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

50. The Squirrel and the Shewolf

I had my departure all figured out. I had planned this two days ago. I planned on leaving after the initiation ritual I had organised for Isaac and the others because I couldn't stand another day of meaningless patrols. Day after day all I did was sit on my ass waiting on a damn clue that could lead me to Rhea.

So, I was going to Canada. That was the last place where we knew Rhea had been. She had boarded a plane and disappeared but maybe I could identify her scent in the airport. Or maybe someone in there could tell me where the airplane had gone to. It wasn't the greatest of plans but it would have to do, for now.

Of course I would have to leave undetected and that was the reason why I hadn't morphed so far.

I had left my brother Isaac on the forest ten minutes ago and I was walking towards the northeast border of La Push where I had hidden my car. I had packed a small bag and I was prepared to hit the road. I knew dad would be furious and mum would throw a fit. Sam would probably seize the opportunity to make sure dad would never think about making me alpha one day, but right now I couldn't care less.

I reached my car and got inside, resting my head back against the seat. I thought about having a couple of hours of sleep but it was better for me to leave immediately before one of my pack mates realised I was missing.

Things would turn messy after that. Things always turned messy whenever I disobeyed dad's orders.

I turned the car on and prepared to leave when I realised my bag on the back seat was moving. I turned back and killed the engine. Nothing was moving now.

Maybe I'm seeing things. I thought to myself but suddenly the bag moved again. I reached it and pulled it to my lap. I carefully opened the bag and was surprised to find a squirrel on the inside.

"Vader?" It had to be Sarah's squirrel. The little devil knew I couldn't stand him and had deliberately locked himself inside my bag. "Get out!" I told the small squirrel who simply looked at me with his round black eyes. "I said, get the hell out of here! Go back to Sarah!"

Still nothing. Stupid squirrel.

I opened the window and waited a few seconds. Most animals run towards an open window or door after being locked. But not Vader. Apparently there was something quite interesting in my bag and he didn't want to get out. Or he was simply testing my patience.

"Fucking squirrel!" I cursed. "If you don't get out of my bag, I'll cook you for breakfast. Do you hear me?" I threatened.

Vader ignored me and kept fussing inside my bag as if he was searching for something.

"Cereal bars." It finally hit me. I had packed a handful of cereal bars to eat during the trip to Canada. "You little freeloader. The bars are mine. Go grab your cereals somewhere else!"

Putting my hand inside the bag I finally managed to grab the furry squirrel and pull him out. He began twisting and turning in an attempt to free himself from my grip but I was having none of it.

"You're lucky I'm not hungry…" I commented.

I looked at Vader who had stopped moving. He was playing dead to trick me into realising him.

"Look, you have to find your way home on your own, okay?"

I got out of the car and put Vader on the floor. He leaned his head to the side and kept watching me.

I couldn't go back home just to give Sarah her pet.

"Shoo! Go away! Go back to Sarah, you demonic fur ball."

I usually liked animals. I was a giant wolf myself however squirrels weren't my favourite pets. I found them kind of creepy. And I hated cats too. Actually cats hated me with passion so I had no love towards felines what-so-ever.

I was definitely a dog person. And now here I was, in the middle of the forest, talking to a damn squirrel who looked like he was mocking me.

How sad am I? I wondered. I'm talking to a damn squirrel at almost six in the morning on a fucking Saturday. I should be miles away from here by now.

"If you keep following me, I'll run you over." I told him. I knew Vader didn't understand what I was saying but I was hoping my harsh tone would at least frighten him.

I slowly walked backwards towards the car never taking my eyes off of Vader. When I finally turned around he was already inside the vehicle on the passenger seat.

"Get out of the car Vader. Now!" I yelled at him. That was a stubborn freaking squirrel. Now I could see why Sarah had adopted Vader as her pet. He was just like her.

When I tried to remove him from inside the car, he bit me. It didn't hurt but it drew a few drops of blood from my finger.

"Little shit!" I cursed at him. "You know what? I can bite too…" I grinned. I was going to scare Vader for the rest of his life. If the little bastard didn't fear humans, I was going to turn into his worst nightmare: a giant wolf.

I stripped my clothes quickly and phased. When he saw my huge wolf form outside the car, Vader sought refuge under the seat.

Fucking great, now he's never going to get out of the damn car!

I guess it was a stupid idea to turn into a wolf.

I'm really going to eat him when he comes out. I decided. I'm wasting precious time here.

Luckily no one else was patrolling at that moment. Then again this was supposed to be my shift. Usually we patrolled in pairs but my partner had called me earlier saying he was going to do extra hours in the hospital. I had deliberately chosen not to share that information with dad so that I could leave La Push undetected. If I had told him, he would've found me another partner because I was forbidden to patrol on my own.

That's when I heard the cry. It was like a weeping sound at first but then it escalated to a cry of distress. I turned around trying to understand what was happening and who was calling out for help. I was almost hundred per cent sure that no one else from my pack had phased but it could be someone from Isaac's pack or a new wolf.

'Isaac? Is that you?' I tried. 'Jay? Danny?' I kept calling. 'EJ?'

If this was one of EJ's pranks I was going to kill him.

'What's going on? I'm hearing voices now… I can't see anyone!' I heard someone say. It was definitely a wolf. A new wolf. But who?

'David? Is that you?' I didn't know if my cousin David was showing symptoms but he was a possible candidate to join one of the packs soon. He was twenty-three years old now. It could also be Jerry Cameron.

'This has to be a nightmare! I want to go home!'

My heart almost stopped when I recognised who this was. And to my surprise it wasn't David, Jerry or any other boy from La Push. It wasn't even a boy.

'Rhea?'

It was her. It had to be her. I focused on all the emotions that she was feeling and I was finally able to see through her eyes. She was running as fast as she could so I could only see snow and trees surrounding her. There wasn't a single building in the area that I could use as a reference to find out where she was but at least now I knew she was alright.

'Rhea! It's me… It's William.'

'Oh my God, I'm hearing his voice now… I'm going insane.'

'You're not hearing voices. I'm here.'

'I'm hallucinating.' She whined.

'No, you're not. Calm down and talk to me. Are you okay?'

'This has to be the worst nightmare ever!'

'Stop running and listen to me, Rhea!' I yelled at her and she finally stopped. 'Calm down and tell me what happened. Now!'

'I don't know what's happening to me!' She yelled back. I could feel stress, confusion, and fear all at once. 'I'm insane. I can hear voices in my head and… I don't know what happened. One minute I was lying down on a bed and the next I turned into this huge… furry, monstrous thing… and I have no idea where I am.'

'You're not listening to voices in your head. You're only listening to my voice. And you're not insane, you're a wolf. Like me.'

I could tell she was in shock at least for thirty seconds. Then came the disbelief.

'A wolf?' She shrieked. 'What the hell are you talking about?'

She was a wolf indeed I just didn't know how to explain it to her. It would be easier if we were face to face but she was miles away.

'Do you remember the legends of our tribe?' I asked. 'About the warrior spirits?'

'Of course I remember.'

'Good… because those legends are all true and we are wolves. Warriors… warriors with the ability to turn into wolves.'

'This can't be real.'

She was again convinced that she was hallucinating or having a nightmare.

'It's real, Rhea. Trust me.'

'Prove it. Tell me how this is possible.'

'I turned when I was almost fifteen years old. My dad turned when he was sixteen and my mother was the first female wolf since probably centuries. Actually before her there are no records of a woman turning into a wolf.'

'So all of your family is…'

'Not just my family. The gene is stronger in my family because we're descendants of the last alpha wolf but it runs in many other Quileute families' blood. Such as yours.'

'I'm not Quileute. I'm mean… not completely.'

Rhea was only half-Quileute. Her father was from the Rosebud Indian Reservation but the Whites were an ancient Quileute family.

'If there was at least a man in the White family that carried the gene, you can have it too. We never knew of a White that turned into a wolf, but now that you phased, it's clear that someone in the White family had the gene at one point.'

'So, this is hereditary…'

'Yes.'

'But… my cousin, Chris… he's not a wolf.'

'Not all of the people phase. My Grandfather Billy never morphed nor his father. My sister and younger brother haven't phased yet either.'

'Why me?'

'Probably because a vampire took you and you were in contact with her for five days straight. That's what activates our gene.'

'What vampire?'

'The woman who took you is a vampire.'

'A vampire?' She asked sceptically. 'So, I'm a wolf and she's a vampire… right. God, these nightmares are getting pretty weird.'

'Damn it Rhea! You're not dreaming! This is all real!'

'Of course it is. So is Santa…' She replied. 'I'll wake up any minute now.'

'Do you really think I'm a product of your imagination? A dream?'

'Of course you are! What else could you be?''

'Didn't EJ tell you the truth about us?'

'EJ? EJ told me that you've been playing me all along. He told me you're going to imprint someday and leave me. And when I asked him what the hell imprinting was he began babbling about legends, soulmates, ancient bloodlines and other weird stuff that I didn't understand but I think I finally got it… you want someone to play around until you find your soulmate, isn't it?'

So opposite of what I expected, Rhea knew nothing about the pack or vampires. EJ had made me believe he had told her everything but he hadn't. The only time I was actually grateful to my cousin, he had still managed to keep fucking things up for me.

No matter what I told Rhea about the pack, she would never believe me since she thought this was a dream or a hallucination. Unless she could see a wolf right in front of her, she would never believe she was speaking through a mind-link with the real William Black.

'Okay… I'm a product of your subconscious. You're dreaming and I'm not real.'

'Exactly.'

'In that case, can you at least dream about being rescued?' We were wasting time playing charades about what was real and what was not. I needed to learn her location and where the damn bloodsucker who had taken her was so I could alert the pack.

'We can't monopolize my dreams.'

'Of course we can. Don't you want to come home? Don't you want to be with your mother and with Art again?'

I felt Rhea flinch a little when I mentioned Art's name. Then a vivid memory of our night together flew through her mind. She felt guilty about cheating on Art but she had no regrets about having spent the night with me.

'Rhea… I need you to focus. Tell me where you are so I can help you.'

'I don't know. I remember an airplane and that's all. When I woke up, I was in a house.'

'What house?'

'I don't know. I just ran away.'

'And where's the woman who took you?'

'She said she was going to buy supplies and medicine.'

It made sense. Whoever ordered Eva Four to take Rhea wanted her alive and healthy. Eva had probably feared that she wouldn't receive all of her payment if she presented her client a sick girl, so she was taking precautions and she had decided to go and get some medication unaware that Rhea wasn't really sick. Her symptoms could resemble the ones of a common flu or a stomach problem but in fact it was her wolf gene being activated.

'Look around.' I asked her. Since I could see through her eyes I was trying to recognise the landscape. A mountain, a lake, a road. Anything that could indicate where she was. But unfortunately there was nothing but trees and snow.

'I'm in a damn forest. It's snowing.'

'I've noticed.'

'How?'

'Wolves can share thoughts.'

'I'm not a wolf.'

'You're in a dream, remember? You can be anything. Now… Have you met anyone? Did you hear the name of a place, a town, anything?'

'No. I haven't heard anything. I don't even know how long it's been since we arrived here. I've been throwing up and…'

'Okay, fine, I get it. In that case, go to a place where you can see the sky and look up.'

'What for?'

'Just do it.' We didn't have much time. Eva would probably return soon and I still had to instruct Rhea on how to phase back and stay calm in order to keep our secret from the mercenary leech.

Rhea moved from her spot and walked slowly until she reached a place where the trees were less dense and then she looked up. The sun was up in the sky and if I remembered correctly, it was already past midday.

'What the fuck… where the hell are you?'

xxxxxxxxxx

"Green what?" I asked Alice, pacing around nervously.

"Greenland." She repeated.

The position of the sun and the landscape I had seen through Rhea's eyes had allowed Alice to draw one conclusion: Rhea was in Greenland.

"I didn't even know there was a place called Greenland on the planet." I admitted.

Emmett nodded in agreement.

"I'm over a hundred years old and I've never heard of Greenland either." He said.

"That's because you always miss Geography classes." Rosalie reprimanded him. "Though considered a country, Greenland belongs to Denmark since the early 19th century and its northeast area contains the world's largest national park." She informed proudly.

"Come on, babe. Who the hell needs Geography classes when we have the GPS?"

Rosalie rolled her eyes and sat on the couch next to Alice who was in deep thought.

"So… how the hell can I get to Greenland?" I asked.

"Well, we're here." Bella showed me a map on her iPad. "And Greenland is here." She pointed to a huge island on the north.

"It's not that far." I mentioned. Greenland was almost next to Canada to the East.

"It won't be easy to go there, Will."

"It's not such a big deal. I can go to Canada and then… swim to Greenland." I suggested.

"It's too far and the water is freezing. It's too risky even when your temperature runs at 108 degrees."

"Then let's book a flight or something. I'll pay you back as soon as I can."

"That's not an issue, Will."

Apparently it wasn't easy to travel to Greenland. The least densely populated country in the world, Greenland had few airports, none big enough for a commercial flight carrying more than 80 passengers.

The largest airport was located in the capital city of Nuuk but it consisted in only a two-track runaway. Most of the departures and arrivals were domestic flights in small aircrafts.

"There's only one flight scheduled to land in Greenland in the next 24 hours. It's ICA 5417 from Reykjavik to Nuuk but we need to go New York first." Bella announced.

"New York?"

"To get the flight to Reykjavik, Iceland." She explained.

"How many hours will it take?"

Too many. I answered my own question. I was worried about Rhea. Now more than ever, I knew that she was in immediate danger. The mercenary from the Red Circle had no idea that Rhea was a wolf and Rhea was still in denial about her condition. If for some reason Rhea got angry, she would definitely explode and attack her kidnapper, who would probably end up killing her.

Before coming to the Cullens, I had instructed Rhea to phase back. I had coached her and ordered her to stay put. She was to return to the house she had stayed in and wait for me. I had also told her not to engage in any talk or discussion with Eva when she returned but I had no idea if she would follow my instructions.

As far as we knew, new wolves were extremely hard to control even when they were miles away from our mortal enemies much less with a vampire in the same room.

"We need to get there before Eva Four returns." I told the Cullens. "I'm too close to get her back to lose her now."

"Have I ever mentioned that Jean-Pierre has a private jet? It's a small aircraft but it might take five or six people."

Jasper scoffed, displeased to know that they would have to rely on Jean-Pierre again. Apparently he didn't like Alice's friend at all.

"You really don't have to be jealous of Jean-Pierre." Edward whispered to his brother.

"You didn't have to be jealous of Jacob either, and you were… you still are sometimes." Jasper retorted.

"It's different."

"I don't like him. And I don't like when Alice has to ask favours."

Edward rolled his eyes at Jasper little rant.

"Go talk to Jacob. He needs to know what's happening and as soon as you have your father's clearance, we're going to get your girl back." Alice announced.

Telling my parents the latest events was actually easier than I thought. The fact that they were making-out in the living room helped quite a lot. Too embarrassed after being caught, they didn't comment on the fact that I was supposed to be on patrol and let me tell the whole story without interrupting.

But by the time I finished mum was ready to assault me with questions.

"Are you sure she's a wolf?" She asked. Her face was a mixture of surprise and anger. Surprise because no one ever expected a White to have the wolf gene, much less a girl. And anger because this meant that the Whites would soon be involved in our secret. "Maybe it was a dream…"

"It wasn't a dream. Rhea's a wolf." I assured. "It actually makes sense… I mean, I never understood why my wolf claimed her eight years ago. Now I know."

"Why her?!" Mum exclaimed throwing her arms up in the air in frustration. The prospect of having a connection with the Whites was not appealing for mum.

"Finnigan White was an elder and a founding father of our tribe." Dad said calmly. "And the wolf gene goes way before that time, so it's possible that the White family also carries it in their blood."

"Great! That's just great!"

"Better Rhea than Vanessa." Dad touched mum's arm to calm her down.

"So… I'm going to Greenland to get Rhea back." I announced.

"Is that wise?" Mum asked. "I mean after all that happened between you two, are you sure she'll be happy to see you? Won't she freak out? Maybe it would be better to send someone older like Embry or Quil."

Indeed Rhea would freak out. Especially because I would show her that she wasn't dreaming after all. But still I felt that this was my job. I should be the one to tell her the truth and to answer her questions not Quil or Uncle Embry.

"I'm going." I decided.

"He's right. Rhea is his mate. I'd do the same, and so would you Leah."

Mum finally nodded in agreement. "Who's going with you?"

"Carlisle, Edward, Emmett and Jasper."

Carlisle wasn't supposed to go with us but I had insisted because I was afraid that Rhea could be hurt. I just hoped we'd get there in time.

"What's the plan?" Dad asked.

"We don't have one… yet. I mean we don't know where Rhea is. It all depends on her whereabouts and Eva Four's presence. We'll act according to the situation."

"I can send someone to go with you. Quil and Brady are free today."

"It's fine, dad. Besides, the aircraft we're travelling in can only take five people."

"Call us as soon as you find her." Mum said.

"Don't worry. This will probably be the easiest rescue mission ever."

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Karisan