Sam's POV

I led Billy, Harry, and Old Quil into my house and to the kitchen table. "Have a seat, gentlemen." I knew why they'd asked to speak privately of course. A wolf imprinting on a leech changed things in ways none of us were prepared for. I wasn't sure what they expected to do about it though.

They all sat down at the table, as did I. "Look, everyone, I realize that this is a less than ideal situation."

"I'll say. There is a cold one on our land as we speak. He sat with us as we spoke of tribal affairs," Harry said.

"He's an imprint. Imprints are entitled to hear our secrets and legends. It all affects him too," I said. I didn't like this anymore than they did. I hated that Edward Cullen was sitting around my yard right now, that he'd actually been in touching distance of Emily, but there was nothing I could do about it. Laws about imprints were clear. I couldn't keep Cullen from La Push, I couldn't keep him from our meetings if Bella was present, which she would be, and I most definitely couldn't harm him.

"And you're sure she imprinted?" Old Quil asked.

"Positive. I told you, I saw it myself. I know what goes through a wolf's mind when they imprint. There's no doubt that Bella imprinted on Edward Cullen." I couldn't deny the imprint if I wanted to. What went through Bella's head was exactly the same thing that went through mine when I imprinted on Emily.

"So what do you intend to do about this, Sam? Do you plan to change the treaty?" Billy asked.

"No. The treaty will stay the same. We'll continue to leave the Cullens alone as long as they stay off our land and don't harm humans. But we can't consider Edward simply a Cullen anymore. He's an imprint. That means that he cannot be harmed." Again, I wasn't happy with that either. The law about imprints made it so that Edward Cullen could do whatever he wanted and get away with it. The only thing I could do was pray that he stuck to his diet.

"How far do you intend to take this, Sam? You allowed him on our land once. Do you mean for it to become a habit?" Harry asked.

I sighed. "I don't see how we can keep him off. Bella will be here and she won't be able to be far from her imprint." Being away from our imprints caused emotional pain. It was like a part of us was missing. As much as I hated Cullen, I couldn't justify putting Bella through unnecessary pain.

"We can still keep him off. Bella will only be here for Pack business. At those times, she won't have time for the vampire then. The rest of the time, she'll be in Forks. She can be with him then," Old Quil said.

I immediately shook my head. "No, she won't. I don't want Bella living off the reservation."

"You intend for Bella to live here? You wanna keep her from her father," Billy asked.

"I don't want her to accidently phase and someone get hurt. We all know that can happen. With the boys, they're close by and I keep them busy during the day. I won't have the same control with Bella if she's in Forks," I said. Bella going home to her father would be disastrous. The most remote thing could end up setting her off and then she could phase and hurt her father. She needed to be somewhere that she and others would be safe if she phased. And there was no way in hell she was living with the Cullens. I wouldn't even consider that option.

"Sam's right. It's better that Bella be here where he can watch her, but that means Cullen will be around constantly if we allow him to," Harry said disgruntled.

"If anyone's got a feasible option to keep Cullen away without interfering with the imprint and hurting Bella, I'm all ears. I will gladly accept it." As I expected, no one chimed in. "No, I didn't think so."

"You're in charge of the pack, so there's not much we can actually do about this, but if anyone gets hurt, it's on your head," Billy said before heading for the door. The others followed.

Xxxxxxxxxx

Edward's POV

Well, tonight didn't go the way I expected, not even near the way I expected. They started to. I ripped my own heart out by breaking up with Bella, hurting her in the process. I didn't wanna hurt her, but I didn't want her to be hurt by me or my family either. A wanted her to be able to go on without me and have a normal life.

A normal life. Well, that wasn't in the cards now. Bella was now one of the wolves. To say I was shocked by that would be an understatement. I had been walking away when it happened. I was about to leave Bella and never come back. Then she called out to me. It wasn't that she called out that got me though. I almost expected that. It was the sheer terror in her voice that made me turn around. I could tell that it wasn't just about me leaving. Something had happened and Bella was afraid. I couldn't ignore it. I had to turn around.

That was when I saw Bella trembling worse than I'd ever seen anyone tremble. It wasn't like from the cold, hell, towards the end, it was even too bad to be a seizure. It was bad that I knew it wasn't a normal human thing. Something had been happening to her that wasn't normal and I couldn't do anything about it. Still, I rushed to her side.

When the transformation actually happened, I went flying. Her wolf form had sent me clear across the area. I was shocked by that alone, but when I looked up and saw a big brown wolf with white flecks where my Bella had once stood, I was absolutely floored. I knew what she was of course. I'd seen the wolves before. I knew what they looked like. I just didn't know how the woman I loved could be one of them.

I still didn't have the answer to that question. No one did. We didn't know how Bella could be a wolf. She wasn't from the reservation, at least not that anyone was aware of. There had to be a connection somewhere, but it had yet to be discovered.

There was also something else weird. I could usually tell a wolf by their scent. They smelled like wet dog. Not Bella. Her scent wasn't exactly the same, but it wasn't the same as I got from the rest of then. Maybe it had to do with the whole imprint thing.

Imprinting. That was one thing I hadn't known about wolves until Sam explained it. Sam was right when he said it was and it wasn't like a vampire mating. In a lot of ways it was the same, but it was also different. The pull was the same. A. Vampire who'd met his or her mate would feel a bond to their mate forever, no matter how hard they tried to fight. Imprinting seemed stronger, though I hadn't known that was possible. From what Sam had said and what I'd read in his mind. There was apparently no fighting an imprint. The wolf couldn't fight it, as there imprint was the most important person alive to them. Being far away could cause them pain and kill them if they completely disappeared from their lives. That had seriously freaked me out when Sam said it. The thought of Bella dying wasn't something I could live with.

Another difference was that while mating happened to both parties, imprinting was one siding. According to what I'd read in Sam's and the tribal leaders' minds, the imprint would feel something, as the process was used to find a wolf's perfect match, but the affect would be mostly on the wolf. Bella really lived to make me happy and safe. I wasn't sure what to do with that because I'd always seen that as my job. It seemed like it was my job to make sure no harm came to Bella. Therefore, it was hard for me to do nothing as Bella stepped forward to protect me from Paul. The only thing that stopped me from getting involved was Jared phasing and keeping me away. Otherwise, I would've intervened.

I was interrupted from my many thoughts as Jared made his way over to us and held his hand out for Bella. "Hi. We didn't get a chance to get introduced properly. I'm Jared."

Bella smiled and took his hand. "Bella."

"I'm Edward," I told him before offering my own hand. I doubted he'd take it, but I would offer anyway. I felt I should try to get along with the wolves. They were part of Bella's life now.

Jared seemed hesitant, but to my surprise he took my hand 'He's an imprint. He's going to be around, so I need to get used to it.'

Well, I already liked Jared better than I liked Paul. He wasn't all that keen on me being around, but he was willing to try to at least be civil because of the imprinting. Apparently this imprinting thing was almost sacred.

"Making friends with the leech and his lover now, Jared?" We all heard Paul asked snidely.

Jared turned to Paul. "Paul, knock it off, okay? Bella's one of us."

"Like hell! She's a leech lover!" Paul growled as he made his way over.

Once again, Bella was in front of me protectively in a matter of seconds.

"Yeah, jump to the defense of your bloodsucking lover," Paul goaded.

"What is your problem?" Bella asked angrily.

"My problem is that there's a leech on my land and you brought him here!" Paul yelled.

"Funny, I could've sworn this was Sam and Emily's house," Bella said.

"Okay, guys, calm down. Don't fight," Emily said as she made her way over.

"Emily, you should stay back in case this leads to phasing, you too, Edward," Jared told us.

I wasn't moving. Bella might feel like it was her job to protect me, which still didn't seem right, but I felt it was mine to protect her. What I wanted to do was get in the middle and stop this from escalating, but I was worried that would just make it worse.

Paul glared at Jared. "You're defending him now."

"He's an imprint," Jared said simply. That seemed to be enough for people. The fact that I was an imprint meant that I was not only safe on La Push, but that I would be protected.

Paul grumbled to himself and then he got a malicious look on his face and turned to Bella. "Hey, Leech Lover. Know what an Alpha command is."

I immediately zeroed in on Paul's thought to find out what he was planning.

'Sam can stop this all right now. One command from him and the relationship with the leech goes away. No one can refute the Alpha,' Paul thought to himself.

I immediately growled lowly at the thought. I knew from his thoughts that Sam wouldn't do that, but Bella didn't. That was the whole point. Paul was trying to get under Bella's skin.

"Paul, don't," Jared said. He seemed to figure out what Paul was doing too.

Before anyone could say or do anything else, Sam and the tribal leaders came out of the house. The tribal leaders headed to their cars while Sam walked towards us.

Bella made a beeline for Sam and met him halfway. "What's an Alpha command?"

Sam was slightly surprised by the question, as he hadn't covered that yet, but he recovered quickly. "It's a command by the Alpha wolf, which would be me, that all the other wolves have to obey. It would be impossible for you to say no to such a command. You simply wouldn't be able to. Essentially, my word is law."

Bella's eyes widened and found me. She turned back to Sam seconds later and shook her head wildly. "No, you can't!"

'What? Wait does she think…?' Sam's thoughts cut off mid-sentence as he gave Bella his full attention. "No, Bella. I would never ask, let alone command you to leave your imprint. I know what that would mean for you and I wouldn't do it. And whoever told you I would needs to cut the crap! I won't have you tormenting each other!" He looked at Paul as he said the last part.

"You swear?" Bella asked.

"Yes. Now why don't we sit back down and I'll answer any other questions you have," Sam said.

Bella shook her head. "No, I've had enough for tonight. I just wanna go home and sleep. Besides, my dad's probably looking for me by now."

'This probably isn't going to go over well,' Sam thought to himself. He replayed the conversation he'd had with the tribal leaders in his head where he told them he was going to have Bella live on La Push.

"You can't do that," I said to him. It wasn't right. He had no right to force Bella to live here. Her life was in Forks. He couldn't ask her to leave it all behind.

'Stay out of this, Leech! I may not be able to stop you from being with Bella or even coming onto our land, but you won't interfere with my Pack!' Sam threw at me. He then turned to Bella. "I'm sorry, Bella, but you can't go home. It's not safe. I need for you to stay here on La Push."

"W…What?" Bella asked in disbelief.

"You need to live here. I need you close," Sam said.

"I can't do that. I can't move here. My family and friends are in Forks. If you need me for something you can…"

Sam put his hand up, cutting Bella off. "You can do it and you will." His voice was soft but firm.

"You're commanding me?" Bella asked, probably thinking of the Alpha command.

"Not yet, but I will if I have to. It's not safe for you to be anywhere but here. I'm sorry. This is not a negotiation. You're staying here," Sam said.

Bella huffed angrily. "You've gotta be kidding me! You're basically a stranger to me. I met you exactly one time before tonight! Just once. Now I turn into a wolf and you wanna dictate my life. Who do you think you are?!"

Sam remained calm the entire time. "I am the leader of this Pack. I am looking out for all of you and everyone around you."

"Who said I wanted to be a part of your damn Pack! I didn't ask for this, Sam. I didn't ask to become a wolf or to be forced with people like this jerk over here," Bella said as she pointed to Paul. "And I didn't ask to be bound to a guy who doesn't love me back!"

My head shot up at that. With the drama of everything that had happened, I'd completely forgotten that Bella still thought I didn't love her. That was something I had to rectify right now. "Bella, that's not true."

Bella whipped her head around to me. "Yeah, it is. You said so yourself. You don't wanna be with me. You left me because you didn't really love me and you were sick of pretending. That's what you told me." Her hands were trembling, a sign that she was ready to phase again.

"I didn't mean it. I said that to get you to accept the breakup. I love you, Bella," I told her.

"No, you don't. You're saying that because of this imprinting thing and you don't think you have a choice. I…I can't do this. I can't take anymore. I gotta get out of here," she said before running away towards the trees. She phased about five feet out.

"Bella!" Sam called before following her. He too phased.

I immediately went after them. This was my mess. I needed to clean it up.