The Twilight Series belongs to S. Meyer, no copyright infringement is intended. I'm just playing with the characters.

Chapter 37

The Aftermath

It had been three days since Jake had left La Push, since he had blocked them from his thoughts, since Leah had been able to phase. Oh, she had tried, more than once but her wolf was having none of it. She lay curled up and refused. So Leah was trapped in her all too human body and had no outlet for her sadness, anger, disappointment, and rage. None of the pack knew either; she feigned she was exhausted from days of running double patrols. They picked up her slack without complaint.

Though she knew it would be only a matter of time before they figured it out. She wasn't sleeping and could barely eat. Anything pack related, she ignored or shrugged her shoulders, telling her mom and brothers to have "Jared deal with it." She had never felt like this before and she wanted to be angry and fly into a rage but she didn't even have the energy to do it.

On the fourth day after Jake left, she stood in the woods outside her house, naked. She was going to force her wolf to phase and she didn't care how hard it was. She needed to know she could still do it. She gathered every ounce of anger and frustration she had. She told her wolf, if they could do this, she'd rip Bella apart piece by piece.

It took a long and torturous battle within herself before Leah was able to phase. She hadn't expected what happened though. Her wolf was practically feral and she found her control on the wolf, tenuous at best. It scared her because inside her wolf had always been human Leah but this, this was all her wolf. Together they ran and Leah found herself in the trees outside the Swan house.

She phased back into her human form and pulled her dress on. Breathing heavily, adrenaline and fear running through her veins. Her body was pulled towards the house and she heard the sounds of Bella and Charlie inside. She walked up the front steps and threw the door open.

Bella jumped at the sound of the door slamming into the wall, dropping the spoon in her hand. It clattered to the floor. Leah stood there, wearing a simple dress and barefoot. She cowered at the intense look of hate on Leah's face, the fire in Leah's eyes. Bella's eyes were wide with fear and she knew there would be no one who could save her from this.

Charlie had walked into the kitchen at the commotion; he looked at Leah and made a move towards Bella. He heard Leah growl at him and he was frozen in place. His eyes moved warily between the two girls. He watched as Leah glided over to Bella. Saw as his daughter swallowed nervously and he felt powerless to do anything.

"You bitch," Leah hissed. "I warned your boyfriend what would happen if you didn't listen. I guess I should have been more explicit." Bella watched as Leah raised her hand and struck her hard across the face. She heard the choking sound her father made and saw the rage in Leah's eyes.

"I told you to leave him alone. And now, he's gone. Because of you and your selfishness. He would have given you anything and everything and I would have let him, if that's what he wanted. But you," she snarled. "It's all been a game to you. He's been your back-up plan in case Edward wises up to you and leaves your sorry ass for good."

The hostility and rage coming from Leah filled the kitchen. It choked the air and at least two of the occupants wanted to flee. But not Leah, she was done running. She was here to fight. She didn't even notice when Paul and Jared entered the Swan kitchen. They cautiously approached her, knowing anything could set her off.

"Why don't you give me one good reason why I shouldn't finish what Victoria started, Bella," she sneered. Bella's heart was lodged in her throat and she couldn't have answered even if she wanted to.

Leah finally felt the presence of her pack members. So instead of continuing, she finished the conversation, "Just so we're clear in the future, I'll tell you exactly what I told your dear Edward. As far as we're concerned, you're a Cullen now. Don't come on our land, you're fair game and I won't hesitate to finish it."

Paul grabbed Leah's arm pulling her away from Bella, "Let's go, Leah." He walked her out to Jared's truck. Thankfully Jared had been in Forks picking up a few things so when Paul felt Leah phase in, he had ran to Forks and found Jared and they made their way to the Swan house. He helped Leah into Jared's truck and stared at her face but she'd already put the mask in place, blocking what she was thinking from him.

He heard Jared try to explain Leah's actions. Jared was telling Charlie that Jake had run away after receiving the wedding invitation and all of them had already been helping the Blacks out. Telling Charlie how difficult it had been for Billy when Jake was injured and once he was finally healed, how Jake had disappeared. Satisfied he'd done enough damage control, he told Charlie to keep Bella away from La Push and left.

The ride back to the rez was quiet. It was just before they arrived at Leah's house when Jared turned to Leah and said, "What the hell was that about, Leah? Jesus, you were seconds away from killing her. Why?"

"Just leave it alone, Jared. I'm sick of pretending like Bella's important to any of us. We did our job and protected her. It's time to wash our hands of the bitch. She's going to be one of them soon."

Things didn't get any better. Leah kept herself shut off from the pack and refused to deal with anything. And then there was Sam. Even prior to Jake's leaving Sam had blamed himself for Jake's injuries. Jake's leaving was the final straw.

He, too, pulled away from the pack, from his imprint. He spent his days and nights drinking. None of them understood how he managed it, but he remained drunk. And Emily was affected by his behavior and his withdrawal. She was miserable, crying and called Kim all hours of the day.

Between Leah's refusal to be their Alpha, Sam's drinking, and Jake's disappearance, the pack was falling apart. They bickered and fought with one another. They refused to take direction from one another. Didn't follow the patrol schedules. Nothing. A legion of vampires could attack La Push and Jared doubted any of them would even care.

Jared finally went to the elders for advice. The pack needed to have some leadership and direction. If Leah was unwilling, they needed to come up with a contingency plan. The elders didn't understand why this was happening but agreed with Jared. So, Jared had no choice but to step up as their temporary Alpha.

Jared called a pack meeting nearly a week after Leah's incident with Bella. Sam and Leah refused to participate. So the meeting consisted of Paul, Quil, Embry, Seth, and himself. He looked at the faces of his pack members and the tension was palpable. He had no idea how Leah did this but he had no choice, they needed a leader before they completely fell apart.

"I've talked to the elders. Something needs to be done. We can't continue like this," he started.

"What gives you the right, Jared? You're not our leader," Seth scoffed. Embry nodded at Seth's statement clearly agreeing with it.

"Someone has to. If Leah's not going to do her job, then someone needs to."

"Doesn't mean you should get to be in charge," Quil said rolling his eyes. "Why do you think you're the best man for it?"

Jared was getting angry and he wanted nothing more than to beat the shit out of these little punks. "Enough! Leah choose me as Beta so if she's unable to fulfill her duties, then I have every right to temporarily take her place. This is exactly what I'm talking about. We can't continue to fight amongst each other. We need to figure out what we're going to do. We're down three pack members as it is. If we continue to fight and bicker amongst one another, how long will it be before we fall apart completely?"

Paul cleared his throat before speaking, "Jared's right. We can't continue like this. I don't understand what's going on with Leah but someone has to be in charge." He looked pointedly at Seth and Embry before continuing, "Your sister chose Jared for a reason. I think if she was able to make the decision, she'd put Jared in charge."

"Fine," Embry, Quil, and Seth grumbled.

"Alright, so I talked to the elders. They have temporarily allowed me to be Alpha. As soon as Leah is able to resume her role, I'll step down. I don't want it but we need someone in charge. For now, I'd like Paul to step up as temporary Beta. It's nothing personal, it's just I've known Paul longer and we tend to think the same way. We have several things we need to discuss, first being Jake, second is Sam, and lastly Leah."

The pack nodded and Jared took it as a sign to continue. "First, Jake. Has he tried to communicate with any of you?"

"No," Quil said. "A few times, he's had his mind open enough and maybe he's in Canada or something but the second I tried to talk to him, he shut me out."

"Same here," Embry agreed. "I tried begging him to come home but he just blocks us. You can't even tell he's still there. I don't know if we'd feel him phase out when it's far away like that. So I don't know whether he's just blocking our attempts or he phases," he finished with a shrug.

"So, no one's been able to actually have more than a one-sided conversation with him," Jared clarified and at their nods, he continued, "So for now, Jake's no help and we can't count on him. Next up, Sam."

"I've tried, man. I don't know how the hell he's doing it but he's always drunk," Paul said. "I told him we need his help and he told me to 'fuck off.' Hell, I even tried to guilt him into helping by talking about how he was hurting Emily. It didn't do a thing."

"I've done the same. He never marked Emily before the battle and I think it's why he was distracted. And with Jake getting injured and running away, I'm sure he's feeling guilty. He knew Leah was going to end up talking to him about it. But she hasn't so it's probably not helping either. And Kim's getting phone calls from all hours of the day from Emily. She's freaking out, thinking the imprint is broken or something. I don't think we'll be able to get Sam back on board until Jake is back and Leah talks to him about what happened during the battle. So, that leaves us with Leah," Jared looked over at Embry and Seth knowing they would have had the most contact with her.

"I don't know what to say," Seth started, "But she doesn't sleep, she barely eats, and half the time she does…well, it doesn't stay down." Seth blushed before continuing, "Mom made her take a test the other day and Leah freaked out at her. She screamed and fought against it. When the results showed up, she told mom to 'Leave her the fuck alone' and she 'didn't need another reminder of what a freak she was' before she slammed her door."

"She looks like shit," Embry said. "It's like a hundred times worse than zombie-Bella. And she barely talks to either of us. I went to talk to her the other day and she just sat there staring at nothing. I don't even know if she was listening or not."

"Plus, she cries," Seth whispered. "Leah never cries. And every night, she cries. I asked her the other day about it and she didn't say anything at first…but then she told me. She said, 'her wolf was dying and she couldn't do anything about it. Her wolf was just lying there, waiting'," he finished with a shudder.

"From what we all know of Leah, she doesn't cry. Leah's the type of girl," Paul added, "If she's messed with you'd better watch out. She'll scream and rant, throw shit at you, or even cut body parts off of you in your sleep. And the day she confronted Bella. None of you were phased in but her wolf was different. She had a hard time controlling it. I don't even know if she knew what she was doing."

"I forgot about that, Paul," Jared said remembering that day. "I thought for sure she was going to phase in the Swan's kitchen and rip Bella apart. She hasn't phased since that day."

It was Quil who put the pieces together. "What if…she imprinted? Could that be enough to cause all of this?"

Jared shrugged as the only imprinted wolf present, he wasn't sure what could happen if someone was imprinted and didn't accept it. "Maybe, but why would that matter?"

"What if she had imprinted on Jake?"

AN: Sorry for the cliff-hanger. But next chap, they'll put the pieces together.