Jacob PoV

I was terrified.

Just this morning there had only been Bella and me and our little bubble of love and now there were suddenly four more, standing right here in Bella's hallway and looking at me like I was a god. Or worse, a leader.

An Alpha.

So my assumptions had been right. By defying Sam I had voluntarily left the pack and formed my own, something only a true Alpha could do. And it seemed that it was now possible for each wolf to choose which pack they wanted to belong to. And these four idiots had decided that this pack was to be mine.

Horrified, I looked to Bella for help and she understood.

"How about I give you all some dry clothes and then we'll meet in the living room to talk about everything? You can also take a shower if you want and if you are hungry, there is some food left from before or we could order something."

Leah took the offered shower, Quil and Embry the dry clothes and all four of them (of course Seth, too) opted for ordering pizza.

The small group scattered with Seth returning in the living room to watch the end of the movie. Which left me and Bella alone in the hallway.

The look on my face must have been pure helplessness because Bella laughed, came closer and hugged me. "Don't worry", she breathed against my chest. "It'll be fine. Nothing's changed."

"Yeah, apart from four wolves running wild in your house. What will Charlie think when he returns home?" I answered, bringing her close to me.

"He won't return anytime soon and hopefully this whole situation will have cleared up by then." Her body felt good against mine, small and fragile and right.

"Bella, please, don't leave me." I buried my face in her hair. "I don't know why these four dorks think it's better to stay with me but now they are here and I need your help. I really don't know what to do here."

"How about just stay the way you are? They are your friends, Jake and they've come because they know you. They know you are a good person and a great friend. That's what they want, not another leader who wants to rule their life. So calm down and be yourself. It'll be fine, I promise."

As hard as I tried to believe her, it still sounded impossible to me that I should be their Alpha. I was a sixteen-year old teenager, damn it. Not a wise leader or a strong Alpha. What did they expect from me anyway? That I would guide them through every storm that was about to come? And a storm there would be, after Victoria had been killed or driven away for good. Sam wouldn't take it lightly that five of his own pack had deserted him to form their own family. And apart from that, where were we supposed to live? Sam had banned me from the reservation and even though I didn't know if he had the right to do so, it would be impossible to live so close to each other, two rival Alphas in the same place. But we couldn't stay here forever, I knew that. But as Bella had said, Charlie wasn't supposed to return anytime soon and for now, we had bigger problems on our mind.

Like a red-haired serial killer vampire. Or the simple question where all of the newly-arrived would sleep this night.