"Times up." Sam said one afternoon after Grace had ducked out of the Cullen house early for a pack meeting.

"What do you mean 'times up'? You're just going to go in there and kill her?" Grace said skeptical, almost laughing at him as she grabbed some food from the kitchen table.

"We have no new information and we need a plan of action for when this thing comes out."

"What do you want me to do?" Grace said annoyed. Jacob was standing behind her with his arms crossed looking at Sam with a raised eyebrow.

"I don't want you to do anything. You're our line in. They trust you and I think the only other person that they would trust is Jacob."

"Okay," Jake said also skeptical and reaching around Grace to grab a muffin from the table. "Then what do you want me to do?"

"Same thing as Grace. I want you to get a line in, start spending time with Bella, keep an eye on the situation. And then as the time gets closer if she progresses we'll have two of ours on the inside, which will definitely buy us more time if we need it in the end."

"I think you're jumping the gun on this one Sam."

"Well, I don't. And I'm alpha so you'll do as I say," he said confidently before leaving the room. Jake and Grace were left alone in the kitchen and she dropped into a kitchen chair laying her head on her arms.

"We're not fucking secret agents. Bella knows that the pack is not thrilled about the pregnancy. They'll be prepared for an attack." Grace said into her arms. Jacob dropped in the chair across from her and put his hands behind his head.

"Edward already texted me like a month ago." Jake said casually. Grace shot up in her seat.

"What?! He texted you? About what?!" Grace said surprised.

"To have me come and talk to Bella and try to convince her she should terminate." He said looking toward the door.

"Did you...did you text him back?" Grace said. She couldn't believe Edward had never mentioned it to her.

"I went and saw him. We met in the woods. I mostly wanted to rub it in his face that I was right. That I knew he was going to kill her one way or another. But…" Jacob looked at his hands and Grace rested her chin on her crossed arms. "It didn't feel like I thought it would. He was...different. Broken."

Grace listened quietly and when Jacob looked into her eyes she concentrated. She could see the image in his head now, fuzzy and flickering but there. They had been practicing this every once in a while when they were near each other when Jake wasn't phased. She only ever caught glimmers and echos, never anything as concrete when he was in his wolf form but it was something. She squinted her eyes trying to see it more clearly in her mind's eye but it wasn't working.

"You get the idea," he said, cutting off his gaze and moving it back down to his hands.

"What are we going to do? Sam is definitely going to kill this thing but what if...what if it turns out to just be a baby? What do we do?"

"There's no way it's just a baby, but I get your meaning…." he was at a loss and couldn't offer her a way forward anymore than she could other than to say, "We buy as much time as we can so we can be sure."

"Right," Grace breathed.

January

Grace walked into the study where Bella was getting another ultrasound, coming to the middle of her second trimester. Carlisle was diligently moving the wand across her belly trying to see if he could ascertain anything new.

Grace put her hands in the backpocket of her jeans and smiled.

"How are we doin'?" She asked nonchalantly.

"Good, just seeing if I can hear anything new…" Carlisle said his eyes trained on the monitor. Bella smiled but her face was starting to look sallow, Grace noticed. Her color was off too. In her first two months, she was pink and flush with a pregnancy glow, but now she was turning a tinge of yellowish green.

"I brought a present. Hope that's okay. It was kind of big so I left it downstairs," Grace said nodding over her shoulder. Bella smiled and Carlisle clicked off his machine saying "Nothing new," with a tight smile to Bella.

"Come on preggo," Grace said, helping her up. She was definitely starting to show much more than a woman who was normally 4-5 months pregnant would show. She helped Bella slowly descend the stairs, noticing how thin her arms were becoming.

"You feeling okay?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah of course, just had a headache this morning I can't shake. Where's this monster present?" Bella asked jokingly as they rounded the corner to the living room.

"It's a good monster, I promise," Grace said.

Jake stood in the center of the living room wearing his black leather jacket, tan shirt and jeans.

Bella broke into a wide smile and shuffled quickly toward Jake to wrap him in a hug. He obliged and carefully closed his arms around with a smile Grace hadn't seen in a while as he said, "Hey Bells."

"It's so good to see you," Bella said as tears sprang to her eyes. Grace patted Bella's back and looked up at Jacob's face before saying,

"I'm going to run some errands while you're here with her. You good?" Jacob nodded without opening his eyes and Grace headed toward the front door. As she left she heard Bella say,

"Your hair's long again." To which Jake laughed softly. Grace cherished that sound for a second before she moved to the treeline, focused herself carefully and recast the 56 miles to Port Angeles. When she reappeared, she leaned up against a nearby building and tried to catch her breath.

After a couple of minutes, she relaxed and pulled her hood up against the January sleet and headed down the busy street. Edward and Carlisle had been hard at work trying to find information from anyone who could tell them more about what was happening to Bella. Alice and Jasper had disappeared for a full month before coming back empty handed. They left in shifts, not wanting to leave Bella unguarded for too long, but this time, their trips had overlapped with when they usually went to feed, so Grace had offered to meet up with a lead Carlisle had found who seemed promising.

Grace had conveniently left this information out of the collective pack mind however, knowing that Sam would be furious if she was meeting up with a rogue vampire informant. So what Sam doesn't know won't hurt him. Not to mention that the alpha fatigue was starting to wear on her.

Now that Jacob was back, the old tension between Sam and Grace resumed. He understood that the connection between Jacob and Grace might be more akin to the true alpha-Spirit Bird link but since Jake wasn't interested in becoming alpha, he was trying to dictate the parameters of their connection as the true alpha.

It was exhausting. Grace was usually given so much whiplash by Sam's commands that she opted to just tune out as much as possible which caused clear divides amongst pack members. In their histories, the alpha and Spirit Bird were meant to work in perfect harmony, a balance, give and take. But with Sam and Grace it had been anything but. She found herself wanting to resist his alpha commands more and more, make decisions without consulting him, keeping him out of the loop when it came to what was happening in the Cullen house, anything to get some peace. She knew Sam was just trying to keep the pack in order, do his job, and keep everyone safe, but Grace felt like it was more of a father-child relationship between them than a mutual agreement to manage the pack.

She and Jacob had mulled it over a couple of times in their collective mind, but stopped when Jacob was getting hounded by Sam for sowing discord. Grace was able to shield her own mind from the collective packs if she wanted because it was a choice to dip into their shared consciousness, but Jacob could not.

Grace pulled herself out of her reverie as she turned down another alleyway, her footfalls splashing in the gathering puddles. She paused a door to her left, rechecking her phone for the address before she heard a light hiss above her. Grace tentatively looked up and saw the crouched figure of a man in a long coat on a fire escape. He quickly jumped from the immense height and landed across from Grace. She kept her face cool, hands in her pockets and spoke with purpose.

"Alastor? I'm here on behalf of Carlisle," the sleet slowed offering them a brief reprieve that neither of them really noticed. The vampire looked at her curiously, his eyes darting across Grace's body, taking her in and relishing in the scent. Grace made a mental note, Black eyes, this might be a problem.

Another low hiss came from the back of the vampires throat without him meaning it, like a reflex. "And you're the little mortal he sent to do his bidding?" he let out a soft, pleasing laugh. Grace didn't respond right away, just shifted her weight a little and kept her eyes trained on the creature.

"You have information Carlisle asked for?" Grace leveled him with a solid stare. Surprisingly she wasn't afraid, but as the time ticked on she felt like she was on a fool's errand. Alastor looked like he hadn't had a shower in decades. His blonde hair hung in oily strands around his round face. Patches of dirt adorned his perfectly marble like skin. He was dressed in a dingy, worn overcoat and gloves that left his thin fingers exposed. Grace grimaced a little. He gave her an unsettling smile and pulled his lips back a little too far over his teeth.

"Right. This way," he said as he walked off down the alleyway. Grace rolled her eyes and followed him internally thinking Shields up. He took her through dark street after dark street until the sun started to get low and he veered off to his left, pulling open two cellar doors that were sunken into the alleyway. He descended down the stone steps into the darkness and Grace groaned. She was walking into a vampire den, clear as day, and if Sam or Paul or any of the pack members found out, she'd be crucified. She followed after Alastor into the dark, damp cellar until she found herself in a worn and disheveled den. Literally. She had to almost stop herself from laughing at the irony.

It was scattered with remnants of paper, old CDs, actual trash, and tattered linens with questionable stains. Alastor was rummaging through some dresser drawers on the far wall.

"When Carlisle had told me of his little predicament, it had reminded me of this book I had come across centuries ago in a deserted library. It detailed the legends of bloodsuckers, the immortal way, and the children born from them." Grace raised an eyebrow still taking in the dank surroundings as the bare bulb in the center of the room cast eerie shadows. "He was very interested in such a book, and lucky for him I nicked it some 300 years ago. Ah!" he cried pulling a slender, small book out from his drawer. He looked upon it lovingly, "It's given me solace, to understand the monster that I am, how I'm perceived, and how legends tell us more truth about ourselves than anything else."

Grace didn't respond. His eyes, black as ink, drew her in momentarily. She felt an odd tickling at the back of her neck. A warning?

"But for all his goodness, Carlisle is nothing if not gullible to the real fault of humans," he was on her now, terribly close and she careened back, her back slamming into the wall behind her. Her head hit the stone with a thud and she felt warmth trickle there. When she felt the back of her head, she pulled back a small amount of blood, but it was enough. Alastor's hand was suddenly outstretched, closed around her throat and slowly crushing her windpipe. Grace, taken off guard, gasped for breath, gripping Alastor's wrist with one hand as her other fought for purchase on the wall behind her to give her leverage. She was turning blue.

Alastor's eyes were gleaming, his mouth wide open in hunger and just as quickly, "Just a taste," he teased cruelly.

Grace squeaked out a suffocated, "I wouldn't," before bringing her free hand up, pulling her energy hard and fast, slicing down like a knife in front of her and severing Alastor's outstretched arm at the elbow. She frantically pulled at the hand that still loosely gripped her neck and cast it aside with a clatter. Alastor let out a howl of pain and was momentarily thrown off balance. Grace leaned down to scoop up the small book and sprinted for the staircase. Once out in the cool, dark air, she wasted no time recasting back to Forks.

Falling forward on her knees in the forest, Grace coughed and tried to regain her breath. She drew in ragged breaths, but the pain was excruciatingly sharp. It felt like someone had dragged glass shards down her throat. Grace checked to make sure she had the book pocketed in her jacket before pulling herself up with a groan and stumbling toward the Cullen's. That was the last time she volunteered to meet up with one of Carlisle's sketchy ass friends.

As she broke out of the treeline and onto the Cullen's driveway, she was starting to wheeze. Coming down from the front steps was Jacob. Panicked, Grace tried to gain her composure. His face looked furious, dark, and he was lost in thought until he looked up and saw Grace coming toward him.

"Hey," he said quietly. Grace nodded thinking she was in the clear but as she got closer to brush past him his eyes went wide:

"Grace what the HELL!" He stepped in front of her and his hands went to roughly touch her neck. Grace flinched painfully and wheezed out: "Jake, take it easy." Her voice was raspy and cut in and out like changing channels on a tv.

"Sorry," he breathed, his hands soft on her neck now inspecting the clear red welts of hand print there. "What the fuck happened?!" Suddenly he was taking a deep breath, the coppery scent clear now, and his eyes shot up to her head, "Are you bleeding?!" his eyes were roving up and down her body, desperately searching for where the smell of blood was coming from.

"Jacob," she whispered, trying to even her wheezing. "I'm fine, let me just—" she tried to move past him, but his hand was firm on her upper arm holding her in place. His other hand reached and softly touched the back of her head, pulling back wet blood. His eyes were wide with anger now, furious, and filled with absolute disgust.

"Who did this?" he growled. His whole body was shaking and his eyes were alight with something she hadn't seen in months.

"Can I go inside please?" she asked, tired. She wasn't losing a lot of blood, but the smell was starting to make her just a little bit dizzy. He nodded snapping out of it and wrapping his arm around her shoulders as he led her up the steps and into the Cullen house.

Carlisle was there instantly trying to assess her, but Jacov's reflexive growl told him to keep his distance.

"Jacob may I?" he asked politely. Jake wasn't letting go and Grace had to gently peel his fingers off her shoulder to be released. His anger only ticked up as Grace sat down wincing as Carlisle gently parted her hair where the wound was. "Esme, please get my kit," he said, lifting Grace's chin up and looking closely at her throat. She was gone and back in an instant. "I'm sorry, I didn't think Alastor would be in bad shape."

"This was for you?!" Jacob said, rage racketing up in him now. Grace gave Carlisle a warning look, upset that he had said anything.

"Jake, I'm fine, really. Look," she whispered, her voice raspy and weak. She held up her finger and followed her eyes as she moved her finger back and forth across her face. Jacob was not placated. He seethed, watching her with clenched fists as his chest rose and fell quickly with every passing breath.

She reached in her pocket to hand Carlisle the book. "Thank you," he said quietly as he took it from her and then deftly grabbed some tools to start working on cleaning, disinfecting, and stitching up Grace's head. "Should just need a couple of stitches. Can you breathe alright?" he asked as he listened to her wheezing. She nodded even though it caused severe discomfort. As he finished the stitches and moved to look at her neck again, he gently pressed on the sides of her throat. Grace let out a soft, involuntary, whimper. Her eyes shot up to meet with Jacob's and his face had changed. It was desperate, intermixed with anger—he couldn't handle it, seeing her like that. Carlisle met her eyes and said "You've definitely got some swelling and bruising around the windpipe, but the muscle feels intact."

At this, there was a huge crash that caused Grace to jump. Rosalie was in the room now, having heard the noise, looking around quickly for the threat. One of the floor to ceiling windows that looked out over the forest in the living room was completely shattered. Jacob had thrown his wolf body through it and darted off into the forest. Grace braced against the chill that crept in.

"Sorry about that," Grace wheezed. Carlisle gave her a reassuring smile.

"I'm sorry about this. I shouldn't have asked you to go. I thought...It doesn't matter," he said. He dashed and was back with a warm compress from his study that he gingerly fixed around Grace's neck. "This should help with the swelling at least until your healing kicks in. Let's get you up to the guest room," he said softly.

"Can someone actually give me a ride home?" her mouth was dry and the pain in her head was slowly subsiding but she was worried about the pack, about Jake.

"Of course, we'll take you home right away."

Grace carefully climbed the steps to her front door and gave Carlisle a wave as she went inside, shutting the door behind her. She let out a sigh of relief and pulled the compress off her neck as she climbed the stairs to her room. She clumsily pulled off her jeans and grabbed at a loose shirt that was hanging from her closet door. After pulling off her sweatshirt, t-shirt, and bra, she pulled on the oversized t-shirt and revelled in it's warm cedar-like smell before collapsing on her bed and passing out, her phone buzzing wildly in the back pocket of her discarded jeans.

Early muted sun came in through her porthole window above the bed. Distant thunder roiled somewhere outside. Grace groaned and rolled onto her side, slowly opening her eyes. She let out a quick gasp as her eyes put together the figure of Jacob, sitting low in the chair next to the bed that was usually piled with laundry.

"Fuck, Jacob," she said softly. Her voice was rough, but the rasp was gone and she pulled in cool, clean breaths with ease. She tentatively brought a hand up to her neck and gingerly pressed it. The pain was gone and only a dull ache like a bruise remained. She felt better, but didn't try to get up, resettling her head on the pillow to get a better look at Jake. His face was dark, brooding. His eyes were alight with fresh upset but it didn't feel solely directed at her.

"What were you thinking?" he said, his voice filled with disdain. Grace let her eyes rove over him carefully taking in his shape. She hadn't been alone with him in her room since before she broke them. The feeling was strangely intimate and Grace didn't let herself settle in it too long.

"We're trying to figure this thing out and I want some answers. For Bella," she said simply her eyes glued to his face now. He had a hand resting lightly over his mouth and Grace silently wished that he would drop it so she could stare at his lips and remember every shape they took.

"Do you have a death wish? Sam is…" Jacob stalled, his eyes locking more concretely with Grace's now as he silently tried to communicate with her. She got simple flashes, Sam on his hind legs, rocketing back, snarling and snapping, the rising of howls moving around the forest, a volley of commands that she couldn't quite make out.

"Yeah well.." Grace sighed sitting up now. Jacob's eyes moved down the length of her body not covered by the sheet. "What?" she said quietly.

"You're wearing my shirt," he said with relief. As if the realization gave him something special, clarity that he wasn't expecting. She was confused by his tone and looked down to pluck at the shirt with her fingertips.

"Oh. I was out of it when I got back." She rubbed her hands over her eyes and gave a low yawn.

"Grace you don't get it, he—" Jacob was cut off by a crescendo of howls coming through the forest, his eyes snapped up and Grace looked out her window alarmed.

Get down here. NOW.

Grace heard the clear command in Sam's voice and quickly jumped out of bed, alarm bells ringing her head. Something was wrong. The howls were clearly pained, as if they pulled against the voice that dragged them forward.

Jake had already phased and had dashed into the forest. Grace quickly dressed and recast to his location, realizing too late that she was barefoot. The cool earth pricked at the warm soles of her feet as she stood in front of the towering black wolf.

Jake was mingled in with the pack, nipping at Seth and Quil to stay back. Grace steadied herself as she looked up at Sam and felt the heat of his anger rolling off his body.

Time and time again, you put this pack on the brink. You put each of us in danger with your recklessness. Going out there alone and putting your life at risk on an errand for a bloodsucker?! The disregard for your own life means I can't trust you to help protect this pack.

Grace's heart rate ticked up. Thunder crashed just offshore and the hair on the back of her neck rose. Whimpering sounds from the pack echoed behind Sam.

"I'm trying to keep Bella alive and keep a war from starting." Grace said simply. Her hands felt that familiar pain and she clenched and unclenched them into fists.

You can no longer be trusted to have good judgement when it comes to the Cullens or Bella. And the Cullen's clearly have you compromised if you're out there doing their bidding. I won't let it continue and have one of ours end up dead because of your clouded judgement.

Grace's eyes darted around to the pack now, unsure of what to do. But Sam wasn't backing down. He padded toward her, his muzzle open in a clear snarl, all teeth.

You will either come under heel and submit to Alpha orders like everyone else here. Or you will be cast out and we will come after you if you interfere with us taking care of the threat.

Grace swallowed hard. "So you're going to kill Bella then, that's your plan?"

I tell you that you have two choices to maintain your connection to this pack—YOUR DESTINY—and instead you ask about if we're going to kill Bella. It makes me sick!

At this, Sam lunged at her, his mouth open in a clear attack. Grace pushed her body back as she pulled energy up in front her, eyes wide. She went crashing back into the woods and came to halt once she slammed against a tree.

"ARE YOU CRAZY?!" Grace shouted as she scrambled to her feet and rushed back into the clearing. There was a squabble of fighting amongst the wolves behind Sam. Their dissent was quickly quieted with a swift command from him.

Choose. I won't ask again. Sam was livid. This was beyond insane. The weight of this alpha command was stronger than any she had felt before and her body begged her to obey, desperate for relief. She felt the strain of it in the back of her head, the muscles surrounding her skull tightening dangerously, willing her to submit. But she pulled against it. There was no way she was going to let her pack murder her sister and her unborn baby. They meant too much and the pack meant too much. She'd never let them become those kinds of monsters. She gritted her teeth and leveled Sam's gaze.

"No." she said between clenched teeth. There was another round of howls, whimpers, snaps, and snarls at her defiance. Sam recoiled, his ears back in clear anger.

Enough. Fan out toward the Cullen's. Don't stop. Sam said.

We're going to kill her?!

Sam, wait please.

Grace don't do this.

There's no other way, we have to kill this thing. Bella's made her choice.

Jacob do something! Seth's voice was loud and clear as Sam charged toward Grace. The pack was held back by their alpha orders. Grace pulled up her energy as a shield again, teeth still gritted, digging her feet in and taking Sam's blows as he battered against her again and again, pushing her back shouting:

YOU. WILL. LISTEN. TO. ME.

Jacob felt a sharp ripple move through him as he watched Sam advance on Grace again and again. She wouldn't push Sam back, she wouldn't hurt him—Jacob didn't know if she was capable of hurting them in their wolf form or if something in her held her back. Still, she wouldn't return the attack. Jake could see that she would lose. There was no way she could keep this up for long. Not after multiple alpha commands dragging her down while trying to keep herself standing against his barrage of attacks.

A ripping growl grew in the back of his throat as he watched, the chaos around him was shredding his sanity into pieces. Sam wouldn't stop, Jacob knew that.

Sam thought that Grace was putting them in danger and that he needed to protect them. But Jacob knew killing Bella wasn't the answer either, and bringing Grace under Sam's heel would backfire, it's not how Grace felt the bond worked.

Every time he hit her shield of energy, the sound crunched louder and louder, intermixed with his snarls and snaps. The crescendo of wolf thoughts wouldn't cease either as they all escalated into panic. Jake was boiling over and he just wanted it to stop.

Sam crashed into Grace in one final blow and her shield fell. She was pushed back up against a tree and slowly slipped down the trunk. Sam raised himself up on his hind legs to bring himself down upon her again, a paw raised with claws extended. An echo screamed through Jacob's head, long forgotten and buried deep in his psyche. He felt pushed forward by unseen hands as his body sprinted toward Grace.

Once he had rocketed toward her, the cries and shouts of his brothers went quiet as he launched himself at Sam's broad back.

His jaws grabbed around Sam's shoulder. H was caught unaware and in his panic, Sam threw his head back snapping wildly to try and toss him off. But Jacob was strong, stronger than he thought, and he pulled him backwards onto the ground. Sam twisted out his grip and Jake moved his body in front of Grace as she pulled herself up, her breath quick and sharp.

"Jake, don't." Grace said softly. He growled and widened his stance, blocking Grace from Sam's view.

Get out of the way. Sam growled.

No. Jake shouted back. Sam's ears went back and suddenly at his tone. Startled, Jacob realized he couldn't hear anything, just his own quick breath as Sam narrowed his eyes on him again.

What did you do?! Sam screamed.

You gave me no choice. This is not who we are, Sam. This is not who you are.

What did you DO?! He lunged for Jacob and as Grace cried out. Jacob shook Sam's muzzle off of his neck and beared down on him, crushing his ribs under his paws. Sam yelped as Jacob dug in and chomped harder, the other wolves pacing frantically behind him.

I won't let you hurt her. She's under my protection now. SAY YOU UNDERSTAND! The command was clear and Sam yelped again, struggling harder against his tightening grip.

I understand! Sam finally yelled out. Jacob released him immediately and Sam retreated to his pack.

You've made a mistake, Jacob. You've destroyed this pack. We can't come back from this.

Jacob had had enough. He turned to give Grace a look that she acknowledged and she recast away deeper into the forest. Jacob would find her soon enough.

The other pack members whined, confusion clear in their eyes. Jacob took one last look at them and took off as desperate howls rang out.

He ran in the direction that Grace went, knowing she'd be waiting for him. He saw her ahead in the clearing and quickly phased, pulling on his jean shorts before walking into the clearing. He let his eyes fall to the ground, realization sinking into him. His pack, his brothers, Leah, they were lost to him. Grace spun around, her eyes wild in shock:

"Did you just become alpha?!" Her voice was strained, shattered. He raised his eyes to her and in that moment everything stopped. A hush fell over the forest, unnaturally void of the chirps and rustling of the in its floor. The light seemed to glitter around them and the air grew thick and heavy despite the January cold. The thunder that had sounded off shore, clattered around them, lacing the air with electricity that splintered out and set their nerves on fire.

Grace pulled in a sharp breath. The dangling thread that had snapped in her when Jake had left suddenly reacted, shooting down through her body like a steel cable and snapping to the forest floor. She felt grounded, tethered to the earth, but more than that, she felt tethered to him. The rushing noise was already washing through her, the immense pressure building and finally exhaling around her. The pull in her stomach rejoiced in an exalted sigh of pleasure as it said, Yes, it's you. Finally.

Jacob was stone in front of her, his eyes wide with understanding. It was her. The soul that had been calling out to him all this time had been hers and deep down he thought he always knew. It was like finally turning over a stone and revealing the glittering life beneath. Like pulling a relief of air into a stifling room, the cool rush of understanding washing over his too hot body. His mind buzzed with recognition: Grace, his imprint.

Like a magnet, her pull begged her to move closer, but all Grace could get out was a soft, "Oh." as they stared at each other. The sound suddenly returned to the forest, teeming with life and becoming all too loud. Tears welled around the bottom of her eyes as she became overcome with joy. The ancestor's hadn't forgotten about her.

She held herself in place, waiting for his cue. His mouth opened and closed before he finally said, "Grace." Calling her to him.

Grace sprinted forward.