Paul's POV

We were all gathered at Sam's place again. This time, it was only noon. We had all stopped and came over for lunch. But Sam had said there was an announcement he needed to make.

"Old Quil and Billy Black have informed me that another shape-shifting pack has been found." he announced. Okay, so what? I'm sure there are lots of other shape-shifters out there. "Another wolf pack." he clarified. A collective gasp broke out. "They were just informed of our existence and they drove here from their Reservation in Tennessee."

"What tribe?" Jake asked.

"Cherokee. Although I was informed that some of the wolves have very little Cherokee in them. But enough to have the wolf gene obviously."

"When are they coming?" Jacob wanted to know. No one else was really talking much.

"They're already here." Leah said distantly. Everyone turned to her. "I smelled a very faint scent on the road. They're in town."

Sam looked a little peeved at her interruption. "Yes. They came this morning without warning. Went straight to Old Quil's place. He's set up a meeting. So...let's go."

We all stood from the picnic tables in his backyard, feeling like a bunch of kids being called outside for recess. Leah came up beside me, quickly realized what she was doing, and scurried forward to her brother. I sighed. That kid was getting on my last nerves. She was practically always around him. And he liked it.

Why can't they be like normal brothers and sisters that can't stand each other?

"Where are we meeting them?" Seth asked Sam.

"How many are there?" Jared asked.

Sam grunted. "Old Quil said there were seven. We're meeting them at his place."

We made it to Old Quil's in no time. We weren't exactly running, but we were all pretty excited, so I wouldn't call it walking either. Sam knocked sharply on Old Quil's door and we pushed inside. The seven strangers stood in a semi circle on the other side of the livingroom.

Leah's POV

As I stepped into the house, my eyes wandered aimlessly around the room. I smelled something wierd. Inhaling hard, I caught the scent. A female. A female shifter!

My eyes landed on hers in an instant and she looked absolutely ecstatic. I wasn't the only one. And she wasn't the only one, like she probably presumed. Before I knew it, we were hugging hard.

"Oh my God!" she breathed into my ear. I knew how she felt. "I thought I was all alone." Yeah, I knew exactly how she felt. I pulled away from her and looked her in the eyes. "Mr. Quil told me there was a female but I don't think I believed it until now. I-I-I..."

"This is fucking awesome." I beamed. And she smiled back.

"I thought you would be pleased, Leah." Old Quil drawled out, sitting back into his recliner. I had to smile at him.

"We were hesitant about bringing Zoey at first." the tallest boy-sorry, man-said. "Female shifters are very rare. Usually only a 1% chance of a female carrying the gene. We were afraid it would cause some sort of animosity. Or you may try to fight for her. But once Mr. Quil informed us that you also have a female, we were both relieved and surprised. There has never been more than one female at a time. Even back when the gene was carried much more."

"What do you mean?" Sam asked.

"Many Native American tribes have idolized wolves, but only three ever had our abilities. Navajos, Cherokees, and Quilettes." he said. "Back then, there were probably around thirty wolves in each tribe. Or at least, thirty with the gene that could become wolves. Now...it has dwindled down to us."

"There is another pack?" Sam asked.

"No." the man said quickly. "The Navajo nation was involved in a fierce battle many years ago. They killed every vampire except for one. And every wolf died. The gene is gone from their tribe."

"So, Leah and your female-"

"Zoey." the girl said curtly. They'd said her name before...so Sam did seem a little douschey with the your female shit. I liked this girl.

"Zoey and Leah are the only female shifters in existence?" Sam asked.

"Wolf shifters, yes. I'm sure there are a few other female shifters. It's still very rare for any kind of shifter to have a female with the gene, but..."

"It obviously happens." I concluded. I looked down at the younger girl. "I'm so happy you exist."

"Same here." she joked. We laughed.

Old Quil stood from his recliner and I used this time to glance back at my pack. They all still looked a little shocked. Seth rose his brows at me as if to say This is awesome, right?

"Well," Old Quil started, "Introduce yourselves."

"I'm Pack Alpha. Christopher Flynn." the biggest man claimed, stepping forward with a handshake for Sam. He was one of like two guys that actually looked Native American. He just knew that Sam was Alpha? Oh yeah...Sam was doing all the talking.

"Pack Alpha, Samuel Uley."he informed with a firm shake.

"What would you call me?" Jacob asked. Since we'd become one pack again, Jacob was clearly above Beta. "I guess, alternate Alpha? Jacob Black." he said, shaking Christopher's hand.

"Two Alphas?" Christopher mused.

"We split packs for a short time. We reformed but we're still a little redundant I guess. Two Alphas, two Betas." Jacob said. Redundant? Big words.

"Well, this is my Beta." Christopher introduced. Another man stepped up.

"Allen Brick." the man proclaimed, shaking hands with Jacob and Sam. Allen looked like a white guy. Maybe you could see the high cheekbones but besides that, I would've never pegged his as a wolf.

"My beta, Jared Jones." Sam introduced.

"And my Beta, Leah Clearwater." Jacob said with a motion towards me. This surprised Christopher again, but he nodded and shook my hand, along with Jared's.

"And then, we have Kevin, Hugh, Matt, and Rick." Christopher told us. Kevin was full-blood Native American by the look of him. Hugh and Matt were enough so that they had tanner skin and black hair, but they weren't copper colored like us. And Rick...he was another white guy. With light brown hair and blue eyes. "You know Zoey already." And Zoey was probably half and half. Her skin was tanned, but not really reddish. She had shoulder-length black hair and brown eyes but there was something in her that made me think she was probably half Japanese or something. But she was still very pretty.

"This is my grandson, Quil." Old Quil said, patting Quil on the shoulder. "Then there's Paul, Collin, Brady, Seth, and Embry."

"It's nice to meet all of you." Christopher announced.

"You too." Jacob and Sam said in unison. Paul laughed and it made me giggle. Really? Leah Clearwater does not giggle, damnit!

Paul's POV

"So..." I started, "I wanna see what they can do."

"Paul!" Sam warned.

"Oh come on...we gotta see them in wolf form. It just wouldn't seem like we really met them if we didn't."

"We'd be delighted." Christopher answered.

"I must warn you though..." Allen started, "Matt's pretty fast."

No one said anything, but I knew what they wanted to say. Because Leah was really fast too.

"How long are you planning to stay?" Sam asked.

"We'll leave as soon as our welcome wears out."

"You don't have to get back home to patrol?" Jacob asked.

"We don't get many vampires in the middle of Tennessee." Zoey said with a laugh. "Do you get many here?"

"There is a coven that live near by. We have a long standing treaty with them because they eat animals instead of people." Jacob explained.

Christopher looked shocked. "Hmmmm...sucking blood from animals...I never thought of that."

"They call themselves vegetarians." Seth chirped up.

"Point is...we don't get many others around. But we were in a war just about two years ago with an army of newborns that were after the Cullens-those are the vegetarian vamps. And then last year when the Volturri came to kill a newborn hybrid."

"Volturri? Hybrid?"Christopher asked. He might have known more about wolves than us, but we knew more about Vampires.

"Sort of like Vampire Police and Vampire Royalty rolled into one. A male vampire impregnated a human. They turned her to keep her from dying."

"Why would you protect them?" Christopher asked. "Not attacking if they are harmless, I understand. But putting yourselves at risk?"

"This was when the pack split." Sam said as if he felt the same way as Christopher. "For the newborns, we were protecting Bella, as she was a human and Jacob's best friend. Then she got pregnant and we were afraid the child would be dangerous. When Jacob realized we would have to kill Bella also, he split from the group."

"So our token Vampire Lover, Seth went with him." I announced, sending Seth a mischevious grin. He just rolled his eyes.

"And then Leah went to be with her brother." Sam ended. Everyone looked to Seth then, as if they were surprised to hear Leah was related to him. Our pack was quiet because we all knew it wasn't the only reason she'd left.

"Soon after, Quil and Embry followed since they were close to Jacob and Seth." Jared told the Cherokee Pack.

"Oh thanks." Leah murmured.

"So the four younger boys left to protect the girl...along with the female." he reiterated. I heard Leah growl a little.

"Yes." Sam said, ignoring Leah. "Jacob imprinted on the hybrid, Renesme, and after that, it was our duty to protect her. So we reformed."

"I don't understand..." the guy called Matt started. "How could you split from your pack?" he asked Jacob. "How is that possible?"

Now this was uncomfortable. Jacob cleared his throat. "Sam is Alpha because he phased first. I'm Alpha by blood."

There was a long, awkward pause. Leah clapped her hands together. "So! About that run!" she started. "I haven't phased all day."

"Okay." Sam said and I could tell he was thankful for the change of subject. Leah, however, avoided his gaze. "Let's run. Meet at my place at three for lunch-if you'd like." he added to the Cherokees. "And we'll talk more."

Leah's POV

We all filed outside, standing as a big group in the front yard. We all went around the house and approached the woods. Zoey pulled me to the side and started to strip her clothes. I followed suit and rolled my shorts and tanktop up. I tied them to my leg.

"What's that?" she asked.

"A cord. So when I phase back, I'll always have my clothes."

"That's brilliant!" she claimed.

"We all do it." I told her.

"And why have we never thought of this before?" she asked, folding her clothes and placing them on the tree's roots. I shrugged.

I phased quickly, to which Zoey looked awed by, and then she phased. Zoey was smaller than me, and unlike her black hair, her coat was a very dark brick red. Like a baby version of Jacob. I would've smiled if I could.

I snorted and motioned with my head for her to follow me as we stepped out from the tree.

In the small trail, stood a long line of wolves. Different sizes and colors. But with fifteen tough wolves, along with Zoey and I, I felt very...powerful. Untouchable.

Sam barked, hesitated and barked again. One...Two...Three. Go!

We all set off, running full speed. Zoey and I were in the back but I quickly left her in my dust and surpassed some of the slower runners. I was in the middle of the group, running beside Paul and Jared for a few seconds before digging in harder and lurching past them. I could see in my mind eye how Paul was watching me from behind and then a memory flashed.

It was me, screaming in his face on the cliff. Right before we...Oh come on! After a week of fucking this guy everyday, now is when he can't control his thoughts?

Meraz, I warned, kicking even harder to pass Sam and Jacob. '

Sorry, he thought quickly and then my mind was bombared with random images. Anything he could think of. Though he couldn't seem to keep from going back to me. His house, his bed, my house, looking at himself in the mirror as he brushed his teeth, sitting bored in school with math equations on the board, me as we sat together at Sam's house and watched Dinner for Shmucks, Jacob's car, Emily's food, Sam's backyard, me laughing with Embry and Quil the day after our first time.

Meraz, I practically screamed in his mind. He flinched and I pushed harder, using my rage to fuel me. I passed Christopher and then I was only behind Matt. He'd been in the front and I'd been in the back when we started. Now I was closing in on him pretty fast. Concentrate on running. It'll help, I offered Paul. It was helping me.

I'm sure my thoughts consisted of you almost got him. push harder. almost there. this bitch is going down. push.

Okay, Paul said in a low tone. Well, he thought in a low tone.

Everyone else's thoughts had been about stupid shit so far, just mindlessly wandering. Jared about Kim. Jacob about Nessie. Sam about Emily. Collin and Brady about all girls in general. Quil about Clare. Embry was concentrated on running. And that's when I realized Seth was thinking about Zoey.

Uh oh. Someone's got a crush, I started. This and the running would definitely distract both me and Paul from showing something on accident.

Shut up, Seth snapped.

I think it's cute, I tried to console him.

He was quiet for a minute. And then, hesitantly, really?

Yeah Seth. But...she's a she-wolf. She probably won't imprint. And you might one day. Just think it through before you do anything, okay? Don't hurt her.

I know, he thought snippily. But I could feel the concern too.

So, what are you hiding, Paul? Jared asked suddenly. You and Leah know something that we don't. What is it?

It's none of your business. If it was something I could just tell you...she wouldn't want to kill me everytime I started to think about it.

Oh come on, Jared coaxed, Why should you keep secrets for her? She got something on you, too?

Yes, Paul bit out. Jared didn't say anything else, but his mind flicked through possibilites of what we could be hiding. It never went close to anything going on between us. I would've laughed if I hadn't been holding my breath the whole time.

Soon enough, we were only a mile from the treaty line so I stopped thinking about all that and went back to running, giving it all I had. I passed Matt within seconds and when I stopped at the treaty line and turned around before starting back, I ran almost a quarter mile before I passed them all.

No one in my pack looked surprised.