Thank you so much for another bunch of reviews, Ciara, ShadowCub, Fflamea and WolvePackForever!

Ciara, thank you for your honesty. I hope this chapter is better again, though it's more like a filler chapter. The purpose of I narration is actually that you only get to know the thoughts of one single person. I'm only straining that purpose by having two narrators. So that's why there won't be any chapters in other people's point of views. You'll get some insight into Troy's opinion of this whole mess in this chapter though.

ShadowCub, you honestly made me rethink my whole plot. But most of the story is already written and I don't have time for a complete rewrite. I am thinking about rewriting a small part though. I had tried to understand the legal sutuation of reservations before, but maybe I failed. I thought, although they have their own law, police and administration, they were sort of in the same legal poisition as a state of the United States, still part of the country, which would mean the US army could come in? And, well, as long as they were on the reservation, they might not have shot immediately, but as Charlie said they would have shot if they had felt threatened. Now, however, only Leah is still on the reservation and the others aren't, meaning that they could be shot because they're thought to be dangerous. We'll see later on what the vampires, the Cullens and Jake think about this. Remember that it's not even been two days yet, so there hasn't been that much time to react.

Fflamea, great reasoning, but that already didn't work when the Europeans first settled in America :D I think I wouldn't bee too eager to meet a shape-shifter. I'd probably be as scared as the people in my story.

WolvePackForever, yeah, they are :D

Thank you, noarklawson, for following and favoriting! :)


Half-Convinced

-Chad's POV-

Tuesday, July 9

The reporters and scientists had been made to leave an hour ago when the majority of the police officers had quitting time and only the minor night shift remained in the station. Since I hadn't made an attempt to demolish the steel bars and break out yet I was for once left alone. I phased and heard the story about Collin and Sky deceiving the SAR team. My brothers also told me about the ideas of the so-called Shape-shifter Restraint Committee.

'Great. Just great. I'm never going to be free again,' I mused. Sympathy and pity from the others flooded my mind.

'Don't give up yet,' Aaron said, 'When the day comes on which there is no hope left that they'll ever declare us harmless, we'll figure out a way to free you. Before you get locked up in a high-security cell or the barred reservation they have to transport you there. Since we'll have nothing to lose anymore, we can attack your escort and get you out of there. And then we'll leave the country and find a place to hide for the rest of our lives.'

'Don't risk your lives for me if the escort is too strong.'

'We can't just leave you behind without even trying,' Collin objected.

'Can we switch to a less depressing topic? At the moment there is still hope,' Leah said.

Instead of bringing up something else we fell silent. Despite the silence, the presence of my friends' minds comforted me. I curled up on the cell floor, planning to fall asleep with this comfort. I was already half asleep when the door to the station opened and Troy came in. I yawned and looked at him questioningly.

"Um, hi," he said awkwardly and sat down on the chair in front of my cell. He wasn't here officially. His shift was over and he must have been at home already, because he wore casual clothes.

"I thought, now that all those nosy people have gone, we could talk in private."

I was reluctant to leave my current comfortable position and continued to watch him.

"You know, one-sided conversations are kind of awkward."

I sighed and got up. I turned my back to him, phased and quickly put my clothes back on. Julia had provided me with some of my own clothes so I didn't have to wear my uniform anymore.

"Happy?" I asked.

"Yes, thank you."

I sat down on the bench.

"Here, I smuggled something in for you," Troy said and reached into his backpack. He pulled two bottles of beer out and handed me one through the bars.

"Nice," I said, "thanks."

"I knew you'd like that."

We opened our beers and managed to clink bottles through the bars.

"You could come in, you know. I promise not to try and break out."

"I don't have the keys anymore. Greg doesn't trust me."

"But you didn't get suspended, did you?"

"No."

"How's Charlie?"

"Not very well. He's got to face a department trial."

"Shit."

"He'll probably get out of it with a fine and a dismissal. His daughter married rich, didn't she? I'm sure she can help him out."

"Certainly. He should have arrested me nonetheless and pretended that he had been clueless."

"If you'd be declared harmless they'd certainly withdraw the charge on him and rehabilitate him."

"Do you think that's ever going to happen?"

"If that's what you are, yes."

I huffed.

"If I can't even convince you, how can I ever convince others?" I asked bitterly.

"I'm half-convinced. That's why I'm here."

"I don't kill people, Troy," I declared looking him directly in the eyes. He averted my gaze.

"I want to believe that. It's just… not that easy."

"Why not?"

"I've looked at these unsolved cases of missing people in this area. Hikers reported on sightings of huge bears. You are huge and I guess from a distance one could mistake you for a bear. Whenever someone went missing, such a bear was seen not far away. Can you explain that to me?"

"I wasn't even a shape-shifter back then!"

"But some of your friends were. If they kill people, you could, too."

"But they don't. The killers of these missing hikers are what we try to protect our tribe from. Back then, my brothers tried to protect the hikers, too, but they were inexperienced and they couldn't be everywhere."

"So what, you take the law into your hands and kill murderers?"

"They aren't just any murderers. Humans can't fight them and there's no chance they could ever be sentenced by justice, so we have to take the law into our hands."

"Humans can't fight them? What are they? Zombies?"

"Unfortunately they're much more intelligent than zombies."

"So? What are they?"

"I'm not allowed to tell you."

"I promise not to tell anyone."

"Doesn't change anything. I'm not able to violate an Alpha order."

"Alpha order? You mean, you have, like, a pack hierarchy? Like real wolves?"

"Yes."

"Okaaay. But, well, your Alpha doesn't have to know that you told me."

"No, you don't understand. I'm literally not able to disobey. It's hard to explain to outsiders. My Alpha could order me to jump off a bridge and I'd do it. Not that he'd ever ask something like that."

"So, he could also order you to kill a hiker and you'd do it?"

I rolled my eyes.

"He never has and he never will order me to kill a human."

"Is Aaron Chavis your current Alpha?"

"Are you going to use that against him?"

"Nothing that you tell me tonight will leave this room. If people knew that your Alpha can manipulate you to do things you don't want to do, they'd think that proves their point that the girls have been manipulated, too. They haven't, have they?"

"No. Alpha orders just work on shape-shifters."

"Where's your place in the hierarchy?"

"In the middle. Best position ever if you ask me. Not too much responsibility, but not a weakling either."

Troy kept quiet for a while. Finally he shook his head in a disbelieving manner.

"So many times I complained about how boring the work of small town officers is. I never wanted my best friend to get in trouble just so that Forks wouldn't be so boring anymore."

I chuckled.

"It's not your fault. I told you this was going to be the most exciting year of your live, didn't I?"

"Yes. But you also promised me fun. This isn't funny at all."

"Yeah, sorry about that."

Troy grinned slightly.

"I understand now why you couldn't tell me your secret. It must have been difficult to live like that. Always hiding something. Always having to fear that somehow someone could find out. And I guess I also understand why you enjoyed my company especially because I was clueless. Gave you some sense of normalcy, huh?"

"Exactly."

"Why didn't you stop shifting like some of your friends? That would have given you some more normalcy back, wouldn't it?"

"I was waiting for my soul mate."

"I didn't know you were romantic. You believe in the one true love?"

"It's hard not to believe in it when you're a shape-shifter and you see your brothers with their soul mates. I want what they have."

"Your brothers already found their soul mates? How do they even know that she's the right one?"

"Not all of them found her yet. A shape-shifter knows when he stands in front of his soul mate. One eye contact is all he needs to be 100% sure. That's called imprinting."

"So, are all the girlfriends and wives the soul mate of their shape-shifter?"

"Yes."

"But you've had girlfriends before."

"Nobody said I had to live in abstinence until I found her. Although it would become tricky if I were with another girl when I finally imprinted. However, at the moment it doesn't look like I'm ever going to have a girlfriend again."

"Maybe, if you were declared harmless…"

"That's never going to happen, Troy. Let's face it. I'm going to rot in a cell or a cage for the rest of my life."

"I wish I could do something."

"I thought you were only half-convinced yourself."

"I know that you're not a killer. You would never willingly kill innocents. So, if you can control your wolf when you're in a tiny cell with three humans, you can also control yourself outside in the woods."

I nodded.

"Then all that's left for you to learn to believe is that I don't have to control myself because I don't have the urge to kill."

"Okay. Done."

That went a bit too smooth for my liking.

"Give the people some time. You'll convince them all if you show some patience, continue your cooperation and let the scientists do these psychology tests they came up with. There are people out there who want to believe you, you know."

I shook my head.

"You'll see. Well, I'll let you sleep now. Good night."

"Good night," I replied. He was already at the door when I continued, "Hey, Troy?"

He turned back to me.

"Thank you for giving me a chance and for believing me."

"What kind of best friend would I be if I didn't?"


Sorry that this was rather short. There's a turning point in the next chapter! As usual, I'm going to update on Saturday. If I can finish the chapter in time and you keep these awesome reviews coming, I might already update on Friday ;)