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 to 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

49. Initiation Ritual

"I can't do it. I can't jump this high." Danny whined for the third time.

It was dark and there wasn't any moonlight tonight which made the abyss under our feet look even scarier.

"Yes, you can." I encouraged him.

He flinched as he looked down to the cold and angry water of the Pacific Ocean. Several meters down EJ was swimming towards the beach where Jay was waiting for him. They had both successfully completed the first stage of the initiation ritual I had planned for them.

"We're not even in your pack!" Danny argued. He was right but that wouldn't make me change my mind about this. They all had to jump and that was final.

"The thing is when Isaac and Jay phased for the first time they were a part of our pack. Things only changed when you and EJ phased because your wolves somehow decided they didn't want to be ordered around by dad and preferred to submit to Isaac thus making him your alpha." I explained. "So... dear cousin since your current alpha was a part of my pack until quite recently and since I get to choose his initiation ritual, I say all of his pack has to do the same. Got it?"

"That's bullshit!"

"Don't be such a girl, Danny," I said.

"I'm not a girl." He retorted.

"Your brother jumped."

"My brother is an asshole." He whispered. "An ignorant asshole."

That was true. EJ had only jumped from the cliffs because I had dared him. Initially, he had also opposed the idea of going through this initiation ritual but when I accused him of being afraid to jump, he accepted the challenge and jumped.

Danny was different though. He and EJ were nothing alike. Despite being six years younger than EJ, Danny was a lot more responsible and mature. And he was afraid of heights. Almost everyone in La Push knew that. That was the reason he was so resistant to jump into the cold waters below us.

"Are you going to let EJ brag about how he jumped from the cliffs and you didn't?"

Danny shrugged. His fear was speaking louder.

"He'll find a way to humiliate me even if I jump so I don't really see the purpose."

"Come on, Danny boy. Man up. It's just a dive into the ocean." I told him. "You're a wolf now… you're superhuman."

"We're still mortals." He pointed out. "I asked around and everyone says that even though we're stronger and faster, we can die."

"Professional divers do this all the time and they're only humans. I'm telling you this is perfectly safe. You jump, hit the water and swim to shore. It's no big deal." I encouraged him. Or at least tried to. "Our high temperature protects us from hypothermia and you'll heal fast enough even if you hit a rock, which I doubt it. No one has ever hit a rock before." I added.

Danny took a step back.

I shouldn't have mentioned the rocks. I realized.

"Hey, Danny! What's taking you so long? Are you scared?" EJ shouted from below. I saw Danny clenching his fists.

"Look, Jay and your brother are fine. You'll be fine too. Now jump!"

"You want me to go up there and hold your hand, Danny?" Came to another shout from below.

"He's such an asshole," Danny growled and then he surprised everyone by jumping.

My cousin hit the water hard and disappeared for a few seconds. Down at the beach, EJ was clapping mockingly.

"I'm so proud of my baby brother! Wasn't he so brave?" He laughed.

"Shut up EJ." Jay gave a few uncertain steps towards the water, clearly worried about his pack mate but then Danny reappeared and started to swim to shore.

"That was a great jump, Danny boy!" I shouted from the cliffs.

He flipped his finger at me and kept swimming.

"Your turn, little brother." I turned to Isaac who glared. He didn't like when I called him 'little brother'. In fact, Isaac wasn't so little anymore. He was getting taller thanks to the wolf gene but he was still shorter than me.

"Tell me again why we're jumping off this cliff at two in the morning."

"Because the youngest member of the pack gets to plan the next member's initiation ritual. I was the last member to enter the pack until you morphed, so I got to choose your initiation ritual." I explained.

"Like Danny said, I'm not in your pack."

"But you were once."

"And why did you call EJ, Danny, and Jay?"

"I just thought it would be fun to call the others and since they're new in this too, I thought it was okay for them to participate. I mean I don't want them to feel left out."

"You know you can talk to me, right?" Isaac said. "I know you feel lonely without Harry."

He was right but I didn't really want to talk about my twin brother's absence.

Harry had called two days ago. The leeches had allowed him and Season to contact us through a secure line, of course. Harry told us they were alright and were staying at an old house somewhere in a secluded place in Europe. Apparently, they were being well treated but they weren't allowed to do certain things nor to leave the house without an escort.

Harry had told Season the truth about us and she hadn't taken things very well. She still didn't believe he was a wolf nor that she had powers. Since he couldn't phase, Harry hadn't been able to show her his wolf form but he was optimistic about her forgiveness. After all, he was the only other person she actually knew in that old house, so Season didn't have much of a choice. Either she'd forgive him or she'd be alone for quite a while amongst a vampire coven.

"I don't miss Harry." I lied.

"Sure you don't…"

I didn't. I mean I did but not as worried as I were before because, in fact, I was keeping in touch with my twin brother. No one knew so far because I was following Edward's instructions thoroughly. A few days ago, Edward had suggested that I should try to contact my brother through meditation.

I personally thought his idea was going to fail but I decided to give it a try right after breaking up with Lexie. That was a shitty day for me.

Lex and I didn't exactly break up because I chickened out at the last minute and couldn't say the words but I was pretty sure she was able to understand what I was implying that afternoon. She had her cheeks all red and her eyes all wet when she kissed me goodbye and left with her father.

I felt like shit after Lex left. She was a good girl and I genuinely cared for her but I also felt guilty for having put life her in danger. After all, she would've never been kidnapped in the first place if she wasn't my girlfriend.

I ended up telling her that we wouldn't see each other for quite a while because there were bad people after me and my family and we didn't want to put her in danger anymore. She tried to make me change my mind at first and even suggested we could run away together but I was resilient.

When she left, defeated, I locked myself in my bedroom and tried to sleep it off. Lying to someone had never been so hard and I was emotionally drained. And then it happened.

I have no idea how but when I closed my eyes, instead of falling asleep I spoke to my brother who was miles away from us. In another continent.

Maybe my subconscious was calling out to him, or maybe it was his that was trying to reach mine. Either way, I spoke to him for a few minutes. He told me about his trip with Season and with the vampires and told me he would try to learn more about the enemy and their plans so I could warn the pack and the Cullens.

When I woke up I went straight to Edward though in the meantime I had begun to doubt myself and I was convinced that I had just dreamed of speaking to Harry. Edward proved me otherwise and told me to keep quiet about this.

"Are you fuckers going to jump or what? I have better shit to do, you know?"

"You got to love EJ, don't you?" I commented sarcastically. At the beach, EJ was getting impatient.

"Come on great alpha!" He called. "Show us what you got!"

"Stop being an ass, EJ," Danny told his brother but he ignored him.

Isaac sighed and walked over to the edge of the cliff.

"Are you scared?" I teased him.

"No. Are you?"

"I've done this for years."

Isaac jumped and I copied him only a minute later. Then we swam to shore to join the others.

There was still one more thing to do so they could complete their initiation ritual.

"Why can't we go home now?" Jay asked with a scowl. "We all jumped and it's damn late, Will."

"The night is still young," I said grinning. We went back to the Reservation. I knew they all wanted to go back to bed and have a good night sleep. Isaac's pack was being subjected to an intensive training ever since the Romanians left. We couldn't keep having weaknesses which meant that they would have to learn how to defend themselves and fight as fiercely as the rest of us. That also meant they were all tired from the early training with Jared and Quil.

"Are you going to tell us where we're going or what?" EJ asked, stopping suddenly.

"We're here," I said.

We had stopped outside a black house. Its owners sold traditional objects to tourists and foreigners, such as baskets, bracelets, purses, rings and many other things in a small compound attached to the house.

Tyler Miller was still working but now he wasn't selling things. Right now he was creating art. At least that was what he used to say about his tattoos.

In fact, Tyler was a very passionate artist but his parents didn't have the money to send him to the University or get him a permit to open his own shop, so Tyler had to work in secret. He had been the one to design and apply the pack's tattoo.

Dad and the others knew him well enough because he went to school with Brady and Collin so he never refused us anything. When he saw me waiting in his backyard, Tyler called us immediately inside. He was finishing a red dragon on a sixteen-year-old teenager when we walked in.

"Jacob said you'd be coming over one of these days." He laughed.

Tyler was a peculiar person. He was melancholic and impolite most of the time but when he was working on tattoos he was a completely different man, friendly and carefree.

"My friends here asked me where I got my tattoo because they want one too," I said. I watched EJ trembling slightly. Just like I had always known that Danny was afraid of heights, I knew that EJ hated needles.

"I'll be with you in a sec," Tyler said and he went back to finish what he was doing.

"Are you crazy?" Danny asked me. "My mum will kill me if I do this."

"No, she won't," I told him calmly. "Aunt Rachel never complained about Uncle Paul's tattoos. Besides, it's a tradition amongst the pack. Everyone has one."

Danny shrugged. He had no more arguments. EJ, however, was a whole different story.

"I'm not getting one." He stated, taking a few steps back.

"I'll hold your hand EJ." I mocked him.

"Fuck you, William. I'm not having a tattoo."

"Why not? Are you scared?"

"No! I'm not scared! I just… I don't think it's appropriate that I have the same tattoo as my father."

"If that's what's bothering you, I have the solution." I smiled and then I lowered my voice. "Since you are from a different pack, I think you should have a different tattoo. I was thinking that Isaac should choose since he's the alpha."

My brother nodded and he chose the same tattoo but filled with a light forest green ink to differentiate them. By then, the sixteen-year-old teen had already paid and left, so Tyler was able to start working on Danny first.

Since our skin was thicker, needles didn't hurt us but instead of reassuring his brother that he wouldn't feel anything, Danny kept quiet and even pretended to feel some pain. That was a good thing since Tyler didn't know we were wolves.

We spent hours there. Danny and Isaac hardly complained about Tyler's work but when it was EJ's turn, things got a bit complicated. Besides he had drunk three beers already and was a bit tipsy.

First he didn't want to sit in the chair, then he refused to take off his shirt, and only when Tyler threatened to tattoo his ass instead of his arm and Danny started to call him a pussy, EJ decided to stop whining and accepted the inevitable: just like everyone else in both packs, he too would have a tattoo on his right arm.

He managed not to cry when Tyler picked up the needle but left a huge mark on the chair. As soon as he realized he wasn't feeling pain, EJ fell asleep which allowed Tyler to work faster on him.

"At least now we have something we can use against him," Danny said happily as we were leaving Tyler's house. It was almost five in the morning and Jay and I were carrying EJ who was out cold after drinking two packs of beer and half a bottle of vodka during the time Tyler was working on Jay's arm. Danny was having fun taking some pictures of his sleeping brother being carried home.

"You did it on purpose, didn't you?" Isaac asked me.

"What?"

"I thought you just wanted to have some fun at our expenses. I mean you took us to the cliffs knowing that Danny's afraid of heights and that Jay doesn't like to be under water. And you took us to Tyler's house knowing that EJ and I never liked needles much… but it had nothing to do with that, right?"

"Of course it had. I wanted to prove you're all pussies." I lied.

"You wanted EJ and Danny to be on equal ground."

Was I that easy to read? Or was Isaac a damn psychic like Alice?

EJ was an asshole and a bully and he needed to be thought a lesson about modesty otherwise he would soon provoke the chaos amongst his pack. Everyone was right when they told me that brute force wouldn't work with EJ, so I decided to use another approach.

My cousin used to make fun of everyone and his favorite victim was his own brother. So in this initiation ritual, I gave Danny the opportunity to face his own fears and overcome them, which he brilliantly did, and at the same time, Danny also learned about his brother's own weakness.

"Ingenious, right?" I smiled at Isaac. "I don't get why you're the one everyone calls a genius. I'm clearly smarter than you."

Isaac laughed slightly.

"Sure, sure. You keep telling yourself that."

"So where should we take him?" Jay asked.

"To our house," Danny replied. "His pals don't want him around anymore ever since dad ruined their booze and weed selling business."

"He's a persona non grata now?" I asked with curiosity.

"Sort of. They still sell him… stuff… but they don't let him participate in their activities anymore. Plus, T-Rex has invited some other guy to live with them and he wants EJ out of the house next week."

"EJ's going back home?" Isaac asked surprised. We all knew EJ and Uncle Paul didn't get along. They were too much alike.

Danny shrugged. "Mum wants him to come home but I don't think EJ wants that."

Of course, he didn't want to go back home. That would be humiliating for someone as proud as my cousin. I did have the solution to this problem but for tonight he would go to his parents' house.

After dropping Danny and EJ home, Isaac and I walked Jay to his grandparents' house. Despite everything that Jay had done regarding my sister, I couldn't bring myself to hate the guy. If Isaac was as smart as I thought he was, he would make Jay his beta soon.

"So, what happens now?" Jay asked when we reached his porch.

"Now, you go inside and have some sleep," I told him.

"No more initiation pranks?"

"Maybe… I might have hired a couple of stripers and told them to wait in your bedroom."

Jay squinted his eyes at me.

"I'm joking." I laughed. "I could only afford a transvestite."

Jay shook his head realizing I was really joking and turned around.

"See you tomorrow." He said before entering the house.

Isaac and I walked in silence for a couple of minutes.

"Do you think EJ's going to remember anything from tonight?" Isaac finally cut the silence between us.

"I think Danny won't let him forget," I said referring to the pictures Danny had taken.

Isaac nodded.

"So? No stripers for us?" He teased.

"I didn't know you were interested." I teased him back. He blushed a little but quickly regained his composure.

"I thought you'd want to celebrate. After all, you're finally single again."

"Yes, I am… what about you little brother? Are you single? Because the last time I checked your phone you had tons of missed calls and text messages from Sophia."

"We're friends." He stated quickly. "That's all."

"Right… I've been there, done that…"

"What are you implying?"

"Nothing…" I smiled mischievously. "So… how far did you go with her?"

"We're friends, Will. Don't start making assumptions."

"Assumptions like what? Everyone knows you're still a virgin."

Now Isaac was as red as a tomato.

"Shut up." He said timidly.

"It's just the two of us here, Isaac. Let's talk about it. I'm sure you have questions."

"No, I don't! Let's just go home." He started to walk faster.

"Your initiation isn't over yet," I called running after him.

"Yes, it is."

"You're entitled to special treatment because we're family and because you're an alpha."

"I don't want to be an alpha. If you want my position, just take it."

I put myself in front of him to force Isaac to stop walking.

"What?" He asked me.

"Are you serious? Would you give me the alpha position?"

"Yes." He nodded. "I don't know why dad keeps saying I'm ready to be an alpha when I'm not. I suck at being a leader. I suck at giving orders. I never killed a damn leech. I don't even understand why there are wolves and vampires…"

This was the reason why Isaac was fit to be a leader. Because he didn't assume he knew everything. Because he was humble enough to seek other people's help. Because he didn't want to order his friends around like a tyrant.

As much as I hated to admit it, dad was right. Isaac would be a good leader. But my brother was right about not being ready to lead yet. He was young and he lacked experience on the battlefield but now I was willing to help him.

"Come on. Let's go." I pulled him with me into the forest.

"No… Come on Will… I really don't want to go anywhere. I just want to go home and have some sleep."

"I promised Harry I'd look after you."

"I don't need to be looked after."

"Of course you do. Now tell me how far you want to go with this girl."

"I don't know…"

"The Spirits help me! You're just like Harry." I sighed.

"I'm nothing like Harry." He opposed. "Harry's a lot more interesting than I am plus I'm sure he's dated a lot of girls."

"I wouldn't say a lot… He dated a few… but he's as virgin as you are."

Isaac lifted an eyebrow.

It was true. Harry had never slept with a girl.

My twin brother cared too much to have one-night stands and casual relationships. That was the reason why he was still a virgin. I didn't quite understand him in that department but as his brother, I respected his choice. So I never told anyone about Harry being as pure as Jesus' mother. It wasn't my business.

The pack, of course, would never let him live down to it so Harry found a way to fool them by replaying images of dates and make-out sessions with hot chicks every once in a while. Of course that those memories were actually mine. He 'borrowed' my memories to show the others and I never rat him out. Actually, I think he doesn't even know that I know about that.

"What about his girlfriend? Season?"

"Knowing Harry I'm almost sure he didn't sleep with her yet."

Alone with Season in an old European mansion would give my brother the perfect opportunity to seduce and get Season to sleep with him but Harry was a true gentleman. Plus they were surrounded by leeches and I was sure he wouldn't appreciate having an audience while getting laid for the first time.

"Look, I'm glad that you're trying to be a good older brother but I'm not really going to stay here talking to you about girls or having sex. Dad tried to do the same a while ago and…"

"I'm not here to give you the talk, Isaac." I cut him off. "I'm sure that you know all about sex. And about the consequences of not using protection too, right?" My brother lowered his head to prevent me from seeing him blushing again. "So, when you're with a girl, don't be a fucking idiot and wrap it up or at least make sure she's on the pill."

"Can you please drop it?" Isaac begged. "I promise everything you want but please stop!"

"I want to help you to become the best alpha La Push has ever met," I told him seriously. It was time to stop joking around.

Isaac stared blankly at me.

"Dad's the best alpha La Push has met and will ever meet." He pointed out confidently.

"He was… until something happened that turned him… fallible."

"And what was that?"

"He became a father."

Apparently, parenthood changed people. Dad was no exception. Having a family changed his priorities and sometimes pack duties and family didn't exactly go well together.

"I know I'm not exactly fit to be a leader but I do have a lot more experience than you do in battle." I started. Isaac didn't interrupt for he knew I was right. "I'm also a bit… unstable but I'm sure I can give you good advice."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why are you doing this? I'm having training sessions with Jared and Quil. Why are you suddenly so worried about me not having experience in battle? Why do you want to give me advice? Are you going anywhere, Will?"

Sometimes I really forgot that my brother had a high IQ.

"Yes," I confessed. Lying to Isaac would be a waste of time. "I'm leaving."

"Where to?"

"I don't know. I just know that I can't stay here any longer."

"We have to wait. Like dad said… and the Cullens."

"Wait for what?" I raised my voice. "I've been waiting for almost a week. The Cullens are wasting their time with that vamp from the Red Circle. I'm not staying here having a nap while Rhea's out there in danger."

John Seven had attended Peter's request and he had accepted to meet the Cullens in their lands three days ago. Like he had promised he came alone and agreed to answer our questions as long as it didn't compromise his organization.

I was allowed to be present at the meeting with mum but honestly, I didn't understand how any of John's information could actually help us finding Rhea. He had been vague and elusive. Besides the members of different branches of the Red Circle were forbidden to interact with each other which meant that John didn't know who Eva Four was or even how she looked like.

"Alice and Jasper hired the Red Circle's services. They'll be contacted soon."

"Did you really buy that crap?"

"What crap?"

"That vampire was lying… he didn't come here to help us. He came to assess the situation."

John had promised to get in touch with another member of the organization. This mercenary's job was to find and bring Rhea back in exchange for a high sum of money. Basically, we were hiring a vampire from the Red Circle American branch to bring back the person that had been captured by a fellow mercenary from the Red Circle European branch.

I thought that the plan Alice had plotted was quite practical but I highly doubted that a mercenary from the American branch would actually accept the job since it would put him against a fellow colleague (even if said colleague belonged to a different branch of their organization).

"Don't be so hasty."

"It's been days!" I ranted. "She's all alone with a freaking vampire! Plus as soon as Brenner realizes that the text message Alice sent him was a fake, he'll be back for sure and I can't deal with him right now."

Art had traveled all the way back to Seattle to search for Rhea in one of her favorite places, the Space Needle only to realize that his feeling was wrong. That's when Alice intervened since we all knew he would be back as soon as he realized Rhea had never returned to Seattle.

Alice texted Art pretending to be Rhea and asked him some time to sort things out. She alleged she was confused and angry that her mother was pressuring her to have her father in the wedding against her will. Art bought the story and stayed in Seattle but he would eventually grow suspicious and even If Alice kept on sending him fake messages, Rhea's family would begin to wonder about her whereabouts.

"You're not thinking straight, Will."

"Look… she's my mate and she was taken by our enemies."

"They wanted Season, not Rhea."

"I know. And that's even worse." I said. "The Romanians kept Lex alive because they needed her to blackmail us… but whoever took Rhea might not do the same."

"Don't assume that…"

"It's the Volturi, Isaac!" I raised my voice again.

I knew it had been the Volturi who had hired that mercenary to take Season to them. I knew it and the Cullens knew it too but they were too confused to admit this, especially because Aro and Caius were still in Mazzolla with their mistresses and had not met Gustaf yet.

"We don't know for sure." My brother opposed.

"Who the fuck else would hire a mercenary from a European organization to kidnap an American citizen?" I enquired. "Who the fuck has enough money, besides the Cullens, to hire a top-mercenary like Eva Four?" I continued.

"We don't know for sure," Isaac repeated. But I knew he had connected the dots just like I had.

John's only useful information made it clear to me. The leech had told us that the numbers in the mercenaries' names indicated their position within the branch. The higher the number, the less strong they were. The top-10 mercenaries were the best and the strongest of their branches and were also the ones who were hired by the wealthiest clients.

That meant that Eva Four was the fourth strongest female of the Red Circle European branch and only a very powerful and wealthy client would be able to hire her services. And there were no vampires in Europe wealthier than the Volturi.

"I'm going to give you an advice Isaac. So listen up…"

"Are you saying goodbye?"

"No. I'm not planning on leaving forever but I might stay away for quite a long time because I don't really know where to start looking for Rhea."

"Then stay and wait." He begged.

"I really want you to become a good alpha, little brother. I need you to stay here and help the others while I'm gone."

"Will…"

"Stop whining. Wolves don't whine like scared little girls."

"I'm not a little girl!" He pouted.

"Follow your instinct and don't let other people tell you that you're wrong. Not even dad or Sam… or any of the other wolves. They might be stronger and have years of experience but your instinct should prevail. Got it?"

Isaac nodded.

"I could go with you." He offered. "I know I'm not Harry but I can help…"

I smiled. Isaac did resemble Harry a lot. They were both selfless idiots who wanted to save the world from famine and war.

I was very different. Rhea's kidnap had turned me into a ticking bomb waiting to explode at any second. And my twin brother's departure had made me hollow even though I could talk to him via meditation.

I felt like an empty shell, a person without a soul. Numbness and indifference would come soon and I had to act before that happened. That was the reason why I was leaving. If I didn't do something I'd end up being as useless as a pup.

"Are you really sure about this?" Isaac asked me.

I closed the gap between us and hugged him briefly which was something that rarely occurred. I couldn't remember the last time I had hugged Isaac.

"Take care of everyone, alright?" I whispered.

"Make sure you come home."

"I will."

And then I turned around quickly and I never looked back.

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, Sarah Blackwater, lory77, Beauty Eclipsed, tcpg02.

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.

Karisan