legends were actually true or not." She explained.

"So why didn't you try and find us?" Sam asked.

"I was going to but I didn't get the chance with unpacking and getting to work and driving Chris back to forks every morning for school. I thought I had more time." She said, defensively.

Everyone was quiet for a few moments, no one really knowing what to do. Then Brady spoke up first. "Anyway, I'm going to get going Jake. It's getting late." He said.

"Yeah, I'm going to go too. Hey Brady, can I get a ride home with you?" Bree asked.

Brady shrugged. "Sure if you don't mind riding on my back." Brady replied.

"I don't mind. I heard it was fun." Bree said, turning to Shay and winking before they headed out the door.

"Can we go ,too?" Chris asked, looking at Jake and Sam uncertainly.

They both nodded. "Yes but I want to see you first thing tomorrow morning. Seth will probably be at Shay's..." He looked at me while he talked and I nodded. "so he'll pick you up."

"What are we going to do?" Chris asked, his voice filled with nervousness.

"Your just going to practice, changing back and forth and how to control yourself." Sam reassured him. "You may go."

Anna and Chris both got up slowly and walked toward the door. I turned to Shay. "You want to go home too?" I asked and she nodded, yawning. I took her hand we walked behind Chris and Anna out the door. They went to a small blue car and Chris opened the door when I called out to him. "Hey Chris." I called and he looked up at me. "Try not to get mad." I said and winked at him, chuckling at his expression. We walked into the trees, with him watching us.

"Don't tease him." Shay said, frowning up at me.

I smiled. "I can't help it. He's the new kid. I have to torment him a little bit."

"Just don't make it harder for him then it has to." She mutters, yawning again. Then she stops suddenly, mid stride. "Wait, what about my car?"

"You can get it tomorrow. You can come with me tomorrow morning to get Chris. We're going to Sam's." I said and let go of her hand so I could go phase.

A few moments later, she climbed on my back and I started running. I heard her yawn again and soon I felt her relax into my fur and her breathing slow. She was sound asleep. I slowed down so she wouldn't fall off. It didn't take long anyway to get to Shay's house. I walked up to back porch and barked softly to Lana. She came out and pointed to Shay with my nose. She smiled and lifted her off my back took her inside to her room. I hurried back into the trees and phased back. A moment later, I walked into the kitchen and was about to go upstairs when Lana stops me.

"Seth, can I talk to you?" She asked, her voice a little nervous.

I looked down at her and saw that her brows were pushed together worriedly. I frowned.

"Sure." I said uncertainly. I followed her back outside and sat down beside her on the steps.

She took a shaky breath before speaking. "Seth, you spend a lot of time around Shay?" She asked but it sounded more like a statement.

I nodded. "Yeah."

She looked up at me. "Look, don't take this the wrong way or anything but I don't think you should spend so much time with her. You two are going really fast." She said in a hurry and watching my reaction.

I narrowed my eyes at her. "Lana, where did this come from?"

She bit her lip nervously. "It's just that I've been thinking..." She paused, hesitantly. "what if something happened to you?" he blurted out.

I raised a brow. "What do you mean?"

She sighed. "What if something happens to you, Seth? She'd be devastated. Probably even worse than what she was with our parents. It's not like it's not a possibility, with your..." She paused, searching for the right word. "lifestyle."

"So your afraid that I might die and hurt Shay even more?"

She nodded. "I'm just scared that's all. I don't want Shay to get hurt."

"It's not going to happen." I muttered.

She frowned. "How do you know?"

"I don't but that's not what I meant."

"Then what did you mean?" She asked.

"I'm not leaving Shay until she tells me too." I said simply.

She shook head. "Seth, you've helped her so much and you make her so happy but I'm still worried about her."

"And I understand that and I worry about her too but wouldn't you be hurting her too if you tried to take me away from her?"

She nodded. "Yeah but maybe if she got used to not having you around so much then it might not hurt so much if you died. I don't want to see her go through that again."

"It doesn't work like that Lana. We're bound together whether you like it or not." I said and she frowned. She was about to say something but I interrupted her. "I understand the consequences of what I do, what I am and so does Shay. If she doesn't want to take the chance then she doesn't have to."

"I just feel like she's being pushed into this because the imprint." She mutters, looking away.

"Lana, imprinting isn't like that. It doesn't trap someone in a relationship. Everyone has a choice and she chose to except imprinting, except that I am what I am and except what I do. She doesn't have to be with me if she doesn't want to and I'm not going to force myself on her either." I said and retreated into the house before she could say anymore.

Shay's POV

I woke up in Seth's arms the next morning, not really remembering how I got there but happy anyway. I rolled over so my face was pressed to his chest. He sighed happily in his sleep and tightened his arms around me in an unbreakable hold. I relaxed into him and listened to his heart beat. I pressed a hand to my chest so I could feel my heart beat and compared the two. His went twice as fast as mine. It's funny how I never noticed how much faster his went.

I traced the muscles in his arm with my index finger, trailing it up his arm, over his shoulder and down his ribs. He wore no shirt so I could cleary see the powerfull muscle under his skin. He smiled his sleep so I continued. I lay my hand flat on his hard stomach and felt it rise and fall with his breathing. Then I reached up and ran my fingers in his hair. I stroke his temple with my thump.

Then, suddenly, he reached up and caught my hand in his. It looked so small and fragile compared to his. He ran his fingers through mine and groaned contently, his eyes still closed. He brought our hands to his lips and kissed my knuckles. Then, finally he opened his eyes and I could his dark eyes, filled with love.

He let go of my hand and pulled me closer so we were pressed to eachother. I smiled and closed my eyes, enjoying the feel of him so close. He kissed my forehead and then my cheek and then my lips. I moved my hands so they were around his neck and pulled myself up so my head the same level as his. He kissed me so perfectly and he held me so close. I felt his warmth heat my skin. Everything about the moment was so perfect, so right. He smiled against my lips and pressed our foreheads together. I heard him take a deep breath, taking in my scent.

I laughed then remembered something. "Should you be getting Chris right now?" I asked, still smiling.

He groaned but laughed. "Right. I knew that." He said and heaved himself up into a sitting position. He stretched and I watched the muscles in his back flex under his skin. He turned to look at me with a smile. "You coming?" He asked.

I nodded and got up out of the bed. I went to my walk-in closet and changed quickly. Then I went to the bathroom, where Seth was already brushing his teeth and joined him. Downstairs we both grabbed an apple (Seth ate two before I could finish mine) and then head out the front door. We walked to Chris's house instead of running because the was no point. It was too close and Seth didn't feel like having to phased back and forth. He held my hand as we walked on the side of the road. He looked out for cars. He was only wearing a pair of cut-off shorts. It would look odd on this cool Saturday morning. I, myself had a jacket on. Even when it was nearly summer, it was cold in La Push. Luckily, a car never went by.

We arrived at the house soon enough and Seth knocked on the door. Anna answered and I noticed she almost looked releived to see Seth. "Oh thank god." She said, moving aside so we could come in. "He locked himself in his room and I can't get him to come out." She said. her face was contorted with worry. She looked up at Seth hopefully, begging with her eyes.

I saw Seth frown. "Did he go straight there last night?" he asked.

She nodded. "He said he was tired and wanted to go to bed and then this morning when I called him down to breakfast but he wouldn't come. I went upstairs and knocked on his door but he said to go away. He locked the door and I can't get in." It looked like she was on the verge of tears.

Seth then, turned on his heeled and hurried up the stairs.

Seth's POV

When I found out that he locked himself in his room, I was mad. I forced the tremors away before Anna and Shay could notice them. All we've been trying to do is help him and then he goes and does something stupid like this. As Jake would put it, he was the next cry baby. I remember stories of before I was phased. When Jake was the 'cry baby'. They all tried to see his view of it all but in the end, we just got annoyed. I understand what he's feeling but he's not even trying.

I ran up there stairs, listening for Chris and quickly finding him. Like Anna said, the door was closed and locked. "Going away." Chris said quietly, having heard me coming.

"Chris come out now." I said, trying not to sound too angry.

"No, just leave me alone." he replied.

I took a deep breath to calm myself as Anna and Shay came up and stopped at the top of the stairs. "Chris, your only making it harder for yourself."

"No. I don't want anything to do with this. I never wanted it." He yelled.

"You making this bigger then it has to be." I said.

"Am I really?" He yelled, sarcasm dripping into his words. "I can morph into a giant DOG"

"I know how you feel but this is not the way to go about it."

I heard him snort. "You don't understand. No one does."

"Chris we've all been through this. You're not the only one." I heard him groan and then a weird noise. I could only imagine that he was trying hard not to phase. "Deep breath Chris. Try to relax." I said. I heard him try but then cry out. He was trying not to change but he didn't know how. I had to get him outside. I motioned to Anna and Shay to get back a bit. Anna didn't understand so Shay pulled her down the stairs. I stepped back before hitting the door hard. With a crash the door fell open, ripping it from it's hinges. At the moment I didn't care. I looked around the room. It was a complete mess, things thrown every which way. Chris sat beside his bed, on the floor, his knees pulled up to his chest.

He looked up at me with real tears in his eyes. He looked terrible, like lost every good thing he ever had in his life. "Chris, I understand what your feeling but you need to get outside before you phase and tare a wall down."

He glared at me with complete loathing. "Like what you just did to my door."

"If it means getting you outside before you do something you regret, then I'll knock down ten more doors." I said, watching him shake.

"What do you care?"

I grinded my teeth together. "You don't get it. All we've been trying to go id help you. We obviously care. If we didn't, do you really think we would have gone through all this trouble to keep you safe. To try and make this easier for you. We're all been through this. We know how it feels, Chris."

He shook his head stubbornly. "No you don't."

"You feel like a monster, like a freak. You useless because you can even control yourself. Then your always scared because you don't want to hurt anyone but there's always a possibility. You feel over whelmed with everything that's happening and you wish that things would slow down." I whispered, trying to stop my hands from shaking. I curled them into fists at my side. "In fact, some of those feelings never actually go away but you learn to live with them and then everything seems better.

He watched my hands shake for a moment and it almost looked like he had given in but it was gone almost as quickly as it had come. "No." He whispered.

I snapped. "That's it. I tried. Your coming whether you want to or not." I yelled and his eyes snapped up at me, wide and filled with fear. "This is for your own good." I grabbed him by the rist and pulled him to his feel with a little more power then necessary. I shoved him out of the room and down the stairs, all the time he tried to fight back but I was stronger.

Shay's POV

I heard Seth yelling upstairs and felt my eyes go wide. It was rare that Seth got mad but like Claire had once told me, he could be as bad Paul and that wasn't good. Seconds later, Seth pushed Chris down the stairs. Chris yelled and fought but he wasn't as stong or as expearianced as Seth was. Chris was shaking so hard it was a wonder how he managed to keep himself in one form. Seth shoved him into the kitchen and me and Anna looked at eachother before fallowing being them.

"NO. I REFUSE TO GO WITH YOU." Chris yelled and tried to get around Seth but Seth blocked his path.

"It's for your own good. I'm not going to let you ruin your life because you refuse behave." Seth cowntered, pushing him closer to the back door.

Then suddenly, out of no where and almost to fast for me to see, Chris lunged for the counter, grabed a knife and dug it into Seth's arm. I let out loud yelp, my hands flying to my mouth. I saw the pain flash through Seth's eyes but other then that, I wouldn't have known it would have hurt at all. Seth refused to show it. Chris backed up into the counter, eyes wide with surprise and horror. Seth looked down at the knife sticking out of his arm and slowly with his other hand, pulled it out. I watched, fozen, as blood spilled out of his arm. Everyone was frozen in place, staring at Seth's arm. Then, I noticed the blood stopped short and the gaping hole closed. In seconds, what should be horrible wound, looked liked weeks old, forming a scar.

"Do you want to try that again or are you finaly ready to go outside?" Seth said through clenched teeth.

Chris looked, stunned for a moment at Seth before he slowly back out the door. Seth looked at me and motionned for me to come with him. "Are you okay?" I whispered when we were outside. He nodded without saying anything.

Chris sat on the porch steps with his head in his hands. Seth walked up behind him. "Look, we really need to get going."

Chris turned to him. "I'm so sorry. I can't believe I did that. I don't know what came over me. I'm so sorry."

Seth shook his head. "It's okay."

Chris frowned. "Your not mad?"

Seth shrugged. "Yeah I'd rarther you not have done that but no I'm not mad."

"Why not?"

Seth sighed and down beside him. I took a seat on Seth's other side. "I understand why you did it." He paused for a moment before continuing. "Look, Chris, everyone has done something stupid. I've done plenty. Like I said last night, about Brady nearly killed his brother. He lost control and phased and if I wasn't there to stop him, he would have to live with that the rest of his life. Then theres Sam. You saw the scars on Emily's face."

"Sam did that?" Chris asked, shocked.

Seth nodded. "Yeah, he was new, lost control of himself for a slit second and that was the result."

"Then a few months ago Seth nearly broke a kids neck at the high school dance because he was hitting on me." I said, smiling kindly to Chris and elbowing Seth in the ribs.

He laughed. "Yeah I did and nobody's ever going think of messing with you again." he said smiling but I could see a bit of relief in his eyes.

I rolled my eyes. "What that means is that even some one whos been doing this for 4 years... "I pause and motion to Seth. "has a hard time controling themselves sometimes too."

He laughed before turning back to Chris. "Everyone makes mistakes. If my dad were around, he'd say, you learn from mistakes so don't be afraid to make one." He started out his sentence comfidantly but I saw the pain in his eyes as he finished. I took his hand and squeezed it. He smiled half- heartedly at me.

Chris noticed it too. "Where's your dad?" He asked.

"He died not long before I phased for the first time." Seth said and Chris nodded slowly, understanding.

Then suddenly, both Chris and Seth turned toward the front of the house. "What is it?" I asked.

"Don't know." Seth said, nostral flaring. "Come on." He said and helped me up. We walked back into the house just as Anna was opening the front door. There in the front door stood a police oficer.

"Is there a problem officer?" Anna asked uncertainly.

The officer was tall and lean with native american features. He tipped his hat at Anna. "Some neighbors has been complaning about some yelling that she heard coming from this house. She called in for us to come and check it out. May I come in." He asked in a buisness like way.

"Um, of course." She said, glancing back at us.

The officer fallowed her gaze and froze when he saw Seth. I even saw him gulp nervously. Seth walked up to the door and the officer cringed back slightly but tried to cover it with a coff. "There's nothing going on here officer. There won't be anymore noise." Seth said and closed the door his face. He turned to us and smiled. "God I love freaking people out. It never gets old."

I smiled. "You idiot. He was terrified of you."

He smirked. "I know."

"Do they know about you?" I asked, tilting my head toward the front door.

He shook his head. "Nah. He's just freaked out because we remind him of the legends. He has no clue."

"Then should you really be slaming the door in his face?" I laugh as we start to move toward the back yard again.

He shrugged. "It's not like he can do anything to me and the eldesr will get me out of any trouble anyway." He winked at me. "Come Chris." He called over his shoulder. I heard a groan and some mumbling behind me and Seth rolled his eyes at me before opening the door for me. "Oh wait." Seth said suddenly. "Chris you might want to get a change of cloths and some string."

Chris frowned. "Why?"

"The cloths because, you never know. You might tare the ones you have on now and the string it so you can tie the cloths to your leg so when you phase, you don't have to carry them in your mouth. Trust me you'll want the string. You have know idea how bad some of your cloths actually tastes." He laughs, pointing to the string tied around his ankle.

"Okaay." Chris said and turned back into the house.

About five minutes later, after Seth tied the string around Chris's ankle, both were standing the back yard in their boxers, Chris listening to Seth tell him how to phase when he wanted to. "For right now just think of something that will make you mad or upset. Once you get used to the feeling of it, it will get easier and soon you'll be able to do it without really thinking about it." Seth explained. "Watch." Seth said and beant over a little and let the tremors roll over him and in a second he exploded and there stood a huge sandy colored wolf.

Anna, who stood beside me, gasped. "Do you ever get used to that?" She asked me.

I shook my head and laugh. "No, not really."

Seth turned his big head to face me and gave me that wolfy smile of his as a wolf, making us both laugh. "Your turned honey." Anna said to Chris.

He took a deep breath. "It's not going to hurt like last night is it?" He asked, nervously, even if he knew the answer. Seth shook his head. "Good."

Chris closed his eyes and consintrated, as he started to shake, he beant over like Seth had and seconds later he phased into a huge dark brown wolf. He wasn't as big as Seth but still looked powerful. Seth barked, then turned to me and motioned for me to come. I stood up and pulled the elastic from my rist, pulling my hair back. I hurried to him, grabbing hand fulls of his fur an pulling myself up, throwing my leg over. The whole way up, Chris's eyes fallowed me, curiously. I smiled at him and he looked away quickly. Seth bumped his shoulder to Chris's and laughed.