Grace woke up a few hours later to Jacob's soft breath across the top of her head. She placed a hand on his chest and gently extracted herself, looking around at the dark room. Embry.

She pulled on some loose sweats and quickly made her way down the stairs and into the back room. Embry was asleep and Grace put a hand to the back of his forehead to feel for any damp. His face felt like the traditional wolf warmth and Grace breathed a sigh of relief. She pulled back the cover to inspect his wound and the wound was now turning an angry red color that would hopefully fade to a pink. As she leaned down next to him and placed her head on his arm she thanked her ancestors for keeping him safe.

"Grace?" Embry muttered, his voice hoarse. She lifted her head quickly to look at him and clicked on the light next to him.

"Hey, you're awake! How are you feeling?" she asked trying to keep her voice calm. Embry tried to clear his throat and swallowed hard. "I'll get you some water." She quickly bounced down the hall to the kitchen and filled up a glass, placing a straw in. She helped him drink and when he drained the glass, Embry leaned back against the pillows.

"Thanks," he said softly. "Where's the IV from?"

"Carlisle came and set it up. You lost a lot of blood and I needed help. What happened?"

"Sam," Embry said, rubbing his eyes with his left hand not hindered by the wound on his right shoulder. "After Leah and Seth left, he was furious. I've never seen him like that. He wanted to set up around the Cullen's place but Quil and I...we said it wasn't a good idea. We needed to regroup, we had lost two and attacking the Cullen's now would definitely mean someone would die. So I...I tried to stop him. He was throwing out alpha orders like it was candy and we were all just trying to get through it but...I couldn't let him do this. Not to you or Bella or our pack. It wasn't right," Embry coughed a little. Grace placed both hands on his shoulder now and he gave a sigh of relief.

"Embry, I'm so sorry," Grace said.

"Eh, I knew fighting against an alpha order would result in a pretty nasty outcome, but god that hurt." Embry winced as he tried to raise his right arm. Grace protested at this and sat on the bed next to him leaning over him to place her forehead against his.

"Oh no, please don't," she said softly. He chuckled and wrapped his right arm around her midsection and took a deep breath.

"You're doing a good job," he said quietly, closing his eyes.

"No, I'm not. Not if you're hurt, not if anyone gets hurt."

"Hey, Jake," Embry said, looking around Grace slightly. Grace sat up and looked over her shoulder.

"Save some heroic shit for the rest of us man," Jacob joked crossing his arms across his chest.

"Yeah, well, you set the example. Speaking of, I'm packless at the moment, mind if I join yours?" Grace let out a laugh.

"Seems everyone wants to join, so why not?" Jacob said leaning his back against the wall, "But I'm going to ask you to watch your hands on my girl, heal or no heal." He nodded toward Embry's arm that was circled around Grace's waist, his hand resting on her back.

"Wait, really?" Embry said surprised. Grace nodded, keeping her hands on his shoulder.

"Yeah, Jake kind of imprinted when he went all alpha," She rolled her eyes with a joking smile.

"Oh my god, I knew it," Embry said, incredulous.

"Oh fuck off! You did not," Grace laughed. Embry laughed now too and winced at the resulting tightness in his shoulders.

"Ow, don't make me laugh," Embry said quietly.

"Well, since you're clearly feeling better, I'm going to check in on Leah and Seth on patrol," Jacob said, crossing the room to kiss Grace's temple.

"Me too papa," Embry joked, leaning up to present his cheek. Jacob scoffed in amusement and patted his hand to Embry's cheek.

"Bring him when he's better?" Jacob asked. Grace nodded and settled in next to Embry.

"Don't fall in love with me," Embry said.

"Chill, Em" Grace laughed.

"I was talking to Jake." They both devolved into fits of laughter. For one fleeting moment, everything felt okay.

In the early afternoon, Embry was feeling good enough to join the others. Grace recast to the Cullen's property and quickly climbed the steps to the front door. She wasted no time knocking and made her way into the living room. Rosalie stood in front of Bella in a protective stance.

"Bella?" Grace said gently. Bella's face was obscured by Rosalie and the other vampires stood around the room nervously.

"Grace?" Bella called out to her from the couch. Grace stepped forward but Rosalie put a hand up.

"That's close enough," she said harshly.

"Excuse me?" Grace said walking forward toward Rosalie.

"Rose, it's okay. It's Grace, she's not going to hurt me," Bella said softly.

"None of us are going to hurt you," Alice said, her voice tinged with hurt. Rosalie stepped aside and Grace had to hold back a gasp at Bella's figure. Her face was gaunt, her cheeks sunken, and the dark circles under her eyes were even more pronounced and her limbs look frail and thin.

"Jeez, Bella." Grace said as she sat on the couch next to her. Bella's belly was massive. Grace looked to Carlisle who shook his head.

"Subtle," Emmett said amused from the corner.

"I know, I've looked better," Bella sighed, putting a hand on her stomach, "We just have to find out what he wants."

"Carlisle said you couldn't hold down food anymore?" Grace asked. Bella nodded. "How long has that been going on for?" she was trying to control the rising panic in her voice.

"Just the past few days," Bella said nonchalantly.

"Bella, this is bad. You can't not eat for the rest of your pregnancy, you'll die. It's literally sucking the life out of you," Grace placed a hand gently on her arm.

"That's it." Edward said suddenly.

"What?" Alice said and then she zoned out. Edward watched her and smiled.

"Grace is right, she's sucking the life out of her," Edward looked to Bella now, clear joy on his face.

"You've lost it," Grace said perturbed.

"He's thirsty," Bella said, holding onto Grace's wrist.

"It's worth a shot," Carlisle said. "I'll see what I can grab at the hospital." He was off.

"You can't be serious," Grace said, understanding dawning on her. "Oh that's dark." Bella looked a little relieved but mostly she looked tired. Grace switched gears, bringing a hand to her cheek now. Bella lit up and looked down at her belly.

"He can sense you're here," Bella said. She sounded delirious and Grace looked at Bella's face. "Don't look at me like that." she said, shaking her head. Grace couldn't help but smile at that. Bella leaned in and pressed her forehead to hers and whispered, "I can do this. I know I can do this."

"Okay, I know you can...I know," Grace wrapped her arms around Bella and let her rest on her shoulder.

"You're warm," Bella said softly as she drifted off to sleep. Edward was standing across the living room, his eyes filled with what she thought might be hope.

"Carlisle said the pack has split, that Jacob is an alpha now. Is that true?" Edward asked. Grace nodded. "I can hear them around the perimeter."

"Me too," Grace said, smiling sadly. Edward looked at Grace for a long time, trying to gather her thoughts but after awhile he simply said,

"I promise I will do my best to keep her alive." His voice was desperate, broken. Grace just nodded and tried to close her eyes, wishing that could keep Bella alive with her touch like she did for Embry.

Grace spent the afternoon cuddled up next to Bella, and playing movies they both liked. If Grace had thought a year ago that this was where she would be, she would have thought herself insane.

When Carlisle returned with bags of blood from the hospital, Grace excused herself. She could handle a lot, but that was a little too much for her. She walked out into the trees toward the warmth of the wolf she could pick out apart from anyone else. Jacob phased and donned his shorts, walking across the brush to meet her.

"Hey," he said, grabbing under her forearms to pull her close right away.

"Hey," she replied, smiling up at him. It felt odd how easy it was to fall into step with him. He brought a hand to her face and touched it softly.

"What is it?" His eyes searched hers and for a minute she thought about just recasting them somewhere far away to be alone. Her time with him had already been so limited since he had imprinted and she craved just him, just for a while. But the rest of the pack was coming.

"Nothing, it's just...Bella is definitely worse. They're trying something new to help her but I don't know how long she'll last if this doesn't work. She looked…" Grace choked at this and she could feel Jacob's heart rate pick up at the stress this was all causing her. "She looked bad, Jake." Grace held Bella's face in her mind and shared it with him. His grip grew tighter around Grace momentarily and then he relaxed, putting his finger under her chin to pull her face up toward him.

"We'll do everything we can, yeah?" Grace nodded at him and he pulled her into a tight hug. The rest of the pack came into the clearing.

"I didn't pick anything up for about 10 miles around here," Leah reported. Embry leaned against a tree and took some deep breaths, still not at 100%.

"We need a plan," Jacob said pulling away from Grace's embrace and facing them. He threaded his fingers with hers. "A way to prevent a fight with Sam and the others. If we're fighting each other, there's going to be nothing left. And if they try to turn Bella…" Jacob stopped at this and squeezed Grace's hand. He turned to look at her and his face pulled with soft understanding. "The Cullen's are not a threat. This baby is not a threat. And if they end up turning Bella...I'm going to fight to protect her. If you don't agree with that, I understand and you're welcome to return to Sam's pack. But I will not let anyone endanger my family, pack or otherwise." Jake concluded. There were skeptical looks from Embry and Leah crossed her arms glancing at Grace.

Seth stepped forward and nodded, "I'm with you. We don't let Bella or anyone get hurt, even if they turn her."

"Fine," Leah said, "But I still don't have to like her."

"Fair," Jacob said. "Em?"

"There's no way I go back now. And like I told Grace, killing Bella or her baby doesn't sit right with me in any context. So I'm with you, brother." Embry replied.

"Okay, so now all we need is a plan." Jacob said simply. "Right." he faltered.

Grace let go of his hand and stepped forward. "We can only patrol for so long and then sooner or later Sam will regroup and try to attack. But he won't do it until Bella is bitten. By then the Cullen's attention will be divided and they'll be at their weakest. I don't think we should wait for that point."

"What? We attack Sam and the others now?" Leah said.

"We're not attacking anyone. I need to go talk to Sam. Despite Jake starting this pack and imprinting, I'm not the protector of just this pack. If any of you get hurt, it's on me. So let me talk to Sam first and see if I can get him talking. Extend the olive branch and let him know where we stand. I'm sure he won't want to attack any of you now that he's had some time…" Grace gave Embry a sympathetic look. "I'm sure everyone leaving was hard for him."

"You're not going there alone." Jacob said, incensed.

"I have to. If I bring any of you it won't seem like I'm coming on good terms, like I don't trust him. I need to go alone." She said the last sentence deliberately, staring up at Jacob. "He won't hurt me now that you've imprinted, he can't."

"He wasn't supposed to hurt you as the Spirit Bird either," Jacob said skeptically.

"I need to do this. And until then, we patrol and regroup at my place. We'll need to stay close by as often as we can in case something happens with Bella."

Jacob wasn't happy with the plan but it was their best option for now.

Grace shifted from foot to foot in the forest, waiting for Paul. She had tapped into her line in with him her next best connection into the pack aside from Sam and Jacob and asked to meet her in a neutral location.

He unphased so he could talk to her in person. Now that Jacob had imprinted, she realized everything her and Paul had had before was necessary but no longer the crux of their relationship. She found solace in his presence even if he didn't intend it to be so. She had always been drawn to that about him.

"Heard Jake imprinted on you," he said casually. Grace raised an eyebrow at him as if beckoning him to say more, "Congrats. Welcome to the club."

"Thanks. It only took breaking up a pack to get it." Grace shoved her hands in her back pockets and let her face warm at the sight of his easy smile.

"Yeah, well. They say imprinting happens at the moment you need it most, but in my experience, it's typically the worst time. How are you feeling about it?"

"Good. I think we always knew something was there tying us together, but the imprint just cleared it up. Made it have a more concrete purpose. But I love him," Grace's eyes widened at this. She hadn't even told Jacob that yet, but here she was, telling her ex-boyfriend that her new partner, her new….wait was Jacob even her boyfriend? Fuck I should really ask him about that.

"I'm happy for you," Paul said softly. Grace knew he meant it and for a beat they just looked at one another, an understanding. "So, what do you want from me?"

"Don't say it like that," Grace said rolling her eyes, "I need to talk to Sam. Really. Is he...stable?" Paul let out a laugh that sounded like a bark.

"He's on edge, but he's definitely stable. The shit with Embry was….not his finest moment. He feels like complete shit for that, but he was scared of losing everyone," Paul said jumping to his defense.

"I know, you don't have to worry about any of that. Embry is okay and I understand that Sam was upset. I just want to talk and see if we can come to an agreement about this situation. We don't want to fight and I'm still a protector of this pack," Grace said gently.

"Some shit protecting you've been doing," Paul shot at her. Grace stutter stepped, taken off guard.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me. You say you're still a part of this pack but we haven't seen or heard from you since everything went down. You abandoned us," Paul said, his voice thick with anger now.

"Don't you dare, Paul Lahote." Grace pulled her hands out of her pocket, "That is complete bullshit and you know it. I'm here, I'm trying to make things right with Sam when you know how easy it would be to walk away from everything considering what he said to me...what he did to Embry."

"It seems pretty clear what choice you made." Paul said, standing up now and rippling with anger.

"Stop! That's enough!" Grace shouted at him. Paul was taken aback by this, his face colored with surprise and he momentarily stopped shaking. "I was attacked by my alpha, imprinted on with almost no warning, and been given NO TIME to be with my imprint because your alpha keeps attacking my packmates. Not to mention the impending attack he's inevitably planning against my sister and her unborn baby! So you can see why I'm less than thrilled to come running back to this pack. So don't talk to me about choice, Paul. I wasn't given a choice. Sam made sure of that."

She was livid. Grace hadn't meant to lose her cool with Paul, he was her line in, but she couldn't help it. The stress of the past few days spilled out of her and she didn't realize how much she had been holding together until this point.

Paul looked at her with wide eyes, his chest heaving. The air was thick with electricity and Grace wasn't sure if she had caused it or if it was another storm rolling in off the coast.

"Fine," Paul said after a while. Grace let the tension pull out of her shoulders. "Come by Sam's tomorrow afternoon. I'll make sure he's there."

"Thanks," Grace said, irritated now as she turned to leave.

"I am sorry, you know," Paul said offhandedly.

"For what?" Grace said, stopping and looking over her shoulder. Paul held his arms up in a shrug.

"Everything. Take your pick," he laughed a little then, but it sounded sad.

"I know...me too," Grace nodded and quickly recast back to her home. She held onto the porch rail and looked at the sanded and stained patio that Paul had made for her. It felt like a lifetime ago. Grace suddenly felt like she was floating, that sense of being untethered, the one that made her do something reckless last time and made her heart thump too fast. How had things gotten like this so quickly? Had she not seen the signs? The weight of the last few days weighed on her now that she had finally expressed her anger about it to Paul and she felt her heart running quicker, the panic in her building.

Just as she felt herself start to break apart and try to recast to somewhere that even she didn't know, an arm ratcheted out and scooped her up. The floating feeling evaporated and all at once, she felt firmly rooted to the earth around her. Hot breath was in her ear and she closed her eyes against the sound, letting it vibrate through her. Grace could feel herself being moved with ease through the front door and set gently down on the kitchen counter.

Jacob cupped both of his large hands under her face and she held his wrists. "Breathe, Grace." His eyes were wide with concern and she took a deep inhale to try and slow her heart rate. When he was satisfied, he took a step closer pushing her legs apart so he stood right up against the counter top. Grace could feel the heat radiating off his body as he placed his hands under her shirt and on the soft skin of her waist. She looked down at his hands and smiled a little.

"What?" he said softly.

"Why do you always do that?"

"Do what?" he said.

"Whenever you touch me, you always make sure that your hands find bare skin." Grace could feel the searing warmth pool in her belly at the anticipation of his answer. She knew why, she just wanted to hear him say it.

"It feels better like this. When I can actually touch you, the connection feels stronger. Unfortunately for me, you don't run around topless all the time like I do, so I have to improvise sometimes," His face was incredibly close to hers and she could feel the dewey warmth of his breath, but then he slowly leaned his head down and pressed his lips to her neck, his fingers gripping her sides a little tighter, hungry. "Is that okay?" he said, his voice low between pressing his lips along the length of her neck.

Grace's hands were on his shoulders and she nodded letting a soft "Mmhhhmm," escape her. Anyway he wanted to touch her would be okay with Grace at this point. He paused, kissing just below her ear and making her shiver before he said,

"I heard what you said to Paul...about us not having any time together since the imprint happened." Grace felt her whole body scream in recognition. Of course he'd heard that. He kissed slowly down her jaw as he said, "I know under normal circumstances, Sam would give imprinters a week off to...connect," her heart hammered in her chest as he said this, "I'm sorry I didn't make that time with you. I'm still figuring out this alpha stuff and we haven't really had a moment to relax." He pressed his forehead to hers now and she placed her hands on the back of his neck.

"We'll have time, soon," she whispered, her eyes still closed as she tried to memorize the tenor of his body.

"We will," he confirmed gently coaxing her face up by nuzzling his nose to hers. Grace felt the relief in her building and then, he leaned his lips down to hers, dangerously close, hovering just for a minute over hers before a howl rang out clear and pressing through the forest. Jacob still hovered over her lips and looked to the front door. Grace squeezed the back of his neck and let her eyes fall open. "Seth," he grumbled.

"Duty calls, Alpha," she said in a soft voice. He smiled and let his hands come out from under her shirt and rested them on her upper thighs,

"It actually sounds good when you call me that. I like it," he laughed and patted the side of her thigh before leaning down to kiss her cheek. "I'll be back later. Stay out of trouble, Spirit Bird."

He gave her one last look before heading toward the door, phasing off the steps and disappearing into the forest. Grace let out a frustrated huff of air and tried to shake the whole body tingle that Jacob always left her feeling with.