Chapter 10: A New Pack

She wasn't sure what to make of this wolf pack. They were so different from her pack, yet somethings were familiar too. They were shifters, so they were warmer like her and stronger than normal humans, that explained why Paul was so warm. They were young, all of them, Sam included. Which was strange to her, her pack had shifter that were at least 60 years old if not older.

They were playful, like the younger shifters of her pack, but there was no older shifter to rain them in. Well Sam acted like an elder, she should say Alpha, but he was so young at 27. She didn't think he took on the role willingly, though. She had a feeling that he was thrust into the position. But he wasn't a bad Alpha from what she could see; a bit inexperienced but not bad. He acted like the pack's father or maybe more like a big brother. Yeah, older brother, that's what he acted like. The authority but still playful and friendly to the other shifters in the pack.

She watched them a lot in the last week, since being allowed to stay here. They were a strong pack, a little on the small side but still strong. She came from a pack of over 30 shifters and who knows how many humans, they protected and treated as their responsibility. Hers wasn't the largest pack in South America but her grandmother liked it that way. Well, that was before Triago came, after he came her pack was split in half, between those who followed Triago and those who didn't. This wolf pack wasn't big enough to have that problem, of being split, with only 7 shifters in it.

And this pack mind made no sense to her but at the same time she was a little jealous of it. She had seen the wolves outside one night. She used her jaguar's eyes to see them better in the deep shadows of the woods behind the Swan house, bring her animal forward as she stared out the window. She recognized Paul's wolf from the other night, there were two other wolves with him at the time. But she could tell from the way they moved and looked at each other that they were communicating in some way. She was jealous of how quickly they could communicate something to the others in the pack without making a noise, it was a useful skill. She thought that they saw it as a nuisance but they didn't know how lucky they were to have that trait.

She wondered about the structure of the wolf pack and were Paul fell into the pack hierarchy, he wouldn't tell her. Her grandmother was the Alpha of her pack, she was the top Jaguar and everyone came to her with their problems. But she also had lieutenants, that we called them anyways, they were basically her second-in-command when she couldn't be there or if she was unavailable. They had 3 of them, Maria, Riley and Rodrigo. She was very close to all of them, being the granddaughter of the alpha, they were over at her house almost every day. Rodrigo was her favorite, he was like an uncle to her and would always tell her things that her aunt and grandmother would never approve of, but they were always funny. Rodrigo was now Triago's second, that upset her still that someone so close to her was now so close to the man who hurt her. Everyone else in the pack had varies jobs and responsibilities.

She thought about asking the pack today, this was one of many days she would be spending at the reservation with the wolf pack. Bella was driving them to a park near it now, she didn't see any reason to stay away now that they knew what she was. Bella's constants insistence that she come with her to the reservation now making since, she thought she needed to protect her from Victoria, the vampire after Bella. She could handle one little vampire, if she came calling, but what she didn't know yet was why this vampire wanted Bella so bad. Bella was a little tight lipped about why.

They pull up to a picnic area, a large grassy clearing surrounded by the woods. Bella parks in a paved parking lot about 20 yards from a group of picnic tables shaded by two large oak trees. Daiane get out of the car to howls of greeting from the small group by two of the tables, Kim and Emily wave as the boys, Jared and Quil, continue eating at the table. They look up with mouths full of food and do a little wave with their hardly used forks, they seem too busy with shoveling the food into their mouths to do more.

"Hey, that's rude," she yells at them from the car. "You better have saved some for me." Bella gets out and waves with a shy smile, she was just too timid to be around shifter. She learned from her brother that she had to fight for what she wanted and that included food. But Bella did remind her of her sister that way, Bella may not be as smart as her sister but they were both very timid at times. "What are you a pack of wild dogs?" she jokes walking up to them and looking at the food they hadn't gotten to yet.

"Hey," Quil says, taking false offences.

"What it's true," Emily says, laughing.

She takes a plate and sits with the other two shifters and starts eating, but with more manners than they were showing. "I would have thought that you at least would be on your best behavior," she tells Jared.

He looks at her confused and asks, "Why?"

She looks at him with her brows raised like he should already know why but says, "Your calling is here."

"What," he says looking even more confused.

"Ok, I must have misread the two of you," she says looking away and going back to her food.

"What does that mean," Jared says taking offence.

"I just thought from the way you two act… that you and Kim were … well like Emily and Sam," She explains as best she can, hopefully not upsetting anyone.

"Oh, you mean Imprinted," Quil says.

"No, I mean the Calling," she says, not really liking the word they used.

"No, Imprinting," Quil says again.

"No, Calling," she says back. "When a shifters heart calls to another, and they know they are the one. Their calling for being here. Their reason for living. Your Munayniy."

"Oooo, I like that word," Kim says leaning over Jared and smiling. "You think you can call me that sometime?"

"Everything you want," Jared says, a love-sick look in his eyes. Yeah, she was right, they were munayniykuna, Kim was his calling.

While Jared quickly pulled Kim into his lap and started whispering in her ear sweet nothings and kissing her as Quil says, "We call it imprinting."

Bella looks a little unease by the two lovebird's show of affection so Daiane asks, "Are you ok Bella?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Bella says, looking away and focusing on her food.

"My people call it the calling or munayniykuna, if you are talking about both and munayniy if it is only one of the two," she explains.

"This is very interesting," Emily says taking a seat after getting more hamburgers off the build in grill. "Please keep going."

"Well, I'm not sure what to tell you," she says honestly.

"Anything," Emily says, with a smile. She had a curious personality. "And everything."

"Can I ask you some questions," she says, but after a moment the only question she wants to asks is. "Where is Paul?"

A Cheshire cat grin grows on Emily's scared face, "Has someone catch your eyes?"

"What I want to know is how you healed that Mountain Lion," Quil asks, ignoring both of their questions.

She stares at them, wide eyed and a little confused. How did they know about that; where they watching her? The only word she manages is "What?"

"Oh yeah we've all been wondering that," Jared says, putting Kim down next to him.

"I'm a healer," she says, nonchalantly.

"A healer," Quil asks, in astonishment.

Bella looks over at her too, questions in her eyes. She looks over at Bella and then to the others. "Yeah, I'm a healer. That why you felt better after I came into your house Bella. Shifter healers can send out scents that makes humans feel better, like an antidepressant or aromatherapy even."

"Really," Quil says. He looks like he doesn't believe her but she thinks he was just having a hard time wrapping his head around it.

"Yup," she says.

"So, you're like Jasper," Bella says.

"Who's Jasper," she asks.

"A Cullen vamp," Jared answers with a hint of hatred.

"Vamp as in vampire," she asks sarcastically.

"Yeah, our mortal enemies," Quil says.

"Aaa… Yeah, I know," she says, sarcasm and hatred in her tone. "Ours too."

"Oh, you can't touch the Cullens," Jared says, matter-of-fact.

"Says who?"

"They're too strong and fast," Bella says, there's was whiny echo in her voice.

"Mmmm… No, they're not," she snorts, "Not stronger or faster than a well-trained shifter."

Jared and Quil smile at her for that, but Jared still says, "The Cullens have a treaty with our pack."

She can't help but stare dumbfound at the two shifters across from her for a good minute, trying to process what they just said. Finally, she says "What?... I'm sorry. English is not my first language. And I think I'm misunderstanding this word 'Treaty'?"

"It was a 100 years ago that our pack made the truce with the Cullens," Jared explains. "The Cullen's can't be touch as long as they stay off our land and don't kill humans."

"They're vampires," she says still dumbfounded. "They're… going … to … kill humans."

"They're not like that. They're vegetarians," Bella says defensively.

"Have you ever seen a vegetarian lion? If you have, you know that this doesn't make any sense," she says looking at all of them like they all grow a second head.

"They only drink the blood of animals," Bella continues.

"Whose side are you on?" she smears.

"No one's, but the Cullens haven't done anything wrong," Bella yells at her.

She stares at Bella, trying to process a human who would defend a blood thirsty killer. She thinks hard then sniffs the air, scenting Bella, examining her scent thoroughly. And it hits her hard as she says, "The smell … in your room." She jerks back, upset, "What the hell where you doing getting involved with a vampire?"

"We asked the same question," Quil whispers, his eyes darting in the other direction.

Bella looks ready to cry or scream, she looked ready to break at any moment. Like one more word would shatter her into a thousand pieces. Daiane wasn't a cruel person and so she says, as calmly as possible, "Bella, I can see that this is upsetting you. And while I disagree strongly with you on this subject, I will stop talking about this and not bring it up again. Back to what we were talking about before," she continues, looking at Quil then looks to Bella, she is near tears. She takes a deep breath and send out her healer scent to calm Bella. It helps as Bella visibly calms down and the tears stop but then Bella's head whips in her direction, accusation in her eyes. She holds up her hands and says, "Call it an apology." Bella turns away, reluctantly taking the comfort her scent gives her.

"Yes healers," Emily says, uncertainty lacing her tone.

"Yes, I'm a shifter healer. It's a special ability some of us have," she explains. "My grandmother always hoped that I would be an Alpha but it became clear that I was more inclined to being a healer then an Alpha. She was a little disappointment but what can you do? Some are born to be healers and others alphas."

"So how did you do it," Quil asks.

"Ummm, it's kind of like pushing my nature healing ability onto another," she says trying to explain, but it was always hard to explain, it was easier to show. "Ummm, Emily I don't want to upset you too. But can I ask," she continues, pointing to her face where Emily's scars are on her face.

She looks away, sad and a bit embarrassed. Daiane stands and moves over to Emily and asks, "May I?" Emily looks up at her, hope and hesitation in her eyes. She decides to take that as a yes, or close to it. Daiane touches Emily's scared face and pushes her healing into her. Emily's scar starts to lighten before their eyes, turning from angry deep red lines into faint white lines, the droop over her right eyes disappears. Her skin plums back up from the scared indentations. She can feel some underlining wounds, veins that didn't come back together correctly and uses her power to bring them back together.

She moves back and lets Emily and the other look at her work. "Wow, Emily," Jared says, "You're so beautiful." Emily starts crying and touches and face with both her hand, sobbing thank you.

"HEY," a deep voice yell. They all jump, except Emily who still cries, looking over at the tree line, Sam, Jacob and Paul emerge from the woods. Sam looks pissed as he starts running. Paul and Jacob right behind him. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?"

Paul looks ready to fight as he tied to outpace Sam, but Sam was Alpha and was stronger than the rest. Of shit, she was going to be attacked for healing him Calling. Daiane backs up afraid, this was not good, this could only end badly in her mind.

"Sam, stop," Emily orders, she looks up tears still running down her face as she turns to him with a watery smile. She was an extremely beautiful young woman, with exotic good looks, glossy black hair and satiny copper skin as she turns to Sam. Sam stops short when he sees her, unscared face. He walks straight up to Emily and takes her face into both of his hands and whispers, "How?" But it's not a question he really wants answered as he stares at her in wonder.

Daiane backs up but stays on high alert, as her watches Sam wearily. Her back hit something hard and she turns quickly to find Paul there. He puts his hand on her upper arms holding her there, his eyes never leaving her. Was he capturing her for his Alpha?

She looks back at Sam and Emily, Emily still sitting on the bench looking up at Sam with tears in her eyes, smiling up at him. Sam just continues to look at her face in astonishment, like he has never seen anything or anyone more beautiful. She felt like an interloper watching them as Sam kisses her and then her whole face.

She turns away, turning partially into Paul's chest, he made her feel a little safer even as he holds her for judgment. Maybe Sam wasn't going to hurt her but after everything that happened with Triago she didn't fully trust alphas anymore, she felt like they could change at any second. Paul's warm hands and body engulf her, she put her hand on his abdomen, silently asking him for help. But could he help her? He had to do what Sam said, if he ordered her death, she hoped Paul wouldn't have to be the one to do it. For some reason that thought brought tears to her eyes and pain to her heart.

"How?"

"I'm a healer. It's just what I do," she answers, still not looking at the others. She stares at Paul's arm; she eyes gazing at every freckle and vein in his forearm.

"Thank you," she hears Sam say. She whips her eyes to him, Sam stands tall, all the power and authority of an alpha in his posture. He bows his head slightly in her direction. He wasn't going to punish her?

"You're welcome," she says back.

After that the group dissipates as Sam and Emily leave to go home, Sam never taking his eyes off his Calling/Imprint. Bella says she wants to go home, Jacob volunteers to take her home. Quil leaves with Jared and Kim, saying Claire was going to get out of daycare soon and he wanted to surprise her.

She stays close to Paul as he holds her, she doesn't what to move from this place. His strong arms surrounding her with gentle warmth. She still stares at his forearm, tracing the veins with her finger. She wasn't normally this timid, but Alphas scare her now, and as much as she tried to tell herself that Sam was different, she couldn't shake this feeling that he would hurt her.

Paul gently brings his nose to the top of her head to smell her hair. His actions sending shivers down her spine. He doesn't demand anything from her, he just lets her stay in his arms as long as she needs too and scents her. Some guys would try to turn this into something more, something more sexual and start rubbing her seductively but Paul just holds her upper arms and rubs his face gently in her hair. She was grateful that he didn't try to hold her more securely, as it was, she could break free of him at any time, silently gave her freedom.

"Are you ok," Paul asks after a few minutes.

"Angry Alphas scare me," she whispers. His body tenses around her, she tenses too and says, "Triago hurt me, in a way only an alpha can."

She remembers the pain in her shifter soul being torn apart in her chest. Shifters were hard wired to follow an alpha, there were those who truly didn't need a pack but she wasn't one of them until Triago's torture. She never gave him permission to bind her to his pack, he probably would have succeeded if she had. She used to be a kind and gentle healer to her people, always there to help whenever needed, she was a good fighter too but she had the heart of a healer.

She remembers him tearing at her clothes as he held her down by her neck, stopping her shift. She was no stranger to nudity as a shifter, but this was different. He ripped her shirt from her body as he demands that she form a mating bond with him. She felt the need to obey the alpha but at the same time her animal fought back against it, mating could never be forced; it was something that could only be freely given. The two forces battling inside her nearly ripping her in two. She had lashed out at him, slapping him in the face and giving her time to escape before he could do more. She had felt the break with her pack after that, and of course Triago's kill order was given after that incident.

Paul's hold on her tightened and her could feel him shaking uncontrollable. She didn't like doing it but she brings her hand to his neck and gentle touches his neck with her fingers. His shaking slow and then stops, he said that he had trouble controlling his shift so she was only trying to help him a little not hurt him. She sends out her healer's scent as well to calm him down like she did with Bella.

"How did you do that?" he asks.

"I'm a healer, it's just what I do," she says in explanation again and smiles up at him. She knew a lot of secrets about shifters and methods of healer. He looks down at her in amazement. She pulls out of his arms and lets her hand drop from his neck. "I think I should be getting back. If Jacob leaves Bella at home alone, I should be there just in case Victoria comes around."

There were no cars in the parking lot, Bella and Jacob took the truck she came here in and the two other group took Quil's and Emily's cars. But that was no big deal as they walk over to the woods. Paul walks behind a tree, giving both of them privacy as they remove their clothes for their shift. A large wolf walks out for behind the tree and up to a Jaguar, chocolate brown eyes of the wolf meeting emerald green of a Jaguar's.

He was a gorgeous wolf, silverly gray fur mixing with a woodland brown over his head and back, he was more gray then brown. But compared to her singular-colored fur, she always envied the other Jaguars who had the beautiful patterns and rosettes of spots, with base colors ranging from tan to orange. Compared to them she was just black; she wasn't sure if anyone noticed her spots. She was the only black jaguar she knew of, and it always set her apart from the others. But Paul's wolf was so beautifully colored with a coat color ranging from gray to brown with buffy facial markings. His fur looked soft and inviting, she couldn't help herself as she butted her head up to his neck and shoulder to feel his soft fur with her whiskers. He stood frozen under her touch, as if he was afraid one move would make her stop.

She moves away, and leaps into the woods in the direction of Forks, soon Paul is right by her side running next to her. She lets him take the lead in this run and follows him through the maze of trees. She darts to him right side and then his left playing a little game with him. The huge wolf stops and looks back it her, noticing what she is doing in his peripheral vision. She looks at him with false innocents as she stops with him, the jaguar tilts its head at him and meow softly, asking 'what?' If a jaguar could smile, she would be now at his annoyed wolf face.

He starts running again and she starts running as well, doing the same thing again. Switching back and forth as they run through the woods. He stops suddenly and jerks his head to her again, his eyes narrowed now. She sits on her hinds and tilt her head at him, all innocent again.

But he wasn't fooled this time and he leaps at her. She dodges and jumps out of his reach; they play this game of chase from a few minutes. She dodges him as he tries to get a hold on her, playfully. He does knock into her finally sending her to the ground. They wrestle on the forest floor a little before lying next to each other and snorting at other each. Blowing dirt at each other with the air they blow out of their nostrils, playfully annoying each other like two baby cubs, until they go at it again play wrestling again, playfully snarling and growling at each other. His playful barks are cute as she gentle bites at him, she chirps at him in return.

They play for a good while, psyching each other out when they look like they are done and ready to go. They casually make their way back to Forks. Paul stopping every now and then to sniff something that looked interested but when she would come over to investigate, it would be something that smell completely horrid like a skunk or he would nip at her ear and run off barking, like the wolf was laughing at her; 'made you look'. But she got back at him by biting his bushy tail.

She never had so much fun in her animal form, not since she left her pack. It felt like she had found a new pack, a pack of wolves that she couldn't communication with but they were fun, especially Paul. Too soon they reach the Swan house, and they both phase back and get dressed.

Paul walks up to her after with a big smile on his face as he says, "We should do that again sometime."

"Sure, that was fun," she answers, "I haven't done that in a while." She hugs him and kisses his cheek, stepping back she runs over to the house and waves goodbye at the door. Paul looks at her with a silly smile on his handsome face.