A/N: As always, I don't own Twilight, obviously or things would be very different. Anyway, reviews are always appreciated! They let me know if this story sucks or not!

"Bella!" A loud squeal and a solid weight crashing into me woke me abruptly from a deep sleep. Of course, being a terrible morning person, I had no idea what in the world was going on, so my first reaction was to throw myself out of the grip of my attacker. This, of course, caused me to fall half on the ground, as the other person in my bed still had hold of my waist.

"Bella?" The voice called to me again, so I finally decided to open my eyes and try to figure out what was going on.

"Danni?" I squinted into the light that was half-hiding the girl above me.

"Hi Bella." She grinned down at me.

"When did you get back?" I asked her.

"About ten minutes ago." She told me. "Did you want me to let you go?"

"That would be good." I laughed and let my head to fall to the floor. A moment later my lower body joined my upper body on the floor. "Thanks."

"No problem." Danni chirped, then suddenly changed the topic. "So, I heard you went on a date two nights ago." Danni's tone made it obvious she wanted me to tell her everything.

"I did." I simply stated, pushing myself off the floor.

"And?" Danni prompted.

"And what?" I asked innocently as I looked up at her, enjoying the teasing.

"Come on!" Danni whined.

"Fine." I chuckled. "Alice took me on a picnic, we talked, and then she kissed me goodbye at the door."

"She what?!" Danni screeched and threw herself on top of me, knocking me back to the floor and enveloping me in a bone-crushing hug. "Yes! It's about damn time."

"Nice to see you're so interested in my love life." I chuckled, not even bothering to try and get out of the embrace; after all, there was really no point. Danni had quite the vice grip, and not many people actually knew how to break it.

"I'm just happy that it's all working out." She assured me, still gripping me a bit too tightly.

"Great, now could you let up a bit, I think I heard something crack."

"Fine." She gave me one more squeeze and let go. "Ya big baby."

"Thank you."

"Oh!" Danni suddenly exclaimed, hopping up, leaving me sprawled on the floor.

"What?" I asked, a little concerned at the sudden mood change.

"I'm supposed to tell you that we, as in all of us, are going to meet the Council on the Reservation tonight. I guess they decided it was about time to meet their neighbors."

"What about Sam? Did we ever find out what he meant by the attacking people thing?" I asked wearily.

"He won't explain that, but Kat said that Leah said that he was still pissed off, but would never go against the Council's orders." Danni told me, still looking a bit unsure herself.

"Let's hope so…" I prayed.

XXXXX

I had just stepped out of the house when I heard a familiar voice calling my name from the woods on my right. Turning, I saw Alice break through the tree line and run up to my side.

"Um, hi?" I greeted, but tilted my head slightly in confusion.

"Sorry for the sudden interruption," she threw behind me at my three pride-mates, "but…" She suddenly broke off, seeming unsure of what she wanted to say.

"But what?" I prompted.

"Well…" She started, then seemed to decide and flew into a rambling explanation. "Recently I've been getting more visions of you, not really true visions, just flashes of images and sounds, but enough to give me an idea of what's going on. And, well, I was checking up on you, and yes, I know that that is kind of an invasion of privacy, but I worry sometimes, and I suddenly saw your future disappear and I got worried. So here I am." She finished all in one breath.

"Geez, and I thought you talked too fast." I heard Rikki mutter to who I assume was Danni behind me.

"You're getting visions of me?" I asked.

"Not just you actually. It's all of your pride." Alice explained.

"And my future disappears soon?" I asked, confused as to why her visions seemed to be so bipolar recently.

"Of course it does." Kat broke in, prompting us all to look at her. "We're going into the other shifter's territory, and Alice can't see them."

"You're going to La Push?" Alice asked, obviously panicked.

"Yes. The council wants to speak with us."

"But they were hostile! You're walking into a place with at least ten wolves that want to hurt you, and a place my family can't go. Are you crazy?" Alice asked, obviously trying not to screech.

"They're not hostile." Kat growled slightly, but seemed to reconsider her words after a moment. "Not all of them at least. And the Council has always wanted to speak with us, but something set the Alpha off. Hopefully we can figure out what it was and fix it."

"It still sounds like a stupid and pointless risk to me." Alice shot back.

"Look, believe it or not, I'm not forcing Bella to come. She can stay here if she wants. So don't get mad at me for her decision." Kat retorted, causing Alice to let out a huff and turn towards me.

"Would you be mad if I asked you to stay?" She asked in a tiny voice, a small pout on her lips.

"No. I get that you're just worried about me." Alice visibly brightened at my words. "But I'm still going. They're my pride and I need to stand with them." Alice's face fell again. "Don't worry, I'll be fine. The wolves won't hurt us, not as long as the Council accepts us."

"Fine." Alice grumbled. "But will you come to see me when you get back? Just to put my mind at ease?"

"Of course." I chuckled, then pulled her tiny frame into a hug. "And for the record, I appreciate that you worry about me."

"Alright. I guess I'll see you later then." Alice pulled away and took a step back.

"Yeah, I promise I'll come straight to your place when we get back." I chuckled.

"Actually, I wouldn't mind a shower and change of clothes first." Alice told me and wrinkled her nose. "Those dogs smell horrible."

"'Cause your family smells like a basket of roses…" Rikki grumbled.

Ignoring my snarky pride-mate, I kept my focus on my mate. "Sounds good to me."

"Okay, well, bye then." Alice grinned and sped away.

"Now that that's over with, we ready to go?" Kat asked, raising a brow at me.

"Yeah, sorry." I blushed slightly and hung my head.

"Aww, don't be sorry Bells. I think it's cute that your mate is so protective of you." Danni assured me.

"Yeah, adorable." Rikki's response practically dripped with sarcasm. And to my surprise, Kat snorted in agreement a moment later.

XXXXX

We arrived at the meeting spot without any more distractions, all of us stepping out of the car and scanning the present crowd. The wolves were easy to pick out, all being tall, muscular, men, most of which were shirtless, with the exception of Leah of course. The other attendees seemed to be family of the wolves, all talking and gossiping among each other. A handful of older, very dignified looking men, and one woman, sat around a fire pit, all staring directly at us.

"Hey Bella." I turned to see Jacob, leading two other wolves, walking straight towards us.

"Jake." I greeted him with a smile.

"It's good to see you here again." He told me, wrapping me into a hug.

"It's good to be back." I agreed, just then realizing how much I had missed the afternoons spent with Jacob after Edward had left. "So who are these two?"

"Oh, right." He collected himself and motioned to the boy to his left. "This is Quil," and then he motioned to the right, "and this is Embry."

"You've actually met us once before, but we were a bit scrawnier back then." Embry told me with a laugh.

"Speak for yourself! I was never scrawny." Quil protested, playfully smacking Embry on the shoulder.

"You two came around when Jacob was working in the garage, right?" I asked, trying to dive into the semi-painful memories during my depression.

"See, she sees the resemblance." Quil puffed out his chest in pride.

"You're delusional…" Embry face-palmed.

"Whatever." Quil dismissed. "So, who are these lovely ladies? I've met Kat, but not you two."

"Out of your league." Rikki smirked.

"Rikki!" Danni smacked her arm.

"Fine, fine." Rikki threw up her hands in surrender.

"Well, the tall and moody one would be Rikki." I informed them. "The little one is her Imprint, Danni."

"Nice to meet you two." Embry greeted, but I could tell he was a bit disappointed that the two were taken.

"So everyone in your pride is Imprinted on a female?" Quil asked.

"Yes, is that a problem?" Rikki asked, her eyes flashing dangerously.

"No, not at all!" Quil held up his hands to show he didn't mean anything by his comment. "It's just an interesting coincidence is all."

"Rikki just likes to cause trouble, don't worry about her." I assured the terrified shifter.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Leah starting to make her way over towards us, or Kat at least, but a commotion from over by the Council stopped everyone in their tracks.

"That's our cue to head over there." Jacob declared, slinging an arm around my shoulders.

"I want to thank you all for gathering today." Billy Black called out. "As many of you have heard, a new group of shapeshifters has moved onto the Cullen's land. Now, in the beginning the pack was unsure of what this new scent on the land was, and deemed it a threat. However, after one of the wolves had a conversation with the shifters, it was agreed that we would hear their case and decide if they were allowed to remain, or if they were a threat.

"However, Sam Uley decided to challenge the shifters as he viewed them as highly dangerous." Murmurs spread through the crowd, and many glanced at the Alpha who was standing slightly apart from the crowd, glaring harshly at my pride. "During this meeting, one of our wolves Imprinted on one of the other shifters. The Council has taken this as a sign that the new shifters are not a threat, as the spirits have blessed the union of our two kinds."

"However, some still are weary of the new shapeshifters." The older man sitting next to Billy spoke up, drawing attention to himself. "Therefore, we ask the leader of this new group to speak her case, and we will make our final decision after."

"Well, that's my cue…" Kat murmured and stepped forward, walking up to the Council. "First, I would like to thank the Council for agreeing to let me speak. My name is Katherine Hathaway, and I'm the leader of my pride. I understand that many of you may be weary of a new kind of supernatural moving in so close, but I promise that we are not a threat to your people.

"I brought my pride here because I thought Forks was going to be a small, quiet town. I had no idea that it was a magnet for supernaturals. After catching the scent of your pack we were content with leaving, but an altercation with a vampire resulted in us adding Bella to our pride, and this is her home. We found it unfair to ask her to leave her entire life behind.

"Once it was decided that we were going to stay, I tried to speak with your Alpha, but our scent set the whole pack off. I don't blame Sam's aggression towards us, so I ask that the challenge on the Cullen land will not held against him. Throughout my life I've learned that many other supernaturals can be very territorial, and in essence, we were invading your land." Kat directed the last part of her explanation at Sam, to which he only nodded slightly.

"But now that our two groups have met each other, I would like to ask that we at least attempt to coexist. I can guarantee that we are not threats to your people, or the people of Forks. We only want to live in peace until we have to move on." Kat finished her speech, and the Council members all shared a glance.

"We believe that you don't wish to be a threat to our people. But there's still the matter of the attacks-" The one woman on the council, I believe it was Leah's mother began to speak, but was cut off abruptly as one of the members of the pack came bursting though the trees panting heavily.

"There's been another attack!" He managed to call out.

"I knew it!" Sam roared, stalking towards Kat. "I knew you were attacking our people!"

"Are you insane? We've been here all this time." Kat stood back, shocked. Danni, Rikki, and I made our way over to Kat to stand by her just incase Sam attacked.

"Who knows, maybe you did it before this meeting. But this is the third human torn apart by an unnaturally large animal. I know for a fact that it's not any of my wolves, so it has to be one of your cats." Sam growled out at her.

Apparently this was Kat's breaking point, with a snarl of her own she grabbed the collar of Sam's shirt and pulled his face down to hers. All of the wolves tensed, surrounding us in a moment.

"You listen to me pup," she hissed the word at him, "I may have done some horrible things in my life, but I have never, ever, harmed a human. And being accused of killing humans is not the way to get on my good side." She shoved him away, causing him to stumble slightly before collecting himself. "I know for a fact that none of my pride killed anyone."

"Then who is?" Sam snapped.

"I don't know, but if something is killing humans, then we should be working together to stop it, not fighting and blaming one another." Kat barked back. "But if you take me to the body, I might be able to give a guess."

"How do I know you're not going to just attack me as soon as my back is turned?" Sam asked.

"Oh for the love of-" Kat pinched the bridge of her nose. "You bring a wolf, I'll bring a cat. That should work." Kat suggested.

"Fine. Jacob." Sam called for his Beta, who stepped out from right behind me, startling me slightly.

"Bella." Kat walked up to me, surprising me. I had no idea why she'd take me instead of Rikki.

"Why her." Rikki spoke quietly, trying to keep the conversation private.

"Because you'd be far too worried about leaving Danni here with the pack." Kat answered. Rikki opened her mouth to argue, but thought better of it and nodded.

"Let's go." Sam called out.

"Lead the way." Kat motioned for Sam to move.

Sam let out a grunt and took off into the forest, Jacob, Kat, and I all following close behind. It wasn't long before a scent assaulted my nose, almost causing me to stop. The stench was like a dead animal, covered in week old blood, drug though dung, and then allowed to hang in the sun for days.

"What is that?" I choked out.

"The smell? It's not that bad." Jake told me.

"No, it really isn't." Kat agreed.

I was about to argue when we broke into a clearing, a little away from a house.

"Sam, isn't that your house?" Jacob asked.

"Yes." He let out a clipped answer.

"That's the body?" Kat asked, motioning to the heap lying on the ground.

"Yes." Sam answered. Kat glanced at him, then made her way over to the dead human. I hesitantly followed, careful to breath out of my nose, because no matter how bad the smell was, I didn't want to have to taste it for the rest of the day.

"Shit…" Kat muttered, as she looked the corpse over. I ran my eyes over it, and had to fight the urge to loose everything in my stomach.

The body had been torn apart by a huge animal, there was no doubt about that. Huge gashes, at least two inches wide ran across the flesh, along with chunks torn out by jagged teeth most likely. Due to all the mutilation, I couldn't even tell if the body was male or female.

"So, any ideas what did this." Sam asked, his anger seemingly gone in the face of the tragedy. Kat didn't answer; instead she continued to examine the body, hovering a hand over a few of the scratches, furrowing her brow at the damage.

Suddenly, Kat leapt up, backtracking at least ten feet from the body, a petrified expression on her face. Her chest began heaving, her eyes turned a pale green, claws extended from her fingers, and fangs were visible in her open mouth.

"Kat! Kat, what is it?" I rushed to her, gripping her shoulders.

"Damn, what's the matter with her?" Jacob asked, rushing up to our side as well.

"Werewolf." Kat whimpered.

"I told you that my wolves aren't responsible." Sam growled.

"No." Kat swallowed hard and shook her head, trying to get control of herself. "An actual werewolf."

"Is that what that smell is?" I asked.

"Yes, but it seems to be much stronger to you for some reason." Kat told me.

"So what are we going to do about this?" Sam asked.

"I'm not sure. I guess we could…" Kat trailed off suddenly, eyes wide.

"What?" Jake asked, glancing over his shoulder, then spinning around entirely.

I spun around as well, almost jumping out of my skin when I saw a huge beast, at least seven feet at the shoulder, stepping out of the woods. The first thing I noticed was that it looked nothing like an actual wolf; instead, its muzzle was short, drool mixed with blood dripping off of dozens of jagged, razor sharp teeth. Long ears with tufted fur were pressed against its skull. Its front paws looked more like human hands than animal paws, complete with a thumb, each finger tipped with a wicked looking claw coated in blood. Blood, dirt, and who knows what else were matted in its long, tangled brown fur. Massive shoulders towered above its lowered head, and a long tail whipped behind the beast.

With a deafening roar it leapt forward, claws outstretched at the four of us. The wolves leapt left and Kat and I jumped to the right, Kat landing with a roll to end up on her hands and knees. Then, her body started vibrating and a huge snow leopard was suddenly snarling at the werewolf.

Recovering quickly, Sam and Jacob shifted as well, resulting in two huge wolves standing shoulder-to-shoulder facing the beast. Not to be left behind, I shifted as well, standing next to Kat, roaring at the werewolf.

Is there a trick to killing it? I asked Kat.

"Don't let it get a hold of you." She told me through the link. "That and aim for the back of its neck."

The werewolf was swinging its head back and forth between us and the wolves before it suddenly made up its mind and lunged at Sam and Jacob. Kat quickly took off towards the retreating creature, but not before it reached the wolf shifters.

Jacob managed to evade the claws aimed at his head, and even managed to swipe at the werewolf's side as he passed. However, Sam was not so lucky, as he leapt out of the way the werewolf managed to sink a paw into his side, blood spurting from the slashes. To make matters worse, the werewolf claws didn't come out of Sam's flesh, and the black wolf was pulled towards the massive jaws of his attacker a moment later.

Luckily for him, Kat jumped on the werewolf's back at that moment, sinking her claws into its pelt and wrapping her jaws around its neck. I reached the beast a moment later and sunk my teeth into its hind leg.

The beast reared, trying to unlatch Kat, effectively releasing Sam in the process. When Kat held on it landed back on four feet with a thud, then started bucking wildly. Being jerked around rapidly caused my hold to loosen, and a moment later a back foot slammed into my face, knocking me back. Jacob soon took my place, and I returned to hold onto the other leg.

Kat, by some miracle, was still holding onto the back of the werewolf's neck, trying to slowly suffocate the monster in a death bite. And, thankfully, it seemed to be working. The werewolf was slowing down, rearing and bucking with less ferocity due to the loss of both blood and oxygen.

With its last effort, the werewolf managed to flip its upper body over, prompting Kat to let go and jump off its back. Once halfway on its back however, Kat latched back onto its neck, clamping down and holding on even when a clawed foot sliced her left front leg.

Eventually the twitching beast became still, the ragged breathing ceased, and the heartbeat stopped. Kat let go of its neck, and Jacob and I let go of its back legs. With a violent twitch the creature slowly contorted back into a human form, much to my surprise. Instead of a dead werewolf, a battered and bloody man was left lying naked in the grass.

"That always happens when they die. It's the only time they get to be in this form again, in death." Kat's voice rang through my head.

A bark broke my concentration on the now human werewolf, causing me to look up at Jacob as he jogged over to Sam, who was lying in the grass still bleeding. Kat and I made our way over as well, and I noticed that the Alpha was whimpering quietly as his side continued to gush blood.

"Why isn't he healing?" A now human Jacob asked, running his hands over the blood-matted fur.

Kat, needing to communicate with Jacob, shifted back as well. "It's a wound from another supernatural. That means it heals slower and that it's going to scar. He needs medical attention to make sure the gashes heal correctly."

"They can heal wrong? What happens then?" Jake asked.

"Then the scars are much worse, and they'll continue to cause pain his whole life." Kat responded, a hand going to her back where her four gashes still stood out starkly against her skin.

"You need help too then." Jacob pointed out, motioning to her arm.

"This is nothing. Let's focus on him first." Kat said.

Jake nodded then stepped back to shift back, after all if we had to carry a six-foot tall wolf we needed to be in our animal forms. Jacob tried to maneuver Sam onto his back, and I helped, finally managing to get the Alpha on Jacob's back. Kat shifted as well, leading us into the woods.

To make sure Sam didn't fall Kat walked on one side of him, and I walked on the other. The trip was painfully slow, as Jacob couldn't run without Sam falling.

After what seemed like forever, we emerged from the tree line, and effectively walked into chaos.