Don't want to reach for me do you?

I mean nothing to you.

The little things give you away.

Now there can be no mistaking

The levies are breaking.

March 19th 2015

Seth's POV

What's that scent? So familiar, but… it's been so long. It was a shifter. One of us. I hadn't smelled in so long. It couldn't be Embry… Could it? I hadn't smelt him in 5 years, the only one I hadn't seen in longer was Jacob. Jacob had made the difficult decision to stay away altogether. The Cullens had stayed distanced from us worried that a connection to us might endanger us. Billy still visited the Cullens who moved to Maine.

Sam stopped phasing first, to build a family with Emily, While we all wanted the best for him none of us would say what we all wanted to. You can't leave, we need you. You led us through multiple dangerous battles. Sure you were strict, but you were the Alpha that managed to lead us through two battles with Vampires with no casualties. We were ecstatic when he had his first boy, then his girl. No one was more ecstatic than Sam however, that no one imprinted on his little girl.

Paul and Jared stopped phasing a couple months after Sam. I think Rachel and Kim got together to get them to stop, it seemed odd that they both stopped at the same time but maybe it was for the best, when the discussion about whom the next Alpha should be. Jared had taken over the mantle as Sam's Beta, but it was easy to see he was on his way out when he did.

When Paul and Jared tried to stop phasing the first time it was Quil that stopped them. It's the only reason they didn't stop phasing the week Sam did. Paul was Jared's Beta. Quil was furious with both of them leaving the pack right after Sam did. He didn't talk them out of it, no when Paul and Jared both tried to leave Quil challenged Jared straight up for leadership of the pack. Before he was allowed to he had to beat Paul the beta. Quil made short work of both, forcing both to submit to his leadership.

And so for a month we had a very uneasy pack. Quil didn't like leadership but he was even stricter than Sam. Sam however didn't have pack members actively trying to quit. After weeks of Rachel and Kim trying to work on Paul and Jared it became clear that Quil was the one they'd have to convince. In the end it took the combined effort of Rachel, Kim, Emily, and a shocking betrayal of Claire to make Quil release Paul and Jared from the pack. Emily had always been close with her niece Claire and had convinced the seven year old it was best to let Paul and Jared be with their imprints.

It was hard on Quil. his eyes wore the signs of pushing 80 years old at the ripe age of twenty. He made me his beta as his two best friends Embry and Jacob had already left the rez. It wore on him, trying to prioritize the pack while at the same time wanting to spend every waking moment with Claire… Knowing full well that one day he'd choose his imprint over the needs of the pack, possibly before the pack could afford to let him go.

He'd never ask for it but I knew he wanted me to take over as alpha of the pack. At 6'7 he still had two inches on me as a human, and as a wolf he was still bigger and stronger than me. I should have lost. I should have. I challenged him for leadership as his beta. He was a ghost of who he was when he fought Paul and Jared. The pack had been reduced from seven to four in the span of two months, and all of the biggest and strongest of us had left. Quil wore that as his own failure. He watched as all of the imprints turned on him, including his own. He was the heart of the pack, and he was broken.

The night of the battle was a rare night that Leah was back from Seattle. She was just getting her modelling career started and needed to get some id pieces from the rez. She stopped back into the pack and saw the whole thing.

After the fight Quil was a sobbing mess. In my arms he was crying "I'm sorry Seth, I'm so sorry, I failed you… I failed you all… I failed the pack." We didn't even see Leah as she approached.

"What the fuck is wrong with you Quil?" She said in her typical manner. I glared at her but she didn't back down. We explained everything. How Quil had been trying to hold the pack together and it was falling apart.

"Don't worry, I got this." Was all Leah said before leaving. First she went to Jared and Kim's house. She threw a rock through a window. Jared was in front of the house before she made it to the door, and received a black eye for his trouble. Over the last month he had stopped phasing so he was barely an inch taller than her now, and definitely not as strong. Kim on the other hand got a red handprint across the face and a lecturing.

Paul and Rachel came next. Paul wasn't home at the time, but he returned to hear Leah screaming at Rachel about what they put Quil through who was only trying to protect them, especially since her own brother left Quil and put him in this position. When Paul tried to stop her he got a couple of cracked ribs for his trouble before she left.

The last stop on her tour of indignation was Sam and Emily's house. It went about as poorly as could be expected. Sam had tried to stop Leah from screaming at Emily, got a broken nose for his trouble before being thrown out of his own home with a door locked behind him. Emily got it worse of all the women. Not only had she facilitated this little intervention, she pulled Claire, Quil's imprint into it completely breaking his spirit. After about five more minutes of screaming and a red handprint that matched Kim's Leah unlocked the door and left, with a threat.

"If you don't fix this, TONIGHT. You'll have a lot more to worry about than a sore face." She said before leaving. 11:09 pm, all the members of the old pack, their imprints, and Claire were out apologizing to Quil. That was when Leah was established as "mom" in the pack. She made one other thing terribly clear.

"If the pack needs me, I'll come back, I promise." She was back in Seattle before the sunrise. Now successful she'd moved to San Diego to further her modelling career. Though she only visits a handful of times a year she still maintains she'd drop everything if she was needed.

The weight of being the Alpha fell to me. Embry took his place as my Beta and for the most part things went relatively smoothly in that transition. I enjoyed leadership, Embry had no problem being the heart of the pack as my second, and Brady and Collin had other things that took their focus.

In the 7 years since the Volturi confrontation Brady had taken quite a liking to being a wolf, the attention it brought him from girls in school, the excuses for absences. He fulfilled his duties, but that was about the extent of his drive. As much as I'd personally hoped that the experience with Quil as an Alpha five years ago would have sombered Brady into becoming the wolf he could be. Unfortunately it did not, and now at 20 years old he was completely directionless and developed a taste for liquor. He didn't want anything more than his fun, and didn't see that changing in the future.

Collin was the polar opposite of Brady in this regard, though he also enjoyed the female attention being a wolf brought him; he studied, was rarely absent from school and graduated with honors. He was taking online classes in sports medicine to help rehabbing wolf injuries. He was a great member of the pack, and more often than not he was charged with keeping Brady in line.

I was in charge of everything, Quil, my beta was in charge of morale and scheduling patrols, and Collin was in charge of keeping Brady sober enough to patrol and his duties. Of all of us I honestly felt most guilty for what we made Colin take care of.

It has to be Embry. I thought as a phased and made my way towards the scent. Embry is that you? I called out, but heard no reply. Strange, I should be able to hear him.

I came to an opening. If not for his distinct gray color I would have never known it was him. He was bigger than I remembered, more muscled as a wolf, staring out to the half moon. I phased back to my human form and made my way towards him. When he heard me coming he phased back and put on some clothes.

Embry was far more muscular than the last time I saw him. He was now sporting a long ponytail that went to the center of his back and a short beard. More than just muscular his body looked… hardened.

"Do you know what time it is Seth?" he asked. What time is it? No hello? No nothing? It's been half a decade and nothing? I wanted to yell at him but I tried to approach it calmly.

"I don't know, 11:45 pm?" I asked.

"12:02 a.m." he stated. Curiosity and frustration pushed my next question.

"What have you been doing the last five years?" He shrugged his shoulders, but when I didn't say anything else he answered.

"I've been hunting vampires free lance, seeing the world, this and that."

"Why are you here, now?" I finally asked.

"Leah and I were supposed to meet here an hour ago… if there was anything to our relationship. If we were to be something." Something clicked in my head.

"Wait a second, you left the pack without warning 5 years ago… five years ago… today?" He nodded. He forced a smile but it never quite made it up to his eyes.

"I'm glad… I'm glad that she found her happiness." He said before turning and walking away.

"Wait, aren't you going to visit everyone? Embry, come back, the pack needs you." I smirked, turning back to me. I finally looked into his eyes. A sadness, he tried to hide with smirks, smiles, and being short, but since our conversations as wolves mainly took place through eye contact, I could read his eyes so well. He wasn't the happy carefree person I once knew.

"At least say stick around to say hello to Quil and your mother." I said pleading, hoping he wouldn't disappear, hoping I could convince him to stick around. I wasn't aware of how pathetic I sounded but I didn't care. I direly needed him even if I didn't know that an hour ago.

"I already stopped by to say hello to my mother, and Quil… It'd just be better if he never knew I was here if I'm not coming back." He said

"Embry… please, just stay." He smiled, forced.

"It's okay Seth. This is good. It's good. It means I can stop living my life with one foot still in the door. It's for the best. Leah is happy and I… I will survive."

"Why don't you stay?" Embry shook his head angrily and then put his arms on my shoulders. I felt the power in his hands.

"I can't Seth. Here can't be the same. I'll never be what I want to be if I'm constantly waiting for Leah to come back, holding onto hope. It's better this way. Goodbye Seth." He turned and sprinted towards the trees at a pace I knew I couldn't possibly keep up with. I sighed dejectedly and made my way to the tree line before shifting and making my way back home. When I got home I checked my phone. I had 10 missed calls from Leah and 4 messages.

"Seth, Please tell Embry I'm on my way, yes He'll be back tonight."

"Seth… it's Leah pick up your phone. My plane was delayed on landing."

"Damn it Seth, please pick up your phone. I'm running late coming back, I was supposed to meet Embry, please tell him to wait for me."

"Seth! If you get this, there is a clearing please be there to stop Embry from leaving. I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Seth, I hope you stopped him." I looked down at my phone. That message was only five minutes ago. I said looking down at my phone. 1:03 am. I heard the door.

"Leah… I…" I could see her biting her lip.

"Why didn't you stop him? Why didn't you have your phone?"

"My phone was low, so I left it here to charge while I went out on patrol, nobody contacts me at 10pm usually." I defended. I could see her breathing going rough, she was shaking slightly, most people wouldn't notice but I would.

"I… he…" She said. I crossed the room and wrapped my arms around my sister and hugged her.

"Shhh… it's okay Lee, it's okay."

"It's not… He waited for me. All I had to do was be on time." I leaned back. She hadn't cried. Her breathing had stabilized though.

"Maybe this is for the best. I can truly focus on my modelling career without looking backwards." It's like the mirror image of each other. Both trying to pretend like it's for the best that they aren't together. I forced a smile.

"Maybe it is." I lied. I couldn't buy that line of bullshit both of them were peddling, but fortunately I'd gotten much better at lying as the alpha of the pack. She nodded, more to herself than to anyone else.

"Maybe it is."

Hey All, Still setting up the new project, by chapter 3 or 4 you'll really see what this story is going to be about. Please remember to review, it's very important and ensures that I continue the story. I love to hear from people who read my stories, If you give me ideas, they might make it into the story, feedback means the world to me so thank you for giving it.