A/N As always, thank you to everyone who is reading the story. I've now set up a Facebook page for my writing, which will include updates, photos to illustrate the stories and notes on future plans. Feel free to check it out and follow me:- facebook com / hankslady

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

I kept telling myself I was being unreasonable, that Edward was mine and I would now have him for centuries rather than decades, that he was just yards away from me and that I was lucky to have someone with such a heart of gold. Zara was distraught over Emmett; everybody could feel and hear her pain and Edward was the only one who seemed to be able to help her with his silent comfort, but reminding myself of this over and over didn't make me feel better. My chest ached and I continued to pace and sweat, watching the clock as the hour hand worked its way around and around and still I remained alone. My wolf was lurking just below the surface, growling at the situation, anxious to come out and I was tempted to leave the house and release him, but then I would only be further away from Edward.

"Fuck!" I hissed under my breath. He must know how I was feeling. He knew exactly how an Imprint felt; I had described it to him before and he had felt it too in a milder form, but he probably thought it was a gradual thing like it had been the first time. I had managed not to let on the extent of what I was feeling earlier, but maybe I should have told him; maybe I should just go tell him now that it was killing me. Saying that I was jealous seemed to have made light of things.

I talked myself out of it quickly. Edward was doing what he could to help his sister-in-law feel better and if he knew how I suffered, it would only make him feel guilty and torn. I needed to do something constructive to pass the time and take my mind off of it as best I could and when I thought about this, I realised there was plenty that I should have been doing.

I was now Alpha and had a small pack on the Reservation which I hadn't yet addressed properly. They wouldn't know whether I intended to take the role seriously, or if Wolf and Quil should continue following Liam, despite the fact that he had already stepped down in front of the others. Whether or not there would ever be another threat to deal with, I still needed to take responsibility and talk to the boys.

In addition, I had to talk to Wolf alone and that was something I wasn't looking forward to. I knew he wouldn't want to talk to me about anything, much less his uncle's abuse, but it needed to be addressed. Even if Wolf was safe from it now, it would still be affecting him and the man could be doing the same thing to other kids in the school.

I opened the door and slowly headed along the landing to Zara's room, tapping lightly on the door. Edward opened it in a second and I glanced past him, noticing her sitting on the floor in a corner with her eyes closed, her face a mask of agony. Her eyes snapped open suddenly and met mine and a look of surprise and then remorse touched her features.

"Edward..." she murmured.

He glanced over his shoulder, but didn't say anything.

"I just wanted to let you know I'm going over to the Reservation," I said. "I need to have a proper talk to the boys; especially Wolf."

"You'll do great," Edward said at once.

"I'm not so sure about that, but I need to do something."

"I'll see you later then."

He leaned in closer and brushed his lips over mine briefly and I sighed with relief before I stepped back and closed the door again. I jogged down the stairs and passed a couple of men fitting a new front door as I went out. Poor Emmett; he had fitted a new bedroom door for Edward and me in minutes and these guys had been at it for hours.

It was as I ran down the porch steps to the driveway that I noticed something was different; something that I had overlooked until now. I was running straight and without any effort; my leg, with its permanent limp, seemed as good as new. I headed around the corner of the house at a run, paying attention to the way my leg moved and how my foot landed and confirmed that it was definitely better. I wasn't dragging my foot slightly the way I had been and I smiled to myself. I should have known there was a possibility this would happen, but it had been the last thing on my mind up to now.

I approached the group of parked vehicles, but then hesitated. My wolf was still anxious to be released and I knew if I phased, Stuart or Liam would be able to give me something to wear. I stepped out of sight behind Emmett's truck and quickly shed my clothes, leaving them there for my return and then moved away from the vehicle so that I didn't cause any damage when I phased. I didn't even have to think about it; the animal burst out of me in an explosion of fur, claws and teeth in a second and I found myself panting and baring my teeth at nothing again. I shut my mouth and swallowed, looking around me and realising that immediately I felt better. I still ached for Edward, but the discomfort was less, as any type of pain was in wolf form, except for the loss of an Imprint.

I took off at a steady lope in the direction of the Reservation, taking the time to acknowledge the feel of my wolf's powerful muscles moving me forwards, the thump of my large paws on the ground, the feel of the breeze ruffling my fur and I allowed myself to enjoy being this creature that I had hoped so much was still inside of me somewhere. Finally he had emerged and I could call on him any time I wanted. I could serve as a protector if needed; I could hunt with Edward; I could be with him physically without him having to worry about hurting me the way he had for the past year. I would celebrate my birthdays the same way the Cullens did, but I would remain twenty-three physically and finally, I could stop worrying that I would leave my vampire behind. I felt a pang of longing in my chest, but I determinedly suppressed it. Edward wasn't going anywhere; the Imprint was causing me physical pain, but I would get over it and simply miss him the way I had before when we were apart.

I realised I had already reached the Reservation and I slowed my pace and trotted to the Clearwater-Calls' house, keeping off the still unmarked road, although no one would have been surprised to see me. A hundred years ago, only the elders and close families of the pack had known about us, but now it was common knowledge that there was the potential for wolves to make an appearance and I doubted it would be long before everybody knew that three of their boys and the descendant of the original Jacob had phased.

Liam and Quil were in the yard sitting at the picnic table, wearing only cut-offs and greedily making their way through a large plate of freshly baked cookies. I halted nearby and Liam quickly sprang up and went indoors, returning seconds later with a pair of jog pants, their elasticated waist more suited to fit my bigger frame. I phased back quickly and put the pants on before I sat down and helped myself to a cookie.

"Hey, guys. I'm sorry I've taken so long to get over here."

"It's ok, we thought you'd need to be with Edward for a while."

"Well...um...he's busy right now. That's no excuse, though, I should have come over right away."

"You Imprinted," Quil said simply as if that explained everything.

"Yes and it's a little different from the first time around. You know how you feel, Liam? Multiply that by ten times. I don't know why it's so intense so fast - I can only think that it's because I already loved Edward so much."

"Wow," Liam said. "Will how I feel get stronger?"

I nodded. "It'll become a phsyical pain when you go too long without seeing her."

"I'm almost glad it didn't happen to me," Quil said.

"There's time yet," Liam grinned. "It's the first time you see the person after you first phase, isn't it, Jake?"

"Yeah. So, where's Wolf?"

"He took off. He's still blocking us from his head," Liam told me. "He didn't phase back when we got here; he just ran off towards the beach. He's been gone hours. I called his house, but his Dad said he hasn't seen him."

"I better go looking for him," I said at once. "I'm hoping I can help him."

"Do you know what's wrong?"

"Yes, Edward read his mind when he was off guard. I'm not going to tell you guys; if Wolf wants you to know, that's up to him."

"It's bad, isn't it? He's always so angry, but kind of scared too."

"He'll be ok, I'm sure of it." I got to my feet again. "He's not on his own any more, that's all you need to know. Can you get me another pair of pants for him?"

"Sure." Liam ran into the house again and brought out a pair of cargo shorts, which I folded and tucked under my arm before I set off on foot towards the beach, hoping that my reassurance hadn't been misguided. Would I be able to help Wolf, or would he simply refuse to talk; refuse to acknowledge what had happened even though Edward had seen his thoughts?

It didn't take me long to find Wolf; he was prowling around on the rocks where me and the guys had fooled around together so many years before and I approached him warily, wondering if I would have done better to phase first. I halted twenty feet from him and waited for him to notice me, which he did a moment later. His head swung towards me and he let out a low growl.

"Phase back and talk to me," I said, tossing the shorts in his direction so that they landed on a dry patch of sand between the two of us. He glared at me and didn't move. "Maybe you don't like the fact that suddenly I'm Alpha, but I can't help that. Apparently it's my destiny," I went on. "If anyone should feel resentment about it, I would have expected it to be Liam, but he's fine. Stop fighting me, Wolf; let me help you."

A long moment passed without him moving a muscle, watching me unblinkingly with his teeth showing slightly. Then suddenly he walked slowly forwards to where the shorts lay, turned his back on me and phased, quickly putting the garment on before he turned again.

"What do you want?"

"Let's sit." I gestured at the sand and sat down cross-legged, waiting for him to join me, which he did with a heavy sigh.

"Is this where you tell me to mind what you say and control myself? Defer to you like I'm one of your minions...?"

"No. It's where I ask you to trust me and let me help you with the situation you're in."

"What the fuck?" He was on his feet again in a second. "That fucking leech told you, didn't he?" he snarled. "I told him not to!"

"Edward's my husband; we don't keep secrets from each other," I said calmly. "We just want to help."

"Well, I don't want your help and I certainly don't want his! Stay away from me!"

"Wolf, sit down," I said quietly.

"Fuck off!"

"Sit!"

His butt dropped onto the sand quickly and he glowered and avoided my eyes.

"I don't want to do this," he said through his teeth.

"I know you don't, but you can't go on the way you have been. I know you're scared..."

"Yeah, scared I'll phase and rip his fucking head off if I ever see him again! I'd probably end up in jail the rest of my life!"

"Wolf, you know he can't hurt you again, but what about other kids? He's a teacher, surrounded by young boys every day. Would you want anyone else to go through this?"

"Fuck, no!"

"Then we need to deal with it...together."

He looked up slowly and met my eyes.

"Why would you want to help me?"

"Because I hate to see anybody hurting if I can do something to help; because I'm your Alpha and I have a responsibility to you; because I think there's a nice guy in there somewhere, who's lashing out at everybody because he doesn't know what else to do."

The boy chewed his lip and blew his breath out slowly, dropping his eyes away again and staring at his toes as he dug them into the sand.

"How? I mean, how can we fix this?"

"We're gonna have to talk to your Dad first..."

"No!" Wolf exclaimed in horror, eyes wide. "You can't tell him! Please...he'll probably kick me out. He'd probably think I'm a fag. No offence," he added a touch grudgingly.

"It's obvious to me that your father cares about you," I said. "Maybe he's a bit unorthodox, but he's proud of you. He won't blame you for being a victim, Wolf."

"How do you know that? You don't know him. He brought me up not to take shit from anyone; to beat hell out of anybody who bothered me. How's he gonna feel when he finds out that I...that stuff happened to me and I didn't fucking do anything? I tried to, but...the guy's huge, bigger than you even; and he told me people would find out, that my Dad would hate me if I didn't...if I fought him."

I cringed inwardly and my wolf struggled to burst out of me again. My blood boiled at the thought of the boy in front of me being treated in such a way by a family member; someone who was in a position of trust. Wolf had said he feared he may kill the man and I knew exactly how he felt; I knew his father would too.

"You were - you are - a child, Wolf," I said. "Sixteen might legally be classed as adult, but you're still growing up. Your father won't blame you for this; my worry is how I'll stop him killing your uncle and get him to deal with it properly."

"Maybe you should deal with it," Wolf said slowly. "I mean...my Dad hates him anyway; they never got on even when my Mom was around. I don't want him to go to jail either."

"It's your uncle that should be locked up."

"There's only one way that would happen; I would have to talk to the cops, wouldn't I? Maybe go to court? Things like that don't stay on the Res; they only deal with minor stuff here. I can't do that. Then everybody would know and I couldn't bear it." He almost seemed to shrink in front of me as he dropped his face into his hands. "My Dad would probably make us move away, he'd be so ashamed."

"Perhaps I could go talk to your Dad first," I suggested. "You could stay with Liam."

"You'd do that?"

"Yes, if you want me to."

There was another long silence while he thought about it and then he nodded slowly. "Ok, then."

We walked slowly back to Liam's house to find that Quil had gone home. Liam was still eating, a plate of muffins now in front of him and he invited Wolf to sit down and have some. I left them to it, borrowed a shirt and set off on foot for the Lahotes' house with some trepidation. I wasn't afraid of Wolf Senior, but I was certainly apprehensive about what he would do when I broke the news to him. No man would want to hear that his son had been sexually abused and I knew I would have a hard time preventing him going after his brother-in-law. I felt a little out of my depth, but at the same time I was responsible for Wolf as one of my pack and somehow I had to make things better for him.

When I arrived, Wolf's father opened the door, a sandwich in one hand. "He's not home yet," he grunted.

"I know that, he's with Liam. I'm here to see you."

He stepped back to let me in and I got right to the point. The Lahotes had never been ones to appreciate beating around the bush and his reaction was exactly as I expected. The plate he had picked up, which held another sandwich, sailed across the room and shattered on the wall and a string of expletives burst from his lips, some that I hadn't even heard before. The man's face was purple, veins standing out on his forehead and along his muscular arms as he clenched his fists and I knew if he'd had an active gene in him, he would have phased in a second. He was ready to race over to his brother-in-law's house and beat him to death and it took some effort to stop him and make him listen to me.

I told him exactly what Wolf had said to me - that putting himself in a position where he could potentially end up in jail for assault, if not worse, wouldn't help his son and that he would do better to get over to Liam's house to reassure his boy that he wasn't ashamed or disgusted with him.

"This isn't his fault!" Wolf exclaimed angrily. "How could he think I'd blame him? I'm going to see that fucker right now...!"

"No!" I stepped between him and the door and looked him in the eye. "I know the Tribe protects their own in circumstances like this and they'd all support you, but there are some things that can't be covered up. I will go and see your brother-in-law myself and you...take care of your boy."

"Who the fuck are you to tell me how to deal with this?" Wolf growled. "Get out of my way!"

"Wolf, when there's a pack, the Alpha is second only to the Chief," I reminded him. "In a battle, I'd overrule even him if I needed to. Listen to me. What do you hope to achieve by seeing the man yourself? Putting him in the hospital?"

"In a grave, more like!" he spat.

"Your boy needs you; you won't be any good to him in a cell. Besides, getting yourself arrested could potentially bring everything else out into the open and Wolf doesn't want that. Nor do you if you think about it properly. One of his biggest worries was that everyone on the Reservation would learn what had happened to him and you'd feel like you had to leave."

"Hmph."

"Come back with me, talk to Wolf and I'll deal with...what's his name anyway? I don't even know," I realised.

"Marvin Rivers. He lives in the white-washed house at the end of North Drive."

Wolf Senior drove me over to Liam's house in his truck and we headed around to the rear yard, finding the two boys still sitting at the picnic table. Wolf looked up anxiously at the appearance of his father and seemed about to bolt if he thought it necessary. There was a long moment of silence where the pair just stared at each other and then the father's face relaxed slightly.

"Come on, son, we're going home," he grunted and when Wolf got up and went to him, a huge hand landed on the boy's shoulder to steer him back to the truck. I heaved a sigh of relief.

"What are you going to do?" Liam asked.

"Did he tell you?"

"Yeah. That sick bastard..."

"Alright, Liam. I'm going to see him."

"Do you want me to come too? I guess I'm...Beta now?"

"Yeah, you are, but no...I'll do this on my own." I left him and again set off on foot. The Rivers house was some distance away, but at a fast trot it would only take me fifteen minutes.

Marvin Rivers opened the door almost immediately after I knocked as if he'd been standing on the other side of it and I shoved my hands into the pockets of Liam's jog pants in an effort to stop myself decking him before I even opened my mouth. He was a big man, a couple inches taller than me and packing a lot more muscle, but I had the strength of my wolf on my side and I knew that if it came to it, he wouldn't stand a chance. His eyes narrowed as he looked at me and then he raised an eyebrow.

"Yes?"

"You know who I am?"

"Should I?"

I wasn't sure if he knew or not and decided to assume that he didn't for the moment.

"I'm Jacob Black, your nephew's Alpha. Presumably you do know he phased."

"Uh huh. What do you want?"

"A word. Indoors. I don't think you'll want to risk your neighbours hearing what I have to say."

His expression darkened, but he stepped back and let me into the house. I closed the door quietly, struggling to stay calm as I imagined this monster in front of me threatening and hurting Wolf.

"Go on," he prompted arrogantly.

"Wolf talked to me."

"About?"

"I'm sure you can guess. His father knows too; it was all I could do to stop him coming over here himself."

"You think I'm scared of my sister's dick of a husband?"

"Maybe not, but perhaps you'll take notice of me. I'm sure you don't want Old Quil finding out what you've been up to, or anyone else on the Res. You know what a close-knit community this is..."

"And who are they gonna believe, huh? Someone who's been here their whole life? A teacher - pillar of the community as it were? Or you...a freak of nature who only recently showed up."

"Pillar of the community?" I found I couldn't control myself any longer and somehow, without me realising I had done it, my hand was squeezing his throat as I pinned him to the wall. His hands automatically went to my wrist to pry me off and he found it impossible.

"Listen to me!" I growled. "I may not have lived here my whole life - this time - but I am responsible for Wolf just as his father is. I'm a teacher too in a way and that means I have a responsibility to all the kids around here, whether I teach in their school or not. The first thing I will do tomorrow is make sure that the head at the Res school knows exactly what kind of person he's entrusting his students to and that means it'll go on your teaching record. You won't get a job anywhere in this State and you won't have a place on the Res either."

"Fucking let go of me!" the man gasped.

"Listen!" I repeated and the back of his head crashed into the wall as I pulled him towards me a few inches and then slammed him backwards. "If you're still here the next time I come looking, I'll do more than talk."

"You wouldn't dare...from what I hear, you got too much to lose." Apparently he knew more than it appeared.

"I'd lose nothing. What would the evidence be, huh? A man mauled by a wild animal? Happens all the time - haven't you been watching the news? A bear...a wolf maybe? Don't think I won't. I'll do whatever it takes to protect my pack and anyone else on the Reservation and that isn't just restricted to rogue vampires; it includes sadistic, perverted child-abusers!"

"You're crazy," Marvin panted as I finally let go of him and stepped away.

"I'm protective. Leave the Res and the worst that will happen is that you'll have to change your career. Stay and you take your chances - not just with me, but the whole Tribe."

"Fuck."

"I'll leave you to think on that. I'll be stopping by some time soon to see if you're still here." I opened the door again and walked out, finding that now my temper was subsiding, my hands had begun to shake. I had always been a generous, caring person and it was only the animal within me and my outrage over Wolf's treatment that had brought out such aggression. I breathed deep as I headed slowly back to the Clearwater-Calls', finding it somewhat difficult to believe that Marvin Rivers had shown no remorse whatsoever. He didn't seem to think he'd done anything wrong and had actually been smug until he realised I'd given him no option.

Liam came out of the house to meet me as I headed up the drive and we halted a little distance from the house.

"What happened? I didn't tell Mom and Dad anything."

"Good, best keep it that way unless Wolf says otherwise. I saw his uncle; he'll be leaving La Push pretty soon and he won't get another teaching job in this State; hopefully outside of it too. I'll deal with that tomorrow."

"Wow. I wondered if you might...maul him, or something."

"I struggled not to."

"The kids at school all hated him," Liam said. "I don't know of anybody else he was...doing anything to, but he was an asshole as a coach; made those who didn't do so well feel like shit. They're all going to be glad he's gone."

Now that the main part of the problem had been dealt with, I began to feel deflated and the pain in my chest, which had been masked by my anger, quickly returned. I needed to get back to the Cullens' and see Edward if I had to drag him out of Zara's room to do it.

I stripped off Liam's clothes and placed them on the picnic table, quickly phasing again. It was almost dark and I raced off the Reservation and headed in a straight line to the Cullens' house, my heart beginning to pound in anticipation of seeing Edward. My paws flew over the ground and I ran at full speed, covering the distance in only a few minutes, having to stand still to catch my breath before I was able to phase back and find the clothes I had left outside.

I found only Esme in the kitchen. She told me Carlisle was at the hospital and the others out hunting with the exception of Zara and Edward and I immediately knew where to find them. Disappointed and feeling the painful tightness in my chest increase, I ran up the stairs and went to my room. I expected to spend more time alone, but before I had even got in the room, Zara's door opened.

"Go to him," I heard her say. "I am fine, really. You've been amazing, but your man needs you. I know you've been keeping out of his head, but I wasn't earlier. This Imprint thing is killing him."

"Oh, God," Edward groaned.

"Go on. I'm going downstairs to spend some time with Esme. Really, don't worry about me."

I heaved an enormous sigh of relief and walked into the room, my pulse quickening again as Edward appeared a moment later in a blur of movement, closing the door behind him.

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

In another second he was in my arms, his cold cheek pressed against mine, icy hands on the back of my neck as he held tight to me. I wrapped both arms around his waist and just hugged him as an amazing sense of peace settled over me. It almost felt as if a week had passed since I phased, with everything that had happened since, but at last it was just me and my husband, wolf and vampire again, at least for a few hours.