The pack was getting tired of Jake and Leah's romance. They all remembered the days when Leah was constantly sniping at Sam, but in some ways this was even worse. The kinder, gentler Leah was getting on their nerves, and the "sweet nothin's" she and Jake projected to one another were getting, well, a little nauseating. Paul was appointed to talk to Jake about it, and when Sam gave you an assignment in that alpha voice, you didn't argue.

"Fine, Paul, you explain that to Leah, okay?" Jake laughed in spite of his annoyance. He had a feeling Leah wouldn't react well to being told what to do, and when she was angry he knew she was a force to be reckoned with.

Sure enough, Paul's conversation with Leah did not go well. "First of all, you guys hated it when I was bitter and angry all the time. Now you can't stand it that I'm happy! What the hell do you want from me?" she challenged. "Hey! I have an idea – stay out of my head!"

Leah had no idea that Jake had relinquished the Alpha title to Sam. He had no interest in being a wolf at the time, never mind the leader. Now he was having second thoughts. He wondered if it was possible to assert his Alpha status without upsetting Sam or the rest of the pack.

Meanwhile, life went on in LaPush and Forks. Sue was spending a lot of time with Charlie, and she and Bella had become good friends. Since Bella was busy with Edward and her new life as Mrs. Cullen, Charlie was lonely. He and Sue had talked about getting married, but Sue was concerned about how he would react if he found out (and he surely would) about the vampires and werewolves who were very much a part of her life. It was a dilemma, and Sue couldn't seem to come up with a solution until that day when Charlie shot Leah.

Charlie showed up at the Clearwaters' unannounced. He had some police business on the reservation and decided to stop by and say hello to Sue. As luck would have it, Leah chose that moment to come home from her patrol. Even the smallest of the shape-shifting wolves was still an impressive size, and Charlie caught her movement out of the corner of his eye.

Sue was standing in the back yard, taking her clean sheets off the clothesline, as Leah trotted into the yard. Neither one of them had seen Charlie in the driveway. He saw the large wolf approaching Sue and pulled his gun. Fortunately, Leah was a moving target, and he just winged her in the shoulder.

Several things happened at once. Leah fell to the ground, wounded, and phased. Sue screamed 'No!' as Charlie cautiously approached the wounded wolf, which had now become a wounded girl. Sue threw a sheet over Leah and bent over her to see how badly she was hurt, and Charlie recognized Leah and fainted.

Leaving Charlie outside, Sue managed to get Leah into the house and into some clothes before he came to. The bullet had gone cleanly through her shoulder, and Sue cleaned the wound quickly before it started to close. Then she left Leah on the couch and went outside to see about Charlie.

He was sitting up, but still on the ground, when she came back out. "I've never passed out in my life, Sue. What's going on?" he asked.

Sue smiled wryly. "I think you'd better come in the house and get comfortable, Charlie. It's kind of a long story."

Sue had heard the legends so many times she could recite them by heart, and since Harry died she had a part in telling them around the campfire at the tribal council meetings. But she was careful to leave out the part about the "cold ones," figuring that shape-shifting wolves would be enough for Charlie to digest in one sitting.

"So you're telling me that both of your children are werewolves?" Charlie asked incredulously. Sue nodded.

"And how many others are there?" he asked.

Sue counted them off on her fingers: "Sam, Paul, Jacob, Quil, Jared, and Embry." She assured Charlie that the wolves would never harm a human being, and they were created to protect the tribe. Fortunately, he didn't ask "from what?"

Charlie was inconsolable about having shot Leah, even when he saw how quickly the wound was healing. Leah laughed it off. She'd been hurt much worse in the past, and she knew it was an accident. Besides, she was a pretty tough customer. But she smiled inwardly, knowing the scar would come in handy in the future any time she wanted to make Charlie squirm.

Charlie was still there when Seth and Paris came in and saw Leah with her shoulder wrapped in blood-soaked gauze. Leah explained, with a smirk, "Oh, it's nothing. Mom's boyfriend shot me, but it was an accident." Paris gasped, and Seth doubled over with laughter.