A/N: Sorry this took so long, but school is wrapping up, so professors feel the need to give way too much stuff all at the same time.

Also the elusive creature known as "a social life" has sunk its claws into me, and I can't get free... I used to write on the weekends, but now I don't have time, so I have to fit it into my week somewhere. But I go home in less than a month, and hopefully that will let me write much more often!

I still don't own Twilight

Kat's POV

Walking back into the clearing outside the vamp's house had my stomach tied up into so many different kinds of knots that I didn't know if it would ever go back to normal. I had finally found my Imprint, after almost 50 years of a strange mix of pain and almost-happiness, I had the chance to be complete.

In some respects being a shifter did suck, mainly the fact that we needed our mate to feel like our life was full. Sure, we could try to fill the hole with someone other than our mate, and we could be happy. But there was always be that terrible nagging in the back of our heads that you might leave them one day, or in my case, that they might leave you. And I had other things in my life that made life a bit better, like a wonderful pride, but seeing them all with their true mates, even if Bella was still completely awkward around hers, it hurt a bit. I had spent countless nights fearing that I'd never find my true mate, that I'd be alone forever as some sort of sick punishment for my past.

"You look like you're going to pass out." Rikki drawled from right next to me.

"I might." I mumbled back as we left the comforting cover of the trees.

"Relax. She Imprinted on you, you Imprinted on her, everything is going to be fine." Danni chirped, ever the positive one.

"Let's just hope so…"

Walking into the large open area, I was immediately scanning for her, passing over the vampires that were still standing on the porch watching their guests uneasily. Following their gaze, I saw the small group of wolves that decided to stay.

One was Jacob, the wolf Bella had the little chat with yesterday, towering above his two companions, looking mostly at ease, though I could still see the tension in his stance. The male next to him was only a kid, no more than 14 or 15, obviously a new wolf. He was cute in that adorable kid kind of way, and didn't seem too bothered to be standing near a coven of vampires. He must have been the smaller sandy wolf that never left, and thinking back I remembered the oversized paws and look of wonder in those big brown eyes.

The last member of the little group was obviously the gray wolf that saved me from the crazy Alpha earlier. She was taller than the youngest wolf, and probably an inch or so taller than myself, but still shorter than Jacob, though I doubted many were taller than the giant. Her dark eyes shifted uneasily around the clearing, as if expecting an attack at any moment. She stood completely rigid, obviously wanting nothing more than to bolt from the clearing that smelled of her kind's primal enemy.

Eventually her eyes fell on my pride, and she quickly scanned each of our faces, finally stopping on mine with a look of utter confusion on her face. After a moment she seemed to try to get her expression under control, but I could still see the uncertainty shining in her eyes.

Pulling on my arm, Danni moved me gradually closer to the girl, and I was struck with how beautiful she looked. She was definitely more on the exotic side, with almond shaped eyes that somehow shinned even though they were dark brown and strong features. Dark hair hung to her chin, slightly mussed, though just shifting back had probably done that. She held herself in a very refined manner, though the subtle muscle hidden under her skin had me thinking that she could get down and dirty if she needed to.

Due to the constant tugging on my arm, I finally made it to the small group of wolves, but my gaze never left the female's.

"Hi." I managed to get out before the silence got to me.

"You're a girl." She blurted suddenly.

Well, shit… I grumbled in my head.

"Considering how old I am, it's probably more accurate to call me a woman, but sure, let's go with it." I chuckled uncomfortably.

"Sorry." She grimaced slightly, hopefully more at her own outburst and not at my gender. "It's just…"

"You didn't think you were interested in women?" I supplied and she nodded sheepishly.

"That's alright, Bella didn't think so either, but Kat got her to see the light." Danni spoke up, probably thinking she was helping. Two sets of growling met her words, one coming from the vamps and one coming from the wolf shifter in front of me.

"Danni." I growled at my tiny pride-mate that didn't quite know when to keep her mouth shut. She should know that new mates tended to be overly possessive.

"What?"

"Anyway." I turned back to the dark-haired girl in front of me, knowing that Danni was just trying to help. "How about we start from the beginning. My name's Katherine, but everyone just calls me Kat."

"Leah." She responded.

"I'm Seth, her brother." The younger wolf spoke up with a huge grin on her face.

"I'm Danni, and this is my mate Rikki, and I think you know Bella already." Danni supplied with just as much as enthusiasm as Seth.

"Well, I think we have a lot to talk about." Leah addressed me. "But I'd prefer to do that somewhere without an audience." She shot a quick glare at the vampires.

"Good call." I agreed. "Any suggestions?"

"I know a place."

XXXXX

"A cliff?" I asked once Leah had stopped, still panting slightly.

After a quick goodbye to those in the clearing Leah had taken off running, forcing me to quickly go after her. She didn't even hesitate to leap over the river on the border, landing gracefully on the other side even in her human form. On the other hand, I had to pause briefly after the jump to collect myself and start running after her again. I had never been the fastest of shifters, but Leah seemed to have the speed of a freaking cheetah as she sped through the forest.

Finally, after a lengthy run, we ended up at some cliffs on the Rez, which of course had me glancing around to make sure a certain wolf wasn't going to jump out at me.

"Not quite." She turned and told me with a small smile before she jumped over the side of the cliff.

"What the-" I quickly made my way to the edge to see her hanging to the cliff face, making her way down to a small ledge.

"What are you waiting for?" She looked up and asked in challenge.

So she wanted to play a bit? That I could work with.

With a smirk I focused on the small ledge, then threw myself off the cliff edge. Leah looked panicked for a moment as I dropped past her, but collected herself as I landed on the ledge.

"Are you coming?" I teased as she just hung there staring at me.

"Showoff." She muttered as she made her way down.

"Why yes I am." I chuckled.

"Well Miss Showoff, if you turn around, that's where we're going." Leah informed me as she landed on the platform.

I turned, as per her instructions, and found myself staring into a shallow cave, complete with a blanket on the floor.

"Were you expecting someone?" I asked as I made my way to the blanket.

"No, I just come here a lot to get away." She told me as she sat down.

"What, pack life that stressful?" I sat too, leaning back onto my hands.

"Life in general." She answered, glaring at the blanket.

"Might help to share." I offered.

"Why not?" She chuckled humorlessly before blowing out a long breath. "For starters, I wasn't supposed to shift."

"Right, your kind is mostly male, right?"

"It's supposed to be exclusively male. The sons of the original Alpha are the ones that shift. Then, all of the sudden, I'm a wolf and everyone's freaking out." She said as she pulled her knees to her chest.

"Oh."

"And my poor father, I scared him, and stressed him out so bad that his heart just gave out." She choked out, trying to stop her tears. I had no idea what to do, though I was fighting the urge to get up and wrap her in a hug and try to make it all better. However, I don't think she would have appreciated that very much considering all she knew about me was my name and the fact I was a shifter.

"I'm so sorry." I finally decided to just blurt that out.

"I know he was going to pass soon, he had serious heart problems, but the fact that it was right after I shifted made everything worse."

"Everything?"

"Yeah, there's more. You remember Sam?" She asked, glancing up at me.

"How could I forget your wonderfully kind Alpha?" I sneered.

"He wasn't always that… harsh. In fact, he used to be a really great guy. Kind and caring." As she spoke I could see the pain building up in her face, mixed with the bittersweet tone of her voice.

"You two were together, weren't you?" I asked as gently as I could.

"Yeah, for three years. But then he Imprinted on my cousin." She bit out.

"If it makes you feel any better, I do know how that feels." I told her, laying a hand on her arm. Her head shot up and she met my gaze.

"You're the only one. The rest of the pack keeps telling me to get over it." She gave me a small smile.

"It's not something you get over. Especially when you're that deep in love."

"I was with Sam for three years, you were with Bella for what, two months? It's not really the same." She turned away from me.

"I was with someone for five years when they left me for their Imprint." I told her, trying not to snap. I knew the pain, and how you thought no one could understand, but I didn't like people talking to me like they knew everything about me. "In fact, I was so angry that I tore a chunk out of the poor guy's face. He's going to have to bear that forever, and she's going to be reminded of how much she hates me every time she looks at her mate." I told her, trying to hold back my own tears.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know."

"Well now you do." I murmured, starting at the ground and pulling my knees to my chest.

We lapsed into a silence after that, neither of us knowing what to say next. I idly began tracing a scar on my calf, whether it was from claws or fangs I couldn't say. I had a number of scars, all a result of one particularly violent piece of my past, yet all carrying their own story. Luckily only one set caused me any pain anymore; the four long jagged tears in my back that never healed properly. Occasionally they would burn or prickle, an unyielding reminder of the thing that gave them to me.

"How did you get that?" My head shot up at Leah's sudden question.

"Excuse me?"

"The scars." She blushed slightly. "I mean, I don't want to pry, but I thought shifters healed almost instantaneously in most cases."

"My kind heals a bit slower than that, but that's the general idea."

"Then how-"

"There are a few things out there that will permanently scar us. Vampire teeth, the claws and teeth of shifters, certain metals coated in certain herbs, things like that." I finished.

"How do you know so much about all this?" She asked with a humorless laugh.

"Well, being around for fifty years helps."

"Yeah, that would." She paused for a moment before asking the question that I was dreading ever since she started the line of questioning. "Did you get into a nasty fight with another group of shifters or something."

"Or something."

"What happened?"

"Something I really don't want to talk about." She opened her mouth to retort, but I quickly cut her off. "Look, it took me four years to tell Danni and Rikki, and the only reason Bella knows is because she's much more observant and nosy than people give her credit for, and she deserved to know since she was joining the pride, and that still took three months."

"And as your Imprint I don't deserve to know?" Leah's voice held barely concealed anger, making me feel slightly sick.

"You do deserve to know, but I'd rather wait a little bit. It's not a pleasant story, for me or for the people I tell it to. All I'm asking is that you give me a little bit of time. I promise you that I will tell you, just not right now." I was basically pleading with her by the end of my little speech.

"Fair enough." Leah said after a pause. "Besides, it sounds a bit heavy for first date material." She said with a small smirk, trying to lighten the mood.

"Oh, so this is a date? If I'd have known that I would have worn something that doesn't smell like vamp." I asked with a matching smirk, glad for the change of topic.

"Speaking of, why were you hanging around them? It can't be fun for your nose, and they're vampires, which should be enough for you to avoid them."

"Trust me, if it were up to me I would be far away from the leeches." She looked slightly surprised at my choice of words. "But it's not up to me, Bella Imprinted on one of them. Didn't Jacob tell you that, or didn't you hear it through the pack mental link?"

"He seemed intent on hiding something while we were running towards you. Don't know why." She shrugged.

"Maybe he was trying to hide who we were as humans."

"So which one did she Imprint on? Just tell me it wasn't that horrible mind reader." Leah shuddered slightly.

"No, it was Alice, the little one." I told her.

"So is being into women a requirement for your kind?" She teased.

"Nope, just for my pride." I joked back.

XXXXX

Bella's POV

I watched as Kat ran after her Imprint, a smile on my face as they all but sprinted from the clearing. Jacob and Seth left shortly after, Jake giving me a huge hug before I could stop him and Seth laughing the whole time. I couldn't help but laugh as well, the big shifter's happiness seemingly contagious. Sadly, that smile didn't get to last long as I heard a voice behind me.

"Bella." I turned slowly to see Edward standing a respectable distance from me.

"Yes?" I growled.

"I was wondering if we could talk, preferably without an audience or any violence this time."

"The violence was avoidable, you're the one that threw Kat out a window." I reminded him.

"And I realize how terrible that was for me to do, and how stupid and reckless I was acting." He assured me, but I was not convinced. After all, not many people change their mind that fast, especially when that person has been around for over 100 years. "Please."

"Fine." I grudgingly accepted, knowing he wouldn't let it go.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Rikki asked, placing a hand on my arm.

"I'll be fine unless he does something stupid again." I made sure I spoke loud enough for him to hear me. "And we'll stay close enough that you'll hear any… disagreement." I finally decided on a polite word to use.

"Thank you Bella."

"Let's just get this over-"

As I was grumbling I heard a gasp, prompting me to turn my head quickly to see Alice tense up. Before I could even think about it I was right in front of her, placing my hands on her face and trying to get her to look at me.

"It's just a vision, don't worry Bella." Jasper reassured me, but I couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. Sadly, I was proven correct as Alice's face contorted in terror and a small whimper left for parted lips.

"Alice, look at me. Please, it's okay." I tried to coax her out of the vision, but her eyes remained glassy, her body tense and shaking, and her face terrified. "Edward, what's she seeing?" I snapped at the mind reader.

"I don't know." He growled in confusion.

"What do you mean you don't know? Can't you see it?" I snarled.

"I can see blurs and flashes. Nothing is making sense." He elaborated, running a hand through his hair in frustration.

"Bella." A whimper had me snapping my head around to look at Alice, whose eyes were clearing up slightly, though I could still feel tremors running through her.

"I'm right here Alice, it's okay." I reassured her. She let out a small sob and launched herself into my arms.

"They keep getting worse." She said bitterly into my shoulder.

"The visions? Are you saying it's that same vision again?" I asked, stroking her hair.

"Yes. I still can't get anything clear, but I can almost feel the pain and anger of the people in the clearing."

"We'll figure it out, don't worry." I hugged her closer to me, feeling the need to protect and comfort my mate.

Yes, we'd figure it out, we had to, because it was clear that whatever Alice

was seeing was still coming, and it wasn't going to be pretty.

A/N: So I thought I'd try something new with the 2 points of view, but if you hated it you can let me know, but so many of you seemed to like Kat, so I wanted you to get the chance to be with her while she talked to her mate.

As always, reviews are greatly appreciated!