Chapter 25 Meet the pack

Disclaimer: the characters and all recognisable situations belong to Stephenie Meyer - this is a work of fan fiction, except for the legends and histories of the Quileute and the Makah that, of course, belong to them. I pay my respects to their gods.

Thanks to BanSidhe for betaing.

Rose was a little nervous. Seth was taking her to a pack bonfire. She had quizzed him for a week all about the pack, the members, and their women and how it all works. She was going to meet them all and all their women too. God, what does she call them? Their Mates?

Seth glanced at her. She looked pretty nervous.

"Now don't go getting upset," he teased her. "It's actually nice weather today."

She smiled. She knew he was just teasing her.

"You'll be fine", he encouraged. "They are not scary at all."

"Really? Half of the men are bigger than you and they all turn into giant wolves… what is there to be scared of?" She was sarcastic.

"Yeah, well okay… really… they are all puppies… cute little puppies…" he tried to convince her.

"Humph."

They arrived at Emily and Sam's sunny house. After Nathan's birth, it was easier to hold wolf barbeques at Sam and Emily's so Nathan could nap in his own cradle if he needed to. She breathed a little easier, as it looked like a perfectly normal house. Emily waved from the porch and Seth parked the car and pulled her out eagerly. He was so excited for her to meet everyone.

"Emily," he called. "This is my Rose."

Emily chuckled at him. "Hello Rose. I am so glad to meet you finally. Seth has been hiding you away from us."

"I did not…" he objected.

Leah stuck her head out the door. Rose breathed easier at the sight of a familiar face. She knew Leah because she has dropped Seth off at her house on a few mornings on her way into work. "Leah," she sighed. "That's one I know."

"Now don't get panicked," Seth said. "You'll be fine."

He put his arm around her and shepherded her into the house. "Hey ladies…" he called. "This is my Rose."

A chorus of replies greeted her. Emily and Leah assured Seth they will look after her and they shooed him off outside with the boys. Like many social functions, the wolf pack seemed to fall into the boys outside and women inside. Leah introduced Rose to everyone who was there. Rose forgot most of their names the minute they said them.

"I'm not good with remembering names," she said. "Please remind me if I forget."

The boys were outside being cavemen and tending the grill. Well, they watched as Sam tended the grill. The girls congregated inside.

Rachel came storming into Emily's kitchen and threw down a couple of bags full of premade salad and a big bowl of hot baby potatoes, mixed in with bacon pieces and half a jar of mayonnaise. Rachel was still not big on the baking side.

"Jake's sister Rachel," muttered Leah in an introduction to Rose. "Embry's partner."

"Fucking Embry!" she swore. "I am going to chain him down and strip his top layer of skin off," she threatened. "With my bare hands!"

Rose looked panicked at that. If this woman was capable of doing that to one of the wolves, she must be powerful indeed.

"What did he do?" asked Emily with resignation.

"He Dutch ovened me," Rachel said.

Everyone snorted except for Kim and Pititchu.

"He did what?" asked Kim innocently.

"Held the sheets over my head and farted," explained Rachel.

"Ewww," from everyone.

"The farting is bad enough normally, without him doing that."

"You had a sheet?" asked Bella with a giggle.

"Bwahaha," Rachel laughed, "Yeah I suppose that was unusual."

Poor Rose had a completely panicked look on her face now.

"Jeez Rachel, tone it down will you? You are scaring the newbie," said Leah.

"Newbie?" She looked around. "Aah you must be Rose. Raven was staying with us and she told us all about you."

Rose looked more panicked.

"Well not all about you... as much as she knows right?" Rachel added in an attempt to comfort her.

Leah was still thinking aloud, "It's that line in relationship where you become more… I dunno, 'familiar'… go in and out of the bathroom while you are on the toilet …fart in each other's presence…,"

The girls all looked at her.

"What? What did I say? Jeez we share a pack mind… is there anything we don't know about each other?"

They all made noises of agreement.

"Yeah but with these guys it is a whole new ball game. Maybe it's the heat… remember when Kim passed out?" Emily suggested.

They all cackled. Even Pititchu laughed. She and Kim had become good friends and she had shared the story with her before.

"I wasn't here for that," admitted Rachel.

"Jared thought he had fucked her to death," explained Emily. "It was heatstroke or exhaustion or something wasn't it? Sam was still the Alpha and Jared had him over there before she came to, and then when she did wake up, they were all embarrassed," Emily added.

"I am not sure who was more embarrassed," laughed Kim. "Maybe Sam; he just really didn't want to be there…"

"We keep the fridge full of isotonic drinks and boxes of snack bars in the bedroom," added Bella. "As a preventative measure."

"It's a nice change to rent a motel room and crank up the air conditioning to frigid levels and go for it," said Kim sagely.

"Come on, who else has passed out?" Rachel asked.

Only Bella put her hand up. None of the girls look surprised at that.

"Typical!" muttered Leah. "Paul," she explained to Rose.

"More than once," admitted Bella.

"Oh no, I only did it that once," said Kim.

"Well what about you three?" Rachel said looking at Leah.

"Three?" asked Rose with trepidation.

"Leah, Jake and Seth all live together," Rachel explained. "Three wolves in the house… Man! That is a lot of sheets to wash. Imagine the laundry pile from all that sweating?" Rachel added.

Leah snorted. "We just don't wear much."

"No wonder Seth is at my place all the time," said Rose without thinking.

There was a beat and then Rachel cackled. "I like her," she said.

The boys were listening outside.

"You are a fucking idiot. You know that Embry," said Jake.

"Yeah well, it seemed like a good idea at the time," he admitted.

"You are going to pay for that, you know that dude," said Quil.

Embry grinned. "Oh yeah…"

"What the hell is she going to do to you?" wondered Jared.

"That's it…," said Embry. "... that is why Rachel is so much fun … I just never know. She's all kinds of inventive that girl. Especially when she can order me around and use the quasi alpha tone one me." He didn't sound concerned; he sounded more eager than anything else.

"Passed out more than once, eh Paul?" asked Seth.

Paul smirked; he looks evil. "Oh yeah, I've lost count." He and Jake shared a look. "Your girl seems to have been accepted," he noted to Seth in a quick topic change.

"She'll be fine. She is pretty quick. She can hold her own."

"I win," said Paul "…still got the only paleface."

"Mine is half paleface," argued Seth.

"Clearly ours are made of sterner stuff, that's why your paleface passes out more often during sex. It's nothing to do with you," suggested Embry with a rascally look on his face.

The boys all laughed at the look on Paul's face.

"Hey, don't forget about us!" chimed in Brady. "Collin and I still haven't found our wolf babes."

Sam was turning the meat quietly. He rolled his eyes. "Don't let them hear you call them wolf babes. You won't survive the experience," he advised.

"You are staying very quiet, Jake," noted Seth.

"There is nothing I can contribute to this discussion," he said with a smile.

"No imprint."

"So you've never made Leah pass out?" asked Paul with interest.

"Christ, not for the lack of trying," he admitted. "Remember she is a wolf too. Much harder degree of difficulty there compared to you guys." He sipped his drink and looked superior. "You guys have it easy…"

Their eyes all looked a little glazed over, as they remembered memories that Jake or Leah had let slip.

"Yeah… okay," agreed Quil. "That's fair."

"Sam?" asked Brady gamely.

"No way," he stated. "I am not going there. I like my head attached to my shoulders and my balls where they belong, thank you very much."

"She started the discussion," pointed out Brady.

Sam looked thoughtful. "Yeah I guess she did… but I am still not saying anything."

"Hey," started Seth. "If the imprint fairy strikes now… the odds are really seriously stacked against Brady and Collin. I mean the fairy HAS to fuck it up now… doncha reckon. I mean my girl has super powers… where do you go from there? It can only be down…"

Quil, Paul and Embry all guffawed, remembering their earlier discussion with Seth about the imprint fairy going wrong. [Chapter 1]

"Yeah," said Paul impishly. "You could imprint on a vampire…"

"…or a baby…" piped up Quil.

"...or each other," suggested Embry.

Brady and Collin looked horrified.

"Go get her Seth," said Jake. "We all want to meet her too."

FF_2154210_ - 4/6/2011 02:09:00 PM

FF_2154210_ - 8/31/2011 03:28:00 AM