Bwahahahaha! I have returned with chapter 23! Yes, yes, I've been gone for ages, but I'm back! And so far, this is my favorite chapter. I wrote it and rewrote it until I loved it. Oh, yes, and a new POV. Not sure if I'll write in her POV again, but we'll see how popular she is with you guys. Anyways, I'll quit ranting now.

*Disclaimer*

Please Enjoy!

RPOV

I knew the moment Jacob was asleep. His whole body went limp as the tension drained out of him. Not to mention, his soft snores immediately filled my ear.

I waited just a few more minutes before I quickly replaced my body in his arms with my pillow. Hopefully my scent would keep him out just long enough for me to get up to the kitchen to take some Advil or something in preparation for the soreness tomorrow. Maybe I could get it to dial down before it even started hardcore. Already there was a tightness in my lower body as if every muscle were cramped up tight at the same time. Though I liked the pain and tightness, I knew Jacob would beat himself up over it, so this was for him. Maybe one day I could get him to stop worrying and asking if I was ok. Frankly, it was getting annoying. He should know me well enough to know that I'd say something if it was too much for me.

Grabbing my robe off the back of the chair that was next to the bedroom door, I quickly put it on and rushed quietly up the stairs to the kitchen. The cabin was dark and quiet, the fire having burned down to glowing embers. Luckily a small light under the kitchen cabinet was on, flooding just the counter with a warm glow.

The medicine was in one of the top cabinets, so I had to do a little reaching. Going up on my tiptoes was a little awkward, but the stretching felt good.

Opening the bottle, I shook out a few of the coated pills and popped them into my mouth, swallowing them down with water from the sink faucet. I had just shut the cabinet again when I heard a noise above me.

Going perfectly still, my eyes rolled up to the ceiling even though I knew I couldn't see through the floor. Vampires were talented but that was one talent nobody in my family possessed. So I waited. Maybe it was just a settling of the house type of noise.

After a moment of nothing happening but listening to my heart, I made to go for the stairs to our room when the creak came again. Immediately my heart jumped into overdrive as I whirled for the stairs that led to the third floor. The light under the cabinet didn't reach that far to the foot of the steps so they were utterly black.

Biting my lip, I took a step forward. "Hello?" Another creak sounded off. "Anybody there?"

Maybe one of the boys had decided to crash, especially if Embry was up here with Adam and Derek. They could switch off patrols while one of three slept in turns. Or…I looked back to the stairs that led to my and Jacob's room. Had he sneaked behind me? Getting me back for leaving him in bed?

I shook my head. No, he wouldn't do that. Turning back around, I swallowed hard and went for the stairs.

"Derek? Adam? Embry?" I said quietly so as not to wake Jacob. "If it's one of you up there, this isn't funny. And I'm coming up." Pausing to listen, my ears strained against silence…until another creak of the floorboards sounded.

One foot on the first stair, my heart in my throat pounding out a rough beat, and I-

"Did you really think that that pillow would keep me asleep?"

With a shriek, I whirled around to find Jacob leaning on the kitchen counter in a pair of boxers. Clutching my chest, I sagged down to sit on the step I'd just been standing on.

"Jesus, Jacob-,"

"I hurt you, didn't I? You came up here to take some medicine." He held up a hand. "And don't lie. I can smell it, the medicine, in your body."

Staring at him incredulously, I wondered why he was being cold and not asking why I was so freaked out. Instantly, I was pissed off.

"Yeah, I took some medicine. So, what? I knew you'd beat yourself up even after I kept telling you that I'm fine, so I took it for you. I love you and I want you like that, but not if you keep that crap up. And if you're in any way curious as to why I'm freaked out, I heard something upstairs. Why don't you go check it out since you wanna be such a tough guy with me out of bed."

Fuming, I marched passed him, hitting him with my shoulder and went for the stairs. Just before I went down, I turned back to him.

"For your information, tonight was perfect. Any time with you is perfect, but if you keep up with this whole beat-yourself-up-for-stuff-you-didn't-actually-do shit, I won't want to be with you all the time, Jake. Just remember that. Tonight was perfect."

"Ness-,"

Before he could say anything else, I went down to the bedroom and went for the closet. I wasn't so mad that I didn't want Jacob in the bed with me, but at the moment, I didn't want to be naked in bed with him. So I threw on some thin cotton pajama pants and one of his old t-shirts. It still smelled like him and it reminded me of the old days where we were just friends and nothing was all that complicated. At least not on my side.

As I crawled into bed, I heard Jacob's heavy footsteps going up the stairs and then was silent. A moment later, he pounded back down the stairs. Instead of coming toward the room, the sound of the front door being unlocked and the security system beeping made its way down to me. The door closed again and the house was silent. He must have gone outside to talk to the boys.

While he was out there, I thought about all that had happened tonight. It seemed that the pack had successfully tapped into their abilities, some easier than others. And Jacob was the king of them all. When I'd first met Caden, I'd thought that Jacob wouldn't win against him. He was too wild, where Jake was too willing to give people a chance. But now? Jacob's wolf was willing to get his human body's hands dirty, and Jacob was willing to let his beast take over if it meant the safety of our territory and people. I knew that because when I'd told him that I was proud of him, it seemed that that had been what he'd been wanting to hear. Some sort of acknowledgement of all he'd been through and sacrificed of himself along the way. And I was proud of him. He just needed to learn to trust me, to trust that I knew what I wanted and that I was sure of what I wanted, and how I wanted it.

Lying on my back, I twirled my engagement ring over and over my finger. God, I just wanted all this crap to be over. I wanted to marry Jacob and concentrate on starting a family. All these bumps in the road were turning out to be sinkholes that we barely managed to hopscotch across before being fully enveloped by darkness.

About five minutes later, Jacob came back down the stairs and paused just a moment as if surprised that I was in the bed. When he didn't come directly to bed but went for the closet, I sat up.

"What are you doing?" I asked. He was in a pair of boxers. That was dressed enough for a guy. And I knew he wouldn't sleep in a shirt no matter what.

My heart skipped when I saw that he had a blanket in his hand as he walked toward the bed. I knew what he was thinking. And he was wrong.

So, I joked with a little, really fake laugh. "I don't need another blanket, Jake."

He smirked briefly but reached for his pillow. I gripped his wrist. "You're not going anywhere," I said with more of a command than request.

His eyes widened in surprise. "But, you-,"

"I snapped at you, yes. I had every reason to, but that doesn't mean I don't want you next to me." I pulled him down by his arm to sit next to me, wrapping his arm over my hips. "Jacob, every time the possibility of a fight comes, we run away from it. I'm not saying that I want to fight, but we really need to go over this 'are you ok' crap."

He took a deep breath as we stared at each other and tightened his fingers on my hip. "Ok."

I took my own breath. "Ok."

"What are you thinking?" he asked in a quiet tone.

"Jacob, do you trust me?"

His whole body jerked. "Of course I do. How could you ask that?"

"Then why don't you believe me when I tell you I'm fine? I'm not glass, Jacob." I shifted around so I could face him. "I don't really know how to explain this, but we're the alpha couple, right?" When he nodded, I continued. "Ok, well, I love you being a primal male, wanting things rough, wanting me rough. Remember? I'm your perfect match. What you need is what I want, ya know? If you need a night of rough sex instead of love-making, I'm so there with you. Every time. I don't need you to ask me if I'm ok or if you hurt me. I mean, yeah, I took some medicine because I know how we are in the morning. We like to be all over each other, and I don't want that to change on account of me. That passion between us is what so many couples lose. Jacob, I can't lose that with you. I don't want to."

Jacob gripped my hip harder and leaned into me. "You won't. We won't. I just-I just need to make sure that you're ok. You are the only reason I'm still here. There is no doubt in my mind that I'd be dead right now if I hadn't imprinted on you."

"Don't say that-,"

"It's true, Nessie. I would be. I have to make sure that I didn't hurt you."

I stroked his very worried face. "Jacob, I promise you that I will tell you if I'm hurt or uncomfortable. Remember the first time we made love? I told you the next morning that I was hurting."

"True, but you weren't going to at first."

I nodded in concession with that. "Maybe, but I made a promise to myself that I would never lie to you especially after our whole fiasco before. And I told you. But like I said then, it was a good hurt and I was just telling you so that you knew that I was ok. That I wasn't in denial. I'm telling you now that I am ok from tonight. You didn't break anything. We just have never gone that hard is all. Like any new change, it's gonna take a while to get used to it. And I promise you now that I will, we will, get used it. You can't keep the wolf on a chain, especially around me. I felt how he acted and reacted."

"And you're ok with that?"

"Jacob! Are you not listening to me? Yes, I'm ok. If I wasn't, would I be telling you all this? Would I be letting you hold me? No, I wouldn't. If your wolf had scared me, I'd have run down to my parents' cottage. Hell, I would have fought to stay in that clearing with the pack." Taking his face in both of my hands, I shook him. "Listen to me. I love you. I love him. I am your imprint. And I am thoroughly convinced that you are my soul mate. I don't need or want anybody else. You're it for me. End of discussion, ok?"

JPOV

"…You're it for me. End of discussion, ok?"

Proud. Now I knew what she'd meant when she'd said she was proud of me. In this moment, Nessie was putting me in my place as my alpha female. I may be head of the pack body, but she's my neck, turning me in the direction I need to be in. And right now, she was telling me to let her be in charge of her, to let her worry about herself and come to me when she felt like there was cause to come to me.

She shook my face again. "Ok? Are you hearing me, Jake?"

The wolf inside me resented and respected her tone at the same time. His fleeting thought was, You gonna let her talk to you like that?

My response was, Shut up. She's right.

"Yeah, baby. I hear you. And I'm sorry. You're right. You've told me that over and over. I guess it's just reflex. But I swear to you that I will try, ok? I'll try to catch myself. If I do it, you can punch me or something, but you might need a crowbar. I don't want you breaking your hand."

It had the intended effect. She laughed and gripped my left hand where I'd replaced my wedding band and played with it.

"You mean like mom did when she punched you for kissing her?"

My eyebrows took a hike to my hairline. "You know about that?"

"Well, yeah. Leah kind of told me everything."

"You know that kind of scares me, right?"

She laughed and snuggled up to my chest. "Think of it this way: I know everything and am still here, right?"

Hugging her to me, I swore to myself that I'd keep myself from playing the worried mother hen all the damn time. I was her fiancé, not her father. And hell, even Edward didn't bombard her with "are you oks?" every time he saw her even though he knew what we were doing in the dark. That was one thing I could say for him; he trusted his daughter.

"That's so true, hun."

Her lips pressed to my chest before she broke away to settle into bed. I followed, wrapping my huge body around her much smaller one. Pressing kisses to the nape of her neck, I pulled her back against my body. She wrapped my arms around her waist and held them there.

"So, did you find anything upstairs? Was it one of the boys?"

Just one last lie before my resolutions kicked in tomorrow. I took in a deep breath and said, "Yeah, Embry just needed to go to the bathroom."

I could feel her frown. "I didn't hear him come in."

I cleared my throat. "Uh, yeah. He came in while we were, um, busy."

"Oh, ok."

Still rolling with the lie, I laughed into her hair. "Don't worry. He didn't see a thing." And then I thought of something to distract her. "Oh, did I tell you he imprinted?"

Nessie rolled over in my arms with wide eyes and large smile. "Really?"

"Yup."

"Who?"

"Walker's sister."

The smile immediately vanished and she pulled her lips between her teeth as she frowned.

"What? What is it?"

"Well, that might get interesting."

I stroked her hair out of her face. "Why?"

She took a deep breath and blew it out against my chest. "Tricia isn't biologically Walker's sister. She's adopted."

Well that explained why she didn't look a thing like the rest of them, but that didn't explain the sudden tension in Nessie's body.

"So why is that a bad thing?"

She flopped onto her back, stared at the ceiling and played with the ring on her finger. "You know those stories about siblings being adopted and one of them falling for the other?"

"Yeah." And then it sank in. "Wait, are you saying that Walker is in love with Tricia?"

She shrugged. "I don't know for sure. There was a rumor going around at the school about him, and he was incredibly protective of her. Shelby told me about it when Tricia first went into school. She was a year behind us. I think she's seventeen right now."

"That's what she told us. But brothers, older or younger, are always protective of their sisters. I was always that way with Rachel and Rebecca. That doesn't mean he's in love with her."

"Jake, he's as protective over her as you are with me. Tell me that you feel a different kind of protective over me than your sisters. I know you do."

She had a point. I wasn't sure how to explain it, but there was something there. "So what am I supposed to do? Keep Embry away from her? Nessie, you know I can't do that. Being away from you is always the hardest thing in my life. Every time I have to be separated from you, you're all I can think about. And Embry has been wanting this for a very long time."

She stroked a hand up my chest. "I'm not telling you to order him away. Just watch Walker. If Embry is all over her if or when she's around Walker, it could get ugly."

Leaning down, I pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Thanks for letting me know. Now, I won't be surprised if something happens."

"Hey, we have to watch each other's backs, right?" She smiled at me as she leaned up to kiss me. "Come on. Let's get some sleep. It's been a rough night."

Laughing, I went with her as she rolled, taking me with her. And I followed gladly.

One week later…

"Alright, ladies and gentlemen," Caden said in the middle of the clearing. "I believe we've got the surfacing and reburying of the wolves down. So now, I want to work on sensing emotions. I know that some of you can see signs and smell the differences in your human form, but a lot of you can't. Over the past week, many of you have probably been hearing and smelling new things when talking to people. You've all heard the saying 'they can smell fear'. Well, a lot of animals can sense when a human is happy, sad, angry or when they're lying and telling the truth. For example, Edward."

As one unit, the entire pack turned to the vampire, whose face was completely blank, passive as he leaned against the side of the house between Bella and Nessie. Caden walked forward to stand next to me, studying Edward.

"You're amused."

Edward's eyebrows raised in surprised.

"Your heart doesn't beat, but you're giving off a scent that you probably don't even know that vampires can give off. If I had to describe it, I'd say it smells like candy, nice and sweet, something that would make a child happy and keep them amused for hours." Then he turned to me. "Jacob. Look at…Morgan."

Immediately, my eyes went to her where she was standing next to Lucas, her fingers intertwined with his.

"What is she feeling? Walk me through what you're sensing from her."

Taking a deep breath, I faced her and coaxed my wolf to the forefront of myself. I could actually feel my awareness get pushed aside and the place where I had been get taken over by the animal. He used my human eyes to watch her, my ears to listen to her body. With perfect timing the wind swept by, bringing her scent to me. My face lifted into the breeze and I inhaled deeply. There were several different scents that overwhelmed me at first.

"Jacob, find Morgan's scent, just her. Don't worry about her emotions. What does Morgan smell like?"

"Dark," I said immediately. "Roses. Spiced vanilla."

"Alright. Pick her out of all that you're scenting right now."

Opening my eyes, I stared at her while my brain processed everything. Seeing her might help me connect her scent to her.

"Good, Jacob. Use every sense you have at your disposal for this. Once you get used to picking out scents, you won't need your eyes. But good on thinking about that."

He was right. Finally, I latched onto the smell of dark roses and warm vanilla, the two scents reaching out and stabbing at my now-sensitive nose.

"Got it," I said in a low tone.

"Good. Now, sift through that. What's different? What's there that's not roses or vanilla? And remember, your first instinct is always right."

For a moment, I just let the scents sink into my brain. They were almost a taste in my mouth, something dark, bitter, and sweet all at the same time.

"Chocolate. Dark chocolate."

"And what does it bring to mind?"

My mouth spoke before I gave it the order: "Love." And then I laughed. "She's feeling love. A lot of it."

Morgan grinned at me as she tightened her hold on Lucas, stepping in close to him and resting her head on his chest.

"Anything else?"

Though nothing about her physically changed, the scent did. A tangy, unpleasant scent assaulted me. The salty tang of tears.

"Sadness." When her eyes met mine, they echoed the sadness I smelled. I looked around the clearing and found the object of the emotion. Christa was at the back of the crowd, leaning against a tree, looking just as miserable. When she noticed me looking at her, she tried to perk up with a smile, but it was too late. The same, sad scent floated over to me from her.

A clapping of hands broke the mind-meld with the emotions. I looked to find Caden with a sympathetic look on his face.

"Alright, I think we're done with Morgan. Let's try someone else."

"Who?"

His smile told me who it was before he said it. "Nessie."

Turning around, I found her up against the side of the house, watching me. It was so much easier to pick up her scent: mint and honey. Her golden aura pulsed as she smiled at me.

"Love," I said again. She smelled like warm chocolate brownies on a cold night. Gooey and melt-in-your-mouth delicious.

With a laugh, Caden said, "Well, I think we all know that. Anything else?"

Granted, I was more in tune with her so I could smell the medicine that was still there in her system, but I could also get a whiff of the aches and pains. I wasn't sure I could describe the smell, but I knew instinctively what they were. Also the bite marks on her and the bruises from last night.

What I didn't smell was anger. No heated scents coming from her. But there was something else. Something like metal. In my mind, I kept getting the image of a gold medal, an award. It was a deep scent. The image of the medal made me think of…

"Pride."

She grinned at me as her eyes started to sheen over with tears.

"I told you so," she whispered.

Not able to contain myself, I launched my body across the clearing and scooped her up into my arms, holding her around the waist. She gripped my face hard and pulled me to her lips.

"And you're not angry," I whispered back.

She shook her head. "I told you last night. When are you going to learn to trust me? I'll tell you when I'm not ok."

"Well, I could probably smell it if you lie to me now."

"I'm a virgin," came from behind me. And suddenly an acrid, rubber on concrete stench hit me.

Turning with Nessie in my arms and my face scrunched up, I found a smiling Caden trying to contain his amusement.

"That is what a lie smells like. Awful, isn't it?"

"Don't ever do that again," I told him.

Nessie laughed. "Well, at least you made a cute face."

I gave her a look. "It won't be cute if I puke on you."

It was her turn to give me a look. "You puke on me and you'll be sleeping under the porch."

"Duly noted." I turned back to Caden. "I think I'm done with the emotions thing. Teach me the partial shift and then you and I can go around to the pack."

Caden nodded. "Alright. You'll need to put her down first."

"Oh, right." I gave her a really long, deep kiss that left her swaying when I set her back down on her feet. She leaned against the side of the house and swallowed hard as I walked away. No sleeping on the couch for me tonight.

Caden shook his head and grinned. "Let's get this thing going, shall we?" he asked as he clapped me on the shoulder. "Now, I want you to try to go back to the very first time you phased. I've been told that you hurt a lot the first time because the wolf just bursts out of you."

"Oh, yeah. That hurt," Lucas said. "Very disoriented and my entire body felt like it was on fire. Not to mention, my joints didn't want to work."

"Jacob, you think you can remember all that?"

"I remember everything about that day. Don't you worry about that."

Caden nodded. "Good. Now think about that day and slow it down. Try to step away from it and view it from afar. What specifically do you remember? Be as descriptive as possible because I have no idea how this works and I'm going on a hunch."

"Ok, well, I was feeling tired but angry all day. Angry about everything. Bella was still all about Edward. That night Billy had told me that I looked weird. I nearly ripped him apart. My body started shaking, and it felt like my blood was boiling. I barely managed to make it out of the house before I phased."

"No, describe it. Details. Put it in slow-mo."

I shook my head. "Alright, um…ok. As I was going out the door, I could feel my bones elongating, almost like the growing pains that I'd felt over the couple months before that night, but so much worse. It felt like they were fracturing in my skin. My fingers and toes felt like a thousand needle were trying to poke through the skin in one area at the same time."

"Good!" He clapped his hands. "That I can work with. Partial shifting is exactly as you just described it, but concentrated in one area. From what I can tell from hearing phasing stories, your anger or whatever emotion you use to phase flows throughout your entire bodies to bring on the change and then, voila, you're a wolf. It just bursts through the skin. But partial shifting is taking control of that emotion and centering it in one part of the body. Does that make sense?"

"It makes perfect sense, actually. Let me see you do it first." I took the band that Nessie gave me and slipped it into my pocket. Didn't want anything happening to it.

He nodded and held up his hand. At first I felt nothing, but then after a moment, the air in the clearing became charged somehow. And then his hand started to lengthen as a series of crack and pops sounded out. I could actually hear and see the muscle rip under the skin. It sounded like leather being pulled apart.

"I'm gonna be sick," Shelby said behind me. Two seconds later, I heard her retching into the bushes.

Glancing back, I saw Nessie looking a little pale and swallowing a lot. She gave me a small smile before I turned back to find Caden's nails elongating into dagger-like black claws. Though he showed no outward expression of pain, I could smell it. It was similar to the smell of lying, but yet different. It was a sour acrid scent.

Once he flexed his hand, I knew he was done. The charge in the air died down.

"I couldn't do this before Alora and the boys were taken from me. After I found them torn apart in our living room, I realized I could when I imagined ripping the throat out of the vampire that did it. I wanted him to look into my eyes, my human eyes, as I tore him apart for the innocent lives he'd taken. That's the anger I channel. I don't know if you have something to compare that to or use, but that's what helps me."

As he talked about his lost family, the sour smell deepened and was joined by another. One I could only describe as immense rage. I felt really bad for him. I mean, I knew he loved Leah. Her imprint pushed him toward her, but he'd lost an entire family. An entire book of his life because of vampires. It was a wonder he could even stand to be near them, even the Cullens.

But the question was, did I have a similar hatred inside of me? Looking back at Nessie, I realized I did. Jane, that bitch bloodsucker, and Tristan had tried to take her away from me. They'd killed Jordan, and were now attacking Forks. They were attacking my family and my territory. And the wolf in me saw what Caden did: the image of Tristan seeing that hatred in my human eyes as we took him down, as we ripped him to shreds for the lives he was tearing apart.

My hands flexed and started to tingle at my side.

"Hold on to the anger, Jacob. Look at Nessie. Look at what they almost took away from you: your life, your mate, your future family."

Fully turning around, I met Nessie's eyes. They were sad and encouraging at the same time. With the anger still rolling through me, I wanted to phase, but I held it back, forcing the anger into my fists at my side. And I watched her. Before my eyes, I saw her grow, swell with a child, then holding that child. That all could have been ripped away from me if we hadn't gotten to that cabin in time. And I'd had Tristan. In those woods, if he'd stuck around, we would have had him.

Abruptly, Nessie's eyes unlocked from mine to look down.

"Jacob," she whispered.

Bringing my hands up in front of me, I saw that they were no longer hands. At least, not human hands. My nails were razor-sharp claws. The palms were long and disproportional to the rest of my arm, at least three inches longer than it had been. Fingers were long and the knuckles were big and notched.

Looking back at Ness, I saw just a hint of fear and unease. It was like she was finally tuning into the fact that Caden was turning us into monsters, dangerous monsters.

I turned to find Caden watching me with a satisfied smile. "You know what's at stake and that it was nearly taken from you." Then he addressed the pack. "All of you are in danger of losing those you love. That's where your anger comes from when you phase. When you're threatened, when your home and loved ones are threatened, you turn into something that can protect all of that. What I'm asking you to do is channel it. Jacob did. And I firmly believe that if he can do it, you can, too. You're all powerful."

As the pack started talking amongst themselves, I watched them. None of them seemed to be put off from trying, just a little wary. And then, I startled when I felt a hand wrap around mine. Nessie was there beside me with a small smile as she gripped my hand tightly. Her eyes shone with love from where her head rested on my arm. I squeezed her hand and brought it up so I could kiss her fingers. Before our very eyes, my hand smoothly and quietly returned to normal.

"Looks like the ease of phasing extends to partial phasing," she said in a low tone.

"Yeah, looks like." When she didn't say anything else, I cleared my throat. "Are you ok? I mean, can you-do you-are you still…God."

"I still love you, Jacob. And I still want you. It just startled me a little. I'm sure I'll get used to it because you need to practice, right? We'll be alright."

Digging into my pocket, I took out my ring and handed it to her. Letting go of my hand, she smiled and slipped it back onto my finger. Instantly, I felt loads better.

"Right where it belongs," she said and kissed it.

"Absolutely."

ChristaPOV

An hour later and we were all practicing being angry. Well, some of us didn't have to try to be pissed off. I used my dad, and it worked just fine. Bastard that he was, I had plenty of memories to get me good and riled up. Out of the three males that were walking around the pack explaining the workings of the shift, I got Jacob. It was so hard to get mad around him. He was always so sweet toward me, understanding that I truly wasn't all that happy. He could scent my sadness, as could the rest of the pack now. Morgan had been shooting me looks all night as if she wanted to talk to me. Even after my parents had left, she'd never been able to approach me after everything came out of the closet. I knew Jake had tried to hide what he was thinking but there was only so much he could do.

"It's alright, Christa. This is your chance. Let out that anger." Jacob was towering over me, his face set in soft lines.

He was a handsome SOB, that was for sure. And no doubt that he had girls crushing all over the rez, making them cry at night because he went home to Nessie.

"Christa?" Aaaaand he was staring at me like I'd lost my mind. I probably had and just didn't realize.

I shook myself. "Yeah, I'm good. Ok. Anger, right." Thinking about my parents and them cutting me off from the world and my friends, never letting me lead my own life, I felt the wolf inside me snarl and want out. But I forced the anger down my trembling arms.

"That's it, Christa. I think you got it."

But I really didn't. There was only so much anger I could throw at them. So I thought of Morgan. Perfect Morgan with her good looks, bitchy attitude, and ability to draw all kinds of assholes to her. She left me. She left me when she knew what was happening to me. Did she go to Jacob or the police? To Billy Black? No, she didn't. She let them hole me up.

With a growl, I felt the claws rip through my fingertips. Lifting my hands up, I looked through my tears at a set of monstrous claws. And then I looked back up at Jacob who looked like he was on the verge of tears, too.

He reached for me. "Christa-,"

"No!" I tried to rip away from him but it was useless.

"Christa." He pulled me into his arms and rocked a little as I completely broke down. "It's ok, Christa. Just let it out. This is tough stuff, and I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for everything."

For a while we just rocked as I cried. Dimly, I could feel my hands return to normal. And then a few minutes after that, we realized that the pack had quieted down.

"Hello?" A female voice called from the side of the house. "Jacob? Embry?"

Jacob let me go and whirled around just a gorgeous blonde rounded the corner of the house. And that's when the back kitchen door opened and the new kid, Walker stepped out. He was staring back and forth between Jacob and the girl, and for a moment, his stare met mine.

And I thought to myself, shit just got real.

I wanted him. I wanted nothing but him. Tall with a mop of auburn hair, tan skin, and lean muscle, he was all American male, even with that incredulous look on his face as he broke eye contact with me to stare between Jacob and the girl again.

And then, I saw Nessie staring at me. My stomach dropped. She knew. I had just imprinted and she'd witnessed it. Frantically, I shook my head and started for her as Jacob stopped noticing me and went for the stranger.

Rushing through the crowd of wolves, I vaguely recalled pushing Morgan out of the way. In moments, I was breathlessly standing before my alpha female.

"Nessie, please-,"

"Did you just-,"

"Please, please don't tell anyone. Please. I don't do relationships and, this, this-,"

"Tricia? What are you doing here?"

His voice whipped both of us around.

"Walker? Ohmygod, Walker!" she squealed as she ran into Walker's arms. "I came here because I needed to talk to Jacob or Embry. But what are you doing here? I thought you were on the reservation."

Jacob walked up to them with a glare at Embry. "Uh, Tricia, answer Walker's question. What are you doing here?"

The girl, Tricia, disentangled herself from Walker, glancing between Embry and Jacob. She absently pulled a curl of hair over her shoulder and started playing with it. "I-I saw something today when I went with mom to the grocery store."

Both Walker and Embry stepped forward but Jacob stepped between them before either could get close to her. And that's when I realized Walker had feelings for her. But the way Embry was staring at her, he'd imprinted on her.

"Oh, shit," Nessie said under her breath.

Caden nonchalantly went to stand next to Walker, almost as a warning.

"What was it? What did you see?" Embry asked.

Tricia looked between all the boys nervously, like she didn't understand their reactions. "There was a girl. Um, she had dark hair with blue streaks and amber eyes. The same type of eyes I saw in the woods one time."

"What?!" Walker shouted as he moved forward.

Caden grabbed his shoulders while Jacob glared at him and stepped forward.

"Tricia, you didn't tell us you actually saw something. You said you felt watched."

"I'm sorry. I hadn't realized that I'd actually seen something until I saw her eyes today in the store."

"Ok. It's ok. What happened in the store?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. I mean, I was shopping with my mom and passed this girl. And then, suddenly, she just stopped and stared at me. I saw her eyes and suddenly realized that I'd seen them before. Maybe not hers exactly, but something like it."

Jacob and Caden exchanged a look.

Behind me, the door opened and Esme came out. "Maybe we should bring this conversation inside. Dinner's ready and I'm sure everyone else has things they need to get back to."

"I'm sorry. Did I interrupt something?"

"No, no, you're fine," Embry said, taking her hand.

When Walker bristled, Caden tightened his grip and Nessie pushed past me.

"Boys, boys, you're freaking her out." She turned to Tricia. "Hi, I'm Nessie. I'm Jacob's fiancée. Why don't we go inside and get something to eat? You can tell us a little bit more without all these eyes on you."

Once the door was closed behind Nessie and Tricia, all hell threatened to break loose.

JPOV

"What the hell is your problem?" Walker demanded at Embry.

"I'm just trying to help keep your sister calm."

"What the hell-,"

"Shut up!" I yelled. "Christa."

She was at my elbow in two seconds. "Yeah, what's up?"

"You, Alana, and Patrick with go to Walker's house. That girl knows Tricia's scent and can find her."

"Her name is Nyla," Caden said quietly. We all turned to him. He nodded. "Blue streaked hair and amber eyes? That's her, no question. She's the one that Nessie took down that night and was born to two lycanthropes. Very dangerous."

"Shit," Walker said as he started moving. "We have to get to my house."

I jumped in front of him. "Not a chance. You're sick, remember? You can't just magically heal in two days. Your sister is fine because she knows something's up, but your parents? No way. Christa, Alana, and Patrick will go watch over them."

Walker stepped up into my personal space. "I don't have to take this bullshit from you. That's my family."

"Yeah, and what are you going to do? You've never shifted. You don't know how your own body works. And I won't have my entire family jeopardized because you want to play hero. Today, my wolves are playing the part by going to run the woods around your house. Either deal with it, or you and I are going to have words that don't involve talking. Are we clear?"

For a moment, I thought he was going to swing at me the way his fists were clenching and unclenching and the way his teeth gnashed together. But in the end, he took a deep breath and stepped back.

"Fine, but I want updates every hour."

"Fine. Now get in the damn house before I throw you inside."

Caden came up to grip the nape of Walker's neck and guided him inside with low words that I couldn't make out. Once the door was closed, I turned on Embry.

"What is wrong with you?"

He looked surprised. "What did I do?"

"You can't just be all up on her like that, Embry. Especially not around Walker."

He crossed his arms over his chest. "Yeah, well, if he'd act like her brother-,"

"He's not her brother!"

With an expression of confusion and shock, Embry uncrossed his arms. "What?"

I sighed. "Walker's not really her brother, Embry. Tricia was adopted. Nessie told me that rumors went around the high school that Walker was in love with his own sister. And the way he acted just now…For now, I want you stay away from her, ok?"

"What? You can't do that to me, Jake. Seriously?"

I hated that I even had to say it, but until we could get a better feel for how the whole triangle would go, I had to keep him away from Tricia and Walker. The hostility from just this small interaction was not promising to be a good note.

So, I looked him in the eye and said, "Yes, seriously. Stay away from her. For now. I know you want to protect her. Trust me, I get it. And I'll make sure to put you on patrol for her house. But no interaction with her. Don't seek her out. And if she comes to you, you better make it short and sweet. Am I clear?"

Embry wouldn't look at me. He just shook his head and ground his teeth.

I put my hand on his shoulder. "Embry, I hate telling you that. I do. But this situation needs to be handled carefully, ok? I doubt she knows how Walker feels. And Walker is dangerous right now so you don't need to piss him off. The full moon makes him stronger, and I can't lose you, alright? You're my brother. I'm ecstatic that you imprinted, and I want this to work out. This is to help you. I'm not doing it to hurt you."

He took in a deep breath and nodded. "Ok, I get it. I'll stay away from her. Except for the patrols on her house. Every other patrol, I'm on it. I'll sleep and eat between shifts."

I nodded. "That I can handle and understand."

"What about Walker? He'll want to be at the house."

Shaking my head, I said, "Nope. He'll stay here and train with Caden. I'll let him call home but not go back. Not yet. His temper is hot right now. And I have a feeling that Tricia being around will only make that worse. Seth, Caden, and I will watch over him if and when she comes around. She sees him as her brother, nothing more. She'll be around to check on him."

"Yeah, of course she will."

"One more thing. And Edward, I know you're listening. I need a meeting with the pack and the Cullens later tonight after everyone settles in and Tricia leaves. Embry and Edward, you two gather everyone that you can. We have a visit to plan." My voice had dropped into a low bass. Out of everything that happened tonight, I hadn't forgotten that a stranger had been in my house. A stranger that was neither wolf nor vampire and yet smelled familiar.

Embry shifted on his feet. "Where are we going?"

"Up north."

*Cough, cough* Soooo? Whadya think? I'm sensing some future fights with Embry and Walker. And about Christa? Tell me what you think! I love to pick your brains. Please review?! They make me happy. Love you guys! xoxoxoxoxoxo