Disclaimer: Twilight belongs to Stephenie Meyer. She messed up the story when she made Jake imprint on Nessie. Fortunately for us there's always the world of fanfictions.

Author/Note: This is a Leah/Jacob story with all the normal pairings and the events in Breaking Dawn never happened, because just like my cousin said, Breaking Dawn shouldn't even be considered a book.

Translation to English of O Nosso Amanhecer 2. This version was subjected to a few changes from the original in Portuguese.

This translation was a request by FantasyLover74.

I'm not a native English speaker so I'm sorry for my grammar and spelling. Thank you for reading and thanks the people who reviewed, FantasyLover74, She-Wolf Heiress, brankel1, Chick, Piper9004, Jo Harv, JacobLeah, CallyGreen, Mariaxxx, RobertForLife, Darkmaster of the arts, BenitaxoxoCastiel, mehr03, AllieBlack16, ItsCuzOfTheFame, brezzybrez, teamtorettosupporter, running with wolves.

Alert: the characters in this story curse a lot.

Our Dawn

Part II

Leah Clearwater

14. Betas

"Come on Leah. You are the one in charge. You should come. Send someone else to patrol." Seth begged.

He was trying to convince me to go to the beach later that night. They were going to make a small fire and have some fun before we all had to put our minds in the upcoming fight against the Vampire's Mafia.

"I can't. It's my responsibility to make sure nothing else happens."

"I called Esme and she assured me they would patrol our lands as well." My brother insisted.

I sighed deeply.

"Maybe I'll join you later, alright?"

He smiled and left happily. My brother was easily pleased.

I had a lot on my mind. My mother had called me saying that next morning we'd have to reunite with the Council because they wanted to know everything about today's attack.

A few hours later I phased and met the Cullen's women near the border. I allowed Bella and Esme to patrol on our lands. Rosalie and Alice would patrol their own lands for the night. They were actually being quite nice, allowing the pack to have some fun without criticising them. I only accepted this because I knew how stressed up everyone was and I somehow trusted Esme.

Bella was still a bit angry because no one had agreed to call Edward and tell him and the others about the attack. Basically we didn't want them to give up on their mission when we had managed to keep everyone safe.

When Bella started to whine again about missing her sparkling husband I realised it had been a very good idea to phase because I wouldn't have to answer her back. I could watch boredom written all over Esme's face. The mama leech was going to have a very long night.

After the tenth time listening to Bella saying "Oh, I miss Edward so much." I wanted to rip her head off. I had no idea why Esme hadn't told her yet that she wasn't the only one missing her husband. Even I was missing Jacob.

Fortunately no one else was phased and I didn't make a fool of myself with that thought, but my mind totally zoned out after thinking about him. I really missed him. I missed his presence, his constant smart-ass attitude, his smile, the sound of his laugher, the way he could argue with me without being scared that I would rip his head off…I was definitely becoming crazy.

I had never paid attention to any of those things. How could I be missing him like that? The fact that I had awaken in his arms after Sam's wedding, wasn't helping. I had actually slept with Jacob, in a non-sexual kind of way, but I had felt his warmth and even though I didn't want to admit it I liked it a bit too much.

Then I let my memories fly up to the night I had cried in Jacob's arms and the morning after. I could almost feel his touch, his hands around my waist, his heartbeat, his smell…like pine and rain and…flowers?

What the hell? Jacob didn't smell like flowers. I realised too late that I wasn't the only wolf phased at the moment. Damn it. Whoever it was had seen my thoughts about Jacob and those moments. I was in deep shit.

Feeling trapped I phased back without even knowing who was the intruder. Bella and Esme looked at me like I had grown two heads, because now I was standing naked in the middle of the forest without a reasonable motive.

"Are you alright?" Esme asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just…think that I should go to the beach and check on the pups. Do you mind?" I lied while I was putting some clothes on.

"Of course not." Bella smiled.

"Good night then." I faked a smile and left.

I wanted to know who was the fucker who had phased but when I got there three of the pups, Martin, Denis and Gary were sleeping; Rick and Justin were having a chat about baseball; Sullivan, Clayton, Caleb and Shane were listening to my brother's story about his fight against Riley; Ethan and Jason were playing cards and Quil and Embry were watching them; Paul, Brady and Collin were drinking and talking about the latest attack while Rachel, who was the only girl there, was wearing her boyfriend's jacket near the fire.

They were all there and my heart sank when I realised that the wolf who had just invaded my thoughts could've been Jacob. Either it was him or Jared because I doubted that Sam would be phased at the time. Shit. I just hoped it was Jared.

"Hey Leah…I'm glad you could make it." Rachel got up and came to greet me. Seth smiled too.

"So the queen of the bitches finally arrived." Paul said.

"Paul! Stop saying shit…a while ago you were actually telling us how well Leah had done today." Rachel declared grinning. Paul was actually being a bad influence on her.

"Seriously? Well Paul…I'm glad to know I didn't fail your expectations." I said.

He put his tongue out like the piece of shit he was and I gave him the finger but in the end we both laughed.

"How are things out there?" Seth asked me when I sat down next to him on the sand.

"Calm."

"So, how did it feel to be in command?" Rachel asked me. "You had all the guys at your service…"

"I guess it was fine." Fine was actually an understatement. I had been able to organise and control successfully seventeen wolves including Paul Merav during a bloodsucker's attack.

"You look a bit…down. What's up?"

I could not tell Rachel I was missing her brother being in the same beach as seventeen more werewolves with super hearing powers. Plus I didn't even understand my own feelings.

"I had to listen to Bella whining again…It was boring." I lied.

"Do you think we can win?" She asked lowering her voice.

"What?"

"The battle with the Italians…"

"Paul shouldn't have told you that."

"I won't tell anyone." She promised. "Besides I'm his imprint…he can't lie to me. You'll realise that when you have an imprint too."

"I won't have an imprint." I said quietly.

"But you're a wolf too."

"I'm one of a kind. I'm the only female."

"I've noticed."

"I don't need to have an imprint because I can't have children."

"How can you tell?"

"Do you really want details?"

"Sorry…"

"Look…It's fine…I accepted that when I realised I was a freak of nature."

"Maybe you just need to find the right guy…That's what I keep telling Jacob when he comes home all worked up because of his emotional problems…I mean he's still young, he just needs to find the right girl."

My mind clicked when Rachel said those words. She was right. Not about me, I would certainly not imprint, but Jacob would. He was the alpha and I was absolutely sure that he would imprint one day. So I was being a total fool missing him. I mean we were just friends. He was alpha, I was beta. Case closed. From now on I should block every thought I had about Jacob Black.

xxxxxxxxxx

To have a Council meeting at nine o'clock in the morning wasn't my idea of fun, especially when Sam Uley was there. They all listened to my story quietly and never interrupted me. Sam looked disappointed for not being present to fight with us, but he would have more chances to prove how strong he was pretty soon.

"Alice thinks we'll be safe until the Vampire's Mafia decides to come here." I said. "And she'll know the date soon."

"You did a great job Leah." Billy confessed.

"Does Jacob know what happened?" Old Quil asked.

"Not yet." I answered. "Alice said we shouldn't rush their return. We'll need a lot of reinforcements."

"But Jacob's the alpha. He should be here." Old Quil insisted.

"Now that I'm back, I think we should let Jacob finish his mission with the Cullens." Sam suggested.

Old Quil remained silent for a while and then he nodded in agreement.

"Will you two be able to work together?" He asked.

"Yes." We both replied.

Fortunately there wasn't much more to discuss and the Council let us go.

"I'll stop by your house later to talk about patrols." Sam said.

"Actually I think you and Emily should go to have lunch with us." My mother invited. Sam accepted and I had the sudden urge to yell at my mum. As if the Council meeting wasn't enough now I would have to put up with Sam and Emily's wonderful presence in my house.

In the end, to have lunch with my cousin and her husband wasn't as bad as I thought. At least during the time we were eating because we didn't talk much. Actually I didn't talk much. Seth, on the contrary, was quite interested to know things about Las Vegas and Sam and Emily were glad to satisfy his curiosity.

Emily never mentioned the honeymoon and I actually didn't care. I had to accept that the love triangle that once existed was over for good. There were Emily and Sam and there was me…and I was actually starting to feel relieved about that.

"Do you need help?" Emily asked me when I started to clean up the kitchen.

"No. I'm fine."

"Sam told me about the attack. I'm really glad that no one got hurt."

"The leech wanted to kill Bella…not us. It was really…stressful I guess."

"You did really well."

"Emily…Come with me…I want to show you something." My mother pulled Emily's hand and they both went upstairs.

Soon Seth had to leave to go to School and I was alone with Sam. He was leaning against the wall watching me but I didn't want to ask him directly to stop staring at me because that would mean I was also paying attention to what he was doing.

"I could clean the dishes while you wash…" He said finally.

"It's fine. I'm almost done."

"I'm actually susprised with your performance." He confessed. "I always thought the pack wouldn't actually obey to your orders."

"I guess I'm not that bad of a leader."

"No, you're not."

I turned to face him because I wanted to get over with the pack related stuff quickly. I told Sam about the groups and patrol's shifts and he just agreed to everything I was saying. I could hear my mother and Emily's laughs upstairs and when I realised what was happening Sam was standing really close to me. He held my hand and sighed.

"I'm sorry for asking you not to go to my wedding." He whispered. "I was a coward. I thought I was doing us a favour."

"Can you please let me go?" I asked him.

Sam ignored me and kept talking.

"I was afraid I wouldn't be able to get married if I saw your face. I still remember all the promises I couldn't keep because of the imprint."

"Everything we went through it's not going to disappear but now I have some clarity and someday I will be alright. You don't need to feel guilty anymore…you just need to let me go."

I didn't know where that came from or how I was able to tell him those words without feeling the old pain piercing my heart. I was just telling him the truth because I wanted him to free my hand and let me be myself.

"I don't know if I'm strong enough to do that Lee-Lee…"

Sam leaned on and his arms embraced me. When his lips were almost touching mine I snapped out of that trance and pushed him away.

What the hell was he doing? His wife and my mother were upstairs. He had just arrived from his honeymoon and he had just tried to kiss me. Maybe a few weeks ago I'd have given everything for him to do that but now it didn't feel right. I would never allow him to kiss me again.

"I'm sorry." He said looking kind of shocked about what he had just done. "It's just that being so close to you…I just lost it…I'm so sorry."

I glared at him. Anger was building up inside of me like never before. Even if I told Emily about this she would probably forgive him because she was his imprint and his wife so I decided to make him understand where we were now standing.

"Sam…Everyone has the right to be stupid but you are clearly abusing that privilege. You're married to my cousin…Right now you are not my favourite couple. You probably think you still have some sort of a claim on me but you don't. The only thing I want from you is your assistance taking care of the pack until Jacob comes home. We're betas and that's what we do. There's nothing more between us…it's over. Do you understand?"

I made my way to the living room and when I was passing by him he grabbed my left wrist.

"Let go." I warned. I couldn't stand his touch anymore.

"I'm sorry. I really am. I just want you to know that it's not so easy to let you go completely."

I clenched my right fist and it collided with his face. He let me go immediately and stumbled a bit hitting the wall.

"Snap the fuck out of it Sam!" I ground my teeth. "I want to be able to breathe again without feeling any pain attached to my body. I've started to fight all of our memories and I'm going to win because I don't want you anymore."

He cleaned the blood from his lip with the back of his hand and slowly left. Finally he was doing the right thing. I was proud of myself. I was strong enough to realise that now Sam and I were just pack brothers. The past wasn't important anymore because we couldn't go back in time. Now I could really set my sights on the future.

xxxxxxxxxx

Bella called us two days later. Alice had seen the future again and the Volturi had decided to come to Forks. Since the pups where still at School, only Sam and I went to the Cullen's mansion.

"Caius didn't like the news the red haired leech told them." Alice said getting up and pacing back and forth.

"He was attacked by a werewolf a long time ago and he absolutely hates your kind." Esme pointed out.

"We should call Edward." Bella said.

"Yes, we should. They need to know that Aro is planning to leave next month." Alice announced. I flinched slightly. I guess the fact that Alice could actually see the future had never made me realise that the present would be that same future. The day we would have to face the Italians was coming.

Bella went to the phone and dialled Edward's number. The mind rapist answered immediately.

"You have no idea how I've been missing you Edward." Bella whined.

"I know darling but be patient, alright?"

Rosalie snapped the phone out of Bella's hands rudely and Bella looked a bit embarrassed.

"You're on speaker." The blonde said.

"What's going on?" Edward asked.

"The Volturi are coming next month. Caius wants to eradicate the pack." Alice said.

"Did something happen?" The mind rapist asked. Could he read our minds over the phone?

"Well…yes. But everything is fine." Alice admitted.

"What happened Alice?" We heard Jasper's voice.

"A few days ago two spies came to Forks to test our defences and our alliance with the pack." Esme explained. "The pack killed one of them but the other one managed to escape and told the Volturi everything he witnessed."

"We'll be back in a week. We found four vampires who want to help." Jasper said.

"We are also tracking down a group of vampires on the south of Argentina." Edward announced.

"Is it Maria?" Alice asked looking nervous.

"We don't know yet." Jasper answered.

"What about Carlisle?" Edward questioned.

"He recruited five so far." Esme said.

Nine vampires were hardly an army. But I guess they would have to do.

"Esme…I think you should call the Denali. They need to know what Irina is up to." Edward suggested.

"Please come home soon, Edward." Bella begged.

"I will honey, don't worry."

"Give me the phone leech…I want to talk to my pack." I heard Jacob's voice and something inside of me clicked.

"Just calm down mutt." Edward spat.

"Is everyone alright?" Jacob questioned sounding worried.

"Yes. The pack was prepared to fight and now that I'm back, everything will be fine." Sam replied.

"Is…Leah there?" Jacob asked. "Is she ok?"

"I'm fine Jacob."

"I was just checking since I wasn't there this time to save your ass." He mocked.

"Asshole."

"I'll be there soon." He laughed.

Those words made my body shiver. It was like he had said them just for me.

After hanging up, Esme called Carlisle and he told us they would arrive in three days. He also told us that he was going to stop by the Denali's house and tell them what was going on. He wasn't sure if they'd be willing to help us but they had the right to know.

Carlisle was also hoping that Kate, who had an offensive power, would join us. For some reason I doubted that. The Denali didn't like us and they would not betray Irina in order to save a pack of wolves. It was as simple as that.

xxxxxxxxxx

Nothing else happened during the next week except for Bella's constant visits to La Push. I didn't know who I'd be happier to see, Jacob or Edward. As soon as the mind rapist would come home I knew we would get rid of Bella.

She seemed to think that because our parents were married I had the obligation to listen to her problems. How demented was she?

"Alice is desperate…" Bella said for the third time that afternoon.

"Really?" I asked rolling my eyes in front of her. "Just a few more days." I muttered to myself. I was trying to watch TV but Bella's voice was making my head hurt.

"What's wrong with her?" My mother asked.

Great now we were going to hear the sad story of Private Jasper and the Southern Vampire Wars for the twentieth time. My brother sat down next to Bella to listen to the story carefully…again.

"She's afraid that Jasper chooses to stay with Maria. She's the one who turned him into a vampire during the war."

"Jasper is really old." My mother pointed out.

"Not as much as Carlisle." Bella informed.

"I didn't know he had a girlfriend before Alice. They seem so…right together." My mother said surprised.

"Maybe she should just talk to him and ask him how he feels." I piped in.

"She doesn't want him to know she doesn't trust him." Bella said.

"So what if he leaves her? It's not like she'll die…" I insisted.

Bella frowned.

Ok so maybe I was being a bit cold, but vampires were dead so I had a point.

"Not all of us are as strong as you." Bella declared. "Jasper is Alice's reason for existing."

"That's so not healthy…but then again you're all dead…" I laughed. Seth and my mother glared at me.

"What? I'm just saying…"

"You can be so insensitive sometimes." My mother scolded me.

"What? Do you think it's normal to depend on a guy to live your life? That's stupid. We should make our own decisions…we should not depend on love and all that crap."

We heard someone knock at the door and I got up immediately.

"That will never happen to me. I don't need anyone to stand by my side and hold my hand." I finished while opening the door.

And then my heartbeat increased and I felt suddenly weak on my knees when I saw Jacob Black standing at my doorstep with a smile on his face. Did my words just backfired?