~Chapter 4~

Silver Lining

And I'm not going back, into rags or into the hole. And our bruises are coming, but we will never fold. - Rilo Kiley "Silver Lining".

The two groups stood face to face in a massive clearing. They were all in human form, obviously still feeling each other out. Sam and the alpha of the non-Quileute pack, a woman of twenty-one named Kate, stood tensely facing each. Sam studied her, the light tan in her proud face. Of all of this new pack, she was the only one who looked native at all. He didn't like them here though, but Paul and Jared had brought them here and now they couldn't just chase them away. If they did, they could still run into the Cullens elsewhere and find Jacob in Edward's body and possibly destroy him. He didn't like the fact that they weren't under his control, that this woman who stared him down with her dark eyes, was older than him and wasn't Quileute. Her eyes didn't stay on Sam, which perturbed him more, she wasn't intimidated by his presence.

Sam had left Seth and Leah patrolling the borders of their land, Quil and Embry hid in the woods in human form just watching and Sam stood with Paul and Jared against the pack of five.

"Is this really necessary?" She finally asked, breaking the silence.

"Is what necessary?" Sam questioned.

"The standoff. Your pack asked us to come and we did... either we talk or me and mine will leave." She replied.

Sam's jaw tightened, he didn't like the tone she took with him. "Fine. We talk."

"Here?" She asked, looking around to make a point. "In the middle of the woods?"

"You're not coming onto our land until we have some kind of arrangement." Sam said.

Her lips curled in a smirk, "You can't stop us. We're like you. We're Quileute."

Jacob sat on the porch, deep in thought. There was a new pack in town, he was trapped in Edward's body and Edward was trapped in his. He was trying to process it all but it seemed so overwhelming. Worse yet was the constant chattering of everyone's thoughts. He couldn't shut it off, it was this constant buzz in the back of his head and it was driving him crazy.

Edward, on the other hand, was experiencing taste for the first time in nearly a century. He felt so hungry, he couldn't quench the hunger. His body was burning calories at such an alarming rate and there wasn't much food in the house. He leaned his head back and poured ketchup into his mouth, "It's so good." He said, as Jasper and Alice watched in gross fascination.

"Edward, you should pace yourself. You don't want to make yourself sick." Alice advised.

He smiled, licking the last of the ketchup off his lips. "You have a point." His stomach gave a loud rumbling noise, obviously unhappy with the type of food he was eating. His nose wrinkled a little at the feeling but when the phone rang he pushed it aside.

Jasper picked it up, "Cullen residence. Hi Bella, no... it's not a good time."

At the mention of Bella's name, Edward ran over to the phone and stole it from Jasper, "Bella. You shouldn't have called."

She was quiet for a moment, "Is this really you Edward?" She asked.

He smiled a little, "Yes Bella, it's me."

He could hear her chewing on her lip as she sat silent on the phone for a minute, "This is so weird."

"I know it is." He said, his stomach giving another rumble- this one louder than the other. "We'll figure it out."

"When can I see you?" She asked.

He took a deep breath, uncertain of that answer but before he could answer he felt something deep in his stomach that wasn't pleasant. His face fell, "Oh God." He said, dropping the phone and running to the bathroom. He barely made it there and got his pants off and seated before his stomach gave him its opinion on the noxious mixture of food he was partaking in.

Alice picked up the phone, hearing Bella call out for Edward. She was trying so hard to not laugh at the situation, but it was too funny to her. "Bella, he's okay. He's just been eating for a bit and mixing things I don't think anyone would ever dream of mixing."

Bella didn't quite understand, but she knew she couldn't stay at home anymore. She had to help, somehow.

"Bella, no." Alice said, seeing the vision almost immediately as Bella decided to come over. "Jacob is here, he has nowhere else to go. He's as dangerous as a newborn vampire almost, Edward's had years of practice to control himself around you but Jacob might not. And even if he couldn't, is it fair to either of them if you come over?"

"Fair?" Bella questioned.

"Edward is in Jacob's body with no control over his anger and Jacob is in Edward's body with no control over his thirst, either one of them could hurt you and neither of them would forgive himself or the other for hurting you."

"I'll take that risk. I'm not worried about being hurt."

"Bella, it's not safe." Alice said again. "Not just you but them. They can both seriously hurt or even kill the other. You and one of them or even both could die if you come over. I know it's the worst thing in the world right now Bella, but you have to stay away. At least for now. In the future, it might be better but for now... you have to stay away."

Bella exhaled, hating this. "Fine. I won't come now, but please... please... the moment I can see them- either of them, please call me."

"We will." Alice said. "Promise." She said before hanging up.

Sam lead the new pack to an area of the woods where he would have meetings with the La Push pack away from people. Quil and Embry moved out of the shadows and it was even at five and five. Kate knew their arrival meant that Sam was threatened. She knew she had to do something to show she wasn't a threat.

Her eyes turned to her pack, to her half-sister and to the three men who made up her pack. Her sister Grace, wouldn't be considered a threat. While Kate was tall and proud, Grace was nearly half a foot shorter and waif like. Kate exuded power and confidence and Grace was sensuality and femininity.

The next less intimidating was Caleb, despite his height he had a gangly and gawky look. He didn't look like he knew what to do with his height and build. Caleb wore a dopey grin on his face, he didn't really understand the full weight of this meeting. He was also the most recent turn which was why Kate knew he wasn't right.

The last two males were the tallest and shortest but the two strongest. One, Tristan- the tallest of the guys, had a calm patience to his face though his eyes betrayed his distrust. The other, Drew, looked like he wanted to lunge at Sam and rip his head off. She knew he was too volatile to stay.

"Drew, Caleb... How about you run back to Ocean Shores and get the car?" She asked, pulling out her keys and tossing them to Drew.

His dark eyes moved to her, he didn't like that request. She gave a look to him, showing him that his disobedience would not be tolerated. Drew nodded and he took off at a jog towards the woods. Caleb took off after. Within moments they were gone.

Kate looked to Sam, she had sent half of her pack away to show Sam that there was no need to fear them. Sam didn't seem too impressed with it though. He didn't send any of his pack away to even it. Instead he moved down the path and signaled the others to stay. Kate did the same. She stopped though, looking to Grace and Tristan. She didn't like how her sister was looking at all the boys. "Keep an eye on her."

"Prude." Grace muttered.

Tristan chuckled and nodded, his shaggy auburn brown hair falling into his blue hazel eyes. "Will do."

Kate smiled and moved down the path after Sam. They reached a small creek with a fallen log near it. She moved and sat on the log.

"You said you were Quileute." Sam said.

Kate nodded. "We are. Not full like you guys, but 1/16th. A couple of us are a quarter. Caleb has legal status as a Quileute. Trust me, it wasn't an easy connection to make between us."

"So how did it happen?" Sam asked, leaning against a tree.

"I was first." The brunette woman began. "I go... I went to college in Seattle."

"U Dub?" Sam asked.

Kate smirked a little, "Yeah, no... Seattle Central Community College. I didn't have the grades or money for the University of Washington. I just wanted out of Auburn. I wanted a big city. It's where it happened. There was all these murders going on... vampiric attacks." She said. "I'd been temperamental, feverish but I tried to ignore it to go to this party by the waterfront. I shifted there the first time. I had to hide for days in a condemned warehouse until I could shift back. I thought I'd gone crazy so I withdrew from school and tried to figure it out. I couldn't shift while living in the city so I'd drive out to areas like Bothell, Redmond, or back home to Auburn where there was more cover for me. That's where I found Tristan. He'd been at University, Western Washington University, and he'd come to Seattle to visit a friend and ended up triggering his shift."

Sam listened, it made sense. They hadn't been able to get into Seattle because of their size. The vampire army feasted and grew there unchecked. People with Quileute blood had been in their presence and it drew the wolves deep out of their genes. "And the others?"

"Tristan and I would try to pick some out from the group, the uncounted strays as we called them. Draw them away and eliminate them. We killed one and its mate had been watching. It followed me for days. It followed me back to Auburn and that's when Grace was triggered. It's how I found out I had a half sister actually."

Sam gave a nod, he knew how that was. Embry was quite likely his half brother, if not his then Quil or Jake, but he looked nothing like Quil so it was either him or Jake.

"After she was triggered, the three of us chased that fang all the way down to Oregon. It's where Drew was. He'd turned not long after me. His girlfriend had been killed by a vampire from the Seattle army in front of him. He shifted right then, killed the vampire, then ran home and hid in the woods. He couldn't get past his anger to shift back, not without help." She explained. "We met up with Caleb who came across the army when they were on the move this way."

"You didn't join the fight?" Sam asked.

"There are five of us. We've never taken more than one or two at a time. As much as our instincts told us to fight, I wasn't going to risk my pack. We've been watching. No murders, no nothing. So we left it. We tried to figure out how this happened to us and it's when we came across the genetic links that bound us. It was Caleb. He's very proud to be Quileute, even if he's never been on your land before today."

Sam smirked a little, they weren't on tribal land yet but the thought was still funny. He exhaled, "Why won't you join our pack then? We can teach you everything you need to know."

"Because it's hard enough being in a pack mind with four other people, joining yours will overwhelm us. And this land is your life. It's not ours. We have lives, jobs, school... we'll have to get back to that sooner or later. We can't give everything up, if we could we might join but at the same time that's a lot for me to give up. It's their trust in me I'd be relinquishing. I can't."

Sam nodded, it made sense. Well, at least the thought did but the fact was that becoming a wolf was a lifelong thing. "We have a way we do things, vampires we have a treaty with. If you stay or you go, they're protected."

"You... protect... vampires?" She asked. It was like a squid saying that it liked to sunbathe in the desert. It wasn't rational.

"We don't protect them." Sam said coldly, "Our ancestors made a pact with them. They don't hunt humans and if they never do we can't touch them... and you won't either."

Kate's jaw tightened at his tone and his demand.

"You're Quileute. You'll respect the laws of our elders or leave."

Kate's hands tightened a little but she forced herself to take a deep breath, "I want to meet the vampires to decide for myself and for my pack. We don't have a great past with vampires, I can't ask my pack to honor that treaty or deny their nature if I can't vouch for the vampire's honor." It felt so stupid calling vampires honorable but she didn't want to go to war with the La Push pack.

Sam took a few moments to consider. "I'll speak with the head of the coven and then get back to you."

Kate nodded, it was a start.

Jacob moved inside the house. He saw Edward move out of a room and across the top of the stairs towards another room. He heard his thoughts and his general displeasure with how he felt. Jacob smiled but found himself moving silently up the stairs behind Edward. He moved upstairs and knocked on the door of the room Edward moved into.

"Come in." Edward replied.

Jacob moved inside, seeing Edward laying on a large golden bed in the room. "Hey. You okay?"

"I think I ate too much." Edward murmured.

Jacob grinned a little, "You just ate stuff you shouldn't mix. Ketchup and mayo are condiments, not food."

"Good to know." Edward said.

"So..." Jacob said, sliding his hands into his pockets. "This is your room?"

"Yes." Edward replied.

"I didn't think you slept." Jacob said, remembering watching Edward watch him and Bella when she slept in the tent on the mountain.

"I don't. Well I didn't. I might now that I'm stuck in your form." Edward answered.

"So what's the bed for?" Jacob questioned.

"Bella." Edward replied.

Jacob instantly regretted asking as Edward began to think about Bella in his arms, her leg hitching up over him and pulling their bodies closer. His eyes narrowed on Edward and he kicked out and broke the leg of the bed, causing Edward to half fall and half roll out of the bed towards him. Jacob started regretting that outburst even more as Edward stayed hunched, his chest heaving in anger. Jacob could clearly see the anger in Edward's thoughts and body language. He could also tell it was too late to stop him. "I'm sorry." Jacob said, grabbing Edward and throwing him out the open door that didn't seem to go anywhere but open space.

As Edward flew back towards the ground, he turned, his clothes exploding outward as the shift ripped through body. He landed on four paws. Jacob looked down, his eyes wide. "What the...?" He said softly.

Instead of being Jacob's russet brown, the wolf that was on the ground was a mix of white and black, mostly white but with splashes of black on his side. His eyes were golden, showing that it was Edward and not Jacob's form, with black patches around his eyes. Jacob felt uncomfortable watching Edward in that form, it felt unnatural.

Edward heard no other thoughts as he stood in wolf form. He saw Jacob up in his house and he leaned his head back and howled.

Kate and Sam both turned their head to the sound of the howl. "That's not one of mine." She said.

"Mine either." He said, dread spreading through his body.

A/N: Sorry about the delay guys. I know where the story's mostly going but there has been a bit a road block getting there. I also started back into school which does eat some of my time. Hang in there! PS. Reviews are AMAZING motivation to write more! *hint hint*