Accidental Alpha

Jacob's POV

I could feel Sam's anger as if it were my own when I phased into my wolf form.

"Come home, NOW," the alpha commanded. I no longer ran of my own free will. My legs pushed harder, taking me home to face one pissed off boss-man. I tried anything to keep from thinking of Aunt Esme and Carlisle. "REPORT!" He laid every bit of Alpha power into the order. Unbidden, the images came.

"She's still human. The wedding isn't until June," I thought to him. "The treaty hasn't been broken." It was hard to lie when the person could see into your mind. The memory of Carlisle's confession came to the surface of my thoughts. Sam sat on his haunches and howled. Within seconds, the others had phased as well.

"Quil will be here in a sec," Embry thought quickly. "He had to take Claire to Emily's."

"I'm headed your way," came Quil's thought mere seconds later. I wanted to sink into oblivion. Bloodsucker or not, Carlisle didn't deserve to die for this. Sam started pacing.

"The leader of the Cullen coven has broken the treaty. He took the life of a man in his upper-twenties, Dale Barnes."

"Hey, Jake, wasn't that your Aunt Esme's ex-husband?" Embry asked.

"It was, and I don't think this action should be punished. He was protecting the woman he loves."

"Love," Sam scoffed.

"Yes, love, I believe you understand the concept. What would you do if someone tried to kill Emily? Quil, how would you feel if a maniac attacked Claire? Jared, what if Kim were in danger? Just try and tell me you would not move Heaven, Hell, Earth, Wind, Water, and Fire to keep them safe!" I shouted.

"So we should just give the leech a free pass to break the treaty?" Sam asked rhetorically. "What happens when he decides he'd like to make Esme one of his kind? Should we let that pass, too? You WILL help us destroy this enemy, Jacob. We go tonight."

I fought his edict. Quil and Embry begged me with their eyes to let it go, but I couldn't. Aunt Esme was finally happy. She was with someone who loved her and treated her right. And so I fought. There was one little word with the power to liberate me. All I needed was a simple 'no'; nevertheless it wouldn't come. I thought of how crushed Aunt Esme was going to be. She had survived a lot in the past.

"This is murder," I thought desperately. Summoning every ounce of strength I possessed, I looked straight into Sam's eyes. "No."

Cold fury seeped into us all. "What?"

"I said, 'No'. I won't be a part of this, Sam."

"You don't have a choice. You WILL–"

"ENOUGH!" I shouted. He went silent immediately as the Alpha tone echoed in my voice. The others were completely silent; which was eerie because Quil usually always had a thought for everything. Sam bristled.

"This pack won't follow you, Jacob Black."

"I don't want to lead the pack. I told you that."

"Two Alphas can't exist in one place."

"Then I know just where to go. I will stand between you and the Cullens. They may mot be my favorite people by any means, but I won't let you take away my aunt's happiness. She's marrying Carlisle in June. The others are like her kids. They even call her 'Mom'. I won't let you kill her family."

At that moment, I turned and walked away. Once I disappeared from their sight I broke into a run. Howling filled the air. I ran back to the Cullens' house as fast as my legs would allow.

Edward's POV

Jacob's thoughts reached me just before the sound of running. I stood quickly.

"We have a problem," I announced. "Jake is on his way back. He's come to warn us the pack is on it's way." Jake bounded through the door.

"I'm not the threat here– I swear," he rapidly assured us. Emmett and Rosalie joined us from upstairs. "I tried not to think of what Carlisle said, but it came into my mind anyway. Sam could tell I was hiding something. The pack is coming for Carlisle tonight."

"They can't have him," Emmett said firmly, crossing his large arms. A shrill ring filled the tense air around us. Esme's eyes narrowed into slits as she looked at her phone.

"WILLIAM EPHRAIM BLACK, IF THAT PACK OF OVER-SIZED PUPPIES COMES WITHIN FIVE MILES OF MY FAMILY, THERE WILL BE HELL TO PAY IN THE WORST OF WAYS. I DON'T CARE THAT I'M HUMAN AND AS SUCH NO WHERE NEAR AS STRONG. I WILL FIND A WAY, AND YOU ALL WILL RUE THE DAY YOU CROSSED ME!" she screamed. Everyone in the room jumped. We had never seen Esme this angry.

"Did your fiancee happen to mention that he killed a man?" Billy demanded coldly on the other end.

"Did the leader of your little canine unit mention that man's name?" she fired back. There was a pause of silence. "Go on, ask your lapdog."

I'm gonna try not to take this personally. She's just mad.

I suppressed a grin and focused on Esme. Even Emmett hardly used the kind of profanity running through Esme's mind.

There was a conversation happening on the other end of the line.

"What was the man's name?" Billy asked quietly.

"Dale Barnes," replied another man who I assumed was the Sam Jake had mention. There was a sharp intake of breath and the line went dead. Esme was shaking with rage as she lowered her cell phone and set it gently on the coffee table. Carlisle wrapped his arms around her in a tight embrace. He gave Jasper a desperate glance. Jasper nodded and began siphoning her anger away.

Please, just leave the anger, Esme begged silently. A tear slipped from her eye.

"Good idea, Jake, let's check the perimeter. You, Emmett, Jasper, and I will do a sweep of the general directions. Jake, you take west so no one accidentally crosses the Quileute border. You other two, take your pick. Alice, Bella, and Rosalie, patrol around the house a bit in case someone slips by us," I decided. Jake looked slightly confused, but just shrugged and headed out the door. Before going outside, he turned to Esme.

"Nothing's gonna happen to him, Aunt Esme, I promise," he said softly. He looked from Jasper to Emmett to me. "Let's go give Alice, Bella, and Rosalie nothing to do, guys."

What the hell was that supposed to mean? Are we incompetent because we're girls?, Rose thought menacingly.

"He meant it as, 'Let's make sure they don't get that close to the house,' Rose," I assured her, then followed the other three out the door.

Carlisle's POV

The smell of Esme's tears brought back memories I never wanted to see again. I held her a little bit tighter. We stood in one another's arms for an immeasurable length of time before Esme's cell phone rang again. This time, I answered it. Stress had finally wore Esme down and she was fast asleep.

"Hello?" I asked politely, not having bothered to check the caller ID.

"Is Jacob safe?" Billy Black asked in a strained voice.

"He is perfectly safe," I swore. He sighed with relief.

"May I speak to him?"

"He is running a patrol with my sons."

"How can you say he's 'perfectly safe' and then tell me he's alone in the woods with three vampires?" Billy demanded, sounding thoroughly panicked.

"My sons would not harm Jake. It is against the way we live, to say the least. Most importantly, they would not cause Esme the pain of loss. They understand that hate is a weakness," I said simply. "When Jake returns, I will tell him you called."

"Make sure you do," Billy said shakily. "You should know, we've postponed making a decision as to what we should do about your breach of the treaty. You haven't killed anyone since, have you?"

"Nothing human," I replied. "I won't give excuses for what I did. There is nothing that can justify the taking of a human life. I will say this, though: I love Esme with more than everything I have. For nearly a century, I have watched Edward and Bella's love for each other grow. Their love was one of the main reasons I changed them. I couldn't let something so powerful die. Years later, Rosalie was hunting when she found Emmett. He had been attacked by a bear and was bleeding profusely. She carried him one hundred miles back to our home without taking any of his blood. To this day, she has never even tasted human blood. Seventy-odd years later, their love grows as well. Alice and Jasper share a love so deep, you could search every language known to man and still not find a word to do it justice.

"I finally found that kind of love, after three and a half centuries of loneliness. We went dancing, and after I took her home I went to the hospital to cover a shift for another doctor. Almost an hour later, an ambulance brought Esme into the emergency room. The beautiful, intelligent eyes I had lost myself in had bruises around them. The lower of the soft lips I had kissed was split, swollen and bleeding. I listened in on her report to the police. He had been trying to rape her when she hit him on the head with her answering machine. My world turned red."

Shocked silence filled the other end. I stroked Esme's hair absently. A full five minutes had passed before he spoke again; his voice resigned and slightly reminiscent.

"I can't fault you for this. I've know Esme for many years. She's so much like her sister. When she was yelling at me earlier, I could almost hear my Vivian. It reminded me of the day she got into a fight with Rachel and Rebecca's kindergarten teacher. Rachel was going through a phase where she pretended to be Rebecca when she got into trouble. The girls are identical twins and the teacher couldn't tell the difference between the two. One day, another kid said Rachel had tripped her. Instead of calling me or Viv, the teacher took a switch to both Rachel and Rebecca to make sure she got the right one. Viv lost her temper. She yelled at the teacher for five solid minutes, and then hit her with a switch. We home schooled after that. When Viv died, I put the kids back in public school."

"I'm very sorry," I whispered with feeling. "I don't know if I could survive losing Esme, and I definitely do not ever want to find out!"

"I had three children who needed me," he explained. "You mentioned how you feel about Esme. Your 'children', what do they think of her?"

"They call her 'Mom'," I smiled. "Her eyes light up every time one of them says it– even when she's in the middle of scolding them."

"Do eighty year old vampires require much scolding?" he wondered wryly.

"Just Emmett," I explained. Footsteps approached the house. "Speaking of Emmett, my sons and Jake have returned."

"Ask Jake to call me back, if he wants to. You can let everyone know the wolves won't be coming for you anytime soon," Billy allowed. "Goodbye, Dr. Cullen. Take care of Esme, or I might change my opinion of you." He hung up.

The boys were pushing each other playfully. "You've got some speed in you, cuz," Emmett boomed. I shushed him, gesturing to Esme; nevertheless, she stirred and sat up. "Sorry, Mom, I didn't mean to wake you. I'm just shocked. We didn't find anything, so we raced back, and Jake almost beat Edward."

"I would have phased, but these are the only clothes I have with me, and I'm not sure I can go home," Jake admitted.

"I can take you shopping," Alice offered, walking through the door and holding Jasper's hand. "That is, if it's safe enough to leave the house."

"Billy called," I informed them. "They have postponed making a decision. The wolves won't be coming any time soon. He asks that you call him back, Jake, if you want to."

Esme immediately held her cell phone out to Jake. "Use my phone." She looked at me. "Did the two of you talk about anything else?"

"He had a few questions for me; which I was more than willing to answer."

"What kind of questions?" she pressed. I could see where she was going. She wanted to know if she needed to yell at Billy a bit more. A slight nod from Edward told me I was right.

"He asked if Jacob was safe. I assured him he was. He asked if I had killed anyone since Dale. I said, 'nothing human'. I told him how I feel about you in great detail. He asked what the others thought about you. I mentioned that they call you 'Mom'. The last thing he said before hanging up was, 'Take care of Esme, or I might change my opinion of you'," I listed. She bit her bottom lip the way she always did when she was thinking.

"I guess I'll let him off the hook for now," she allowed reluctantly. "He's been playing the part of overprotective big brother for a long time." Esme slipped into a thoughtful silence. The only sound came from Jacob's pacing as he argued quietly with his father.

"I'm not coming home until you tell me the pack is going to leave the Cullens and Aunt Esme alone," I heard Jake say. His tone was serious and straight-forward.

"You would put them before your tribe, your family?" Billy asked incredulously on the other line.

"Aunt Esme is my family," Jake said firmly. "When she marries Carlisle, the Cullens will be family, too. Emmett already calls me 'cousin'." Esme looked at Emmett. She had heard Jake's comment. I watched her closely, wondering what she would say.

"Well, he will be," Emmett said simply, shrugging at her scrutiny. A small tear fell from her left eye. Pulling Esme close to me, I kissed it away gently. She smiled brightly. Seeing the people she loved getting along brought out her maternal side yet again. Not for the first time, I asked myself what I had done to deserve such a wonderful, passionate woman. Though I could think of nothing, I was happy to have her in my life and know she would be mine for eternity.