A.N: I want to start of by truly thanking everyone who reviewed with their thoughts for the last chapter. I'm so glad you're all receptive to this fic and the themes and topics it's covering; it actually makes me really proud and excited that people are learning things from it.

I want to thank the Guest Reviewer for 2 reviews (I think) here because I can't PM you. As for Eve possibly finding out...you'll have to keep reading to find out ;)

Anyways, the 3.2k beast is here - though in the process of editing it accidentally turned into 3.4k and I could have written more at the end but I figured it was a nice natural place to leave it, so I hope you enjoy the mosnter! As we get further on into the 2nd arc (after chapter 13-24) the chapters start getting longer so this size will be a little more the norm.

ELEVEN

and thirst.

Sam watched from the sides as Naima interacted with his Pack.

The sun was streaming through the open windows and a soft breeze came through them as was normal for the beginning of June. She couldn't have chosen a better day for lunch for them all.

The invitation had been almost unexpected, although he wasn't sure why. If he and his Tribe grew up on the values of reciprocation, then why wouldn't she and her family have done the same thing. The concept seemed to make sense in all cultures except those of the Hoquaht. Their culture seemed to value something else.

But when she had come to him with a grin that couldn't be described as anything other than cheeky, he had happily accepted on behalf of his Pack.

They were all happy to accept free food at the least. And now, here they all were.

For a moment, bitterness flooded through him as he looked at the seven of them going strong. All boys forced to deal with something too old for them to be ready for. Yet time and time again they dealt with it better than Sam had at the start. He was proud of them all for it.

And there she was, fitting in with them all evening. She chatted with Paul and Jared - arguing about the differences in proper English and quite frankly, Sam was sure that she was winning even if his Second and Third would never admit it to her. She fluttered about Quil, making sure to let them know that he could eat as much food as he wanted because how else was she going to pay them back for helping her move that deceivingly heavy chest of drawers that she'd found in the thrift store - only she'd called it a second-hand shop and Quil had grinned at her accent.

She'd tried to interact with Jacob, but he was being pissy about the Swan girl choosing the Leech over him. Sam gave him a low and threatening growl when he'd snapped at her and the pup had apologised.

Naima took it in stride, but he noticed that she didn't approach him as much throughout the rest of the evening. Sam would have made Jacob apologise a second time, but the wolf stirred. Naima could deal with herself; there was no need to fight that battle for her.

With a great deal of interest, Sam noted that she kept herself away from Eve. It was almost difficult to see, what with her apparent duties as a hostess. She filled them well. But it was in the way that she would hand something to someone else to pass to her sister, or the way she didn't laugh as hard as she usually did at the teen's dry humor. And it was definitely in the way that she would ask her dad to help her with things.

Sam had only seen her interact with her father - Aaron as he had learnt - a handful of times but he knew that there was more strain between them than Naima was maybe willing to acknowledge.

That was not his business in any capacity, but it was interesting. He could probe later though. Naima had a moment to herself in their little kitchen island. She was putting some of the chicken wings back into the oven so that they would stay warm and he hadn't really spoken to her much.

Sam lifted himself off the wall he'd been standing against and walked over to Naima. She smiled when she saw him approaching.

"Sam!" she cried out. She walked around the island and grinned up at him. But he noticed that she kept herself a little further away than she would normally. "Are you enjoying yourself? Is there enough food or do the Eternally Starving still need to feed the bottomless pits?

He spared a quick glance around but only to assure her that he was actually checking. "I don't know if there's ever enough food for us," he confessed with a grin.

Naima bit back a laugh. "Dad didn't believe me when I told him how much you all ate. I bet he does now." She laughed this time. "Oh! Thanks for bringing extra, by the way."

She picked up a bowl of carrot sticks and offered it to him. She shrugged when he declined and dipped it into some hummus, crunching loudly.

"We couldn't eat you out of house and home after we'd just finished working on it," Sam teased.

"How generous of you," she bit back humorously.

When she grinned at him again, Sam saw something orange stuck between her teeth. She was mortified when he pointed it out to her.

"Why did you have to tell me that?" she groaned, using her tongue to poke around at her teeth.

Sam saw the little bulge of her tongue and he had the urge to capture it with his own and maybe bite it. It was a brief flash and he felt himself heating up more than he already was.

He tempered the feeling down.

"Would you have preferred it if I hadn't told you about the carrot stuck in your tooth?" he asked.

She frowned and he chuckled. "Yes!" she cried out. "At least then I wouldn't have known about it."

"But I thought you liked honesty Naima."

"Ignorance is bliss," she said flippantly

"Until Paul started teasing you about it," he pointed out.

She didn't say it, but he could see how much she wanted to spit the phrase out. She'd used it enough times that he knew how her eyes flared up with annoyance. Paul could suck a dick. "Is it gone?" she asked instead, baring her teeth at him.

Sam had to smile. It wasn't lost on him that Naima was...she was something to him at the very least. And there she was, all but growling and baring her teeth at the werewolf without knowing.

He wondered if she would care.

"Are you about to - it's still in my tooth isn't it?" She didn't wait for him to tell her the answer. Naima just turned and walked towards the stairway.

Sam laughed as the extra pressure she was exerting through her fluffy socks made it sound to him like she was stomping up the stairs. Obviously, only the pack could hear it, and in turn, most of them bit back a grin.

When she was out of sight, Sam's eyes roamed his Pack again. As they swept over the large bodies once more, they fell on her father - Aaron.

Sam wondered if he would have picked up on the slight tension the man was exuding if it wasn't for shifting. Because as his eyes brushed over the older man's, that part that noticed danger alerted him to the stiffness of his shoulders, the slight clenching of his jaw.

It was minuscule but it made Sam pause. His eyes flickered to his Second and Third to see if they had noticed and sure enough, Jared was watching the two of them. His weight was on the balls of his feet in case he needed to move - to back up his Alpha.

Then Naima came back down and walked straight back to the little island she'd been standing at before.

"That was uncalled for, Uley."

"Maybe."

"I think there needs to be some retribution," she said with a straight face.

"And what do you propose?"

"Monopoly."

Eve groaned from where she was standing. "No. No way."

"Monopoly?" Colin asked. "Why would that be retribution?"

"You've never played Monopoly the way they have. Dad and Naima are ruthless with it - you'd think it was real life."

Was Sam imagining the tears growing in the corner of Eve's eyes? He had to be, right? There was no way that the game was that big of a deal.

"It will take too long," Aaron said.

"Not if we do it with the speed die," Naima responded back just as quickly.

"There aren't enough pieces."

"We can double up," she said. When he still didn't look convinced, she sighed. "We can put an hour's limit on it. Whoever has the most by the end wins."

"Fine," he said after a moment's thought he smiled. It was the first time Sam had seen him smile at Naima all day. "Go and get the game."

"Where did you even leave it?" Eve asked. But Naima didn't answer. She was walking up the stairs again. Eve looked around and ever so slightly shook her head. "I'm playing with one of you two," she said to the twins.

"You don't want to play with Naima?" Brady asked.

"Oh my god, no!" she rushed out in one short breath. "I hate playing Monopoly at the best of times, but when Dad and Naima are playing it's horrible."

"Eve help me clear the table," Aaron called.

Eve sighed.

"Do you want some help?" Colin asked.

"Yes."

Sam looked at the others and he was glad that they looked just as confused as he felt. But he went to help them move the glasses and the bowls off the large wooden table. He wondered if it would be too low for them to play on but when Eve started taking cushions off the couch and placing them on the floor, he understood.

Naima came down a moment later with a box that looked like it had seen better days. "Has everyone partnered up?" she asked.

"There's an odd number," Eve pointed out. "I don't mind letting someone else play."

Jacob - who had barely said a word the whole evening - stood up. "I have to go now anyway. My dad needs help with something." He stood up and brushed himself down.

"Thank you for having me at your house Mr Wright." Then, with just a glance at Naima, he muttered, "the food was great. Thanks."

Sam narrowed his eyes. What was going on with Jacob? Was he going to have to have a word with him?

"Not a problem," Aaron said. He shook Jacob's hand and walked him to the door. Sam took a seat in the empty space which was across from Naima.

"Who's pairing up?" she asked as she began to take out the cards. The names on them weren't the ones he was used to: From Pall Mall to Angel Islington, most of the cards were ridiculously unfamiliar to him. But he did recognise Oxford Circus and Trafalgar Square. Kings Cross Station rang a bell, but he couldn't remember why.

"I'm gonna be with Colin," Eve called out.

"The betrayal!" Brady cried.

"You're too competitive for me right now. This is not the time to be invested in winning!"

"Alright, fine! I'll be with Paul then. We can kick their asses!" Brady said.

Paul raised a brow, but he was grinning. "You got that right."

Naima, still sorting out the money, called out to Quil. "How good are you at keeping a level head?"

"Uhh, pretty good I guess," he said. "Why?"

She looked up with a small smile. "Because I think Sam is going to need some help when he fails miserably."

Quil laughed. "Alright - well I can try and help with that."

Eve looked up horrified. "Are you partnering up with dad?"

"No. We'll just play separately." As she said that, Aaron walked back in and took his original seat.

"Do we have a banker?" he asked.

"Paul's pretty good at Maths from what I've heard. He can do it."

"Alright. Everyone should choose their pieces and then we should start."

The game was nothing like Sam imagined it would be. It had started off fairly typically but once the first few properties had been bought, it was like a switch had flicked between Naima and her dad.

They began to bargain with the table - almost aggressively. And he had never heard trades used quite the same way. Paul and Brady had asked Naima for her last orange card and she'd struck a deal with them that he'd never thought of before.

"I'll give you the card for £320, but the first three times I land on any of the properties I don't have to pay you anything once there are houses on it."

They had agreed - obviously - but Sam was looking at the time. There were only about 30 minutes left and he wasn't sure how much luck those two would have.

At some point, Sam had looked at the board and noticed that Aaron had commandeered almost the whole of the cheapest side and then it seemed like the next time he'd looked, he was selling Naima the last card she needed to have control over a corner.

He wasn't even sure how that had happened.

"Thank you, Sam," she said sweetly. "Paul? I'd like to buy five houses please."

"Shit," Colin muttered. "How does she have that much money?"

Eve frowned. "We got bankrupted by her, idiot!"

"Yeah but that was like ten minutes ago - and we didn't have that much left anyway."

Then there were only ten minutes left of the game and it was only Naima, her dad and somehow, he was still in the game with Quil. They weren't doing so well though, considering they were coming up to Naima's corner.

She had a smug grin on her face as she handed Sam the dice. "Wouldn't want you to put your demise on Quil, would we?" she asked.

Sam smirked back at her and took the dice. "We'll see about that," he said. He heard her heart jump with a little tha-thump and he wondered what that was about. It didn't look like it had fazed her though; she was now daring him to roll with the gleam in her brown eyes.

He tried to break eye contact as he rolled but it was surprisingly difficult. The challenge in her eyes was too much fun to not fall into and he had a feeling that she liked doing it as well. Naima seemed to have so much more fun with people when she was able to challenge them.

She'd played devil's advocate far too many times around him for it to not be the case.

But he did break eye contact. And he did roll the dice.

Sam heard Quil groan and Naima's smile only got bigger while she waited for him to move his piece the five squares until he landed directly on the only estate with a hotel on it.

"I do believe that you're bankrupt Uley. Time to pay up."

Sam handed over all the money they had, and she took it from him with a grin.

"I'm surprised you lasted as long as you did," Eve said from the sofa. She'd moved onto it when she'd been bankrupted, and Colin was sitting on the other side of it. From the sketchpad in her hand, Sam could see that she'd been playing tic tac toe with Colin for a considerable amount of time.

"They played it safe," Naima said. "Easiest way to play Monopoly."

"Maybe, but we stayed in for the long haul," Quil said cheekily. He yawned and looked at the clock. "Dude it's past eight. Mom is gonna be wondering where I am," he said.

"Really?" Brady asked. "Damn. We need to get home. We've got work early tomorrow don't we?" he asked his twin.

Collin nodded. "First shift."

"I thought Jacob had it," Paul said from his spot.

"No, he asked to swap yesterday. Didn't he clear it by you?" Brady asked.

"No, he didn't."

Jared shot Sam a look and Sam nodded. It seemed he was going to be having a talk with Jacob about shirking responsibility if nothing else.

"You boys work?" Aaron asked.

"Uh, yeah. Just on the weekends. But we sort of help out with stuff on the Rez," Colin said.

Aaron looked impressed. "It's good to help the community," he said.

"Yeah. That's what we think too," Colin responded.

He looked a little bit uncomfortable, so Jared took pity on him. "Come on. I'll drop you home before your folks get worried."

Collin thanked him and jumped up. Brady got up and followed his twin. They waved goodbye to Eve, thanked Naima and shook Aaron's hand before they left.

"It's Maghrib girls. It's time to pray," Aaron said as he turned to them both.

Eve hummed and jumped off the couch, ready to go, but Sam saw Naima tense. She looked like she wanted to argue with Aaron but he was staring firmly down at her. Naima's eyes flickered to his and then she gritted her teeth and followed Eve up the stairs.

Sam heard two doors open. One seemed to be in the bathroom considering a moment later he heard the tap turn on and water rushing into the sink. The second door though, seemed to be to a bedroom. Naima's bedroom, or so he guessed based on the lack of noise that could only come from the large grey fluffy rug she'd insisted on trying to carry into her room herself.

Sam only then realised that he was left with Aaron by himself. He wondered what the man would do.

"Thank you for having us over, sir. I know there's a lot of us."

Aaron hummed. "Yes, there are. But my daughter insisted on it."

Sam noted the way Aaron had claimed Naima and he could feel that wolf-part of him shift in annoyance. She wasn't anyone's to claim. Sam knew that the annoyance stemmed more from the fact that Naima herself would hate the idea that she was being held under someone's thumb.

There was no way Sam could respond to that without being rude in some way or another. Either he would blurt out the thoughts he had, or the growing annoyance would leak through into his mannerisms and tone. So he stayed silent.

"Those boys - they work for you?"

"The twins? Sometimes when they need some extra cash for something. I try to help them out when I can."

"How old are you?"

"Twenty-four," Sam replied steadfastly. He knew where this was going.

"And what is it you have them doing?" Aaron asked,

Sam looked at him carefully. The moment from earlier filling up his mind; he didn't think it was going to come to a physical altercation but even if it did, he wasn't sure he could pretend to give. Not for this man. "I help run a construction company," he began smoothly. "The boys sometimes help me with the manual labor when I'm men down."

Aaron hummed. "I've heard interesting things about you boys," he said.

"I'm sure you have," he was quick to retort. "Small towns often keep themselves busy. I've heard interesting things about Naima. And Eve. And you. But I tend not to judge people until I've gotten the chance to meet them, sir," he said.

Aaron's nostrils flared and Sam saw his hand twitch. Whether it was to clench his fist or for another reason he wasn't sure. "I would watch yourself there Sam," he said. "Reputation is currency to communities."

"I suppose it is."

Before he could say anything more, Naima came down the stairs quickly. She looked between Sam and Aaron. Her eyes were open wider than they normally were, and her brow looked pinched.

"Hey - thank you for helping to clean. I can do the rest though," she said in a rush.

"Are you sure?" he asked. "We left a lot of mess."

"I'm sure." She smiled at him.

Sam glanced back at Aaron. "It was nice to meet you sir, thank you for having us." Sam didn't offer his hand out but then, Aaron didn't make a move to offer his out either.

Naima walked him to the door once he'd picked up his coat. It never hurt to keep up appearances, considering it was pretty cold out.

"Did he say anything to you?" Naima asked as he exited the house.

Sam smiled. "Nothing odd."

She didn't look like she believed him, but she didn't argue against the statement. Naima still looked worried and Sam wanted to know why, "Do you want to meet me at the beach tomorrow?"

"I can't tomorrow - I need to get some work done. Wednesday?"

"What are you doing for a whole three days Naima?" he asked teasingly.

She smiled. "Oh, you know, this and that."

Sam smiled back. "Alright then. Wednesday it is."

"Alright - I'll text you. Thank you for coming, Sam."

"Thank you for having us."

Possible new words:

Hoquaht - not an Arabic word. This is, as far as I can tell from internet research, a Quileute word meaning 'white-Non Indian' which as far as I understand is like saying White Man. It's spelt phonetically but I can't figure out how to to it properly on my laptop which...I'm not super happy with.

Maghrib - the 4th out of the 5 daily prayers. This one is prayed around sunset and is possibly known in connection to Ramadan as it marks the end of the fasting day.

A.N: Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed it. Also, I'm really interested; because everyone but Jacob is basically given very little-no back story, I'm wondering who you're favourite character(s) is/are? I also know that not all of the characters have been fully explored yet and there's one other OC that I will be introducing (Sam's Grandad) but so far who's your favourite?

I think mine is Eve.