Charlie stood stock still. Aside from a twitch that was starting in his right eye, every muscle in his body had gone rigid.

There was a giant wolf in front of him. A giant wolf that used to be Jacob Black. He and Leah Clearwater had arrived at his door holding hands with looks of apprehension on their faces. Before he could ask them any questions, they dragged him into the woods in his backyard and Jake began to strip.

They were telling him that everything was going to be okay and that this was all to help him, and then in the blink of an eye Jake erupted into a giant wolf.

Charlie could barely hear Leah calmly trying to explain everything and he could hardly see the big brown wolf as it laid down on the ground to seem less threatening. His mind was racing a thousand miles a minute. Everything he knew was a lie, his whole perception of the world had been shattered.

If the son and daughter of his two lifelong friends where a part of this, there's no telling how many were out there. His mind snapped back to the present at the sound of his daughter's name.

"What's Bella got to do with this?" Leah looked towards the wolf, unsure if she should be the one to say anything about it. Jake went further into the woods to shift back and get dressed before he emerged with his hands up to appear non-threatening.

"She's not like us, she's human." Charlie ran his hand over his face to calm down before he finally turned to look at Jake. They locked eyes and Charlie sighed in defeat. They were just as wide and brown as they had been the day he was born.

Charlie remembered the first time he looked into them. He had been the third person to ever hold Jacob, after his parents. The first thing he ever said to him was "Your eyes are just like my daughters. Big, brown, and full of wonder. You two have got your whole lives ahead of you. You're gonna take the world by storm. Just try not to give your dad too much trouble." Baby Jake had let out a soft giggle at that last line. Charlie chuckled too. "Oh no. You're gonna be a handful, aren't you?" To that, he laughed louder and kicked his feet, telling Charlie everything he needed to know.

Jacob's eyes were harder now. He had grown up, endured hardships. He'd lost that innocence and naivety. He was smarter and more responsible. There was still some warmth in his eyes, though, they weren't cold and empty. Which meant whatever he knew, and whatever he'd seen, hadn't taken the joy out of his life, which Charlie was grateful for.

"Okay. So what then, she knows about this? For how long? And where is she?" Jacob hesitated on his last question, which made him start to worry all over again. "Jacob, where is Bella?" Jake and Leah gave each other a long look before Jacob sighed and hung his head low. "I don't know." Leah reached out and grabbed Charlie by the elbow before he advanced on Jacob. "Just give us a second and we'll explain everything." They both turned to Jacob expectantly. He was rubbing the back of his neck. He looked to Leah with panic in his eyes. "I don't even know where to start." "At the beginning." Charlie offered in a calmer voice. They all took a moment and sat down together on a fallen tree.

"You remember the stories we tell at every bonfire, the Quileute legends? Those aren't just stories. They're our history. When our ancestors first encountered the Cold Ones, these pale bloodthirsty monsters that were killing their people, they were blessed with a connection to the spirit wolf that gave them the ability to fight back. It made them strong and fast enough to kill those creatures and protect their land. That ability ran through their veins and they passed it on through every generation."

Charlie let out another loud sigh as he ran his hands through his hair. He'd heard those legends off and on since he was fifteen, he knew them by heart. Sarah Black had recited them like bedtime stories to all three of her children and Bella whenever she spent the night. He never thought of them as false, he believed that they where the history of the Quileute people passed down from generation to generation. But taking them at face value, instead of symbolic or metaphoric as he had all his life, It almost seemed obvious.

"We aren't born werewolves. It only happens in response to their kind. It's like our bodies are reacting to a virus. When a cold one is near, we can feel it. We sense the danger and our bodies change. We get this fever and at the end of it, we've changed into these creatures that can fight off the threat. We can protect our people."

Charlie let everything he'd just said sink in for a little bit before he finally asked the question he wanted to get to. "How does Bella fit into all of this?" Jacob took a moment to figure out how to best explain it before he dived back in.

"The Cullens are cold ones, or what you'd call vampires. They've been here before when my grandfather was the Chief and the Alpha. They claimed that they were different from the others of their kind, that they meant no harm. They didn't feed on humans, only from animals, and they wanted to live as normal of a life as they could. We made a treaty with them. They could live in town and we'd each stay on our side of the border. As long as they kept to themselves, didn't hurt or turn anyone, and didn't drink from humans, we wouldn't attack.

They left before my father was born, and they returned three years ago. The treaty was still in place, but their presence kick-started the change. By the time they left again, there were five already turned and three starting to get the fever."

Charlie had always thought the Cullens were a little weird. They were nice enough and contributed to the town, though they seemed to keep to themselves. When Bella had first started getting close to them, he'd been more focused on her having her first boyfriend than the family itself. Jacob took a deep breath and shot an apprehensive look at Leah. He knew this was going to be the hardest part to digest for him. He decided to just rip it off like a band-aid.

"Bella was their friend, she loved them. She knew who they were and what they were and she loved them anyway. She wanted to be like them. It's one of the reasons why they left because they didn't want her to be one of them. Outside of it being against the treaty, I guess Edward didn't love her the same way she loved him. But the damage was already done. They'd encountered other vampires when Bella was with them, and one of them went after her. She ran to Phoenix to keep you safe, and the Cullens managed to kill the one that hurt her, but Bella got banged up in the process. The other two waited until after the Cullens were gone. One of them showed up first, unaware that Bella wasn't defenseless. When we killed him, the other one ran to Seattle and started killing and turning people to make her army. Vampires that are just turned are extremely dangerous. They're the strongest they'll ever be, and extra volatile. She brought her army here, to kill us wolves so that she could get to Bella, but it didn't work out for her. We killed her army and she died without having ever laid a finger on Bella. That was this morning."

Charlie shot up from the tree they were seated on and began to pace. He remembered the fight they had the night she left for Phoenix. The call he got a few days later, that she'd fallen and was in the hospital had scared him half to death. She'd always been clumsy, and though he never thought too much about how she'd always seemed to get hurt when she was with them. It was partially because he'd been distracted by his gratitude towards Carlisle for always patching her up for free. Now all he could think about was what horrors she must have seen. The number of lies she'd told him was staggering. He was starting to fear that he didn't know her at all.

He turned back to ask them all the questions that were bouncing around in his head. The last thing Jacob had said was still at the forefront of his mind.

"This morning, you guys fought an evil vampire army that was trying to kill my daughter." Jake and Leah stayed silent, knowing he wasn't so much asking for confirmation as he was trying to grasp it all by saying out loud. "You killed them all before they could even touch her."

"Not all of them." Leah offered a clarification, grabbing his attention. Jacob quickly elaborated to combat the panic that was seeping into his expression. "Bella made a deal with one of them. Some of the vampires refused to fight us. They either left or fought against their leader. We killed all the ones that advanced on us and didn't heed our warnings. The leader is also dead. The only vampires that remain in the area are ones that we know will not cause her or anyone else any harm while they're here."

Charlie started pacing again. "How did she make a deal with them? Where did they go? Shouldn't you have killed them, won't they just kill other humans? Why are some of them still here? You said that the leader was dead, not that you killed her. Did her army do that?" He stopped again, though this time it was more like his body had been seized by a shiver of terror as he finally put something together. " The first thing you told me was that you had no idea where Bella was. What happened that you left out, what aren't you telling me?"

Jacob and Leah stood and moved closer to him. Charlie and Jake locked eyes yet again, as Jake tried to speak as calmly as he could.

"At the end of the battle, a vampire took her." Leah grabbed hold of his arm once again, to temper his reaction as she continued. "She's safe. The vampire means her no harm."

"How do you know that!" Charlie raised his voice for the first time since all of this had started. His voice cracked and his shoulders sagged like he'd just lost all of his energy. They stood in silence as his words traveled through the trees, and some birds took their leave at that the disturbance.

Jacob squeezed his eyes shut, reminding Charlie of all the times he'd done it as a child. It was always before revealing what was, back then, a rather adorable secret. It gave Charlie some comfort and brought his heart rate back down a little.

"I don't know how to explain this, really. It's sort of a wolf thing, an instinct or an energy that I can recognize and understand." Leah rubbed small circles on his back as she took over the explanation.

"We call it imprinting. It's how a wolf finds their soulmate, their perfect match. One look and the two are bonded. We don't know much about vampires, outside of how to fight and kill them and some of the stories Bella's told us, but we assume it's a similar concept."

Charlie rubbed at his temples as he tried to find a rational thought to grab onto. Everything was swimming around in his head and he felt like he was going to drown. Jacob was doing slightly better. Having gone through everything had left him in a state of dejection.

Leah looped arms with both men and began to guide them towards the house. "What are you doing?" Charlie asked softly as he walked alongside her. "We're getting in your car and going to the res. There is a cookout going on, to celebrate our victory in battle and everyone returning home. All of the wolves, their imprints, and the elders are there. There's good food, and a shit ton of answers to all of your questions from people who are probably better equipped to answer them."

Charlie let out a small chuckle as he dipped into the house to grab a few things and joined them at the cruizer. He took a moment to give Jacob a small smile and to pat him on the back of the head like he'd always done. Jacob gave a small smile in return that grew into a smirk as Leah called shotgun.

The party was in full swing when they arrived. Jake and Leah made a beeline for the food, leaving Charlie at the front of the house. He took everything in, from the music playing in the backyard to the large amount of shirtless young men stuffing their faces and the handful of them snuggled up to a woman. They were all laughing and joking with each other, welcoming Jacob and Leah into the conversation.

"Chief." Charlie turned at the sound of his best friend's voice calling him their shared nickname. Billy's eyes were hesitant, matching Harry's right beside him. He could feel the eyes on him from all over the room, as everyone waited to see how he would react to them. Emilly walked forward, grabbing his attention. He made a point to look her in the eyes as she handed him a quickly made up plate and a welcoming smile. He took it and nodded his thanks as he turned back to his friends. He moved to sit alongside them, a teasing smile on his face as he drew out the silence. "Hey, Chief." He finally returned the sentiment and the tension left the room as the earlier conversations started up again. Tears welled up in Billy Black's eyes as they sat together. They ate and talked all night, about everything they could think of.

Another chapter out.

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