Stephenie Meyer owns the Twilight Saga. I own twitchy fingers that enjoy writing for no profit.

Chapter 36: Procedures and Punishments

Sam POV

It was seriously the longest day I could ever remember having. Full of almost the complete run of emotions and all of them at full strength; lust, embarrassment, terror, lust, anger, relief, love, more terror, confusion, awe, and lust. A part of me was actually glad that Paul had been so full of anti-Bella attitude back at the clearing; it had given me a legitimate reason to make him patrol, meaning I wasn't having to do it. Even the thought of having to keep awake and running for several more hours had the tiredness I felt settling deeper into my bones. I remembered that when I left Bella at the diner (several hours and at least a year ago) I'd told her I'd call, so as soon as I got back home after getting her safely home from the clearing, I snagged another piece of the lasagne Bella had made me the night before and ate it cold in front of the kitchen sink, still naked with my shorts tied to my ankle as I hadn't bothered dressing after I phased back, and called. It rang out to answerphone, so I gave it a few minutes while rinsing off my plate and tried again. Still no luck, so I left a quick text, fast running out of energy to keep my eyes open.

"Hey, Bella." I typed. "I tried calling but just got your machine. Hope you're ok, and that your hand isn't giving you too much trouble. Thanks for a wonderful night and an even more wonderful morning. Talk soon. Sam. X"

I headed off to the bathroom, too tired to attempt a shower, but apparently not too tired for my dick to give an interested twitch at the still heavy mixed scent of my and Bella's arousal in the room and the memory of what we had done in there just that morning. As I was brushing my teeth I got Bella's reply on my phone.

"I'm fine, it's not that bad. Thank you too, I had a really great time. Talk soon. B. x"

"Hmm. Kinda casual considering we'd made lo… I mean had sex earlier today." I fretted a little, clearly being this tired made me an insecure little girl. "Still, she's had a hell of a day herself. Maybe she's just too tired to have thought her reply through very much." I let that thought reassure me, spat and rinsed, and then, stumbling blindly towards my room, I flopped face down onto my bed and was asleep almost before I noticed and appreciated the lingering scent of Bella left behind on my pillow from the previous night, a dopey grin firmly fixed on my face.

Crawling out of my bed the following morning wasn't the easiest task I'd ever attempted. I'd had a real Baskin Robins selection of dreams, ranging from not getting to Bella in time before the Deadlocked leech had drained her, or Leah losing it in the diner, phasing right there and ripping Bella and my mom to shreds, all in front of the rest of the diner's customers, all the way through to a re-enactment of our activities in the bathroom, in several places around my house, and finally a dream where Bella and I lived together and had done for years and my mom was over for dinner, playing in the living room afterwards with two little girls who had Bella's eyes and my skin tone and a little boy who looked so like me that at first I'd assumed it was me as a kid, in that weird way that dreams can have you in two places at once. The feeling of contentment I had from that last one made leaving my bed a herculean effort; once I was officially awake, I had to be responsible and accept the fact that the wonderful images were something I could never really have. Not with Bella. My phone letting me know I had a text at last forced me to give in and get up and I reached over to my nightstand to grab it and see who'd sent me a message.

"Harry? Huh. Didn't know he knew how to text." I mumbled to myself, shambling along, still bleary eyed to the bathroom, which was apparently still a place that could give me a semi just at a glance. "I wonder if I'll ever be able to just come in here and piss without getting half a hard-on from that memory." I wondered with a little smirk, opening the text message.

"Got a problem." It read "Come down to the Council building at 10:30." I glanced at the clock on my phone; 9:15, I was going to have to rush a bit to get there in time.

"What sort of problem could Harry have that needs me at the Council building at such short notice?" I wondered to myself. "It's got to be a tribal issue, or he would just get me to meet him at his place or the diner or something." I had an uncomfortable feeling that whatever his 'problem' was, it was going to cause more than a few for me.

After my breakfast disaster the day before, the kitchen still smelled of burnt food, burnt metal and burnt plastic, and of course I'd not managed to get and grocery shopping done in between the epic events which had occurred, so I pulled out the stale remains of the loaf of bread that was sitting all lonesome in the cupboard and used the last of the cheese Bella had left behind after cooking the lasagne to make myself some passable toasted cheese. It would just have to do until I could top it up. Maybe I'd grab a quick bite from the diner on my way past to the Council building, that'd fill the empty hunger gnawing at my stomach. I rinsed my plate and picked up the burned pan along with the rest of the trash and took it out the back door, no point leaving it sat around for another day, letting the stink settle in to the room. Having done that, I took a quick shower and pulled on a clean pair of shorts before running out the door and jogging at an easy pace towards the Council building, stopping at the diner on the way for a couple of huge breakfast sandwiches and a bucket sized cup of coffee; whatever Harry's problem was, there was no point trying to sort it on an empty stomach and a bad case of caffeine deprivation. Eating and jogging wasn't something I liked to do, but I hadn't picked up anything for Harry at the diner and I didn't want to be rude and eat in front of him while he had nothing, so I chomped and jogged, munched and loped, keeping half my attention on not spilling my coffee (I was pretty sure Harry wouldn't mind if I drank that while we talked) and the other half on working out the best schedule for training Seth and Leah up, while keeping an eye on Bella and Charlie, watching Quil, who was bound to phase within the week, and keeping up with our usual patrols, all of which needed to be done without knocking into my tribal duties or my construction business. On top of all of that, I desperately wanted to make the most of the chance Bella had unwittingly provided me to re-connect with my mom and I definitely didn't want to miss out on spending any spare time I might be able to scrape together with Bella. In a way, I was glad that we had such a large pack now; spreading at least the patrolling duties between the lot of us should lighten the load a little, especially once Seth and Leah were completely trained up. "Hmm. Maybe I should talk to Embry and Jake about taking on a little construction work too." I mused as I finished up the last of my second sandwich, only a block away from the Council building. "I'm pretty sure they'd appreciate the extra cash, and I could take on more work, and maybe a few bigger jobs, without worrying about taking on extra worker who might notice that Jared, Paul and I are stronger and faster than we should be." Pleased with the thought, I turned in to the entrance of the Council building to find myself standing in front of a censorious and indignant looking Old Quil, a half sheepish, half angry Harry, and a thoroughly annoyed looking Billy, who was glaring daggers at the other two. Sitting on a bench along the wall were Jake, Leah and Seth, who were a startlingly exact replica of the three Elders, Leah looking all filled with righteous indignation like Old Quil, Seth looking sheepish and angry by turns, and Jake sending a look at Leah which… well if looks could kill, Leah would've fucked off and shot herself right in the face a while ago.

I took a moment to compose myself, taking a mouthful of coffee to cover my surprise and irritation. This hadn't been what I was expecting for Harry's text. I felt ambushed and more than a little bit betrayed by the older man. Judging by Old Quil's expression, he'd got a whole hive-full of bees in his warrior bonnet and I was willing to bet my whole house on the fact that Leah was the one who'd put them there.

"Morning, Harry. Just as well I didn't grab you a coffee too on the way over; I would've had to go back to pick more up for everyone else that I wasn't expecting to meet." I couldn't help making the dig and Harry at least had the grace to look a little ashamed of himself for the ambush. I gave Old Quil a polite "good morning" and gestured or him to lead the way into the meeting room, if I was going to have to deal with whatever his issue was I'd rather get it over and done with.

Once we had all settled ourselves in the mixed lot of seating in the room, the Elders and myself around a table and the three pack members on a bench near the door, Old Quil got straight to the matter in hand.

"It's come to our attention that we have a security breach of sorts." He said, fixing me with a disapproving glare. "The Swan girl knows far more than she should and with her previous… affiliations" his mouth twisted around the word like he'd swallowed a lemon "we can't be sure of what she might do with the information." To my left I saw Billy straighten in his wheelchair and glare at Old Quil.

"Yes, thank you, Old Quil." He ground out between clenched teeth "But as I'm sure you're aware, firstly as the head of the Elders, it's my place to open any proceedings, no matter how informal. And secondly, as I've already told you both, Bella's one of the most trustworthy and honest" here he flashed a sharp look at Leah over my shoulder "people I've ever known. However she came across the information, she's the last person who would use it to cause any harm. And she's proved over and over that she can keep a secret. We only have to look at the fact that she never breathed a word to anyone, not even her own father, about the Cullens." He leant back in his chair, his posture clearly showing that he considered his points unarguable. Old Quil did look a little guilty and embarrassed at having usurped Billy's position, but he shrugged it off very quickly and leant forward over the table, one bony finer banging his next point into the old and battered wood.

"But how did she find out? That's what I want to know." And he gave me a hostile, accusatory glare, sharing it equally with Jake over at the bench. Jake's growl and the shifting noises coming from behind me were completely understandable but not helpful, so I didn't join in, not matter how tempted I was to intimidate the old man for his unspoken but clear accusation. I shot a quick, firm glance at Jake to get him to stop and then turned back to face the Elders, fighting to keep all my feature calm and even. Appearing to be in the least out of control of myself or my pack would just add ammunition to their opinion that they should have overall control of the pack and their actions, despite how impractical, non-traditional and downright impossible such a desire was.

"She pieced together some details she'd heard of our old stories, along with some things that the doctor leech told her and let's not forget that she's Chief Swan's daughter in every sense of the word; she's very intelligent and intuitive. She figured it out. Or a lot of it anyway. She knows we exist, but not who we are, so even if she were the sort of person who would try to make use of the information, there's nothing she could do with it." I maintained my firm and calm tone and expression, willing Harry and Old Quil to accept my points. Billy gave a nod of agreement.

"Well that's how she said that she learnt about it." Harry grumbled half under his breath. "But it had been argued that she's quite an accomplished liar." Billy and Jake snorted in amused disagreement at this and I simply raised a querying brow. Old Quil glared at the older and younger Black and opened his mouth to add his five cents, but Billy jumped in before he could speak.

"Actually, she's really an appalling liar. She has no control whatsoever over her blushes and they always give her away if she even thinks about lying." Billy leant forward towards Harry and Old Quil "I'm wondering where you got your bad information from?" From the anger that flashed across his eyes, I guessed that Billy knew exactly where they'd got their bad information from, and I had more than a little inkling myself, though I was hoping I was wrong. Harry began to look a little edgy and clearly didn't want to reveal his source, a fact that just added to my suspicions, but Old Quil clearly had no such compunctions, slapping the table and declaring in triumph

"From a pack member" He crowed. "Surely you consider that a reliable source?" He looked delighted with himself for having backed Billy and I into what he clearly thought was an inescapable corner. I sighed loudly, a mixture of anger, dismay, disappointment and betrayal squirming in my stomach. "Leah. What have you done, you stupid girl?" I wondered to myself "She might've only been a pack member for a very short time, but it's instinctual to protect your pack above almost everything, excepting our imprints. How could she have let her bitterness and jealousy over-ride her natural pack loyalty like this?" Even as I wondered, I knew what had inspired her actions, though I'd never understand how she could've actually acted on her feelings. Once again she'd allowed her tendency to lash out with anger when embarrassed. I didn't yet know what had sparked her off this time, but I knew without question that that was what had happened. That combined with her new wolf temper had led to this ridiculous situation, and what made it all worse was that once I'd managed to untangle the giant mess she'd created, I would have no choice but to punish her, which was bound to make her more angry and embarrassed, not to mention that I hated having to punish grown and (supposedly) responsible young adults as if they were toddlers. And as if none of that was enough, this was my ex. Talk about awkward.

Billy looked thoroughly disappointed too. Though he was sharing his disappointment between Leah, Old Quil and Harry. I could understand why; Leah had earned it through her betrayal, Harry because he's allowed his relationship with his daughter to over-ride his normally intelligent handling of tribal matters, and Old Quil, well the man was so busy crowing to himself at getting one over on Billy and I that he was failing to notice the damage he was doing to relations inside the pack and to relations between the pack and the Council. For the Oldest man there, he was doing a remarkably good impression of a spoilt child. Letting out another deep sigh, I cast a resentful glance over my shoulder at a defiant looking Leah, and then turned back to Old Quil.

"You might as well just spit it out." I told him, trying hard to disguise the bitter edge to my voice. "Trying to be cagey about who precisely told you isn't going to cut it. As soon as we're phased whoever" I glared back at Leah "it was will give herself away in a heartbeat." I was quite pleased with my phrasing there; I'd made it clear that I knew exactly what was going on, but I wasn't going to let anyone off the hook about it. Old Quil was going to have to speak the words himself, and maybe in the process he'd give himself a clue about the damage he was doing here. He gave a disgruntled sigh and shrunk a little in his chair.

"Fine then. I stopped in to see Harry this morning to talk to him about setting some snares for me and I was still there when Leah and Seth came into the house. They were arguing quite loudly about the Swan girl and once she saw I was there, Leah appealed to an Elder as is her right as a member of the tribe, informing me of the extent of the Swan girl's knowledge about the pack and of the girl's ability to lie convincingly, about her concern that the girl may be a source of danger due to her connections with those Cullens, and about how you were too distracted by your… shall we say romantic leanings towards the girl rather than being more explicit and more accurate?" Harry sat a little straighter and looked more sure of himself, swelling at the perceived injustice of his daughter being forced to appeal to an Elder because of my failings, and as he got into his stride, Old Quil once again began to look righteously indignant, convincing himself once more that he was completely in the right and that I was proving myself to be an incompetent leader. He'd said as much the first time I'd met with the Elders after my first phase. Stating flat out that I wasn't old enough or responsible enough to be in charge of any future wolves, and that I certainly wasn't fit to be the new Chief. As if I had any choice in the matter; the first to phase was by tribal law the new Chief, until or unless a wolf of higher standing in the bloodlines was to phase and step up, the same went for the position of Alpha. This was, of course firmly pointed out to him by Harry and Billy at the time but I guessed that now that Jake had phased, Old Quil was pushing for a change in leadership to someone he considered more… persuadable. In other words Jake.

"Well he's shit out of luck there." I thought to myself with dark and reluctant satisfaction. "Jake's made his opinion on stepping up quite clear, no matter how much I'd rather hand the reins over, so Old Quil's stuck with me."

"And at no point before insisting on an Elders led Council meeting did it occur to you that a lot of what she'd said was subjective, was just her personal opinion, was called into question by the fact that her own brother was arguing with her about it just moments before she decided to share the pack's business with you?" I questioned in a deceptively mild tone. I watched as both Harry and Old Qui deflated as if pricked with a pin. "That'll be a no then. They both just climbed up onto their high horses and charged off. Harry because first and foremost he's a father, and Old Quil because he's got his own political agenda." I'd not really expected much more from the eldest man, but Harry had never let me down before, and this time he'd acted wrongly from the beginning of not questioning Leah's information and ignoring Seth's opinion right through to ambushing me with this meeting.

"Have you asked Seth for his opinion on the matter, or Jake?" I asked them, already knowing the answer. At their silent head shakes to the negative I turned to the three pack members behind me and jerked my head to call them over. "As the highest ranked out of the three of you, Jake, by rights I should ask you first, but if you have no objection, I think it'll be more informative if I talk to Leah first." Jake quickly hid his smirk at my sly dig to the others present, reminding them that they'd violated tradition and protocol by not calling on Jake to speak before talking any further to Leah, and simultaneously reminding Leah that Jake out-ranked him. Leah glared at Jake and me, but I just raised a brow. She was going to have to deal with it. She'd been below him in rank from the moment she phased, but now that she'd pulled this shit she was going to be the bottom of the pack for a long time before she'd redeemed herself in the pack's eyes. "Leah." I kept my voice calm and authoritative "Old Quil has filled us in on exactly what you've said, but would you please tell us how you came to the conclusion that Bella's such an accomplished liar and therefore a danger to the pack and tribe?" It was clear that this wasn't he question she'd been expecting and it took her a moment to centre herself before she could answer.

"We all saw and heard her talking to that leech like he was her best friend. She was lying her ass off about still being in contact with the Cullen leeches, right up until she saw it wasn't working." I worked hard to keep the smile off my face.

"So her lying wasn't very convincing then, if he didn't buy it?" I asked mildly, trying hard to ignore the reactions from the others in the room.

"Well… I… that is… She was pretty convincing for a while." Leah stammered, going red in the face. Normally, in the old days, when talking to Leah, this is where I'd start being a little more careful. Embarrassing her was a sure-fire way of sparking her temper. But I had the feeling that this time her temper being displayed would be playing into my hands.

"And she was definitely lying to the leech then?" I asked, determinedly not noticing the grin beginning to bloom on Billy's face from the corner of my eye.

"Definitely." Leah answered, her voice strong now she was back on firmer ground. "We know she's had no contact from them since they left, Billy, Jake and Chief Swan all confirm that." She shot me a triumphant look, thinking she had the upper hand again and not noticing how Harry and Old Quil were shrinking in their chairs as she spoke, already seeing her mistake.

"Then I'm curious, Leah. How is she a possible source of danger to the pack due to her information, if she's not in contact with the leeches any more to pass on the information?" Leah stared, gaping, and unable to form an answer before I went on. "And how is it we can take the confirmation of Billy, Jake and Chief Swan on the fact that she's had no contact with the Cullens, yet we can't take their word for it that she's an honest person and no danger to us?" Her face was growing redder and redder as I went on, and I could already see that Harry was now realising he's made a huge error in judgment taking Leah's word over Seth's. I pressed the advantage, wanting to finally spark her temper and prove herself unreliable to the Elders, in case what they'd already heard wasn't enough. "No answer for that either? Hmm. Well then maybe you could just answer one last question before we move on to someone else." I took a calm sip from my now lukewarm coffee, hiding the wince of distaste, allowing the tension to ramp up a little. "How exactly would Old Quil know about my 'romantic leanings towards Bella' as he so politely described them?" And that did it. Her face glowing bright red with embarrassment, Leah's fraying temper finally let go.

"BECAUSE I TOLD HIM HOW YOU WERE LETTING YOUR COCK MAKE DECISIONS FOR THE PACK WHEN IT CAME TO LEECH-LOVER SWAN!" She screamed at me, her hands flailing wildly and shaking from head to toe, probably not far from phasing on the spot. "Ever since you shoved it into that little whore you've been focussed on her above anything else. I've been watching you; waiting for you to come to your senses and come back to me like we both know you should've done and yeah yeah I know you left me because we didn't imprint and you were trying to keep from hurting us both if it happened in the future, but you didn't imprint on her either, the pack mind bond means you couldn't fake that if you tried, and I refuse to accept that you'd rather spend your time sniffing around her like you and your wolf want to when I'm right here, and I'll do anything I can to make sure you don't, even if it means going behind my Alpha's back and pulling the Council into things to stop it." She finally broke off, her chest heaving and her whole body shaking with her out of control temper. For a moment there was complete silence as the room absorbed the full extent of what she'd just revealed. I wasn't surprised by the facts, but the sheer depth of the feelings she's just blurted out did take me aback a bit. A part of me, a very small part, actually felt bad for her; she just couldn't let go of our dead relationship and she was allowing it to destroy any chance she might have of making her new life bearable or possibly even happy in the future. But the rest of me was just angry at her presumption and deviousness, and my wolf was absolutely fucking livid with her for the way she'd spoken about Bella and for daring to try to get between us. Finally Harry was the one to break the silence.

"Leah." He sighed, his voice full of sadness and disappointment. "What have you done?" His voice pulled her awareness back into the room and she turned, wide eyed and red faced to the table around which the Elders were staring at her aghast. Whatever tenuous hold she'd had on her temper completely snapped.

"GREAT!" She yelled. "So now you're all against me too, and no doubt you'll all be card carrying members of the Bella Swan appreciation society and licking her slutty, trashy purple DMs along with everyone else." She went to storm out, but I grabbed her wrist to stop her and that was the final straw. The trembling of her muscles gave way and she phased on the spot, knocking the table into Billy and sending him and his wheelchair sprawling to the floor. Before I could even take a breath, Jake had phased himself, though having clearly noticed the danger himself, he'd backed up a fair bit before Leah had gone wolf and so his phase was much safer. He darted forward, the russet wolf seizing the much smaller grey one by the scruff and growling loud enough to have Old Quil shaking where he now stood behind his chair, gripping the back of it like he was going to lift it up in front of him for protection, an old fashioned lion tamer only missing his bullwhip.

"Well fuck me, that's what Old Quil's problem is, why he's so desperate to have control over the pack – he's afraid of us" I realised, but I didn't have more than a split second to think it before I turned and walked calmly past the now cringing grey wolf on her belly below the still growling russet one, over to Billy to help him back into his chair. "You ok, Billy?" I asked quietly

"Just fine, Sam, just fine. Don't start beating yourself up over a minor tumble. You're handling things pretty well considering." He flashed me an amused and encouraging grin. I nodded with a little tense smile of my own; no matter what he said, I couldn't help thinking that I should've found another way of dealing with this whole mess that didn't result in Leah putting people in danger as she phased out of control right next to them. I turned to Jake who now had Leah under complete control, making admiring note of the fact that Seth was managing to keep himself under tight control despite his own shaking need to phase.

"Jake." I said quietly. "Take Leah outside and head to the clearing we were at last night please." I glanced at Seth. "Seth you're doing really great, well done. You go along with the other two for now, and I'll call Jared in a few minutes to phase early and come and meet you. The two of you can run off some of your tension while he's doing his patrol. He's due to take over from Paul in an hour or so anyway." Seth just nodded at me, his jaw too tense to allow him to speak, and walked out behind the stalking Jake and the jerkily moving Leah who were just squeezing themselves through the double doors of the meeting rooms. That handled, I turned back and righted the table with one hand and gestured for Old Quil and Harry to resume their seats with the other. Billy rolled himself back to the table now that he'd completely settled himself in his chair and I glanced at him to see how he wanted to go on from here. He cleared his throat in the now quiet room, pulling the attention of the other two over to him.

"Well that was exciting." he said, trying to break the tension. I bit back a snort and Harry let out a sort of strangled huff. Old Quil just swallowed loudly. "I think we can all agree that we, and by 'we' I mean the Elders, not you, Sam, handled this situation badly from start to finish." I couldn't help nodding in agreement, and Harry gave a half nod himself. Old Quil, pulled himself out of his shock enough to send Billy an angry glare, but remained quiet. "I'm sorry that we ambushed you this morning, Sam. As I know you're aware, an official meeting between the Elders and yourself should've been formally declared as such according to the customs, and we had no right to order any of your pack to attend. Not without your consent and certainly not without your knowledge." I could see that Old Quil was wanting to argue, but by including himself in the 'we', no matter that we all knew he'd had no hand in it, Billy was making it impossible for the eldest man to dispute the point. Old Quil changed tactics.

"Putting that unfortunate performance of a few minute ago aside" he said, trying to sweep his errors aside, "we still have the fact that the Swan girl knows more than she should, however she found out, and whatever she might or might not do with the information." He cleared his throat in discomfort and the amazed and angry glares he was getting from Harry Billy and I, but pressed on. "You agreed off your own back, Sam that no one would be told about the pack without the confirmation of an imprint, which we certainly don't have in this case, as was just pointed out. So I have to insist that you now take steps to limit any other information she could gain." I wanted to object, but he left no gap for anyone else to speak and rushed on before I'd more than half opened my mouth. "We are lucky that she doesn't know the identity of any of the pack, and we need to keep it that way. It's bad enough that Charlie Swan already knows your identity. You and Billy insist that he can be trusted, and Harry and I had no choice but to accept that ass you went ahead and confirmed his suspicions anyway without consulting us." He shot a sidelong glare at Billy, not noticing that Harry was shooting his own glare at the older man for dragging his name into the conversation without his permission. "At least if the girl gets no further information from us then we can be sure one way or another if Charlie really is ass closed-mouthed as you believe; if his daughter knows more than she should, then we will know the source, won't we?" his smug look left a sour taste in my mouth, but I really couldn't think of aa justifiable argument against his demand. I looked over to the others to see what they thought and was at least a little relieved to see that both of them looked like they had a similarly unpleasant taste on their tongues.

"Old Quil," Billy broke in, quickly heading him off before he could make any more demands. "You seem to have forgotten who's supposed to be running the show again. Any insisting should be agreed upon previously by the three of us, and then spoken by me as the last chief." Old Qui looked a little embarrassed at having forgotten himself once again, but obviously he didn't feel that bad as there was no sign of an apology coming from him. He simply pursed his mouth and sat back with his arms folded across his chest. Billy rolled his eyes at me, clearly knowing that this was the best he could expect right then. "Sam." He said "Can I ask what Leah meant about your wolf sniffing around Bella? She made it sound like your wolf and you are separate, and that your wolf has some interest in Bella above and beyond your own?" I considered my answer carefully before I spoke.

"At last a sensible fucking question." I thought "but how the hell do I make someone who's never been a wolf understand something that the rest of the pack and even I don't really get?" Marshalling my thoughts, I began slowly, considering each sentence before I spoke. "The first time I scented Bella without any of the leech stench covering her smell I noticed she had an incredible scent, far beyond anything I'd ever noticed before. The wolfy side of my brain, where all those instincts live and feed information to me when I'm in my human form, and which comes further to the fore-front when I'm on four legs, wanted to roll around in it and absorb as much of it as it could. And that was with a heavy dose of Charlie's scent hanging over her. Without Charlie's scent cutting hers, it's an almost overwhelming urge to rub up against her. As for the wolf and I being separate, I really don't know what to tell you." I said, shrugging and allowing my confusion to show on my face. My wolfy side has always been a little more noticeable to me than I see the others finding their own when we share that sort of thing in the pack mind, although Jake's comes a little closer to me in that respect than the others. All I can think of is that it's a combination of the Alpha needing to have his wolf instincts more accessible and the fact that I spent so long in wolf form during my first phase, making the wolf stronger or something. But yeah, there are occasions when the wolf in me seems to be more like a completely separate being sharing my body rather than just an extra set of instincts and abilities, and yeah, he really has a thing for Bella, even ignoring what I feel for her." The three Elders all sat back, astonished at what I'd revealed, although Billy looked almost like he was trying to remember something as I spoke.

"But she's definitely not your imprint?" Harry finally decided to get in on the act and ask a question of his own. "Despite how you or your wolf feel?" I sighed and slumped in my chair a little.

"No. I've made eye contact with her countless times, and even held the contact for as long as I could to try and push things along, but no matter how strongly and how quickly I've developed feelings for her, despite telling myself I mustn't do so, no imprint has happened." I figured I might as well be honest with them and myself at this point and admit that my feelings for Bella were way beyond what I'd intended. Lying to myself wasn't going to work anymore, not that it really had from the beginning, and lying to the Elders wasn't something I'd ever done. I thought about telling them about how my wolf had gone completely crazy the night before and had slipped out of my control for a few minutes, but then I recalled the fear on Old Quil's face when Leah had lost it and phased. "Yeah probably not a good plan to add anything else he might be afraid of." I reasoned. "The last thing he needs is a legitimate claim that I'm not in complete control of myself, let alone the pack. I'll aske Billy about it later; see if there's anything similar in the old journals." Billy had a strange little half grin on his face which I couldn't really understand, considering the circumstances, but that would have to wait for later too. He cleared his throat and spoke, giving me a meaningful look which seemed to imply that what he was saying had more than one meaning.

"I think we should put an end to this meeting then, Sam. I'm sorry to say that for the time being, we need to uphold Old Quil's oh so polite request" he shot a speaking glance at the older man before he continued "and insist that no member of the pack should tell anyone other than their imprint about their identity as a member of the pack." The emphasis he placed on his words seemed to be laced with extra meaning, but I couldn't see what he was trying to say apart from the obvious. It made no difference in this case; Bella wasn't my imprint, therefore I was being ordered not to tell her I was a wolf.

"And if she asks directly if I'm a member of the pack?" I asked, trying not to sound as belligerent as I felt.

"Then you lie to her." Old Quil slapped his hand on the table to emphasis his point, I'd obviously not hidden the belligerence as much as I'd hoped. Billy glared at him for interrupting again.

"Unless she's your imprint, you can't tell her." He repeated to me, once again lacing his words with some hidden meaning I couldn't understand. I'd had just about enough by this point, and I still needed to contact Jared and send him out to run with Seth, so I stood up and nodded to the Elders.

"Very well then." I agreed with as much politeness as I could muster. "If that's all, Elders, I have duties to carry out. And a huge mess to repair." I couldn't help adding that last under my breath, but just loud enough that they could believe it wasn't intended that they should hear it. Billy chocked back an amused snort and I picked up my now stone cold coffee and left, throwing the cup into the trash can as I left the building.

Jared was more than happy to start up his patrol early and to help calm and reassure Seth at the same time, so I told him to phase, tell Paul to complete his loop and then head home, and then to make a slow start over to the clearing; I'd catch up with him on the way. First I needed a word with Paul about his behaviour the night before, and with the huge uproar that was bound to be going through the pack mind after Leah's little stunt, I really wanted to talk to him without any of the others being able to listen in. It was more than past time that the guy dropped his attitude, and I didn't need him and Leah to be setting each other off on anti- Bella rants every time they were both in wolf form at the same time. I ran through the woods towards Paul's place, finally making it to the trees behind his house just as Paul arrived. He looked tired, as well he might after such a long day and night, but I clamped down on the pity I felt for him; if he'd given less attitude the night before, he wouldn't have had to do the extra patrol.

"Boss." He nodded at me after he phased back. That was new. He only usually called me that when he was in wolf form. I felt a little hope that maybe he was finally getting the fact that he needed to show a little more respect. Although I didn't want or need him to be subservient all the time, or to totally overhaul his personality, if he was capable of showing respect when appropriate, then maybe I wouldn't have to have a knock-down battle with him over showing a little of that respect to Bella… Maybe.

"Paul. Anything unusual last night?" I asked, nodding my head towards his place to show him we should go in.

"Nothing after we got rid of that dread-locked douche." He replied, pulling on his shorts and walking ahead of me to his back door. "Certainly no sign of the redhead putting in another appearance. Embry's on guard duty this morning, he's had to escort her over to Port Angeles with her friend." The fact that he wasn't using Bella's name wasn't lost on me, but at least he wasn't calling her any of his usual derogatory names so I let it go without comment. "Charlie was apparently heading over to Billy's after breakfast, though I guess with Billy not being there due to him being at that ridiculous meeting, he's probably headed on down to the beach to do some fishing. I saw him drive on to the Rez just over an hour ago, and I saw his cruiser parked up by Billy's on my way home."

"What' so important over at Port Angeles?" I wondered aloud, but Paul just gave a shrug that said he really didn't know or care.

"Dunno. But just before I phased back, Embry said they'd stopped in at the hospital. Maybe she needed to get that burn on her hand treated or something. Though why she couldn't just go to the fucking hospital in Forks instead of spreading us out so thin I don't know." I shot him a warning glance and he tensed his shoulders and sighed deeply. "Sorry. I can't help what I think about her." He grumbled. "I get that I can't call her names, at least out loud, but seriously, I can't be expected to suddenly be all sunshine and kitties over her when it's the exact opposite of how I feel. No matter what you order." I flopped down onto his couch and he wandered into his kitchen, coming back in with a huge empty bowl, a family sized box of fruit loops, a gallon of milk, and a spoon. Setting them all down on his coffee table, he started fixing himself some breakfast.

"You know I really hate having to issue Alpha orders, Paul." I sighed. "I want a team of pack mates, not a bunch of slaves or puppets. But while I can't, and actually don't want to have any control over what you think in the privacy of your own mind, once those opinions begin spilling out into the pack mind, and especially when they cause a detrimental effect to other pack members, or hamper our bonding or our duties I have no choice but to do something about it. I tried asking, I tried telling, and you still kept on pushing it until I had no choice but to order." Paul was looking pretty guilty, or as guilty as it's possible to look with a huge mouthful of cereal and a trail of milk leaking down his chin, but I once again slapped down my feelings of pity for him and pressed on. "Leah's behaviour last night and this morning is going to cause a huge amount of tension in the pack. Not to mention a massive amount of stress for me personally. I've got to work out how to punish my ex-girlfriend for betraying the pack because of my new girlfriend, without letting my personal feelings towards either of them get in the way, and while doing so I've got to try to keep a grip on my wolf who is currently demanding that I rip Leah's throat out for the implied threat against Bella."

"Whoa." Paul looked up in surprise, another trail of milk leaking down his chin. "Seriously, what is your wolf's damage? He's really got a hard on for the lee… ahem for that girl." As he corrected himself that time, I let it slide. "I just don't see how it's possible for your wolf to be so obsessed with someone who's not your imprint. I mean I know your wolf is a bit more separate from you than most of ours, but I sometimes feel mine is not quite under my control when it comes to my Rachel. It's just that it simply doesn't make any sense for yours to be so infatuated with anyone you've not imprinted with." Despite it being a little off topic, I couldn't help but agree with him, it really was the most confusing thing.

"I really don't get it either, and I am the wolf. Or he's me, or living in my head, or some shit like that." I told him. "Actually that's something Billy asked me this morning," I went on, interested now that Paul had said he sometimes felt his wolf was out of his control when it came to his imprint. "He was wondering why I described things as me, and my wolf, as if we were separate. It hadn't really occurred to me before, but once I thought about it, I realised that I was just about the only one that thought about it that way. Jake comes close to thinking that way on occasion, but other than that, and what you just said, the rest of the pack seem to think of it as their own wolfy side, an extra set of instincts, abilities and emotions, yet still part of them, whereas to me it's only like that on occasion, and recently I've felt more and more like there's two of us sharing the same body and mind. Me and my wolf." I wondered if he'd get what I was trying to say at all, it was so different to how the others seemed to perceive things, but when I looked up, Paul was nodding away in complete agreement.

"I know what you mean." He told me. "It's not like it happens very often, especially now I've calmed down a bit." I snorted at that in amusement. Paul may have calmed down a bit, but h still wasn't that far away from when he was a brand new wolf; he still let his temper take over far too often. Though in fairness, since he'd imprinted, his temper was a bit harder to incite. He flashed a little grin at me. "But in the early days, and sometimes these days, if my wolf thinks there's a threat to Rachel, it feels that same way to me; there's me, and then there's my wolf. Two of us, but still the same being. It was always that way in the beginning, when I kept phasing at the drop of a hat. It was as if the two of us were fighting each other for control." He shrugged a little in resignation. "I can see how in your case, and in Jake's it might be to do with the Alpha thing, you know, needing a stronger wolfy edge to keep the pack and the tribe safe, but maybe with me it's more because I never had much control over my temper, even when I was a 'norm'. Jared, Embry and Seth have always been serious laid back personalities, so they might not have experienced the same thing, though I'd be willing to bet that if Kim's ever in some danger, Jared might find himself dealing with his wolf getting a bit independent on him." He gestured at me with his spoon, slopping soggy fruit loops all over the carpet. "You should talk to Leah, if she's ever out of the doghouse." I cringed, both at the pun and at the idea of having any kind of civilised conversation with Leah in the near future. "I bet you anything she's experiencing something similar with her wolf. Her temper is nearly as bad as mine these days." Surprising as it was that such insight should come from Paul, I couldn't help but think he might've hit the nail bang on the head. It certainly sounded correct.

"Well Quil is due to phase any time now, so maybe we'll get some more insight then." I suggested. "He's always been a pretty happy-go-lucky personality, a bit like Jared." Paul snorted.

"Happy-go-lucky?" he repeated incredulously. "Sam, the 1950's called. They want their expression back." I grinned back at him. "So if Quil and Jared are happy-go-lucky, then what am I?" he asked.

"You're more happy-go-fuck yourself." I replied, making him spray milk out of his nose as he choked on his laughter. I chuckled along with him and let the more relaxed atmosphere calm me down after the shitty morning I'd had so far. Once he had control over his breathing I caught his eye and held it, a more serious expression on my face. "As interesting as all this has been, I've still got a fuck ton of pack issues to go sort out, but before I head out, I need to know you've got my back, dude. Properly, without me having to issues orders every three seconds. Can you get a fucking grip of yourself and stop with the bitching and sniping all the time?" He flushed guiltily. "You're one of the oldest wolves and I need for you to be living up to that and helping the pack bond properly, especially know Leah's thrown a shit covered wrench in the works, so will you please start pulling your weight and drop the attitude?" He nodded seriously and cleared his throat.

I'll do my best, Boss. I can't guarantee that I'll always be the poster child for well-adjusted werewolves, and I can't promise that I'll magically get along with her and be her best friend or anything, but I'll tone down the bitching and shit when it's not just me in my head, and I'll… well I'll promise to try to cut her a little slack." I guessed I couldn't really ask for more than that. He was, in his own mind, justified in his dislike of Bella, he hated vamps probably more than the rest of us did even, for some reason, and he just couldn't get past Bella knowingly dating one and being all Brady Bunch with the rest of them. He cleared his throat. "I'll give her one thing." He volunteered, a sort of peace offering it seemed. "She's one brave little fucker, the way she held her nerve last night." I grinned and nodded, but didn't add anything further, knowing without him saying anything that that was as far as he was willing to go in discussing Bella's positive attributes, and wanting to finish the discussion on a positive.

"Ok, I've got to go make a start of shovelling through the pile of shit Leah's so thoughtfully dropped in my lap." I sighed, slapping my thighs loudly and standing up. "You finish eating and get some sleep. I'll be running patrol after Jared, and Jake will be watching Bella and Charlie, then Embry's on patrol after me and you're Swan-watching, so you've got a good chunk of the day to sleep and then go spend some time with Rachel before you're needed. Make the most of it; with Seth and Leah to train, and Quil due to phase any time, along with normal pack duties and guarding the Swans, construction work, we're in for a busy few months." I gave him a rueful grin and left, stripping and phasing as soon as I hit the tree line, and was instantly in a battle to keep my wolf from taking over.

It's not like I hadn't realised how livid my wolf was over Leah's betrayal of the pack and even more do over the implied threat to Bella implicit in her action, So I'd thought I was prepared for this battle, but this was very nearly as bad as the night before when my wolf had gone mental over hearing that the redhead was gunning for Bella specifically. When I'd told Paul that my wolf was demanding I rip out Leah's throat, I wasn't speaking figuratively; he seriously wanted to sink teeth into her flesh and I was doing all I could to rei him in before he took the controls and ran to where I knew she was to do just that. In the background I could vaguely feel the awed alarm of the other pack members, and the terror of Leah in particular, as they witnessed my fight through the pack bond and while it was a little distracting, in a way it was helpful because as tied to his animal instincts as my wolf was, our position as Alpha meant that the wellbeing of the pack was paramount and acting in a way that was causing the rest of the pack distress went against everything in both of us. Finally I nudged him away from the controls and stood, shaking with adrenaline in the woods, collecting and centring myself for what was going to be a truly difficult task; dealing with Leah. It took no time at all for me to catch up with Jared on his way to the clearing, as pressing myself to top speed was actually useful in burning off the last of the adrenaline from the fight with my wolf, and also Jared had ground to a stunned halt while we were fighting and had only just pulled himself together enough to get going again.

"So that was interesting…" He wasted no time in bringing up the battle I'd just fought, It was typical of Jared; he was never one to hedge around the edges of an issue. I turned to him as we ran and rolled my eyes.

"That's one word for it I s'pose." I replied shortly, not really wanting to get back into the discussion about whether our wolves were a part of us or separate which I'd just been having with Paul "It seems to be something I'm having to deal with off and on recently, but I'd rather not go into it just now, a conversation for another time, perhaps." I could feel his reluctant agreement to table it for the time being and so took the opportunity to re-focus the conversation to what I needed. "When we get to the clearing, I want you to take Seth off with you on your patrol. He did an outstanding job of keeping himself under control this morning, but it's got to have been hard on him and he could do with a chance to run off the tension." Jared nodded at me. "As you run, maybe go through some of our fighting tactics, show him a few re-plays of recent events with the redheaded leech, and fill him in on standard practice for new wolves as it affects him going to school and avoiding people who don't know about the pack, that sort of thing?" I asked. With the way he and his sister had first phased, followed almost immediately by the appearance of the dread-locked douche, as Paul had called him, I'd not had the chance to give Seth and Leah the usual 'welcome to the pack' introduction, in fact, I still didn't know how or when Leah had managed to phase back after sending her off while Jake, Embry and I were talking to Bella in the clearing, though she obviously (unfortunately) had managed it, as otherwise she wouldn't have been able to stir up this hornet's nest with Old Quil. As we arrived in the clearing, Leah was on her belly, a still slightly angry Jake standing glaring at her, and Jared jerked his head at Seth, who was standing nearby, tail tucked between his legs and obviously suffering under the tension, to get him to follow him out on his patrol.

"Come on then, Seth Dude. Let's go run about and baby-sit the tribe for a bit." He told the youngest pack member cheerfully with a wolfy grin, not even condescending to glance at the disgraced Leah, and with a sense of relief that we could all feel through the bond, Seth turned and ran off just ahead of Jared, clearly desperate to get away from the scene of his sister's disciplining.

"I know it's not easy to do, guys, but if you can, please close off the part of your awareness that's linked to Leah and me. I'd prefer to have as much privacy during this as possible, not that she really deserves the consideration, but it'll make my life a bit easier." I felt the agreement of not just Jared and Seth, but also of Embry, who was apparently now returning from Port Angeles, still guarding Bella as she rode home in her friend's car, and then they blocked themselves off a little, becoming more like background noise rather than a clear presence. Walking up to Leah and Jake, I looked over at the russet wolf and nodded at him, letting him feel how grateful I was that he'd handled the scene in the Council building so well. I knew it had to have been hard on him not to flip out at Leah seeing his father knocked around like that, but not only had he managed to remain calm and focussed once phase, but he'd handled the phase itself remarkably intelligently; backing off to a safe distance before he had to phase meant that he'd read Leah's body language well and had planned out his response in the safest way possible. Finally, firming my grip on my control over my wolf before I risked it, I looked down to the quivering grey wolf form of Leah on the ground between us. She looked truly pathetic but I couldn't find a shred of sympathy right then for her; she'd put herself in this position, put me in this position, and now she'd have to deal with the consequences.

"Leah, you will remain silent until told otherwise." I told her, the Alpha command tone stronger than I'd ever had to project it before. "This isn't going to be a debate, or even a civilised discussion. What you've done is an appalling betrayal of your pack, and no amount of whining or snivelling on your part is going to alter my opinion on that matter. It may not have been a violent act, it may not have been a betrayal outside of the tribe, and it way have been within the letter of our laws, but your bitter and childish actions have put a huge strain on the cohesiveness of our pack bond and has is having a massive impact on pack morale." I glared down at her as I spoke, wanting to make sure she could see as well as feel just how angry I was about the whole affair. "I realise that you and Seth didn't get the chance to have pack dynamics explained to you yesterday, but in order to have gone bleating to Old Quil like you did, you must've had to fight against some incredibly strong instincts from your wolf, so there's no way you can claim not to have known you were doing something wrong."

I paused for a moment, pushing back against my wolf's desire to do something more than lecture. "When you first phased yesterday I explained to you about how we've all been in similar situations as you during our own first phases, and not a single one of us has ever allowed bitterness over our situation to over-ride our good sense or instincts and do something to let down the pack, so I wouldn't suggest trying to fall back on that as a defence either, not that there is any defence in this situation; as a pack we have to be able to reply implicitly on each other, know without any doubt that each and every wolf in the pack will have our back in any and all situations, not matter our individual feelings and opinions, and what you have done has raised a question in every pack members' mind when it comes to relying on you for anything at all. Can you not see that in a fight against a leech that could mean a hesitation that could cause a brother's life? Because that's what we all are to you now, brothers. You may not like that fact, to be honest I don't really give a fuck if you like it or not right now, but we're all your brothers nonetheless. As of the first moment you phased you were on pretty much equal footing with all of the pack, barring myself, Jared as the current beta, and Jake as the next Beta."

Jake looked up, startled at that, but I ignored it, now wasn't the time for a side-bar on the point. "But after you little stunt, you've managed to place yourself at the rock bottom of the pecking order and that will be a part of your punishment. As currently none of us feel like we can trust you to do as is needed to have your brothers' backs, you, Leah, will obey any direct order from any other member of this pack until I tell you otherwise." I could feel that Jake was surprised by that command, but mingled with the surprise I could feel his satisfaction at the justice of it. "I will take steps to make sure that none of the rest of the pack takes unfair advantage of that command, Leah, not that I believe any of them would, well not seriously anyway, not more than making you do pointless chores for them or some shit like that, but nevertheless I'll make sure that doesn't happen. A punishment isn't there for the entertainment of others. But this isn't just a punishment. It's a necessary course of action to overcome the chance that mistakes might otherwise be made at crucial moments by wolves not trusting you to do what you're supposed to in a fight or a chase. When you've proves yourself trustworthy without having to be ordered, I'll countermand the order."

I let out a loud, wolfy sigh and sat down on my haunches. "This problem you've got with me not coming back to you, and with my relationship with Bella. It's got to stop, Leah. You're doing even more harm to yourself than you are to the pack dynamic. It's not healthy to keep chewing it over like an old bone. You and I split up. It happens in hundreds of teen relationships a day, regardless of the how's and whys. Maybe it wouldn't have happened if I'd not phased, maybe it would, but at this point that's irrelevant. The fact is that it did happen, and trying to keep a death-grip on an extinct relationship never would've stopped me from beginning a new one with someone else no matter if I'd phased or not, and certainly not if I'd imprinted. The fact that Bella's not my imprint isn't any of your business. I can see why it might smart a little, bearing in mind why I broke up with you, but that's exactly it – you and I were in a very committed relationship and leaving you for an imprint would've torn us both up. Bella and I have stated from the offset that neither of us are looking for anything permanent with each other, and just because you now have access through the pack mind to my emotions and can see that on my side, feelings have developed despite my best intentions, doesn't give you any right to interfere in what is 100% my business, especially if you're going to affect the rest of the pack in doing so." The feelings of anger, bitterness, regret and deep sadness pouring off Leah as I spoke were almost painful in their intensity, but I couldn't make myself feel any regret for what I was saying. The facts were the facts and trying the gentle approach regarding the end of our relationship had clearly not worked even after such a long time, so the tough-love angle was just going to have to be used. Jake, noticing that I was having troubly maintaining imparciality and keeping pack and personal issues separate, jumped in, giving me a moment to collect my thoughts and get back on track.

"With the way we're all in each other's heads, in each other's emotions, the only way the pack can function with any sense of privacy at all is for us to ignore the flashes of each other's private lives as if we'd never seen them, and to keep our opinions on private matters to ourselves unless absolutely essential." He told her. "I suggest you learn to do the same, or you'll find than none of your brothers will take the trouble to keep out of your business in retaliation." He made a good point, and what was more, while he was speaking, I was able to get my mind back out of my and Leah's personal issues, and back to pack business. I was ready to tell Leah the rest of her punishment, though really, with the way it was going to affect me, I almost felt like I was punishing myself too.

Standing once again, I looked down at her on the ground. "You can speak now, have you got anything to say for yourself before I tell you the rest of your punishment?" Pulling herself up into a sitting position, her head still hanging down, and unwilling or unable to make eye contact with me, she shook her head. "OK then, here it is. And trust me on this, I'm going to hate this punishment almost as much as you are. Until I say otherwise, Leah, you will find me face to face at the end of each day, in wolf form, and you will show me a complete and unedited re-play of every thought, word, and action of yours during that day - in fast-forward, of course. Maybe being forced to have your entire life, private moments included under the scrutiny of someone else will force you to respect other people's privacy." The pitiful whine she gave as the Alpha order sunk in was a balm to my wolf's need to see her suffer, but it tore at my human heart-strings, no matter how hard I tried not to feel it. I pulled my thoughts away from that discomfort and drew the attention of the rest of the pack. "Leah has been shown exactly how serious his matter is, and I've issued her punishment." I quickly flashed through the whole scene for them all to catch up. "Two things, boys." I cautioned. "Firstly, if any of you abuse the command I gave Leah to follow your orders, even if you think you're just being funny, you will share both of hr punishments for as long as she has to deal with them. I'll make sure Paul knows too. Understood?" The reply of

"Yes, Boss" came in perfect unison, I was pleased to note; maybe the pack bond wasn't too badly damaged, especially now I'd handled Leah.

"Secondly," I continued "and this rule will be in effect for any punishment to any member of the pack, discipline within the pack, remains within the pack. It will not be discussed with family, Council, or Imprints, and when the punishment is complete, it is not mentioned again, the debt is paid in full, no hard feelings from any side. Understood?" Again, the response of

"Yes, Boss." Was satisfyingly united. My wolf, while not completely happy without having drawn blood, was at least content that his pack was settled and functioning as a group as it should be. I drew a heavy sigh of relief.

"Ok then. Leah, I want you to go with Jake and swap over with Seth. Seth, you go with Jake when he meets you guys, and take over from Embry. Embry, I want you to check in on Quil and see how we're doing on his status, he's got to be ready to phase soon, then come find me at the drop-in centre. Right. Everyone knows what they're supposed to be doing, let's hope the rest of today is a hell of a lot calmer than the last day and a half!" I said, trying to lighten the atmosphere a little. Jared's and Seth's relieved chuckles did more to actually achieve that than my comment did, but nevertheless, as a pack, we all felt a little more relaxed and that was what mattered.