Disclaimer: 'Twilight' and its inclusive material (including its alternate universe, 'Life and Death') is copyright to Stephenie Meyer. No copyright infringement is intended. Title from 'Cosmic Love' by Florence + The Machine.

Warnings: Pre-emptively rated 'M'. There will be a fair amount of bad language, eventual slash, mature themes, angst, etc. You know, the usual. Enter at your own risk.

A/N(s): Below. Optional. (And it is as self-indulgent as ever.)

I heard your heart beating
(you were in the darkness too)

one: julie

Julie Black pins Samuel Uley within six moves.

She has her jaws clamped around his exposed throat before the pack's next breath — not tightly enough to snap his bones, but enough to draw blood and force the black wolf into submission. Enough to keep him in place as she waits for his body goes slack, for him to accept what will be from now on.

In the history of their tribe and their magic, there has never been a female spirit warrior before. There has never been a female Alpha.

It is with this thought that Sam resists for a few seconds, his protective instincts screaming at him, but then he relaxes . . . and it is done.

That easily.

Nobody watching dares to make a sound. And Sam — he just lies there, panting heavily in the dirt as he waits to be released.

The pack know that Sam would wait all night, if their Alpha wills it. They know that Julie could kill him, if she so wishes; they know that he will not make another move to defend himself. They know that her blood demands to end it. End him.

It wasn't much of a fight. It wasn't meant to be. A show of power to appease the beasts inside of them, that's all — because the blood of Ephraim Black was never meant to follow the blood of Levi Uley. But knowing that Sam has let her win sits uncomfortably; it makes Julie feel a fraud, not having earned it the right way, even if this was exactly what they were supposed to do. Who they are supposed to be, now.

(The right way would have been fighting until the death, but the Council's rule was that they both had to walk away alive, relatively unharmed, their new hierarchy intact.)

It is another half minute before Julie retracts her claws and steps off Sam, setting her shoulders straight and tilting her head high. She ignores the tufts of black fur in her mouth and the taste of blood on her tongue, and she looks at the pack in turn. Her pack.

Embry — her best friend in the whole world, the brother she never had, reunited at last. Jared. Paul. They all press their bellies to the earth, averting their gazes. Looking anywhere except into their Alpha's eyes.

Julie's head spins with new power.

Context: Although a mix of the two Twilight universes, Julie (Jacob's counterpart) is the only character who has been used from Life and Death. I love her. All other characters from Twilight remain: Leah, Sam (male), Bella and Edward (who, in this AU, never left her in New Moon), Billy, Embry, Quil, etc. Should be pretty easy to follow.

Update Schedule: There is none. Between Who You Are is the priority, but it's intense and sometimes I need to work on something else for a minute or two.

Belated Introductory A/N: This will be a series of interconnected AU one-shots of varying length beginning from this moment when Julie takes over as Alpha (because she deserved her own series, too, and I will never not be convinced that a female leading the pack would have turned out differently. Also because the idea of Leah motherfucking Clearwater being the love of her life fills me with uncontrollable joy). I know people don't really care for Meyer's cash cow (otherwise known as the genderswap), and I know what everyone really wants is an update for Between Who You Are, but I just need to get this out of my head and out of my draft folder. I need it gone. It's driving me insane to the point I was doing something semi-serious at work today and tripped over my own feet thinking about these characters. I may need professional help.

Optional Explanatory A/N: I've been writing AU scenes for Life & Death ever since I started The Garage and got a bit too-attached to Julie, kind of just putting her in different scenarios with Leland and the pack which I never planned on posting, wanting to keep my muse alive . . . and then hyacinthed woke up and chose chaos and left a review on my Julie/Leah one-shot that said, "Julie is a perfect companion, even if they didn't end up romantically involved as I'd hoped," and . . . ta-da, this fic was born. I don't pretend that I have any willpower when it comes to refusing Blackwater (whether that be Julie/Leland, Jacob/Leah, or anything in between), which is *exactly* the same situation why 'The Garage' exists. (Dymond, I'm still looking at you.)

hyacinthed, I'm not sure if this exactly what you had in your head. Or if you'll ever read it. But it exists because of you. Enjoy.