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 III – The Challenger

William Black

32. Vigilant

I was finding it quite hard to focus on what Rosalie was telling me through the phone. Just a few hours ago I had learned that I had claimed Rhea that night at the First Beach, eight years ago. I should've known that our actions that night would have consequences.

I honestly thought it was a dream, or some product of my imagination. I was drunk after all.

To be completely honest with myself, I wasn't drunk enough to not know what I was doing but things got a little fuzzy right after I kissed her. I remember I was the one who took the initiative. I was the one who pushed her to the sand and started to take her clothes off. She didn't stop me though. I never got to ask her why she didn't stop me that night. Was she drunk too? Or was she really in love with me?

I had wanted to know her true feelings a few hours ago too but all I got was a damn door in my face. I should've known Harry wouldn't help me because I've always knew he didn't approve my conduct with Rhea in the past and he had even advised me to stay away from her.

There was a detail that I had been trying to ignore ever since I had seen Rhea during Old Quil's funeral. She was wearing another man's ring in her finger. An engagement ring.

The wolf inside of me stirred, angry to know that my mate was engaged to another person. In the past eight years I was able to cope with the distance because I had been busy car racing and partying and dating other girls, but now my wolf was on edge and I had finally realized I had feelings for Rhea, feelings that I had supressed for too long.

I wanted to put things right but I guess things were just getting worse.

"Will? Are you asleep?" Rosalie's voice brought me back to reality. "WILL!"

"What?" I asked harshly, picking up my cell phone from the dashboard.

"I was saying this guy is a pig."

Rosalie knew I was in a bad mood and ignored my little outburst.

"Aren't we all?" I joked.

"Well, Emmett isn't, so there's still hope for humanity."

You're not humans. I wanted to tell her, but I managed to keep my mouth shut because Rose had one of those tempers and she could take my words offensively.

"What makes you say that?" I asked because I knew she wanted me to ask.

"His office's walls are covered with posters of naked women and he even has some pictures of girls in his desk."

"He's a forty-something guy with too much time in his hands. He runs a junkyard and bribes people, what were you expecting? Pictures of saints?"

"Some decency…" She muttered. "Are you still watching him?"

"Sort of…"

"What do you mean? Either you are or you're not."

"He's in a house."

"His house?"

I doubted. For one the house I was currently watching from my car was painted in pink. Besides when he parked the car outside, two half-naked young girls came to greet him and took him inside between jiggles and laughs. It was quite obvious to me that this house was a place where women received clients and gave them whatever they paid for.

And judging by the sounds they were making inside, I would say that Tom Harding was getting more than a lap dance from those girls.

"Did you find something useful or not?" I asked Rosalie. My frustration was again perceptible.

Since I didn't want to go back to La Push for the night and I needed a distraction from my problems I had decided to tag along with Rosalie when she decided to search for evidence against Tom to make sure that Harry would not spend another day in prison. So she had gone to Tom's junkyard, while I was supposed to keep an eye on him.

I was not doing that for my brother though. Or at least I didn't want to do it for him. At the moment to say that I was pissed at Harry was a euphemism. So right now I didn't mind he was staying the night at the local police station.

Ever since we were kids, we had a deal: never sell out one another. It was a pact and he had broken his promise today when he told our mother that I had slept with Rhea eight years ago.

That was another reason why I didn't want to be in home right now. By now I was certain that dad already knew about my past with Rhea as well as the entire pack if not the entire population of La Push.

A massive lecture was waiting for me when I went home, that was for sure. And all thanks to my idiot brother who had decided to rat me out in front of mum and the Cullens.

When did my life turned so damn complicated? I thought bitterly.

"There's nothing here except for a small calibre gun inside a closet. And it looks like it hasn't been used in a long time."

"What about papers? Alice said he's been smuggling illegal stuff ever since he was a teenager. He must have some sort of records about payments and lists of buyers…"

"His desk is clean, all of the closets are too… He's too smart to keep those records here. Maybe he keeps them in his house." She suggested. "I'll meet you in ten minutes and we can go search his house together as soon as he's asleep."

"I'm not at his house."

"But you said…"

"He's at a house… but it's not his house." I explained. Rosalie understood immediately what I meant.

"What a pig!" She exclaimed. "God, I wish we could just…"

"Kill him?" I suggested. At that point I really wanted to hurt someone, badly.

"Teach him a lesson." Rosalie said but I knew she was having the same urge as me. Not that she would actually kill anyone, because that would mean even more trouble for Harry but we could both have a really nice and private talk with Tom's associates. "I can't believe someone as atrocious as Tom Harding is actually smart enough to hide his tracks."

"I guess that's why he's not in jail."

"You're probably right."

"Should we visit his crime partners?"

I was thinking about paying them a visit on my own anyways. I needed to burn some steam.

"I don't think that's a good idea." Rosalie said coming inside the car on the passenger seat. "Not that I wouldn't appreciate scaring the hell out of them, but we can get Harry in more trouble if we do that and I want to have him out of that police station early in the morning. Let's not waste Edward's work, okay?"

Edward was building up Harry's defence statement in case the police Captain didn't accept letting him go. If that was the case, Harry would be called before a prosecutor and an investigation would take place.

"Fine… So what now?" I asked.

"We go home." Rosalie said. "I want to work on the case with Edward."

I snorted. I should've known she would say that. Harry's well-being was Rosalie's only concern right now.

"I bet that if I was the one arrested no one would give a damn." I muttered starting the car in the exact moment Tom Harding was leaving the pink house, half-naked and zipping his pants.

A black-haired young girl ran after him to give Tom is red shirt and got smacked in the ass when she turned to go back to the house.

"Why would you think that?" Rosalie asked.

"Just… ignore what I said."

"Look, William, whatever you're thinking, it's not true. We care about you the same way we care about Harry. If you were arrested we'd be doing the same."

I had my doubts but decided not to say anything.

"Are you jealous of your brother?"

"No, Rose, I'm not jealous of Harrison. I'm just… mad at him." I settled for a nicer way to tell her that I really wanted to punch my brother in the face for breaking the promise he had made when we were kids.

"Because what he said earlier when Edward and I were hunting?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"I'm sure he never meant any harm."

That was precisely what was bothering me. Because deep inside, I had the feeling that Harry had ratted me out on purpose.

"I said it's fine."

"I think you and Harry need to have a talk. And I'm not talking about screaming at each other like you did today."

"That's the last thing I want to do now." I admitted. If we were face to face again, I was sure we would end up arguing again.

"Okay. In that case, let's go home."

It was time to leave Tom behind. Sooner or later he would have what he deserved because as soon as Harry was out of prison, the Cullens would make sure to find out evidence that he had lied and coerced a medical doctor to lie for him in order to frame my brother.

And once they were able to prove that Tom was a liar and had no credibility, they would make sure to convince the police that Tom was involved in Mallory Mitchell's accident and by then they would have gathered enough proof against him. No matter the crime he had committed, Tom was going to jail. It was just a matter of time.

After letting my mum know I wasn't going back home for the night, I accepted Esme and Bella's generous meal that consisted in a home-made pizza and since everyone was occupied I decided to go upstairs and make myself at home.

I sneaked into Emmett's private room that he had showed me earlier, where I knew he kept a large amount of booze and I helped myself. I did wonder why Emmett kept liquor when vampires couldn't consume human drinks or food. But who was I to complain, right?

The first bottle was empty in less than ten minutes because I soon realised that the more I drank, the less worried I felt.

So what if people knew I had slept with Rhea White? She was a girl and I was a guy. Why would a guy like me waste the perfect opportunity to have sex that night? I hadn't forced her and she definitely hadn't forced me. We were seventeen, we were drunk, we were at a party, she had challenged me and we had sex.

Plus she was really pretty under the moonlight. I had never seen a girl so pretty like Rhea was that night. My wolf was going nuts with her vanilla scent and I only did what I was supposed to do: I made her mine.

And it felt amazing. Not at first, of course. At first it was messy and confusing because none of us knew exactly what we were doing. With so many rumours running around about Rhea (not all of them made up by me), I thought that she already had some experience but she had none.

And neither did I up until that moment.

I tried to remember more details about that night but the only thing I could actually recall clearly in that moment was Rhea's scent and the distraught look on her face when she went to talk to me the next morning and I told her that our night together had meant nothing to me.

I was a pretty good liar when I was seventeen. Having my parents scrutinising my thoughts and memories almost every day, made me specialize in hiding secrets and lying convincingly enough to pass all of their examinations.

I liked Rhea then... and I liked her even now. I just didn't want my friends to make fun of me. If I wanted to keep my reputation, I couldn't be associated with Rhea. When I realized my mistake it was already too late and now she was engaged.

I emptied a second bottle of whiskey and by then I knew I wasn't going to be able to find my way back to the guest room in Alice's new mansion, so I picked a few more bottles of whiskey and sat down on the floor with my back against the wall.

It wasn't comfortable but at least the room had stopped spinning. I had vivid dreams with Rhea that night, probably after my fourth or fifth bottle. Then things turned quite darker. I dreamed about having a huge fight with Harry, and in the end I imagined myself in wolf form launching myself against a human guy I had never met before. I was about to rip his heart out of his chest when the darkness engulfed me.

xxxxxxxxxx

"What the hell!" I exclaimed when I woke up startled. It took me a while to realize I was soaked in cold water and almost buried in small ice cubes. Emmett was standing right above me holding a huge bucket and grinning. He bent down to pick up something I didn't realize I was holding. "If you wanted to wake me up, you could just call me." I groaned.

"Who said I wanted to wake you up? This was your punishment for ruining my precious whiskey collection."

"Oh… so that's why you have all of these bottles here."

Emmett rolled his eyes.

"Do you know how much this bottle cost me?"

I shrugged. Of course I didn't know, nor did I care.

"I paid six hundred dollars to the man who bought this in an auction three years ago in Spain. I had to offer him twice the price he paid for it. This was one of the last three bottles of Macallan Scotch Whiskey from 1862 and now… it's gone."

"It was a good investment Emmett. Out of the ones I've drunk, I think that was my favourite." I joked.

Emmett glared at me. It was one of those glares that make the hair on the back of your neck stand up. I guess he really loved his liquor's collection a little bit too much. Just like Alice and all of her clothes collections.

"That one cost me two hundred dollars…" He said miserably pointing to the bottle on the corner of the room.

"You should collect stamps or coins like normal people."

"You better shut up Will, because right now I'm really close to kicking your ass."

"Come on, Em, I was thirsty." I said finally getting up. A closer look made me realize I had emptied five bottles of Emmett's precious collection of whiskies. No wonder I had no recollection of falling asleep. I probably just passed out.

"You were thirsty!?" He raised his voice.

"I needed alcohol to distract myself." I corrected. "I'm sorry."

"Just go have a shower and have some breakfast." He ordered while picking up the rest of the bottles from the floor. He looked truly miserable watching the empty whiskey bottles and a wave of regret hit me. I shouldn't have done that but it never crossed my mind that Emmett was collecting whiskey bottles. Most people collect smaller things: stamps, postcards, license plates, coins, and mugs.

"I'm sorry." I repeated reaching the doorknob.

Emmett didn't reply, he just hugged all of bottles I had emptied and I swear I heard him mutter 'my precious' just like Gollum from Lord of the Rings. I closed the door behind me and went straight to the nearest bathroom.

When I finished my shower there was a set of new clothes for me consisting in sports pants and a black t-shirt. I kept my old tennis shoes though there was a new pair on the floor inside an orange box.

The alcohol effects on my system were fading away and I was feeling anxious by the minute. I was about to go downstairs when Edward left one of the bedrooms. He offered me a small smile knowing that I was feeling like shit not only because I had drunk five bottles of whiskey last night but also because I hadn't been able to fix my dilemmas.

"Do you want to talk?" He asked putting a cold hand on my shoulder. "Sometimes it helps."

"I'm not sure about that."

I had never been much of a talker. Usually I just bottled up everything inside.

"It helped Isaac for four years when he was in the University. He had a therapist to help him control the stress and anxiety."

"Isaac and I are different from each other."

Edward shrugged. "I'm just saying that it won't kill you if you let someone help you out."

I don't need help. I need to be left alone. I thought not caring that he could read my mind.

"What about some breakfast?" Edward asked changing the subject. He knew when a battle was lost.

"That sounds good." I conceded.

We walked in together in the spacious kitchen. That was probably the most useless house division for a vampire but curiously the Cullen family used to gather up more in the kitchen than in any other division of their houses.

"Well… feeding you, your family and your friends became one of our top priorities, remember?" Edward commented. I started laughing but my voice died as soon as Harry joined us. I had no idea he had been released already. "Rose and I went to pick him up an hour ago. He's been playing some basketball with Jasper since he arrived." Edward explained briefly.

We're going to have breakfast together. Great. I thought bitterly.

We sat down on opposite sides of the table and as far away from each other as we could. It wasn't easy to ignore my twin brother but I felt betrayed so I started eating in silence hoping the Cullens would not interfere.

Moments later, Esme left the kitchen to clean the bathroom I had used. Carlisle was in his office. Rosalie joined Emmett upstairs to comfort him on his loss whiskey precious bottles while Edward, Bella and Alice went to the living room to watch some TV with Jasper. Although they weren't present, I could feel they were all paying attention to what was about to unfold in the kitchen because my brother and I were finally alone.

We kept eating quietly for about five minutes but I could feel we were both reaching our limits. I didn't want to be the one to break the silence but patience was never one of my virtues.

"Why did you tell mum that I slept with Rhea?" I went straight to the point.

"Because what you did was too serious to keep it a secret." He said calmly putting his cup of coffee down on the table. "You claimed a human girl, Will. Just like dad claimed mum… only they are both wolves and they don't have to hide things from each other. But Rhea? Can you imagine what she went through afterwards?"

I clenched my fists tightly not knowing what to say. I hadn't thought much about how a human girl would feel after being claimed by a wolf. Actually I didn't even ask myself if that action would have consequences for her.

But now that Harry had mention it, I guess he was right. Although it was a bit disgusting to think about our parents mating, it was normal for an alpha male to claim the alpha female. However I had never heard of a wolf claiming a human before. I guess that the imprinted wolves didn't need to claim their female companions, but no non-imprinted wolf had ever claimed a girlfriend or wife either.

So why did I do it? Why did my wolf allow me to do it? My mate should be a wolf too and not a human girl.

"You didn't know, did you?" Harry asked, his voice was low and almost apologetic.

"I wasn't a hundred per cent sure." I admitted.

"When I saw the mark on her neck yesterday I thought you had been hiding this from me intentionally, but when I saw your face when I told mum… I understood you didn't."

I guess that was the closest thing to an apology I was going to get from Harry and I took it because deep inside I knew Harry didn't mean to hurt me, he was just standing up for Rhea and I couldn't blame him.

"You two should talk." He said suddenly.

"She doesn't want to talk to me."

"She told me she has dreams about you and a russet wolf." He referred. "She will talk to you. I'm positive. You just need to keep your cool."

"Do you actually think she'll listen to me?"

"That depends on what you have to tell her."

That was another problem. What would I tell a girl I had claimed and slept with eight years ago? What would I tell a girl that I had stepped on and humiliated when she had confessed her feelings to me?

That was one conversation that would not go well for me. It would go like this: "Hey Rhea, do you remember that night we slept together? In case you didn't notice I can morph into a hairy giant wolf and that night while we were having sex I claimed you, I made you my mate and now we're tied for life."

I could imagine the look on her face.

"What should I tell her?"

"The truth?" Harry suggested but not too convincingly.

"I'm not allowed to."

"I'm sure you'll think of something."

"I'm touched by your faith in me, Harry. Really." I said sarcastically while he shrugged. "Do you really think I should give it one last try? I mean a few hours ago you were advising me to leave Rhea alone."

"That was before I realized something."

"Realize what?"

Harry looked at me intently and then sighed. He smiled briefly until he finally spoke.

"Until I realized there's now a deep tie between you and Rhea. And it seems to be something even more powerful than imprinting." He explained. "Besides, I think she's in love with you."

"Really? Did she tell you that?"

"She didn't have to."

"I'm really sorry to break your adorable moment together boys but we need to go." Alice announced coming inside the kitchen.

"Go where?" Harry asked.

"Sergeant Anderson called. Mallory Mitchell is awake."

Thanks for the reviews: Guest(s), CentaurPrincess, brankel1, MelkiSihou, Island Mama, Weave the Magic, Kary G, almondbutter, rocklesson86, TheSlytherinQueenbee, nikkie owens, nene82743, Deadman'sGun, bonzgirl, Jazzmatazz30, sia-gomo01, FangsandDaggers, Sagal Farah, chemistrykim, Daughter of the earth, Gizmo60, Evangella Akriti.

I'd also like to thank all the followers of this story and all the readers who added it to their favourites list. Thank you.

A/Note 4: So… Do you know when you're trying to cope with the loss of someone you loved and the same happens again a month later? That was what happened to me. Less than a month after my aunt passed away, my uncle left us too… I'm back at square one and I've been struggling to update ever since. I'm doing the best I can.

Take care.

Karisan