Great response last chapter! This one is dedicated to J'sClearwater, who was actually inspired by my story and ended up making a Leah video because of it on YouTube. I don't know that I could ask for something cooler than actually inspiring someone with this story. It's a pretty cool feeling. Enjoy this chapter!

Vinnie's POV

Chapter 13

I really wasn't supposed to be there in the first place.

Sam had told me of the boundaries that the werewolves had. All he explained about it was that beyond a certain point, our territory ended and another's began.

Somehow –for whatever reason –I ignored that.

I had somehow found myself mindlessly wandering around. This happened pretty often, seeing as how Sam couldn't talk to me while he was in wolf form. He would usually explain what we would do beforehand, phase, then proceed to try and guide me as best he could. More often than not, he got frustrated over the lack of communication. I didn't care either way. Sure, it was hard, but I think I rather that than him hearing my thoughts.

Especially the ones about his ex-girlfriend. That could quite possibly get annoying.

So now, I was exploring- similar to some seven year old boy wandering through the woods by himself –while in wolf form.

All at once, I picked up a scent in the wind; One that seemed only similar to bleach, or the smell of too much of a strong perfume. It nearly caused my eyes to sting.

"You're nose and eyes will get irritated when you smell them the first time," Sam had commented. "That's how you'll know it's them."

Vampires.

Following pure instinct instead of orders –which were to find Sam and tell him whatever I found to be out of the norm –I ran through the woods looking for the source. On the way, I picked up a few other smells. One of them I could identify: Embry. He had been here. But there were others, and one especially caught me off guard at the familiarity I couldn't place to it.

As if I was being pulled, I set aside my instincts for the enemy and went to different ones that were even stronger. I needed to find the source of this one. It was like… cinnamon, and wild flowers. Not two scents I would ever put together, but it was all I could think of to compare it to.

I saw something flash in the distance. Following it, I made my way through a clear opening in the woods and for the first time, I was able to see the creature fully.

It was a werewolf.

I had never seen this one before, I was sure of it. It was so small compared to the others, even the younger wolves. It started walking up to me, its beautiful silver fur twinkling in the light radiating from the moon.

That's when I noticed something.

It was actually a she.

Instantly, I froze where I was. To my understanding, being a werewolf was pretty much a guy thing. With all this talk of brotherhood Sam and the others prattled on about, there did not seem to be room for anything otherwise. I never had seen any girls in Sam's pack. Who was she?

My eyes fell upon hers and all at once, something odd happened.

I could have completely drown in the dark brown eyes, and I would not have minded one bit. She was pulling me to her, and I could not even figure out why or how it was possible. It was almost like if I left at that moment, it would have caused me physical pain to not be with her, to not try and find out who she was.

I treaded over to her slowly, but she began to back away. The last thing I wanted to do was scare her, so I simply sat down where I was, trying to be the least intimidating as I could.

After a moment of staring at me –seeming to assess how much harm I could do to her –she treaded softly to me. At one point, she almost backed away, but second guessed the decision and trotted over to me. She walked in a circle surrounding me, as if she were surveying what –or maybe even who –I was. Once she came back around to be in front of me, she sat down as I did, merely a foot away. At once, she cocked her head to the side in curiosity.

For some reason, the elegant and beautiful she-wolf looking at me with such a quizzical expression caused me to bark with laughter.

The expression left in an instant, and she instead began to glare at me, and then proceeded to walk away from where I was, her nose turned up to the sky as if she were some queen.

But there was no way I was letting her leave.

I ran in front of her, blocking her exit through a break in the forest trees. She looked angry, but tried to walk around me. I blocked her once more.

She growled at me, acting menacing. I shook my head. I could not figure out how to explain to her; how could you say "Stay, please don't leave. You seem so familiar" in dog language?

She went after me. I had no time to get out of her lunge when she jumped at me, her claws digging into my skin. Although it wasn't my first injury as a wolf –Sam thought it was funny to nip me when I was not doing something right –I didn't know what to do. With Sam, I simply launched at him. But this wolf… I could not hurt her. Not if my life depended on it.

When she noticed I was not fighting back and instead just laying on the ground under her while she started biting my leg, she stopped and starred down at me. Her face turned apologetic for a moment, then into horror. She backed away and off me quickly.

I was bleeding, but the openings were slowly closing. I guess healing fast comes in handy. Even with the soars healing, I was still covered haphazardly in blood on my neck and legs. The pain was slowly fading, but there was no doubt that she was pretty… aggressive.

In a natural manner, I tried to lick the blood off. It sure as hell did not taste good, but it helped to get the stains out of my coat.

She came over to me and stared at my soars on my legs and chest. Then, she began to walk away. I had given up following her. If she didn't want me, she didn't want me. But unexpectedly, she turned her head and nodded towards the forest, then back at me.

She wanted me to follow her.

I trotted to her, limping now and then, and we walked softly side by side. She was even more amazing up close, her small snout and lean body seeming beautiful to me. There was something familiar when I looked at her –the confidence, the way she carried herself, even her eyes.

I knew exactly what it was, but I knew it to be impossible at the same time. Surely someone would have informed me if it were possible.

She came to a stop next to a small creek that was not frozen over. She nodded to it. I did not understand the message.

She rolled her eyes, and proceeded to nudge my leg softly with her nose towards the water.

Now, I got it. She wanted me to get cleaned up.

I walked into the creek, but came quickly out, not expecting how cold the water actually was. Sure, I may have had a higher temperature nowadays, but that did not mean I was not susceptible to feeling the cold.

I felt a push, and lost my footing, falling into the water.

Great. Now my clothes attached to my ankle would be wet, too.

Now, it was her barking in laughter, her eyes shut as she lay on her back and laughed at my expense.

I crawled out, shaking a little, as she continued her laughter and walked over to me. She looked at me and sighed a moment later, finally finished.

Out of no where in particular –at least no where I could pinpoint –I walked up to her and stood in front of her.

I knew it could not be her, but it seemed so much like her. Maybe a cousin she never told me about. Hell, maybe Emily was able to shift into a werewolf and Sam declined to inform me. But this wolf did not remind me of Emily.

She reminded me of Leah.

She looked up at me, confused once more. All I did was lean over and nuzzle my snout to her neck, trying to bury myself there. The move even surprised me. But she… She was so warm and comfortable and near perfect, and the position reminded me of when Leah and I had slept next to each other.

She froze on contact, but thankfully, did not pull away.

All of a sudden, a howl went off in the distance. "Sam," I thought instantly.

I took it as my queue to go, and backed away from her, running as best I could with my injuries towards him without looking back at her.

I couldn't. It would have just hurt more.

"You shouldn't have passed the boundary," Sam said angrily. Even in human form, the guy could manage to growl.

I was currently at his house, wearing some of Sam's spare pants while my wet clothes –thanks to the she-wolf –were in the dryer.

"I know. I'm sorry. I picked up a vampire scent and just-"

"Of course you did. You were on their land."

"What do you mean? They live here?" From what I understood, I was pretty sure the "bloodsuckers" were the werewolves' mortal enemy. It's like that in all the movies and books, and from what I understood, the tribe felt the same way.

He sighed. "There's a coven that lives just outside Forks. They don't kill people; just feed on animals."

I was confused. "Doesn't that go against everything you've told me about the vampires? You said that they were these selfish monsters who did nothing but kill and destroy."

"There are exceptions to every rule."

Speaking of which… "You know, I found something interesting on their land," I spoke as I ran my hand over a light pink scar that was on my arm left from her.

By this time, Sam had gotten up and gone to his fridge, seeming to search for something. "What did you see?"

"A werewolf."

He froze a moment, but then grabbed a juice carton. "Well, there are enough of us. It's pretty common to see our own kind around here. Probably one of the younger ones."

"It was a very small wolf."

He shrugged. "There's your explanation, then. Some kid got lose."

"Yeah, except the kid was a girl."

At this point he seemed to stop breathing, his eyes bulging out. He knew something that I did not. If he was so avid about hiding this from me, then it could not have been so farfetched to assume it was-

My thoughts were interrupted by a knock on Sam's door. Sam went to go answer it, and Jacob was there. Now that I smelled him since I changed, I knew that I also smelled his scent in the forests, too, with Embry's.

"My dad wants to talk to you," I heard Jake say.

"You could have just called."

"I thought this would be more personable. Besides, I was on my way to the Cullen's anyways." Jake stepped in, and seemed more than surprised to see me on Sam's couch. "Vince?" he asked. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Just visiting," I said sarcastically. Jake did not know about me being a werewolf. For one reason or another, Sam informed me it was better not to tell anyone he didn't. He said that even when everything was figured out –why I changed exactly, mainly –I could still not tell anyone unless I was told otherwise.

Jacob smiled. "You better hope Leah doesn't find out you're here. You told her you'd be in bed the next three days waiting for her." He seemed almost like he wanted me in trouble.

Ignoring the suggestive double meaning to the sentence, I responded saying, "It was a quick visit, that's all."

"What does Billy want?" Sam asked Jacob.

"I dunno. Something about the 'foreigner's heritage' or something." He shrugged.

Foreigner? That was my official name? That seemed similar in meaning to "illegal alien". I did not like it at all.

Sam sighed. "C'mon, Vince." He made his way to the front door, and I followed.

Jake stood by at the door, his eyes wide. "Um, both the elder's are there."

"So?" Sam asked.

"Why is Vince going, I mean, no offense, but he's kind of… not one of us."

I was about to interject with a "Well, I'm a werewolf, too!" but seeing as how it would have made me sound like a five year old, I refrained.

Sam rolled his eyes. "Jake, get from blocking my door and let us through. It concerns Vincent's father."

"Oh." He finally moved out of the way.

Sam and I made our way to his truck. "Does this really have to do with my father?"

"I'm not completely sure. I think your mom would be able to help us more, but the elders don't want us to concern her about this whole werewolf thing. She doesn't even know about Embry."

I already figured that out; it was a good explanation for all of his odd disappearances at night that my mom complained about so much.

We drove over, and made a sharp turn into Billy's driveway. We entered in, and Billy and Old Quil were sitting there, just as they were a week ago.

"We'll wait for Sue," Billy said. "She'd be help with this."

Sue? Sue Clearwater? What did she have to do with this?

Sam's face blanked for a moment. "She knows what's going on?" he asked.

"Not entirely. We simply told her that we needed her help and advisory. She took Harry's place when he passed. She's allowed to know things."

That explained it. If Harry was in this before, then Sue rightfully would also know. But what about their children? Did Seth know about this whole fiasco, too?

Suddenly, Sue came barging in. "I hope there's good reason that I had to be dragged away from Char-" her eyes set on me. She looked puzzled, just as Jacob did. Like I didn't belong here. I, for one, was getting a little tired of that look. "Hello, Vincent. What are you doing here?"

"This concerns him, Sue," Old Quil said before I could answer her.

"How so?" she asked as she made her way through the living room and onto Billy's couch.

"We're trying to figure out who his father is."

Was, I wanted to correct him. I did not have a father. My mom and Embry, that was it for my family. The closest I came to a father figure was probably Billy, but only because I was over his house with Embry when I was younger.

"Well, I'm not sure how I'll be much help. Shouldn't he be asking Alyssa about this?"

"We rather she was not alarmed with this," Old Quil said wisely.

She raised an eyebrow. "And the reason being…? What, you don't want to hurt her feelings? Billy, I'm sure she's better than-"

"He phases, Sue," Billy finally said.

Her eyes went wide. "What?" It was like she couldn't wrap her head around it.

"He isn't from around here originally. Whoever his father is obviously has something to do with being a wolf, but not like us."

"But he… he's a wolf?"

"Yes."

She started to say something, but immediately shut her mouth. "What information can I give you?"

"Do you remember anything Alyssa might've said about him? A name? What he looked like?"

Sue sighed. "Well, she said he was her college sweetheart. They were in the same grade. Neither one graduated, though. He left and got married, and she got pregnant and dropped out."

"Anything else?" Billy pressed.

"She said he had a small accent, and was Latino. I'm not really sure if that helps any."

"It might." Billy turned to Sam. "You and Vincent will have to help us. We have to find out who his father is. Maybe then we can understand how he can phase, but not be Quileute."

Sam nodded obediently. "We will try, don't worry."

Billy sighed. "Worst case scenario, we'll just have to ask Alyssa subtly. I rather not have to tell her about Vincent and Embry if we can help it. No need to get her involved in this whole thing."

Old Quil sighed. "This is getting too much; Men changing who have no relation to the Quileute, people changing who aren't even supposed to? What's happening to us as a people?"

I did not know what to say about that. I felt bad for once that I was causing all this trouble. All I wanted to do was come back to Leah after I left college, not start turning into a werewolf.

Billy spoke after a moment. "That's all for now. We'll talk later."

Sue, Sam, and I rose from out seats and made our way to the front door.

Once we were on the porch, Sue approached me. "Does Leah know about this, Vincent?"

I shook my head. "I'm not supposed to tell anyone, Sam said."

She looked at me a moment, then nodded her head, smiling sadly.

Sure, I wasn't supposed to tell anyone the Quileute secret, but apparently, that didn't concern me. I was not Quileute. This was my secret, and I would tell who I wanted to.

I was going to tell Leah. I was going to tell her I was a wolf as soon as I saw her again.

I needed to.

Oh, Vinnie's such a bad boy, wanting to disobey the wolf code and everything. Any comments on what happened in the forest? I'm sure you all have your own theories as to what happened…

Oh, and guess what? Apparently this was nominated for some awards I had never heard of, but whatever. It's still pretty cool. I have my own icon with my story on it and everything! I'll have a link to it on my profile, and more info later when voting opens.

Cocoa