AN: Well, this is what I'd call the last of the major "introductory" chapters. Action should begin to pick up soon, but don't expect the character development to end just because everyone's introduced. I hope that everyone enjoys this update, and as always, I really appreciate those of you who review.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. I just like to play around with the existing universe.


Reviews:

Hank's Lady: Glad you liked it! Everything you asked for is coming quite soon. However, if you know anything about me, not everything can be happy ;)

Blaidd Du: Really happy that you enjoyed my intro to the characters and the situations I tried to create. To answer your question, they are not in the pack yet. Those that are will be introduced shortly, however. Hope you enjoy this one!

tinker03, madyashiefan: Glad to hear you liked it!

rAbiDmutt03: Reviews like that really encourage me to continue writing. I'm glad that you've found the story to be enjoyable so far. This is going to be a primarily intro chapter as well, but the action isn't too far away! Hope you like it.

iJeedai: No, they aren't in the pack yet. The pack members will be introduced in this one though. As for the initiation...not in this one hehe. Enjoy!

oh2byoung: Love that you enjoy this story early on. And it's great to hear how you two are doing. Looking forward to hearing from you guys! Hope this one doesn't disappoint!


That night had to be one of the more peaceful nights of sleep that I'd had in a long time. I imagined a world where I hung out with people and wasn't hated for being myself. I had friends and a purpose, something I hadn't felt in all the years of bouncing around the country. I woke up feeling extremely content with this move. I was going to make a new start and there was nothing that could prevent it.

I walked downstairs to the smell of bacon and eggs. My appetite had increased to ridiculous levels, but mom seemed well prepared for it, as she was for everything. I shoveled everything down until I heard a knock on the door. She went and opened it and welcomed someone into the house, inviting them for breakfast. I listened to the conversation, curious as to whom they were.

"You don't have to do anything like that ma'am. The council is quite glad to have you back on the reservation after all these years. You can expect that Sue Clearwater will be sending something over, probably as soon as lunch." a deep voice said. These must be the movers that mom had arranged for. I threw my paper plate away and went into the living room to see who these guys were.

In the room were two large men. One was slightly smaller than me and had a grin glued onto his face. The other was massive, towering over me by several inches and packed with muscle. I walked over to the men as mom introduced me. "Guys, this is Paul, my son" she said. "This is Jared Cameron," she indicated to the smaller one "and Sam Uley" pointing to the giant. I glared at them suspiciously, but offered my hand out of respect, which they both accepted. There was no way that he couldn't be the Alpha that I had spoken to. I could just sense it.

"Paul, will you start getting things unloaded with these two?" She asked. "I need to run to the store and see Billy, the leader of the reservation" she threw in for my benefit. I nodded and she grabbed her keys, taking off out the door.

"So…"I said, headed towards the moving truck. "Shall we get started?" I asked and headed outside, the other two following.

We worked quietly, with most of the conversation hinging around what boxes went where. I explained the labeling system that we had used when we packed in Georgia. After several hours, we had almost cleared out the truck. I offered them a drink from the fridge, and we took a break.

"So, tell us about yourself Paul. If we're going to be hanging out, we should probably get to know each other." Jared said cheerily.

That annoyed me a little bit. Maybe I was overreacting, but who were they to demand to know about me, let alone expect to hangout. I guess I wasn't used to such a welcome, but I couldn't help but feel slightly taken back by his forwardness.

"No offense, but what gives you the idea that we're going to be spending any time together?" I asked harshly. His grin faded a bit before he tried to recover "I just thought…um…" he started.

"Enough, Jared. We haven't even begun discussing the situation here. I know that it was natural for us to hang out after the change, but we can't expect Paul to want to join yet. He needs to get acclimated to La Push before anything else." He stated with authority. "If you want to get to know us, however, we'd love to have you around. We are asking that you at least join us on occasion so that we can all work on being a pack though." He finished, addressing me this time.

I nodded, not feeling like I could disagree with my Alpha. "There is one thing we do need to discuss, however. Traditionally one the early shifters is expected to act as Beta to the pack, helping me keep everyone in line." Sam explained. "Unfortunately, it's not a pleasant job. Oftentimes they have to help control the other wolves, particularly when they try to make a play for power. It normally happens at first phase, as a wolf tries to prove himself, and the Beta normally acts as a test to show that there is a chain of command..." he concluded, looking between the two of us.

"Absolutely not, Sam. I won't fight any of our friends, even for their own good. Not to mention, I have no interest in having a position of power…" Jared trailed off. He seemed like a pretty nice guy. Content to do his job, but not looking to reap any extra benefits. Not to mention he cared about the others too much to be an authoritarian.

Sam shifted his head to me. "So, I walk into the reservation and you immediately want me to take up the mantle of second in command?" I thought out loud. "Well…to be honest, I have no trouble scrapping with people, especially now that there's a good reason behind it. I've done it all my life, and since I don't know anyone here, I don't have the attachment that Jared does. So yeah, I'll do it, at least until someone wants to take the position from me, and I'll try to work with you guys as a pack. I'm not really trying to be an outsider here." I finished softly. I wasn't going to push them away. We were bound, whether I liked it or not, so I might as well try to make the best of it. "Also, sorry Jared. I guess I shouldn't have snapped at you so quickly. I'm just…not used to the pleasantness that I've seen on this reservation so far." His smile reappeared and we began working again, unloading what was left of the truck.

After the truck was empty, I detached my car from the trailer, taking off the cover that had protected it so nicely on the trip. A low whistle from Sam made me turn my head.

"Quite a beauty you have there. You officially may have the sexiest car on the reservation" he said, looking over my pride and joy.

"Yeah, it's the one thing that I take an unreal amount of pride in. I love her more than anything else I own." I smiled. As we were standing there, mom pulled back up.

"Hey boys, how's everything going?" She asked cheerily. "Pretty good mom. Just got the truck unloaded, so the driver can come back for it shortly. Now we just have to get it all sorted." I replied.

"You think that can wait until after lunch?" a girl asked from behind us, approaching with a large basket with food.

"Leah!" Sam yelled, running over and kissing the girl. "Paul, this is Leah Clearwater, my imprint!"

She elbowed him in the gut. "I'd prefer to be introduced as your girlfriend, or maybe even your soulmate, you oaf. Imprint just makes me feel like an object." She scolded before smiling at me. "Now, why don't we all have lunch? Mom made this as a welcome for you two." She said to my mom.

We all went inside and ate. A few minutes into the meal I heard a knock at the door. "That must be Seth. Mom doesn't ever trust that I'll actually do what she asks" Leah said sarcastically.

I got up to go answer it and opened the door, greeted by a young boy on the other side. The large smile that covered his face made him seem extremely hyper, innocent, and happy go lucky. His grin didn't hold me long, as I met his eyes and felt something that I couldn't understand. It was like a sudden connection to the young one that made me want to protect him, keep him happy, and be there for him however he needed. It wasn't love in the sense of an overwhelming physical attraction to the boy, as Sam had explained his imprinting on Leah to be, but I did feel an instant bond that made me feel powerfully attached to him, making me wonder if that's what had just happened. It scared me and I stood there staring at him before I heard a whistle and noticed him waving his hand in front of my face. "Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey!" the kid barked, getting progressively louder.

I shook my head, trying to clear my senses. "Sorry kid. I just zoned out a little bit." I mumbled, letting him into the house. "I'm Paul, by the way." I finished as he walked by me towards the others. "Hi, I'm Seth. It's nice to meet you, Paul." He said, turning to face me and shaking my hand. I was so enthralled by how he said my name, but the electric feelings I was getting from the simple handshake were even more out of this world. He looked at his hand before muttering something that sounded like "weird" and turned back towards the kitchen. I followed him in, unsure of how to handle this development. Going from what I had seen in Sam's mind when we talked, imprinting was all about creating a bond with the one you're meant to be with. All of the thoughts running through my head about Seth were platonic, however, and I only felt the need to be like a brother for him. I wasn't gay, after all, and had every intention of seeing if there were any girls here that caught my eye. I shook it off as something I'd deal with later, but couldn't help as a smile crept across my face as I sat down beside Seth.

"Decide to just join us, squirt?" Leah chided. "Why don't you just go home and tell mom that I didn't need you checking up on me." She sneered. Seth looked hurt and mumbled something about just wanting to spend some time with people before making a move to get up, his head hanging lowly.

I couldn't help but to growl lowly, causing Sam and Jared to look up at me in surprise. "Sorry…"I apologized. "I really just don't like to see anyone get picked on. Feel free to stay Seth. You're welcome to help us as much as you want to" I finished, ruffling his hair as the smile crept back onto his face.

After lunch, we all began to work on getting everything unpacked, trying to turn the place into a suitable home. Leah took the basket and empty food trays back home, but Seth, Sam, and Jared remained to help.

Jared worked with mom on getting the kitchen organized, while Sam worked on wiring up the living room electronics. I didn't mind, as dealing with the sound system had always been way too tidy of a task for me to take on. Sam apparently enjoyed working with the electronics though.

Seth came up to my room, wanting to help me unpack after having defended him from Leah. I smiled and happily talked with him as we went through boxes. The kid seemed to find hanging up clothes, posters, and the other menial tasks of getting organized to be the greatest adventure in the world and his enthusiasm was contagious. He asked me about what I liked as I hung up the posters of a few of my favorite bands and movies, just as I asked him about himself.

I learned a lot about him and his family as we fixed up my room. Leah had apparently been with Sam for a long time and his parents felt that he was God's gift to the reservation. I learned that a lot of kids thought that he was some kind of cult leader, but Seth apparently didn't hold an opinion either way. It was obvious that he, unlike Leah, knew nothing about what Sam was. I learned about how he was going to be starting high school as a freshman and couldn't help but hope that I'd get to see him on occasion. I learned about the music he enjoyed, how he liked to spend his time, how Jake was his best friend, and basically listened intently to everything that he was willing to say. I filed everything in my memory banks, feeling that it would all be useful at some point.

After a while, he told me he had to leave. Apparently he was going out with Jake and his friends to a movie. He invited me to come, but I declined, as we still had a lot of unpacking to do. He headed out and I immediately felt my mood dampen, but I fought through it. Sam and Jared also went home after a few hours, finally escaping my mom's continuous thanks and declining her attempts at paying them.

Once they had left, mom went upstairs to work on unpacking the last of her stuff while I started setting out all of our movies in the entertainment center and hanging some pictures on the wall. Finishing that, I started cooking some dinner. Mom had mentioned that she was craving some Italian and I had noticed that she'd picked up the groceries to make some decent meals. I grabbed a pack of chicken and seasoned it before throwing it into a frying pan. Meanwhile I threw the garlic bread into the oven, started boiling noodles, and heated up some sauce. When it was all complete, I called up to her, having already set a plate of my chicken alfredo at the table for her. She came down, looked at the plate with awe and sat down to eat. I joined her and we talked about things, including my new role in the pack. She was ecstatic that I was finding my place already, and I couldn't help but feel content as well.

She offered to wash dishes, a task that she knew I hated. I surveyed the house, noticing that everything was more or less in place, before heading up and taking a shower. I was tired and the hot water helped to relax me after a very full day. I had met my pack, my alpha, and more importantly, my imprint…at least, I think he's my imprint. I was still confused about that, but I was happy, one way or the other.

I walked down and told mom that I was going to head to bed. I trotted back up the stairs and lay on top of my bed, expecting a restful night of sleep to follow. Sadly, my subconscious decided to rear its head in my dreams.

"You imprinted on a guy? That goes against everything that's natural!" Sam shouted, the sound causing birds to fly out of the trees. "You are not in this pack anymore. In fact, I want you to leave La Push, NOW" He commanded. I looked at him one more time, also glancing over at Leah, who had a twisted smirk on her face. I hoped that Seth would at least support me, but his happy smile had been replaced with a look of disgust and hatred. I turned around and sprinted out of the woods and out of La Push, feeling completely rejected and disgusted with myself.

I woke with a start, staring into the darkness of my room. It was only 6am, but there was no way that I was going to be able to sleep after that. My mind was trying to protect me, showing me how the tribe would likely react if they found out. I vowed to keep what had happened a secret, even from the pack's shared thoughts. Sam had said that things could be blocked out, and this was going to be shielded by everything I could. That didn't mean that I wouldn't try to hang out with Seth as often as possible though. I needed to be there for him, to protect him from whatever trouble came his way.

After a couple of hours of dwelling on it, I walked down to the beach. It was cloudy, but I didn't think it would rain today. Apparently bad weather was a normality here. I really wished Seth was around, but he had said that he loved to sleep in. Maybe I'd see him later, though. As I walked along the empty beach, I noticed the trio that I had played football with walking in my direction. I called out to them, but they didn't respond. As we neared, I could tell that they were trying not to look at me.

"Hey guys, what's up?" I asked, curious about why their demeanors had changed so drastically in under 48 hours.

"Listen Paul…we talked to Seth. He told us that you were hanging around with Leah, Jared, and Sam. Now that you're part of his little cult, we can't really talk to you. We're just trying to stay out of it, so we'd appreciate it if you'd leave us alone." Jacob said, sadness reflected in his voice.

My first friends here were part of the group that hated Sam. Being part of the pack had officially cost me what I had hoped to be a good friendship and I couldn't help but to just stand there stunned as they walked away from me. Pack life was quickly giving me the role of being an outsider once again. I immediately regretted having allowed for wishful thinking to infect my mind when I first came here, staring at my reflection in the water. I slowly wandered down the coastline, finally feeling the weight of understanding that this place was really no different than any of the others…


My song of choice for this chapter is called "Landslide" and was originally written by Stevie Nicks of the band Fleetwood Mac. It just made me think of the changes in life and how quickly things can go from being good to bad. Also, out of curiosity, has anyone listened to or known any of these song choices? Just curious if it actually was noticed haha. As I've said before, I hope you enjoyed and reviews are appreciated!