Hello, hello! How are you? I hope you're all having an amazing day. Here's another chapter of the story. Be patient, the story starts to pick up after the next episode - or maybe the fourth episode, actually. Now I'll let you to enjoy it. See you at the end notes.

His growl had me closing my eyes. I swallowed dry.

I'm getting tired of this, Salali. How can I trust you are capable of handling yourself when you keep on doing this kind of things?

I could hear just how deep he was breathing when he let go of me.

Sam never could find it in himself to be actually mean to me –pretty sure Emily bullied him into being patient. I was the only one who made Sam hold back. I also was the only one who always managed to make Sam mad.

Find some clothes. And you better be back to human when I find you. He took off running, his mind a mess.

I knew he wanted time for himself -and a run to cool off- so I took my time in doing as told.

We didn't know when or where the fight would end, so we made sure to leave several pieces of clothing scattered around the trees -we could always use them later. I put on something that looked like a stained yellow sundress Natalie had given me last summer. It had been a little too big at the time, something I was glad for now. We barely made it through the month with luxuries such as TV and electricity; I couldn't go around asking for money for clothes that fitted my new taller body.

It wasn't a problem when I was off to pack duties or back from them. The guys' shirts fitted me as dresses and Leah had lots of clothing for someone who claims not to care about fashion. I noticed Jacob leaving extra shirts he never wore lying around the woods. I also noticed that some of them were a size or two too small for him. Those seemed to magically appear whenever my time to phase back came. He believed me dumb enough not to realize it. I played along, scared that if I mentioned he would stop. Or worse, offer to get me clothes.

I sat on the ground waiting for Sam to come back. Maybe if I played nice I could get out of some part of the punishment.

Double patrol was to be expected. I wasn't even badly injured as to get off of them. My wrist was a bit sore from tripping over that rock on our way to the battle –a great start. Only few scratches and bruises that had already started to tingle as they healed. Sam only added a few more on my neck –he must of forgot I didn't have as much muscle there as the guys.

Hearing twigs break, I made sure to straighten my back, ignoring those sore muscles. I didn't bother to stop tugging the grass off the ground until a pair of dark feet settled in front of me.

I squinted at the sunset glow –it wasn't supposed to be this bright by now. Sam pointed with his head to the place where behind many, many trees his house was.

"Let's go." Only a bit of the formerly angry Sam remained.

So at least I knew he wouldn't murder me on our way back.

Twenty minutes into walking, and several sighs from Sam, we were crossing the river border. As we were about to, he placed a heavy palm on my shoulder.

He sighed. Again.

"Salali, you know you were out of place," he squeezed my shoulder so I looked up. "I get that you're new, but this isn't the first time you pull something like that. There's got to be some consequences, alright?"

He made me sound like a rebel. Maybe I could borrow Rafael's leather jacket and motorcycle.

"Double patrols, starting tomorrow." I groaned.

Ignoring me, he started walking again. "We also need to do something about your fighting. I'll see about setting up some training time, Brady and Collin could use some too. I'm not sure if I'll be able to do it, but maybe-"

"Please not Paul," I begged. "Pretty, pretty please don't say Paul."

"He's one of the best, Sali," Sam said tiredly.

"But he hates me!" I cried out as he helped me up the rocks.

"Paul's the only one with enough time to do it. He knows how to fight-"

"And he hates me."

"And," he glared, taking my hand and pushing me up the very last rock into our territory. "He has what you don't: lots of stamina and will."

"That will only make it easier for him to kill me," I pouted.

"Enough. I'll talk with the guys and see who's able. And if Paul is, then you suck it up and train with him, got it?" I groaned. "Got it?" he repeated.

"Yes, sir."

"Good. Now walk."

I made sure my back was turned when I rolled my eyes. Paul hated me and he would do anything to make my life miserable. Sam was just making it easier for him.

When we made it out of the tree line I could vaguely see Emily's chapped-painted house. The good energy practically bounced off it. The sweetness in the air gave away a baking party.

Sam's rush to get home seemed to grow the closer we got. Collin pointed out at Sam's form at Emily from the window. In just a second she rushed out the back door, through the porch, and was picked off the ground by her mate. I could hear her muttering her worries and other love-sick, disgusting things. I left the couple to have their happy reunion in private.

The scent of muffins, cakes, cookies, pies, and everything that was good in the world hit me as soon as I stepped in the small house. The girls had cooked their worries away. The kitchen was a mess, but all the sweets were neatly, adorably decorated.

One of the girls –I guessed Kim- had made wolfs' faces with cookie dough and put them on top of the icing. One of them even had a little pink bow on the wolf's ear. The cookies on top resembled a child's drawing of a wolf, but it was heartwarming. And the scent of it, stomach-warming.

"That one is yours," said Kim, sitting on top of Jared in the overcrowded kitchen. "We wanted to make Leah's with a bow too, but we figured she would murder us if we did," her calm eyes gave away the fakeness of her wince.

"Damn right," Leah was no ray of sunshine. All the light hearted conversations and, well, just happy people altogether didn't seem to help her bitterness.

Rachel chuckled from her place in between Paul's legs on the floor. He seemed exhausted, yet he managed to talk lively –or as lively as Paul could get- with other wolfs and his own imprint. Gentle was a good look on him. Rachel insisted it wasn't. She joked about always having a thing for bad boys anyway (and it took three wolfs to remove a trembling Jacob from the room).

Jake still had mixed feelings about volatile-Paul and sister-Rachel together. He had an imprint now too, so it helped him understand. One good thing about it.

"I said we should make all the wolves wear it," Rachel was unfazed by Leah's bitterness. "They didn't let me," she said with a pout. Paul kissed it.

"Didn't want to hurt our over-sensitive wolves' ego," Emily chuckled as she came back.

"That was the point!" the she-Black threw her arms up in the air. "They'd come here feeling all powerful about winning and we'd be all like 'Congratulations! Here's your price!' with all pink-vowed wolves! They would have been pissed that they'd start to get all macho trying to prove how manly they are. Shirts off and muscles and that kind of stuff!"

Rachel's mind worked in such weird ways.

I tried not to dwell on the fact that she already assumed we would all come back in one piece and holding a metaphoric trophy.

"It looks good," I assured them.

"Tastes good too!" Seth spoke full mouthed.

Kim threw a 'you're welcome' my way before turning back to Jared who rolled his eyes.

I heard his voice almost as soon as I felt the new presence in the room.

"Hey, you're back," behind him I saw Quil on the ground playing with little Claire. "What's the verdict?"

"Double patrols and homework."

Grounding. Wolf style.

Jake smiled. "Ah, it could be worse. You just have to learn how to wolf."

By 'how to wolf' he meant how to fight, follow orders, be sneaky, stay in shape, and patrol correctly? Because if so, I might just quit… Can you quit being a shapeshifter?

"Try to pay more attention and listen to Sam next time, okay? He's Alpha for a reason."

I knew that.

"Jared, Jake, Paul. C'mon," the Alpha called from the doorstep.

They had these little meetings. Sam went through things with his Beta and Third in Command. And Jacob.

Embry called them the 'Alpha Support Group'.

Jake clapped my shoulder as he went. He had given up pretending not liking being called into the meetings. Sam wanted him to be ready for when time to assume his rightful position came.

"You must be starving," Emily appeared suddenly in front of me, a kind smile on her face. "Why don't you sit and eat something, honey?"

Food. My stomach grumbled at the mention of it. I was starving, I realized. Before the fight I had been too nervous to eat anything.

I sat down on the floor with my back on the wall and pink-bowed cupcake in hand. If I focused enough I could hear Claire in the next room talking in her toddler language.

"You better eat that, Sali," Rachel accused from behind the refrigerator door. "We didn't spend all afternoon making those for them to go to waste."

I seriously doubted a single cupcake took all afternoon to make.

Then again if Rachel was involved…

I took the first bite of the pretty cupcake. The cupcake. Blueberry with lemon frosting -Emily's specialty. She was the best baker on the reservation. It was perfectly spongy and with a frosting so smooth it melted as soon as it touched your tongue. Mmmm.

Somehow I finished it all before I could began to truly enjoy it. I still had the little cookie-wolf in my hand. It was just too cute to eat.

I watched Paul trying to convince Brady that the bears on the forest were shapeshifters too. Embry agreed. Collin doubted.

I decided to make myself useful. Zigzagging through all the chairs and people on the floor, I went to help Emily, who struggled to close the oven's door while holding two trays of just-made sugar cookies.

"-Don't believe me if you don't want to but it's true. Why do you think they are always so close? They're patrolling too-"

"Oh! Thank you, honey," I held the door closed for Emily and she placed the trays on the counter.

"Can I help?" I asked, watching her move around the small kitchen.

"There's more cookie dough resting on the fridge," she grabbed a new bowl, whisker in hand. "If you want to finish doing them, I'll go ahead and get started on the icing."

"Okay."

"There's more cutters on that drawer," she pointed as I put my hair up in a ponytail. "Would you mind making a batch of all hearts? You can make whatever shape you want with the other ones. My friend just got engaged and I'm sending her some tomorrow. But between hosting, and the battle I've barely got any time to do them."

I put flour on the counter. "'Kay"

Emily turned around and put her hand on my shoulder.

"Thank you, honey." Someone who loved baking that much shouldn't sound so relieved.

"I saved some for Natalie. They're on a Tupperware with the pans," she whispered. "Don't tell the boys."

"You didn't have to do that," the last thing she needed was more bake-stress.

"Hush. We needed a cover for today anyway."

Ah, right. I forgotten the pretended normalcy I had to play around anyone who wasn't in the house right now.

"Okay. Thank you."

She sighed, taking me in her skinny arms.

"I'm glad you're okay, Sali," she said softly, pressing her cheek to my temple. The way she did it made me feel short. And I was not short. 5' 4" was taller than other kids my age. "I wanted to murder Sam when he told me you would be fighting."

I know. Sam had been upset with Jacob and me for a bit because.

I just nodded, letting her squeeze me a bit more. Kind of hoping she didn't turn mother-hen on me.

When she stood back I saw a weird look crossing her face. It looked like hurt, but also like content.

She constantly got that weird look around me. Was it pity? I tried not to think of that. Every time I did I suddenly felt like her eyes were screaming 'it's not fair!' at me.

I never knew how to act around her when she looked at me like that. Was I supposed to sit on her lap and start telling her about my day?

Before I could figure out what to say, Emily smiled.

She didn't mutter one more word as she went back to work.

Sam called the pack into a meeting as soon as they came back three batches of cookies later. After a tantrum from a two year old ("C'mon, Claire-bear. Nap time" "No! Qwuil playing dollies!"), he was able to clear the living room.

"Dude, you're whipped," Embry swiftly avoided the pillow that Quil threw at him.

When Sam came downstairs, he shushed everyone, and took his usual place in front of the fireplace facing his pack. I leaned against the wall while the others scattered around to find a seat.

"First of all: congratulations," he began when everyone was sat. "All of you did a great job. We won without any losses or major injuries. That's something we should be grateful for… That and that we won't be working along leeches anymore."

Cheers went through the room.

"Although the Cullens promised to let us know if there were any threats they could foresee, I would like us to keep our guards up until we are sure danger is gone. Once we are, we'll go back to the normal patrol schedule."

That one I wasn't familiar with. The newborn drama had already started when I first phased.

"After some of the skills I've seen today, I re affirmed our younger wolves need fighting training-"

A fist pump suddenly cut through the air.

"Yes! Finally!"

"Uh… Thank you, Brady," Sam didn't look pleased at the interruption. "Collin, Salali, Brady, and maybe Seth too, would be the ones I would like to take lessons. However, since I'm not sure if I'll have the time to do it, I need someone to teach them on a regular basis. With me stepping in whenever I can. Paul, you up for it?"

What?!

I could feel the growl deep in my throat. So much for seeing if someone else could do it.

Paul wasn't very thrilled about it either. "Do I have to?" he groaned.

No, you don't.

"You're Beta. And one of the best in the field," the Alpha reasoned.

"… And that means…?"

That you're off duty. I mentally crossed fingers.

Sam stared him down raising a single eyebrow.

"Fine!" Paul threw his hands in the air.

Why was he so exasperated? He just got a free pass to bully the newbies.

Wasn't that all he dreamed about?

"BUT I will not be held responsible if one of them gets hurt got it? It's not my fault if they're stupid."

"You won't as long as their wounds are accidental. Got it?" he mocked. "You'll start next week at midday. Three times a week."

Three days a week. There were more Paul-less' days in the week than with-Paul days.

That's it, Sali. Keeping it positive.

I vaguely heard Jared offering to help every now and then on his free time. So there was a slight chance Paul might not murder me on those days.

When patrol schedule came up, it was agreed that as a punishment I would do a four hour patrol in the morning plus the three-hour one us newbies got to run in the afternoon. Benefits from being the newest: we didn't run nights' patrols.

The Alpha stopped talking work, calling the meeting to an end. Before the guys could get to the kitchen to get more food, Sam spoke again. A bit offended they were in such a rush to get out.

"As some might know, a bonfire is in order," he looked around the room before letting his eyes fall in Brady, Collin and I. "With everything that's been going on we haven't had the time to make one to welcome our three newest members. Right before the battle, the elders and I talked and decided to make it this Sunday, in First Beach as always. Only pack, elders, and imprints allowed."

Collin was almost bouncing in his seat with excitement. I felt like it too.

My first pack-bonfire. I knew that I went to some of tribe bonfires when I was really young, like, baby young. Back then I blow my own nose, much less remember bonfires.

I wanted to hear the legends –the real ones. See if they were any different than the ones I used to hear when I was a little.

"Not only are you all invited, but I want everyone there. This bonfire will be special," Sam cleared his throat. "We won't only be officially welcoming Collin, Brady and Salali into the pack. There are also some important things that you must know," if I hadn't been staring at Sam as intently as I was, I probably would have missed his eyes meeting Jacob's across the room.

"First Beach at twilight, everyone," he said. "Sal, Collin, Brady, you can come here after you're done with your patrol. Emily and I will take you. You can go eat now."

"Hell yeah!" Embry was the first one to race to the kitchen, dodging Jake's slap on the head.

We all headed into the kitchen, a mass of warm bodies and grown muscles. Unlike everyone else, I didn't race to grab some food, knowing Emily probably had more someplace else, fresh out the oven. I went behind the counter, one again joining the Alpha female –after stealing a few cookies-, this time with the decorations. It took me a few tries to dominate the pastry bag and use it without getting frosting all over my fingers and the counter. Emily laughed at my grossed out face. I didn't doubt the sticky substance was delicious –it smelled delicious- but it didn't feel good on my fingers.

She spend some good fifteen minutes showing me the proper way to ice cookies without the icing spilling over the edges and without it staying just in the center of it. Apparently, the way you held the bag and the right piping tips did magic things. Needless to say, the ones I made would be eating by wolves hungry enough not to care how they looked. Emily made sure to do the ones she needed to gift away herself.

"Do you think they'll tell children's stories at the bonfire too, Quil?"

"Don't start, Leah."

"I'm just saying. Maybe Billy could make a puppet version of the legends!"

The lack of response made me wonder if Quil was actually considering it.

I finished icing the first tray of cookies as my ears caught a new fluttering noise from just outside the house. The low rumble of a truck grew closer before the tires slowed down on the ground.

Oh crap.

"Sam, they're here," I called, untying my hair.

"What?" he asked distractedly. Arms around Emily as she worked.

Without replying I rushed out of the kitchen to find a cardigan to cover any remaining bruises. Can't remember using it lately, but thankfully I found it lying on top of the covers of the unmade bed. I threw it on, pulling the sleeves down as I walked back into the kitchen, almost running in to Kim. She apologized even though I was the one who almost sent her to the ground.

The doorbell rang.

"I'll put on a shirt. You, keep it down," Sam ordered as Emily took her apron off.

The guys quieted down at Sam's orders, knowing better than to cross him in his own house.

I heard Natalie greeting Emily in her pitchy voice. She was way too excited about leaving La Push. Natalie was never one for calm and quiet, she always needed loud and moving. She wasn't cut up for small towns.

"I hope it's not a bad time. We were just dropping to say goodbye."

"Oh no, not at all. Come in. Sali! Natalie and Rafael are here!"

I brought my long hair to cover my neck and arms as I walked. I saw Natalie on the entrance talking with lots of hands gestures. Rafael was trying hard not to look uncomfortable. He wasn't touchy-feely… or social, and when Emily and Natalie got together everything was good and sunny and social.

Rafael greeted me as always, by rudely messing my hair. I slapped his hand away, and heard him chuckling.

He knew how long it took me to get it under control.

"Hey!" Natalie reached for me when she saw me. "Having a good time?"

"We're baking" I told her.

She huffed.

"Yeah, I can tell," she started dusting off some flour that had fallen on the skirt of my dress. "Will you ever learn how to keep food off your clothes?"

"Probably not."

Natalie shook her head making the bun on top of it to bounce. "Did you pack extra clothes like I told you?"

I rolled my eyes.

"Salali," Rafael warned. He hated it when I was 'rude'. But I hated him messing with my hair and he still did it, so…

"Sali baked you some cookies, right?" Emily suggested, pushing me to the kitchen. "Why don't you go grab them, dear?"

On a Tupperware with the pans, I went to the counter where the pans were. I easily found the sugar cookies in the orange container, but I moved things around and pretended to still be looking to buy me time. Heavy footsteps resonated and a moment later Sam's deep voice greeted Rafael's husky one.

Quil practically drooled as I passed by with the cookies –avoiding Paul's foot right on time.

"The Chief said they're working on it. And in the meanwhile, we've got her," I heard Sam's voice.

"It hasn't even been a month. We shouldn't be leaving her."

Please do.

"Maybe some time will do her well. As you said, at least out of the house she distracts herself."

"Nat, you have nothing to worry about. We won't let her out of our sight," except to chase off thirsty vampires. "You go and relax. Take some time to-"

"Found them!" I stepped before it got more awkward. Natalie had glossy eyes and a big smile.

"These look good! Thank you!" she said with that big smile. "Did she show you the oatmeal cookies she makes? They're about the only healthy thing I eat."

"She hasn't. But now we have a mission for the week."

"Yeah, we could use some less carbs around here," Sam chuckled. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Rafael looking at Sam up and down, probably wondering where all those 'carbs' went.

"Oh, trust me, I get it. She's a pre-teen and eats better than the two of us," Natalie exaggerated. Her boyfriend always cooked. We all ate the same thing!

"We should follow her on the healthy thing. I mean, look at those arms!" I was very glad for my cardigan when she grabbed my arm and started poking it, trying to prove my healthiness. She didn't know she was just proving my werewolfness.

"I don't eat healthy. I just don't like fried things or chocolate all that much," I got my arm back.

Natalie rolled her eyes.

"We should get going if we want to get there before midnight," Rafael told his girlfriend.

"Oh, okay. I – Thank you guys, for letting her stay here," Natalie hugged Emily and an uncomfortable looking Sam before turning to me. "You sure you're okay with staying? We can go another time."

"I'm fine. Emily will help me catch up with homework. And we'll bake a lot, so it's okay," also I love you but sometimes you're suffocating, so please, leave.

Natalie got that guilty look in her eyes. She pulled me in for a tight hug, swaying me from side to side. The scent of the apple shampoo was too strong on her damp hair. Thankfully I didn't sneeze on it.

"If you change your mind, call us. Okay? We'll come pick you up right away, I promise," she rushed out.

"Don't worry. I want to stay over."

If I hadn't, I wouldn't have convinced Sam to talk her and Rafael into letting me stay in their house.

"Natalie wrote both of our numbers down on her notebook, just in case," Rafael said as he shook Sam's hand. He kissed Emily's cheek. "Let me know if she needs a new book. Maybe we'll be able to get it in the city."

"New book? You already got through the entire year?!" Natalie pushed me away, eyes shifting from me to Emily.

"I still have a bit more to go with History and Biology. And a long way to gowith Maths." I still had two more months but I don't think I'll ever catch up with Maths.

Natalie was glaring at me with her arms crossed across her chest like I had just personally offended her.

"What?!"

"Try do dumb it up a little, okay? Keep up with your age," she lightly slapped my arm. The bruises must have healed by now because I never felt the burn I prepared myself for.

"I don't make any promises," I smirked.

I've studied a lot to get ahead of my year, to hopefully graduate early. I wasn't going to throw all that work away -no matter how stressful it got. Emily was a wonderful teacher; she would help me keep my rhythm even with all the circumstances.

The pack stayed for dinner. Time had flown by as we waited for news from the Cullens about the vampire royalty that was to step into Forks. The only news we received was a reminder that Bella would have to be changed not too long from now, or the Vulturi would attack.

Jacob was upset. He had offered me to stay at his for the night –Paul adding something about Emily and Sam not letting me sleep- but I guess he forgot because he went home right after hearing the news.

So there's that!

Next, we'll have the bonfire with a few 'real talk' moments along different members of the pack. We'll get to know a bit more of Salali, who she is, and her bond with Jacob.

If you have any suggestions story-wise, or writting-style-wise please let me know! I'm all ears to constructive criticism, and ideas!

I'm sorry for the delay. I always promise myself "today I will update! today I will write another chapter!", but when I have free time on my hands I usually spend it napping or looking for a new job (adulthood is stressful. who thought this would be a good idea?). It's frustrating because the story is all beautiful in my head, but getting it on paper / typing it takes so much time, and it never seems to end up as good as I had pictured. I also need to stop proof-reading everything 5 times.

Now it's the moment where I promise to try and update more often (as often as two jobs and studying can allow me).

Hope you're all having a wonderful day! Thank you so much to everyone who read so far (!still freaking out about it!) and the people who cared enough to message, follow, favorite, and/or review. You made my day for DAYS. You're awesome. I'd wish I could give you more or be as awesome as you are.

Keep on being awesome.

AlitaMae xx