A/N: Ok lovely people, finally another update I was going to jump straight to the meeting with Jasper, but so many questions came up from the last chapter, that this one just wrote itself! Managed to get out Part 1 of the back story to all those who reviewed chapter 51 [except 1 person who had PM disabled], all those who PM'd back seemed to like what my crazy little head dreamt up. Part 2 will follow reviews for this chapter. If you missed part 1, go back and review :)
Disclaimer: Twilight is not mine.
JPOV
I could feel the shock radiating through my pack. Michael's eyes were wide with confusion and fear. My gaze went to Leah. She hadn't moved at all. I saw Bella moving quickly to her side, wrapping her arms around Leah's shoulders and stroking her hair but it was as if I was getting nothing from her, no anger, retaliation, nothing at all.
There was an explosion of noise in my head, panicked thoughts, unspoken concern, some anger, as if all of them had cried out my name and locked onto me at once. The wave of sickness hit me and I grabbed for the handle of dad's chair to steady myself. "Enough" I called out and pushed them all out of my head, keeping only Michael's mind attached to mine. I let his thoughts wash over me quickly, his anger at Sam for the hurt he had made Leah suffer, his shame that he had acted quickly without consideration for the pack, his fury at… I stopped and looked at him hard. That wasn't good, he was trying to bury it quickly, ashamed of his thoughts. My eyes narrowed. I had been completely right about the Elders reasons for keeping them apart.
I turned back to them all, cutting the connection with Michael. He leaned down, resting his hands on the picnic table, hiding his face from the others. He knew it as well as I did, he had made a dangerous move now, one that could have serious repercussions for the pack.
Harry surprised me by speaking out "The bloodline has spoken and been claimed by the rightful, as was done by the Alpha, so shall it be for his second". Harry walked over to the picnic table and sat down on the bench, resting his hand over Michael's trembling one. I felt my heart sit into the pit of my stomach. This guy was cool, Bella had found him for us, and he was of course Leah's imprint, which made the world a better place for all of us that had to share it with her, but Sam had been my guide, Sam had stood by me when my mind turned in on itself with the damage of the separation from my imprint. Sam still bore the scars from standing by me, protecting that which was mine.
I stood solemly as Seth rose to his feet and went and sat by his father. I could understand it, Michael was his kin now. Bella helped Leah to get to her feet and as she moved to Michael's side he embraced her like a man clinging to a life raft. I recognised that too. A wolf terrified of his imprint, the fear that we might have in some way damaged the belief they have in us, and take away the only thing that keeps us alive.
I looked at the others, and as I did so Paul rose to his feet. I looked at him in surprise. I had expected…I didn't know what…but some kind of outburst from him. He patted Michael on the shoulder as he rested against the edge of the table. Jared, Quil and Embry remained where they had sat before. Suddenly Embry shot to his feet with anger blazing in his eyes "Are you going to let him do that?" He spat at me. "You taking over, I was cool with that, but him, who the hell is he to me? Sam's been everything, he's taken care of us, raised us, shown us how to become Protectors, and this is how you let him get treated?"
I caught Embry's head with my hands, bringing his forehead against mine as the emotion became too much for him. I could feel his pain, his despair. Out of all of us, this was always going to hurt Embry the most, Sam was the closest thing he had ever had to a father. Right now, despite his size and strength and everything else, this felt like the Embry I used to find hiding in the toilets when the other kids had been picking on him for being the only bastard child on the res. I tilted his face so he was looking at me "This doesn't change who Sam is to you, nothing can change that. I just need you to give Michael some respect that's all. Just let Sam calm down, get his head straight, then we'll work out a way to sort this all out properly. Ok?" I shook his head gruffly, like I always used to do, and he looked at me pitifully, before nodding his head weakly.
Quil stood, nodded at me and nodded briefly at Michael. I could sense that Quil largely wasn't fussed, but the same as always, wherever Embry's allegiance lay, so would Quil's. I turned to him "Can you get him back home, cool off for a bit". Quil nodded and pulled Embry by the arm. Embry had always been the sensitive one of the three of us, and I was sure that some time spent hanging out with Quil would settle him down. I would make some time later to sit down with him properly, away from the others as this was much more wrapped up in his own baggage than purely just a pack thing.
That just left Jared, who was sat Kim by his side, casually tracing out patterns in the dirt with a stick. "How about you Jared?" Jared looked up at me, he was one of the hardest to get a read on, he had spent a lot of time with Sam, learning how to mask his thoughts to protect Kim's privacy, and I could tell he was using that now. Jared spoke quietly, without emotion "I am a Protector. You are my Alpha. My pack are my brothers. I will do as I am asked". I could have reached into his mind and demanded his thoughts but to be honest, I didn't want to know. He was telling me he wouldn't fight against Michael's position, but he was also letting us know that he wasn't crazy about the idea. Sadly, it felt like it echoed my own thoughts.
I nodded, "Take Kim home, then you and Seth run the patrol." He nodded and walked away silently, holding out his hand for Kim to grab and she hopped up and ran after him. Dad reached out and patted my arm. "You did good son, you did good." He wheeled off towards the house and Harry followed him. I motioned for Paul and Seth to join them. Bella stood up too and gave me a little hug. She went to move towards the house and I caught her arm "Where are you going?" She looked at me with a little smile and cocked her head to the side "I thought you would want me safe and out of the way". I gave her a mock-evil glare, "Oh I get it, life and death dramatics and you want to be slap bang in the middle, bit of relationship drama and you try to slope off with the guys, I think not!"
She poked me in the side and stuck her tongue out. Part of me wanted to catch that tongue and slide it into my mouth, run my hands through her hair, slide my….FOCUS! As much as I loved what she had done today, it was frying my brain and I needed to be running on all cylinders. I turned to Leah "Are you cool?" She looked at me, her expression confused "I don't know honestly". I saw Michael tense, but Leah continued. "I mean I'm okay with it all strangely, to be honest I thought it might go down worse, I wasn't expecting the whole power take-over thing, but it seems only Bella was". I looked at Bella but she just shrugged, I had been completely confused when she had shouted out to Michael to stop. "We were doing Monarchy systems in Social Studies, the whole eldest heir stuff, remember Leah". Leah nodded vaguely, her attention elsewhere.
Michael reached out to her "I'm sorry" he whispered. "I should have handled that better, I just saw red and lost it". Leah sighed "It wasn't all your fault, he didn't need to be such a butt-head and start pushing you". I looked over to Michael. "I think it might be a good idea for you too to go for a run, get into each others thoughts before the others patrol". I saw Michael stiffen, so did the girls. Leah's eyes snapped between us "Why? What's going on?" I really didn't want to get into their business, but what was in Michael's head had worried me.
"Michael", Bella's voice interrupted my thoughts, "Is there something on your mind, something that might have troubled Jake?" Michael let out an angry sigh and pushed his hands through his hair. "Look, I know I don't know the guy, it's just that he makes me so mad". Bella looked at him with that searching expression "Because?" Michael pushed away from the table and began to pace around in angry circles. "Because, of everything, because he hurt you, because he stayed in your head even when he should have let you go, because he ruled you, and owned you and bound you to him when he had no right". Michael's words were tumbling out and I could see the tears forming in Leah's eyes. "Because, you're beautiful and wonderful and smart and sexy and he made you fell like nothing, he made you quit school, and give up". The tears were falling fast down Leah's face now but Michael was on a roll, he needed all of this out if he was going to make it in the pack, otherwise his darkest thoughts and fears would be out there for all of them to see.
Leah stood now reaching out for him but Michael still hadn't finished "I want to be the bigger man, I want to rise above it, but he took what was supposed to be mine and I hate him for it". I saw the shock on both Leah and Bella's faces, but part of me was relieved that he had admitted it. Bella had stumbled onto a part of my wolf that I didn't even know I possessed earlier, a part of me so wild and so animal and so driven that I could barely find the humanity attached to it. Bella was mine, marked as mine, claimed as mine, mated as mine. Her body knew no one else but me. It was not a conscious thought, not a human thought. I would love her no matter who she was or how she had chosen to live her life before the day that she had said she was mine, but the darkest part of my wolf mind loved that her body belonged to me, that she belonged to me.
I could understand the pain that Michael was in. He loved Leah, he'd loved her even before he'd imprinted, and in that way his feelings were as true and honest as mine were for Bella, but his wolf was angry and both of them were going to need to work on that. Leah threw her arms around his neck "I'm so sorry, if I could take it back, if I could change anything, you have to know I would", but Michael was shaking his head. "Don't say that, don't feel that. I don't want you to feel guilty. I just….God I don't know, Jake's right…I need this out in the open so that you can see that it doesn't change a thing about how I feel about you, but it's not going to be an easy thing being around him. That part of me that's not under control yet, it wants to tear him apart. It wants him dead so he can never have another thought about you. But I don't want to be like that, honestly I don't. I don't ever want you to feel that you are being made to chose or feel guilty. I just can't see how me being around him is ever going to work".
They were wrapped in each others arms whispering to each other now and I raised my eyebrows at Bella. Was this fixed? Should I say anything else? Bella nodded her head and took my hand, leading me away from the two of them. I looked at her cautiously. She screwed up her face and frowned, then leaned against my arm as we walked round to the car. I called for Paul as I stood there rubbing her arms gently, I traced the beautiful design down her back and rested my chin on the top of her head. She sighed deeply. "It's never straightforward is it?" I hugged her gently, there wasn't really an answer to that.
