A/N: Thanks again to the awesomely insightful folks at Project Team Beta! Things are starting to heat up in this chapter, so just a reminder – this is rated "M" for a reason. Thanks for reading and reviewing.

Chapter 2 – Waiting in The Wings

I was burning, consumed with heat … delicious, sensual heat. Blazing hands roamed feverishly over my sweat-slicked body. Hot breath fanned against the base of my throat. A searing tongue delved lower, licking a slow, scorching line down the curve of my breast, lapping the sweat from my skin. When that tongue of fire lightly flicked my erect nipple, my whole body ignited.

Powerful hands gripped my hips, roughly pulling me into position beneath his searching flesh. I arched my back, spreading my legs as wide as I could. I craved it. Craved him. More than I had ever wanted anything.

He laughed − a low, velvety sound − and I knew he was about to give me what I was begging for. Hard, heavy and hot, he surged forward, filing me with a single, searing movement. Ecstasy.

Through the swell of visceral, animal pleasure ripping through my body, a single thought crystalized: Nothing ever felt hot to me. My eyes opened and locked on his, inches from my face.

They were bright, blazing red.

That's when I fell for the leader of the pack … That's when I fell for the leader of the pack … That's when I fell for …

I snapped awake.

"What. The. Fuck?"

Was I cursing my erotic dream, the ringing phone that just interrupted it, or my smart-ass kid brother who had programmed my phone to play the old Shangri-Las tune for Jake's ringtone? I couldn't say. I was too dazed and sleep-befuddled, my body still throbbing and tingling from the dream, to make sense of anything at the moment.

I snatched the phone off the nightstand, and squinted to focus on the glowing orange numbers on the clock. Four a.m.? Guilt. I hadn't talked to Jake since that night in Port Angeles more than a week ago. But I'd been thinking about what he had said. Really, I had.

"Yeah, boss, wassup?"

"Leah, I need you here immediately." His voice was shaking on the other end of the line, and I was instantly, totally alert. "I'm at the Cullens' place. How fast can you get here?"

"I'm at my mom's in La Push and I need to dress. There won't be any traffic at this time of morning, so … twenty minutes maybe," I replied. "Why? What's wrong? Should I wake Seth and bring him?"

"Let Seth sleep for now. God knows he's probably not going to be getting much of it in the near future. None of us will. I need you here now. On four feet. It'll be easier to explain everything if I'm in your head. Phase and get running." He disconnected the line without another word.

Fuck, I thought again. It had been months since I'd phased. While I didn't mind spending time in wolf form, the silence in my head had been really nice these past months. And of course, as soon as I phased, Jake–not to mention any of my other pack brothers already in wolf form–was going to have a front-row seat at the sex show playing in my head right now. Because despite my worry over what was going on with Jake, that dream simply refused to let go and get the hell out of my head. Maybe a good dose of night air and a run through the forest would clear my head and chill out my over-heated body.

I scrambled out of bed, shedding my nightgown and now-sopping panties. Grabbing a pair of shorts and an old wife-beater of Seth's, I quickly strapped the clean clothes to my calf. I slipped quietly out of my room and padded past the door to Seth's bedroom. His loud snoring rattled the door and I briefly envied my brother his peaceful and profound sleep. In the kitchen, I scribbled a note of explanation for my mom and brother, and was out the door in less than two minutes.

Our house was pretty isolated on the outskirts of the rez. We didn't have any close neighbors to be appalled by my bare ass streaking to the tree line ten yards from our back door. From there, it was a straight shot through the forest to the Cullens' house.

As soon as I hit the cover of the woods, I phased.

SSW/SSW/SSW

My paws thudded a staccato beat on the forest trail. Around me, the trees and underbrush teemed with nocturnal life and my heightened senses drank it all in–the sound of a raccoon waddling back to its burrow, the earthy and not unpleasant scent of deer droppings in the underbrush, the tiny glowing eyes of the smallest forest creatures as they silently watched me pass. This was the part of wolf life I loved–the sense of connection with the woods and everything in them. Sometimes, it was almost enough to make up for all the costs of being a werewolf.

Tonight was one of those times. All the other pack members were asleep in human form, save Jake and me. Since I couldn't hear him either, I assumed Jake must not have phased yet,staying in human form in order to facilitate communication with the vampire members of our strange, extended family.

While the thoughts of my other pack brothers could still drive me to distraction, I didn't mind sharing Jake's thoughts nearly as much as I once had. His head was actually a pretty peaceful place to be these days. The angst that had always burdened him when he thought he was in love with Bella Swan was long gone.

If I had to put a name to Jake's perpetual state of mind since he imprinted on Renesmee, it would have to be "content." It seemed like removing all the pain, anger and jealousy from his soul had made room for his Alpha abilities to really bloom. Jake had become a good leader, an Alpha by birth-right rather than by virtue of having phased first, which was Sam's claim to the role.

Jake was an Alpha we followed because we chose to, not because we were compelled to. Although he certainly had the ability to force submission from pack members, he'd never once exercised it. And he'd discovered another aspect of his Alpha power–he could, when he wanted to, shield his own thoughts or the thoughts of another pack member from others in the group. He hadn't shared this information with anyone else but me, but he'd used that ability more than once to shield me from others in the pack when I was going through a particularly rough time.

And thanks in large part to Jake's friendship, those bad times were a lot fewer and farther between than they'd been for years. I owed him—big time.

Which is why I'm running through the forest at four a.m. heading to a houseful of leeches when I'd much rather be home in bed, I thought. Unfortunately, that thought led me right back into vivid memories of the dream I'd been having just before Jake's call woke me.

And of course, he picked that moment to phase and pop into my head, catching a full-color replay of the last few minutes of my sexy dream.

Jesus, Leah! What the fuck?

Sorry, sorry, sorry! I dodged a fallen tree trunk and catapulted over a small stream. Be there in a few more minutes. Tell me what's going on. Hoping he'd pretend he hadn't just caught all that.

Normally Jake wouldn't let me off so easy–none of them would. But my diversion worked instantly. His mind filled with images and memories of the past few hours, coming at me so quickly I had trouble making sense of them. I traced his projected memory thread back to its beginning.

Nahuel is back? Why?

I vaguely remembered the half-vampire, half-human from six years ago. Standing shoulder to shoulder with my pack brothers and a horde of non-vegetarian vampires, fully expecting a fight to the death with the Volturi, I'd been a little too distracted to really form any impression of the South American faux vamp and his full vampire aunt.

That's what we're about to find out, Jake thought. He's been in with the doc for a while now. He was pretty torn up when he first showed up. Lost a lot of blood. Carlisle has him on a drip, trying to kick his accelerated healing abilities into over-drive.

I caught an undercurrent of fear in Jake's thoughts. I didn't need the pack mind to tell me why Nahuel's injuries rattled him. If a hundred-fifty-year-old half vampire could get hurt, it meant Jake's barely matured imprint was vulnerable to injury too—something no one had ever been sure of before. Renesmee's durability was somewhere above a werewolf's but still less than a full vampire. No one had ever tested her limits, though, so she had no clue what those limits were. Now, Jake was getting an idea, albeit second-hand, and he didn't like it one bit.

Where's his aunt? Huilen, was it? I broke through the line of trees surrounding the Cullens' secluded mansion and crossed their broad lawn in half a dozen bounds, skidding to a stop in front of Jake. He was waiting for me by the front steps. Every window in the huge house was lit up, and light spilled from the open front door onto his bronze-tipped fur.

Another question to ask him. Jake turned his eyes toward the door just as Renesmee appeared there, carrying his cut-offs in her hands. She sprang lightly down the steps and went straight to him, resting her tiny hand on his huge shoulder. Her coppery hair tumbled in waves down her back. She wore a simple pair of jeans and a black T-shirt. She took after her mother when it came to her taste in fashion.

She looks like a freaking supermodel without even trying. Jake ignored my errant thought, turning his head to gently lay his huge forehead against hers. I felt a twinge of envy. I'd never seen a couple who appeared more at peace–or in tune–with each other. Who wouldn't feel at least a little bit envious?

After a moment of wordless communication with Jake, Renesmee turned her chocolate brown gaze on me.

"Hello, Leah," she said. "Thanks for coming so quickly." She turned back to Jacob. "Grandfather says Nahuel is stable enough to talk with us. Uncle Em and Dad are bringing him down to the living room. He started healing very quickly once he got some blood into his system. Grandfather thinks he'll feel a hundred percent better within the hour."

Renesmee glanced at me uncomfortably. Even knowing that the blood going into Nahuel's system was from Carlisle's stash of donated blood, I couldn't quite hide my shudder of disgust at the thought of anyone ingesting human blood. Jake rolled his huge black eyes.

IV drip, he reminded me. Oh yeah. That was just so much better.

"Jake, Dad thinks it would be best if you phase to human form and join us in the house," Renesmee continued. "Leah should be able to hear everything from out here."

I knew what she wasn't saying. Her suggestion that I remain in wolf form was for my benefit. All the Cullens knew I'd never be comfortable sitting in their house, like I was visiting for afternoon tea. I'd feel more secure if I was outside in wolf form. It was still weird after all these years how accepting and accommodating they were of my hang ups. At lot more accepting than some of my pack brothers were …

Jake pondered for half a second. That's actually not a bad idea, Leah. We don't know for sure that Nahuel is alone or not being followed. I'd feel a lot better knowing you're out here on patrol. You can run the perimeter and still hear what's going on in the house. If you have anything to add, Edward can translate for you.

I wasn't crazy about letting Jake walk in the house alone, in human form, with an unknown vampire-type in there. What if Nahuel found Jacob's blood as enticing as Renesmee did? She still bit him from time to time … whenever they were getting hot and heavy.

Jake growled at that last stray thought. Of course he knew I was aware of those times, but he'd really rather I try not to think about them … especially not when we were in the middle of a tense situation.

Not sorry this time, Jake, I thought back. Renesmee's not venomous so it's no biggie when she noshes on you and what you two crazy kids do in your private time is NOT something I care to speculate on. But Nahuel IS venomous, and that means he's dangerous to you. Even if you are the big, bad Alpha dog.

Jake rolled his eyes at me again and just waited. I relented. OK, you win. I might give in but damned if I'd admit he was right. I'll run patrol at the edge of hearing range.

He huffed once in agreement for Renesmee's benefit, before I spun on my heels and sprang toward the forest line. Behind me, I felt the surge of energy that meant Jake was phasing. I heard the rustling of clothes as he pulled on his cutoffs—Jake had no modesty around Renesmee these days.

Something was going on, that was for sure. Forks was hell and gone from South America, where Nahuel lived. He'd come a long way, in bad shape, to find the Cullens.

What the hell was up with him? And whatever it was, why was he here, dragging the Cullens—and my Alpha—into it?