A/N: hiya all! Got myself a lovely prereader in Sarah Teague so yay, as always tell me what you think!

Alone at home, the man in his early fifties wheeled himself towards his window, and looked at the house in the distance. Sam Uley's home.

Billy Black had seen a lot of things as chief.

He's seen babies born, children grow and loved ones die. By anyone's standards, he was a man that had witnessed much of how life went on – and seeing a pack of shifters emerge hadn't been the most outrageous thing by a long stretch. People still had the ability to surprise him time and time again – a fact that he relished, their unpredictable nature a thing of excitement to him.

He remembered the birth of Isabella Marie Swan very well. His best friend had come out to the waiting room, carrying this tiny being with a mass of hair, crooning over her form cocooned in blankets – a father of two minutes already desperately in love with his child. Billy had grinned and teased him, unknowing of how relevant the infant would be to his tribe's future. Or of how stubborn that child would grow up to be. Or how brave.

Billy knew the old stories well. The stories of imprints, souls, warriors and wolves. He knew his history, and the history of his land, and had known immediately what had happened when the wolves had found their halves. It hadn't occurred straight away, because the pack wasn't true – but once Seth phased, and their pack was complete: that was when the stories lost their fictitious edge and Billy's expertise became crucial in explaining to the wolves what their imprints were. But even with his chaos of their affections raging around him, and even with the wealth of information he had amassed over the decades of his life, as Bella Swan made things complicated, he had no idea what was right or wrong.

The girl deserved to make up her own mind, and live the life she wanted.

But then how could the life she want be any other than the one perfect for her?

There was a reason why the other wolves' imprints were so settled, so fast. Bella refused to see how happy she could be with Paul, how well suited they were to one another. By concentrating so hard on what she would be giving up she refused to acknowledge how much would be given to her, how much she would be bestowed.

Instead she had been rebelling, and Billy didn't know what to say to stop her pain, and stop her hurting those that cared so deeply for her. For almost a month she had pushed her pack away, refusing their kindness and hiding from their duties towards her.

Paul had barely spoken over the past week, only truly talking when asking whoever had been patrolling around her house for an update, craving an insight into his girl.

Not that the wolves were faultless by any means, Billy wasn't quite senile or biased enough to believe that.

All the pack had as one contributed in making the young girl feel caged, and he couldn't blame her for the natural reaction of trying to struggle out of a trap.

He had been home when Jake received the frantic call from Seth, who upon arriving to protect Bella's place had waited for her to get home from a friend's, only for her to never make it. She did well to cover her tracks, getting changed in a diner's bathroom and leaving behind no evidence of where she was going apart from a text to Charlie saying she was staying a bit longer at Angela's.

But despite her best efforts, she didn't understand the imprint bond well enough to predict that if his mate went missing, Paul was sure as hell going to find her again.

The pack had assembled, the other imprints being taken to Sam's whilst a unit was dispatched to hunt her down. Leah immediately went to the airport, scouting out any possible flights she might be taking to hide with her mother, whilst Sam, Paul and the calming influence of Quil began the arduous task of following her scent.

He'd had a phone call from Emily fifteen minutes ago, updating him on the situation at hand. Currently the men were returning, their runaway back in their care, and Billy pitied the lamb heading to her slaughter. He knew that they would never hurt her, but he also knew that they wouldn't allow this to go unpunished – there was too much as stake, not just Bella herself, but they couldn't let the other girls expose themselves by following her example either. They were about to do one hell of a deterrent, and Billy couldn't stop them.

He was chief, not alpha. It was Sam's call, and Sam would demand retribution for the breaking of the rules, and for damaging one of his prime warriors.

Paul would never admit how painful it was for Bella to be rejecting him, but he had seen it in his eyes. Billy knew pain; he recognised the insane quality it brought forth in a man. After all, he had lost Sarah.

Alone in his home, he knew that Bella would soon to be facing the firing squad, and he hoped for her sake that she'd begin to understand what she was lucky enough to have soon.

Because he knew that if push came to shove – Paul still wouldn't let Bella go. And then they would both have to live with the consequences of their implosion.

Bella knew nothing of the man's prayers as she was escorted into the lion's den.

All waiting, presumably to enjoy a decent view of what was about to happen, the imprints and wolves lined the corridor and kitchen having evidently waited for her. She saw no affection in any of their eyes, only frustration, anger and worst of all in some of the girls – pity.

She avoided Jess' eyes as she walked past her, but caught herself glancing at Jake, his back to the wall and staring at her. He looked the same as the others: angry, frustrated, and so much wilder than the boy that had once loved her. She couldn't see that boy with the warm cans of soda anywhere in his face. That person had been swallowed by his wolf.

Sam's house was only as big as Jared's, and it took but a minute for her to journey from the car into the kitchen, but it still felt like an awkward amount of time as she moved through the people and belongings scattered around the ground floor. And then she was there – a tiny figure surrounded by giants and cowards. She felt alone, and the fear of it always being this way, of growing old surrounded by these rules and regulations - it was a poison in her system.

Murmuring surrounded her, an angry quiet noise as where she had been found passed around the group in hushed voices. She felt rather than heard Paul half growl behind her. Bella crossed her arms, a level of superficial protection separating them from her.

'Sam.' Paul rumbled, quieting the room.

The alpha turned around, his dark eyes angry and unwavering as they scanned the girl that had caused so much upset. 'What were you thinking Bella?' he barked, a pillar of strength in front of the weaker imprint.

'You can't control me,' she responded. Whilst Leah couldn't have thought of anything worse for Bella to say, she had to admire the girl's balls. 'I'm not a possession and you cannot own me. I'm an adult, I'm eighteen and I intend to live my life the way I choose it.'

'You're a member of this pack!' he growled, 'You are no better than any other imprint and you don't get a separate set of rules! Your life is here, with us, and the sooner you accept it the better!'

'My life is wherever I choose for it to be!' she yelled, impatient with his arrogance. 'I'm not your prisoner, and you can't stop me from being where or what I want to be! For god's sake Sam - I'm eighteen years old and I refuse to just back down and sacrifice what I want my life to be! I want to be an author, I want to travel and go to college, I want to do normal things - make mistakes! This isn't ok, and you are not the master of me!'

'Bella this is a pack,' interjected Jake, 'you can't just go off – what about Paul?!'

'If the imprint gods found me then I'm sure they can find a decent substitute!'

Almost before she had finished talking she was being whipped around and pulled into Paul's clothed chest.

This had been the first time that he'd shown her affection, albeit possessive, since she had refused the pack rules, and the sudden touch startled her, shocked her into silence. 'Don't fucking say that. You are mine Bella, mine – do you hear me? I don't give a shit if it upsets you but that is the plain fucking truth of the matter is that you're mine and I'm yours, and you're a fucking idiot if you think that there will ever by another mate for me. You're it Bella, and I won't let you leave!.'

'But you don't get to make me stay Paul!' She answered, trying hard not to think about how warm he was or how good he smelt. Having him this close took a pressure of her chest, but at the same time she knew that that reaction could only be another way of him controlling her. She wiggled out of his hold. 'It's my choice and this is way too much! Just think about it – you don't even know me, how is it ok for you to feel this way about me? It's wrong!'

'Its nature Bella, the sun rises, the world spins, you're my fucking imprint, and it's about time you started acting like it!'

'Paul might not have expressed it that elegantly, but he's right,' Sam added. 'Tonight won't happen again.'

'You don't have the right-'

'Yes we do!' Sam roared, a yell that silenced her, and silenced everyone else in the room. The other men pulled their imprints closer as they tasted their scent taint with fear. 'You are an imprint and tonight won't happen again!' he moved closer to her, and she trembled, helpless under his stare. 'You are to be accompanied everywhere, Charlie is to be informed of the pack, and then you're fucking moving down here.'

'You can't –'

'Yes, I can.'

'Bella you don't know how good it feels,' Jess added, interrupting her former friend's shock, 'they love us in a way that's a frickin' miracle! All they need is to keep us safe and –'

Bella snapped.

'Jess, I swear to god if you don't shut the fuck up!'

'Do NOT talk to my mate like that!' Jacob growled, his teeth revealed as he pushed his imprint behind him. No one got to talk to her that way, not even the girl he had once loved.

'ENOUGH!' bellowed Sam, and the timber of control was enough to seize anyone who thought of continuing the argument. 'It has been decided. Billy will speak to Charlie in the morning. Tonight you will sleep here, in the spare bedroom.'

'Sam –'

'NO BELLA. No arguments. It is final.'

And it was.

It was like a dream, and Bella couldn't understand how the girls in golden cages could stand this.

Weak, in need of comfort, she turned and moved into Paul's chest.

She let his smell overcome her, and, though damaged, though betrayed, though desperate - felt a peace.

The pressure on her chest fell away.

It was a long night in the Uley household. Bella was escorted to the spare room, patrols were resumed, and Paul stayed vigilant outside her door, listening to her heartbeat, remaining attentive to every breath.

He was so fucking angry with her, and it was taking every fear of her leaving again to stop him from hunting down the boy he had found her with. But he didn't trust her, so he couldn't risk it. Sat on the floor, he leaned his head back onto the red wood – just another barrier between him and his mate.

He just didn't understand Bella. She was his, the scars on her body proved it, the way their scents mingled was undeniable – everyone knew it, everyone accepted it but her. Why couldn't she be as happy with it as all the other fucking imprints, why did she torture him?!

His wolf was restless in her presence, it had found peace in her bed, with her body, but now that their link was being questioned – it wanted more.

It wanted everything.

It needed everything.

Paul needed her, and he couldn't stand down anymore. Earlier, holding her in his arms for the first time in weeks, when she had instinctively sought comfort in his touch – he needed that again, needed her to want him. His wolf was a predator, and until his prey was assured, he couldn't back down from what he wanted. She was unbearable, a fire now uncontrollable.

He heard her move around the room, and the sound of the ensuite shower turning on.

He stood up, floorboards squeaking, and let himself into the room.