AN: I'm very, very sorry you guys! Me and my Betas were trying for like 2 hours last night trying to get the stupid Document Manager to work, but it wouldn't accept the file till today :( Sincerest apologies for the people who PMed me asking about the next chapter and who were given a wrong date (I tried :( ). Butttt here it is at last :) The long-awaited chapter 7. The 'climax' of everyone's paranoia, so to speak. And here's the deal;

WARNING: This chapter contains extreme mature content, language (not that it always doesn't), and highly suggestive themes. If you have a problem with any of these contexts, you probably shouldn't read this chapter. But to be honest guys, I'd like it if everyone did. A lot of work and emotion (Thanks to my AWESOME beta resnessmeecarlieblackxo ;) ) went into making this chapter and if it weren't for my wickedly retarded betas it probably wouldn't exist to the magnificence it is today. But overall; I'm not aiming to hurt anyone with this chapter, and I'm sorry if I lose fans or readers. But hey; just stick with it ;) Haha. Reader beware: you're in for a scare.

She had to get out of there. The vibes that flooded her drenched body screamed furiously at her, to leave, to run, get away somehow.

Too bad they had her closed in. Briefly Leah knew she was being judgmental; yeah, they were hella-creepy but that didn't give her the right to believe they were as sick in the head as they looked. With another glance down to her leg, still trickling a small stream of diluted red. Leah grit her teeth. It wasn't painful; it was mildly uncomfortable but she didn't like the thought of having to run from the gang on an injured limb. It made running as a wolf even more difficult.

(She didn't know such a small scratch should've been the least of her worries)

Karl tilted his head to the side at her silent period.

"Leah? Sweetie, are you okay?" He asked, sarcasm dripping from his voice like he knew she wasn't. The Alpha of the Cree pack glanced to his right at his Beta, Brandon. The other wore the same shit-eating grin, hand still buried in that pocket where it had been the whole time they were talking.

Leah didn't like being alone out here with them. (And that was weird; because frankly, and not really being an understatement, Leah wasn't scared of much. At all.) ... But she still could've slit her own throat when she caught herself wishing the rest of her own pack were here.

Besides, if the Cree were gonna murder her and leave her to rot, Paul would probably help. Hell, he'd mark his territory on her grave.

"Leah. Something tells me you've lied to us." Keith's voice broke her out of her thoughts and Leah's stormy blue eyes flitted to his. "..You didn't get 'caught' in this little storm, did you? Something tells me you're avoiding something...someone."

How did he know that?

"I- I got into a little argument with one of my pack brothers, that's all." She spat, unsuccessful in holding back her sauciness to answer Keith's simple statement. After all, it wasn't any of their business.

Her answer drew chuckles out of the four of them.

"So where are they now? Back in La Push? Not gonna come lookin' for you?" Brandon asked, shoving his other hand down into his pockets as well. Leah grit her teeth. Why were they asking her this? They were getting creepier and weirder by the minute and Leah did not feel safe around them.

Well, ever since meeting them at Old Quil's she hadn't like them in the slightest but still.

.She stayed silent. She couldn't answer that question. Truthfully, because she didn't know. Would they come looking? She'd run off before and she'd been gone for hours but none of them had bothered to so much as give her cell a call. ...No, they wouldn't come now. Why would they? "I don't know. I should probably be getting back, I have to run patrol tonight..." She trailed off, taking a few steps to the left to walk away from them. God, she wished Sam was here, and Jake.

They followed her movement; they were centered in front of her again.

"Oh come on, if it was that bad a fight that sent you out into that maybe you should just chill with us for awhile. It's raining again, anyway. Janice makes the best chicken noodle soup; it'll warm you right up." Karl smirked. Janice nodded, hopeful look in her eye.

"And we could get to know each other better."

Leah clenched her fists. This was playing out like something right out of some bad CSI episode. It was like a stranger trying to entice a six-year old with candy. They probably heard her stomach growl; maybe saw her flinch from the pangs of hunger. (What had it been, two, three days now since she'd eaten anything larger than five-cent candies from the general store?)

"I don't think so. You know, you guys probably live really far off, and I'm pretty tired. I should really just go home."

'Tell them anything.' a frantic voice at the back of her head whispered, 'Just get out of here.'

"Can't help but think that's another lie, Leah." Karl sighed. His roaming eyes stopped at her breasts; her thighs, and they paused on her neck for a long while. Leah found herself looking down too to see what was so special. Sam's necklace was there, heart shaken loose of her clothing and hanging freely like a normal piece of jewellery. "That's a pretty little trinket yah got there, Clearwater." He said.

Before Leah knew what she was doing her hand had moved upward and cupped the Heart of The Ocean in her palm. The heart was cold, a little slick with precipitation and bits of dirt but it was still beautiful.

Leah wanted Sam. She wanted him there.

Things didn't feel right, like there was danger, and Leah knew Sam always made those feelings go away. Even before they phased, Sam's arms had felt like the only warm, safe place Leah could remember going to when she needed it most. Her mom was being a bitch; Sam. Her father was cursing about her grades; Sam. Seth got really sick; Sam.

He was all she had. Sam was her shelter from the storm.

'But he's not here now, is he?..' Leah thought, biting her lip before letting go of the necklace.

Waves crashed in the distance and when Leah was shaken out of her thoughts this time, it was quite a fright to notice how the Cree pack had gotten even further into her personal space; each of them were maybe two, three steps away.

"I'm not lying." She murmured, stepping back and crouching ever so slightly, ready to phase if she had to. "I've really gotta go. Thanks for finding my iPod, and for the offer, but my brother's gonna be worried-"

"He should be."

From out of nowhere another set of arms grabbed her around the waist and mid-section. Leah yelled out in shock, the urge to phase ripping through her body quickly. But before she could turn her head to see who was holding her Brandon had moved forward, gracefully and she felt a sharp prick from her left arm.

"What are you-" A hand cupped over her mouth, and Brandon stepped backward; he was holding a syringe, a fucking hospital needle, in his hand. It was empty.

"Get back from her!" Karl barked at the person holding her, using his arm to push Brandon and himself back a few more steps. "She's gonna phase!"

The arms released her and Leah's rage and horror became personified in a flurry of flailing paws and silver fur. She released a vicious snarl as soon as her front two paws touched earth and pieces of her torn clothing flitted to the ground, her cell phone and iPod included. Even the necklace; its chain snapped and lying beside her clothing. The jolts of pain from breaking bones realigning and muscles reshaping faded away and Leah let out another hideous growl, stepping forward towards the pack with teeth salivating and bared.

"Now, now, Leah. No one here has to get seriously hurt." Training her eyes on Karl, it was only then that Leah noticed a change in the way her body felt; a change in how her legs moved. Her senses slowed. Her ears flattened against her skull and she whimpered, staggering backward.

The Cree pack grinned.

"Don't fight it Leah, it's no use. Just let it go." Janice said, arm linked with Keith.

What the fuck had they done to her!? Suddenly everything was white; then it was technicolor all over again! The world began to spin and a tremor of pain so violent shot up her spine that she let loose a painful howl into the morning air. Buzzing filled her ears and things got blurry.

About four seconds later, the fur disappeared and only a female human scream was heard as Leah phased back.

Brandon laughed menacingly, staring down at the girl who lay naked, trembling and muddy on the forest floor.

"Fast-acting, isn't it? It only takes about a minute and ten seconds to kick in."

"Wha.. What did you..?" Her words came out in jumble. Holy fuck, she could barely think straight!

"It's alright Leah, it's okay. Brandon here just gave you a dose of areopeptide." Leah's blood ran cold. Oh yeah, they dosed her with something alright; just what the fuck did it do?! Nothing had ever forcefully phased her back before.. "I can guess you're a little confused." As Karl talked, Leah's eyes followed Nathan. He'd stepped out from behind her, he'd been the one to grab her. Kneeling down a few feet away, he smiled gruesomely at her and picked up her cell phone and iPod.

"I hate cell phones." He murmured, eyes reading text message alerts. Then he hurled it violently into a tree trunk and the plastic shattered, parts flying this way and that. Leah's heart dropped. Then Karl was in front of her and she gasped as he took her chin in his hand.

"Here's a little biology lesson for you Leah; werewolves have an extra chromosome. Humans have 23 and we have 24. Areopeptide is a neutron inhibitor; it deactivates Gene 24 for about three weeks; give or take a day or two."

Jesus. She couldn't phase.?

'No.' she though, panicking. No, they had to be lying. Not phasing, not becoming the wolf she had learnt to be... It was impossible.

Please, no.

Nathan stuffed the remnants of her torn clothing into a plastic bag he took out of his pocket, her iPod with it.

Leah growled. She knew she had to get away; every thought she'd had about those creepy sons of bitches was true and she needed to get gone fast before things got anymore out of control. Taking the chance available, and hoping to God her legs didn't quit on her, Leah sunk her teeth into Karl's hand (he gave a cry of pain, flinging his hand backward) and then she was up and running.

Leah got maybe five feet.

Nathan and Brandon both jumped her, taking the caramel-skinned girl to the ground and knocking the wind out of her.

As Leah struggled for breath, struggled to get the two men away from her she heard Karl's bitter growl.

Her heart started to pound. Fear began to creep over her, no matter how hard she tried to push it away.

Before she had time to defend herself, Karl delivered a hard kick to her stomach and she gasped out in pain, Brandon and Nathan letting go of her so she could bring her arms in to curl around herself. Her dark hair matted to her eyes with sweat and rain, but Leah knew well enough never to take your eyes off your enemies. Maybe if she hadn't been thinking of Sam and her pack back there Nathan wouldn't of got the drop on her.

Wincing through the pain Leah met Karl's eyes. His hand was red and had drops of ruby dripping to the forest floor. (No one could say she wasn't a fighter.) The tall Alpha was practically shaking with rage, fighting back the urge to phase himself clearly. Jesus, if he phased... She was better off dead.

"What do you want!?" Leah gasped out, her harsh panting only intensifying when she moved to sit up.

He smirked condescendingly. "I'll have to make it obvious, won't I?"

Leah couldn't fight another gasp that escaped from between her lips as Karl bent down and grabbed her underneath the arms, pulling her up to face him like she weighed nothing. Swinging out quickly with a fist Leah slugged him in the jaw. A leg came out to crash into his midriff. He cursed loudly.

Faintly she heard the other pack members growl but she could care less. Leah was stubborn enough to think that if she could get through at least one, she could take the others.

But much to Leah's chagrin, even though Karl had released her and she'd raised her fists and prepared to fight (duelling with the ache in her empty, bruised gut too) she knew she couldn't take him down. Not like this, not when she tired and worn down, not when her body was ready to drop with exhaustion.

She had never wanted her pack so badly as she did now.

Karl straightened up again, chest heaving; he just looked at her for a second and Leah paused, as if expecting him to turn around and run from her for some odd reason.

Karl did just the opposite. Swinging out hard and quickly Karl delved a swift punch to Leah's jaw, hard enough to knock the girl off her feet and split her lip.

Leah gagged as she hit the forest floor on a brusied stomach and spit out a glob of blood. Growling with blood-stained teeth she glared up at him.

"You fucked up bastard!" She screamed, not caring now. The pain was too much.

"Know what time of year it is, Leah?" Keith asked, enticing a chuckle from the others. Leah narrowed her eyes. It was February. What did that have to do with anything? Seeing her confused, Karl laughed.

"It's nearly spring Leah."

"..So?"

"So it's almost your time, little lady."

"Time for-" A foot was stomped down hard between her shoulder blades on her back. She thought she heard a crack while she yelped out in pain, eyes squeezed shut. When she found the will to open them again Karl sent a fist reeling into her jaw that spun her head around and left her on her side, dazed on the dirty forest floor in the pouring rain.

Thunder crashed in the distance. Leah felt something heavy descend on her back and then it hit her.

Oh, hell no.

"No! No, don't you fucking dare!" Leah spat out, arms immediately moving backward to try and shove Karl off her.

"Shut the hell up!" He cursed, taking Leah's pushing hand into his own and -crack-.

Leah screamed as white hot pain shot up her arm and embedded in her shoulder, causing her to tug her arm back out of Karl's grip. He laughed menacingly before tangling his in her long brown hair and pulling back with almost all the force his arm could muster.

Leah screamed out again at the torture as her upper body was lifted off the ground somewhat, and couldn't suppress the escaping sob as she felt Karl's other hand slide between her thighs.

"STOP!" She screamed out. "PLEASE!"

"Quiet Leah, if you just let me finish and then come quietly we won't have to hurt you-"

"FUCK YOU!" Leah yelled, twisting and writhing underneath his heavy form. His fist met the back of her head, and as he let go of her hair she slumped forward, blood on his ring. Leah found it was amazing she didn't pass out, could feel the small trickle of blood, the disgusting stickiness leaking down the curve of her neck and then down her chest and the throb was constant.

'No. Please..' Her energy was thinning out and the rain began to fall harder, making it hard to see. Then she heard the most menacing of sounds; Karl undid his belt and she felt his hands ply her legs apart. "NO!"

She struggled beneath him, her legs trying to kick away the strong hand that held her down.

Someone, she thought Brandon, held her arms down, while Nathan took care of holding her legs apart.

That was it, it all came to the surface. Tears began to flow down her cheeks as she heard his sick groan, his ugly fascination with her in the moan he emitted as Karl slid himself inside her. Shutting her eyes tightly she grit her teeth against the tearing pain that came with the forced entry and tried to kick with her legs. Nathan grabbed her ankles and held her still as he began to move within her.

The world came crashing down for Leah at that moment and she screamed again, wished to fuck and back she hadn't run off and she'd just let Paul chew her out. Her tears mixed with rain drops on her cheeks, and what Leah saw when she opened her eyes practically ran the leftover pieces of her heart through a shredder.

Lying on the ground centimetres from her, was Sam's necklace, blue crystal an odd commodity amongst the dirty brown and greens of the forest foliage.

Sam. Oh god, Sam.

He was supposed to be the only one..! Sam, whom she loved, was the only man Leah would ever let touch her like that, so intimately. The realization drew more tears. A waterfall was overflowing from Leah's blue eyes as she let out a harsh sob, extending an arm and wrapping her un-shattered hand around the heart. Sam! She needed him..! He would've never let this happen to her and fuck she wanted it to be him so badly because then she would've never found herself crying and broken as she suffered the worse form of abuse.

But life had taken that dream from her, hadn't it? She couldn't help it, someone in the far abcesses of her mind, Leah blamed Emily for all of her suffering. Why she abhorred imprinting. The beauty, the magic, the irrevocable love.. Was it worth the agony everyone went through? No. It was all a lie. The hatred she felt for her once-best friend and cousin was poignant and fierce; she was the reason Leah was in pain everyday and in the most horrible situation of her life at the moment. Leah briefly envisioned what her life would've been like at this time (this cruel moment), if Emily hadn't snatched the love of her life away so suddenly.

She and Sam would've been together. This was a fact she knew in her heart.. They were true soul mates, in a world where mystical creatures and twisted fairytales ceased to exist. They were stronger than the unseen force that connected the imprints. At least that's what Leah believed. Their love would have been unbreakable, pure, and binding. How she longed for that life...!

Bits and pieces of her real life, the now life, flashed before her. The old life. The first time they met. Their first kiss. The first time Sam said "I love you". When he knelt down on one knee and solemnly promised to be with her for eternity. Sam's face captivated her mind; entranced her. Leah heard the figurative tearing in her heart as the last piece that was whole crumbled, leaving her with nothing. Another tear slid down her cheek as her mind finally wandered back home.

All the people she would probably never see again flashed before her. Seth. She whimpered. If she had any will to fight against these horrible, sick creatures, it was for Seth. He was the only one she would try to come back home for. The faces of her brothers flashed in front of her eyes, then; Jacob, Jared, Embry, Quil, Brady, Collin, Paul… What if she never saw them again?

As pressure on her back increased and Karl's sick sounds of pleasure went up in volume, cnce again she blamed Emily. If she hadn't come – if she hadn't been born, none of this would be happening. Her and Sam would have been together. Perhaps happily married. The vision of her beautiful children danced before her eyes. Their dark midnight onyx hair tousled beautifully over their russet skin... She saw Sam's face in each one of her make-believe pieces of heaven. They
would have been happy together. Her entire family living forever, each one of her children wolves who would live continually if they kept phasing. Her entire mind was wrapped around that thought.

The cruel reality of imprinting had grasped Leah's happily-ever-after and snatched it away right from under her nose. Closing her eyes even tighter, Leah made her mind change the situation.

Karl, knelt between her legs and thrusting into her from behind watched with lusty eyes as she gripped the material item and brought it in close to her heart. He snarled at it. But what she did next nearly caused him to reach forward and snap her neck.

"SAM!" She sobbed out into the stormy day, a whole-bodied scream that seemed to racket up from her chest exploding into the tense air. Karl growled louder.

"Sammy huh!?" He asked her, leaning more forward and shoving himself deeper into Leah's abused channel. She moaned out in pain, feeling her insides being rubbed raw and clenched the necklace, clenched her heart tighter in her hand. It had already been ripped out of her chest. "Cryin' for your Alpha you sad little cunt!? Is that what you want!?" Karl's words bordered on animalistic growls, ferocious screams in anger and they chilled her to the core.

He reached his sweaty hand down and grabbed the necklace from her. "Is this what you want?!" He screamed again.

"NO!" But it was too late as he tossed the jewel back toward his pack who leered at them. Janice sighed, tried not to feel sympathetic for Leah and picked up the necklace, shoving it into her sweater pocket. The she-wolf's sobs were heart-breakingly loud and then it was over.

Leah winced as her body stopped rubbing against the rough forest floor, began to get sick as she felt his wetness inside her, smeared on her thighs, marking her as his. Karl's harsh pants were soon the only sounds. She'd stopped crying. Pulling himself out of her, he stood up and rearranged.

A shot of lightning cackled across the sky as Karl walked a step away from her. His eyes still lingered on the girl's back though, as he watched her make a miserable attempt to sit up, quaking from the sting between her legs and the dizziness from her head. It was a beautiful sight; Leah Clearwater, tear-stained cheeks and body a mix of blood, cum and developing bruises.

He could get used to this.

Too bad she couldn't. Leah let loose her last sob as she made it to her hands and knees (broken hand protesting greatly). God, she felt disgusting; used, discarded like something that didn't matter. (Briefly she thought, 'did she?') Her brain seemed to be pounding against her skull, dull throbs of pain racking her small body and she still felt unwanted stickiness from assorted fluids a normal person would never want on their body. Hell, Leah could still feel the indentations of Karl's fingers on her hips.

"Now Leah, the rest of your life could go easy; or you can make it hard. Take a pick." He spat at her, turning back around to face his pack. Janice wore a barely-there smile.

"It wasn't what I expected it to be." She mumbled. Karl only sighed, rolling his eyes.

Leah needed to go. Now. Waves crashed in the distance.

The ocean. That was it.

Her unbroken hand grasped a moderately sized rock, and Leah teetered to her feet.

"I love to sing." She muttered, hating how her voice came out so broken. Karl cocked an eyebrow and stepped closer, as did Brandon.

"What's that honey? We can't hear you." The Beta said. Karl stepped a little closer, him too trying to make sense of the girl's chitchat.

"And I love to swim." She looked at him; dark blue eyes met dark brown eyes and Karl's barely had time to narrow before she bashed him upside the head with a rock. And then she was running.

Trees and everything else in her path just blew past Leah as she began the run that would either make or break her life. 'Seth!,' she thought desperately, 'you need to get out of this for him!' she chanted. Coming across a downward slope she lengthened her stride; nearly screamed when she heard the deafening crack of a gunshot echo out from behind her.

Close, behind her.

"COME BACK HERE YOU BITCH!" She heard one of them shout, struggled to see through the rain and winced as she stepped on something sharp embedded in the muck. Only a little bit farther..!

There it was. Leah's world was reduced to slow motion and numb sounds as her toes touched the freezing, high waters of the Atlantic ocean. Another second when she was waist-deep her whole form disappeared under the white-capped seas.

'Swim. Swim for home Leah!' She thought she heard his voice. Thought about the necklace and the pounding rhythm of water sliding against her aching body. Her arms and legs treaded the cold abyss like it was nothing.

It was a relatively small spit into the land; she knew that. If only she could make it-

She let out a gasp of a scream when a bullet bit into the side of her arm, the horrible noise audible even under the dense water and the water doing well to numb the pain a moment later. Fuck, Leah kept swimming.

(She thought though, that if she had to die, she would be happier in the water. At least then perhaps her body would never be found and her brother and her fri-.. Her brother and her pack wouldn't have to see her so weak and so.. So broken.)

More gunshots from behind her and she rejoiced when bullets whizzed from side to side, missing her by inches. They cut through the dark water, little torpedos flying past; she could see them when she swam under to avoid their visuals. (Anything to make them keep missing.)

The next time she surfaced and went back down, breath burning in her lungs she nearly grinned; she could see the shore through the pouring rain, see the banks of freedom and knew she would be back in Washington; well, closer to the border anyway.

'Keep swimming, Leah!' There it was again; his voice.

"Come ON, Karl!" Nathan yelled from the shore, watching his Alpha reload the pistol. "She's gonna get away!"

"The FUCK she isn't!" He screamed at the exact same time Leah felt her elbows brush against murky sand. Land!

Leah struggled to get to her feet, could see the forestry and trees being whipped around by the wind and she was about three feet out of the water, when the last shot rang out.

Blood spattered the sand as the bullet embedded low in her right shoulder; it took the girl to the ground.

Leah wondered what happened. There was so much pain, and then as she lay on her back, staring up into the raining black sky and blinking slowly, everything was fading away. Her legs were still in the water, up past her knees mostly and mid-thigh; it was cold, this time of year.

-

"Holy shit," Janice breathed, eyes wide from the other side of the shore. "You got her."

-

The cold began to spread upward and she gave a shiver before shutting her eyes. Leah wondered if Sam, Jacob, Seth and the others would miss her.