Disclaimer: Twilight belongs to Stephenie Meyer, not me.

Author/Note 1: This story is the sequel to 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

56. Precipice

Suddenly it seemed that the Vacant House had to be renamed to Full House. Rhea was preparing some food for the children while I was waiting for Hannah to put herself together. She was crying ever since we had arrived almost ten minutes ago.

As for the kids, they were having some fun exploring the house.

"What the fuck!" EJ growled coming down the stairs. "Didn't I tell you to keep your dick in your pants!? Damn… this wolf shit is awesome… you get laid and the next thing you know you have grown-up kids running around."

"Are you mental? Twilight Boho must've damaged your small brain." I told my cousin. "This is Hannah. She's Season's cousin."

EJ scratched the back of his head and lifted his eyebrows.

"Who?"

"Season. Harry's girlfriend." I pressed.

"Oh, yeah… the one the leeches wanted." He finally remembered.

"You better watch what you're saying, moron. Hannah doesn't know the truth." I whispered.

"Fine. Sorry… So why are there three noisy brats running around, screaming and playing with my stuff?"

Hannah got up immediately and called her children when they didn't come, she went to get them.

"What happened to her? Why does she have a cut on her lip and a black eye?" EJ whispered.

"Her boyfriend happened."

When Rhea and I got to the house where Hannah and Season lived, I ordered Rhea to stay outside with the children and I found Hannah on the floor. Her youngest daughter was hiding under a table.

There was a man in the house with them but it wasn't Tom Harding. He had a long and almost square face, long dark hair, small brown eyes, and he was missing an ear. He reminded me of a weasel. He was smashing away Hannah's belongings and yelling at her to get out of the house.

I acted on instinct so the weasel went flying against a wall and passed out. Then I picked Hannah up and told her to get her daughter and meet Rhea outside. I took a bag and collected a few clothes that were scattered all over the floor and we left.

"I bet the guy ended up with a lot more than a bleeding lip and a black eye." EJ looked at me.

"I hope so. But that depends."

"On what?"

"On how hard the wall was." I grinned.

"You're going to get in trouble, dear cousin." He teased me.

"So are you." I pointed to the little girl who was coming down the stairs holding his drugs pipe.

EJ ran towards her before Hannah could recognize what her daughter was holding, and he went back to his room to hide away the pipe.

"I'm so sorry for disturbing you and your cousin. I'll make them behave."

"It's fine," I told Hannah and she smiled a little. "Why don't you let the girls go to the kitchen to help Rhea with the food?" I suggested.

The three young girls left and I made Hannah sit down again. We needed to talk.

"Why didn't you call?" I asked.

"You said I should call if Tom showed up. He didn't."

"That weasel… the one who hit you, is he your boyfriend?"

"Ex-boyfriend."

"So he's Tom's nephew, right?"

Hannah nodded. "He blames me and Season for what's happening to his uncle and… he wants us out of the house. He told me to leave when I got there but I don't have anywhere else to go so today he decided to throw us out for good."

"You should've called."

"We're not your problem."

"I told Harry and Season I'd look out for you."

"Peter is my problem, not yours."

"Peter is no one's problem anymore. He won't dare to hit you again." I promised her. "Where are Season's siblings?"

"I didn't want them anywhere near Peter, so I took them to their parents last night."

"Harry told me Season's mother and stepfather are hardly good parents. They drink and do drugs. The kids shouldn't be with them."

"I had no other option."

"I'm going to get them," I announced. "You'll stay here with Rhea."

"We can't stay here." She said. "I need to work and the kids have school. Besides I need to solve things properly with Peter."

"You have nothing else to solve with that asshole."

"Yes, I do."

"Like what?"

"I'm pregnant. He's the father."

I sighed. That sure complicated everything.

"Does he know?"

"Yes."

"And?"

"He accused me of cheating. He thinks the baby isn't his. I need to make him see that I'm not lying."

"No, you don't. If he doesn't want that baby, he'll never believe you. That gives you two options: raising this child alone or have an abortion. What do you prefer?"

I knew I was being rash and insensitive but right now my priority was to keep Hannah in La Push, where she was safe.

"So where does Season's mother live?"

Neah Bay was a small community but not small enough for me to find Ryan and Vanora in less than an hour, so I figured I could use some help.

Rhea was going to stay at the Vacant House with Hannah and her daughters, EJ was locked in his room, perfecting Twilight Boho, and I was standing in front of the Uley's house.

Ella could navigate me through Neah Bay with her eyes closed since she had lived there in the past ten years. She knew practically everyone, every family, every house. I had no idea if she was actually going to help me but I was ready to beg. Before I could knock on the door though, Ella came out. She was surprised when she saw me there but then she sighed in relief.

"See? I'm not going on my own. William is going with me." She turned around and I saw both Emily and Sam exchanging a look.

"But I have all you need right here," Emily said. "And I already spoke with your grandmother on the phone."

"I just need to pick up some stuff and call a few people. I'll be back soon." Ella promised. "Come on Will. It's getting late." She turned to me.

"Ella?" Sam called from the door.

"I'll be home soon, dad." She said not turning around to face Sam. Then she almost ran towards my car and called me again.

"Someone is in a hurry to ditch her parents," I commented as soon as we left the Uley's house behind. Ella glared at me but said nothing. "I guess you were lying to them, right? You weren't really planning on going to the Makah Reservation. You were just trying to get away. So… are you going to spill the beans or will I have to guess?"

"It's none of your business." She stated.

"I'll have to guess then…" I pretended to think for a few seconds. "Sam told you about the imprint, didn't he?"

I didn't need Ella to confess. I knew that I was right.

"But you already knew," I added.

"I didn't know." She opposed. "I had a few suspicions but I wasn't sure. I didn't know it was Jay, I actually thought it was Quinn."

"Quinn's your cousin," I told her. "He couldn't imprint on you."

"Yeah… I know that now."

"So, Jay Morris, huh?"

"He's a stranger to me."

"We all played together when we were younger until you left… So don't tell me he's a stranger to you. He's no more of a stranger than I am or even Levi."

"Levi's my brother. He's not a stranger to me."

"How many times do you see him per year? Two? Three?"

"Four… sometimes five." She corrected.

"Well, you sure deserve the award for Best Sister in the US." I mocked.

"Shut up and stop the car. We're far enough."

"I'm not stopping the car."

"Will… I'm warning you…"

"I need your help." I decided to open the game.

That sure spiked Ella's interest. I guess she never dreamed about the possibility of me asking her help after what happened between us.

"My help? What do you need my help for?"

"I didn't go to your parents' just for fun."

My relationship with Sam Uley was peculiar, to say the least, and I wasn't also the greatest fan of his youngest son. In my opinion, Levi was a conceited brat going through an endless emo-phase. I did love Emily's food, but that wasn't enough for me to be a regular guest at the Uley's house, on the contrary, I avoided going there as much as I could.

"What do you want from me?" Ella asked impatiently.

"I need you to take me to where Seara and Bruce Rowen live."

"Why?"

"I'm going to pick up Season's brother and sister."

"Pick up or kidnap?"

I had forgotten how smart Ella really was.

"Is that important?"

"To me? No. I don't give a damn. But the police might take an interest in the young Quileute man kidnapping kids in Neah Bay."

"Okay let's set things straight. I watched Hannah Marsh being brutally assaulted by her ex-boyfriend in front of one of her children. The other two were too scared to even reenter the house. Since I don't plan on breaking the promise I made to my brother and his girlfriend about protecting her family, and because as far as I know, Seara and Bruce are the worse parents a kid could have, I'm going to get Ryan and Vanora with or without you. With your help will probably be faster and easier but if you really want me to pull over and let you out, I will. So how is it going to be?"

My cousin was a bit taken aback after my speech. In the past ten years, we had only spoken short sentences to each other.

"You're always up for a challenge, huh?" Ella grinned at me.

"I guess."

"What happened to Hannah's ex-boyfriend? You didn't…" She hesitated.

"Kill him?" I laughed darkly. "No, I should have killed him, but there were too many witnesses." I joked.

"You may be a stubborn hothead but you do have your heart in the right place," Ella said.

"Was that a compliment?"

"You better shut up, Will."

"Sure, sure…"

And then, surprisingly, we both laughed.

xxxxxxxxxx

Retrieving Ryan and Vanora from their parents was as easy as stealing candies from a child. Both were out buying booze or drugs. The kids were on their own and as soon as we arrived they collected their unmade bags and practically begged us to take them to Hannah again.

By Ella's suggestion, we left a note on the table that read 'We're fine. Ryan and Norah'. Hannah received her cousins in tears and promised she would never take them back to their parents.

After the happy reunion came the serious talk. Hannah wanted guarantees about staying in La Push. She wanted to know who owned the Vacant House because she didn't want charity and she wanted to pay a rent if she was going to live there for a while. She also wanted to make sure that Ryan, Vanora, and Tamsyn wouldn't miss school.

An hour later I was famished and dead tired of explaining and bargaining with Hannah Marsh. We had come to an understanding: first thing tomorrow, Hannah and Emily would go to the local school to register the three children. Emily would also try to help her finding a job in La Push, so she could resign from her current jobs in Neah Bay. Ella would take care of everything with the children's old school at the Makah Reservation. Sam agreed to receive a small payment for the three bedrooms Hannah and her family would occupy in the Vacant House although I tried to tell her that she could stay there for free since EJ and Rhea were also guests there and they weren't being charged any fee.

"I'm going to stop by the Cullens to give them a message from Harry. Will you be alright on your own?" I asked Rhea who was combing Tamsyn's hair on the couch.

"I was hoping we could talk in private. Can I go with you?"

"I don't think that's wise given the fact that the Cullens are… you know what."

"Okay… I'll wait then."

"Don't listen to anything EJ tells you. He's a bad influence."

Rhea nodded.

I didn't go to the Cullens just to pass on my brother's message. I went there because I knew Esme would cook a nice meal for me like she always did whenever she felt us approaching, and I also wanted to talk to Carlisle about Rhea.

Unfortunately, there wasn't much he could tell me.

"I need her blood sample to be able to tell your more about Rhea's condition." He told me as I finished Esme's lasagna.

"But you've been studying us for years."

"And when it comes to imprinting and mating, all I have are theories. Nothing more." He said. "I can tell you that I believe that imprinting has nothing to do with pairing up a wolf and a woman so they can produce stronger offspring like everyone used to think. Everything leads me to believe that imprinting is a way to control a wolf's nature by finding him someone who can actually discipline him, make him function, and bind him to his natural purpose. Mating is completely different."

I had never paid any attention to Carlisle's studies about our kind but his theories made sense to me. At least so far. To connect a wolf's destiny to a local girl, regarding of her age, was the best way to make that wolf stay in La Push and protect the tribe against vampires with the rest of the pack.

"Why is mating so different?" I asked.

"While imprinting is something that is forced upon the wolf and the person he imprints on, mating is something that is related to natural selection."

"Survival of the fittest," I recalled one of Darwin's theories.

"In the wild, the strongest male wolf mates with the strongest female wolf so they can produce stronger wolves."

"So mating is about the reproduction of the species."

"In your case, I think it's more than that."

"Why?"

"Well wild wolves are driven by their instincts. You and the others, however, are not wild wolves. You have a conscience, even when you phase, you don't lose your humanity. So you mate because you need a companion, someone who can help you rule the pack, someone who can adapt to you and you to her. She's someone you'll be able to trust blindly, someone you'll respect and someone you'll want to protect all the time. But there are flaws in my theories."

"Flaws?"

"Yes, faults… I don't know how this selection happens and the lack of women shapeshifters makes it more difficult to analyze the phenomenon. I used to think that the ability to choose mates belonged to the alpha of the pack but as you know Sam imprinted when he was alpha, and what happened between Jacob and Leah was not natural selection because they had feelings for each other. Gwen was also able to stop phasing so she could marry your uncle instead of becoming Lance's mate. As for you and Rhea, I think that natural selection has nothing to do with what happened between you eight years ago."

"Why did I mark her then?"

"I don't think there's a specific reason. I think you marked her because you and your wolf wanted to."

"So let me get this straight: natural selection affects the wolf inside of us but not the human, right?"

"Yes." Carlisle smiled, pleased to see that I had been paying attention to him. "Natural selection was probably responsible for giving back Leah the ability to have children but that's all. She could've chosen Sam to be her mate instead of Jacob or even any other wolf that she considered fit. Not even the imprint would not be strong enough to prevent a wolf to mate with the only female available in the pack."

"By then your Earth spirit was already tied up to Jacob's but both of you were too stupid to see that," I recalled Dana's words earlier.

What did she mean by that? What was an Earth spirit? Could that be the reason why mom had chosen dad to be her mate? Wasn't supposed to be him choosing her? Usually, alpha males were the ones to call the shots. My wolf sure seemed fitter to lead than Rhea, even though she was my alpha female.

Before heading home I spoke to Edward about Harry's message. He wasn't surprised to know that my brother was having a hard time finding out where exactly the Romanians had taken him and Rhea to. It seemed that the bastards had everything figured out.

Then I phased and went to the forest. I needed a good run to calm myself down. The cold wind hitting my face and the freshness of the grass on the forest ground felt really nice. I still missed Harry running by my side but I knew that soon enough we'd be together again. Now that Rhea was safe, my wolf was quieter and I could focus on other things.

I was about to make a turn to the left to go home when suddenly something hit me in the back. I initially thought something had fallen off from the trees but when I stopped the thing rolled to the floor and looked straight at me.

I recognized Vader immediately.

Maybe Isaac was right and the damn squirrel had a weird fixation on me?

I growled at him and Vader began jumping up and down like a maniac. I'd never seen a squirrel do that.

'What the fuck is wrong with you?' I wondered.

He approached me, went up to my front left leg and went back down. Then he ran in circles around me and went right, stopping a few yards away, looking back at me expectantly.

'What is it?'

Vader squealed.

'You want me to follow you?' I wondered.

Apparently, he did, because as soon as I went after him, he stopped squealing.

This is stupid. I shouldn't be following a damn squirrel through the forest. I'm losing my mind.

By then I had already realized we were heading towards the cliffs. We weren't as high as the place where I had taken Isaac and the others to jump in their initiation ritual, but it was still high enough.

What does a squirrel want from the cliffs? I suddenly questioned.

Vader stopped abruptly before we could leave the tree line. And that was when I realized there was someone there.

I phased back covered by the last trees and put on a pair of shorts. When I finally left the coverage of the forest, I recognized the person who was dangerously close to the border of the precipice.

Sarah.

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Karisan