Disclaimer: Twilight belongs to Stephenie Meyer not me.

Author/Note 1: This story is the sequel of Our Dawn 5. For the ones who don't know anything about Our Dawn Series, you can always read Our Dawn 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, and Our Dawn Series Specials but if you don't want to bother I have a resume on my profile page. As it would be expected this is a next generation story and as such, it's focused on Jake and Leah's children.

A/Note 2: A huge thank you for everyone who reviewed Our Dawn Series so far.

A/Note 3: I'm not a native English speaker so I'm sorry for my grammar and spelling. Thank you for reading.

Alpha

Book I – The Third

Harrison Black

17. Saving Season

Only someone like Alice would buy a house near an intersection of Grimes Creek and Sooes River. She told me she liked the intimacy of the place and the landscape. There was no doubt about the place being intimate though that was not the word I would use to describe it. Secluded was more like it. There was nothing but trees, bushes and a swamp around the huge house which made me believe she was joking when she said she liked the landscape. But then again… it was Alice.

Isolated from all kind of human contact, that was the perfect place for what Carlisle and Edward were doing in the moment.

"Admiring the landscape, are you?" Emmett put a hand on my shoulder as he approached me.

"Yeah… Only Alice would like a house with a view over a… swamp." I said and Emmett laughed.

"You have your mother's sarcasm but your father's boldness." He commented.

"Two compliments on the same night… I can hardly breathe." I joked.

"Are you okay kid?" The Cullens were the only ones I didn't get upset with when they called us 'kids' because compared to them we were young. "Harry? Are you alright?"

I shrugged. I couldn't tell exactly what I was feeling.

Helpless. It was the only word that came to my mind. I felt truly helpless.

"The girl will be alright. Carlisle and Edward know what they're doing."

"I don't doubt that but…"

"If she doesn't make it, we'll sort things out."

That was the problem. Sorting things out meant a death sentence to that girl. It meant that either she didn't make it or she would become a vampire herself. None of those options was particularly good.

"What was it like?" I heard myself asking.

"To become a vampire?"

I nodded. I knew the Cullens for years and I had never bothered to know what it was like to become a Cold One. Our legends depicted vampires as cold-blooded murders, creatures of evil who were incapable of having feelings, which did not represent the truth.

Just like everything else in the world, there were the dangerous and the cool vampires. The Cullens were pretty decent, just like the Denalis and Scarlett. Others were psychos like Aro, Jane and the rest of the Volturi.

But in all of these years I had never asked how it was like to become one. I knew the Cullens individual stories: Carlisle had a horrible experience in the 17th century England; Edward, Esme, Rosalie and Emmett had been turned due to compassion; Alice's turning was a last resort action of one of the few friends she had in a mental asylum so she could escape from a psycho vampire; Jasper was the product of three cunning female vampire-warriors; and Bella was turned out of love.

However I had learned this all through the pack mind link. Now it was my chance to know everything in first hand.

"In order to turn you need to actually die first and when you wake up again you realize that your body is functioning but except for your brain nothing else is working. While your body adjusts to that change, you feel excruciating pain for days… until it stops and you're not the same person anymore."

"So… that's how you felt?"

"Pretty much. I'm not going to lie to you… I wouldn't like to go through that ever again."

"And what happens when you wake up… after the pain is gone?"

"Everything and nothing." He said in a sad tone. "When you wake up you don't recognize yourself. Everything changed: your skin is ticker, your look paler, you can smell, hear and see things differently, you don't feel cold or hot, and the only thing you think about is to feed." Emmett paused his speech. "And then, years or decades later, when you're completely adapted to this life, you just realize that you're going to stay the same forever. Nothing is new to you anymore. Fashion, technology, politicians, laws… those things change over the years, but you don't. You remain frozen, you feel displaced, isolated… if it weren't for Rose, Carlisle and the others… I wouldn't be able to take it."

We were both in silence for a while. I had never heard Emmett express his point of view like this before.

"Well I have to admit that it's actually worse than what I was expecting." I confessed.

"Well most of us felt that way… My case was a little extreme but there are exceptions."

"Exceptions?"

"Bella didn't go through all of that. She was different. Her transformation took less time and it was somehow… easier."

"Why?" I was curious now.

"No one knows." Emmett shrugged. "All we know is that she didn't feel all the pain we did, and when she woke up she could control her blood thirst."

"She was lucky then."

"I guess." Emmett looked at me intently then. "What's eating you up kid?"

"I don't know."

"Harry… I know you since you were born. I can tell when you're not okay."

A lot of things were bothering me.

"Gustaf escaped." I began. "He deserves to pay for this!"

"He's gone. He's under Aro's protection now and we know better than to start a war with the Volturi."

"But he attacked an innocent girl. He left her to die… he left her to turn into a newborn. Because of him she will feel all of that pain you went through when you turned, and she'll be a bloodthirsty monster."

"Unless Carlisle saves her."

"What if he can't? What if I made the wrong decision?"

"To try and save someone's life is never wrong."

"Whatever falls upon her, it will be my fault."

It didn't matter if people thought otherwise. It was our fault for not paying attention. For letting Gustaf attack her in the first place. We had been careless.

"It's not your fault Harry. You couldn't predict this. Besides…"

"You'll sort things out if she doesn't make it. I know." I finished for him. "That's even worse Emmett."

"You don't want us to kill her if she turns?" He asked noticing my discomfort on the subject.

"I don't know what I want." I admitted. "I wanted her to have a choice. I wanted to have someone with me when I had to make that decision."

I hated the fact that William wasn't there. That was one more thing that was bothering me. He was supposed to be with me not with Rhea.

"No one deserves this fate. I sure didn't deserve to be attacked by that bear." Emmett said calmly. "But if you don't feel comfortable enough with us solving the problem like that, you can always talk to Carlisle… maybe he can adopt her into the family and teach her how to become a vegetarian."

Was that a better solution for this? Would I feel better if the Cullens adopted her and taught her how to be a good vampire?

No. That wouldn't solve anything. I concluded.

She would still be condemned to an immortal life, unable to see her family, to be with her friends, denied of the happiest moments of a human and normal life. Didn't that mean that she would be better off dead?

"You don't have to worry about that." Edward said from the balcony. Emmett and I turned around to see him. "Come inside. Carlisle wants to speak to you."

We hurried inside and we found Carlisle on the top of the stairs. He was buttoning a clean shirt that Esme had brought him.

"How is she?" I asked.

"She's stable now. She'll live."

"She won't turn?"

"No, but there might be some complications. We did have to take a lot of blood to make sure there was no trace of venom in her bloodstream, that's why she's having a transfusion right now, but the blood loss can cause damages in her vital organs, mainly her brain. We'll have to wait and see. I believe she'll wake up in six hours or so. Only then I can make a full report on her condition."

"In the meantime, there's something we need to discuss." Edward stepped in. "When she wakes up, we have make sure she doesn't recall being attacked by a vampire. We can't let her find out the truth about us. I suggest you tell her she had a car accident and if she remembers anything about Gustaf and the attack, you need to make her believe that she was dreaming."

"Why me? Isn't Carlisle the better person to speak to her? I mean… he's a doctor."

"And a vampire too. He can activate her memories of the attack."

"And how do I explain her presence here when she should be in the hospital?"

"Tell her that since she wasn't too hurt, you brought her to your house." Alice suggested.

"My house? She's not going to buy that. Come on Alice, look at me. Do I look like someone who can afford this mansion?"

"Some dead relative left it to you on his will…" Jasper made up. "Just use your imagination."

Great. Now I'm about to turn into a compulsive liar. I thought with irritation.

"There's one more thing…" Edward said before I could enter the room. "Alice was able to identify her thanks to the license plate of her car."

Alice and her spy-like abilities scared the hell out of me. It was like she could find out the most intrinsic secrets of everyone she knew in a blink of an eye.

"She's from the Makah Reservation." Alice announced. "Given her story I don't believe people will look for her but we have to be ready if someone does."

"No one will be able to get in contact with her until she wakes up and that can take a while so… if that happens we need a back-up plan." Edward clarified.

"Like what?" I asked.

"If her family or a friend goes to the police to report she's missing, we can't be involved."

"In last resort we can contact Caleb." Jasper suggested. "He'll deal with the authorities."

"Which means…" Carlisle eyed me.

"That I have to talk to my Dad soon." I finished for him. I was apprehensive about telling my father because even though Edward had confirmed that Alec and the others hadn't participated in that attack, Dad wasn't the most understanding and calm man on Earth. There was the chance that he would call the pack and try to catch up with the leeches to try and kill Gustaf.

And even though the leech deserved nothing more than a painful death, we couldn't risk going to war over this.

"I'll go to La Push with you, if you want to." Edward offered.

"It's fine. I'll deal with Dad on my own." I sighed and they all nodded. "I'll leave in a few minutes. I'm just going to check on her."

"Season." Alice said. "Her name is Season."

Weird name. I thought just before entering the room.

The girl lying down on the bed was probably one of the most exotic and beautiful girls I had ever seen. Now that she wasn't covered in blood and ripped off clothes, I could observe her flawless skin, silky hair and the most perfect and symmetric face ever.

Despite the paleness of her skin and the fact that she had a unit of blood hanging above her head, and a needle in her arm, her beauty was still evident.

I took in her features then. She was Alice's height and thin. Her skin was supposed to be golden like mine but right now she was almost as pale as a leech.

How much blood had Carlisle and Edward sucked out of her to make her look so pale? I wondered walking forward and touching her hand. She was cold.

Her shoulder-length hair was the color of honey. It was possible that one of her parents was not Native-American but I would have to check that with Alice. I didn't know her age but I'd say she was about twenty-two.

"I'm sorry this happened to you." I whispered.

There was nothing more I could do to help Season to get better, so I left the room in silence. There were things that needed my attention even though I didn't feel thrilled about it.

"You don't need to worry so much about Jacob's reaction." Edward told me as I joined them in the living room. Emmett was putting some wood in the fire. They didn't feel the cold but having a fireplace had a purpose and if Season woke up, she would probably wonder why the house was so cold.

"But you have to be careful about the words you use." Bella pointed out. "Make sure you don't use the word 'attack' too often."

"Tell him to call me if he needs details." Edward offered.

"Okay." I accepted. "What if she wakes up while I'm gone?"

"She won't." Carlisle assured. "Her recovery will take hours… but if she wakes up, we'll call you right away."

"Do you need a ride?" Rosalie asked me.

"No… I'll run as a wolf. It's faster." I walked to the front door but stopped before going out. "Maybe we should tell her the truth."

All of the Cullens looked at me as if I had grown two heads.

"We can't risk that." Carlisle shook his head negatively. "We don't know her and we don't know how she'll react to the truth. It's too much to take in."

"Isaac was okay with it."

My younger brother had discovered the truth on his own recently and he was adapting quite well.

"That's slightly different Harry." Edward said. "Isaac is a shapeshifter and he's extremely intelligent. He would never do anything like telling our secret to the authorities… this girl however…"

What Edward was saying made sense but I wasn't too comfortable about lying.

"Let's take baby steps. First she needs to wake up and then we'll decide what to do. Make sure you're here after lunch."

xxxxxxxxxx

I decided to go back to Billy's house because it was still too early to go home and talk to Dad. As I expected Will was still missing but right now I was too tired to think about him or Rhea. I fell on the bed and woke up a few hours later when the sun was rising.

I tried to memorize a speech to talk to Dad but when I got home all of the words I had been memorizing were gone. Since the front door wasn't locked, I let myself in and went straight to the kitchen following the scent of cooked bacon and toast.

Mum was on the stove and Dad was in his usual stop: behind her with his arms around her waist and his chin on her shoulder watching her cook. They had probably felt me as I entered the house, but they didn't bother to move.

There was a time when I didn't like watching my parents like that. It was embarrassing watching them being intimate with each other, but then I realized that the notion of 'intimacy' changes completely when you belong to a pack and I simply got used to it.

"Good morning." I greeted and sat down. "I hope there's enough bacon for me. I'm starving."

Dad turned around and his eyes lingered a few more seconds on the door.

"Where's Will?" He asked.

"Still asleep."

If I'm going to start lying, I guess it'll be okay to start now. I thought sadly.

"What's wrong? Is Granddad okay?" He inquired arching his eyebrows.

"He's fine. But his fridge is empty."

Dad grinned.

"You and your brother are old enough to settle down, you know? Your mother and I can't keep feeding you or we'll go bankrupt."

I knew he was joking.

"Mum doesn't have the heart to kick us out so don't get your hopes high."

Across from me, Dad sat down and we both waited for Mum to join us.

"Why does he have more bacon than me?" Dad asked when Mum was serving us. He looked quite resented.

"Because he needs an incentive to say what he came here to say." Mum stated smiling. She knew me too well. She knew my presence there wasn't a coincidence nor related to the fact that my Granddad's fridge was half-empty.

Time to spill the beans.

I took a deep breath before speaking.

"Mum, Dad…" Their eyes were immediately on me. "There's a girl… Well I left her with Carlisle but I guess you have to know what happened. That's actually why I'm here because I should be there with her and…"

"What the hell Harrison! I've told you so many times to use protection!" My Dad ranted. His outburst made me freeze.

"Calm down Jacob. We don't know the whole story. Maybe it's not Harry's fault." Mum defended me.

"That's not what her parents are going to say. Is she even from La Push?" Dad asked. "Just don't tell me she's the daughter of someone important… or underage…"

Now I wasn't just embarrassed I was completely mortified. They thought I had gotten a girl pregnant and they were about to give me one of those lectures you won't be able to forget for the rest of your life.

"I have no idea what made you think I got a girl pregnant so let me rephrase the whole story." I was finally able to talk again. "A girl was bitten by Gustaf when he was leaving the Makah Reservation. No one noticed the attack, not even Alec. Edward knows all of the details, so if you want to call him please do…"

"Wait a second." My mother requested. "Why weren't we alerted immediately?"

"The pack was coming home. Apparently no one was phased and I didn't have much time so when I found her on the road I called Carlisle and he managed to save her life." I explained succinctly.

Dad got up and began to pace. My mother looked at me intently.

"You were supposed to be resting with your brother at Billy's. What were you doing up?" She interrogated.

"I couldn't sleep so I thought about seeing if the pack had already caught the leech."

"They caught them alright. I saw it through the mind link." Dad informed.

"Well when I phased I couldn't hear anyone from the pack. I was afraid that things had gone wrong so I went back to the Makah Reservation and I ran into the Volturi. They were leaving and then Gustaf said he had left us a goodbye gift."

"Did they allow him to feed on a human knowing that our pact forbids it?" Dad raised his voice, clearly upset.

"No… When the Cullens met me, to help with the girl, Edward went to find them and learned that Gustaf had also deceived the Volturi so he could attack another person. He pretended he was going to feed on animal blood and attacked a human instead. When Alec found him it was too late so they decided just to leave because they thought the girl was dead."

"Where are they now?" Dad inquired and I moved in my seat nervously. I didn't want him to call the pack and send an expedition after the Volturi.

"They're probably in another state already… they can even be on board of a plane by now."

"You let them get away?"

"What did you want me to do? There were five of them. I was alone and there is a pact that stipulates we can't attack them."

"Unless provoked." Dad insisted. "They attacked an innocent girl! It's enough provocation to me."

"It was Gustaf who attacked her… plus he did it outside our lands." I opposed.

"Harry is right, Jacob. They didn't break the pact. Besides we can't afford a war." My mother said placing her hand on my father's arm so he would calm down. "What's her condition?"

"Stable. Carlisle and Edward removed all of the venom from her body."

"She's still human?" Dad asked surprised.

"Yes."

"Alright you two, finish your breakfast because we have things to do, places to be, decisions to make." Mum said. "And I also have a birthday cake to bake."

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