Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

A/N: So yes, you guys are indeed seeing this correctly in your inboxes. *winks*

First and foremost, let me offer all of you the biggest apology imaginable for the amount of time this story was on hiatus. Between a busy life and writer's block, things kept getting in the way.

BUT I am posting this chapter as an "official" notification that HoH is OFF hiatus. Woot! It took awhile, but I finally have my groove back on this story (and a chapter cushion on top of that, which is even better news, right?)

A little catch-up on where we left off: Leah is home. She's received a chilly reception from her mother and Paul, and a conflicted one from her brother. She's met Grace. Last chapter, she had dinner at Jake and Bella's with Embry, and Jake convinced her to go to Sam and tell her that she was back before he was forced to at a pack meeting the following morning. She did go to Sam, which Embry (both man and wolf) had a bit of trouble dealing with. This chapter picks up at that pack meeting on Friday morning, the day after the last chapter, and keeps us moving right toward Seth's wedding.

On that note, I just want to say THANK YOU to all of you who didn't lose hope, those who sent kind notes to check in and those of you back here reading now! I heart you all madly and can't wait to hear from you again. *hugs*

Suggested listening: "Into the Unknown" by Blackchords, "Skull & Bones" by A.A. Bondy, "Nara" by Alt-J

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The longer Embry stood where he was—the longer the silence bore down on them all—the more he studied the dusty concrete beneath his feet.

There was no way to see how the others reacted, not without looking. There was no way to tell what or who they looked at or if any of them were close to speaking.

It didn't matter, though, because Embry wasn't stupid enough to let himself think there was nothing to say—to believe words wouldn't come at some point.

Words weren't necessary, though—not in that moment.

He heard their heartbeats. He sensed the emotion rolling off his pack mates in waves, creating a tension so thick inside the garage it was tangible. Emotions that strong carried their own scents, heavy with hundreds of unspoken words.

Still, nobody dared move, and that included Embry. For what seemed like an eternity, nobody spoke, and the strain grew worse.

Arms crossed in front of his chest, Embry shifted uncomfortably, keeping his head down but willing himself to lift his gaze. Heaving a deep breath, he surveyed the loose circle gathered in the garage's middle bay. One by one, he took his time, eyes lingering on his brothers.

Quil stood at Embry's left, leaning against the company truck parked in the bay closest to the office. His stance loosened, but there was apprehension there, too. Embry noticed his furrowed brow, the way Quil shifted as he ran a quick, distracted hand through his disheveled curls. Next to him, Paul's face was hard, his body rigid as he, too, gaped at the floor. Jared—one of the few members of the pack who didn't know of Leah's return ahead of the meeting—looked completely shell-shocked. Brady and Collin—the former sitting in the second company truck's passenger seat, his arm resting on the open door, and the latter perched on the hood—appeared confused and almost indifferent.

Seth wasn't there. With the wedding, Jake believed he had enough on his plate, but Embry figured it was due to something else. Jake knew the others would have questions, opinions on Leah's return, and he wanted to keep the meeting open for honesty. Also, there likely was another part of Jake that wanted to shield Seth from that honesty.

And there was Sam.

Embry couldn't place Sam's reaction. Regardless of how felt, he was calling on the skills he once used as alpha to hide it, his face overcome with an unnerving stoicism. Still, the longer Embry stared, the more Sam's eyes betrayed him. So did his heartbeat, both revealing Sam as anything but unfazed by the news.

If Embry had to guess, a part of Sam was still unhinged from the night before.

The night before…

Embry swallowed hard, pushing down a fiery anger as it reignited inside him—that dominant, aggressive instinct was uncharacteristic to the man, but it threatened to burn away his insides. It begged to be released all the same. Fuck, he hated it, but he understood it as well.

It was a side of him that surfaced when responding to a threat, pushing an unbearable heat through his veins and making the wolf inside him ache to do what he was designed to do.

To protect the people he cared most about.

It wasn't the time, though, and it wasn't Embry's place—not there, not yet, no matter what he told himself.

Jake leaned on the tool bench pushed against the wall, both arms crossed in front of his chest, his stance authoritative and commanding. His feet planted firmly on the floor, shoulder-width apart, he waited, maintaining eye contact with each of them in turn as he allowed the last words he spoke to sink in.

Most of you know, but in case you didn't… Leah is home.

Embry's eyes closed as he played the words back in his head. It hit him hard. He wasn't sure why, but it was unmistakable. He already knew everything—better than anyone—but somehow, it was different. He guessed it had more to do with the moment the entire pack heard the words—and it was a pack Leah was still a part of, no matter how long she'd been away from it.

And the pack would have questions. They would want answers, and there was no protecting Leah from that now.

The sound of a throat clearing jerked Embry from his thoughts, and his gaze snapped toward the source of the noise.

From his spot next to Paul, Jared shuffled awkwardly. Wide-eyed, he shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "So what does this mean?"

Embry leaned forward, his stare flitted toward Jake, knowing it was more the other man's place to address the question.

Pursing his lips, Jacob took a deep breath, huffing it out through his nostrils. "I don't know yet," he admitted. "As far as I know, Leah came back for the wedding and when that's over, she'll go home to Chicago." His eyes strayed toward Embry, his expression unwavering before he refocused on Jared. "We've talked about it… what her return might mean for her and for the rest of us… "

"Wait a minute," Paul interrupted, taking a step forward, his jaw tense as he turned a steely glance on their alpha. "Are you saying she's thinking about coming back for good?"

"That's not what I said," Jake argued with a slight shake of his head. "But considering how long she's been away and the fact she finally came home says something… and it should say something to you guys, too, I'd imagine."

"Yeah," Collin huffed from his place atop the truck, flashing Brady a cocky grin that made something inside Embry boil. "That maybe she came back to find a few more faces to fuck up."

Embry bit hard on the inside of his lip, struggling to swallow down the fire clawing at his throat. He also didn't miss how Sam took an off-balance step back the same moment a growl rumbled in Jake's chest, the dominant wolf turning a withering glare toward the younger one.

To be honest, Embry wasn't sure the sound hadn't come from his body.

Regardless, Collin lowered his eyes, tilting his head back and to the side, baring his neck slightly to his alpha—a gesture of submission none of them had to use often.

"As entertaining as I find your sarcasm sometimes, Collin, that will be the first and the last time you say something like that," Jake commanded, eyes narrowing, his voice cool and low and authoritative. "Leah is your family, and your sister through this pack. What happened to her all those years ago could have happened to any one of us. It still could, which means you will respect her, even if I don't expect you to understand since you weren't a part of this pack when she… left."

Sam's jaw tightened at words left unsaid. Remaining silent, he refused to look up.

Paul made a disapproving noise in his throat. "Our sister? Is that the line you're going with, Black? Our sister who left? Why don't we just call a spade a spade here and not tiptoe around this shit—she didn't leave. She ran away. So is that the person you want to talk about? The sister who didn't stay because she couldn't deal with what happened? The one who took off and left us to pick up all the fucking pieces?"

"She had her own pieces to pick up, man," Embry whispered, speaking up from his spot in the loose circle. He peered at Paul out of the corner of his eye. "And we abandoned her, too, so you can stop acting all butt-hurt about it."

"Watch it, Call," Paul seethed, taking a step forward and pointing at Embry in warning. "You can call it abandoning or whatever you want, but you know as well as I do we had no fucking choice!" The pitch of his voice rose, born from a frustration none of them usually allowed to show. They all felt it throughout the years, but it was one they kept at bay as best they could.

It was a difficult thing to explain—what Leah leaving did to the pack dynamic as a whole. It was something they felt the most when they phased—a tangible, throbbing absence. For six years, they'd been off balance as a pack. They were slower… weaker, like they were missing a vital piece of what made them who they were.

The first year had been the worst, the last they spent under Sam's leadership. No one dared speak the words out loud. No one dared ask, but everyone knew—everyone saw the implications of what Leah leaving did to him. There was weight on his thoughts, a distraction, a silent responsibility for the effects each of them felt.

The only time they didn't notice it was when Emily came around, and he tried to keep her near him as much as possible. Regardless, sometimes she wasn't there, and the wolf didn't have the balm to soothe the burn of past regrets. There were times Sam simply couldn't hide it.

The guilt slowly and silently ate Sam alive, a penance from the animal inside for what the man had done to their pack.

Combined with her absence, Sam's inability to lead with a clear head affected them all.

It became clear just how much the weight that missing piece of their pack held when they almost lost Quil to a stray leech that broke off from its coven, ambushing him once he separated from the pack.

Sam hadn't seen it. He had been too slow, trying to figure out an offense. None of them had seen it, but it didn't matter, because it never should have happened.

Aside from several busted ribs, a fractured wrist, and a broken leg, Quil had been fine. To be honest, he took it better than most of them. Still, less than a week after the incident, Jacob and Sam appeared before the tribal council, and Jake announced his desire to step up and take his rightful place at the head of the pack. They were all there, each member of the pack, somber and silent and in agreement.

When the elders looked to Sam, he tipped his head to the ground and nodded the only affirmation he would give, relinquishing his role, the responsibility, and at least a part of the burden he had to shed for the good of them all.

It was done, and the pack moved on. They didn't get angry about it, and they tried to move forward. Sam had given up his claim under the guise of wanting to marry Emily and start a family with her. While it wasn't a lie, it wasn't the entire truth. Regardless, Sam didn't phase as much after the council gave he and Jacob their blessing. Only shifting when he absolutely had to, with that choice came a new kind of guilt, one stemming from not being able to do what the pack required of him, and for not being what they needed to survive.

Embry and the others respected Sam because he was their brother—he was family, whether they approved of his choices or not. Still, Sam had become the pack's weakest link because of those choices, and not a single pack member could shed that.

Under Jacob's leadership, the pack became smarter, more calculating and stronger than before. They adapted and filled in gaps because they had to. They covered the hole in their pack with a loose bandage, and they didn't get angry, because getting angry—like Paul in that moment—wouldn't have done a damn bit of good. It wouldn't have solved their problems as a pack. It wouldn't have returned them to full strength, and it wouldn't have kept them alive.

Above all, it wouldn't have brought Leah home.

Embry hadn't told Leah any of this. He'd given her the sugar-coated version, because he knew she didn't want to hear about Sam's trouble. That, and it wasn't her burden to bear, even though he felt now she was back, she would find out eventually that Sam had paid for what he did more than she realized.

But that still wouldn't shield her from receiving her share of anger, a muted resentment stemming from her decision to leave in the first place.

"Leah didn't give us a choice," Paul pressed on, interrupting Embry's thoughts, "and neither did Seth nor Sue. They knew where she was, but they chose not to tell us."

Jacob blinked in surprise, his frame straightening as he stood his ground. Regaining his composure, his arms tightened across his chest. "That was between their family, Paul. You know this."

"Then what the fuck are we?" Paul spit out, nostrils flaring as he exhaled sharply.

"Ease up, Paul," Quil murmured, his forehead scrunching beneath a frown. "It's not like she didn't have a good reason to get away for a while. We've done okay, in the grand scheme of things, and it seems like she has, too…"

Embry's stomach twisted viciously against Quil's words, and he fought the instinct to interrupt.

"Well, I'm glad," Paul ground out from between clenched teeth. He was on the precipice of allowing his frustration—a pain he rarely let show—get the better of him. As Paul's lips pulled back in a fierce sneer, Embry knew he was far from done.

"Let me tell you just how glad I am that she did okay while she was gone," Paul continued, "but while we're at it, how about we don't talk about the fact she left a gigantic fucking hole in this pack when she left. Let's not talk about how we haven't been at full strength since. Let's not talk about how we've spent the past six years feeling like we're missing a limb because she had to run away to sort through her fucking issues. Let's not talk about the time Quil almost died, just so she could get a pass out of this place to make something of her life while the rest of us stayed behind and picked up the pieces. Or how her mother, who is on the fucking tribal council, and Seth, who's a part of this pack, didn't bat a god damned eye as they watched us do it."

Embry closed his eyes, holding in a breath as Paul's words sent a mixture of red-hot heat and anger through him. Biting down hard on the inside of his cheek, words rose in Embry's chest—words he wanted to say, things he witnessed the others had not. He knew why Paul reacted the way he did—he'd experienced those reasons, too, because he was part of them. He'd experienced it. In fact, he couldn't blame him.

But to Embry, Paul wasn't being fair. All the trouble they'd seen—it wasn't all her fault. And he wanted to tell them that even though she left, Leah had not been okay either, at least not beneath the surface—just like them. He wanted to show them it had not been easy for her, the darkness she allowed herself to be swallowed by, and how she spent the better part of six years taking it on herself.

He wanted to say something because he understood—both sides—in a way the others never would.

Because in reality, they had it easy. There may have been a hole in their pack that made things irrevocably different—it may have affected the pack in ways they never quite figured out how to deal with—but at least they fucking had each other.

At least they had a pack.

Leah didn't have a soul to count on in Chicago, and when everything was said and done, the decision to leave La Push ended up doing her more harm than good.

Which is why he couldn't stop himself, his lips parting as he prepared to speak. He couldn't stop the words that tumbled out on an exhale.

"I found her there."

In the span of a single moment, the entire garage fell eerily silent all over again. Several eyes simultaneously focused on him. Still, even beneath the emotionally-charged air inside the garage, the words remained. Embry studied the floor, trying to comprehend where the fuck the words came from in the first place or why he chose to say them. That much attention on him made his skin crawl, but it was too late.

He opened his mouth, because he knew he would have to say more.

Still, the weight of that many stunned, disbelieving stares made it impossible for him to look up.

"Embry…"

Jake's voice was soft. There was no surprise in it, but Embry detected a hint of caution.

"Dude… what did you say?" Quil's voice beside him was insistent.

Closing his eyes, Embry pulled a deep, strengthening breath into his lungs, holding it for a moment before he released the air in a strained exhale. Somehow, it gave him the courage he needed to look up, to face his brothers, because he couldn't take back what he said.

The first person Embry locked eyes with was Sam, noticing how quickly the other man looked away, dropping his forlorn gaze to the ground to shield himself from the unconscious accusation that no doubt rested in Embry's.

It was too familiar—that moment, and how it lined up with others. It was too reminiscent of the one where Embry stood in Sam's kitchen years earlier demanding to know what Sam planned to do about the fact Leah left—because he drove her away by telling her to leave.

How, with the half-hearted help of Sam, Embry was the one who tried to do something about it.

But it wasn't going to be that way—not that time. They would understand what happened. Embry would tell them what he found in Chicago and what it was like to see Leah in such a dangerous, self-destructive place.

And he would make sure they fucking fought for her the way they were supposed to — to keep her in their lives, if nothing else.

Because all of them—especially Embry, and especially Leah—had too much to lose if they didn't.

"I found her there... " Embry repeated, his voice low, tentative. His mouth too dry, he swallowed thickly before he continued, "when I was in Chicago."

A disbelieving scoff jerked Embry's attention to his left. Paul gaped at him, lips parted in some kind of shocked dismay and fire in his eyes. "What the actual fuck, Call? And you didn't feel the need to tell us until now?"

"She asked me not to," Embry asserted, keeping the words steady and sure. However, he paused for a moment because he hadn't thought that far ahead when the words slipped out. He hadn't anticipated the questions the others would ask and what they might want to know like how he found her, what was said.

If he had anything to do with why she came back.

Still, another part of him remembered Leah standing in his kitchen two days earlier, asking him not to tell anyone about what was happening between them and all the things that happened to Chicago. He felt something inside him sink, knowing he broke that promise.

Embry thought fast, trying to come up with an alternative story—one that wasn't false, but one that told the others only what they needed to know, and one that showed them only what they needed to see.

Because the truth Leah wanted left out most was one Embry felt was none of their god damned business anyway.

Paul blinked in astonishment, wide-eyed as he scanned the rest of the group for any kind of consensus. His accusing leer landed on Jacob. "Did you know about this?" he demanded.

Jacob didn't miss a beat, nodding in affirmation.

With a haughty eye-roll, Paul let another frustrated scoff escape his throat. At the same time, Quil took a step forward.

"That's messed up, dude," Quil murmured, his attention lingering on Embry before shifting to Jake. "Since when do we keep secrets that big from everyone?"

"Since keeping the secret was for the good of one of our own," Jacob replied, stepping in for Embry. One brow arched, daring the others to challenge his conclusion. Relief swept through Embry, thankful beyond everything else that Jake was on his side for this. "Embry found Leah there… and she was not okay, in case that's what any of you believe." He fixed his eyes on Paul when he spoke the last words.

"W—well, how'd you find her?" Quil stammered, glancing at Embry again.

Embry tightened his arms across his body, swallowing past the thick knot in his throat. "It was in a bar—the night I arrived there. I went by myself, just to get out of my hotel room, and I just… saw her there. I wasn't sure it was her at first, but the longer I watched her, the more I realized who it was I was looking at."

Pausing, Embry observed each of the pack members. Most of them were speechless, their bodies rendered motionless by his confession. Even Brady and Collin watched him, their careless attitudes tempered by the curiosity in their eyes. Embry also noticed Sam had allowed his head to tip up slightly, his rapt yet distant gaze focused on his brother.

"That's the first time I saw her…" Embry swallowed again, knowing he'd reached the point where he needed to give the others a summary of what happened and what he discovered, leaving other less relevant details to himself.

When he spoke again, the parts of the story he wanted to come out did, telling each with an ease he didn't anticipate and a conviction he did.

He told them how despite trying to make a life for herself, the distance Leah put between her and everyone else had led her to make what he called "self-destructive" decisions. He told them he'd witnessed a few, leaving the details to a minimum. As he spoke, he surveyed each of his brothers, many of whom could not meet his eyes. Sam's eyes closed as he no doubt processed every word Embry said, a reaction that didn't surprise him.

Embry told them how Leah had spent the entirety of six years thinking she was unwanted in La Push, so she trained herself to believe she didn't need her family or the pack or anything she left behind.

Much to Embry's shock, Paul only interrupted once, while the others stayed silent, listening raptly—looking for a reason to understand.

Paul glanced up, meeting Embry's gaze for the shortest of moments, his expression serious—somber.

"If she thought we didn't want her here, why didn't she call? Why didn't she fucking come back and see for herself that wasn't the case?" Paul muttered, unable to look Embry in the eye as he asked.

Embry answered him, explaining to Paul and the others that since she told herself the same lines for so long, he believed it was next to impossible at first to get her to see anything else.

Embry took a deep breath, letting his silence linger after he finished, giving them a few moments to digest his words. Running a distracted hand through his hair, Sam hunched forward, turning his body and taking a few steps, his back facing the rest of them. Embry tried not to watch him, but he couldn't help himself. He couldn't help the small part of him that wanted Sam to feel bad, to punish himself a little more and to at least feel partly responsible for it.

Shuffling his feet on the floor, the noise pulled Embry's attention toward the source of it, in time to catch Paul's glare, which had turned from focused to skeptical.

Embry sighed, knowing what was coming.

"I don't buy it," Paul said curtly, cutting through the silence.

Embry shook his head in frustration. "What don't you buy?"

"We all go through bad patches," Paul pressed. "We all have hard times in life, but we don't stay away for six fucking years."

Embry's jaw tightened. "Yeah, well, how would you feel if your relationship with Rachel suddenly didn't matter? What if she turned her back on you, Paul? Or worse off, what would you do if you hurt her?"

"Embry," Jacob warned in a low, authoritative voice.

"I never asked her to go…"

The garage once again quieted as a deep baritone cut through the other voices. Head snapping to his right, Embry's relocated Sam in time to see him turn—to see the conflicted, desolate haze seeping across his features.

"I was mad… just, so mad about what happened to Emily, but… I didn't want Leah to leave and never come back," he murmured, his lips parting, eyes widening in sincerity. "I just… couldn't be around her after what happened. I couldn't have her there then, not forever. That's… that's not what I meant. This is never what I intended to happen."

The words ached with the guilt they all recognized, and the stench of it—the overwhelming realness of it—practically burned Embry's nostrils.

"Well, you had an awfully fucked up way of showing her," Embry muttered, the corner of his mouth curling up in a snarl.

"Embry!"

Jacob's tone let Embry know his silence was no longer a request made by his alpha—it was a demand, and for a second, Embry hated Jake for it.

"Did you see Leah when you went out there, too, Jake?" Quil asked, trying his best to take the conversation away from Sam.

Jacob took a deep breath before he nodded. "I did, and I talked to her. I can tell you everything Embry's said so far is truth. It's hard for any of us to understand, and I don't think we ever will, but…"

"So why did she listen to you? Why did she talk to you after so many years of avoiding everything having to do with La Push and us?" Paul asked, unfazed as he interrupted Jacob. Not watching Jake, though, he focused on Embry.

Paul's brows arched high as he waited for his answer.

"Maybe because of all the things you said about that hole in our pack," Embry replied, his voice quiet yet certain. "The first couple days I spent with her, I saw it in everything she did. I heard how she talked. I saw the way she carried herself, the emptiness of her eyes. She was lonely, Paul—excruciatingly lonely. So did it ever occur to you that maybe she felt that hole, too?" Embry lifted his a quizzical brow. "Did you ever stop and consider that while we were missing one limb, she was missing several of them?"

His words stunned Paul speechless. Nobody moved as the other man blinked, glancing down at the floor beneath his feet.

"I think I was in the right place at the right time, and maybe it would have still happened if it had been Jake in that bar or even Quil, but the point was it happened and I think she was ready for us when it did," Embry pushed on, taking a step forward and letting his adamant stare shift between each man standing in the garage. "Six years was long enough, and I think deep down she knew she was lying to herself about not needing anything here, but she needed to come to that realization in her own time. She needed to come home when she knew, without a doubt, that she was ready, not because someone else told her she should or because they wanted her here."

Embry pressed his lips together, giving the others a moment to let what he said sink in. He studied their faces, seeing flickers of hurt, of regret, of understanding. Maybe it wasn't enough to make all the difference he'd hoped for, but so long as it made some kind of difference—as long as it gave them all an ounce of comprehension to see how two-sided their roads had been—that's all he cared about.

Embry heard Paul make a noise in his throat, and Embry held his breath, waiting for the argument.

"So we're just gonna let her back into the pack, no questions asked?" Paul murmured, the words barely audible.

Hands balling into fists, Embry tried like hell to swallow back the frustration welling up in his throat. "Would she even be welcome?" he asked between clenched teeth, the question general but directed at Paul.

"But Jake said that's not what she came back for," Jared interrupted, taking a step forward.

"Maybe not," Embry agreed, glancing at Jared and back at Paul before pushing out words a part of him didn't want to say. "Probably not, but even after everything I just told you, you're still sitting here acting like she doesn't even matter to you, or that you don't want her to be a part of this pack again…"

"Jesus Christ, of course I fucking want her to be a part of the pack again!" Paul exclaimed, leaving Embry in silence, his mouth agape. Pausing, Paul released a frustrated groan. "She'll always be a part of this pack, but to be in it again? It's just… I feel like she needs to work for it. She got dealt a shitty hand, but you know what? So did we when she went MIA for six fucking years. I just don't think she should get to waltz back onto the rez and just pick up where she left off before… "

"She doesn't think that, man," Embry interjected, a latent frustration he knew had nothing to do with Paul and nothing to do with the conversation they were having bubbling dangerously close to the surface. "Jesus, she's probably not even going to fucking stay after the wedding is over. She has a life in Chicago — a job, friends, a home…" His voice caught in his throat, but somehow the last words he planned to say fell from his lips. "She has everything she wants there."

"Then what was the point of even coming back?" Jared asked, still lingering two steps behind Paul.

It was Jacob's turn to speak.

"Because like Embry said, she has what she wants, but there's a part of her that doesn't have what it needs," he murmured purposefully. "It's just like Embry said. She is still a shape shifter. Everything that makes us who we are still runs through her veins. That animal still resides in her soul and when she cut herself off from the pack, we may have lost her… but she lost what that part of her soul required. She lost it, but we know Leah. We know how headstrong and determined she is and for too long, that human part of her won out. It overshadowed the needs of the wolf, and she didn't realize how it would affect her until it was too late and she was too lost to find her way back."

Quil swallowed, wide eyes scanning the circle of bodies before resting on Jake. "So… she's back because…"

"She needs us," Embry interrupted, doing the same — taking a moment to look at each member of the pack, lingering on Jacob but ending with Sam. His resolute stare stayed on Sam, and that time, for some inexplicable reason, Sam didn't look away.

"She needs us," Embry repeated, glancing at Jake before he said what he wanted to say, making sure he had an ally. Jake met his gaze, offering him one swift, definitive nod.

Embry took a deep breath, turning back to the others before speaking the last words he needed to say.

Because he knew, if there was anything he needed the pack to believe—to embrace, without a doubt—this was it.

"And we have to show her how much we need her, too. All of us."

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A/N: Quick shoutout to MargotTenser, my new pre-reader for this story. Her brain is a beautiful place and she looks at things with such a nuanced and critical eye, and is never short on ideas and theories. She is amazing! And also to my beta and BFF ChrissiHR who keeps me sane on a daily basis, breaks me of bad grammar habits, and makes both me and my writing look good. Any leftover mistakes in this are all mine. :)

Anyway, thoughts on the pack meeting? Can't wait to hear them!