SM owns Twilight. We just want to live in her world a bit longer.

A/N This chapter was becoming too big, and I couldn't find a good place to stop. So I'm doing a double upload. Next chapter will be up in an hour or so.

Chapter 35

The town hall was filling up with elders, pack, and imprints. Jacob pushed his dad's wheelchair to his spot at the top of the circle, and then he went to sit opposite him with Bella. The circle of chairs was much bigger today to accommodate the new additions for the meeting.

When Charlie arrived, Bella got up and raced to him. Jake smiled as he watched her run almost gracefully to her father. How had he not noticed her lack of clumsiness of late?

Charlie looked pretty good for someone who had been slugged by a vampire the night before. He could see out of his left eye again, and the bruising had already gone from purple to a greenish-yellow color.

Sue encouraged him to sit with her as she took her place next to the other elders.

Sybil sat on the opposite side to Charlie and Sue from Billy. Eva sat next to her; Seth had his arm draped around her shoulders. He looked smug. Jake hadn't had a chance to talk to him about their relationship yet, but he was happy to see them putting all the supernatural bullshit behind them. They deserved to be happy.

Billy called to start the meeting and gave an update on the three injured, who were still at the clinic. Paul had been given permission to stay with Rachel. Not that he would have left her side even if they told him he had to come.

The usual process in a meeting was to recount any vampire attack. The council wanted it for their records, and the pack also used it to find faults in their fighting techniques, similar to re-watching a football game. When there were no injuries, the recount was easy and fun. Tearing apart vampires with your teeth is fun, but when they messed up… it is hard to relive it.

Sam spoke first; his pack was first on the scene.

"Colin and Brady were patrolling in separate areas when Colin encountered a vampire. A howl was let out to alert us at Bella's house.

"Brady went to help him but spotted a second vampire. He howled as well. By the time we phased in, they were both defending themselves, then two more leeches appeared.

"I told the boys to run towards us; they needed back up and should be faster than a vampire at a dead sprint.

"However, one of them managed to grab Colin's leg when we were about halfway to them. Brady turned to help him. By the time we arrived, they were both fighting hard, despite multiple broken bones.

"We noticed that the vampires were very careful to stay together on one side of the fight. Brady and Colin were also fighting in a stranger manner."

"What do you mean?" Billy asked.

Sam frowned, "it was like they couldn't get a grip on the vampires. They would close their mouths around an arm or leg but couldn't bite down. When we entered the fight, we found we could not attack them from behind. There was an invisible shield that repelled us.

"We then noticed a vampire in the trees above our heads. In the chaos of the fight, nobody had seen him yet. We had a split second where we worked out that he must have had some kind of gift before Jacob's pack entered the fight."

Sam looked to Jacob to continue the story. "I headed straight for the vampire in the tree. Quil knocked the tree down, and I caught the vampire on his way to the ground, taking his head off. He had a brief shocked look on his face before he was no longer.

"Fortunately, it wasn't until after he was taken down that we started to feel the panic and fear from our imprints. I was the only one in my pack that was impacted, but Sam had Jared and Paul. All three started freaking out, which added stress to the whole pack."

Jacob turned to look at Leah and sighed. "Leah took charge of my pack because I was struggling to focus. Unfortunately, I had also inadvertently shut down my link to Sam. As a result, we couldn't work as a coordinated unit, and we didn't fight very effectively.

"However, it seemed that once the tree vamp was gone, the rest of the leeches freaked out. We took them down, despite our chaotic, uncoordinated attack. It is a wonder we didn't suffer more injuries."

Sam took over, "as soon as the last leech was taken out, Paul raced back to the house. He was suffering the worse, and we now know why. He is usually our beat fighter, but he was in physical pain from his imprint bond.

"Once all the parts were collected, we set the fire and headed back ourselves. Quil stayed to make sure it all burned, while Leah and Embry helped the boys back to the clinic."

There was a moments silence while everyone processed the story before Billy spoke. "Thank you, Sam and Jacob. The two packs have been an interesting trial but not worth it on the battlefield. Hopefully, once the pack is back united as one, these coordination issues are resolved."

"I agree," Jacob spoke up. "One pack can move together like a single body with different limbs in perfect synchronization. Each with their own purpose, but all working in unison with a central coordinator. The two packs are like two people fighting side by side but with minimal communication.

"We also didn't do any training before this fight to work through those issues together. As a result, we were not very effective and nearly paid the price. Fortunately, we outnumbered them, and with pure force, not strategy, we were able to take them down."

"The elders can have a more private discussion with you and Sam after the meeting to discuss the handover," Billy suggested. Jacob and Sam looked at each other and nodded. Jake was nervous, but he knew it was his time to take over the whole pack.

"Now, we need to hear from the girls. Bella, are you up to talking today?" Billy asked kindly.

Jake squeezed her hand in support and looked down at his girl. She had not told him what happened yet, and he was nervous to hear just how close they had all come to losing their imprints. She looked up at him before taking a deep breath and retelling her story.

Her voice sounded distant as she spoke. It was like she was reading a news report, not recalling how she nearly lost her life. Jacob was so proud of her, as she managed to tell the whole story without crying.

Jake really wanted to pull her onto his lap and hold her close, but she was stepping up into her position in the tribe. One day she would be his wife, the wife of the Chief. That thought made him incredibly happy. So instead, he put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer to him. He kissed her on her temple. "I'm so proud of you," he whispered to her.

She smiled up at him with a weary smile. "Are you okay?" he asked quietly.

She nodded, "just feeling a little queasy; blood…" she shuddered.

"How did you know you could suck the venom out?" someone interrupted them. Bella had never met him personally; however, he was hovering over Colin's bed last night, so she assumed it was Kevin Littlesea.

Bella took another steadying breath and held her left wrist out to show her scar. Her mouth fell open in shock. Jacob was just as shocked. He reached out and stroked his thumb over the spot where the bite mark should have been.

"It's gone," Bella said in surprise.

"What's gone?" Billy asked.

"My scar… I was attacked by a vampire last year, and he bit me." There were a few gasps around the room from people who had obviously not heard the story before. "Edward sucked the venom out, but I had a scar on my wrist. It was cold to the touch."

"YOU WERE BITTEN BY A VAMPIRE?" Charlie screamed. Oops

Bella looked up into her father's frightened eyes. Maybe she should have given him a bit more information about her life before he attended this meeting.

"Yeah," she grimaced. "Phoenix."

"Falling downstairs… through a window, my ass! The blood loss… the broken leg…" Charlie looked like he had finally put it all together in his head. "I knew you were clumsy, but that was a bit much."

"Sorry, Dad. It's a long story. I'll tell you everything after the meeting. Most here have heard it all before."

Charlie glared at her and then Jacob.

"So," Billy interrupted. "Sybil, do you think the new covenant is responsible for healing this old scar?"

Sybil thought silently before nodding. "It was a supernatural creature that made the injury, so it makes sense. Eva was under a supernatural curse that now appears to be lifting."

Jacob had a thought and looked at Emily and then Sam. He appeared to be holding his breath. Then, he glanced at Jacob as if they had had the same thought.

"Do you think..." Sam asked hopefully.

"Would this work on scars caused by us?" Jacob asked Sybil.

"I believe it should do."

Everyone was watching Sam and Emily as the realization hit them both. Sam was staring out the window, blinking rapidly, trying to keep his emotions inside. Emily tugged on his arm. "Hey," she said quietly through her own tears. "It's okay, I don't care. You know I don't."

Sam seemed to snap out of his trance and looked at Emily. The guilt and heartbreak were so evident in his eyes. He had never forgiven himself for what he had done to Emily, even if she had. He pulled her face gently towards his and kissed the scars on her cheek before kissing her lips. Every time he looked at the girl he loved more than life itself, he was reminded of the most horrible day of his life. He pulled her head into his shoulder as she cried softly.

Sue got up from her chair and gave a small packet of tissues to Sam. Her movement seemed to break everyone's attention away from the touching scene between Emily and Sam.

"There is one more thing," Kim said quietly, half-hidden behind Jared's shoulder. She was usually reticent around the pack and would never have normally said anything. Still, she wanted to help give them a bit more privacy. "The vampire said something that Bella hasn't mentioned yet."

Bella sat up a bit straighter as she remembered. "Oh yeah… ah…I was trying to gain some time, hoping the guys were on their way back to help us, so I asked him why he was here. He said that there is a bounty out on our wolves."

"What?" Jacob and a few others said.

"He said that your wolves have become very famous in the vampire world. Vampires are the top of the food chain and don't take lightly to threats."

There was silence around the room.

"How did they find out about us?" Billy asked.

"It isn't like we leave survivors," Jacob said.

"Only the Cullens," Old Quil suggested.

"They would never betray you like this," Bella said quickly, or me; she thought; she hoped.

"Even a pissed-off, uptight vampire who has been stood up at his own wedding?" Old Quil continued.

Bella grimaced but shook her head. "He would never do that."

"I agree with Bella. It is unlikely to be the Cullens," Billy said diplomatically.

"I could call Carlisle?" Bella asked. There was also the Denali clan that knew about the wolves, thanks to Laurent and Irene. However, Bella was reluctant to tell them all that until she had more information. "He has plenty of contacts and could possibly find out what is going on."

Jacob was a bit nervous about bringing the Cullens back into the picture, but they didn't have many other options at this stage.

"I'll do it, Bella," Billy said. "It is my job. I will find out what is going on."

"Thanks, Billy," Bella said with a smile.

A/N Two packs was a bad decision by SM. The whole idea of the pack mind was to help them fight better, then she split them up for the big battle at the end of BD. I never got that.

Who do you think has put the bounty out on the wolves?