A/N: Thank you all for your patience! I don't know how, but I managed to finish this chapter, partially in thanks to my discord, partially in spite of them. You have no idea how little sleep I got recently, oh my god. On another note, I'm going to be releasing the side story soon, called Of Wolves and Imprints. The first chapter is going to be released along with a future update of this fine story here. I know you guys worry that it might distract me from my other works, especially this one. However, writing other stories actually helps get my brain working, so it should do the opposite. I know I have a shit ton of unfinished stories, but those stories wouldn't have even gotten as far as they had if not for other fics I started. I know it doesn't make too much sense, but that's how my brain works, sadly. Anyways, enough with the rambling, I know you guys want to get on with the fun part. Just remember I love you all, and I appreciate all the reviews you give me. So give me more. Enjoy :)

Chapter 23

Less than an hour later, Bella and her pack had already gotten everything set up, complete with benches and coolers and a variety of food and drink, and started partying. Despite the excitement and celebration among the pack for their victory, some, like Quil, didn't even know if they would be allowed back home. It was already decided that Leah, Seth, Quil Jr, Rachel, and Jacob would crash at Bella's house for the foreseeable future, while Rebecca would be staying with Paul. They had all already snuck back into their houses to pack as much as they could and delivered it to their new homes. However, it didn't completely quell any anxiety regarding their home lives and the future.

For now, though, everyone was determined to celebrate and drink the night away; except for Colin, Brady, and Seth, that is, as Bella had a strange insistence that you have to be at least sixteen to try and get as smashed as some of the others were going to. Despite the party only just starting and no one actually being drunk yet, anxieties were all but forgotten as the pack had fun. Not just the shifters, but the imprints as well.

There was, however, one person who was still visibly nervous. That person was the one who was currently chugging alcohol like it was water and she was a dehydrated fish. That person was the one who clearly wanted nothing more than to get enough liquid courage in their system as they kept glancing across the border.

Yes, that person was Bella Black.

Jacob handed Bella her next bottle of vodka as he tried not to appear too amused by Bella's nervousness. He had never seen his best friend so worked up about a girl before, and now here she was, actually hoping yet terrified to see two of them. "You know, instead of waiting around like a lost puppy and hoping they'll show up, you can always just call them."

"Like hell I can. I'm Bella Black, and I...I…" Bella's shoulders drooped a little. "I ran away from them."

"Plus you'll probably just start a fight if the bitch one picks up the phone."

"Hey, she's not a bitch! She's just...she's just a bitch!" Bella's attempt to defend Rosalie made Jacob and some nearby pack members snort. "But, like, a hot bitch. And I think she's nice." Bella frowned. "Okay, not nice...but she's, you know...she's Rose." Despite Bella struggling for words, something about the way she said Rosalie's name in that particular, nearly lovesick tone, made her sound almost romantic.

"If you truly do love someone, you should kill yourself. That's the only way the one you love will actually be happy."

Bella tried not to appear shaken up by the malicious voice that whispered in her ear. She knew it was an echo of the past, of something she had forgotten, but she hated how much it still affected her. Needing to shake off the feelings of dread, Bella threw back her head and quickly started chugging the vodka until nothing was left.

Emily watched Bella from where she sat a few inches from an incredibly tense and awkward Sam, her one good eye glittering with concern. "Bella, slow down. That can't be healthy."

"I'm a shifter, it takes a lot to get me drunk," Bella muttered back as she picked up another bottle. "Don't worry about it. I'm fine." She quickly chugged the contents until it was empty, glancing once more over the border before turning to the stash of alcohol. She was buzzed at this point, but it wasn't enough. It wasn't exactly healthy to feel like she needed to get smashed, and Bella knew this. She also knew she didn't care. At least when she was drunk, she would have an excuse for doing stupid shit if Tanya and Rosalie did show up. Bella had realized long ago that getting drunk was the only way Bella could open up and be completely honest about her feelings to anyone. It had taken her getting smashed to the point of almost blacking out to admit to Jacob how much she valued their friendship, and it had completely changed things for the better. Similar situations had happened with Rachel, Emily, and nearly every single one of her close friends. The only true heart to heart she had with her dad had also been when she was drunk as a skunk. In the end, each relationship came out stronger because of Bella's alcohol fueled honesty.

So if I get drunk enough and Tanya and Rosalie show up, maybe I can make things better there too. Determined to do just that, Bella picked up another two bottles, both boasting the super high alcohol content.

"Bella, seriously-"

Sam put his hand on Emily's shoulder to stop her and shook his head, telling her not to push it. It wasn't a healthy coping mechanism for Bella, but as she was a shifter now, it wasn't like she could die of alcohol poisoning. The only concern any of the shifters had would be that she might lose control and shift while drunk, but weirdly enough, Sam and the others could almost feel the control Bella had over her wolf. Not just because Bella wasn't shaking or showing any signs of shifting. He couldn't exactly explain how he knew it was safe; he just knew Bella wasn't going to shift. Wasn't going to allow it. Her power didn't just cover her, but cover all of the wolves, an unspoken command that made all the wolves inside of them shift. No matter how much fun they had, no matter how much they drank, none of them would shift, even if they wanted to. They couldn't.

"Whoa there, hot shot, slow down," Leah grumbled, snatching a bottle of beer out of Rachel's hands. Rachel let out a cry of indignation and tried to grab it back, but thanks to Leah's new shifter height, Leah easily held it out of her reach. Rachel tried hopping up and down to get it back, but quickly found it useless.

"So you and Bella can get shit faced but I can't? Talk about discrimination!" Rachel complained. Leah kissed her quickly, and Rachel melted, all previous grumpiness forgotten. "That's not fair," she mumbled, but there was no heat behind her words.

"I just want you to be safe. Knowing you, you'll try to challenge Bella to a drinking contest," Leah said. "Slow down a little, please? For me?"

"Oh, forget not fair, you're playing downright dirty." Despite her grumbling, Rachel snuggled up to Leah. The wolf slipped an arm around her imprint's waist while setting the bottle on one of the benches behind her.

"They're such saps," Paul jeered as he watched the two. "I can't tell which of the two is more whipped."

"Pot, meet kettle," Quil said with a snort.

Paul immediately bristled, glaring at his younger packmate. "The hell is that supposed to mean?"

Rebecca put a hand on Paul's chest, calming him immediately. "Don't you dare start something Paul, I'm comfortable."

"Sorry," Paul muttered, making his body relax so that Rebecca could settle into a more comfortable position in his lap. With a pleased look on her face, Rebecca cuddled into Paul and held the cup of beer she was nursing close to her chest. Between the fire and her wolf's body heat, she was a little hot, but she'd be damned if she moved from a place that felt so comfortable and right. Instead, she used the beer more for its chilled temperature than for its alcohol in an attempt to cool off.

Of course after watching such a scene between Paul and his imprint, Quil broke out into loud laugher and the majority of the pack also laughed at Paul's expense. Besides a bit of a reluctant blush crawling up Paul's cheeks, he did his best to ignore the jeers.

Cass watched the warm scene with a mix of curiosity and awe. Despite how tense things had been only minutes before after giving those old men a verbal ass chewing, everyone was once again calm and cheerful. Some of the kids here and basically disowned their own parents, yet with how big their smiles were, no one would have guessed something so tense had happened earlier.

Collin broke away from where he had been chatting with Seth and Brady while drinking their sodas, noticing how intensely his sister was watching everything. He leaned against his sister's side, took another gulp of his soda, and said, "Are you going to change back yet?"

The giant red wolf that was Cass Littlesea vehemently shook her head as best as she could in her current state. In the time it had taken for the party to get started, Bella had coached her through her first transformation and Cass was currently feeling better than ever.

"Why not? Bella did tell you how to turn back, right?" Collin already knew Bella wasn't the type to forget such an important detail. However, he was also aware of how hard headed and easily distracted his sister was. He could totally see Cass just outright forgetting or not listening to that important information.

Cass snorted. Of course Bella had taught her how to change back, but why would Cass want to? Being a wolf was fucking awesome! It might be hard for her to currently eat and drink anything because of the whole no opposable thumb thing, but she was too enamored with experiencing everything in her new form to care. The main problem was how she had so many questions, and as no one else was in wolf form, she didn't have anyone who could answer them for her. Except maybe Bella, but Bella was way too busy with her own problems, and while Cass was dense, even she could read the mood coming from the alpha.

Then Cass remembered; she had her little brother. As the older sister, she was totally his boss, and he understood her well enough. Surely she could use him to satisfy her curiosities, right?

It only took seconds after Cass turned her expectant gaze on Collin that he let out a sigh, understanding what she wanted of him. "You want me to shift, don't you?"

Cass let out a yip to let him know that yes, she did, and with another sigh that really kind of offended Cass as an older sister, Collin downed the rest of his drink. "Give me a sec, I'll be right back." He took off at a light jog into the trees, and Cass only had a moment to feel bored before a small reddish brown wolf loped back to sit beside her. The others noticed of course, but no one seemed to think much of it or care. Of course they wouldn't, with how almost everyone here could turn into giant wolves too.

This whole pack thing was so fucking cool.

"About time you showed up, I was waiting forever," Cass told her brother with a huff.

"What are you talking about? That was my fastest shift yet! It's not my fault you're so impatient!" Collin sat down next to his sister, looking out at the group of partiers just like his sister was. "Tell me there's a reason you wanted me to shift."

"Of course there is. I have questions." One of them being what made Collin act like such a tight ass, but she decided it was best not to be rude.

"Hey, I heard that!" Fuck, Cass had forgotten that Bella had told her that the wolves could hear each others' thoughts. That was such a pain. "And I'm not a tight ass, okay? I'm just…" Collin couldn't figure out what to say, but he didn't have to. Through the link came images and feelings. Bella, strong proud and somehow even more beautiful through Collin's eyes. The hero worship thing he had going for her. More than that, the feeling of strength he took from her, the desire to make her proud. To be seen as mature and cool and useful. He wanted so badly not to be seen as a kid by her, but as a useful member of the pack. Someone Bella could rely on. He hated the speech he had given in front of the Elders, hated how weak and young and shy he felt when their eyes were on him. It made him feel like he didn't do enough for Bella when she needed that backup. That he hadn't conveyed not just to the Elders, but to Bella herself, how much of an amazing alpha and person she was. It looked like whatever conversation he had been having with Seth and Brady had solidified some desire to act more mature. Something about Seth giving them advice? Seth had told them to just be themselves and help whenever they could, but that wasn't enough for Collin and Brady. Despite the boy being only a year older, Seth seemed so much more mature and assured of himself than the other two boys, and somehow, it had led to Collin now trying to act more like Seth.

Cass didn't say anything about what she had seen and felt from her little brother, even though the feelings worried her a little. She knew Collin hadn't meant for all of that to slip out, and while Cass wanted to give some advice, she knew he wouldn't accept it. Not now. She would have to ask Bella to talk to him and Brady about his feelings soon, though. She wasn't going to let her brother drown himself in his insecurities.

"Why did you start singing 'We are the champions?' Can you get any weirder?" Collin complained, but Cass decided to let his comment slide.

"Are they always like this?" Cass asked, pointing with one paw to where Embry and Kim were talking quietly, apparently in their own little world. It looked almost too romantic and intimate to even watch, and Cass quickly looked away.

"Yeah, they're a little...them? I don't know how to explain it." Collin seemed embarrassed to even talk about those two, and while Cass wanted to tease him for it, she had too many other questions to let herself get distracted.

"What about them?" Cass pointed with her paw again, this time to Emily and Sam, who still seemed to be holding back from even looking at each other for too long. Emily spent most of her time watching Bella, and Sam spent most of his time looking at the ground.

"Oh, no. There was a recent...thing." The image of bloody claw marks on Emily's face flashed through Collin's mind along with Sam's guilt and Bella's fury at the incident. Cass winced. Fuck, got it, not everything about being a shifter was sweet. Bella had told her, but the image added a kind of clarity to Cass that words didn't. She had wondered why Emily's face had been covered in bandages but hadn't said anything. Somehow, she had sensed it wasn't a topic to talk to Bella about, and it looked like she was right.

"What about the twins and their new muscle candy?" This time, Cass didn't use her paw to point. There was only one set of twins here after all, she had made who she was asking about perfectly clear.

"Yeah, they are. It's hilarious." Collin chuckled for a moment, but then a memory flashed through his mind. It was too quick for Cass to grasp-all the wolf knew was that it had something to do with Rachel and a feeling of horror from her brother. "Rachel is a bit...much. Rebecca is nicer, but Rachel is protective of her too. Please don't antagonize either of them, I beg you. Rachel will make sure there's consequences. Even Bella has trouble with her."

Cass wanted to ask what a human could do against a big bad wolf, but something about the look in Rachel's eyes in that brief memory made Cass believe him.

"Go figure. Bella seems like the type to be able to handle anyone. I mean, she has the whole badass, sexy muscle thing, I'm top of the food chain thing going on. Kind of had the feeling she would just bend anyone over and peg them if they went against her. Although I guess that might not be much of a punishment, cause I'm pretty sure anyone here would love it. Well, the girls would, anyway."

"You have no idea." Collin let out a bark of wolfy laughter. Somehow, a piece of information slipped out; that Bella had slept with every single imprint here, and even Leah. Cass perked up at that.

"You're telling me if I get fucked by Bella, I not only get to have the ride of my life by tall, dark, and way too sexy, but some kind of soulmate shit too? Dude, I'm so in."

All of the humor Collin had evaporated as Cass stood, appearing to have every intent to shift back to human form and go after Bella. He jumped to his paws and rushed in front of Cass to stop her from doing anything even more stupid than usual. "Wait, Cass, no! Please don't try to do anything with Bella!"

Cass gave a wolfy roll of her eyes. "Relax, if she wants to fuck me, I'm not going to do it in front of everyone. That would be way too cultish for my taste."

Ew. So much ew. "No, not that!"

"What, can't handle knowing your sister is going to get some?"

Ew ew ew. The waves of disgust that rolled off of Collin made Cass want to laugh. "Not that, either!" While it would definitely scar him for life if Bella and sister did anything, there was something much worse that could happen. Like two particular blondes finding out. "You can't try anything because Bella has imprints too!"

Wolf eyes widened in surprise and Cass looked around once more, scanning the area with all of her senses. She hadn't managed to miss anyone, had she? She was a new wolf, but she definitely wasn't lame enough to somehow miss a whole person or three. "Really? I don't see them." Unless they were some kind of magic bitches-which Cass was starting to have the sneaking suspicion could totally be a thing-there were no extra girls here.

"They're vampires, and while we did basically kinda overthrow the Elders, they're still not officially allowed on this side of the border without a meeting first. Same goes for us; we can't cross into their territory either. But Bella's imprints will definitely raise all kinds of hell if you try anything with her." Collin let out a huff of relief when Cass slowly sat back down, but he didn't sit down himself. Instead, he continued to eye his older sister warily, all too aware of how skilled Cass was in the art of fake outs.

"Oh. Well, I don't really feel like dying yet, so I guess I'm good with not getting fucked. For now, at least."

Well, that was good for something, Collin hoped. He sat next to Cass, but didn't settle. Instead, he sat in such a way where he was poised to jump up and tackle Cass if needed. He wasn't going to let his sister try something so dangerous and stupid on his watch. He could only hope his longer experience as a wolf would be enough to stop her.

Cass was about to say something about how rude Collin's lack of faith in her was when a loud whoop distracted her. She glanced over at the source of the sound to find Jared running on top of some flaming coals while some of the other boys cheered in encouragement. Jared finished the course, cheered, and proceeded to take a gulp of his beer before grabbing some two liter bottle of cola and pouring it all over his own head. Seth and Quil jumped back from the splash zone while Brady wasn't so lucky, complaining about how sticky he was going to be now thanks to Jared. Somehow, that put the bright idea in Jared's head to chase after the other guys, yelling something about how he was the sticky monster.

"Hey, isn't that guy supposed the pack's Beta? Is he always like that?" Cass just had to ask, because she was pretty sure she had seen him be super serious when facing the Elders. Now, however, he was anything but.

"Nah. I'm pretty sure he only gets like this when he's drunk." It had been the first time Collin had seen Jared get drunk though, so he couldn't say it with too much confidence.

A moment of silence-between them, anyway, the rest of the pack was nowhere near quiet-stretched between them. "So...are you guys always like this?"

"Like what?"

"Like a family." Collin seemed more comfortable here than in their own home, and while he was still struggling with his insecurities, he also seemed more confident than ever. Her little brother was definitely thriving, and while Cass didn't know the others too well, she'd say they were too. "You're all so happy and united. It's badass."

"Oh, yeah, I guess? I never really thought about it before."

"Damn it, Jared! It's going to take forever to wash myself off because of you!" Jacob exclaimed, and wolfy siblings turned to find Jacob had been caught in a bear hug by the beta. The beta laughed and hugged Jacob tighter, even rubbing his still wet face against Jake's to make sure to get the younger boy as sticky as possible. Others laughed at Jacob's expense, and despite how annoyed Jacob acted, he soon found himself laughing along. It was a warm, adorable, and kind of nasty scene, but something was off. Wrong. So wrong, it took only seconds for Cass to realize what it was.

"Hey. Where's Bella?"

"Isn't she…" Collin looked over at Jacob, only to realize Bella wasn't near him.

In fact, she wasn't anywhere to be seen.