Twilight and affiliates are still not mine. All Stephenie Meyer.

La Push

Jacob

"She's here," growled Sam. The pack had been taking turns patrolling the area we were expecting my cousin. I knew Sam was straight up disgusted of this arrangement; he was highly uncomfortable when Renesmee moved in with me when her family left. But the elders and the pack had their say: Haley was still one of our people and was owed our protection, even from herself. To be honest, I didn't remember Haley too well. A lot happens in 9 years.

I could hear her pace had slowed down. She could smell us; we weren't something she knew. Hmm... her smell. It wasn't as repulsive as a vampire's scent was supposed to be. It wasn't sensational, but I could handle it. Like a garden salad to a meat and potatoes man. It was probably better if I phased back so she wouldn't freak out.

Just do it, Jacob. I'm not looking. Leah was a peach.. -__-

"Egg? Is that you?" I hollered. I remembered we all used to call her Egg when she developed this fetish with eggs. Not dishes, the actual egg itself. She used to decorate them all the time for no reason and even drew sketches and cartoons of them.

"Jake?"

"Hey Haley, long time no see." She slowly came from behind a tree. Damn, what a weird way to greet a person. "Don't mind them," I said waving at the four wolves behind me. She stayed where she was and rolled her eyes at me. "Seriously, they're just here.." She nodded. I knew she got it. "It's been awhile." She nodded again. I could tell anymore conversation would just play out like this. "I'm sorry things turned out this way, Egg." She looked up at me. Her eyes were black. She hadn't fed. Not within the weeks it took her to get here. She was a lot more gorgeous from the pictures I got of her, but she looked tired and beat. "Quil, can you do a little hunting?" He looked at me. I knew he didn't want her here. But he would do anything if I asked him to. He was off. I looked back at Egg. She was sitting, leaning her side on a tree. Without thinking, I took a step forward. Sam instantly growled his warning at me. Haley noticed and slowly crept to the other side of the tree.

There were 16 wolves, 6 in my pack, 10 in Sam's. I thought the two pack thing was going to be a problem, but actually it has been useful. It seemed to help the newbies adjust to the change if they could choose which pack to choose. (Usually they picked Sam since he was a better mentor than I wanted to be, which was fine with me.) It also lessened the voiced in our heads so we didn't need to shout over each other. The plan was to have two 6-hour day shifts and three 4-hour night shifts. At least one wolf would need to stay with Haley always. Since she couldn't be around people, she was quarantined to the forest.

I was up first. Sam would have my ear, but it didn't seem right to be in my wolf form with my cousin. Praying she wouldn't turn around from her frozen station, I quickly shifted back and threw on my shorts. I took a seat beside her against the tree.

"So the legends are true," she said before I had a chance to say anything.

"Yeah."

"When did you start being a wolf?"

"About 9 years ago."

"You like it?"

"Sometimes. I didn't at first." Of course I did after Renesmee. Probably wasn't the time to mention her yet.

"So, I'm a..." she started. I knew she knew. How could she not?

"Yes."

"So I'm supposed to drink..."

"Uh huh."

"But animal is okay?"

"You'll be strong, but you'll still always be thirsty. You can control it though with time and practice." She nodded and stopped asking questions, just sat very still. How does she not move around? I had to get up and pace around a bit.

Sam was up next. Crap, I forgot to phase back.

"Hey Sam." I greeted him with a casual wave. "So, I'll just leave you guys alone now." I almost shifted, but figured I'd postpone Sam's fury for another day. He wasn't my Alpha, but he always made his opinions known. Guess I'd better go to Haley's parents and let them know she was okay.

Haley

It wasn't hard to figure out what I had become. Even though I stayed off the roads, I did run across a few people. Like the one hiker with the red cap. Running, like my dad had commanded was apparently hard to do than say. I could hear his heart, his blood, and I wanted it bad. I almost leapt at him; it was controllable, almost inevitable that I would kill this man, and I pitied him. But he's human, I can't. It's murder. I'm not a monster. Who is this man? he was a war veteran with a prosthetic leg who is training to climb a mountain to prove to his family what he is capable of. In that moment, he turned from my next meal to an innocent victim. He became a person to me again. I hesitated for a moment, but it was enough for me to rip my body away from him and run fast and far. I did it. I ran away. He didn't die. I was horrified with the realization of what I wanted to do, but wasn't ready yet to accept the label. Maybe if I could focus on the person as a person, make up their story if I needed to, perhaps I would be okay. Maybe.

Sam obviously wasn't as cordial as my cousin was. I didn't move from where I sat. He parked himself right n front of me. I looked at Sam for a little bit. I saw just a really big wolf in front of me. Then I began to wonder about his story. Becoming a wolf couldn't have been easy for him. He was older than the others, probably the first to change. How lonely he must've felt, not understanding what was happened to him. He knew my place better than I knew it. Why wouldn't he empathize with me? Vampires were natural enemies of our people, so say the legends. And that's what I was. A vampire. I was the enemy, protected by my Quileute shell.

Jacob

"Is there anything I can do it help her?" Nessie asked me while twirling her fingers in my hair. I loved it when she did that. I almost forgot what we were talking about.

"No, she's a newborn. You'll smell too good for her. We couldn't bring Bella near you too soon and she was pretty good with the self control thing. And she'll be that much stronger." I knew Nessie was curious about Haley, but I didn't want her anywhere near her while she was being quarantined. It had only been a week since her arrival.

"She must be so scared. No one's telling her what to expect and always surrounded by wolves like some kind of felon."

"She's not even asking questions. She's quiet most of the time. I understand with everyone else, but even with me, nothing. Her parents got her a cell phone so she talks to them and I guess they know a thing or two about all of this, though I have no idea how." I smiled. "Paul delighted himself in rubbing it all over himself so get rid of the human smell before giving it to her, so don't know how much she'll actually want to use it."

"I'm glad she has you, even if she hasn't opened up yet." My Ness patted my short hair. She liked it better that way. She was beautiful. She just made everything better. I was really glad she was helping me deal with my cousin. I put a loose strand of her curly hair behind her ear before pulling her to me. Our second of a perfectly song-inspiring kiss was interrupted by the phone. Curses to Alexander Graham Bell! Ness picked it up.

"It's Leah," she said handing me to the phone. I jumped up. It was her turn to watch Haley.

"Leah? What's wrong? Where's Haley?"

"She's with Brady, Dumbass. I just finished with her. So, do you go around broadcasting the shit with me and Sam?" I was thoroughly confused.

"What?"

"She knew about me and Sam."

"How did.."

"I didn't phase when I went to see her. No point seeing how she doesn't ever do anything. She asked me how I liked being a wolf. I told it wasn't a big deal. Then she asked if it was hard being so close to Sam all the time. That's how the convo played out. What the hell, Jacob? I didn't join your pack to become a gossip topic."

"Leah, Leah. Chill, okay? I never said anything to her."

"Yeah, I'm sure I believe you. I'm just calling to tell you I'm done babysitting Miss Dracula."

"Leah, you can't..."

"Is that an order, Alpha?" I balled my fists. Damn her and her ways...

"Of course not, Leah. Please, she needs us."

"For your sake, Jacob, she's safer away from me." And she hung up. Crap.