A.N. Thank you for reviewing! At this point I just want to get the story out and I will. I say it'll be up to about 60 chapters at most. Maybe...

Disclaimer 1: All government-related mentions are for fiction related purposes only

Disclaimer 2: All twilight related stuff does not belong to me. Other original stuff and characters however DO belong to me. You can laugh but I'm serious.


The sounds of trouble greet his senses even before he opens his eyes.

A helicopter buzzes discordantly, a large unnatural dragonfly drowning the waves crashing on the rocks.

But the roar of the helicopter could not muffle the Colonel's sharp demand."Where is your alpha?"

Darting from the ground, he rushes through the trees where Paul and Embry are facing the Colonel and his soldiers.

A short thin man, his head gleaming like a peeled onion, stands next to the Colonel. He pats the elder Uley's shoulder as if calming an overgrown toddler. "Relax, Colonel. There's no need for aggression. I'm sure once I explain..." The bald man tapers off, his quick grey eyes landing on Sam.

The Colonel slowly lowers his rifle, glaring as he approaches. Sam ponders the irony that he had been all too quick to leave the Rez, twice and now it would seem like he's stalking him...

He nods gruffly in Sam's direction. "There you go. The alpha of the pack."

Onion head looks at him with an immediate recognition that puts him on edge. The man steps forward hesitantly, glancing anxiously at Paul and less so at Embry. "Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Corey Williams, Advisor to the National Military Council." His voice is rapid with a kind of passivity that seems as if he's reeling off a list.

"Samuel Uley." Gripping the man's extended hand, the Instinct is growling within him. All he could think is his mate is in the woods behind him. They shouldn't have come here.

Corey Williams' polite expression dissolves into one of confusion when he shakes his hand. Not bothering to explain the heightened temperature of his skin, he nods to Paul and Embry, introducing them. With that same confounded look, he briefly shakes hands with Paul and Embry.

"Hey, call me Corey. Because we have a lot to discuss. Urgently discuss." Corey takes a deep breath. "Like, you know, shifting. Or phasing as you call it."

"We have nothing to talk about. We're only a pack of normal men who protect the Rez. We just don't need a truck load of artillery to do it."

"Why would you need weapons when you are the weapons, right?" Corey laughs, the high pitched caw of a frightened parrot.

Finding no trace of shared amusement, Corey sobers up quickly, rubbing his head again. ""On behalf of the National Military Council, it is my duty to inform you that you and your pack of 'normal men' as you say have been under the surveillance of the government for the past year. I must also make it clear that the Council has no tolerance for things they cannot understand. You only place yourself and the others on this Reservation as potential enemies of the state if you don't cooperate. Nothing can be gained by hiding things now.

He didn't flinch at Corey's revelation. Paul growls lowly but audible enough that Corey's eyes widen.

Allowing his Instinct free rein to access Corey, he cocks his head to the side, wondering at the validity of his statement. He determines that Corey rubs his shiny head as a nervous gesture but his Instinct tells him the man isn't lying.

Corey glances around at the soldiers as if for reassurance before looking at Sam again. "We have not intruded into your personal lives. Your homes are not rigged."

What Corey didn't know was that the foreign smell of an intruder into his home would have led him directly to whatever sophisticated camera equipment that might have been hidden there.

Corey hangs his head down for an instant as if silently communing with the sand at his feet. "Admittedly, none of our cameras were close enough to actually see any of you do whatever it is you do to shift. We almost believed that the shifter legends here were not real."

If they'd been close by in the woods, he and the rest of the pack would have definitely sensed them.

"But then on the night of the Forks attack, Colonel Uley and some of his men were fortunate enough to see what we had been trying so long to gain evidence of. After we have talked further and if you agree to our plan, you would be expected to show us just how you facilitate this change."

Sam doesn't say anything, returning Corey's stare until the man lowers his eyes. Assessing him again, he determines that this military advisor is the sort that handles the more administrative duties, the one who perhaps gives orders from some high rise office and not the more hardy military type that is typically found in battlefields.

With a heave of his shoulders, Corey slaps a hand on his head.

"Alright! There is no official way to say this so I'm just going to say it plainly! We need your help, alright!" When Corey looks at him again, Sam could see apprehension fighting with caution in his eyes. "There's been another attack."

He can feel the weight of Embry's worried stare. Even Paul looks torn now, his defensive aggressiveness fading abruptly.

"We are on the same team here." The mild pleasantness in Corey's voice is now strained.

"That's something that you will have to prove. And only then, maybe, we can show you what you want to see."

Corey nods vigorously, his bald head gleaming even more as if with sweat. It is not a hot day.

"I will prove to you how much we need your help. We need to get back to the mainland."

Sam glances up at the helicopter, still hovering in circles.

He asks casually before looking at Corey again. "Why the 'copter though?"

"Uh, just emergency measures, you know, in case this introduction didn't go well." Corey admits.

Without taking his gaze from Corey and the soldiers, he places his hand over his bare chest.

His heart beats.

Fast and strong.

He can almost feel her coming closer to them. To him...

Returning his focus to the Colonel and the rest of the soldiers, he watches as they grip their weapons with renewed attention. "We shall follow you to the mainland after you leave."

Corey pauses for a second, shaking his head slightly at the Colonel. "We're running out of time each second we speak, Mister Uley."

"I'll keep that in mind."

Shoulders slumping, Corey mutters. "You can find me at the military base on the Reservation border. Please, as soon as you return to the mainland, come see me. I would like to say you are under no obligation to do that but my intention is to keep things honest and to the point. I hope you will return the favor. We need your help and we will take whatever steps are necessary to convince you, all of you, of that. "

Corey turns heading back towards the military speed boat, the engine still revving in the water.

Joshua gives Sam one last hard glance.

But looking at him, Sam doesn't see the Colonel as he is now, armed with a long rifle and in military fatigues.

Instead he is that terrified young boy again, looking up into his father's face. He'd seen the one emotion he never would have believed he would see in Joshua's eyes.

Horror.

His voice, not yet deepened in maturity, had trembled with only fear and not Instinct. "I'm sorry dad, she asked me to..."

The stuttered buzz of the helicopter following the military speedboat to First Beach jolts him back to the present.

He does not move until the helicopter and the boat reach the distant shore.

"What the hell we gonna do now?" Paul asks.

Sam inhales a gust of sea wind, squeezing his eyes shut but only for a second. The echoing blast of ancient tribal drums still resound in his head. "We're going to defend our peace."

He had lost consciousness for a couple hours at most. But the wealth of information he'd learned flashes through his mind again. He had been thoroughly re-educated and he could no longer relegate his ancestry to the logic he'd always clung to.

The magic of the alpha line had demanded his acceptance.

The one who holds his heartbeat runs through the trees at the moment, his name on her lips bringing a smile to his eyes.


Only two people are allowed into the room Corey had commandeered. Besides himself the other person, aggravatingly, is Colonel Uley.

He wants to crawl into bed with her and hold her close. Shut out everything else. Listen to the sound of her voice as she describes what she saw in her Spirit journey. But the urgency in Corey's demeanor wouldn't let him rest. He had to find out what this military advisor to one of the most powerful Councils in the country wanted with him and his pack...and further, what it would mean for the Rez now that the pack had been mostly revealed, however unintentionally, by his abrupt phasing on that night of the attack in Forks.

He could sense Joshua's eyes where he stands behind him but determinedly he focuses on Corey, who stands near the flat screen monitor that had been mounted on one wall.

"The Victors sent a new video to the Director of National Defense as well as the National Military Council."

"Who are the Victors?"

Corey swipes an agitated hand over the smoothness of his head, his tone harassed. "That's what these terrorists call themselves. We never see a face. We only see what they do in the video. They sent the first one before they attacked in Forks. We didn't believe it. Thought it was a hoax. And now they've attacked even closer to Washington."

Corey grabs a small remote from his cluttered desk, switching on the monitor. "This is confidential information that has only been seen by members of the National Military Council including the President. The general public cannot know of this as we aim to get the situation under control. And these videos I'm about to show you here is your proof that we are dead serious, pardon the pun, about recruiting you and your pack and mean no harm towards you. We have little time to prepare as it is."

A hooded shape appears on the screen, no hint of any face within the dark red shroud of the hood. A voice emerged from the hooded shape. Even through a video, he could hear the unnatural tone of the leech though the disembodied voice is not the usual sickeningly musical accent but a deep rich baritone. "By now, you have probably scraped up the remains of our last attack in Forks. Didn't mean for things to get so out of hand. One of our...lieutenants had a score to settle there. Anyway, I digress. To get to the matter at hand, Forks will seem like a stroll in the playground when we are done with our next attack which, by the time you have received this video, would already have happened. If only you had taken the first video seriously, all this might have been avoided."

Sam could feel the low growl of the Instinct within him. The amused tone of the leech seems to be a mockery of all the people who had died in the Forks attack. In all the other attacks...

The leech continues on, showing a hint of teeth within the hood of the cloak. But Sam could make out no other feature of his face. The inner darkness of the cloak surrounding the leech's face had probably been tailored for just such an effect.

"Now, I'm aware it's all unfair. You're not prepared to face us.

And truly, what we are demanding from you is a lot to ask for. But what you have, power and control, is worth fighting for. I used to think that this gift of immortality was something anyone would kill to acquire. And that may be true. But what's the point of potential eternity if you don't have ultimate power and control. Lucky for you, I like a good fight. And since you are not just giving in and handing me Washington on a platter, and I would be disappointed if you did, I am willing to give you some time to prepare your defenses. I hunger for a good fight! In six months time. A blink of an eye but I can't wait to see what you will cook up in that time...' The hooded leech laughs, not the cackle Sam had expected but an almost gentle heavy chuckle that makes him want to smash a fist through the screen. Turning with blinding speed, the leech emerges into the thick of other dusk red cloaked forms as if he had not moved from one spot to the next.

Screams explode all around, as audible as if the victims are actually in the room with them and not on the monitor.

The screen mercifully goes blank.

"How many?"

Corey blinks quickly, his eyes still riveted to the blank monitor.

"How many people died?"

Corey glances at him. "They didn't die. At least not that we know of. They disappeared. Only blood stained streets. And missing people. They didn't attack wildly like the other attacks before. Those were just messages. Now they are building an army. You heard what that...what it said. And our cache of current weapons won't make a lasting effect on these Victors as they call themselves..."

"Leeches. We call them leeches. With all your spying, didn't you know of their existence before now?"

Corey's left eye twitches subtly and he hesitates so slightly that a man with normal senses would have missed those little signs."We didn't have a clue."

Sam stares at him for a beat. "That's a lie."

The cloying smell of fear fills the room and his wolf slams within him, beating beneath the cage of his skin. Patience. He whispers silently to his Instinct.

Sam moves closer to Corey, his feet instinctively producing no sound on the concrete. He is very aware that he is practically in wolf mode even if he's wearing a tee and jeans at the moment.

The click of a weapon resounds in the stillness.

"Samuel." The Colonel murmurs behind his back.

"Ignoring the Colonel, Sam whispers to Corey, deliberately keeping his voice low but letting the wolf flare in his eyes. "If you're being straight with me as you said you would be, there would be no reason to fear me."

He can hear the moist swallow of saliva as Corey shakes his head. "You don't understand, what you're asking is classified information. Yes we knew of the leeches as you call them. All I can say is that we thought we had an agreement with them. They stay in their lane and keep out of ours. But that agreement has ended. And we need to get the situation under control."

Sam stares into Corey's eyes and this time the Advisor doesn't look away. "If they're building an army to gain control over the Capital, it's going to take a whole hell of a lot more than just the pack to deal with this."

Corey nods briskly. "Agreed."

Sam slowly moves back.

Corey grabs at the remote to the monitor as if the device is a safety net, switching it on again. "What I'm about to reveal now is also why we need you to execute the first part of our strategy."

The monitor glows to life again, showing a natural network of caves surrounded by snow covered trees.

"We are aware that we will need more than conventional weapons to fight these things. For the past five years, we have been observing from different parts of the world, shifter activities. Look at this."

A man with a huge barrel torso emerges from the cave, straggly ferns partially blocking him. Within less than a second, something else dives away where the man was standing, a gigantic, shadowy shape.

"What was that?" It didn't look like a wolf.

Corey glances at him again, a somewhat smug grin shrouding his face. "That my friend, is a bear shifter."

The fine hairs at the back of his neck stand on edge.

Corey, watching him and grinning, quips. "You guys are not the only ones who shift out here."

Joshua who had been surprisingly silent, strolls forward. "We hardly got anything at all in that footage."

"Yeah." Corey says excitedly. "That's the best evidence we ever got of the bear shifters. Of any type of shifter in fact. The next day our cameras were found destroyed. Colonel Uley has spearheaded our excursions into these places, searching for more evidence of shifters. In fact, he suggested we set up a spy system here in La Push about a year and a half ago."

Around the time he had first phased. For the first time since he'd entered the room, he glances at his father.

"We never caught anything but the Colonel seemed convinced that we should continue monitoring. Was he right, Mister Uley? Given the gravity of the present circumstances, are you willing to provide evidence of your shifting? Will you help us?"

"Show me more."

Corey nods, pressing the remote again.

The monitor shows rugged dark blue peaks capped with snow. The monitor zooms in at the uppermost reaches of the mountains highlighting what appears to be a pair of birds soaring at the peak.

"We never got evidence of this and it doesn't show the true size of those aviators on the screen. But when we sent an information scout pretending to be a tourist, he reported the tales the villagers had told him, tales that had been passed down to them throughout the years. The residents of the town at the foothills have always believed that the eagle shifters reside at the peak of the mountain. But no one had ever actually seen the abnormally large eagles for decades. Still, we sent an expedition."

Corey pauses, rubbing his knuckles over his closed eyes for an instant. "We lost most of the entire team up on that mountain. Only one man survived." Corey looks over at the Colonel.

"I was that man." He mutters, dark eyes fixed on Sam.

What did the Colonel expect from him? A round of applause?

Corey shakes his head. "When we air lifted the Colonel from the peak of the mountain, we found the rest of the men down at the side of a cliff. All quite dead. No one human could survive the sheer drop of that precipice. Yet those were trained, battle hardy men. All armed. All accustomed to rough terrain. They knew how to avoid pitfalls like that."

"I was lucky to survive." Joshua looks at the monitor. His eyes seem haunted. "Something was definitely up there. Got separated from the rest of the team, by the time I caught up to them it was too late. And all I could hear was this strange sound at the edge of that cliff. A shrill cry. But not from any one of the team. They were already dead. Something drove them off that cliff..."

A tense moment of silence passes.

Corey presses the remote again.

A group of women, all varying hues of exotic shades, move with stealthy grace through a bustling boardwalk flanked by tables of vendors.

"Where is this?"

Corey replies deftly. "Brazil. To be exact this is Trancoso, a beach town frequented mostly by locals and so tiny that it's just a dot on the coast of Bahia. It's like this small hideaway gem tucked within the more popular touristy areas. The town is bordered by a forest so thick that parts of it still remain undiscovered. "

The women quickly move away from the monitor's line of vision.

"All we could glean is that the same group of women make weekly trips into Trancoso. They always mysteriously disappear from under the noses of our most able men until they return the next week. They seem to visit... to make regular supply runs. We tried having them followed. But they simply moved too quickly. Old local stories have it that there's a line of shifters in the deepest part of the tropical forest bordering Trancoso. We don't know what they shift into but we will give it our best shot at finding out."

Corey exhales a breath. "And that's all we have for now. With what those leeches have planned, it doesn't seem like enough even if we could convince them to help us."

Glancing at the Colonel, Corey frowns slightly. "Colonel Uley's true mission here was to gain evidence of shifter activity. I didn't know you were his son until today."

Again his Instinct had been right. The Colonel, narrowed eyes pinned on him now, had been trying to goad him into shifting that day at the cabin.

Sam returns his glare until the Colonel looks away first.

Corey awkwardly clears his throat.

"Yes, well, no matter what we do we haven't managed to successfully infiltrate any shifter packs. And as you now know, we have little time to convince them to cooperate."

Sam didn't particularly like what Corey was suggesting. "How exactly do you plan to do that?"

Corey looks at him for a long moment. "We're trying a new approach. If you will agree, of course. But we will provide every opportunity to make it as easy as possible for you to help us. We figured it would be,um, better, if we sent another shifter into these packs' territories. Maybe if another shifter communicated the urgency with which their help is needed...they'd be more willing to join our defense plan."

"You want me to go to these other shifter species and convince them to help the government fight the leeches? Not that I have admitted to shifting..."

"You might as well." Joshua says acidly.

"We will not expose you or the pack, Mister Uley. We bring no harm to the Reservation either. This situation is an emergency and it is imperative that we begin to unfold our strategy right away. But in this initial stage of recruiting more shifters, I think it would be best to send no more than two of you. Any more and they might see your approach as a threat." Corey shuffles around the desk, pulling a sheaf of papers out from the jumble. He slowly approaches Sam extending the papers towards him.

"We need your cooperation in this. You and the pack are our last hope where the most effective weapons are concerned in having a fighting chance against these leeches."

Sam looks at Corey for a moment, not taking the offered papers just yet. He couldn't detect any hint of a lie besides Corey's denial of being aware of the leeches. And the Instinct never failed him.

Corey tries to disguise his slowly exhaled breath when he takes the papers.

Combing his gaze through the cover sheet of paper, he murmurs, "A contract."

"It sounds more ominous than it is. This impending war is bigger than all of us and we all have to do our part to ensure that not only your Reservation is protected but homes everywhere."

"And the matter of gaining these other shifters' assistance. You implied one of those packs might have killed a whole team of your men. I'll be the one risking my neck to approach them."

"Which is why if you'll look over the contract, keeping in mind the little time we have, you will see we've made provisions to ensure this turns out safely. We all have a lot to lose, Mister Uley if this doesn't turn out well."

"Let's make it clear from the get go. I have terms of my own if I agree to go on this shifter mission. And signing a contract isn't one of them."

"But signing it is the only way to ensure..."

"If I agree to try and get these other shifters to help, you have my word I will give it my best shot. And if I'm going to risk my neck, I want to have a say in how I'm going to approach the other shifters. And no more lies. I need to know just what kind of agreement the government had with the leeches before."

Corey nods, holding Sam's gaze. "If you accept the mission and show us that you are capable, that can be arranged."


He stares into the eyes of a killer.

His own dark reflection in the bathroom mirror...

He could see their bloodied faces as if through his own memory. Those young, five faces distorted, swollen and mottled blue, their bare bodies twisted from phasing back into human in the throes of death, their bones mangled beyond repair. Isaac, Josiah, Luke, Emmanuel and Matt. Five new wolves wiped out.

Had they spoken to their parents that same morning, the parents who had to bury them without truly knowing why their sons died?

Newly phased, he would have surely done the same thing. Fight those leeches to the death. Unaware of the gift awaiting him in his future. His mate.

He would have killed the leeches or die trying.

But he doesn't want to die now. He would do anything to ensure that no more of his pack dies. He would do anything so that she wouldn't die.

What would Allison think of her? As much as he tries to not to remember, he will always remember how is mother had begged for death.

He could still feel the clammy chill of her arm that he'd refused to let go. Even as Joshua tore him loose...

Soft, comfortingly warm arms slide around his bare waist from behind.

Inhaling deeply, the memories dissipate, folding themselves away into the far corners of his mind. The parts he never let anyone see, not even through the mind link.

Turning to her, he draws her close bowing to plant a kiss on the thick softness of her hair.

He'd promised Corey he would read the contract and get back to him ASAP. Even before he'd read it, Instinct dictated that his choice had already been made.

She asks him if he's okay.

For a second, he's tempted to say no. He nods, yes he is fine. He can see she doesn't believe it in her eyes.

He is used to his mind being private. As alpha it is one of the things he fiercely holds onto. The idea that she could discover the most hidden reservoirs of his mind is unsettling. Hell, she could read him even without knowing his thoughts.

But part of him wants her to know it all. Wants her to know the loneliness before her, the hurt, the pain, the selfish pleasures.

And his most shameful secret.

He wants her to know. To hear his thoughts beyond his alpha barrier.

After she comes to know the most dusty corners of his soul, what would she do?

The idea is something he both fears and anticipates. His mind had always been closed to the others. Would she be able to open it, to see the secret that he had tried to shut away even from himself?

The irony is she makes him forget about the bad stuff and focus on all that is good. He wants to continue being the man he has become. He didn't want to taint her view of him with the past he'd put away.

"The guys are here." She murmurs, sliding out of his embrace.

"Babygirl..."

She turns back to him, her chocolate eyes flaring deliciously for a second with the Instinct.

He grabs her. Pushing her against the wall, he hovers a breath away from claiming her mouth. She parts her lips, breathing him in, her lips rosy and trembling. But her eyes snare him. So glorious, that fine cognac liquid hue with those sparks of amber.

With the lightening reflex of the Instinct, he curls his fingers around her neck. Gripping the ends of her hair with his other hand, he tilts her head back even more, exposing her lips directly beneath his.

And he kisses her gently. Until he isn't kissing her so gently anymore.

Forcing himself to release her, he murmurs. "Not until our wedding night."

She licks at her lips as if savoring a treat. "But what about the contract? I know you're going to do it. And we don't have much time."

"Before I step foot out of the Rez, you are going to be my wife. If the world's going to end, I'd prefer us joined in every sense."

She inhales sharply. Grabbing his hand and leading him out the bathroom, her soft voice is joking but reassuring. "The world isn't going to end..."


It's evening now, the usual time for their daily pack run down. Paul, Embry and Jared are rooting for Sam to take the government contract, overwhelmed by the sheer fortune being offered to them. Bella reminds them that it's not about the money but helping to prevent a leech outbreak on unsuspecting people. Then there is the matter of the venom she sensed in some of the soldiers.

The guys are going on about adventure and opportunity but even though Corey had shown ample evidence that he's aware of their abilities, he could not stifle his innate caution.

"I'm going to ask Corey to revise the contract. Include a clause where the pack will be granted privacy and a non-disclosure agreement to keep the pack a secret."

Bella nods. "I can't help but think once they know, there's no going back. When this leech threat is dealt with, will they let us continue on in peace? Will they leave us alone?"

The guys grow silent, their expressions moving from excitement to contemplation. Everyone was already accustomed to 'keeping the secret'.

"They already know. A contract agreement might not hold the government's word and really I don't trust any government's promises. But we have to help them as best as we can. If we are successful in gaining the other shifters' help and defeating this leech situation, we will deal with matters of the pack's privacy after. To deny them is to deny who we are and what we do."

Sam looks around at the guys. "Paul. You will come with me on the shifter mission."

Paul seems as if he's about to say something but then he shakes his head. "If you think it's best."

He can feel her eyes on him and like magnet to metal, he turns to her.

"You mean he will go with us?"

"It's too dangerous for you to go, Bella."

She smiles sweetly.

Too sweetly.

He can see the agitation in her eyes but the guys don't notice.


After everyone had gone for the night, she faces him silently.

"You can't tell me it's too dangerous, Sam. You can't go out there risking yourself while I'm stuck here."

"So staying at the Rez is being stuck now?"

She walks up to him, pressing her face into his chest. Lifting her hand, she places it over his heart. "This is my heart too. You just can't leave me here without my heart. I...you can't do it, Sam."

"It'd be safer here for you. I don't know what the situation will be like, Babygirl. And that in itself is dangerous."

"No. I'm safest with you. Remember what happened when I went to Seattle. We can't make that mistake again."

He opens his mouth to protest but he couldn't say a thing. Swallowing harshly, he mutters, "Paul seemed pretty excited to go." It's a weak attempt at deflecting her which she, of course, immediately notices.

"Paul seemed as exciting about going as eating a can of beans. But if he really wants to go, he should. With us."

"No, only two shifters could approach the others. Corey thinks they wouldn't respond well to more than two and I agree with him. I won't risk any more of the pack. I don't want to risk you..."

"I'm not the girl who needs saving anymore, Mountain man. Whatever is going to happen, we will get through this. Together. "

Taking a deep breath, he silently agrees. They been through too much together to be parted now. She would go with him.

Because whether he tells Corey to shove his contract and stay here or if he chooses to go on this mission, he would feel right at home once she is beside him. And he feels most at home when he is buried inside her.

That deep, untamed part of him would love to see her chained to his bed, her bare skin wearing his cum.

Yet he loves her free spirit even if he craves to tame that stubborn streak within her. The Instinct had only slightly tightened the softness of her petite curves yet she is still delicate looking with that same core of strength she'd had before phasing, that inner determination that couldn't be budged. Not even by him and his constant need to be in control...

She looks up at him in that particular way of hers, seeing deeper than anyone else has before, seeing past his habitual stoic mask.

And he knows that he would mercilessly plunder her thoughts because he could never get enough of her, he wants to know her inside out. He knows he is being unfair to deny her the same right. "It's time for us to phase together. We can't post pone this any longer."

"Finally! You have to see what Marie told me..."

The excitement in her eyes fade when she recognizes the conflict in his.

Trailing his thumb down her chin and tracing the column of her neck down to the pulse beating like hummingbird wings at the base of her throat, he whispers, "It'd be unfair for us to get married without you knowing what I hold back from everyone else."


Sam phases back first, Bella's shock through the mind link almost crippling him.

Sinking down to his knees on the forest floor, he watches silently as she emerges from the trees, phased back as well. For a moment he stares at her, not bothering to shove back the dark strands hanging in his eyes. As if they could disguise his shame...

She moves towards him, a serene naked Aphrodite with wild hair, coming to stand right before him.

Resting his head against her naked belly, he holds onto her hips as if she is a lone tree standing in a forest of slain woodland.

Lowering herself down onto his thighs, she pulls him to her. She wraps her arms around his neck, cradling the back of his head. Her lips, a pair of small velvet pillows, caress his hair.

Bowing his face into the crook of her shoulder, he inhales the scent of his mark on her neck. An intermingling of fresh rain and strawberries. Circling the narrow span of her naked waist, he squeezes her to him so there is no space left between their bare bodies.

"Now you know what I did." He whispers into the warm tender skin of her neck."Do you still want to marry me?"

She leans back slightly until he lifts his face. Meeting his eyes, she whispers, "You don't even have to ask me that, Sam. You, all of you, are mine. As I am yours."

And it is in this moment he knows that her love for him is more than powerful enough to pull him free from the deep pool that holds his darkest demons.