The first few months with Jacob was easy. I thought it was offboard but I thought that it was just me. We've had a few bickerings that were too serious to get over with but we managed to stay calm about it and just laugh about it after a day. That was us. Jacob and Bella.

But even if he was not really human and I was, it seemed just as strange that I didn't ask him to make me one of the wolves. It seemed really silly. It was simply like I'd asked Edward to make me a vampire. That's what was missing. I didn't ask for any of it. Sometimes in myself, I doubted if telling him 'yes' a long time ago seemed just right. Maybe yes, maybe no.

I often shrugged this thought because I just found it silly. Why would I doubt Jacob? He was mine, I was his. End of story.

Our relationship grew strong after three months. After then, there wasn't much to hide. We knew each other quite well and we also had balance. Jacob could already balance his time with the pack while I could balance mine with work. Maybe I was right. Everything was falling into place. Jacob was the last piece of the puzzle.

I felt better when Charlie knew what was going on between us. In fact, he was darn happy about it. When Jacob announced the news, well, I hoped for the opposite reaction but instead, he was sincerely happy for us. Telling us that I finally knew what I wanted. That was another happy omen. Charlie allowed Jacob to sleep over at my place, but of course there were restrictions. He wasn't allowed to sleep in my room once I was out unconscious. But he was allowed as long as I was awake. As usual, Jake followed the rules and maybe revised it a little. He stayed until an hour after I've dozed off.

--

Jacob and I were driving to First Beach right now. He had one hand on the wheel and one hand in mine.

"So why are we going to First Beach again?" I asked, snuggling close to him. It felt really nice and warm.

"Well, Sam and I talked about a truce." He said. Paying attention to the road.

"I thought that you already had a truce?" I stopped him short.

"It wasn't much of a formal truce, Bella. We just allowed ourselves to get involved in patrol. That's it. But other than that, there's really not much of a 'brotherhood' than when we have a fully formed pack."

"I think you lost me." I chuckled. We were already turning towards the fringe of the trees that'll lead to the beach.

Jacob sighed and chuckled. "Mine and Sam's pack don't notice each other right now except when we need help. Got it?" I felt him kiss my hair, let go of my hand and got out of the car. We were already here. He took a few big strides to get to my side of the car. He took me in his arms and cradled me like a baby. "Okay, Ms. Swan. I don't like you tripping on the ice so I'll just carry you towards the beach. Is that good enough for you?" He smiled my favorite smile.

"Sure." I smiled and snuggled into his warm chest. Ahh, it felt good to be warmed up.

"Now, I told Charlie that we're going to run a little late. So he asked Dad to bring some food for us. Harry's fish fry?" He asked.

It was late afternoon at La Push. Of course, I would be expecting to go home late. This wasn't one of the usual meetings that I've attended to in the past four months. Right now, Harry's fish fry sounded really good. So I just agreed with Jacob. At least someone would know where I'll be.

"Yo Jake! Nice to see you man!" I looked up and saw Quil meeting Jacob. Jacob dropped me quickly on my two feet and entered Quil's bear hug. "How've you been?"

"Pretty good. I haven't seen you for the last five months." Jacob answered.

"Well, there ain't enough danger that could make us hang out." Both of them laughed loudly. The sound almost hurt my ears. I just laughed at them.

"Hey Bella, you're looking pretty. . . flushed. As always!" Quil barked. I tried to take that as compliment. I did look pale. As always.

Jacob held my hand and showed it to Quil. Jake looked at me and smiled. I gleamed back at Jacob and looked down. I could feel the color rising up on my cheeks.

"Whoa, whoa." Quil looked completely surprised. Hasn't Jake told him yet? "You're. . . Wow. Congratulations!" Quil embraced both of us tightly. I couldn't breathe.

"Quil. . . can't. . . breathe!" I managed to stutter out loud. Quil let go and faced me with a little smile on his face.

"It's finally nice to see this, man! Bella and Jacob together. That's just amazing. Well, I gotta run. I have to look for the rest of them. Have you got Seth and Leah?" He winced at Leah's name. Why does everyone hate Leah? She's pretty nice once you get to know her. Jacob laughed. He seemed to notice Quil's pain.

"Yeah, I do. They're coming in a few." Jacob told him. And then faced me. "C'mon, Bella. We have to set up campfire for later." We started walking again towards a spot on the beach not too close to the shore and not far either. "See you later, Quil!" He shouted. But when I looked behind me, I couldn't see him anymore.

After a few hours, the two packs were finally complete. There was Sam, Quil, Embry, Jared, Paul, Leah, Seth and Jacob. Jacob's Dad was also there. The only elder.

In the middle of our broken circle was a campfire. There were a few fish fries hanging over it. The truce of Jacob and Sam weren't rectified yet that's why we were forming a broken circle. There was a large enough space between Jacob's pack and Sam's.

Everyone was quiet, the sound hurt my ears. All I could hear was the sound of the waves crashing gently onto the small rocks. It wasn't that late yet but it was freezing out here. I shook a little bit.

Jacob must've noticed my shivering. He placed an arm over my shoulders to warm me up. "Are you okay, Bella?"

"Do I really need to answer that?" I said jokingly. I closed my eyes for a moment and suddenly felt his warm lips on my forehead. "Thanks Jake." I snuggled closer to him. It was really cold.

"So what brought this about?" Seth said loudly. He was sitting on my left. I didn't know who he was talking to, was it Jake or Sam?

"Good question, Seth." Sam responded in his booming voice. It suddenly reminded me of Emmett.

Jacob's grip on me tightened a bit and spoke, "Well, little punk, since you brought that up, we might as well get it on with." He suddenly faced Sam. "Shall we?"

"Go on." Was all Sam responded.

Jacob gently handed me over to Seth and retrieved a blanket behind him. I wondered if it was there the whole time. Seth placed a warm arm over my shoulder in a friendly way, not like Jacob's. Jacob wrapped the blanket onto my body and faced Sam as he stood.

"S'okay, Bella. Imma keep you warm." Seth rubbed a good hand over my right arm.

"Jacob," Sam began. "The pack is not complete without the three of you."

"I realize that Sam but I'm not emphasizing on incompletion. Our numbers are good. No vampires are attacking." Jacob replied. Quil and Embry opened their mouth to say something but Sam raised a hand over them.

"Don't think solely about your pack, Jacob. Think about your other brothers as well. If you were in this pack," he pointed to his position in the meeting. "then you would know how much Quil and Embry are causing us pain."

Quil and Embry looked at Sam quizzically. Did they know why they were causing Sam pain? It didn't look like it. Leah closed nearer onto us with ever so lightly having our shoulders touched.

"I hope Jacob doesn't agree with Sam's crap." Leah whispered so lowly that I could barely make out what she just said. I wasn't even sure if that's what she said.

Sam looked at Leah as if he heard all of it. Then again, he might've heard it. "Quil and Embry couldn't take having only five of them in the pack. Both of them wanted a complete set."

"So you want us back, huh?" Jacob told Sam's pack.

"Yeah, that's what I'd like." Jared echoed.

"Me too." Paul murmured.

"Miss you, bro." Quil and Embry said together.

"But I don't get it. If you want us back, don't I also have the right to say that I want you back? If ever that were the case." Jacob took a stick of the fish fry and ate it. "That's why I separated, Sam. You make it look like you're the Alpha here, when you're surprisingly not.

"I'm not saying that you're not a rightful Alpha, Sam. Bear with me here. I'm also an Alpha of the own pack I have. Not that I even wanted one." He looked back towards Leah and Seth, and then winked at me.

"Can't there be two Alphas?" Seth squeaked.

"No." Both Jacob and Sam answered.

"Then why don't we just vote?" Quil chimed. "I'm sure that voting was awfully popular back then." He laughed and poked Embry in the ribs.

"Let's advertise, then." Billy suddenly interjected, talking for the first time. "Sam's a good leader. Well, he runs the pack even before you guys just split up. He became the first werewolf in La Push. And well, he establishes the laws just nice.

"Ephraim Black was the one of the tribal leaders who led the pack back then. He is Jacob's great-grandfather. Solely, in tribe law, Jacob would be considered as Alpha because it runs in his blood." Billy faced Sam. "Sam, I hope you take no offense of this."

"None taken. In fact, if I weren't the first to transform, I wouldn't stand up as Alpha. I wouldn't like towering over the true leader. The Uleys obey the Blacks." Sam said. There was a smile on his face. Was he happy about this?

"And so we vote!" Paul said, stomping his feet into the sand.

"I want to be of use out here, so I want to lead the voting." I told them, talking for the first time. This really wasn't part of the plan.

"Bella, as much as we'd like you to participate, you can't. Being with Jacob then heading the vote makes it bias." Sam laughed. Maybe it was true. It was biased.

"Oh, right. Sorry." I felt the blood rising to my cheeks. I smiled at Jacob and he took a seat beside me, brushing Leah to his right.

"Sorry, Bella. It has to go like that." He smiled and kissed my cheek. "That color is really beautiful, you know." He whispered.

"So, who votes for Sam?" Billy interjected.

One, two, three hands raised for Sam. I went to see whose hands were there. Sam, Jared and Leah's hand were raised. I felt the blood on my cheek again and this time, in larger quantities. I felt like I was cherry red.

"And Jacob?"

It wasn't so obvious anymore that Jacob would win as Alpha of the pack. Quil, Embry, Seth, Jacob, Paul and even mine's were raised. I knew it was wrong. I laughed at the thought. I wasn't werewolf enough to qualify but they just dismissed my hand.

"Jacob's the Alpha then!" Seth howled. The next thing I knew, I heard wolf-like howls that were made by the human wolves around me.

Everyone was happy, including Sam. The smile on his face couldn't be doubted; it was of sheer truth and happiness, it wasn't fake. Sam shook Jacob's hand and called out, "Congratulations Alpha." Billy shook Jacob's hand as well, proud that his own son was now the true Alpha of the only surviving werewolf pack.

I stood up and hugged Jacob, also congratulating him. "This must be such a big deal for you."

"Yeah, it is. And I'm glad that you're here to witness it." He carried me up and kissed me with much power. It felt real good, his kiss.

Jacob put me down and made everyone sit. Camp was a mess. The werewolves, in their joy, ruined the silent picture of the meeting and replaced it with joy that was very hard to erase.

"Well, what? I'm just happy, alright? But no fooling around guys. We're werewolves. We protect humans. The treaty remains intact. If one of the bloodsuckers kill, then you know what to do." Jacob faced Sam. "As for Sam. . . Okay, I feel really stupid doing this. Bear with me, alright? Sam, you're Beta. I can't just stand here as Alpha and just disregard Sam's leadership before. So you have my order, Sam. You're Beta and there's nothing you can do to get away from it." Jacob smiled at him.

"Thank you, Jacob." Sam replied.

"Yo Jake!" Paul called. "How about we plan a get away some time? No, not some time. How about in a few fays?" Paul interjected.

"A get away? Like, going away for some time? Perfect."

AN: Chapter 10's up. How'd you like it so far? I'll try fixing up things in the next chapter so that you'd understand why this had to happen. The pack split up, sure. But I need to explain why. Review please! It warms my heart :)