Back with another update! I hope you enjoy :)

Chapter Seventeen

Paul

After walking Anna home, I returned to the apartment I shared with Felicity feeling like I was walking on air. The night had gone so well. Anna and Felicity worked out their conflict, Anna opened up about her struggles, and we were all so happy as we played the game—even Anna. I lived to see that sweet little smile she probably didn't notice lingered on her lips. Her happiness filled me up, and my heart was practically a balloon.

Inside the apartment, however, Jacob's face was like sticking a pin in it.

"What?" I asked, pausing in the doorway.

"We have to go meet with the Cullens. Now."

Great.

Most of the pack gathered in the clearing, waiting for the vamps to show up and tell what was so urgent. Just the idea of something being important enough to call this meeting had most of us bristling. Even the few pack members who stayed on the reservation to run patrols were reflecting agitation.

They didn't indicate what it was about, Sam told the lot of us as he sat tall and proud at the front of our group, just that it was urgent.

Fat lot of good that does us, Quil grumbled from where he paced.

Just gotta be patient, Seth said from where he was running patrol. Maybe it was too important to tell without a proper meeting.

Quil's mind showed he was about to snap back, but Sam agreed before he could, I'm thinking you're right, Seth.

"He is right," the mind-reader said as he stopped on the other end of the clearing, the blondie, the war expert, and the little pixie with him.

The small one frowned in displeasure. "You couldn't have left at least one of you in human form so we could talk? This isn't ideal."

This is how we feel comfortable on such short notice, Sam said, no budge in his mind.

Blondie rolled her eyes once the message was relayed. "Leave them be, Alice. We don't have time for the bickering."

We perked up at that—why was there not time?

"My visions have been unclear," the pixie said with obvious discontent. "But Victoria is going to make a move—soon."

How soon? Sam demanded.

The vampire rubbed her temples as the mind-reader asked the question, albeit in a more diplomatic tone. "I don't know! She changes her mind every five minutes. But I think that means she's making a move sooner rather than later and she wants to confuse me. It's looking like we could have a fight on our hands as soon as this weekend."

The news dropped on the pack like a lead balloon. This weekend. So soon. But we knew this was coming. We'd been preparing.

We'll be ready, Sam was confident.

The scarred vampire nodded. "We will want to have a solid strategy in place. I think including the wolves should be a surprise. We could be the front line, and then you could sneak up on them once the battle has begun and they're not expecting it."

We can discuss, Sam said. I and a couple other members of the pack will meet with you in human form sometime in the next couple of days. For now I need to decide what distribution of the pack is best to keep our tribe and loved ones safe while most of us are away.

Most of the guys—and Leah—bristled at that.

We're not all going?

I can't stay behind!

Leave him back, he's a twerp anyway—

ENOUGH, Sam growled, causing everyone's minds to go silent. This is a conversation for later. To the Cullens, he said, I will be in contact to set up a strategy session soon. Anything else we need to cover now?

It was the mind-reader who said, "Actually…I was hoping we could discuss Bella."

What about Bella? Jacob snarled, already disliking where the conversation was going.

"My family and I have been trying to decide the best way to keep her safe. Just like you have people you want to protect in this, we do too," his tone indicated that we were supposed to sympathize here, but we were all waiting for him to get to the point. He sighed. "She's worried about the town of Forks, and her father in particular. We feel the best solution is in two parts—for Bella's father to not be in Forks on the day of the altercation and for Bella to be tucked away somewhere safe so Victoria cannot easily hunt her down while the rest of us are distracted."

My dad can take Charlie fishing, Jacob offered, but made no thought as to how to help Bella. Because I don't really care about that, he answered the observation going through most of our minds. She pulled Felicity off a fucking cliff. Am I the only one who remembers that?

No, I said firmly, recalling her freezing form after she'd come out of the water. The bone-deep worry I'd felt as I tried to help her get warm. That wasn't something I'd ever forget. But I didn't want to dig into all that with the rest of the pack in my head, so I tried to brush it off. It was a formative bonding experience for us.

"I know you have issues with Bella," the leech said diplomatically. "We were thinking of hiding her somewhere remote in the mountains. She could stay the night there—and maybe, if you're willing, one of you could hide our scent trail and stay up there with her as an extra safety measure. Because leaving her alone up there isn't a good idea either."

Even Sam couldn't keep his composure at that request as he snorted. You want us to spare one pack member to babysit your human?

"Not babysit," the bloodsucker argued. "Protect. Isn't that what you're supposed to do? Protect humans and kill vampires?"

Nice try, asshole, Leah said, but your little human has already hurt a member of our pack. Your whole family has. We have no loyalty to her anymore.

There was a moment of silence as we all shared our shock at Leah, of all people, sticking up for Felicity.

Sam, of course, shook it off the quickest, though, and said, We will have to come up with another solution. I won't have us wearing ourselves that thin by splitting up more than we already have to. We'll discuss what we're willing to do as a pack and let you know when we have our strategy session. Now, I think that's enough for tonight unless there's anything else important?

"I'd really feel better if—" the mind-reader started to say, but Blondie cut him off, "That's fine. Just remember that the timeline could change, so don't take too long figuring it out."

Sam dipped his head in acknowledgment before letting out a bark to let us know to head back to the reservation.

We were all gathered in Sam and Emily's kitchen not much later. Eli had joined us, and apparently at some point Jacob got a message to Felicity because she was also in a chair, with Jacob standing right behind her. At least I wasn't the only one with an absent imprint—Kim wasn't there.

"I want to talk to her separately, once we have plans made," Jared told me quietly when I asked. "She's so sweet. She'll go with whatever we plan out. And I don't want her to waste any extra time worrying."

I could definitely see that being the right plan of action for Kim. But was I doing the right thing by Anna? Would she have preferred to be here?

"Okay, quiet," Sam said, drawing the attention of everyone to him once we were all settled in. Emily paused in her flitting around the kitchen, getting everyone drinks or snacks to make them comfortable. "I know no one wants to hear this, but we cannot all go to face the newborn vamps. We need a few to at least stay here and protect the tribe, and maybe one to keep an eye on our Forks family."

Something shifted in my chest hearing Sam refer to Anna as part of our "Forks family." She'd have been so pleased to hear him refer to her as family. Well, she'd have brushed it off, but on the inside? She would have been so happy. Her eyes would shine the way they do whenever I get something right—like when I told her I'd never mock her, or when I said she was beautiful, or when I insisted that we were perfect. The words were always honest and felt so simple to me, though I could tell they meant everything to her.

Felicity raised her hand uncertainly. Sam turned kind eyes to her, inviting her to speak up. "I can't speak for any of the other stuff, but couldn't I just spend the day in La Push? Anna would probably be okay with spending the day here, too. So you're spread a little less thin?"

Sam nodded. "That would be ideal, yes."

"All of us girls could hole up here," Emily said with a small smile. "Try to keep our minds off of things together."

"I'll talk to Anna," I said before Felicity could offer. This would be better coming from me, and I wanted to keep an eye to how she dealt with everything as she got the news. Sure, Anna and Felicity had made up, but Felicity had very recently proven that she could get carried away with her words sometimes without paying close attention to how Anna was taking it. The last thing I wanted was Anna as upset as she was the other day again. Or worse—scared. "I'm sure she will be down for some imprint bonding time, though, so no worries."

Felicity agreed, "She really likes Emily."

Emily beamed. "She's sweet."

Sam's lips were turned up at the corners, but he redirected the conversation back to the point. "Good, so that's mostly sorted. Let us know how it goes with Anna, Paul." I nodded when he looked my way before continuing, "Obviously we're not giving up one person to watch Bella wherever they want to stow her away."

"What?" Emily asked incredulously, brow furrowed in confusion.

Quil snorted. "The mind-reader asked if one of us could babysit Swan somewhere up in the mountains so she's far away from the fight and not in Forks. Charlie's going to spend the day with Billy as a precaution, too."

"Why don't they just send Bella here?" Felicity asked, and we all turned to see she was sitting up extra straight, clearly tense, but was not joking. "What?" she said when we all continued to stare at her. "I don't like her at all, but I don't want her in danger either. You're right that whatever plan they seem to have is bad, but if we're all going to be here anyway, she should just join us. It cuts out any extras needed for babysitting duty."

Emily sighed. "She's not wrong. Bella can come here. It's the best way to keep the peace with the Cullens without sparing a person from the fight to help with whatever they cook up to keep her safe."

"Alright," Sam agreed, obviously swayed by Emily's support of the idea. "I'll bring that up at our strategy meeting. As for who to leave behind, I'm thinking two or three. Maybe two to run patrol around the perimeter, and a third to run a route through the reservation as an extra precaution."

Jared rubbed his chin. "That leaves six of us to help their fight. I don't love the Cullens outnumbering us out there."

"Collin and Brady have been looking close to shifting soon," Embry said.

Sam shook his head. "Even if they shift in time, they're going to be too new and unstable to be reliable."

"I don't know," Jacob said, "as long as they can maintain their wolf forms, they can run patrols."

"I don't like counting on that, though," Sam said. "That would mean them shifting in time and controlling themselves enough to help us in time. A fast turnaround."

Turning the situation over in my head, I entered the conversation. "Who were you thinking of leaving behind? Because if you left a senior member of the pack they could be a good guide to keep them on track. And if they catch a whiff of a leech, they'd definitely kick into gear."

Sam still appeared worried. "But would they be able to hold their own well enough in a fight? I agree that running the patrol routes could be doable, but defending the pack if there was an attack? That's trickier."

"Okay," Leah said, tone full of agitation, "but who are you thinking of leaving back? Let's start there."

Sam winced. "Seth and Kai…and maybe you, Leah."

She scoffed. "That's dumb. Seth yes, and Kai sure, but it should not be me staying here."

"She's right," I found myself agreeing, and it almost felt icky to have the words coming from my mouth. Leah was a bitch. But she was a fierce bitch. "She can more than hold her own in a fight. She'd be an asset."

Running his hand over his head, Sam said, "But Leah's—"

"Bullshit," she interrupted. "Whatever you're about to say is going to be bullshit. You want to leave me here because I'm a girl and you have some lingering responsibility to watch over me because of shit that's so far in the past it's barely relevant anymore. But you wouldn't be giving the pack a fair shake if you let that make the decision for you."

Sam's jaw hardened. "Maybe think about what your imprint would want."

Eli held his hands up. "Don't put this on me. I want what Leah wants. Obviously I want her safe, but if she says she can handle the fight—and her pack clearly agrees—I'm not going to hold her back."

"He has faith in my abilities, like any good partner or friend should," Leah said, voice challenging. "Interesting."

"Who should stay then?" Sam practically yelled, eyes burning. "Who?"

"Embry." Sam's head snapped in my direction. "He'd also be great at guiding Collin and Brady if they shift, so it's good to plan for him to be here. Leah…" I forced a cough, though I wanted to laugh at the idea of Leah being a calm helper to new wolves. "Leah wouldn't be the best to have here for them."

"That's actually a really good point," Jacob said.

Embry, ever the peacemaker, shrugged. "And I wouldn't mind. Whatever we need."

Jared laughed. "Looks like that problem's solved. And we can reevaluate if we want to leave both Seth and Kai if Collin or Brady shift in the meantime. But for now, I'd say this is the plan."

"Look at us," I said, stretching my legs out as I leaned back in my chair, "knocking shit out. Anything left?"

Sam released a long breath to gain his composure again before saying, "The strategy meeting with the scarred one. I want to bring Jared and Paul with me."

Jared and I exchanged a glance. "Not Jacob?" Jared asked carefully.

Sam looked at Jacob directly. "It's not that I doubt your capabilities or your devotion to the pack. I just don't think it's the best idea to have you coordinating closely with the vampires after what they did to your imprint. It can be hard to forgive and move on, and while I know you'd do your best, I feel the best collaboration with them will come from the three of us meeting with them."

Jacob's expression was rigid, but slowly he nodded. "Yeah. Okay. I get it."

"We need to get along with them," Sam added. "I don't want to force you to do that."

"I understand."

I was sure Jacob did understand—I just didn't think he liked it. But I kept my mouth shut about that and instead stood from my seat, "So that settles it. Let me know when that meeting is. I've got some kids to relieve from patrol duty."

Embry stood too, joining me as we both went to take over for Seth and Kai on the border.

"You really think this is all going to work?" Embry asked as we made our ways into the trees before shifting.

"Hell yeah," I said, with all the confidence I had. We'd be useless if we let doubts get to us now. "We were born for this."

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

Before I got the change to ask him what he meant with that I guess, a howl ripped through the air.

Wasting no more time, we quickly shed our clothes and shifted.

—like this? What is going on, man?

Dude, I don't know!

Well, guess we'd need to start that reevaluating sooner rather and later since Collin and Brady just shifted.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Please, please, please let me know what you think! And for the record, the next chapter is already written, so you can expect another update next week :)