FF: Hey guys I just wanted to apologize for making you wait so long for a new chapter. I have just been really busy trying to find a job and all. I also wanted to apologize about this chapter ahead of time and all the other ones, if they are bad please tell me, if they are good please tell me. I want to know because my writing process is a little different than most. I just make it up as I go. I need to know if you guys like them though because I am thinking about starting my own book. So please read and review I beg! I got some advice from 19nrev91 that I should write this in first person but I just wanted to say that I have never done a first person one before and I am too far into this story to go back and rewrite is all, so I will try to make the next one a first person view story and see how I do at it. Thanks for everyone who has reviewed and I am terribly sorry that I haven't been responding to your reviews I have just been terribly busy plus I just figured out how to do it. So this week I will be dedicating my time to replying to reviews thank you guys so much!

When Bella awoke the next morning she first noticed that there was a warm body beside her. She looked over to find her Jacob, her mate, lying beside her, his face buried in her hair. She smiled as she remembered yesterday's discovery. She had finally imprinted on Jacob, she was so glad that she could now stop worrying about them getting torn apart by imprinting. She gently untangled herself from his arms and legs and, after getting dressed, walked to the kitchen to prepare breakfast. As she was flipping the French toast she thought back to how stupid she had been to almost give this up. The love she saw when she looked into Jacobs' eyes was so much greater than the love she had ever seen in Edwards' eyes; she had just been too blind to see it. She heard footsteps coming from her bedroom as she laid the French toast on the table. As she turned to get the orange juice out of the fridge she saw Jacob walk in with disheveled hair and foggy eyes.

"Morning sleepy head" she said cheerfully. "I made French toast for us" she continued as she grabbed the orange juice from the top shelf of the fridge. She turned around and into Jacobs' warm embrace.

"Well someone is cheery this morning" he whispered into her ear.

"Yeah, should I be otherwise" she asked him.

"I don't know, it is nice for a change though. I used to dread having Sam over in the mornings, his Alpha duties made him a little sour in the mornings sometimes" he replied.

"Can we not talk about Sam?" she asked him as they sat down at the kitchen table. "I still feel bad about taking the Alpha from him".

"It isn't your fault Bells, you only took it because you had to. No one but Sam blames you for it and he will come around eventually" Jacob said in between chews.

"By the way this is delicious, what is it?" he asked with a mouthful of French toast.

"You mean you have never had French toast?" Bella asked incredulously.

"French toast huh? Nope, never had it till now" he replied as he took another French toast from the large stack on the plate between them.

Bella shook her head. She thought that everyone had tried French toast at least once in their life but she was wrong.

"So are you ready to see the elders today?" Bella asked Jacob who was now on his fifteenth French toast.

"Yeah, but the question is: are you?" he replied through a stuffed mouth.

"Ready as I will ever be I suppose. I just don't know why we need to go see them, I know what happened you know" she answered.

"Do you now?" he asked her sarcastically.

"I imprinted on you and that is all I need to know isn't it?" she asked huffily, offended that he thought she hadn't a clue.

"Look Bells" he began as he finished his last French toast "I believe you. I don't doubt that you are right but we need to check with the elders because the way you imprinted was really odd. I don't think it has ever happened that way".

"Fine" Bella replied as she got up to wash the dishes.

Bella and Jacob drove into Quil Sr. long and winding driveway. If anyone would know what was going on it would be Quil Sr. He knew everything about the pack, including their origins and heritage. As they walked to the door Bella was running over things in her mind. She wasn't used to people being privy to her mind so she took every opportunity she could to think privately and quietly.

Before Jacob could even knock on the door it was answered by a very serene older man in khakis and a button down shirt. His dark hair was tied back into a ponytail and his feet were bare.

"Please come in" said Quil Sr.

Bella walked into a small and crowded living room with Jacob following closely behind.

"Thank you so much for seeing us on such a short notice" Bella told him. "We really appreciate it".

"No problem Bella, I am just happy to be of service" he said as sat down in a beaten recliner. "Please sit" he said as he pointed to the sofa across from him. Bella looked at the old green sofa as if she was unsure it would hold her weight. It was faded and weathered and looked as it would fall apart with even the tiniest of weight. The cushions were lumpy and there were all kinds of padding coming out of it.

Old Quil noticed the way Bella was looking at his couch and said "Don't worry; it has held far more weight than that of you two". His face broke into a grin.

Bella took a seat on the green sofa and Jacob took his beside her.

"Sorry I didn't mean to be rude" Bella said apologetically.

"No worries, I can understand. I have had that thing since I first moved out of my parents' house" he said as he got comfortable in his chair. "Now why don't you two tell me why you are here".

"Well it seems that I have imprinted" Bella said hesitantly. She didn't want to be told that she was wrong for fear that it would mean she could still imprint on someone else.

"Well congratulations! I assume it is Jacob here?" he asked politely.

"Well yes, but it was kind of weird how it happened" she replied. "See I was waiting for Jacob to come pick me and Leah up from the hospital when I noticed this boy sitting across from me on another park bench. I felt drawn to him for some odd reason, like strings of iron were pulling me towards him. I was about to get up and go introduce myself when Jake showed up. It was really hard to look away from the guy on the other bench but when I finally did and looked at Jacob I felt the same sensation only much, much stronger. I remember thinking that I loved Jacob and I wasn't going to let anything change that and then the strangers face just kind of disappeared from my mind. I can't even remember it now".

Quil was stroking his chin as he was deep in thought. "Well this is strange" he said.

"What is?" Jacob asked, finally finding his voice. He was just as scared of what Quil would say as Bella was. He didn't want to think that she might possibly imprint on someone else.

"Well" the old man began "I don't think that this has ever happened. See no one really understands the imprinting process, but it seems that we were wrong about why the pack imprints" .

"What do you mean?" Bella asked him. Bella just wanted to get to the point. Right now there was a crazed vampire out there, and although she was his main target she also knew he would be killing other innocent people.

"The theory behind imprinting is that a wolf imprints on a certain person to insure that there will be future wolfs and that they will be as strong as possible" Jacob explained, also unsure of where Quil was going with this.

"Bella, you say that you felt a pull?" Quil asked her calmly.

"Yes" she replied simply.

"And you are sure that you felt the pull twice? For both Jacob and the other young man?" he asked again.

"Yes, but I don't feel a pull towards anyone but Jake now" she answered.

"Then there is only one way to explain what happened" Quil replied while scratching behind his left ear "you imprinted on that young man outside of the hospital but then chose Jacob instead and now Jacob is your imprint".

"Is that even possible?" Jacob asked him. Jacob was awed by the thought that Bella would chose to love him even after an imprint.

"Well apparently it is" Bella retorted.

"You two must be soul mates" Old Quil said as his eyes brightened.

Jacob noticed the glimmer in the old man's' eyes, he knew what that meant. "Has this happened before after all?" Jacob asked excitedly.

"I think so, I was just remembering one of our oldest tales" Quil said as the shimmer in his eyes grew "the tale of Akule Windrider and Kateri Pureheart".

Bella grew stiff. "You mean my ancestors?" she asked quietly. She didn't think there would have ever been another Akule Windrider since the Quileute's had believed in unique names.

"Of course" Quil replied, not at all bothered at being interrupted "Akule was a mighty Chief, he was loved by the majority of the tribe, yet some would insult him because he hadn't a wife. Back then a man was not considered as a man until he took a wife. Yet Akule won the respect of most of the tribe both because he was the rightful Chief and because he did many great things for his tribe. Akule looked and looked for a wife, but none caught his eye. One day he was addressing his people about the cold ones when he saw the most beautiful maiden he had ever laid eyes on. Kateri Pureheart. He vowed to make her his bride. For months they courted and met in a certain meadow in the woods. The two of them fell in love shortly after the first month. Now there was a certain native maiden, Nukpana Uley, who had lusted after the Chief and the power associated with being the wife of a Chief. She tried for years to gain his attention and affections. She noticed that Kateri had gained the love and affection of the Chief and was not happy. She was extremely jealous and in her rage decided that Kateri must die. Finally one day as she was picking berries she saw him make his way past her to the meadow. She followed and watched as he sat. It was apparent that he was waiting for someone as he had a deerskin blanket and food laid out upon the ground. She waited for him to settle and then came from behind the trees to sit next to him. "Is my Chief awaiting someone?" She had asked him with false sweetness in her voice. He looked at Nukpana as if he had never seen any other woman in his life and knew that he had imprinted. Akule and Nukpana set out at once to make wedding plans but it wasn't to be had for one night as Akule was waiting for Nukpana in the meadow that had been so dear to him and Kateri his thoughts wondered to Kateri herself. It was then that he realized that the feelings he had for Kateri were much stronger than those for Nukpana. Three weeks later Akule married Kateri but Nukpana didn't give up. She tried to seduce Akule the night before the wedding. When Akule rejected her she and her family vowed that they would take revenge. And they did, many years later, when they murdered the Chief and his family".

Bella and Jacob just sat in shock. Jacob was the first to speak "So Sams' ancestors are the ones who murdered Bella's?".

"Yes, but we should not judge Sam for it. I don't believe anyone else has ever heard this legend and this is the only time it has happened before now. Legend calls Akule and Kateri soul mates I assume that is what you two are" replied Old Quil.

"What if Sam has?" Bella asked the Elder. "Would I be in danger?".

"Well, assuming that he knows then yes. But you are not destined to die, so either Sam will die if he tries to harm you in order to gain the Alpha position again or he doesn't know and will not harm you. I predict that he doesn't know and will only be sulking for a few more days" Quil said calmly.

"Well we had better get going" Bella said as she stood. "We have a manic leech out there".

In all honesty, Bella couldn't think of anything but said manic leech. She figured it was an Alpha thing. She knew she wouldn't be able to think of anything else until she knew that her people were safe. "Wow rewind" Bella thought "Now I am thinking of the Natives as MY people?". For some reason it didn't feel right to think of them as her people, she supposed it was because she just didn't really feel like she was one of them. She never really had. The last thing that she would ever have thought she was would be Quileute, but once again she was wrong. She felt like she had been wrong about many things lately. It was part of the reason she didn't really feel qualified for Alpha. Leah got injured, Edward turned into a rapist/insane person, and she was a Native American. All of those were things she never thought would happen. As Jacob and herself walked to the car she felt a shiver run down her spine.

Jacob noticed her unease and asked her "Are you ok?".

"Yeah sure" she said "I just feel like something really bad is about to happen".

Bella and Jacob rode back to their house in silence, neither one daring to break the thoughts of the others. When they pulled into their driveway Bella finally broke the silence. "What are you thinking about?" she asked him.

"I was just thinking to myself how grateful I am that I haven't lost you. I think I know how Kateri felt" he responded.

"I told you that you had nothing to worry about. I am just glad that I knew immediately instead of waiting like Akule did" Bella replied as they opened the front door of their house.

As Bella walked into the door she became aware of the stench of leech. She was about ready to phase out when heard Jasper and Emmet's voice.

"Hey sis, we just got back from northern California, it's where the lab for the serum was being made by a bunch of vampires under the command of the Volturi. It seems that the Volturi had a particular interest in the stuff" said Jasper.

Bella breathed a sigh of relief "You two scared the shit out of me! I nearly jumped out of my skin! And I thought I told you guys that I needed two of you to stay at your house and only one to go find out about the serum?"

"Sorry about that, well about both things. I wasn't going to go but Alice said it would be dangerous if Jasper went alone, she had a vision ya know. So since you said you wanted her near she stayed with Rose at home" apologized Emmet.

"Have a seat, tell me all that you know" Bella said with a sigh.

The three of them took a seat, as Jasper began talking. "So, as I said, it is apparent that the Volturi have a certain interest in this stuff".

"And they are gonna be pissed at us so I really hope you have forgiven us by now" Emmet commented.

"Of course I forgive you but why would the Volturi be pissed at you?" Bella asked.

Jasper began "Well we found the lab in northern California. It was actually very easy, we simply followed the trail of a certain human and he led us straight to it. When we got there we overheard some of the scientists talking about a breakout of a certain test subject in one of their affiliate labs and knew we must be in the right place. Emmet and I hid behind their trash piles-"

"Yeah I don't think they had taken out their trash since I was born and that was a very long time ago" Emmet interrupted.

Jasper glared at Emmet.

"I'm sorry but wouldn't they have smelt you? I don't understand how you didn't get caught" Bella said.

"Well if you will let me continue without interruption I will explain" Jasper said still glaring at Emmet. "They didn't smell us because the chemicals in the serum severely damage the nose and sense of smell. It is so strong of a smell if would kill a human but in a vampire it just kills the sense of smell. ANYHOW" he began again, clearly annoyed "we discovered several things. First and foremost is that the Volturi, who initially banned the making of this serum back in the day, is now paying the vampire who can first make an able serum. They want it to get you Bella, Aro isn't happy that they lost you. I overheard one of the workers talking about you. They were explaining to a new worker why they were damaging their 'ole factory'. He said that the Volturi want the serum to collect a certain werewolf with 'lethal' abilities. When the other worker asked who, the other one shrugged and said 'Isabella something or another'".

"But what would leeches want with money? It doesn't seem to me that money would be so important to a bloodsucker" Bella interrupted.

"Whoever said that they were paying money?" Jasper asked.

"Well what else would they pay them?" Bella questioned.

"Human blood, by the galleon" Emmet said.

Bella looked horrified. She couldn't say anything so she just nodded at Jasper to continue.

"We also learned that their salesman has been missing for weeks. He was a human, got in league with these guys because the Volturi promised him 'eternal life' if he could sell the serum to five people, but if he failed they were planning on killing him" Jasper paused.

"Wait why would they need a salesman?" Bella asked.

"That didn't make sense to us either until I had a brilliant idea" said Emmet "It occurred to me that the Volturi sent this guy on an impossible mission and there have been ten other sales people before this guy, so I thought that maybe these guys were the ones who would provide the blood for the winning scientist. This guy however was found dead in an alley way, apparently Edward killed him, Edwards smell was all over the poor guy".

The three continued talking until Jacob walked into the living room having just returned from an overdue nap. Bella looked at him and then addressed him.

"I am going to call a pack meeting. I want you to find Sam, I know it might be suicide but I want to make sure he knows that I didn't mean to insult him. We really need all the wolves we can get" with that said she got off of the couch and gestured toward Jasper and Emmet.

"Thank you both for getting there and back safely and quickly, and for informing me, but I need to go warn my pack now" she said politely as they got up and began towards the door.

"No Bella, thank you, for giving us a second chance. You will never know what this means to us" said Emmet.

Bella looked at them stunned; usually it was not like Emmet to be all emotional and kind. He was the one who would tease you so mercilessly that even though you knew he was just playing you'd want to cry anyhow.

"You're welcome I guess" she replied.

Once they were out of the door she ran to her room and stripped off her sundress and after tying it around her ankle in the fashion that Jacob had shown her she phased into her wolf form and leapt out of her window, making her way to the forest.

Once there she gave the howl that was set aside as the meeting signal. In no time the small clearing she was standing in was filled with wolves. They sat in a semi circle around their Alpha as they arrived, each one sitting down gracefully. Bella waited until all had arrived but Jacob, she knew he was trying to talk to Sam so she would fill him in later.

"Why are we meeting in wolf form? Can't we just meet as humans?" asked an irritated Paul.

"No, we can't meet in human form. The bloodsucker is still out there and since he has already appeared three times I think it is safe to say he might show his ugly face here again. So in case that happens while we are meeting I want to be prepared to fight" Bella replied.

"So what is this meeting about?" Leah asked wanting to get down to the point.

"I just got news from Jasper and Emmet about the serum" Bella replied.

Bella told them everything that she had been told, not wanting to keep secrets from her pack.

"But here is the worst part, the part that concerns all of you: the serum can be taken in many ways, it can be injected, drunk, eaten, or even breathed in if in the right form. It can also be transferred from wolf to wolf: if one wolf has been infected with it and bites another, the other wolf will contract it as well. This means that we must be really careful in the final battle with Edward. He could infect one of us and we would never know it. There are no symptoms. Also since Edward has had the nerve to show up on the rez I fear that he might even try to poison our food and our homes with it. If he can get past the border three times he can do it four times and all he needs to do is set a batch of it in your vents and you are a goner" Bella paused.

"Do you really think he would be that dumb?" Paul asked her.

"Frankly, yes. He had gone crazy after all" Quil Jr. replied.

"Yeah and it isn't like we can just stop breathing" Leah added "so even if we did smell his scent when we got into our homes we would still be dead meat".

"So what is it that we are gonna do boss?" Seth asked.

"Well first of all don't call me boss" Bella said, she was still a bit touchy about that "and second we are going to start a rigid patrol schedule that will put Sams' to shame". "As of tonight we start, every night I want four of us to patrol the borders and during the day the other four will take their shift. I am almost positive Edward will strike during the day".

"And why is that?" asked Leah.

"He's insane remember? Insane people do all sorts of things that don't make sense" replied Quil "like that time we caught Paul dancing in a bikini to that milkshake song, totally wrong dude".

"I thought that was called retarded?" asked Embry.

"Right, good point man" replied Quil.

"Well right now there are only seven of us" said Paul, ever the smart ass.

"Yes well I am hoping that Sam will join us soon, I didn't want to take the Alpha from him and we all know that, but I didn't have a choice and now he is being selfish. Our people need him" Bella replied.

"You do know he won't join without a fight right? It's an old custom that when another wolf want to be the Alpha and the other wolf doesn't want to back down the existing Alpha, or in Sams' case, the previous Alpha, can challenge the other wolf to a fight to the death, winner becomes the next Alpha, loser dies" Paul said.

"I know he won't give up without a fight, but I will win and I know he cares too much about the Quileute people to let them die because of him" Bella said, then she thought to herself "He isn't like his ancestors" .

"What do you mean I am not like my ancestors?" she heard Sam Uley ask.

Bella's snowy head jerked in the direction of Sams' voice. Finding that he and Jacob were approaching from the distance she said "It was your ancestors that murdered mine, Quil Sr. told me and Jacob about it today".

"So my ancestors killed yours and you don't hate me? Don't hold a grudge?" Sam asked as he came to stand behind the rest of the pack, Jacob having already sat next to Leah on the far left.

"Of course not" Bella replied "you aren't your ancestors and you can't help what they did. It isn't your fault. And I would be honored if you would join the pack again, we need you Sam. You were a great Alpha and I know you cared about the Quileute people and the pack too. I am so sorry that I stole it from you, I didn't want it you know, but I had no choice. I didn't want anyone to die because I couldn't take responsibility" .

Sam trotted next to Jacob and sat down. Then he did something that took everyone by surprise, he bowed to Bella and said "No, I would be honored to rejoin your pack. I have been thinking, it would be nice to not have the added stress of Alpha and it is the least I can do to fix the wrongs that my family has done to yours in the past. And anyone that can forgive something like that, when anyone else would have killed, is an honor to serve under".

Every wolfs mouth was hanging wide open by the end of Sams' pledge.

Leah was the first to straighten up and as she looked around at the others she laughed.

The rest of the pack pulled out of it.

"What's so funny Leah?" Paul asked. He hated being laughed at.

"Oh nothing, you all just looked like a bunch of drowned dogs gasping for air".

"Well technically at the moment we are kind of dogs and we kind of were gasping for air" Jacob retorted.

Bella quickly filled Sam and Jacob of the news about the serum and the patrol plan.

"Damn that puts my patrol schedule to shame" he said as he laughed.

Everyone was looking at him with the same question in their eyes: was this even the same Sam. It didn't seem like it was.

"So who wants to do night patrol and who wants day shift?" Bella asked.

Leah, Seth, Embry, and Quil wound up with night shift and Bella, Jacob, Paul, and Sam wound up with the day shift. After setting down the shift times the day shift made their way home.

As soon as Jacob and Bella got home they both collapsed in their own beds. Sleep followed very shortly. Bella was having the worst nightmare ever when she felt someone shaking her from her sleep. She awoke to find Jacob standing over her with his hands on her shoulder.

"You were scaring me there Bells. You were screaming so loud I think the whole rez could hear you".

"Sorry" she said. "I'll be fine, I promise" she added when she saw the worried look in his eyes. "But would you mind sleeping with me tonight, I don't know why but when I sleep in your arms I don't have any nightmares".

"Of course" he said as he gently snuggled next to her on the bed.

"Thank you so much Jake, thanks for being there for me, for loving me, and for believing in me" she said as she fell asleep again.

"No Bells, thank you" Jacob said quietly to her sleeping form "for giving me the chance to love you".